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Life of Thomas Eddy

SW_WH1793_Page_251

London, 14th June, 1816. MY DEAR SIR, On the 3d instant, I had the pleasure of receiv-ing your esteemed and acceptable letter of the 5thultimo.—No doubt can be entertained of the benevo-lence and good disposition of our nation, where the charity of all ranks, who have any thing to spare,ramifies in all directions. Besides the relief affordedat home, nearly half a million of money has been sentto Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Russia, during andsince the war, for the relief of the sufferers. In thecourse of the last and the present year, nearly a mil-lion more has been raised from individuals for the re-lief of the wives, and families, and relations, of thesoldiers who fell at the great battle of Waterloo; be-sides a reward to those who survived this great strug-gle, which terminated a war of unexampled length,and which desolated the greatest part of Europe.But this benevolence is not confined to one object.It has ramified in all directions. The sums subscri-bed to the Bible Society, has been immense; and nodoubt is entertained of its being supported in prefer-ence to charities of every kind. I trust that you and I shall never, in our days, seethe sword of war unsheathed. There appears nowa strong disposition on the part of the sovereigns andrulers of all the great powers in Europe, to cultivatethe arts of peace. The still perturbed and unhappystate of France is now the only circumstance that islikely to disturb our tranquillity. Our legislature, now freed from the distresses ofwar, is sedulously devoting itself to the state of ourpolice and internal policy. Mendicity, mad houses,saving banks, the pauper system, &;c. &;c., at presentengage their attention: and the leading object is topromote humanity, and to improve the state of soci-ety by education, provident habits, and good laws, forthe prevention of moral and criminal offences. A penitentiary house, on a very large scale, is part-