Ch. ix. prevailing Opmions on Population. 355 



the late scarcities,* I confess that I was to the last 

 degree disheartened, at observing their inveterate 

 prejudices on the subject of grain ; and I felt very 

 strongly the almost absolute incompatibility of a 

 government really free with such a degree of igno- 

 rance. The delusions are of such a nature, that> 

 if acted upon, they must at all events be repressed 

 by force ; and it is extremely difficult to give such 

 a power to the government as will be sufficient at 

 all times for this purpose, without the risk of its 

 being employed improperly, and endangering the 

 liberty of the subject. 



We have lavished immense sums on the poor, 

 which we have every reason to think have con- 

 stantly tended to aggravate their misery. But 

 in their education and in the circulation of those 

 important political truths that most nearly con- 

 cern them, which are perhaps the only means in 

 our power of really raising their condition, and of 

 making them happier men and more peaceable 

 subjects, we have been miserably deficient. It is 

 surely a great national disgrace, that the educa- 

 tion of the lower classes of people in England 

 should be left merely to a few Sunday schools, 

 supported by a subscription from individuals, who 



at Oxford ; the projected University in the Metropolis ; and, above 

 all, the Mechanics Institution, opeti the fairest prospect that, within 

 a moderate period of time, the fundamental principles of political 

 economy will, to a very useful extent, be known to the higher, 

 middle, and a most important portion of the working classes of 

 society in England. 

 * 1800 and 1801. 



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