82 Of Poor- Laws, continued. Bk. iii. 



create the poor which they maintain ; and as the 

 provisions of the country must, in consequence of 

 the increased population, be distributed to every 

 man in smaller proportions, it is evident that the 

 labour of those who are not supported by parish 

 assistance, will purchase a smaller quantity of 

 provisions than before, and consequently more of 

 them must be driven to apply for assistance. 



Secondly, the quantity of provisions consumed 

 in workhouses, upon a part of the society that 

 cannot in general be considered as the most valu- 

 able part, diminishes the shares that would other- 

 wise belong to more industrious and more worthy 

 members, and thus, in the same manner, forces 

 more to become dependent. If the poor in the 

 workhouses were to live better than they do now, 

 this new distribution of the money of the society 

 would tend more conspicuously to depress the 

 condition of those out of the workhouses by occa- 

 sioning an advance in the price of provisions. 



Fortunately for England, a spirit of indepen- 

 dence still remains among the peasantry. . The 

 poor-laws are strongly calculated to eradicate this 

 spirit. They have succeeded in part ; but had 

 they succeeded as completely as might have 

 been expected, their pernicious tendency would 

 not have been so long concealed. 



Hard as it may appear in individual instances, 

 dependent poverty ought to be held disgraceful. 

 Such a stimulus seems to be absolutely necessary 

 to promote the happiness of the great mass of 

 nrjankind ; and every general attempt to weaken 



