[Draft of a letter to Thomas Newenham]

 Sir
　　   I have received and read
         I beg to thank you 
for your pamphlet on the Poor Laws 
in Ireland which I have read with much 
interest. The view which you have taken 
of the subject is I think just and is well 
supported by the information which your 
knowledge of the county, and the character of its 
inhabitants has enabled you to bring forward. 
I agree with you very generally; and have 
long thought that the situation of Ireland is such, 
that independent of the objection of the poor 
laws on general principles, it would be a very hazardous 
experiment to introduce them there. They might 
possibly afford the means of mitigating the practice 
of beggary, which I consider as the main advantage 
of poor laws; but I think with you that they 
would not diminish the migrations to 
England, and that on the whole 
there is great reason to fear that the 
establishment of them instead of tending to the 
quiet of Ireland would introduce new 
causes of discontent.
        I hope and trust that your remarks 
may obtain the circulation and attention 
which they will deserve, and and 　
                   Lem

  This is the Rev T.R. Malthus’s hand‐
writing – attested by his daughter 
                           Emily Pringle