Page:Malthus 1807 A letter to Samuel Whitbread.djvu/18

 wish that the legislature should not be prevented by partial and temporary considerations from steadily pursuing that system, which promises best to promote and secure the permanent happiness of the lower classes of society. There are not many laws either human or divine, which in particular instances do not appear harsh and unequal; but if on that account we were to be deprived of the guide of general rules, we should lose at once the best security of order, virtue, and happiness among men.

To those who know me personally, I feel that I have no occasion to defend my character from the imputation of hardness of heart; and to those who do not, I can only express my confidence that when they have attended to the subject as much as I have, they will be convinced that I have not admitted a single proposition which appears to detract from the present comforts and gratifications of the poor, without very strong