The Lottery.

In spite of the persevering efforts of Government, who incur a great annual expence[199] for the purpose of restraining the baneful effects of illegal Insurances among the lower classes of the people, the evil still continues; its consequences are lamentable, for the delusion of this infatuation tends, in a very eminent degree, to the corruption of morals, producing scenes of distress, by which thousands suddenly descend from a state of comfort to extreme indigence.—In the [6th Chapter] of this Treatise, a general view is given of the effects of this contagion, and various remedies are proposed, which, under the conduct of a Board of Police, would certainly be effectual; while the Revenue drawn from the sale of Tickets might certainly be preserved. In the mean time, the following are suggested as useful expedients:—

1st. That in every Parish and District in the Metropolis, Masters, and heads of Families, should sign and publish an engagement to discharge all Servants who shall be concerned in Insurances in the Lottery; to be printed and hung up in every Servants' Hall and Kitchen, that none might pretend ignorance.

2d. That all Members of Friendly Societies, should, by a regulation of their own, and enforced by Parliament, be excluded from the benefits of such Societies, on being convicted of any concern whatever in such Insurances.[200]

Gaming.

The magnitude and extent of the pernicious propensity to Gaming have at all times proved a prolific source from whence has sprung an extensive corruption of morals. The reader is referred to the [6th Chapter] of this work for details, which will fully elucidate the baneful effects of this evil, in generating Cheats, Swindlers and Sharpers of every description. For the purpose of more effectually checking this mania, and the consequences which flow from it, it might be expedient to extend the Laws now in being respecting Lottery vagrants, to the Proprietors or Keepers of Gaming-Houses, and also to the Waiters, Servants and Assistants, who, on being apprehended, should, on proper proof, be punished as rogues and vagabonds.—It is, however, by the operation of the General Police System, that this and other evils are to be checked or remedied.

The lower Classes of the Jews.

Nothing would be more desirable than the adoption of some effectual plan, through the medium of the opulent and respectable individuals of the Jewish persuasion, whether of the Dutch or Portuguese Synagogues, by which the lower classes, particularly of the German Jews, might be regularly trained to some useful employment, since their present pursuits not only tend, in an eminent degree, to the corruption of Morals, but also to the commission of Crimes; and under circumstances, where the necessity of the case imperiously calls for a remedy, Legislative regulations might be resorted to; which might not only better the condition of this miserable class of the community, by compelling parents to bind their children to some employment, but also render them useful, instead of being too generally noxious members of the Body Politic,[201] from the idle and useless pursuits in which they are engaged.

Indigence And Beggary.

The various causes which produce Indigence in the Metropolis, discoverable through the medium of Beggary or Idleness, tend, in an eminent degree, to the corruption of Morals, and the consequent increase of Crimes.—In the [13th Chapter] of this Treatise this subject is examined, and a remedy proposed, through the medium of a Pauper Police, for the purpose of examining into the circumstances of the numerous class of individuals who have no parochial settlements in the Metropolis, or perhaps in any part of England, and are, from that circumstance, denominated Casual Poor.—There could not be a greater act of humanity to these often afflicted, and sometimes oppressed individuals, or of greater utility to the Public at large, than the establishment of a System whereby the most deserving could be propt up, rescued from despondency, and enabled to help themselves; while by discriminating between the virtuous and vicious poor, a proper line might be drawn, and the streets of the Metropolis freed from the multitude of Beggars, without doing violence to humanity.[202]