410 Continuation of the same Subject. Bk. iv. 



saving-banks are established, to obtain an advan- 

 tage which, on this very account, will be compa- 

 ratively of little value. We wish to teach the la- 

 bouring classes to rely more upon their own ex- 

 ertions and resources, as the only way of really 

 improving their condition; yet we reward their 

 saving by making them still dependent upon that 

 very species of assistance which it is our object 

 that they should avoid. The progress of saving- 

 banks under such a regulation will be but an 

 equivocal and uncertain symptom of good; whereas 

 without such a regulation every step would tell, 

 every fresh deposit would prove the growth of 

 a desire to become independent of parish assist- 

 ance; and both the great extension of the friendly 

 societies and the success of the saving-banks in 

 proportion to the time they have been established, 

 clearly shew that much progress might be ex- 

 pected in these institutions under favourable cir- 

 cumstances, without resorting to a measure which 

 is evidently calculated to sacrifice the end to the 

 means. 



With regard to the plans which have been talked 

 of for reducing and limiting the poor's rates, they 

 are certainly of a kind to apply to the root of the 

 evil ; but they would be obviously unjust without 

 a formal retraction of the inght of the poor to sup- 

 port; and for many years they would unques- 

 tionably be much more harsh in their operation 

 than the plan of abolition which I have ven- 

 tured to propose in a preceding chapter. At the 

 same time, if it be thought that this country can- 



