PRACTICAL OPERATIONS OF BENEVOLENCE. 



77 



f ihe miseries which afflict humanity would 

 disappear from the world. 



But, in cases where a high degree of intel 

 lectual talent, of wealth, and of influence is pos 

 sessed, love is enabled to take a wider range in 

 its beneficent operations, by endeavouring to 

 counteract public evils, and to promote rational 

 schemes of general philanthropy. When we 

 take a survey of the condition of the great mass 

 of the lower orders of society, we find them la 

 bouring under many physical evils and inconve 

 niences, which have a tendency to injure their 

 health and their comfort, and to obstruct their 

 moral and intellectual improvement. In their 

 orivate habitations, we find multitudes of them 

 residing in places where they are almost depriv 

 ed of light and of pure air, and surrounded with 

 noxious effluvia, putrid smells, and every thing 

 that is insalubrious and offensive to the senses. 

 We find wnole families packed into a narrow 

 apartment of twelve feet square, in a narrow lane, 

 where the rays of the sun never penetrate, where 

 the refreshing breeze is seldom felt, and where 

 the beauties of nature are never beheld. In 

 public manufactories we find hundreds of men, 

 women, and children, with pale faces and ema 

 ciated looks, breathing a polluted atmosphere 

 half-poisoned with deleterious fumes, steam, 

 smoke, or noxious gases. In large cities, we 

 find numbers of children, through the careless 

 ness and unprincipled disposition of their pa 

 rents, left to wallow in filth and wretchedness, 

 without even rags to cover their nakedness, and 

 encouraged in the haibits of pilfering, and of every 

 other vice which can debase their minds and 

 render them pests to society ; and we behold 

 others doomed to the degrading employment of 

 chimney-sweeping, deprived of the attentions 

 which flow from the tender affection of parents, 

 and subjected to the harsh treatment of unfeel 

 ing masters. We behold multitudes of human 

 beings torn from their families and their native 

 land, cooped up in an infernal floating dun 

 geon, carried to a foreign land, sold like cattle 

 to an avaricious planter, and held in the chains 

 of perpetual slavery. In reference to all these 

 aod similar evils which exist in human society, 

 love will exert its energies, either to alleviate or 

 to remove them. It will induce one individual 

 to investigate their causes, to point out the pro 

 per means of remedy, and to publish to the world 

 the result of his deliberations a nd researches. 

 It will induce another to apply the discoveries 

 of natural science and the inventions of art to 

 the purpose of improving the physical condition 

 of mankind. It wiM induce a third individual, 

 in conjunction with others, to form rational plans 

 of melioration, and to organize societies to carry 

 them into effect; and it will impel others to 

 come forward with their wealth and influence to 

 provide the means for carrying forward on the 

 most extensive scale the plans of general bene 



ficence. In short, the whole machinery of natuie 

 and art, of mind and matter, of religion and litera* 

 ture, of science and legislation, would be set in 

 motion to promote the external enjoyments of 

 mankind, were love a predominant principle in 

 human society. Cottages on commodious and 

 healthy plans would be reared for the industri 

 ous poor; streets would be formed and gardens 

 allotted them for their pleasure and accommo 

 dation ; public manufactories would be arranged 

 and regulated in such a manner as to contribute 

 to health, to comfort, and to rational improve 

 ment ;* the children of the poor would be fed 

 and clothed, and trained up to habits of industry 

 and virtue ; employment would be provided for 

 all classes of labourers and mechanics, and sub 

 sistence furnished when employment could not 

 be procured ; idleness would be universally dis 

 couraged, and honourable industry would be re 

 warded in such a manner as to afford not only the 

 comforts, but even many of the luxuries of life ; 

 slavery in every shape, with all its injustice and 

 cruelties, would be abolished, and rational liberty 

 would be proclaimed among all ranks and in 

 every clime. 



Thus the man in whose heart love presides, 

 takes a lively and sincere interest in every thing 

 that has a tendency to promote the external com 

 fort and welfare of his neighbour. He is com 

 passionate and merciful, gentle and indulgent, 

 kind and tender-hearted, generous and humane ; 

 he feels for the sorrows of suffering humanity, 

 and his wealth and activity are directed to re 

 lieve the distresses of the poor and the afflicted, 

 to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to pro 

 tect the widow and the. orphan, to encourage 

 honest industry, to meliorate the condition of the 

 useful mechanic, and to increase and extend his 

 comforts and enjoyments. Of such a one it may 

 be said, in the language of Job, &quot; He is eyes to 

 the blind, feet to the lame, and a father to the poor. 

 When the ear hears him, then it blesses him, 

 and when the eyes sees him, it gives witness to 

 him ; because he delivers the poor that cries, 

 and the fatherless, and him that hath none to help 



Some may be disposed to insinuate, that such at 

 tempts would be altogether visionary, and could ne 

 ver be realized. But I would ask such persons, 

 Have such schemes ever been attempted to be realiz 

 ed on an extensive scale ? Has the promotion of the 

 health and comfort, of the industrious poor ever be 

 come aparticular object of attcntiwilo the legislature, 

 to men of rank and influence, and to the whole class 

 of opulent manufacturers ? Is it not a fact, that 

 while the acquisition of wealth is made the main ob 

 ject of attention, the melioration of the condition of 

 the industrious labourer and mechanic is either alto 

 gether overlooked, or viewed as a very subordinate 

 object of attention ? He is generally left to shift for 

 himself the best way he can, and left to breathe in an 

 impure atmosphere without any particular sacrifice 

 being made to remedy the evil. I venture to affirm, 

 that were the comfort of the lower orders of society 

 made as particular an object of attention as is the 

 acquisition of wealth, every obstacle to its accom 

 plishment would soon be removed. 



