To remedy these evils,various have been the schemes recommended to the public,by men who have been revered for thestrength of their understandings,the extent of their knowledge,and the uprightness of their intentions.They have chieflyrecommended palliatives;and such only have been tried,yet with little or with no effect.They have indeed checked the evilfor a time,and only for a time,to return with accumulated force:for,notwithstanding all their efforts,the tax collected torelieve the poor is swelled in many places from ten or twelve pounds annually to five hundred pounds a year,where nomanufactures have been established;and in the manufacturing parishes,from little or nothing to fifteen hundred,twothousand,and even three thousand pounds a year.
The legislature began with requiring the consent of two justices of peace,before the overseers could have power to relievethe poor.(15)They then insisted that none should be relieved,but those who were put upon the list by the parishionersassembled in their vestry,or by authority under the hand of a justice.(16)After this it was enacted,that no justice of peaceshould grant an order,without having examined upon oath the party making application to him for relief.(17)Upon all theseconditions we hear the legislature constantly complaining that the evil still went on increasing.
The expedient which has been most often tried,has been to compel both the pauper and his family to wear the Roman P inscarier cloth upon their shoulders;(18)and from this much was expected,but in vain.It has operated,indeed,as a partialrepeal of a bad law,repealing however all that could be considered as valuable,and leaving all that is noxious to the state;discouraging only the ingenuous,the modest,and the meek,that there may be the more for those who,lost to shame,havelong since forgot to blush.Of all human inventions,none can be more cruel than this.You invite the poor,you offer himrelief,but you will give it only upon this condition,that he shall receive it with a mark of infamy.The overseers are liable toa fine,if they do not impose this mark upon the indigent;but such is their humanity,that they risk the penalty rather thanreproach the wretched with his poverty.Should they give this badge to some,they must impose it upon all.The worthlessand the impudent would not regard it;the modest would sooner die than wear it.There is no doubt that time wouldreconcile them to it,more especially when they saw none or few without it;but then,what purpose would it answer?
Whilst it took effect,it would be hurtful:when it ceased to operate,it would be useless.
Finding the futility of this device,the most common refuge has been to parochial and provincial workhouses;against whichthere appear insuperable objections.It was thought,that with watchful attention the poor would do more work under oneroof,and be fed much cheaper,than when dispersed in their several cottages.An expectation,however,which experiencehas never yet confirmed.Even in parochial workhouses,and in those which are under the best regulation,the poor do solittle work,that the produce of their labour almost escapes our notice,whilst they are maintained at a most enormousexpence.In their cottages they might live comfortably on the average of four pounds each;whereas under the managementof the public they cost from five to ten,and even twelve pounds each,per annum.It is not reasonable to imagine,that men,deprived of liberty,will work for others with the same chearful activity as when working for themselves;or that they willbe contented with the hard and homely fare,which they could eat with thankfulness,whilst as freemen they weresurrounded with their friends.It is hope that must sweeten all our labours.Let a man have no pursuit,no exercise for hishopes and fears,and you may as well take the marrow from his bones,which was designed by nature to supple all hisjoints.You may feed him well;but,without making him a more useful member in society,you will leave him to drag on amiserable existence,a burthen to himself and to the public.It is now a maxim universally received,that the service of aslave is the dearest service which can be had.Let a man consult his own feelings,and the reason will be obvious.
The terror of being sent to a workhouse acts like an abolition of the poor's tax on all who dread the loss of liberty.It is ineffect a virtual repeal,as far as it extends,of those laws,which should long since have given place to better regulations.
