is country,
seriously reflecting on the lessons which have been taught them by
those two appalling but instructive visitations of
Providence,--pestilence and famine--will soon perceive, whether it
is by the aid or without the aid of an effective legal provision
against destitution, that the sacred duty of charity is most
effectually performed; and what are the consequences to all ranks
of society which follow from its being neglected.

_Magna est veritas et praevalebit._

It is right that views so important and so ably stated, and which are
obviously prompted by so pure a spirit of philanthropy and true piety,
should receive the full weight that they are entitled to; and should
be canvassed and considered by all who feel an interest in the
question.

On the other hand, there are obvious considerations of an opposite
kind which should be fairly weighed. Independently of the general
arguments against an able-bodied Poor Law, with which political
economists are familiar, the special question arises, whether the
Highlands of Scotland have not been brought into their existing
condition partly by the peculiarities of national character, and
partly by the transition that is now in progress from a system of
ancient vassalage to more modern ideas of calculation and
independence. The patriarchal state which prevailed under the old
habits of clanship is now at an end, so far as regards the
proprietors, who are unable to maintain or govern their retainers as
of old, while the population generally continue in their former
condition of helpless tutelage, and must now be taught to act and
provide for themselves. The Lowlands of Scotland, though not
possessing an able-bodied Poor Law, are free from those evils by which
the Highlands are afflicted, and the population are scarcely, if at
all, in an inferior state to the corresponding portion of the English
nation.

Further, there arises the very grave consideration, that whatever may
be the abstract or original merits of an able-bodied Poor Law, the
introduction of such a system in an advanced state of society is a
matter of great delicacy, and may, from the very novelty of its
operation, often lead to utter idleness on the one hand, and
confiscation on the other. It ought not, in any view, to be attempted,
without being accompanied by some well digested plan of public
colonisation, to relieve the pressure which might otherwise over-power
the resour