Volume 1

A history of the English poor law : in connection with the state of the country and the condition of the people / by Sir George Nicholls.

  • Nicholls, George, Sir, 1781-1865.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A history of the English poor law : in connection with the state of the country and the condition of the people / by Sir George Nicholls. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    2643/ “Whenever, for the purposes of government, we arrive, in any state of society, at a class so miserable as to be in want of the common necessaries of life, a new principle comes into action. The usual restraints which are sufficient for the well-fed, are often useless in checking the demands of hungry stomachs. Other and more powerful means must then be employed; a larger array of military or police force must be maintained. Under such circum- stances, it may be considerably cheaper to fill empty stomachs to the point of ready obedience, than to compel starving wretches to respect the roast beef of their more industrious neighbours: and it may be expedient, in a mere economical point of view, to supply gratuitously the wants even of able- bodied persons, if it can be done without creating crowds of additional applicants.” Babbage, On the Principles of Taxation. London, 1851.