uses the crop to fail, in a few days hunger kills
the inhabitants by myriads; and the Chinese historian records in the
annals of the empire, that in such a year of such an emperor twenty,
thirty, fifty, one hundred thousand inhabitants died of starvation.
Then they bury the dead, and recommence the production of children until
another famine leads to the same result. Such appears to have been, in
all ages, the Confucian economy.

I borrow the following facts from a modern economist:--

"Since the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, England has been
preyed upon by pauperism. At that time beggars were punished by law."
Nevertheless, she had not one-fourth as large a population as she has
to-day.

"Edward prohibits alms-giving, on pain of imprisonment.... The laws of
1547 and 1656 prescribe a like punishment, in case of a second offence.
Elizabeth orders that each parish shall support its own paupers. But
what is a pauper? Charles II. decides that an UNDISPUTED residence of
forty days constitutes a settlement in a parish; but, if disputed, the
new-comer is forced to pack off. James II. modifies this decision,
which is again modified by William. In the midst of trials, reports, and
modifications, pauperism increases, and the workingman languishes and
dies.

"The poor-tax in 1774 exceeded forty millions of francs; in 1783-4-5,
it averaged fifty-three millions; 1813, more than a hundred and
eighty-seven millions five hundred thousand francs; 1816, two hundred
and fifty millions; in 1817, it is estimated at three hundred and
seventeen millions.

"In 1821, the number of paupers enrolled upon the parish lists was
estimated at four millions, nearly one-third of the population.

"FRANCE. In 1544, Francis I. establishes a compulsory tax in behalf of
the poor. In 1566 and 1586, the same principle is applied to the whole
kingdom.

"Under Louis XIV., forty thousand paupers infested the capital [as many
in proportion as to-day]. Mendicity was punished severely. In 1740,
the Parliament of Paris re-establishes within its own jurisdiction the
compulsory assessment.

"The Constituent Assembly, frightened at the extent of the evil and the
difficulty of curing it, ordains the _statu quo_.

"The Convention proclaims assistance of the poor to be a NATIONAL DEBT.
Its law remains unexecuted.

"Napoleon also wishes to remedy the evil: his idea is imprisonment. 'In
that way,' said he, 'I shall protect the rich from the importunity