that where there are no manufactures, raw produce will be cheap, and finished commodities dear; that, in countries in which the agricultural system entirely predominates, "the condition of the people is subject to almost every degree of variation ;" that, commerce and manufactures are necessary to agriculture; and, that the poverty and wretchedness of Africa, and other countries in which fertile soils so much abound, are due to that want of power to maintain commerce, which always results from absence of diversity in the demand for human faculties. Rejecting these truths, while adopting all his errors, his countrymen have been most consistent in the effort to prevent the establishment of manufactures in any country outside of Britain-thereby producing, or perpetuating, throughout the world, the "vice and misery" described by Mr. Malthus, and by him attributed to what he called the "Principle of Population;" that principle being a mere form of words, indicative of the existence of a great, but altogether imaginary, fact.

Few books have exercised a greater influence, yet few have had less claim to the exercise of any influence whatsoever. Few have been so prejudicial to the modes of thought, and yet, no one can hesitate to believe, that its author was prompted by a desire of benefiting his fellow-men.

§ 4. Having discovered the one great and universal cause of the "vice and misery" of the world, Mr. Malthus did not fail to furnish an equally great and universal remedy; a panacea for the correction of all the social evils he had so well described; in the form of a recommendation to "moral restraint," in reference to the contraction of the matrimonial engagement-seeking thereby to arrest the growth of population. Before, however, we can admit the propriety of adopting one general course of practice, it would seem to be required that we satisfy ourselves of the exist ence of the one universal disease. Tested in this manner, we may suppose the inventor to have suggested its adoption by one of the American Indians above referred to - receiving his reply in the following words: "You mistake, my dear sir, our cause of difficulty. We are not troubled with any excessive desire for procreation. On the contrary, our young men are very cold, and, as a consequence, matrimonial connexions are but slowly formed,

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The

few children are born, and we continue poor and scattered. remedy we really need, is one that would stimulate our people to sexual intercourse-giving us a larger population, and thus facilitating that combination of action which would enable us to clear and cultivate the rich soils around us, by whose aid we might acquire wealth."-In like manner, the solitary inhabitant of the Orinoco would probably say: "I am here, as you see, alone, in the midst of a land, each acre of which would furnish the food required for a family's support. Give me neighbors, and see that they have both wives and children. We have here no need for either monks or nuns."-The Tahitan, in his turn, would be likely to say: Moral restraint is precisely the thing we do not need. Intercourse, throughout the island, being exceedingly promiscuous, is very unproductive. Population is, therefore, small, while food is most abundant. Were we to take your prescription, we should have many children, and would soon be troubled with over-population your remedy producing the disease it was honestly meant to cure."-The Tartar would perhaps reply, that he spent his life in the saddle; that he preferred robbery to the pursuits of civilized life; that he felt little desire for sexual intercourse; and, that the remedy would be of little use to him. The Turkish peasant would probably exclaim: "Moral restraint! Abstinence from matrimony! That, my dear sir, is precisely the evil of which I so much complain-the rich having so entirely monopolized the women, that I am unable to find a wife. Many of my neighbors are in the same situation with myself, and we should be greatly obliged to you if you could help us to obtain wives and children. Population and wealth then increasing, we should be enabled to protect ourselves, and would no longer be compelled to forego the cultivation of our fields, as now we do."-The Irishman would answer, that an essential cause of the growth of numbers throughout the island, was to be found in the "moral restraint" already so much existing. "Deprived," as he would say, "of all but mere animal enjoyments, my countrywomen find in the sexual intercourse, the one and only pleasure in which they may indulge. Proverbially chaste, they are very fruitful-our difficulty lying in that direction. Under existing circumstances, any further adoption of your remedy would but aggravate the disease you seek to cure. -Go where Mr. Malthus might, the answers would be still the same-his own

countrymen, even, assuring him, that one of the principal existing checks to population, was found in the great extent of indiscriminate intercourse.*

Prudence and foresight are strongly recommended to the consideration of the poor, by writers who commence by expelling from their minds the idea of hope-assuring them, that the check upon population, resulting from inability of the earth to furnish the necessary supplies of food, is "constantly in operation," and "must" be felt, "in some or other of the various forms of misery, by a large portion of mankind." A slave to nature man was brought into the world, and a slave to his fellow-man he must remain in it- he having "no claim, of right, to the smallest portion of food, and, in fact, no business to be where he is," if "the society does not need his labor." "At nature's feast, there is no place for him. She tells him to begone, and will quickly execute her own order." Inquiring anxiously if there is no hope of escape for his wife, his children, or himself, he is met by the assurance of the existence of certain fixed and immutable laws, so absolute in their operation, that "were the whole mass of human sustenance, 99 now produced, "to be increased tenfold by the efforts of human ingenuity and industry," it might be asserted, "as an undoubted truth, that the only effects, after the lapse of a few years, would have been the multiplication, in like proportion, of the number of its occupants, with probably, at the same time, a far increased proportion of poverty and crime."§ "In obedience to the great principle of population, there is now, and always must be, a tendency towards peopling countries "up to the limits of subsistence"-those limits being "the lowest quantity

* It was stated some years since by a clergyman (we think the Rev. Mr. Cunningham), that the morals of his parish were improving; and the reason given for this belief was, that bastards had become more numerous, from which fact he inferred that indiscriminate intercourse had become less

common.

† Principles of Population, Book I., ch. i.

Ibid, second edition, p. 431. Mr. Malthus, in deference to public feeling, subsequently expunged this passage, and yet, in writing it, he was but carrying out his " principle." Subsequent writers have gone quite as far as he did, in writing what is here quoted. See ante, vol. i., p. 470.

8 Quoted by Mr. Rickards, in his work, Population and Capital, without the author's name. Mr. R., like the present writer, is opposed to the Malthusian theory, and furnishes much, in the way of both fact and argument, that is worthy of the reader's attention.

of food which will maintain a stationary population." *— Such being his prospects, why should he hesitate to avail himself of the only source of pleasure that is open to him—the gratification of his animal appetites? †

"Moral restraint" comes with growing self-respect that, in turn, growing with the growth of intellectual development. That mind may be developed, there must be a power of association, resulting from the existence of diversity in the demand for human faculties. Where that exists, man acquires power over nature, and over himself-ceasing to be the slave of passion, and passing, by degrees, towards the condition of the responsible being we may properly designate as MAN.-With every step in that direction, the consumer takes his place by the side of the produceragriculture becomes more and more a science labor obtains power over capital-distribution becomes more equitable--society tends towards taking its natural form — and man becomes more free.The British system tending every where to prevent the production of these effects, and man becoming, under it, a mere

*Principles of Population, Book III., ch. xiv.

"A half-starved wretch, who has only rags to wear, and a ruined mudhovel to sleep in, knows that he cannot be more despised, though he may be more pitied, if the holes in his cheeks and coat, and in the roof of his shed, become twice as wide as at present. Neither is the absence of shame on account of his outward appearance supplied, as might be expected, by increased dread of the more real ills of poverty. On the contrary, it seems that the more wretched a man is, the more heedless he is about increasing his misery. If he were in easy circumstances, he would be reluctant to risk any of his comforts; but a very poor man may have no comforts to lose. If his means be barely sufficient to appease the cravings of nature, without affording him any positive gratification, he may think that, being already so badly off, he cannot become much worse; and that it is not worth while to practise present self-denial, from the dread of a slight increase of future privation.* He might possibly be disposed to postpone the indulgence of his inclinations, if there were a chance of his condition improving; but, if he have no such hope, the present opportunity may seem as unobjectionable as any that is ever likely to occur. He may even persuade himself that it will be for his advantage to marry early, that his sons may be able to assist him in his old age, when he would otherwise be altogether destitute He may reason in this manner, if he think at all; but it is more likely that his misfortunes will have rendered him inconsiderate and reckless. With so gloomy a prospect before him, he may prefer to close his eyes upon the future, and, caring only for the present moment, he may snatch at any means of alleviating his sorrows, without calculating the cost."-THORNTON: Causes of Over-population, p. 120.

"This argument has been briefly summed up in one of Dr. Johnson's memorable sayings: "A man is poor- he thinks, I cannot be worse, so I'll e'en take Peggy?”—Craker & Boswell, vol. ii., p. 103.

instrument to be used by trade, hence it is, that it has given rise to the theory of the "one great cause" of evil, and the one great remedy- the former leading to utter despair of the future, while the latter urges abstinence from the chief, even when not the only, source of pleasure left open in the present. As taught by Messrs. Malthus and Ricardo, social science has been well described as being the philosophy of despair, resting upon an arithmetic of ruin."'*.

§ 5. Responsibility grows with the growth of the gifts of God to man he who is rich in the development of his powers, and, therefore, capable of influencing the societary action, being responsible to his fellow-man, and to his Creator, for the full and strict performance of his duties. The poor laborer, on the contrary, is the slave of circumstances over which he exercises no control — rising, as he so frequently does, uncertain where he shall find his daily bread, and sleeping supperless, because of having found that society did not "need his labor," and had, therefore, allowed him no place at the table" provided for all mankind. Again and again he repeats the experiment-again and again failing to exchange his services for food, and returning to his wretched home, to encounter there the demands of a starving wife and children. Despairing, he steals a loaf-society then holding him. to a strict accountability, while relieving those in power from all responsibility, by maintaining the existence of great natural laws, in virtue of which a large proportion of every population must "regularly die of want."

That there is a great deal of vice and misery in the world, is

* According to Mr. J. S. Mill (Principles, Book IV., ch. ii.), "it is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being. They have enabled a great population to lead the same life of drudgery and imprisonment, and an increased number of manufacturers to make large fortunes."-This sad result, for result it certainly is, is attributed to excess in the tendency to procreation, but, Mr. Mill would have been more nearly right, had he attributed it to an effort at monopolizing the machinery of manufacture-preventing, outside of Great Britain, the development of agriculture, and producing, within the kingdom itself, all the evils predicted of it by Adam Smith. Looking to the present condition of all the unprotected countries of the world, he might have gone even further— asserting, that the condition of the human race had deteriorated since the day on which steam was first applied to the production of cloth and iron. The reverse of this might, however, be asserted in regard to all the protected countries of Central and Northern Europe.