登陆注册
5416500000063

第63章 Chapter III(4)

If the 'iron law'held good,free trade in multiplying the labourers might only multiply the mass of misery.It might increase the aggregate wealth without raising the average welfare.The economical purists might reply that the poor would profit by the change on condition of also accepting the gospel according to Malthus.But the very name of Malthus stank in the nostrils of all Chartist leaders.

Another agitation gave special importance to this view.The credit which accrued to political economists from free trade was affected by their responsibility for the new poor-law.The passage of this measure in 1834might be taken as a victory not merely of the economists in general,but specifically of the hated Malthus.He and his followers had denounced the old system most effectually,and had denounced it in the name of his principles.To Malthus and to Ricardo the only remedy seemed to be the ultimate abolition of the poor-laws.Their disciples were prominent in carrying the new law.Nassau Senior (already mentioned)had resolved when a young man to reform the poor-laws.

He had lectured in 1828on the Principles of Population as an adherent (with some modification)of Malthus.As an early member of the Political Economy Club he was at the very focus of sound doctrine.He was an active member of the commission of 1832,and is said to have drawn up the famous report upon which the new measure was founded.(11)The measure itself hid therefore the highest credentials that strict political economists could desire.Brougham as Lord Chancellor helped Miss Martineau,a most orthodox adherent of the school,and a personal friend of Malthus,to prepare the public mind by a continuation of her Tales.

The new poor-law,though placed to the credit of Malthusians,was by no means a pure and simple application of the Malthus theory.The gross abuses,rate-aided wages,and so forth,were suppressed in accordance with his views;but the complete abolition of the poor-law,to which he had looked forward,was out of the question.The position was already critical.An experienced magistrate told the commission(12)that if the system went on for another ten years 'a fearful and bloody contest must ensue.'A generation of superfluous labourers,he said,had grown up demanding support.To maintain the system was dangerous,but simply to abolish it was to provoke a social war.

The alternative was a cautious and gradual remodelling of the system;and the transmutation of a demoralising into a disciplinary system.This meant so great a deviation from the extreme proposals that it might even tend to perpetuate the system by removing its abuses.Many of the evils resulted from the very fact which,in the eyes of Ricardo,was its chief palliation --the obligation of each parish to keep its own paupers.It had produced not economy but chaos.The commission recommend that the power of making regulations,now exercised 'by upwards of fifteen thousand unskilled and (practically)irresponsible authorities liable to be biased by sinister interests'(Bentham's sacred phrase)should,now be confided to the central board of control,on which responsibility is most strongly concentrated,and which will have the most extensive information.'(13)The competition between the parishes had produced the tangled laws of settlement,leading to endless litigation:the depopulation of some places,the overcrowding of others,the peculations and jobbery due to the 'sinister interests'of petty local authorities,and the utter absence of any uniform or rational system.To compel the fifteen thousand bodies to substitute co-operation for competition,to check their accounts,and to enforce general rules,it was necessary to create a central board with wide administrative authority.For such a scheme,now obvious enough,the commissioners found their only precedent in a measure by which a barrister had been appointed to inspect savings banks and friendly societies.(14)The new poor-law was thus a 'centralising'measure,and marked a most important step in that direction.It was denounced for that reason on both sides,and among the orthodox economists by M'Culloch.J.S.Mill defended it warmly against this 'irrational clamour';and but for certain restraining influences,especially the teaching of Tocqueville,would he thinks have gone into the opposite excess.(15)It seems,however,that the Utilitarians generally accepted the law as a judicious application of Malthus,tempered by proper regard for circumstances.They were indeed bound in principle to be shy of the direct application of a priori formula.Yet it may also be briefly noted that this was one of the cases on which the Utilitarians unconsciously forwarded a tendency to which they objected in general terms.They wished to codify and simplify the poor-law,and found it necessary to introduce a central regulating body.Though they meant to stimulate local activity,they were calling the central authority into fresh activity.

同类推荐
  • 禅门锻炼说

    禅门锻炼说

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 善谋上

    善谋上

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 洞神八帝妙精经

    洞神八帝妙精经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 上清九真中经内诀

    上清九真中经内诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 观世音菩萨往生净土本缘经附西晋录

    观世音菩萨往生净土本缘经附西晋录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 召唤武魂

    召唤武魂

    一部还算牛逼的异界争霸文、、、嗯!这简介,写了等于没写!
  • 梦鸳录

    梦鸳录

    文鸳,是从现代穿越到修仙界的一名女孩,生活在兰江靠近江边吊脚楼的地方,一次苏氏门派招徒,文鸳参加了,可惜被认定为最没有仙灵低灵人,低灵人要么退出,要么做打杂、厨客、为人包扎伤口的医客。文鸳最后选择了做厨客。和高大娘一起在厨房工作,文鸳的母亲很高兴,自己的女儿终于进入了苏氏……书友小可爱们,记得推荐和收藏哦~
  • 慕不复卿

    慕不复卿

    晨霜暮雪,有汝陪伴吾身,便是最好的事情。府中的海棠又开了,吹落零星点点。她是战场上惊鸿一瞥的侠义少女,他是君临天下的帝王,在那狼烟遍地的战场,两颗心相遇,不想会牵绊一生,更不想是痛苦的开始。世道如斯,帝王有情亦无情,是利用还是爱?她原本只是这世间最普通的一个,梦想着过那快意恩仇的江湖生活,可终归在一处地方栽了跟头,自此,再未离开。当芳华已逝,回首一生,那个皇帝的眼中剩下的只有火光中的一抹倩影。
  • 神魔蚩尤

    神魔蚩尤

    远古时期,天下分为九九八十一个原始部落,其中以炎帝为首领的神农氏部落最为强盛,其余部落都听命于他,向他进贡。后来随着炎帝的衰老,神农部落逐渐走向衰败,同时其他部落也逐渐壮大起来,对炎帝越来越不敬。为了各自的利益,他们相互之间的纷争也增多,矛盾越来越深,使得天下大乱,战火不断,黎民生于水深火热之中。女娲见此情况,为了平息战乱,派遣轩辕投胎于有熊部落,由他统一天下。谁知人类虽由女娲创造,但繁衍多年,已有其自然规律,潜移默化中竟然出生了一名为蚩尤的人,对女娲的干预进行反抗。
  • 传播艺术与艺术传播

    传播艺术与艺术传播

    在新中国成立60周年、中国传媒大学校庆55周年之际,《现代传播——中国传媒大学学报》也迎来了30周年刊庆。《现代传播——中国传媒大学学报》创刊于1979年,迄今走过了整整30年的历程。作为国内创刊最早的广播电视学术期刊之一,30年来我们向广大读者奉献了160多期刊物,5000余篇论文,发行总量50万余册,为中国广播电视学术与事业的发展做出了自己的贡献。
  • 盛世为妃

    盛世为妃

    沐惜颜是现代双色眼眸的混血美女,和朋友谷小麦去逛街没有注意把一个老头地上放着几块白玉石头,上面缠着乱七八糟的红线的东西勾了一下,差点摔倒,老头很惊讶沐惜颜能看到这些东西,而沐惜颜道歉并给老人整理好,结果老人发现沐惜颜不小心摆出了一个帝王命格,紧接着便和好朋友一起穿越到了架空的南煜国。南煜国有个说法,得双色眸者的天下。太后知情便分外看重她,让皇帝娶她做了贞妃,且看沐惜颜如何寻找自己的真命天子,如何逆天做后宫第一人!【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 般若心经略疏

    般若心经略疏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 鸿蒙道之幻世逍遥

    鸿蒙道之幻世逍遥

    在人间,留下至圣之名,传为万古奇谈!在仙魔妖佛界,成为人人惊叹的奇才,曾一怒,摧毁亿万人的大派!一切,都是为了追寻心中至爱!长剑出,乾坤震动,长剑落,星河破碎!
  • 白垩纪往事

    白垩纪往事

    恐龙、蚂蚁之间的战争与合作。智慧之火在时间的长河中渐渐熄灭,如同在它们之前和之后的无数物种曾经有过的那样,地球历史的漫漫长夜中闪现的两点转瞬即逝的萤光。
  • 信步漫游

    信步漫游

    我教过远坂凛魔法,与不列颠的王共饮美酒于月下,将圣杯赠与间桐家的少女玩耍……我是谁?一名动漫爱好者而已。只是有幸能行走于它们的世界。【伪无敌文。】剧情以动漫为主,漫画为辅。可能会对原著内容有所改动。当前世界《杀戮都市:O》,《达尔文游戏》,《噬神者》《斩赤红之瞳》……