Ch. xi. CoiuUtion of the Poor considered. 385 



" live, as we see clearly by the dangerous increase 

 " of poor's rates in country villages."* 



But the fact is, that Mr. Young's plan would be 

 incomparably more powerful in encouraging a 

 population beyond the demand for labour, than 

 our present poor-laws. A laudable repugnance to 

 the receiving of parish relief, arising partly from 

 a spirit of independence not yet extinct, and partly 

 from the disagreeable mode in which the relief is 

 given, undoubtedly deters many from marrying 

 with a certainty of falling on the parish ; and the 

 proportion of births and marriages to the whole 

 population, which has before been noticed, clearly 

 proves that the poor-laws do not encourage mar- 

 riage so much as might be expected from theory. 

 But the case would be very different, if, when a 

 labourer had an early marriage in contemplation, 

 the terrific forms of workhouses and parish offi- 

 cers, which might disturb his resolution, were to 

 be exchanged for the fascinating visions of land 

 and cows. If the love of property, as Mr. Young 

 has repeatedly said, will make a man do much, it 

 would be rather strange if it would not make him 

 marry ; an action to which, it appears from expe- 

 rience, that he is by no means disinclined. 



The population, which would be thus called into 

 being, would be supported by the extended cul- 

 tivation of potatoes, and would of course go on 

 without any reference to the demand for labour. 

 In the present state of things, notwithstanding the 



. • Travels in Fiance, vol. i. c. xvii. p. 170. 



VOL. n. c c . 



