1807.] 
Branise proportion of the labouring 
iands are forced to apply their induttry 
in the various fine manufactures in 
which only. they can get employ. By 
thefe means, hands are drawn off power- 
fully from agriculture, and fuch coarfe 
manufactures as produce the things which 
they themfelves make ufe of.”* 
We have at length arrived at the whole 
caufe of the evil, namely the diverting of 
the people from working on the land and 
the coarfe manufactures; by which only 
can be produced the neceflaries of 
life, and other things, the want of which, 
even according to Mr. Malthus, who is 
fo much applauded by Mr. Whitbread, 
caufes all the mifery and mortality we 
fee ; and it need not be obferved that, if 
this truly be the real, fole, immediate 
and efiicient caufe of the evil, nothing 
fhort of the removal of it can produce 
any confiderable amendment in the con- 
dition. of the poor. Other methods, if 
attempted, may amufe and quiet the 
people for a. time, but they cannot be 
propofed by a man, who a¢ts with fince- 
rity and uprightnefs, as radical, or in any 
degree material remedies for the evils of 
the poor. The means propofed by Mr. 
Whitbread have no direét tendency to 
remoye.them; their operation is circui- 
tous, weak, and of -inconfiderable effect ; 
and, what is worfe, they feem to give us 
to underfiand, that they are the only re- 
medies that the cafe admits of; and that 
no more effectual ones are within the 
reach of human power: the real caufe 
and obviuvus remedy of the evils not be- 
ing brought forward. 
The wants of the poor being fo great 
as they are allowed to be, nothing fhort 
ef phylical obfiacles to the removal of 
the caufe of them; or the want of phy- 
4ical means for fupplying them; ought to 
prevent immediate and effeciual endea- 
vours for their relief. We have fertile 
land in fufficient quantity; and there 
are no phyfical obftacles to the employ- 
ment of a fufficient quantity of labour on 
it. That thefe phyfical remedies for the 
fufferings and mortality of the people are 
prefent and in our power, isa lolid and 
rational ground of confolation, and fhould 
be\a motive of gratitude to their author ; 
but that it fhould be rendered ineffectual 
by man, is a ground for grief and com- 
plaint to thofe who are the futlerers by 
a. : 
In medical practice we can fome- 
* Effects of Civilization.on the People in 
the European States. 8vo. Oftell. 
On Mr. Whitbread’s new Parochial Bill. 
331 
times palliate the fufferings of individual 
patients, when we cannot affect the 
caufe of them; but in the cale of the 
difeafes of fociety, we can act only 
through the medium of the caufe What 
but the neceffaries of life can fupply the 
want of the neceffaries of life? I know 
of nothing that can give a temporary 
relief even to the craving of hunger, or 
the faint and uncomfortable feelings in 
the ftomach, occafioned by a meagre and 
watery diet, but fnuff, tobacco, and {pi- 
rituous liguors; and whether thefe 
fhould be prefcribed, may be left to the 
judgment of other people as well as to 
phyticians. t 
I thall not go to any length-in my ob- 
fervations on the particular means Mr. 
Whitbread has propofed, Some of them 
feem to be calculated rather for the eaf 
ing the contributors to the poor-rates, 
than for the benefit of thofe who ftand 
in need of their contributions. The re- 
wards propofed to be given to the poor 
people who bring up a family without 
the affiftance of the parith, ought, in my 
opinion, to have no influence on the poor 
parents. The poor man fhould endea- 
vour to get what he can by his, la- 
bour for his family; and befides that, 
fhould get what he can from the parifh; 
both being by far_too little to bring ap 
his chudren in health and vigor, and te 
preferve them in any great. proportion 
from premature death. If he abftains 
from applying for parifh afiiftance, out of 
pride, or with a view to the reward of- 
fered, he greatly injures his offspring. To 
fave can only be done properly, where 
there is a fuperfluity.. Ifthe poor fave, 
they-fave for the rich, to the prejudice 
of themfelves and their children. If 
there are no favings, there will be no oc- 
cafion for banks; to that propofal there- 
fore I fay nothing. 
I have no very great expectations 
from the education of poor children, 
which Mr. Whitbread recommends. The 
learning to read when young, is of very 
little advantage, if, in after life, they have 
not leifure to read fufficiently to improve 
their underftandings, 
Cuarres Hatt. 
Tuvifiock, March 14, 1807. 
For the Monthly Magazine.’ 
CARCELY any fubject invelving the 
geveral .interefts of mankind has 
occupied fo large a portion of attention, 
and been attended. with fo little fuccefs, 
as that of making provilion for the poor 
and 
