discriminating selfishness. There are few who know how to distribute alms with discretion, for there are few who have an opportunity to acquire the requisite knowledge with regard to the general character of mankind, or that of particular individuals. But benevolent institutions and private charities indicate the excellent influence of our religion, not so much because a great deal of good is thus actually effected with regard to those who are their subjects; but because they show the operation which it has had upon the feelings, affections, and character of society in general. And although these affections may be injudiciously displayed, these benevolent tendencies exercised on unworthy objects, in an unworthy manner, and finally be productive of more harm than good; yet this state of the human character, does not the less denote the genuine effect of that religion, whose essence is love. Great as are the imper fections which remain in our character as christians, still if we compare the temper and spirit of our own times, allowing for every exception, with those of a few centuries ago, we cannot but be grateful for the changes which have been wrought, and look forward with delightful anticipation to those which are to

come.

But there has been, we believe, and there is, a radical defect in the principles by which most if not all our institutions for the poor have been regulated, and by which we have proceeded in the exercise of private charity. We are too anxi ous to be always giving. This, we are apt to believe, is the very essence of benevolence, but we think nothing of endeavouring to prevent the necessity of giving. That indeed is one of the most heavenly feelings of which we are capable, which proceeds from the consciousness, that we have relieved or alleviated the suffering of a fellow-creature. Yet how much better a cause were it for such happy sensations, could we prevent this suf fering and ward off the attacks of want and disease. How preposterous, nay, how barbarous would it seem, in any individual instance, coolly to permit the evil to be inflicted, and then crowd forward with consolation and assistance. Yet this is what is daily done; it is what our legal provisions, our public institutions, our private charities, are constantly doing. To the destitute, they proffer relief; to him who is already fallen, they hold out the hand of assistance; but to the multitude of those who are travelling onwards through the paths of improvidence and vice to the same termination, they pay no regard; they are permitted, they are encouraged in their improvidence, in their vice, by the certainty that they will never be left to want.

There would probably have been less poverty and less misery in the world, had no charitable institutions ever existed. Yet in

the present state of society their abolition were impossible, since the necessity of their existence has been accumulating for ages. It would be happy, if some revolution could be effected in the mode in which we are accustomed to assist the destitute portion of mankind. As they exist, public institutions operate too much as premiums upon indolence, improvidence and vice. The virtnous, the industrious, the unfortunate poor, who have surely the highest claim upon our feelings, obtain but a small share of our bounty. Look at our almshouses! They are the receptacles of the exhausted drunkard, the ruined gamester, the worn out prostitute, the illegitimate offspring of debauchery and licentiousness; not the asylums of the destitute widow, the deserted orphan, the decayed and unfortunate labourer. We find the grey head-but it is hoary with iniquity and depravity -with the premature old age of intemperance and lewdness; not with the silver hairs of honest virtue, not with the reverend locks of ancient and industrious poverty. On these we might bestow our alms with an open hand, a free heart, and feel proud that we could so exercise the noblest affections of our nature. Such mercy were doubly blessed in him that gave and him that received; for there is the exercise of the same benevolent feelings in worthily receiving as in worthily giving. But how little disposition should we feel for self-gratulation, did we know that our bounty was operating as the reward of vice and indolence; that it was received with unthankfulness and wasted in extravagance.

Our age is distinguished for projects of liberal and practical benevolence beyond any other. The abolition of the slave trade, the more general diffusion of religious knowledge, the efforts for the banishment of the custom of war, and the various institutions for the relief and the education of the poor, are noble evidences of this enlightened spirit of philanthropy. And it is not the least subject of congratulation, that more correct and enlarged views of the nature of true benevolence, and of the modes by which its objects are best effected, are beginning to prevail. That short-sighted kind of charity is going out of repute, which confines its views to the relief of immediate necessity, but does not extend them to the prevention of future

want.

In the sermons of Dr Holmes and Mr. Humphrey, this subject has received a full and interesting consideration. They are both from the same text, and are strikingly similar in their general construction, and in the topics which are taken up. The discourse of Dr. Holmes is a chaste, clear, and accurate composition, and exhibits a concise and satisfactory view of the causes and methods of preventing poverty; that of Mr. Hum

phrey abounds in striking views with respect to the same subjects, but in a more loose and careless form, and presents in a strong light, the evils which at present exist, though frequently in a coarse and somewhat ungracious manner.

Idleness, improvidence, intemperance, are regarded by both as the principal causes of the increase in the number of the poor. That an individual, in this country, is obliged to throw himself upon the public for support, is at first sight a reason for believing that he is an indolent, improvident, or vicious member of society. There can be little doubt, that in a country like ours, every one, misfortunes being out of the question, may support himself and family through life in decency and comfort, provided he regularly endeavours to do it. It requires no extraordinary exertion;-common industry, common frugality will be sufficient. But in the lower classes there is too little regard paid to the future. They are entirely ignorant of the art of living cheaply and economically. Luxuries, if they have the present means of obtaining them, are indulged in, without reflecting that if they are extravagant to-day, they must be straitened to-morrow; and it is not unfrequent to find the rarities of the season on the table of a day labourer, when their price would exclude them from almost all but those of the rich. This improvident, extravagant disposition is a cause of the extreme want to which families are frequently reduced who depend up on daily labour for support, and generally maintain themselves in tolerable comfort. Labour is not always to be had. There are particular seasons of the year, especially in a place like this, when there is little to be done, and this unfortunately is at the very time when the expenses of living are the greatest, and when the full produce of daily labour would be no more than sufficient for daily want. At this period the pressure of poverty is particularly felt, and there are few of the lowest class who do not require some degree of assistance from public or private benevolence. At other seasons, there is generally sufficient employment, and the income of an industrious labourer amounts to more than is absolutely necessary for the support of his family. Yet the surplus is never laid by for future need. It is always spent ; and too often in a manner that contributes still more to the impoverishment of the individual.

The authors of the publications before us, in common with all who have thought or written upon this subject, attribute by far the greatest share of the burden of pauperism to the vices, and more particularly to the intemperance, which are prevalent among the lower ranks of the community. We have touched in a former number upon this subject, but it appears to us, one, which can hardly be too frequently or too forcibly pressed up.

on the attention of the public. It would be astonishing, to those who are not familiar with certain classes of people, to witness the extent to which such practices have advanced, the very venial light in which they are viewed, the little shame or compunction which the drunkard feels, and the very trifling nature of the disgrace which is attached to the habit, by a considerable majority of mankind. They would be shocked at the lessons thus instilled by example in the minds of the young, who even on the threshold of existence, are taught to tread the paths of iniquity without knowing them to be such, and blast at once, by loathsome and incurable vice, all the prospects of their future lives.

"Our own observation may convince us," says Dr. Holmes-" and the records of our Almshouses will prove, that this single vice generally contributes incomparably more than any, I had almost said than all, other, towards the increase of the objects of public charity. No cause is so closely, and for the most part infallibly connected with the effect. The intemperate man is seldom reclaimed from his intemperance, the consequences of which are as certain, as they are pernicious.” p. 11.

"Intemperance"-observes Mr. Humphrey after enumerating various other causes which bring individuals upon the public for their support,**is by far the greatest and most horrible of all the causes of pauperism in this country. If other vices slay their thousands, this slays its tens of thousands." There can be no question, that it sends crowds to hell every year, while it also consigns an incredible number of bloated masses of pollution, and of broken-hearted wives and helpless children, to rags and beggary. The extent of its ravages would exceed all credence, were we not furnished with facts and estimates, which cannot be controverted."

"In the forepart of 1816, it was stated in the report of the Moral Society of Portland, that out of 85 persons supported at the work-house, in that town, 71 became paupers, in consequence of intemperance; being five-sixths of the whole number and that out of 118, who were supplied at their own houses, more than half were of that character."

Again in the winter of 1817, alarmed by the rapid increase of pauperism, the citizens of New York appointed a very respectable committee, to inquire into the state of want and misery among the poor in that city, and to devise some plan to prevent, as far as possible, a recurrence and increase of these evils. A part of the report of this committee, is in the following words."

"If we recur to the state of the poor from year to year, for ten years past, we find that they have yearly increased greatly beyond the regular increase of population. At the present period, there is reason to believe, from information received from the visiting committees of the several wards, that 15,000 men, women, and children, equal to one-seventh of the whole population of our city, have been supported by public or private bounty or munificence.

"In viewing this deplorable state of human misery, the committee have diligently attended to an examination of the causes which have produced such dire effects. And after the most mature and deliberate reflection, they are satisfied, that the most prominent and alarming cause, is the free and inordinate use of spiritous liquors. To this cause alone may fairly be attributed seven eighths of the misery and distress of the present winter ;

one sixteenth to the want of employment, owing to the present distressing state of trade and commerce ; and the remaining portion, to circumstances difficult to enumerate, and which possibly could not be avoided." pp. 14, 15.

A similar inquiry into the state and causes of pauperism in this metropolis, would we fear, terminate in a similar result. And if all this be true, if this evil has already arrived at such a height, and is daily increasing upon us; does it not follow that the public provisions upon this subject, fail in the objects which they ought to attain; that either our laws are not sufficient, or that there is some failure in their administration? They merely remove out of sight those who are incapable of supporting themselves without any regard to the prevention of their farther accumulation. The privileges of the authorized institutions ought not to be granted upon such easy terms. There is al ways a certain quantity of floating charity, if we may use this expression, which is adequate to the support of a certain number of individuals, and there will always be claimants enough to appropriate all these means, and often indeed to produce a competition for them. But if the band of the law is constantly removing those of them who have become troublesome to society, their places are regularly filled by an equal number who immediately fall into the ranks, and seek to partake of this easy subsistence, Every thing in society, finds at last about its proper level, and the proportion of those who depend upon private charity, for the whole or a part of their means of living, will always be equal to the quantity of the means to be disposed of.

Is it not actually the case, that we have a right fairly to ascribe no small proportion of the number of paupers to the poor laws themselves, or to the manner in which they are executed? By removing to their public establishments those who are becoming a burden upon private charity, do they not actually make room for a new accession of numbers? Are they not in . fact one of the efficient causes of increasing pauperism? Yet this is not so from an actual defect in the provisions, but from the want of energy in those whose duty it is to put them in force. They permit the subjects of their charge to lead too easy and idle a life. There is nothing in the life of the pauper to discourage those who are most likely to become such. It is true we are accustomed to view it with horror, but they have become, in some measure familiarized to the prospect. They look forward to it, indeed, as the last resort, but after all as a pretty comfortable one. They calculate upon a life without labour and without care, and such they too often find it. They cease to possess that pride in self-dependence, which has so much influence over mankind in general, and society thus loses the surest pledge for their upright and honorable conduct.