. 422 
upon its own merit, and be judged to be 
either practicable and worth the attempt, 
or impracticable and defective’ in its prin- 
ciple. If well meant, it would at leak 
be entitled to attention, while a mere 
hint fhall perhaps be fwept away by ano- 
ther as concife as itfelf; a third fuc- 
ceeds, and the endiefs chace is continued 
_ without determination and without ad- 
vantage. Your correfpondent B. A. 
(page 128), has beftowed fome commen- 
dations on my intentions, which I ac- 
knowledge with pleafure; byt, at the 
fame time, has advanced fome opinions 
which completely counteract my views. 
Fle fays, ‘¢ f apprehend no tables can be 
eonftruéted with any degree of certainty. 
to regulate the diftfibution of the fund, 
for not only old aze, but illnefs muft be 
provided for,’’ If this flatement is juf, 
there is an end of the bufnefs; for, if 
fach tables cannot be completed, no fuch 
focieties can with fafety be begun. Kut 
it is certainly erroneous ; for if the pro- 
bability of ficknefs can be afcertained as 
exactly as the probability of life, there 1s 
no doubt but the calculations may be 
combined, though they certainly would 
become more intricate. How eafy is if, 
however, to get rid of the difficulty alto- 
gether, by eftablithing feparate funds in 
the fame fociety. for the two purpotes, 
and thus, by dividing the trouble in the 
management, induce the well difpofed. to - 
undertake it with more-alacrity? . Bot 
my unknown friend wanders ftiil farther 
from my intentions, in recommending thé 
fubje&t to the interference of government. 
——Here we completely difagree; not that 
I would infinuate one difrefpectful idea, 
ut that I think it not only highly impro- 
bable that it fhould be undertaken, but 
im many refpects it- would be much lefs 
proper, than under private management. 
if the focial and benevolent affections are 
the bafis and ornament of fociety, and if 
thefe affe€tions are excited in proportion 
as we approach nearer to felf; it follows, 
that the more this principle is cultivated 
and proceeded upon in fimilar inftitutions 
to that which I am recommending, the 
higher perfeGion we are likely to attain. 
The better we are acquainted with indi- 
vidual diftrefs, the more we are dilpofed 
to commiferate ;-and, if mv neighbour’s _ 
houfe is deftroyed by fire, though I only 
knew him by fight, I feel much ftronger 
emotions of pity, than if I hear of a whole 
 ftreet fuffering in a town Inever faw. It 
is uponsthis principle, which even the ta- 
lents of a Godwin were unable to remove, 
that I would recommend numerous finall 
focieties in preference to fewer larger ones. 
Benevolence may be unbounded ; but if 
On Providing for the Aged and Difeafed Poor. 
” .- 
it cannot be traced to individual hands, 
there is but very flender ground for gra- 
titude. The honeft, induftrious man, 
- whofe labours will not procure him the 
neceflaries of life, though even eked out 
with the {canty dole of public allowance, 
cannot eafily avoid the reflection, that he 
owes nothing to fociety ; while the idle 
and profligate, by 2 
may readily perfuade tnemfelves, - that 
they are’ placed in a fate of ‘ wariare 
where repriais are juftifiable, 4 
them be convinced, that there exifts not 
only the power, but the inclination aio, 
to promote their weltare m thofe with 
whom they are more immediately conneét- 
ed, and by whom of courfe they niuft be 
beft known, and fociety would no doubt, 
through all its ramifications, rece1ve 2m” 
ample recompenfe. “ By this mode of pro- 
ceeding, we fhould gain the firmeft hold 
6n the morals of the pocr, by placing 
them under the immediate motice cf the 
rich, and, without this notice, in vain 
fhail we look for amendment. If the 
poor are unprinicipled and debafed, the 
reproach does c 
them/felves,—they are what the ftate of 10- 
ciety has made them ; and the meralif 
will look totheir fuperiors for the ground - 
work of reformation, and not expect it 
from themfelves. - Charaéter ought, 4s 
much as poffibie, to find its level jsand 
while the profligate and the delerving, 
under the fame apparent diltreis, receive 
equal relief, what 2 ftimulus do we aban- 
don in the caufe of virtue | Yet, marge 
focieties, this difcrimination cannot be 
made, though in fmaller ones. it cannot’ 
ealily be avoided. 
Another of your correlfpondents, bE) 
G: (page 241), with fome excellent re- 
marks on the ftate of the peor, has, in 
my opinion, gone a deal too far, am 
prefenting the plan of providing” for the 
neceflities of age among them as abiolute- 
ly impracticable. I admure as’ much as 
he can that hone ‘dpirit of comicious 
independance, which ought to fpurn the 
idea of depending upon cthers for what 
our own exertions can attain, and which 
ought to actuate the breaft of every indi- 
vidual, who makes any pretence to prin- 
ciple or character. I likewile admit (for 
who can deny it?) that the pour are 
now labouring under accumulated diftreis, 
which loudly calls for effectual rebef, and 
which muff, to immen’e numbers of them, 
abfolutely preclude the poffibility of iav- 
ing ; if immediate relief 1s withheld, they 
perifh. From the retrofpect however of 
the few laft years, it appears but too ob- 
vious, what is the direct tendencyof this 
. partial benevolence. The evil keeps pace 7 
with 
[ Jane ' ig 
parity of reafoning, 
But let 
not altogether fall upon | 
’ 
y 

| 
