It would be a task equally laborious and perplexing, to go through a particular detail of all these diversities in the state of the poor. Perhaps it is owing chiefly to the number and extent of these, compared with the corres ponding diversities of the modes adopted for providing for them, and to the no less remarkable diversities of their consequences and effects, that the subject of " the poor," embracing all these, has been felt so exceedingly difficult. The causes of poverty have not always been well under stood, n ,r even the very nature of it as an evil, nor the best means of alleviating its pressure : the modes adopted in one country do not answer well in some others ; uncer tainty leads either to neglect of the poor, or to injudicious modes of relieving them ; and not unfrequently the most important virtues of industry and economy, and the most endearing virtues and ties of charity and grati tude which ought to unite and to sweeten society, are undermined by the injudicious administration of the poor's funds.
It cannot be denied that such have been the results in practice, and therefore it is evident that in many respects that practice has been faulty. Entire neglect of the poor drives them to despair, and of course to acts of despera tion and violence; laws and regulations having no object, except to silence or suppress their demands, are cruel, in judicious, and ineffectual. In the indiscriminate supply of all who ask, the most clamorous and worthless often supersede the most deserving and modest : if want be the sole measure of the supply, without regard to character, conduct, or consequences, temperance, industry, and eco nomy are subverted; if right be admitted as the basis of the poor's claim, charity and gratitude are almost wholly excluded. In these and other respects, the practice may often be justly considered bad; and yet, without going into a detail of the many practical errors thus committed, some view of the correct principles of administration may he attained.
If poverty were in all its bearings an evil, its tota l re moval out of the world might be considered as a blessing. But though its pressure is always felt and viewed as an evil, its consequences arc not always to be considered in this light. That pressure, with all its privations and suf ferings, is a powerful stimulus to industry and economy. In its undefined, yet obvious tendency towards absolute want, it also excites our fears and our foresight; and thus, though an evil in its pressure on those who arc sub jected to poverty, and in the sympathetic views of the charitable who consider their sufferings, it is the instru ment of preventing indolence and prodigality ; and with out the sight and the pressure of it, human society could hardly be maintained. These are not all the good effects which result from it ; for poverty has often produced other happy moral effects, being favourable to temperance, chas tity, and other virtues; nor are these enlarged on here, though in the habits of considerate and prudent foresight, and of industry and economy, as well as in their many and growing benefits, the individuals who cherish these habits are gainers to a high degree, as well as the community in which they live.
It may, therefore, be laid down as a principle, that to banish poverty out of any community, would be a vain and inconsiderate attempt; and that its pressure ought only to be so alleviated as not to subvert its useful influence on mankind. We may view it as one of those apparent evils which occur in society, as the sanction of habits and vir tues necessary to its existence.
The correct principles of the administration of the funds of charity, hat e certainly not yet been generally understood; otherwise the practice would have been pro portionally improved. Utter neglect of the wants of the
poor is one extreme, n hich has a dangerous and obvious tendency to excite all the worst feelings of the poor, and to stir them up to violence against individuals, and to hatred and rebellion against the laws. The opposite ex treme consists in making want, without regard to conduct, the measure of the pauper's claim ; and in grounding this claim, not in charity, but in right, for thus are the best principles undermined, both in the giver and the receiver, whose condition indeed becomes so changed as not to ad mit of the correct application of the term pauper to one vested with right, and consequently with power, to enforce this right at the expense of others. The sister kingdom of Ireland furnishes too many instances of a near ap proach towards the former extreme, and England towards the latter.
In Scotland, notwithstanding the rather boasted superi ority of the general mode of administration, there is really a tendency towards both of these extremes. 'Many of the poor in the northern and Highland districts are so neglect ed by landholders and their men of business, as to be driven out into other parts of the kingdom, as common beggars, or to fall as a heavy burden on the families near which they happen to reside; and no adequate provision is made for the general poor of some of the respective parishes. In the southern and border parishes, on the contrary, assessments are introduced, which, though com monly not excessive in a degree beyond the increase of land rents and population, and therefore not making an in creasing burden, are yet so liable to become regular pen sions, thus relaxing industry, or to be given under me chanical forms, without sufficient attempts to discriminate, that great attention is required in order to render this mode of provision perfect; and, after all, it has the regu lar effect of diminishing the public charities of the people, including even those who arc not assessed. In the cen tral districts, and in some parishes, the landholders genc • rally contribute what is wanting for the support of the poor, over and above the collections and other funds, with out assessing; but here many heritors refuse, or neglect, to give any thing; and the burden devolves with unequal pressure on the liberal, while others very improperly es cape. There is also commonly another great evil through out this part of Scotland, (which is not permitted in the border districts where assessments are made,) and which is caused by swarms of common beggars from all quarters infesting the country, and raising contributions, in amount often far exceeding what would support the poor of the district. These undeniable facts discover too evidently that the practical administration in Scotland is capable of great improvement. There is in reality a tendency to wards improvement; but certainly the most equal and efficient administration is in the way of regular assessment, notwithstanding the objections against it ; nor is there any reason to dread that this mode should go to an extreme, while the dangerous example of the system in England is close in view; and the power is vested in the minister and elders, who know the claimants, and in the landholders, who have an interest in preventing extrava gant or improper grants. In point of fact, many of the parochial assessments arc in the way of being gradually reduced. In the principal cities and towns of Scotland, a great deal more attention is now given to the claims and conduct of the poor ; but the system of exclusion of all improper persons front these only drives them out into the country, where the practice of common begging has arrived at a great and burdensome height, and is really an almost intolerable evil.