The miseries of the poor are a national sin, shame, and charge: but by making them happy, we shall remove that guilt, raise the glory, and double the wealth and strength of Great Britain ; and pay old debts without new taxes. By the Judicious Employment of the Poor (under One New General Law) and Present Taxes (without any Land-Tax) we may Justly and Gradually Discharge (within Twenty Years) All our National Debts: And whilst those Debts and Taxes are thus reducing, we shall farther receive (from the Regular Management of the Poor) much greater Benefits than the Payment of those Fifty Millions. A Due Care of the Poor is an Act of Great Piety towards Almighty God, an Act of the Greatest Humanity among Men, and of great Civil Prudence and Political Wisdom in relation to the State. - As things now are, our Populousness (which might be made the Greatest Blessing a Kingdom can have) becomes a Burden to the Nation; by breeding up whole Races, families, and Generations, in a mere Trade of Idleness, Thieving, and Beggin, and a barbarous kind of Life: which must in time prodigiously increase, and over-run the whole Face of the Kingdom, and Eat Out the very Heart thereof. Lord Chief Justice Hale, in ... upon employing the Poor.

Date:

M.DCC.XVII. [1717]