ESSAYS-1 [51]
which are paid in Poor's taxes, but by the pains which are taken to see that the sums raised are properly applied.
As the providing useful employment for the Poor, and rendering them industrious, is, and ever has been, a great DESIDERATUM in political economy, it may be proper to enlarge a little here, upon that interesting subject.
The great mistake committed in most of the attempts which have been made to introduce a spirit of industry, where habits of idleness have prevailed, has been the too frequent and improper use of coercive measures, by which the persons to be reclaimed have commonly been offended and thoroughly disgusted at the very out-set.--Force will not do it.--Address, not force, must be used on those occasions.
The children in the house of industry at Munich, who, being placed upon elevated seats round the halls where other children worked, were made to be idle spectators of that amusing scene, cried most bitterly when their request to be permitted to descend from their places, and mix in that busy crowd, was refused;--but they would, most probably, have cried still more, had they been taken abruptly from their play and FORCED to work.
"Men are but children of a larger growth;"-- and those who undertake to direct them, ought ever to bear in mind that important truth.
That impatience of control, and jealousy and obstinate perseverance in maintaining the rights of personal liberty and independence, which so strongly mark the human character in all the stages of life, must be managed with great caution and address, by those who are desirous of doing good;--or, indeed, of doing any thing effectually with mankind.
It has often been said, that the Poor are vicious and profligate, and that THEREFORE nothing but force will answer to make them obedient, and keep them in order;--but, I should say, that BECAUSE the Poor are vicious and profligate, it is so much the more necessary to avoid the appearance of force in the management of them, to prevent their becoming rebellious and incorrigible.
Those who are employed to take up and tame the wild horses belonging to the Elector Palatine, which are bred in the forest near Dusseldorf, never use force in reclaiming that noble animal, and making him docile and obedient. They begin with making a great circuit, in order to approach him; and rather decoy than force him into the situation in which they wish to bring him, and ever afterwards treat him with the greatest kindness; it having been found by experience, that ill-usage seldom fails to make him "a man-hater," untameable, and incorrigibly vicious.--It may, perhaps, be thought fanciful and trifling, but the fact really is, that an attention to the means used by these people to gain the confidence of those animals, and teach them to like their keepers, their stables, and their mangers, suggested to me many ideas which I afterwards put in execution with great success, in reclaiming those abandoned and ferocious animals in human shape, which I undertook to tame and render gentle and docile.
It is however necessary in every attempt to introduce a spirit of order and industry among the idle and profligate, not merely to avoid all harsh and offensive treatment, which, as has already been observed, could only serve to irritate them and render them still more vicious and obstinate, but it is also indispensably necessary to do every thing that can be devised to encourage and reward every symptom of reformation.
It will likewise be necessary sometimes to punish the obstinate; but recourse should never be had to punishments till GOOD USAGE has first been fairly tried and found to be ineffectual. The delinquent must be made to see that he has deserved the punishment, and when it is inflicted, care should be taken to make him feel it. But in order that the punishment may have the effects intended, and not serve to irritate the person punished, and excite personal hatred and revenge, instead of disposing the mind to serious reflection, it must be administered in the most solemn and most DISPASSIONATE manner;
As the providing useful employment for the Poor, and rendering them industrious, is, and ever has been, a great DESIDERATUM in political economy, it may be proper to enlarge a little here, upon that interesting subject.
The great mistake committed in most of the attempts which have been made to introduce a spirit of industry, where habits of idleness have prevailed, has been the too frequent and improper use of coercive measures, by which the persons to be reclaimed have commonly been offended and thoroughly disgusted at the very out-set.--Force will not do it.--Address, not force, must be used on those occasions.
The children in the house of industry at Munich, who, being placed upon elevated seats round the halls where other children worked, were made to be idle spectators of that amusing scene, cried most bitterly when their request to be permitted to descend from their places, and mix in that busy crowd, was refused;--but they would, most probably, have cried still more, had they been taken abruptly from their play and FORCED to work.
"Men are but children of a larger growth;"-- and those who undertake to direct them, ought ever to bear in mind that important truth.
That impatience of control, and jealousy and obstinate perseverance in maintaining the rights of personal liberty and independence, which so strongly mark the human character in all the stages of life, must be managed with great caution and address, by those who are desirous of doing good;--or, indeed, of doing any thing effectually with mankind.
It has often been said, that the Poor are vicious and profligate, and that THEREFORE nothing but force will answer to make them obedient, and keep them in order;--but, I should say, that BECAUSE the Poor are vicious and profligate, it is so much the more necessary to avoid the appearance of force in the management of them, to prevent their becoming rebellious and incorrigible.
Those who are employed to take up and tame the wild horses belonging to the Elector Palatine, which are bred in the forest near Dusseldorf, never use force in reclaiming that noble animal, and making him docile and obedient. They begin with making a great circuit, in order to approach him; and rather decoy than force him into the situation in which they wish to bring him, and ever afterwards treat him with the greatest kindness; it having been found by experience, that ill-usage seldom fails to make him "a man-hater," untameable, and incorrigibly vicious.--It may, perhaps, be thought fanciful and trifling, but the fact really is, that an attention to the means used by these people to gain the confidence of those animals, and teach them to like their keepers, their stables, and their mangers, suggested to me many ideas which I afterwards put in execution with great success, in reclaiming those abandoned and ferocious animals in human shape, which I undertook to tame and render gentle and docile.
It is however necessary in every attempt to introduce a spirit of order and industry among the idle and profligate, not merely to avoid all harsh and offensive treatment, which, as has already been observed, could only serve to irritate them and render them still more vicious and obstinate, but it is also indispensably necessary to do every thing that can be devised to encourage and reward every symptom of reformation.
It will likewise be necessary sometimes to punish the obstinate; but recourse should never be had to punishments till GOOD USAGE has first been fairly tried and found to be ineffectual. The delinquent must be made to see that he has deserved the punishment, and when it is inflicted, care should be taken to make him feel it. But in order that the punishment may have the effects intended, and not serve to irritate the person punished, and excite personal hatred and revenge, instead of disposing the mind to serious reflection, it must be administered in the most solemn and most DISPASSIONATE manner;