produced by the Poor Laws. 441 
the last fifty years; and this improvement is 
alone attributable to the increased industry 
and enterprize of the community. It is to 
‘this cause thatsuch a wonderful accumulation 
of wealth has taken place in England, not- 
withstanding the immense sums expended in 
carrying on foreign wars; for what would all 
the gold in the world, at the disposal of the 
wisest and best men, have accomplished, had 
we not been supported by the labour of the 
industrious? It is to that ardent desire for 
comforts, and to the artificial wants per- 
vading the lower orders in England, that we 
are to ascribe that industry which creates the 
wealth of the country, and adds to the pros- 
- perity of every rank. 
To complain of the tax which the poor 
laws exact—to assert that it will absorb the 
whole rent roll of the kingdom, appears to 
me to be equally unfounded and upjust. 
That such consequences will ever happen, can 
scarcely be credited ; forit may be demonstrated 
that the gross product, both of the land and 
of the manufactures of England, has for the 
last two years, in consequence of the low 
rate of wages, been brought into the market 
at a much smaller expense than for the twenty 
years preceding, even taking into the account 
the £8,000,000 said to be annually paid to 
VOL. II. Kkk 
