Page:Malthus 1807 A letter to Samuel Whitbread.djvu/21

 propose that those who were actually in want should be most liberally relieved, and that they should receive it as a right, and not as a bounty.

I ought to apologize for detaining you so long from the immediate subject of this letter; but I am sure your own feelings will tell you, that though I must be prepared to hear unmoved all those accusations of "hardness of heart" which appear to me to be the result of ignorance or malice, yet that any remark of the same kind coming from an enlightened and distinguished member of the British Senate cannot but give me pain, although accompanied by expressions of respect for my understanding.

But to proceed to the point. Putting all idea of the abolition of the Poor Laws out of the question, let us consider the general principles on which they ought to be improved. And here we are quite agreed, that the great object