state of things, can be the security for freedom, or protection to any class from the injustice of the powerful; for who is to form the guarantee, when all are corrupted? Who is to appeal to justice, when government itself, and a vast part of the property of the state are established on the fruits of rapine? To nations, not less than to individuals, Providence is a jealous God; He visits the sins of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation. The French peasants hitherto may have been benefited by the property which they gained during the Revolution, but the day of retribution has already commenced the bulwarks of European civilisation have disappeared in the land; like the Romans of old, they have aspired to be equal, and they have been levelled by the equality of Asiatic servitude.

CHAPTER XI.

ON THE MORAL EVILS AND MANAGEMENT OF THE POOR IN GREAT CITIES.

ARGUMENT.

Contagion of Vice in Great Cities-Want of foresight and sway of immediate desire the great evils-Innumerable temptations to which the poor are there exposed-Voluntary Charity, or Benevolence, wholly unable to relieve itExample of the total failure of the Voluntary System in Glasgow-Popular Instruction inadequate to restrain it, from the limited class whom it really can affect-Proof of this from the example of the higher classes-Causes of this failure-Which are of a permanent class-It is necessary to enlist the active propensities on the side of Virtue-Effect of this on all classes of Society-Necessity of raising the duties on Ardent Spirits-This an indispensable preliminary-Improvement by public authority and aid of the worst part of crowded streets and alleys-Vigorous, just, and expeditious administration of Criminal Law-Great value of the punishment of Transportation-General System of Emigration for the destitute Poor at the Public Expense-Establishments for giving the people the means of saving-Uniformly beneficial effect of private Charity-Answer to the prevailing errors on this subject.

It is comparatively an easy task to provide for the welfare of the poor in rural situations. The solitude in which they are placed, the incessant toil to which they are destined, the free air which they breathe, are as conducive to the healthful state of the mind, as to the strength of the physical frame. Society there exists in a simple form: the seductions of vice are far removed, and the occupations of men have a natural alliance with habits of order and propriety. An equal administration of public justice, a tolerable system of religious education, and an unrestrained facility of acquiring landed property, are generally sufficient, in such situations, both to establish habits of industry,

and to develope the requisite limitations to the principle of increase.

The great difficulty in the management of the poor occurs in great cities. It is there that vice has spread her temptations, and pleasure her seductions, and folly her allurements: that guilt is encouraged by the hope of impunity, and idleness fostered by the frequency of example. It is to these great marts of human corruption, that the base and the profligate resort from the simplicity of country life: it is there that they find victims whereon to practise their iniquity, and gains to reward the dangers that attend them. Virtue is there depressed from the obscurity in which it is involved guilt is matured from the difficulty of its detection licentiousness is rewarded by the immediate enjoyments which it promises. If any person will walk through St Giles's, the crowded alleys of Dublin, or the poorer quarters of Glasgow at night, he will meet with ample proof of these observations: he will no longer wonder at the disorderly habits and profligate enjoyments of the lower orders: his astonishment will be, not that there is so much, but that there is so little crime in the world.

The great cause of human corruption in these crowded situations, is the contagious nature of bad example, and the extreme difficulty of avoiding the seductions of vice, when they are brought into close and daily proximity with the younger part of the people. Whatever we may think of the strength of virtue, experience proves that the higher orders are indebted for their exemption from atrocious crime or disorderly habits, chiefly to their fortunate removal from the scene of temptation: and that where they are exposed

to the seductions which assail their inferiors, they are noways behind them in yielding to their influence. Solomon never showed his wisdom more than in recommending to the young to fly from the allurements of the strange woman; knowing well, that to remain and to resist were more than could be expected of human nature. It is the peculiar misfortune of the poor in great cities, that they cannot fly from these irresistible temptations: but that, turn where they will, they are met by the alluring forms of vice, or the seductions of guilty enjoyment.

Experience has proved that the fable of the philosopher is founded on an intimate acquaintance with the state of man in this world: and that the rival goddesses of pleasure and virtue, which stood before the infant Hercules, are not more dissimilar in appearance than the opposite paths of amusement and of duty are to every human being. The one promises future distinction, but requires present sacrifice: the other is lost in obscurity as it advances, but offers immediate gratification. The election of most men in the higher ranks in favour of the former, is in a great measure owing to the pains which are taken in education, or the fortunate influence of situation in concealing the seductions of the latter, till habit has confirmed the tendency to good conduct. It is the experienced impossibility of concealing the attractions of vice from the younger part of the poor in great cities, which exposes them to so many causes of demoralization from which their superiors are exempted; and renders the contagion of guilt so infinitely more rapid than the influence of good example.

Licentiousness among the poor is always attended

with present enjoyment; good conduct implies its abandonment. The one sacrifices the future for the present; the other the present for the future. There always will be found, no doubt, a certain number of persons among the lower orders in great cities, who will even in the outset of life take the right path, from a perception of the ultimate advantage to which it leads; but their number will as uniformly, it is to be feared, be inconsiderable compared with those who drown the prospect of the future in the whirl of present gratification. The proportion between them will be nearly that which subsists between men of strong understanding, and men of easy character: and every man's experience must have convinced him that the latter are always extremely numerous compared to the former.

The habits of rural life are favourable to the growth of foresight among the people. The cultivator sows, and does not expect to reap for a long period: during the intervening months he is incessantly occupied in severe labour, with a view to a future and distant benefit. Even the regularity of the seasons, and the stated recurrence of changes in which he is compelled to take an interest, incline his mind to the contemplation of distant events, and habituate him to the endurance of present labour with a view to a remote advantage. But the poor in towns are accustomed to totally different habits. No change of seasons, no recurrence of seed-time and harvest invite them to the contemplation of distant events, or to the habits of present sacrifice from the view to future benefits. The division of labour, so favourable to the greatness of the community, and so fatal to the character of the individual, confines them to a limited occupation, and