( 335 ) 



CHAP. VIII. 



Plan of the gradual Abolition of the' Poor Laws 

 proposed. 



If the principles in the preceding chapters should 

 stand the test of examination, and we should ever 

 feel the obligation of endeavouring to act upon 

 them, the next inquiry would be, in what way we 

 ought practically to proceed. The first grand 

 obstacle which presents itself in this country is 

 the system of the poor-laws, which has been justly 

 stated to be an evil, in comparison of which the 

 national debt, with all its magnitude of terror, is 

 of little moment.* The rapidity with which the 

 poor's rates have increased of late years presents 

 us indeed with the prospect of such an extraordi- 

 nary proportion of paupers in the society, as would 

 seem to be incredible in a nation flourishing in 

 arts, agriculture and commerce, and with a govern- 

 ment which has generally been allowed to be the 

 best that has hitherto stood the test of experi- 

 ence. t 



* Reports of the Society for bettering the Condition of the Poor, 

 vol. iii. p. 21. 



+ If the poor's rates continue increasing as rapidly as they have 

 done on the average of the last ten years, how melancholy are our 

 future prospects ! The system of the poor-laws has been justly 

 stated by the French to be la plaie politique de I'Aiigkterre la plus 

 devorantc. (Comitc de Mendicite.) 



