That the improvers of land should be subject to this expence is not just,and that men should be obliged to inclose theselands is neither just nor wise;because hedge-rows consume much land,stint the growth of corn,cause it to lodge,preventits drying,and barbour birds.If men are left at liberty,without restraint,when they find it for their interest to inclose,theywill inclose.
Should the House of Commons,agreeable to the resolutions of 1775,enter seriously into this business,and adopt suchregulations as may effectually relieve the public from the grievous and still increasing burthen,which for more than half acentury has been the subject of serious investigation and of loud complaints;it will be necessary for magistrates to paymore than common attention to the police,till industry and subordination shall be once more restored.The reins have beenheld with a loose hand,at a time when the idleness and extravagance,the drunkenness and dissipation,with the consequent crimes and vices of the lower classes of the people,called for themost strenuous exertions of the magistrate,and the most strict execution of the laws.
If the labouring poor,in health,previous to marriage,and whilst their families are small,are compelled to raise a fund fortheir own support,in case of sickness or old age;there can be no doubt,that when at any time,from peculiarcircumstances,this fund shall prove inadequate,the most liberal contributions will be made to relieve any occasional distress.No one can doubt of this,who has witnessedthe generous efforts which were lately made to assist the woollen manufacturers in Gloucestershire during the stagnation oftheir trade.Money was collected for them from all the adjacent counties,and in the metropolis,to feed and to employ them.At Minchin Hampton inparticular,when the poor's tax was seven shillings in the pound on the rack rents,and their poor were more than commonlydistressed,two thousand two hundred persons were cloathed,fed,and set to work,by voluntary benefactions.It should beadded,for the credit of these poor people,that they worked from six in the morning till eight at night.Had the manufacturefallen to rise no more,the manufacturers must in reason have retired,or must have turned their hands to something else;because no fund,no tax,no charitable contributions,can support such a multitude of people when their trade is gone.Incases of sudden emergency assistance will be loudly called for,and the affluent will not be tardy in sending a supply.TheEnglish have never yet been charged with want of charity.They need not many arguments to excite their pity andcompassion:the only difficulty is to restrain the impetuosity of their benevolence,and to direct their bounty towards themost worthy objects.
Besides these sudden emergencies,affecting the whole districts where extensive manufactures are established,individualsmust be ever subject to occasional distress,from various accidents and from unexpected losses,which,without the kindassistance of a friend,they are not able to support.In such circumstances,where can the sufferer look for help?Not to theoverseers of the poor;for their authority does not extend beyond food and raiment.To make good his losses,and tosupport him in his station,industry in distress can find no sufficient refuge but in the generous aid of his more affluent andcharitable neighbours.This refuge will never fail him;nor will they ever suffer him to want,if they are able to relieve him,and if he has proved himself worthy of compassion.
To relieve the poor by voluntary donations is not only most wise,politic,and just;is not only most agreeable both toreason and to revelation;but it is most effectual in preventing misery,and most excellent in itself,as cherishing,instead ofrancour,malice,and contention,the opposite and most amiable affections of the human breast,pity,compassion,andbenevolence in the rich,love,reverence,and gratitude in the poor.Nothing in nature can be more disgusting than a parishpay-table,attendant upon which,in the same objects of misery,are too often found combined,snuff,gin,rags,vermin,insolence,and abusive language;nor in nature can any thing be more beautiful than the mild complacency of benevolence,hastening to the humble cottage to relieve the wants of industry and virtue,to feed the hungry,to cloath the naked,and tosooth the sorrows of the widow with her tender orphans;nothing can be more pleasing,unless it be their sparkling eyes,their bursting tears,and their uplifted hands,the artless expressions of unfeigned gratitude for unexpected fayours.Suchscenes will frequently occur whenever man shall have power to dispose of their own property.When the poor are obligedto cultivate the friendship of the rich,the rich will never want inclination to relieve the distresses of the poor.
