y which could not be exterminated: the economists of 1800
said that it was a foul disease, which must and should be exterminated.
The scriptural philosophy said, that pauperism was inalienable from
man's social condition in the same way that decay was inalienable from
his flesh. "I shall soon see _that_," said the economist of 1800, "for
as sure as my name is M----, I will have this poverty put down by law
within one generation, if there's law to be had in the courts at
Westminster." The Scriptures had left word--that, if any man should come
to the national banquet declaring himself unable to pay his
contribution, that man should be accounted the guest of Christianity,
and should be privileged to sit at the table in thankful remembrance of
what Christianity had done for man. But Mr M---- left word with all the
servants, that, if any man should present himself under those
circumstances, he was to be told, "The table is full"--(_his_ words, not
ours;) "go away, good man." Go away! Mr M----? Where was he to go to?
Whither? In what direction?--"Why, if you come to _that_," said the man
of 1800, "to any ditch that he prefers: surely there's good choice of
ditches for the most fastidious taste." During twenty years, viz. from
1800 to 1820, this new philosophy, which substituted a ditch for a
dinner, and a paving-stone for a loaf, prevailed and prospered. At one
time it seemed likely enough to prove a snare to our own
aristocracy--the noblest of all ages. But that peril was averted, and
the further history of the case was this: By the year 1820, much
discussion having passed to and fro, serious doubts had arisen in many
quarters: scepticism had begun to arm itself against the sceptic: the
economist of 1800 was no longer quite sure of his ground. He was now
suspected of being fallible; and, what seemed of worse augury, he was
beginning himself to suspect as much. To one capital blunder he was
obliged publicly to plead guilty. What it was, we shall have occasion to
mention immediately. Meantime it was justly thought that, in a dispute
loaded with such prodigious practical consequences, good sense and
prudence demanded a more extended enquiry than had yet been instituted.
Whether poverty would ever cease from the land, might be doubted by
those who balanced their faith in Scripture against their faith in the
man of 1800. But this at least could not be doubted--that as yet poverty
_had_ not ceased, nor indeed had made any sensible p