513 



INDEX. 



— proportion of second marriages, 

 477 — variations in the proportions of 

 births to deaths and to marriages at 

 different periods, 608. 



Poor ; measures respecting their relief 

 in Switzerland, and ellect of these, 

 i. 360, 361 — support of, in Scotland, 

 461 — remarks b3' Scotch writers, on 

 the state of the poor in England, 

 462, 463 — principal causes of pau- 

 perism at the present crisis, ii. 106. 



of Poor- Laws : those of England, 



though they may have alleviated in- 

 dividual misfortune, have spread the 

 evil over a larger surface, ii. 63 — 

 causes why, notwithstanding the im- 

 mense sum annually collected for the 

 poor, so much distress still exists 

 among them, ib. — a subscription for 

 the poor would only increase pro- 

 portionally the price of provisions, 

 64 — even if the produce of the 

 country were augmented by that 

 means, a more than proportionate 

 increase of population would follow, 

 65 — no possible sacrifices of the rich 

 could for any time prevent the re- 

 currence of distress among the lower 

 classes, ib. — the condition of some 

 of the poor cannot be raised by 

 means of money without proportion- 

 ally depressing that of others, 6.'>, 66 

 — confirmation of these reasonings, 

 from the late scarcities, 67 — the price 

 of corn in a scarcity will depend 

 more upon the degree of consump- 

 tion than of the actual deficiency, 

 68 — high prices certainly diminish 

 consumption, ib. — the bounties to the 

 poor during the late scarcities ope- 

 rated very powerfully in raising the 

 price of grain, 69 — efiect of these 

 also in increasing the circulating me- 

 dium, 72 — this increase principally 

 supplied by the country banks, 73 — 

 very great obstacles thus thrown in 

 the way of returning cheapness, 74 

 — these less, however, than if the 

 increased circulation had come from 

 the Bank of England, 75 — the scar- 

 city fortunately followed by an 

 abundant harvest and a peace ; a ra- 

 pid fall of prices thus occasioned, 75 

 — permanent bad consequences which 

 would have followed from raising the 

 wages of labour during the scarci- 

 ty, 76 — the price of labour a most im- 

 portant political barometer, express- 

 ing the relation between the supply 

 of provisions and ths demnd for 



them, ib. — a scarcity naturally tends 

 to lower, instead of to raise, the 

 price of labour, 77 — to proportion 

 the price of labour to that of provi- 

 sions is of the nature of a maximum, 

 and tends directly to famine, 78, 79 

 — an increase of population without 

 a proportional increase of food, 

 must lower the amount of each man's 

 earnings, 81 — ways in which the 

 poor-laws tend to depress the gene- 

 ral condition of the poor, ib. — they 

 weaken the disgrace which ought to 

 attend dependent poverty, 82 — have 

 contributed to raise the price of pro- 

 visions, to lower the real price of la- 

 bour, and to generate a carelessness 

 and want of frugality among the 

 poor, 83, 84 — subject the whole class 

 of the common people to a set of 

 tyrannical laws, 85 — if they had 

 never existed, the mass of happiness 

 among the common people would 

 have been greater than it is, 86 — 

 all systems of the kind tend in effect 

 to create more poor, ib. — examina- 

 tion of the principle and operation 

 of the famous statute of the forty- 

 third of Elizabeth, 86, 87 — its due 

 execution as a permanent law is a 

 physical impossibility, 89 — checks 

 to the increase of the poor,' from a 

 spirit of independence and pride 

 among the peasantry, and from the 

 contradictory operation of the poor- 

 laws themselves, 89, 90 — attempts 

 to employ the poor on any great scale 

 in manufactures have almost invari- 

 ably failed, 91, 92 — this reasoning 

 not to be applied against every mode 

 of employing them on a limited scale, 

 and with proper restrictions, 91 — 

 absurdity of the common declama- 

 tion on the subject of the poor, 94, 

 95 — the insufficiency of the poor- 

 rates, even aided by large charitable 

 contributions, to afford adequate re- 

 lief, is a proof that they cannot ac- 

 complish the object for which they 

 were enacted, 96 — 99 — the great 

 object to be kept in view is, to 

 support the people through present 

 distress, in the hope of better times, 

 99 — 101 — erroneous opinions con- 

 cerning the distresses of the Poor 

 examined and refuted, 102 — 117 — 

 x;ffect of prudence in marriage, 113. 



Of increasing Wealth as it aiFects 



the Condition of the Poor. — See the 

 article Wealth, ii. 211—228. 



