4G0 APPENDIX. 



reason to accuse himself than the price of labour, the parish, 

 the avarice of the rich, the institutions of society, and the 

 dispensations of Providence ; except as far as he has been 

 deceived by those who ought to have instructed him. In 

 answer to this, Mr. Young says that the poor fellow is jus- 

 tified in every one of these complaints, that of Providence 

 alone excepted ; and that, seeing other cottagers living com- 

 fortably with three or four acres of land, he has cause to 

 accuse institutions which deny him that which the rich 

 could well spare, and which would give him all he wants.* 

 I would beg Mr. Young for a moment to consider how the 

 matter would stand, if his own plan were completely ex- 

 ecuted. After all the commons had been divided as he has 

 proposed, if a labourer had more than one son, in what 

 respect would the second or third be in a diiiferent situation 

 from the man that I have supposed .? Mr. Young cannot 

 possibly mean to say that, if he had the very natural desire 

 of marrying at twenty, he would still have a right to com- 

 plain that the society did not give him a house and three 

 or four acres of land. He has indeed expressly denied this 

 absurd consequence, though in so doing he has directly con- 

 tradicted the declaration just quoted.-j' The progressive 

 population, he says, would, according to his system, be cut 

 off from the influence of the poor-laws, and the encourage- 

 ment to marry would remain exactly in that proportion less 

 than at present. Under these circumstances, without land, 

 without the prospect of parish relief, and with the price of 

 labour only sufficient to maintain two children, can Mr. 

 Young seriously think that the poor man, if he be really 

 aware of his situation, does not do wrong in marrying, and 

 ought not to accuse himself for following what Mr. Young 

 calls the dictates of God, of nature and of revelation .'' Mr. 

 Young cannot be unaware of the wretchedness that must 

 inevitably follow a marriage under such circumstances. His 

 plan makes no provision whatever for altering these circum- 

 stances. He must therefore totally disregard all the misery 

 arising from excessive poverty ; or, if he allows that these 

 supernumerary menibers must necessarily wait, either till 

 a cottage with land becomes vacant in the country, or that 

 by emigrating to towns they can find the means of providing 



* Annals of Agriculture, No. 239, p. 226. 

 t lb. No. 239. p. 'ill. 



