not prevent the inclination (often caused by hard labour) for occasional indulgencies in his family circle, they at least convert an innocent if not a virtuous propensity into an useful instrument of economy and industry, and secure to their members, (what can seldom be purchased at too dear a rate,) relief to their families under the pressure of difficulty, sub-. sistence during sickness, and independence in old age. The more I reflect upon the causes which tend both to demoralize and to deteriorate the temporal condition of the lower ranks in England, the more I am disposed to think, that the general prevalence of savings' banks, together with a diminution of the malt-tax, and the shutting up of two thirds of the ale-houses and liquor-shops, would operate, under the influence of moral and religious instruction, and of our other public institutions, in securing to the country a permanent supply of honest, healthy, and contented peasantry. In conclusion, I must notice one objection which I have heard against the banks for savings. It has been insinuated, that so strict an exercise of economy must necessarily introduce a stingy, sordid, and calculating spirit among the lower orders. That their thoughts will all be so completely absorbed in the means of saving, that they will be apt to forget the more generous and public spirited art of spending. Now this apprehension is akin to those which some persons profess to entertain lest a tradesman should be too scrupulously honest, a clergyman too pious, a woman too modest, or a magistrate too firm; lest society, in short, should be cursed with too much of a good thing. And truly honesty, piety, modesty, and a strict execution of the laws, are not less adverse than a sober, moral, and independent race of people to the wishes of those whose principal object in life is centred in irregular indulgence. Doubtless the prevalence of that generous spirit among the lower orders which has been immortalized by the saying of Mr. Hobson, who, when accused of stinginess, defied any body to prove that he had "ever denied himself any thing," is much more favourable to the views of such persons. But with respect to any other species of generosity, no reasonable philanthropist can well doubt that a poor man must practise economy before he has the power of being generous to others: and even a superficial observer of the operations of the human mind, in any rank of life, will soon be aware, that the prudent, the patient, and the selfdenying, are not only more accessible than the thoughtless and extravagant to the claims of misery, but that it is almost exclusively from them that acts of real and unmixed charity do at any time proceed. In a word, if, according to the old proverb, generosity be a vice unless it be preceded by justice, the poor man has too many claims arising out of the one to be enabled to practise the other, without a strict adherence to sobriety and economy. With respect to a calculating spirit among the lower orders, it can never be otherwise than convenient, both to individuals and the state, except where the object is to make them perform acts, or acquiesce in proceedings from which, upon fair calculation, they ought to ab stain. But this is a principle of deceit ; it is not that upon which it is the interest of a free and moral government to conduct its operations, nor, in truth, is it that upon which the prosperity of any government can permanently endure. CHAPTER IV. General Conclusions with respect to the Exercise of Charity. WRITERS, who have been in the habit of comparing the sums expended in charity in different countries, have too frequently forgotten to compare also the state of society prevalent in each, and the comparative means which they in consequence possess of meeting the demands made upon their charity. There are some conclusions upon this subject that appear to be just, but which I do not recollect to have hitherto seen submitted to the public. Charity, in the sense in which it is now under discussion, may be said to consist of such pecuniary relief as individuals, notwithstanding the fair exertion of their industry, may stand in need of to relieve their necessities, and of such pecuniary expenditure as may be found useful in promoting moral instruction, and habits of industry among those who want either the will or the power to obtain them by their own exertions. It follows then, that the objects of charity vary in number and differ in degree in different countries, as the several states of society are respectively prevalent in their different gradations. In the agricultural state of society, the necessity for donations in money to support existence must be very small indeed; for food is plentiful; and the exertion of any kind or quantity of labour meets with a high reward. Moral education, however, is here pe culiarly necessary, in consequence of the insulated manner in which a race of cultivators must necessarily live, whereby that restraint which the opinion of the vicinage imposes upon moral conduct, is scarcely at all prevalent. In the mixed agricultural and commercial state of society, individual distress will be more prevalent, from the partial fluctuations of employment, among the commercial part of the community; objects of charity, positively in want of food, will therefore occasionally present themselves. But as the price of provisions must still be low, as the commercial employments will be principally of a durable nature for the supply of the domestic population, and the real wages of labour will still be high, the necessary expenditure in charity to persons in want of food will not yet be great. Hospitals for the relief of casualties, and public institutions affording employment to those who suffer a temporary interruption in their own pursuits, will, in ordinary times, be probably sufficient to maintain the comfort and happiness of the people. But as augmented commerce attracts the people into towns, and increases their temptations to licentious indulgence, while the high remuneration of labour affords them opportunities of gratifying it, both moral education and moral precautions of a charitable nature should scrupulously attend every step in their progress. Public schools, a rational provision for a church establishment, gaols so constituted as to promote the reformation of offenders and be really a terror to the evil-minded, (which may strictly be called national charities,) now become indispensable to the public welfare. As a country proceeds from the mixed agricul tural and commercial state towards the highly manufacturing and commercial, every department of charity must necessarily be enlarged. We have seen that the produce of the soil can only be increased at an augmented expense from inferior land, as a previous demand elicits it; that fluctuations in the price of food are the necessary consequence; that a continually increasing proportion of the people comes -to reside in towns, to be employed in manufactures for exportation, and in pursuits which prosper or decline according to fortuitous circumstances, and most of which are not very favourable to the general health of the persons engaged in them. It is evident therefore that a much larger number of individuals must occasionally be exposed to the pressure of want, under circumstances which render it much less easy to relieve them. Occupations are comparatively full; food is comparatively scarce; the operations of society become more complicated; and it requires the charitable exertions, both of the state and of the superior orders of society, to prevent the comfort and happiness of the people from declining. Liberal provision for temporary distress, the support of the children of industrious parents, private societies combining industrious employment with pecuniary aid, and assisting the poor in laying up a provision for future difficulties, are absolutely necessary for the purpose. is obvious also that dangers of a moral nature increase in the same proportion. Almost every circumstance I have mentioned as attending this condition of society adds to the temptations of the people, without diminishing their power of resisting them. In addition, therefore, to the moral precautions of a charitable It |