nstrous
doctrines and projects put forward by these and other persons; and there
seems to be such a lurking desire to carry the hostility to the working
classes still further, that I think it necessary in order to show, that
these English poor-laws, which have been so much calumniated by so many
greedy proprietors of land; I think it necessary to show, that these
poor-laws are the things which men of property, above all others, _ought
to wish to see maintained_, seeing that, according to the opinions of the
greatest and the wisest of men, they must suffer most in consequence of
the abolition of those laws; because, by the abolition of those laws, the
right given by the laws of nature would revive, and the destitute would
_take_, where they now simply _demand_ (as BLACKSTONE expresses it) in the
name of the law. There has been some difference of opinion, as to the
question, whether it be _theft_ or _no theft_; or, rather, whether it be a
_criminal act_, or _not a criminal act_, for a person, in a case of
extreme necessity from want of food, to take food without the assent and
even against the will, of the owner. We have, amongst our great lawyers,
SIR MATTHEW HALE and SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, who contend (though as we
shall see, with much feebleness, hesitation, and reservation,) that it _is
theft_, notwithstanding the extremity of the want; but there are many, and
much higher authorities, foreign as well as English, on the other side.
Before, however, I proceed to the hearing of these authorities, let me
take a short view of _the origin of the poor laws in England_; for that
view will convince us, that, though the present law was passed but a
little more than two hundred years ago, there had been something to effect
the same purpose ever since England had been called England.

14. According to the Common Law of England, as recorded in the MIRROUR OF
JUSTICES, a book which was written before the Norman Conquest; a book in
as high reputation, as a law-book, as any one in England; according to
this book, CHAPTER 1st, SECTION 3d, which treats of the "First
constitutions made by the antient kings;" According to this work,
provision was made for the sustenance of the poor. The words are these:
"It was ordained, that the poor should be sustained by _parsons_, by
_rectors_ of the church, and by the _parishioners_, so that _none of them
die for want of sustenance_." Several hundred years later, the canons of
the church show, that