338 Plan of the gradual Abolition Bk. iv. 



marriage, taking place after the expiration of a 

 year from the date of the law, and no illegitimate 

 child born two years from the same date, should 

 ever be entitled to parish assistance. And to give 

 a more general knowledge of this law, and to en- 

 force it more strongly on the minds of the lower 

 classes of people, the clergyman of each parish 

 should, after the publication of banns, read a short 

 address, stating the strong obligation on every 

 man to support his own children; the impropriety, 

 and even immorality, of marrying without a pro- 

 spect of being able to do this ; the evils which had 

 resulted to the poor themselves from the attempt 

 which had been made to assist by public institu- 

 tions in a duty which ought to be exclusively ap- 

 propriated to parents; and the absolute necessity 

 which had at length appeared of abandoning all 

 such institutions, on account of their producing 

 effects totally opposite to those which were in- 

 tended. 



This would operate as a fair, distinct and pre- 

 cise notice, which no man could well mistake ; 

 and, without pressing hard on any particular in- 

 dividuals, would at once throw off" the rising ge- 

 neration from that miserable and helpless depen- 

 dence upon the government and the rich, the 

 moral as well as physical consequences of which 

 are almost incalculable. 



After the public notice which I have proposed 

 had been given, and the system of poor-laws had 

 ceased with regard to the rising generation, if any 

 man chose to marry, without a prospect of being 



