Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

example of the old warrior, who placed his choice troops in the rear and the van; but—

κακοὺς εἰς μέσσον ἔλασσε.

It will be necessary for Mr. Gladstone to remind the people of England, as well as the electors of Newark, that the "general obligation of Ministers now in power is to maintain the institutions of the country upon their ancient foundations," for by their acts they seem rather wedded to the principle of maintaining the modern commissions upon their modern foundations. I wish we had the courage to throw overboard our modern theories and our quack medicines, and for the removal of our social disorders to submit to such a course of discipline as would be prescribed to us by commissioners of tithes and poor-laws, trained in the school of Archbishop Whitgift. Indeed, it is striking that our Church and our State embarrassments appear to have arisen from those principles or practices which have caused us to neglect the poor, An inquiry into the poor-laws, and the condition of the poor, ought to be preceded by an inquiry into the condition of the nation. Perhaps there may be a connection between the distresses of the poor and the failure of banks, and an undue tendency to speculation; and these evils again may have arisen from that spirit which, blind to the sin of covetousness and regardless of the just claims of parish and country, has been raising a clamour against usury laws, and tithe laws, and corn laws,

2 See Note A at the end.

and all laws which seem to offer any obstruction to the accumulation of wealth. Perhaps we have been thinking too much about eligible investments, and too little about the responsibilities of property. Perhaps we have been converting a useful science into a false philosophy, by an undue extension and erroneous application of its principles. Perhaps we have been forgetting that this very philosophy, by encouraging luxurious habits and covetous principles in the rich, is quite as prejudicial to the best interests of society as any laws which are thought to encourage idle and improvident habits in the poor3.

3

"The efficacy of human laws may be cast, perhaps, into the following scale their direct power to inspire men with love of probity, diligence, sobriety, and contentment, is small; their power to restrain the opposite vices is far greater: their power to discourage or hinder good habits of character by mistaken institutions greatest of all; because they here act at an advantage, and the institution and the bad part of human nature go together; whereas in the other cases they are opposed, and the enactment has to force its way."-Considerations on the Poor Laws, by the late Rev. John Davison, M.A. formerly Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. London, 1818.

The Poor Laws certainly did act in this way, though, perhaps, through the fault of those who administered them. I am told, that the most trivial article of dress is sold frequently at shops in the West End of London for twenty-five guineas!! Some say, that so long as money circulates it does not signify how it is spent. Whatever may be the influence of philosophy to restrain the opposite vice, the present state of the country may tell us what consequences arise when it (a spurious sort) and the bad part of human nature go together." "Even those" (as Archbishop Secker remarks)" for whom it (luxury) doth provide, it teaches at the same time to ruin themselves by the imitation of it. And in

Perhaps our statesmen have been spending too much time in investigating the causes of wealth, and too little in examining the grounds of moral obligation, and the nature and extent of social duties. Every possible care should be taken to preserve the straight line in all parts of the foundation of the social fabric. Perhaps, then, our Universities are to blame: the one for dispensing with a portion of its statutes, which requires of all its members some knowledge of moral philosophy as essentially requisite for a degree; the other for initiating its scholars into the

proportion, as it prevails, it destroys every where both virtue and happiness, public and private."-Sermon on 1 Pet. iv. 10.

When the author of this letter resided at the University of Oxford in the year 1814, some acquaintance with moral philosophy was required of all candidates for the degree of B.A. The practice was gradually discontinued; and, as far as he can recollect, candidates for an ordinary degree had procured an entire exemption from examination in moral philosophy, at the time that the Political Economy Professorship was founded in the university. Here he would direct attention to an article in the Edinburgh Review in the year 1839, on "The Philosophy of Bacon." He thinks Bacon's own fall, and the dishonest practices now so unusually prevalent, may be traced to the principles laid down in that article

"Non aliter quam qui adverso vix flumine lembum
Remigiis subigit; si brachia forte remisit,

Atque illum in præceps prono rapit alveus amni."

"Dolendum est plerosque mortalium, dum rerum mediocriter utilium scientiam anxie venantur, in tam crassa interim conscientiæ suæ ignoratione versari."-Prælect. Sanderson. Episcop. Lincoln. Londini, 1661. The principles of Bishop Sanderson appear to have suffered shipwreck the writer of the article in question is

principles of a book, which its most distinguished members have not scrupled to condemn. There is the closest connection between the habits of justice and charity, and the poor may be suffering from our Universities' defects. Perhaps also, as Church principles, properly so called, are essentially connected with the poor, so they may not have been sufficiently considered with reference to these results.

It is quite necessary to investigate the real causes of our existing distress, and to ascertain how far the legislature may be able to remove them. It seems as if some were thinking that the perfection of government was, the discovery of an instrument endued with a principle of perpetual motion, by which things would regulate themselves, and property and station be released from all responsibility. Some would cure existing evils by initiating the poor into the mysteries of political economy. Others, again, are telling us that wages will rise of themselves if we could be rid of all mischievous meddlers, give the commissioners fair play, and not relieve the ablebodied poor except within the walls of a workhouse. Another plea for the poor, professedly grounded upon Scripture, goes upon the principle that we should have plenty of every thing by the repeal of the corn laws. It may be just to ridicule soup tickets, charity

not very likely to construct a diving bell by which they may be recovered.

"They are, I believe, in the Hebrew expressed by the same word. They are in a striking way connected with each other, amongst numberless other texts, in Micah vi. 8. Luke xix. 8.

sermons, and charity balls; but the Scriptures say nothing about foreign competition, a great deal about provoking one another to the discharge of home and social duties.

A real plea for the poor must have for its basis, not any reform or repeal of the corn laws, but rather the reform of our luxurious habits, and the repeal of our covetous principles. It is the real business of the legislature to consider how far it may aid in the administration of these unpopular remedies. Some good, at least, would be done, if Poor Law Commissioners' Reports would direct attention to the faults of the rich as well as of the poor. Gentlemen of property, who allow their tenants to keep ill-regulated beer shops, deserve, at least, as much blame as the poor who frequent them. Again, as the court adopts the dress, so let the commissioners adopt the language, of ancient times. Pauper" and "pauperize" are words of modern invention; the very term, "LORD HIGH ALMONER," and the distinguished office it represents, clearly indicate the feelings of our forefathers respecting "the dignity and claims of the Christian poor"."

66

There are two essentially separate questions in this matter, whether the Poor Law, in existing circumstances, is good as a human statute; and whe

6

See Poor Law Report, 1833, p. 24. The reporter does not seem to know much of this principle.

7 Title of two interesting sermons by the Rev. F. Oakeley, M.A. Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, Minister of St. Margaret's Chapel.

« ElőzőTovább »