improper acquifition of wealth, without encroaching at the fame time on the fecurity of legal property; and the fecurity of property is the firft incitement to exertion, the first band and object of society.

4. But there is another plan for reducing immoderate riches, and leffening the inequality of mankind, which is, by abolishing the right of primogeniture, and dividing property into equal fhares upon the deceàfe of the poffeffor. In this, the poor have little concern, as no fhare of the divifion would devolve on them; and unless we can fuppofe them actuated from mere envy with the defire of humiliating thofe above them, we can find no immediate intereft they have in contributing to promote fuch a defign.

But in the defign itself, if there is no robbery, there is. ftill the greatest injuftice, and the moft evident impolicy. The laws call upon us all to be induftrious; the laws protect that property which is the effect of our industry ; but if fresh laws fhall afterwards deprive us of the difpofal of our property, law is no longer confiftent with itself, but contradictory; for on the one hand it cherishes industry, and on the other repreffes it. The firft grand fpur to industry is the fecurity of property; the fecond is liberty of ufing it at the will of the poffeffor: if either of these be checked, industry is nipped in the bud; and in our own country, if industry were once difcouraged, the poor, inftead of finding bread, would be annihilated.

It is a political queftion, How far a rich nobility, a wealthy gentry, a fubftantial yeomanry, contribute to the fupport of liberty, and the well-being of the community Difmiffing this therefore as a confideration foreign to our purpose, let us confider the wealth of individuals as the produce of industry, or the means of promoting it. I fay then, that extenfive commerce implies extenfive capitals; that capitals are employed in the commerce of our own country equal to the property of Princes; that if the merchant was compelled to divide his fubftance by any law whatever, exclufive of the check it would be on his own industry, it would deftroy the poffibility of conducting any extenfive commerce; and that if the merchant is driven from his profeffion, the manufacturer must fail, the loom must stand still, and the ploughfhare ruft in the furrow.

To remove delufions of this kind from the minds of the people, is not merely a moral, but a civil and a focial duty; for whatever tends to diffolve the bands,

er difturb the order of fociety, is the fource of envy,

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malevolence

malevolence, jealoufy, hatred, and all the fouleft paffions of the human heart. Whatever tends to hold men toge ther by ties of common intereft, produces mutual affection, good-will, and charity, makes us better men, better citizens, and Chriftians; and ferves to promote the object of all fociety, that is, PEACE.

II. All remedies of this kind therefore which have been propofed are nugatory and delufive; but let us now confider those which Society itfelf holds forth, which are ufually. efteemed falutary and practicable, which are in some sense efficacious, because, though they do not eradicate the evil, they affuage the pain, and moderate the effects.

The poor, perhaps, would think it mockery, after what has been faid, if they were told that the moft certain relief was to be found in patience and content; and yet the poet and the moralift paint content in the cottage, and anxiety as the conftant attendant on the palace and the throne. But the truth is, that content belongs no more to the one than the other; men are equally diffatisfied in high ftations as in low, and thofe only in both have the greatest chance for happiness, who are moft virtuous and beft employed.

But if content is not to be found, the next object is induftry, and industry in fome degree implies difcontent; for all that labour earneftly endeavour to better their present fituation. If we trace up the confequences of this in higher life, it relieves the great from that liftlefsness arifing from facility of enjoyment which riches prefent to them too profufely; and if we examine it among the lower orders, it is the fource of order, decency, and fobriety; it begers habits which, if they are not virtuous, are allied to virtue, which render men useful to each other, and profitable to fociety.

But if industry is propofed to man by nature as an advantage and a bleffing-if every form of fociety tends to forward and promote it, let us reflect with pleasure that our own Conftitution goes beyond all others in the means it has taken to perfect this defign.

For whatever fecurity other Governments may hold out, if there is a country in the world where property is more fecure than in another, it is our own. But there is likewife an additional fpur, which, though it acts. fecretly and imperceptibly, is, perhaps, the first cause of that vigour and energy which has raised our commerce above that of

....

all

all the nations which furround us. The road to honour, rank, and dignity, is open to all; there is no legal obftruction to prevent the artifan from obtaining the most honourable station in his country; for, though the prize can fall to few, the hopes extend to all; and hence arifes an emulation through all the intermediate fteps to rank, which invigorates and animates the whole community.

Perhaps we may be told this is the fair fide of the picture, for it is impoffible that all fhould fucceed; and therefore that when we present these hopes to their mind, we deceive them in the outfet, and make them more unhappy in the event. But to this we may answer, that there is no delufion poffible; for every hope which can be proposed to render men induftrious, makes them happy, not only in the end they purfue, but in the purfuit itself. Industry may not attain its object; but in this country, at least, it will never fail of obtaining bread and maintenance, and rarely mifs of competence and comfort.

If however it should fail, the law has provided a remedy for the failure. The Poor Laws are the act of the community, and if alms are the charity of individuals, the Poor Laws comprehend the charity of the nation. If it fhould be thought that there is no charity in giving what the law compels us to give, I anfwer, that we make our own laws in this country, and that if a tax for the poor were now to be laid on for the first time, the reprefentative body would not, nay could not, raife it without the confent of the people.

Let us view the Poor Laws in another light, and we fhall find that they are a remedy against despair+; and perhaps it will be acknowledged, that in this refpect we evince the wifdom as well as the benevolence of the nation. The poor in any country are feldom dangerous unlefs they are defperate; but if industry has failed, there can be no defpair while there is a certainty of fupport. And if profligacy has induced diftrefs, it is better that even the

* The principal popular governments in Europe are Venice, Holland, and Switzerland,

In Venice, the barrier between the nobility and the people is never paffed. In Holland every city is a republic, but the government of each is in the hands of an aristocracy.

In Switzerland the peasant can never be a senator..

"The enormities alfo which extreme wretchednefs induces the loweft order of fociety to commit, are in a manner remedied in England by the immenfe relief of its poor-rates." Review of Mr. Necker's Administration, page 250.

profligate

profligate fhould find a refuge, than have a plea for reforting to fraud, violence, or rapine.

Heavy as this burthen is upon the people, it is ftill the loweft and the laft refource of the unhappy: low, however, as it is, thofe who complain of it moft are not thofe who have had recourse to it from unavoidable diftrefs, but thofe who from floth, idleness, and profligacy, have no other refuge left; and if it were poffible to exclude the Jatter, the former might be maintained in comfort, and the nation be delivered of half its burthen at the fame time.

Having thus confidered these taxes as the charity of the nation, we come naturally to confider the charity of individuals; and on this head the poor have lefs right to complain in this country than in any other throughout the world.

For here what we ought to admire moft, is not the liberal hand that gives, .but the liberal spirit which dictates, and the deliberate wifdom which directs. The prodigal may give from thoughtlefsnefs, the oftentatious from vanity, the mifer from very hatred of his heir; we may give all our goods to the poor, and yet, if we have not charity of heart, it is nothing worth.

But maintain, that the liberal fpirit of this nation at the present hour is all directed to its proper end; it is in every inftance defigned to relieve unavoidable diftrefs, or promote induftry, and whatever promotes industry augments the fum of happinefs in the world.

From blindness, decrepitude, idiotifm, or lunacy, it is true, no advantage can be derived to the public. When, therefore, we contribute to fupport the poor under these calamities, we mean only to alleviate the miseries of life, without propofing any benefit to our country; but in every other inftance, when we relieve the poor, our only object is to encourage induftry, and place them in a fituation to exert it. We neither pretend to feed or clothe them, or give them houses; for these, we tell them, it is their duty to labour; that it is a duty enjoined them by God, by the law of Society, by their rank as Men and Citizens: if any will not work, neither fhould he eat (this is a maxim not only of Religion but of Nature, Morality, and Society); but in every cafualty of life, which either the narrowness

Defigned I fay, and I hope executed; for in every charity where atten◄ tion is paid to economy, each fubfcriber can do more good by his fubscription, than by expending the fame fum on the same objects himself,

of

of means or the improvidence of the careless has neglected to provide againft, the generofity of the rich has almost taken the whole burthen upon itself,

The fuperior orders of this Country might walk through the Streets of this Metropolis, and challenge the poor with having nothing to complain of except a life of labour; " and that," they might fay," is not allotted you by the ❝ordinance of Man, but by the will of God."

But to the fick, to the lame, to the impotent, they might fay, "There is a house to receive you, to feed you, to cure you, and reftore you to your family and friends. Are your diseases the effects of vice, ftill you are not abandoned: there is relief held out to you. Go, be "cured, and fin no more.

"And you, wretched proftitutes, who have been be→ trayed yourselves, and now fupport a wretched existence "by betraying others, if you can yet repent, there is a home open to receive you; there is forgiveness held out ❝ to you in this life, which you thought was loft; there ❝are means of restoring you to the world, if you will ac66 cept them.

"Where is the malefactor just delivered from imprison❝ment and bonds, who is now reduced by despair to re“turn to fraud, robbery, or rapine? If he will labour, "there is labour for him; if he will not, mifery and de"ftruction are only the just measure of his iniquity. "Where is the youth brought up in profligacy, perverted "by ill example, or abandoned to a life of fordid sloth, "who is not now received, clothed, protected, and pro❝vided with the means of life and occupation? Is there any calamity, any species of diftrefs, which is not anticipated by the liberality of the benevolent ?"

Such is the language which the Rich in this Country might hold to the Poor.

And the Poor themselves may learn, that if the ties which bind all orders together in this country were once diffolved, whatever calamities the wealthy might be involved in, would fall with double weight upon themselves, when there would be no refource to look tu-no friend, ne protector, no benefactor.

A CHARGE