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The obstruction which corporation laws give to the free

circulation of labour is common, I believe, to every part of

Europe. That which is given to it by the poor laws is, so far as

I know, peculiar to England. It consists in the difficulty which

a poor man finds in obtaining a settlement, or even in being

allowed to exercise his industry in any parish but that to which

he belongs. It is the labour of artificers and manufacturers only

of which the free circulation is obstructed by corporation laws.

The difficulty of obtaining settlements obstructs even that of

common labour. It may be worth while to give some account of the

rise, progress, and present state of this disorder, the greatest,

perhaps, of any in the police of England.