234 Hovw far ought Assistance to be given to the Poor? [Oct. ?; 
country! What jwill then be ‘her re-_ 
sources? She can look to India alone, 
whence cotton may be exported, but of 
such a description, and on such terms, 
as will deprive our manufactures of any 
chance for competition with foreigners. 
Such a prospect may be considered as 
remote and unlikely to be realized, at 
least at the present day. But even a 
remote probability should be regarded by 
the patriotic politician with careful 
attention; and jor that reason the. pre- 
sent question should be boldly met, and 
not avoided like a pestilence. 
By forgetting the interests of the colo- 
nists, they furget that such a neglect will 
_ involve others, soover or later, in ruin. 
The revenue now furnished by them, 
must devolve on the public; while thou- 
sands of individuals who now live by 
their properties in the colonies, would 
be deprived of the-very means of 
existence. 
The most careless observer must be 
struck with the intimate relation borne 
by the cotton colonies, to the first springs 
of public life. Revenue, industry, and 
private independence, are all involved in 
its prosperity; and unless this be pro- 
moted with zeal and energy, the sure 
dependence of the manufacturer will be 
converted into an unstable dependence 
on foreigners. Industry will be repres- 
sed, the revenue diminished by such a 
multiplicity of drains that it would be 
impossible to ascertain” its precise 
amount, and the very object of the 
navigation laws will be defeated by the 
diminution of our naval resources. This 
is ‘the part in which the public is inter- 
ested, Let us turn and contemplate the 
prospects of those whom it more imme- 
diately effects. 
The chimeras respecting West Indian 
wealth, have ceased to influence the 
dreams of any but the unfledged strip- 
ling, who has for the first ‘time quitted 
his paternal roof, and in the flush of ex- 
pectation anticipates events which are 
never to happen. The man who has spent 
the greater part of his life in the West 
Indies, knows from fatal experience, that _ 
independence is only to be obtained by 
unwearied exertion. He knows that, 
after having acquired the means of sup- 
port, and having returned to spend the 
evening of his days in his native country, 
his fond wishes, and indeed reasonable 
expectations, have been blasted; and 
that misfortune has accumulated so ra- 
pidly, as to overwhelm him with despair. 
Year after year he has looked forward ix 
esas! 
the humble hope of ‘redress from thé 
legislature of his country, for which he 
has already sacrificed so much. But his 
hopes are as vain and futile as those of 
him, who, deluded’ by the false glare of 
an ¢gnis_futuus, expects tu be led into 
a place of secnrity and comfort. The 
prespect now blackens, and at.an ad- 
vanced period of life, with a constitution 
broken by activity and anxiety, this un- 
happy sufferer will be again exiled to 
distant countries, where his almost ex- 
hausted -frame must soon yield an_un- 
availing sacrifice to new efforts. ~Bereft 
ofa protector, his wife, his orphans, are 
cast on a pitiless world, without any 
consolation or even commiseration. - 
‘Nor is this an exaggerated picture: 
too many illustrations of its truth might 
be detailed. 3 
(To be continued.). 
To the Editor of the Monthly 
SIR, 
J WISH to propose for discussion the 
conduct that ought to’ be pursued 
tewards the poor; the common opinion 
is, that too much cannot be done for. 
them. I, on the contrary think, that too 
little cannot be done for them; and that 
the wisest course, generally speaking, 
would be to leave them to themselves, 
and allow them to overcome the disad= 
vantages of their situation, and to obtain 
the advantayves possessed by their supe- 
riors, by their own exertions. Every ase 
sistance that is afforded them, is at the 
expence of their independence, and dise 
courages exertion; upon this principle, F 
disapprove generally of charitable insti- 
tutions, whether for the purpose of af- 
fording education to the children of the 
poor, or for any other purpose: my no- 
tions may be thought to be unfeeling, 
and a number of arguments may be 
brought against them, but I think they 
are outweighed by the consideration F 
have mentioned, that whatever assistance. 
is afforded the poor, affects their inde= 
pendence, and discourages exertion. [_ 
do not mean that the poor should not be 
relieved on occasicnal distress: but po= 
verty is not distress: poverty and distress* 
are quite distinct things; perhaps the 
opinion IT have adopted may appear to 
be ill-founded, but at present it appears- 
to me to rest on just notions of human 
nature; at all events, the discussion can 
do no harm, if you shall! think this come 
munication worthy of insertion. Fate 
Sept. 8, 1810. vite 
Magazine. 
