Sir, this is an account of what England once
was--the England in which we now see so much security. And in the
absence of the outrages described as formerly existing, I think we have
a proof that their existence was owing to the state of society at the
time, and not the nature of the country. I will now read you a
description of another country, at a different period, at the end of the
seventeenth century:--"There are at this day (besides a great number of
families very meanly provided for by the Church boxes, with others, who,
with living upon bad food, fall into various diseases) 200,000 people
begging from door to door. These are not only no ways advantageous, but
a very grievous burthen to so poor a country; and though the number of
them be, perhaps, double what was formerly, by reason of the very great
distress, yet in all times there have been about 100,000 of these
vagabonds, who have lived without any regard or submission, either to
the laws of the land, or even those of God and nature--fathers
incestuously accompanying their own daughters, the son with the mother,
and the brother with the sister. No magistrate could ever discover, or
be informed, which way any of these wretches died, or that ever they
were baptized.
Pages:
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533