Plan of a gradual abolition country in the world, except perhaps Holland before the revolution, which could have acted upon it so completely, for the same period of time without utter ruin. It has been proposed by some to establish poor laws in Ireland; but from the wretched and degraded state of the common people, and the total want of that decent pride which in England prevents so many from having recourse to parish assistance, there is little reason to doubt that on the establishment of such laws, the whole of the landed property would very soon be absorbed, or the system be given up in despair. In Sweden, from the dearths which are not unfrequent, owing to the general failure of crops in an unpropitious climate, and the impossibility of great importations in a poor country, an attempt to establish a system of parochial relief such as that in England, if it were not speedily abandoned from the physical impossibility of executing it, would level the property of the kingdom from one end to the other, and convulse the social system in such a manner as absolutely to prevent it from recovering its former state on the return of plenty. of the poor laws proposed. Even in France, with all her advantages of situation and climate, the tendency to population is so great, and the want of foresight among the lower classes of the people so conspicuous, that if poor laws were established the landed property would soon sink under the burden, and the wretchedness of the people at the same time be increased. On these considerations the committee de Mendicitè, at the beginning of the revolution, very properly and judiciously rejected the establishment of such a system which had been proposed. The exception of Holland, if it were an exception, would arise from very particular circumstances her extensive foreign trade, and her numerous colonial emigrations, compared with the smallness of her territory; and the extreme unhealthiness of a great part of the country, which occasions a much greater average mortality than is common in other states. These, I conceive, were the unobserved causes which principally contributed to render Holland so famous for the management of her poor, and able to employ and support all who applied for relief. Νό part of Germany is sufficiently rich to support an extensive system of parochial relief; but Plan of a gradual abolition I am inclined to think, that from the absence of it, the lower classes of the people in some parts of Germany are in a better situation than those of the same class in England. In Switzerland, for the same reason, their condition, before the late troubles, was perhaps universally superior. And in a journey through the dutchies of Holstein and Sleswick belonging to Denmark, the houses of the lower classes of people appeared to me to be neater and better, and in general there were fewer indications of poverty and wretchedness among them, than among the same ranks in this country. Even in Norway, notwithstanding the disad vantage of a severe and uncertain climate, from the little that I saw in a few weeks residence in the country, and the information that I could collect from others, I am inclined to think that the poor were, on the average, better off than in England. Their houses and clothing were superior, and though they had no white bread, they had much more meat, fish, and milk, than our laborers; and I particularly remarked, that the farmers' boys were much stouter and healthier looking lads than those of the same description in England. This degree of happiness, superior to what could of the poor laws proposed. be expected from the soil and climate, arises almost exclusively from the degree in which the preventive check to population operates; and the establishment of a system of poor laws, which would destroy this check, would at once sink the lower classes of the people into a state of the most miserable poverty and wretchedness; would diminish their industry, and consequently the duce of the land and labor of the country; would weaken the resources of ingenuity in times of scarcity; and ultimately involve the country in all the horrors of continual famines. pro If, as in Ireland and in Spain, and many of the southern countries, the people be in so degraded a state as to propagate their species like brutes, totally regardless of consequences, it matters little whether they have poor laws or not. Misery in all its various forms must be the predominant check to their increase. Poor laws, indeed, will always tend to aggravate the evil, by diminishing the general resources of the country, and in such a state of things could exist only for a very short time; but with or without them, no stretch of human ingenuity and exertion could rescue the people from the most extreme poverty and wretched ness. CHAPTER VIII. Of the modes of correcting the prevailing opinions on Population. IT is not enough to abolish all the positive institutions which encourage population; but we must endeavor at the same time, to correct the prevailing opinions, which have the same, or per haps even a more powerful effect. This must necessarily be a work of time; and can only be done by circulating juster notions on these subjects, in writings and conversation; and by endeavoring to impress as strongly as possible on the public mind, that it is not the duty of man simply to propagate his species, but to propagate virtue and happiness; and that, if he has not a tolerably fair prospect of doing this, he is by no means called upon to leave descendants. Among the higher ranks of society, we have not much reason to apprehend the too great frequency of marriage. Though the circulation of juster notions on this subject might, even in this |