20 EFFECTS OF INSUFFICIENT EMPLOYMENT. 



his family, he listens to the debasing counsels of those with 

 whom he is compelled to associate ; and at last falls from the 

 situation of being a creditable to that of a pernicious member 

 of society. 



In proportion as the people are miserable, their services can 

 be obtained for any purposes. Hence the midnight depre- 

 dations, the commitments to gaol, and the expensive police. 



It is the horrible practice of many countries to keep the com- 

 mon people in ignorance and in want, in order to make them 

 pliant and to enforce subordination. In this kingdom, in this 

 land of liberty and of Christian profession, one would hardly 

 suppose that a policy so debasing existed. And yet how dread- 

 ful are the effects of those laws which reduce the poor to the 

 greatest hardships, compel them to perform the severest labour, 

 and to let themselves out at wages far beneath the sum required 

 to purchase a sufficiency of the commonest necessaries. 



We who receive an abundant share, and fare sumptuously 

 every day, cannot fail to remember that our enjoyments arc 

 derived from the incessant labours of the working classes. 

 Nor ought it to be forgotten that in the attempt to improve 

 their condition, and to afford them a reasonable proportion of 

 the common fruits of the earth, we at the same time advance 

 our own interests, secure the stability of our present posses- 

 sions, and perform the part assigned us by the Creator. 



The efforts of the benevolent can never compensate for the 

 lack of employment. The want of permanent employment is 

 a hydra that feeds upon the vitals of our country, devouring 

 and consuming her substance and reducing her by degrees to 

 universal pauperism. As idleness is the root of all evil, so is 

 employment the root of all civil, moral, and religious order. 

 At no period of our history was there ever a stronger desire 

 expressed to afford permanent occupation and to alleviate the 

 sufferings of the people than at the present. 



For this purpose the growth of Flax offers the prospect of a 

 more speedy and permanent relief than any project that has 

 yet been brought before the public. For while the crop is 

 highly remunerative to the farmer, it affords more varied 

 employment and multiplied benefits than any other production 

 of the earth. 



