350 Plan of the gradual Abolition, S^c. Bk. iv. 



duce of the land and labour of the country ; would 

 weaken the resources of ingenuity in times of 

 scarcity ; and ultimately involve the country in all 

 the horrors of continual famines. 



If, as in Ireland, Spain, and many countries of 

 the more southern climates, the people are in so 

 degraded a state, as to propagate their species 

 without regard to consequences, it matters little 

 whether they have poor-laws or not. Misery in all 

 its various forms must be the predominant check 

 to their increase. Poor-laws, indeed, will always 

 tend to aggravate the evil, by diminishing the ge- 

 neral resources of the country ; and in such a state 

 of things can exist only for a very short time ; but 

 with or without them, no stretch of human in- 

 genuity and exertion can rescue the people from 

 the most extreme poverty and vsa'etchedness. 



