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preservation of them.

This, as I have just observed, is a very inconvenient bar to those who are interested in the duration of abuses.

Now whether the erection of the tribunal of a morally instructed public opinion be upon the whole advantageous or useless to a state, is a question upon which an English and a Spanish statesman would probably hold different sentiments: sentiments will also vary concerning it in proportion to the conviction entertained of the paramount influence of morals over political prosperity. My own opinion of course is not doubtful: as I firmly believe that the progress of a country in population, in strength, and in happiness, depends upon the private morality of its citizens and the public morality of its laws and institutions, I hail with the greatest satisfaction any arrangement powerful enough to overcome the temptations which are continually opposed to the influence of those blessings. I am therefore, a decided advocate for the establishment of a tribunal, before which the contending interests of the several classes of the community can be ultimately carried, to be determined upon a free discussion of their moral or immoral tendency. However troublesome such a court of reference may be considered by professional politicians, it cannot well be abused, or perverted to the detriment of the state. I have always thought it to be one of the brightest ornaments and most glorious attributes of a free constitution, and far superior to its other attribute of political liberty, which, great and admirable as it unquestionably is, is sometimes liable to abuses destructive of the very objects it was intended to preserve. These observations will not I trust be thought irrelevant to the

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questions under discussion, although they are not perhaps the most obvious inferences which they present. Few charities can be of a more complete and exalted nature than those, which by one and the same process ameliorate the individual, improve the spirit of the government, and promote the permanent and healthy progress of the commonwealth in the career of society.

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I should be sorry, however, that the foregoing statement should be so far misunderstood, as to give rise to the idea that the slightest intention exists of marking with approbation the captious spirit, which may sometimes induce men to convert their moral knowledge rather into an instrument of offence against the character of their neighbours, than of correction for their own dispositions, or for public immoralities. The best reformer is he who will take one individual in hand, viz: himself. But in a free country every citizen has also a duty to perform towards the public. If he be well instructed, the performance of this duty will be duly regulated, and will not degenerate into offensive interference with his neighbour, as it certainly would, were his sense of freedom to operate upon an ignorant and profligate mind. He will, however, gradually acquire something like a correct sense of the moral tendency of the laws and customs which influence his condition, and if he find himself or his neighbours inconvenienced by any of them, he will be furnished with some ground of fair judgment concerning their expediency or necessity.

It is not every state certainly which could afford to endure such a scrutiny. But I will venture to assert, from long reflection upon the theory and practice of the British Constitution, that our own

country may cheerfully submit to it, and will derive essential benefit from the result. Our general system of manners and legislation rests on moral and liberal principles. The few exceptions which may be taken, are of a temporary and adventitious nature, and may be easily and safely remedied, when once the public opinion is agreed as to the principle upon which amendment shall be conducted. Let a general system of instruction, then, establish this principle in sound morals and religion; and a standard of reference is provided by which the people may in the first place learn the value of the blessings they actually possess, and be guarded against the efforts of profligate politicians to excite discontent in their minds. In the next place they will be able in some degree to judge concerning the necessity of such reparations as all human institutions do constantly require, and concerning the bounds within which they should be confined. A principle, therefore, both conservative and invigorating is introduced into the system, which, where the constitution is originally sound, may protract existence to a very remote period.

CHAPTER III.

On Economical Systems of Charity, by which the Poor assist in Providing for themselves.

I ENDEAVOURED in the former part of the last chapter to prove that the most enlarged exercise of charity, in the judicious relief of real distress, is not only consistent with, but actually conducive to public wealth and happiness, when they are founded on the principles maintained in this treatise. It will lead to no inconvenience from the encouragement which it may be thought to afford to population, because, as society is advancing, the fluctuations of employment increasing, and cases of individual distress consequently becoming more frequent in proportion to the number of the people, the progress of population is also continually decreasing in rapidity. The lives, therefore, saved by the relief of distress are more than counterbalanced by the natural abatement in the procreative power of the human species, and no redundancy ensues. In proportion as the virtue is called into exercise, means are provided for its innocent operation. But although this is a wise and a beautiful feature in the dispensations of Providence, it does by no means exclude the expediency of all such precautionary measures as shall render the people as independent as possible of subsistence by mere alms-giving. Such measures are no less advantageous to the moral than to the political con, dition of the people.

With this view many plans have been suggested, to enable a labouring man, by his own prudence and exertion, to assist in obviating the effects of those fluctuations in his temporal circumstances, to which the inhabitants of a populous and commercial country must necessarily be exposed. These plans are exclusively a feature of the advanced stages of society, because it is in such only that the fluctuations in the condition of the lower orders renders them necessary, and because they can only be successfully promoted in a country where property is secure, and public credit high. For these reasons I believe they have been scarcely known, except in our own country, and perhaps in a very limited degree in Holland. An attempt or two has been made in France, particularly at Chaillot near Paris, where a society was established, holding out to persons of both sexes after they have reached 70 years of age, or sooner if infirm, a comfortable subsistence for the remainder of their lives, upon consideration of a monthly payment, progressively advancing from the age of 10 to that of 70. Not long ago it is asserted that there were nearly 100 aged persons, whose appearance evidently bespoke their having occupied stations above the lowest ranks of society, living under the protection of this institution in happiness and contentment.

But it is in Great Britain only that institutions of this nature have either prevailed in sufficient numbers, or have been brought into so complete a system, as to offer fair grounds for investigating their moral and political effects, or for comparing the respective advantages of the several plans which have been acted upon. Considering the general

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