Ch. vi. Of Poor-Lmus, continued. 8d 



instituted for the most benevolent purpose ; hwi 

 it is evident they have failed in attaining it. They 

 certainly mitigate some cases of severe distress,- 

 which might otherwise occur ; though the state 

 of the poor who are SLipported by parishes, con- 

 sidered in all its circumstances, is very miserable. 

 But one of the principal objections to the system 

 is, that for the assistance which some of the poor 

 receive, in itself almost a doubtful blessing, the 

 whole class of the common people of England is 

 subjected to a set of grating, inconvenient, and 

 tyrannical laws, totally inconsistent with the genu- 

 ine spirit of the constitution. The whole business 

 of settlements, even in its present amended state, 

 is contradictory to all ideas of freedom. The 

 parish persecution of men whose families are 

 likely to become chargeable, and of poor women 

 who are near lying-in, is a most disgraceful and 

 disgusting tyranny. And the obstructions con- 

 tinually occasioned in the market of labour by 

 these laws, have a constant tendency to add to 

 the difficulties of those who are struggling to sup- 

 port themselves without assistance. 



These evils attendant on the poor-laws seem 

 to be irremediable. If assistance be to be distri- 

 buted to a certain class of people, a power must 

 be lodged somewhere of discriminating the proper 

 objects, and of managing the concerns of the insti- 

 tutions that are necessary ; but any great inter- 

 ference with the affairs of other people is a species 

 of tyranny, and in the common course of things, 

 . the exercise of this power may be expected to 



