The inclosures in each reign were as follows:

Acts. Acres.
Queen Anne, 2 1,439
George I., 16 17,660
George II., 226 318,784
George III., 3446 3,500,000
George IV., 192 250,000
William IV., 72 120,000
---- ---------
Total, 3954 4,207,883

These lands belonged to the people, and might have been applied to
relieve the poor. Had they been allotted in small farms, they might
have been made the means of support of from 500,000 to 1,000,000
families, and they would have afforded employment and sustenance to
all the poor, and thus rendered compulsory taxation under the poor-
law system unnecessary; but the landlords seized on them and made
the tenantry pay the poor-rate.

The British Poor Law is a slur upon its boasted civilization. The
unequal distribution of land and of wealth leads to great riches
and great poverty. Intense light produces deep shade. Nowhere else
but in wealthy England do God's creatures die of starvation,
wanting food, while others are rich beyond comparison. The soil
which affords sustenance for the people is rightly charged with the
cost of feeding those who lack the necessaries of life, but the
same object would be better achieved in a different way. Poor-rates
are now a charge upon a man's entire estate, and it would be much