340 Plan of the gradual Abolition Bk. iv. 



no apprehensions that the number of persons in 

 extreme want would be beyond the power and 

 the will of the benevolent to supply. The sphere 

 for the exercise of private charity would, proba- 

 bly, not be greater than it is at present ; and the 

 principal difficulty would be, to restrain the hand 

 of benevolence from assisting those in distress in 

 so indiscriminate a manner as to encourage indo- 

 lence and want of foresight in others. 



With regard to illegitimate children, after the 

 proper notice had been given, they should not be 

 allowed to have any claim to parish assistance, but 

 be left entirely to the support of private charity. 

 If the parents desert their child, they ought to 

 be made answerable for the crime. The infant 

 is, comparatively speaking, of little value to the 

 society, as others will immediately supply its 

 place. Its principal value is on account of its 

 being the object of one of the most delightful 

 passions in human nature — parental affection. 

 But if this value be disregarded by those who are 

 alone in a capacity to feel it, the society cannot 

 be called upon to put itself in their place ; and 

 has no further business in its protection than to 

 punish the crime of desertion or intentional ill 

 treatment in the persons whose duty it is to pro- 

 vide for it. 



At present the child is taken under the protec- 

 tion of the parish,* and generally dies, at least in 



* 1 fully agree v.itli Sir F. M. Eden, in thinking that the con- 

 stant public support which deserted children receive is the cause 

 of their very great numbers in the two most opulent countries of 

 Europe, France and England. State of the Poor, vol. 'i. p. 339. 



