I.] POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 9 



are able to work, and cannot otherwise get employ- 

 ment. This law was passed more than two hundred 

 years ago. Many attempts have been made to chip 

 it away, and some have been made to destroy it alto- 

 gether 5 but it still exists, and every man who does 

 not wish to see general desolation take place, will 

 do his best to cause it to be duly and conscientiously 

 executed. 



8. Having now, my friends of Preston, stated what 

 the law is, and also the reasons for its honest enforce- 

 ment in the particular case immediately before us, I 

 will next endeavour to show you that it is .found- 

 ed in the law of nature, and that, were it not for 

 the provisions of this law, people would, accord- 

 ing to the opinions of the greatest lawyers, have a 

 right to take food and raiment sufficient to preserve 

 them from perishing ; and that such taking would 

 be neither felony nor larceny. This is a matter of 

 the greatest importance ; it is a most momentous 

 question ; for if it be settled in the affirmative if it 

 be settled that it is not felony , nor larceny, to take 

 other men's goods without their assent, and even 

 against their will, when such taking is absolutely 

 necessary to the preservation of life, how great, how 

 imperative, is the duty of affording, if possible, that 

 relief which will prevent such necessity ! In other 

 words, how imperative it is on all overseers and jus- 

 tices to obey the law with alacrity ; and how weak 

 are those persons who look to "grants" and "sub- 

 scriptions^ to supply the place of the execution of 

 this, the most important of all the laws that consti- 

 tute the basis of English society ! And if this ques- 

 tion be settled in the affirmative ; if we find the most 

 learned of lawyers and most wise of men, maintain- 

 ing the affirmative of this proposition ; if we find 

 them maintaining, that it is neither felony nor larceny 

 to take food, in case of extreme necessity, though 

 without the assent, and even against the will of the 

 owner, what are we to think of those (and they are not 

 few in number nor weak in power) who, animated 

 with the savage soul of the Scotch feelosophers, 



