Uma Modesta Proposta - Jonathan Swift - Resumo e Análise

A MODEST PROPOSAL For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland from being a burden on their parents or country and for making them beneficial to the public by Dr Jonathan Swift 1729 It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town1 or travel in the country when they see the streets the roads and cabin doors crowded with beggars of the female sex followed by three four or six children all in rags and importuning2 every passenger for an alms These mothers instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance3 for their 5 helpless infants who as they grow up either turn thieves for want of work or leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain or sell themselves to the Barbadoes4 I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious5 number of children in the arms or on the backs or at the heels of their mothers and frequently of their fathers is in 10 the present deplorable state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance and 1 this great town Dublin the capital of Ireland 2 importuning persistently annoying or intrusive 3 sustenance nourishment 4 sell themselves to the Barbadoes Barbados is an island in the West Indies the poor often sought better fortunes by going to the New World often as indentured servants because they had no money for their passage 5 prodigious extremely large in number therefore whoever could find out a fair cheap and easy method of making these children sound and useful members of the commonwealth would deserve so well of the public as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation But my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the children 15 of professed6 beggars it is of a much greater extent and shall take in the whole number of infants at a certain age who are born of parents in effect as little able to support them as those who demand our charity in the streets As to my own part having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject and maturely weighed the several schemes of our projectors I have 20 always found them grossly mistaken in their computation It is true a child just dropped from its dam7 may be supported by her milk for a solar year with little other nourishment at most not above the value of two shillings8 which the mother may certainly get or the value in scraps by her lawful occupation of begging and it is exactly at one year old that I propose to provide for them in such a manner as instead of being a 25 charge upon their parents or the parish or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives they shall on the contrary contribute to the feeding and partly to the clothing of many thousands There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme that it will prevent those voluntary abortions and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children alas too frequent among us sacrificing the poor innocent babes I 30 6 professed openly declared 7 dropped from its dam dam is generally used in animal science as the term for the female parent of infant livestock rather than a human mother 8 two shillings An English unit of currency of the day equal to 12 pence twenty shillings constituted a Pound doubt more to avoid the expense than the shame which would move tears and pity in the most savage and inhuman breast The number of souls in this kingdom being usually reckoned one million and a half of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders from which number I subtract thirty thousand couple who are able to 35 maintain their own children although I apprehend9 there cannot be so many under the present distresses of the kingdom but this being granted there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand breeders I again subtract fifty thousand for those women who miscarry or whose children die by accident or disease within the year There only remain an hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents annually born The question 40 therefore is How this number shall be reared and provided for which as I have already said under the present situation of affairs10 is utterly impossible by all the methods hitherto proposed For we can neither employ them in handicraft 11or agriculture we neither build houses I mean in the country nor cultivate land they can very seldom pick up a livelihood by stealing till they arrive at six years old except where they are of 45 towardly parts12 although I confess they learn the rudiments13 much earlier during which time they can however be properly looked upon only as probationers14 As I have been 9 apprehend uneasily anticipate 10 present situation of affairs conditions 11 employ them in handicraft manufacturing of handmade household goods produced by weaving sewing or building furniture 12 they are of towardly parts showing exceptional promise exceptionally talented 13 rudiments fundamentals 14 probationers novices informed by a principal gentleman in the county of Cavan15 who protested to me that he never knew above one or two instances under the age of six even in a part of the kingdom so renowned for the quickest proficiency in that art 50 I am assured by our merchants that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is no saleable commodity and even when they come to this age they will not yield above three pounds or three pounds and half a crown at most on the exchange which cannot turn to account16 either to the parents or kingdom the charge of nutriments and rags having been at least four times that value 55 I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts which I hope will not be liable to the least objection I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food whether stewed roasted baked or boiled and I make no doubt that it 60 will equally serve in a fricasie17 or a ragoust18 I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that of the hundred and twenty thousand children already computed twenty thousand may be reserved for breed whereof only one fourth part to be males which is more than we allow to sheep black cattle or swine and my reason is that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage a 65 circumstance not much regarded by our savages therefore one male will be sufficient to 15 Cavan an Irish county that was once part of Ulster 16 turn to account turn to ones advantage that is to turn a profit 17 fricasie a fricassee fried or stewed meat served in a thick white sauce 18 ragoust a ragout ragu a highly seasoned dish of pieces of meat stewed with vegetables serve four females That the remaining hundred thousand may at a year old be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune through the kingdom always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month so as to render them plump and fat for a good table A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends and when 70 the family dines alone the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day especially in winter I have reckoned upon a medium that a child just born will weigh 12 pounds and in a solar year if tolerably nursed increases to 28 pounds 75 I grant this food will be somewhat dear19 and therefore very proper for landlords who as they have already devoured most of the parents seem to have the best title to the children Infants flesh will be in season throughout the year but more plentiful in March and a little before and after for we are told by a grave author an eminent French 80 physician that fish being a prolific diet20 there are more children born in Roman Catholic countries about nine months after Lent the markets will be more glutted than usual because the number of Popish infants is at least three to one in this kingdom and therefore it will have one other collateral advantage by lessening the number of Papists among us 85 I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggars child in which list I reckon all cottagers laborers and fourfifths of the farmers to be about two shillings per 19 dear expensive 20 prolific diet prolific diet commonly eaten annum rags included and I believe no gentleman would repine21 to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child which as I have said will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat when he hath only some particular friend or his own family to dine with 90 him Thus the squire will learn to be a good landlord and grow popular among his tenants the mother will have eight shillings neat profit and be fit for work till she produces another child Those who are more thrifty as I must confess the times require may flea22 the carcass the skin of which artificially dressed will make admirable gloves for ladies and 95 summer boots for fine gentlemen As to our City of Dublin shambles23 may be appointed for this purpose in the most convenient parts of it and butchers we may be assured will not be wanting although I rather recommend buying the children alive and dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs 100 A very worthy person a true lover of his country and whose virtues I highly esteem was lately pleased in discoursing on this matter to offer a refinement upon my scheme He said that many gentlemen of this kingdom having of late destroyed their deer he conceived that the want of venison might be well supplied by the bodies of young lads and maidens not exceeding fourteen years of age nor under twelve so great 105 a number of both sexes in every country being now ready to starve for want of work and service And these to be disposed of by their parents if alive or otherwise by their nearest 21 repine fret 22 flea flay skin 23 shambles slaughterhouse relations But with due deference to so excellent a friend and so deserving a patriot I cannot be altogether in his sentiments for as to the males my American acquaintance assured me from frequent experience that their flesh was generally tough and lean like 110 that of our schoolboys by continual exercise and their taste disagreeable and to fatten them would not answer the charge Then as to the females it would I think with humble submission be a loss to the public because they soon would become breeders themselves And besides it is not improbable that some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practice although indeed very unjustly as a little bordering upon 115 cruelty which I confess hath always been with me the strongest objection against any project how well soever 24intended But in order to justify my friend he confessed that this expedient was put into his head by the famous Salmanaazor25 a native of the island Formosa who came from thence to London above twenty years ago and in conversation told my friend that in his 120 country when any young person happened to be put to death the executioner sold the carcass to persons of quality as a prime dainty and that in his time the body of a plump girl of fifteen who was crucified for an attempt to poison the Emperor was sold to his imperial majestys prime minister of state and other great mandarins of the court in joints from the gibbet at four hundred crowns26 Neither indeed can I deny that if the same use 125 24 how well soever to any extent 25 Salmanaazor George Psalmanazar 1679 May 3 1763 An acquaintance of Samuel Johnson and other literary figures of 18th century London Psalmanazar convinced many in England that he was the first Formosan to visit Europe around 1702 he was proven a fraud 26 crowns a coin valued at 5 shillings or ¼ of a British pound were made of several plump young girls in this town who without one single groat27 to their fortunes cannot stir abroad without a chair28 and appear at a playhouse and assemblies in foreign fineries which they never will pay for the kingdom would not be the worse Some persons of a desponding spirit are in great concern about that vast number 130 of poor people who are aged diseased or maimed and I have been desired to employ my thoughts what course may be taken to ease the nation of so grievous an encumbrance29 But I am not in the least pain upon that matter because it is very well known that they are every day dying and rotting by cold and famine and filth and vermin as fast as can be reasonably expected And as to the young laborers they are now 135 in almost as hopeful a condition They cannot get work and consequently pine away from want of nourishment to a degree that if at any time they are accidentally hired to common labor they have not strength to perform it and thus the country and themselves are happily delivered from the evils to come I have too long digressed and therefore shall return to my subject I think the 140 advantages by the proposal which I have made are obvious and many as well as of the highest importance For first as I have already observed it would greatly lessen the number of Papists with whom we are yearly overrun being the principal breeders of the nation as well as our most dangerous enemies and who stay at home on purpose with a design to 145 27 groat a silver coin worth four pence 28 chair a sedan chair an enclosed chair carried by servants used to transport wealthy persons through cities 29 encumbrance burden or impediment deliver the kingdom to the Pretender30 hoping to take their advantage by the absence of so many good Protestants who have chosen rather to leave their country than stay at home and pay tithes against their conscience to an episcopal curate31 Secondly The poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own which by law may be made liable to a distress and help to pay their landlords rent their corn 150 and cattle being already seized and money a thing unknown Thirdly Whereas the maintenance of an hundred thousand children from two years old and upwards cannot be computed at less than ten shillings a piece per annum the nations stock will be thereby increased fifty thousand pounds per annum besides the profit of a new dish introduced to the tables of all gentlemen of fortune in the kingdom 155 who have any refinement in taste And the money will circulate among our selves the goods being entirely of our own growth and manufacture Fourthly The constant breeders besides the gain of eight shillings sterling per annum by the sale of their children will be rid of the charge of maintaining them after the first year 160 Fifthly This food would likewise bring great custom to taverns where the vintners32 will certainly be so prudent as to procure the best receipts33 for dressing it to 30 the Pretender James Francis Edward Stuart the Old Pretender claimed to be the rightful King of England because he was the eldest son of James II the last Catholic King of England who was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 that established William and Mary as protestant monarchs 31 curate a priest of the Church of England or Church of Ireland who was supported by local tax revenues reformation protestants like the Puritans generally opposed the practice of a state supported church 32 vintner wine seller or tavern owner 33 receipts recipes perfection and consequently have their houses frequented by all the fine gentlemen who justly value themselves upon their knowledge in good eating and a skilful cook who understands how to oblige his guests will contrive to make it as expensive as they please 165 Sixthly This would be a great inducement to marriage which all wise nations have either encouraged by rewards or enforced by laws and penalties It would increase the care and tenderness of mothers towards their children when they were sure of a settlement for life to the poor babes provided in some sort by the public to their annual profit instead of expense We should soon see an honest emulation34 among the married 170 women which of them could bring the fattest child to the market Men would become as fond of their wives during the time of their pregnancy as they are now of their mares in foal their cows in calf or sow when they are ready to farrow nor offer to beat or kick them as is too frequent a practice for fear of a miscarriage Many other advantages might be enumerated For instance the addition of some 175 thousand carcasses in our exportation of barreled beef35 the propagation of swines flesh and improvement in the art of making good bacon so much wanted among us by the great destruction of pigs too frequent at our tables which are no way comparable in taste or magnificence to a well grown fat yearly child which roasted whole will make a considerable figure at a Lord Mayors feast or any other public entertainment But this 180 and many others I omit being studious of brevity 34 emulation imitation 35 barreled beef even while the Irish population was starving absentee British landlords often exported the food from their Irish estates to England and its possessions Supposing that one thousand families in this city would be constant customers for infants flesh besides others who might have it at merry meetings particularly at weddings and christenings I compute that Dublin would take off annually about twenty thousand carcasses and the rest of the kingdom where probably they will be sold 185 somewhat cheaper the remaining eighty thousand I can think of no one objection that will possibly be raised against this proposal unless it should be urged that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom This I freely own and twas indeed one principal design in offering it to the world I desire the reader will observe that I calculate my remedy for this one individual 190 Kingdom of Ireland and for no other that ever was is or I think ever can be upon Earth Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound Of using neither clothes nor household furniture except what is of our own growth and manufacture Of utterly rejecting the materials and instruments that promote foreign luxury Of curing the expensiveness of pride vanity idleness and 195 gaming in our women Of introducing a vein of parsimony prudence and temperance Of learning to love our country wherein we differ even from Laplanders and the inhabitants of Topinamboo36 Of quitting our animosities and factions nor acting any longer like the Jews who were murdering one another at the very moment their city was taken Of being a little cautious not to sell our country and consciences for nothing Of teaching landlords 200 to have at least one degree of mercy towards their tenants Lastly of putting a spirit of honesty industry and skill into our shopkeepers who if a resolution could now be taken 36 Topinamboo a region of Brazil to buy only our native goods would immediately unite to cheat and exact upon us in the price the measure and the goodness nor could ever yet be brought to make one fair proposal of just dealing though often and earnestly invited to it 205 Therefore I repeat let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients till he hath at least some glimpse of hope that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them into practice But as to my self having been wearied out for many years with offering vain idle visionary thoughts and at length utterly despairing of success I fortunately fell upon 210 this proposal which as it is wholly new so it hath something solid and real of no expense and little trouble full in our own power and whereby we can incur no danger in disobliging England For this kind of commodity will not bear exportation and flesh being of too tender a consistence to admit a long continuance in salt although perhaps I could name a country which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it 215 After all I am not so violently bent upon my own opinion as to reject any offer proposed by wise men which shall be found equally innocent cheap easy and effectual But before something of that kind shall be advanced in contradiction to my scheme and offering a better I desire the author or authors will be pleased maturely to consider two points First As things now stand how they will be able to find food and raiment for a 220 hundred thousand useless mouths and backs And secondly There being a round million of creatures in humane figure throughout this kingdom whose whole subsistence put into a common stock would leave them in debt two million of pounds sterling adding those who are beggars by profession to the bulk of farmers cottagers and laborers with their wives and children who are beggars in effect I desire those politicians who dislike my 225 overture and may perhaps be so bold to attempt an answer that they will first ask the parents of these mortals whether they would not at this day think it a great happiness to have been sold for food at a year old in the manner I prescribe and thereby have avoided such a perpetual scene of misfortunes as they have since gone through by the oppression of landlords the impossibility of paying rent without money or trade the want of 230 common sustenance with neither house nor clothes to cover them from the inclemencies37 of the weather and the most inevitable prospect of entailing the like or greater miseries upon their breed for ever I profess in the sincerity of my heart that I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work having no other motive than the public good 235 of my country by advancing our trade providing for infants relieving the poor and giving some pleasure to the rich I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny the youngest being nine years old and my wife past childbearing 37 damp or cold weather for which England is often known