'^yp-m. 
 

 c y 
 
AN ESSAY 
 
 ON THB 
 
 PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION; 
 
 OR, 
 
 A VIEW OF ITS PAST AND PRESENT EFFECTS^ 
 
 ON 
 
 HUMAN HAPPINESS; 
 
 WITH AN" INQUIRY INTO OUR PROSPECTS RESPECTING THE FUTURE REMOVAL 
 OR MITIGATION OF THE EVILS WHICH IT OCCASIONS. 
 
 A NEW EDITION, VERY MUCH ENLARGED. 
 
 By T. R. MALTHUS, A. M. 
 
 M 
 FELLOW OF JESUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, IN ST. PAUL's CHURCH-YARD, 
 BY T. BENSLBY, KOLT COURT, FLEET STREET. 
 
 1803. 
 

 a 
 
 t/% 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Effay on the Principle of Population, which I publifhed 
 in 1798, was fuggefted, as is exprefled in the preface, by a 
 paper in Mr. Godwin's Inquirer. It was written on the fpur 
 of the occafion, and from the few materials which were 
 within my reach in a country lituation. The only authors 
 from whofe writings I had deduced the principle, which 
 formed the main argument of the eflay, were Hume, Wal- 
 lace, Dr. Adam Smith, and Dr. Price; and my objedt was to 
 apply it to try the truth of thofe fpeculations on the per- 
 fectibility of man and fociety, which at that time excited a 
 confiderable portion of the publick attention. 
 
 In the courfe of the difcuffion, I was naturally led into 
 fome examination of the effects of this principle on the 
 exifting ftate of fociety. It appeared to account for much 
 of that poverty and mifery obfervable among the lower 
 clafTes of people in every nation, and for thofe reiterated 
 failures in the efforts of the higher claffes to relieve them. 
 The more I coniidered the fubje6l in this point of view, the 
 more importance it feemed to acquire ; and this confidera- 
 tion, joined to the degree of publick attention which the 
 effay excited, determined me to turn my leifure reading 
 
 a 2 toward^ 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 towards an hiflorical examination of the efFe6ls of the prin- 
 ciple of population on the paft and prefent flate of fociety ; 
 that, by illuftrating the fubje6t more generally, and drawing 
 thofe inferences from it, in application to the a6lual ftate of 
 \ things which experience feemed to warrant, 1 might give it 
 a more practical and permanent intereft. 
 
 In the courfe of this inquiry, I found that much more had 
 been done, than I had been aware of, when I firfl published 
 the effay. The poverty and mifery arifing from a too rapid 
 increafe of population, had been diflin6lly feen, and the moft 
 violent remedies propofed, fo long ago as the times of Plato 
 and Ariftotle. And of late years, the fubjecSl had been treated 
 in fuch a manner, by fome of the French Economifls, occa- 
 lionally by Montefquieu, and, among our own writers, by 
 Dr. Franklin, Sir James Steuart, Mr. Arthur Young, and 
 Mr. Townfend, as to create a natural furprife, that it had not 
 excited more of the publick attention. 
 
 Much, however, remained yet to be done. Independently 
 of the comparifon between the increafe of population and 
 food, which had not perhaps been Hated with fufficient 
 force and precifion ; fome of the moft curious and interefting 
 parts of the fubjedt had been either wholly omitted or treated 
 very flightly. Though it had been ftated diftincTtly, that 
 population muft always be kept down to the level of the 
 means of fubfiftenee; yet few inquiries had been made 
 into the various modes by which this level is efFe6led; 
 
 and 
 
PREFACE. y 
 
 and the principle had never been fufficiently purfvied to its 
 confeqiiences, and thofe pra6lical inferences drawn from it, 
 which a ftri6l examination of its efFedts on fociety appears 
 to fuggeft. 
 
 Thefe are therefore the points which I have treated moll: 
 in detail in the following effay. In its prefent shape, it may 
 be coniidered as a new work, and I lliould probably have 
 publifhed it as fuch, omitting the few parts of the former 
 which I have retained, but that 1 wiflied it to form a whole 
 of itfelf, and not to need a continual reference to the other. 
 On this account, I trufl that no apology is neceffary to the 
 purchafers of the firft edition. I fhould hope that there are 
 fome parts of it, not reprinted in this, which may ftill have 
 their ufe ; as they were rejected, not becaufe 1 thought them 
 all of lefs value than what has been inferted, but becaufe 
 they did not fuit the different plan of treating the fubjedl 
 which I had adopted. 
 
 To thofe who either underftood the fubjecSt before, or 
 faw it diftin6tly on the perufal of the firft edition, I am 
 fearful that I fliall appear to have treated fome parts of it 
 too much in detail, and to have been guilty of unneceflary 
 repetitions. Thefe faults have arifen partly from want of 
 Ikill, an<l partly from intention. In drawing fimilar infe- 
 rences from the ftate of fociety in a number of different 
 countries, 1 found it very difficult to avoid fome repetitions ; 
 and in thofe parts of the inquiry which led to conclu- 
 
 fions 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 lions different from our ufual habits of thinking, it appeared 
 to me, that, with the llighteft hope of producing con- 
 vicSlion, it was necelTary to prefent them to the reader's 
 mind at different times, and on different occafions. I was 
 willing to facrifice all pretenfions to merit of compolition, 
 to the chance of making an imprellion on a larger clafs of 
 readers. 
 
 The main principle advanced is fo inGontfovertible^ that, 
 if I had confined myfelf merely to general views, I could 
 liave entrenched myfelf in an impregnable fortrefs ; and 
 the work, in this form, would probably have had a much 
 more mafterly air. But fuch general views, though they 
 may advance the caufe of abftra6t truth, rarely tend tQ 
 j)romote any pracStical good ; and I thought that I fhould 
 ^ot do ijuflice to the fubjedt, and bring it fairly under dif- 
 cuffion, if I refufed to confider any of the confequences 
 which appeared necelTarily to iiow from it, whatever thefe 
 .confequences might be. By purfuing this plan, however, 
 1 am aware that I have opened a door to many obje<5lions ; 
 and, probably, to much feverity of criticifm: but I confole 
 luyfelf with the refle6lion, that even the errors into which 
 1 may have fallen, by affording a handle to argument, and 
 ;a,i;i additional excitement to examination, may be fubfer- 
 vient to the important end, of bringing a fubje6t fo nearly 
 connedled with the happine.fs of Jfociety into" more general 
 notice 
 
 Throughout 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 Throughout the whole of the prefent work, I have fo 
 far differed in principle from the former, as to fuppofe 
 another check to population poflible, which does not 
 flri(5tl7 come under the head either of vice or mifery ; and, 
 in the latter part, I ha^e endeavoured to foften fome of the 
 harfheft conclufions of the firft eflay. In doing this, I hope 
 that I have not violated the principles of juft reafoning; 
 nor exprefled any opinion refpeling the probable improve- 
 ment of fociety, in which I am not borne out by the 
 experience of the paft.. To thofe who fliall Hill think that 
 any check to population whatever, would be worfe than the 
 evils which it would relieve, the conclufions of the former 
 effay will remain in full force ; and if we adopt this opinion, 
 we fhall be compelled to acknowledge that the poverty 
 and mifery which prevail among the lower clafTes of fociety 
 are abfolutely irremediable.. 
 
 rhave taken as much pains as I could to avoid any errors 
 in the fadls and calculations which have been produced 
 in the courfe of the work. Should any of them never-- 
 thelefs turn out to be falfe, the reader will fee, that they 
 will not materially affedl the general tenour of the 
 reafoning. 
 
 From the crowd of materials which prefented themfelves 
 in illuftration of the firfl branch of the fubjedl, I dare not 
 flatter myfelf that I have feledled the befl, or arranged 
 them in the moft perfpicuous method. To thofe who take 
 
 an. 
 
y^i PREFACE,. 
 
 an interefl in pioral and political queflions, I hope thai 
 jthe novelty and importance of the fubjecSt will compenfate 
 the iniperfe6tions of its execution. 
 
 London, June 6^ 1803. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Of the Chech to FopiiJatton In the lefs ctvUhed parts, of the world,, 
 
 and in paft times 0. 
 
 Page 
 \^ Chap. I. Statement of the fubjeft.. Ratios of the increafe of population 
 
 and food - - - _ _ _ i. 
 
 y ir. Of the general checks to population, and the mode of their 
 
 operation - - - - 9. 
 
 X ni. Of the checks to population in the lowed ftage of human, 
 
 fociety - - - - 17- 
 
 y rV. of the checks to population among the American Indians 24 
 
 V. Of the checks to population in the iflands of the South Sea 46 
 
 VI, Of the checks to population among the ancient inhabitants 
 
 of the North of Europe _ - - _ 6^ 
 
 VII. Of the checks to population among modern pafforal nations 85 
 
 VIII. Of the checks to population in different parts of Africa 102 
 
 IX. Of the checks to population in Siberia, northern and fouthern 117 
 
 X, Of the checks to population in the Turkilh dominions, and 
 
 Perfia - - - - - 126 
 
 XI. Of the checks to population in Ihdoflan and Tibet - 133 
 XII. Of the checks to population. in China and Japan - 145 
 
 XIII. Of the checks to population among the Greeks - 162 
 
 XIV. Of the checks to population among the Romans. - 171 
 
 b BOOIC 
 
CON TENTS. 
 
 B O O ^K n. 
 
 Of the Checks to Population In the different' States of Modern 'Europe, 
 
 Page 
 Chap. I. Of the checks to (population in Norway - - 183 
 
 n. Of the checks to population in Sweden - - 196 
 
 fll. Of the checks to population in Ruffia - - - 210 
 
 y 3V. On. the fruitfulnefs of marriages - - - 224 
 
 y. Of the checks to population in the middle parts of Europe 240 
 
 VI. Effeds of^idemicks on tables of mortality - 252 
 
 VII. Of the checks to population in Switzerland - - 267 
 
 Wl I. Of (the (Checks to population in France - - 285 
 
 JX. Of the checks to population in England - - 300 
 
 X. Of the checks to population in Scotland and Ireland - 321 
 
 fX^L General deductions from the preceding view of Ibciety - ^^^ 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 Of the different Syfiems or Expedients which have been propofed or 
 have prevailed In Society j as they qffeSi the Evils arl/ing from tlie 
 Principle of Population. 
 
 Ch^S. I. Of fyftems of equality. Wallace. Condorcct - 2S3 
 
 V II. Of fyftems of equality. Godwin - - - 2^^ 
 
 n/^ III. Obfervations on the Reply of Mr. Godwin - -380 
 
 rV. Of emigration - - -'^^^ - J^J^y 
 
 V. Of the Englifh poor laws - - ^|k - - 39^ 
 
 VI. Subjed: of poor laws contini>ed - - ^k - 409*'^ 
 
 VIL Of increafing wealth as it aficiSs the condition of thf poor 420 
 
 ^YUI. Of 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 VIII. Of the definitions of wealth. Agricultural and commercial 
 
 fyflems -------- 4^0 
 
 IX. Different efFedts of the agricultural and commercial 
 
 fyftems ----- 44J 
 
 X. Of bounties on the exportation of corn - - *- 452 
 XI. Of the principal fources of the prevailing errors on the 
 
 fubjed of population ----- 4^0 
 
 B O O K IV. 
 
 Of our future ProfpeSls reJpeSlhig Ike removal or mitigation of the 
 Evils arljing from tlie Frinclple of Population, 
 
 j( Ghaj. I. Of moral reflraint, and the foundations of our obligation 
 . to pra6life this virtue - - - - 483 
 
 A IL Of the effeds which would refult to fociety fr^ the 
 
 . general pradlice of this virtue - - - - 494^^ 
 
 7v , 
 
 ^ III. Of the only cffedual mode of improving the cd^ition of 
 
 the poor - - - - - - - 504 
 
 IV. Objedions to this mode confidered - - -. 511 
 
 V. Of the confequences of purfuing the oppofite mode 517 
 
 v/ VI. EfFed of the knowledge of the principal caufe of poverty 
 
 on civil liberty ----- - ^25 
 
 Vil. Plan of the gradual abolition of the poor law5 propofed 536 
 VIII. Of the modes of correding the prevailing opinions on the 
 
 fubjed of Population ----- ^4^ 
 
 IX. Of the diredion of our charity - - - - 558 
 
 X. Of the errors in different plans which have been propofed, 
 
 to improve the condition of the poor - - 567 
 
 / XI. Of the neceffity of general principles on this fubjed - 582 
 N^ XII. Of our rational expedations refpeding the future improve- 
 ment of fociety - - - - - 557 
 
E R R A T A* 
 
 Page line 
 
 17 9> ft^om hoitom, for Van Dieman's read Van Dieraen's*. 
 
 Si'if i, Jor eat read ate. 
 
 40, lOtJor eat rra^ eaten. 
 
 49, 8, from bottom, Jor reafons rraJ feafons. 
 
 93, 12, from bottom, yor JS;ieburr'a//JSiebuhr. 
 
 100, 3, for is r^aJ are. 
 
 105, 1 1, for Lairdly read Laidley. 
 
 l6l, 1 Syjor Thunburgh read Thunberg. 
 
 ^(Z > for Kaemfer read Kasmpfer. 
 
 163, 2, from bottom, for in read for. 
 
 17 J, li,/or Void read Volfci. 
 
 210, 7, from bottom, ^or Vologda read Archbifliopric of Vologda. 
 
 247> 12, for attend read attend' to. 
 
 313, 10, Jhr latefcar cities r^a^ late fcarcities. 
 
 329, 1, foor this fuppofition read thefe proofs. 
 
 ' aC foor laR read feventeenth. 
 
 339 note, 5, from bottom, for thefe read than. 
 
 368, 4, foor infupcrable read infeparable. 
 
 3$8, 8, foor members read numbers. 
 
 415, 7> from bottom, foor phyficks read phyfick 
 
 481, 12, from bottom, foor achrne read^cvat. 
 
 ^00, 10, frona bottom, foor religious read religions. 
 
 Obvious typographical errors and onoiilions are not noticed. 
 
ESSAY, &c. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION IN THE LESS CIVILIZED PARTS 
 OF THE WORLD, AND IN PAST TIMES. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Statement of the Suhje^i. Ratios of the Increafe of Population 
 
 and Food- 
 
 In an inquiry concerning the future improvement of fociety, the 
 mode of conducing the fubje<fl which naturally prefents itfelf, is 
 
 1. An invefligation of the caufes that hav^^ hitherto impeded the 
 progrefs of mankind towards happinefs; and 
 
 2. An examination into the probabiUty of the total or partial re- 
 moval of thefe caufes in future. 
 
 To enter fully into this queftion, and to enumerate all the caufes 
 that have hitherto influenced human improvement, would be much 
 beyond the power of an individual. The principal objeft of the 
 prefent eifay is to examine the effe<fts of one great caufe intimately 
 united with the very nature of man, which, though it has been 
 conftantly and powerfully operating fmcc the commencement of 
 
 ~ B fociety. 
 
2 Statement of the StibjeSi, Ratios of book i, 
 
 fociety, has been little noticed by the writers who have treated 
 this fubjeft. The fadls which eftablifli the exiftence of this caufe 
 have, indeed, been repeatedly ftated and acknowledged ; but its 
 natural and neceflary effects have been almoft totally overlooked; 
 though probably among thefe effe<5ls may be reckoned a very con- 
 fiderable portion of that vice and mifery, and of that unequal dif- 
 tribution of the bounties of nature, which it has been the unceaiing 
 objed; of the enlightened philanthropift in all ages to correal. 
 
 The caufe to which I allude, is the conftant tendency in all ani- 
 mated life to increafe beyond the nourifhment prepared for it. 
 
 It is obferved by Dr. Franklin, that there is no bound to the 
 prolific nature of plants or animals, but what is made by their 
 crowding and interfering with each others means of fubfiflence* 
 Were the face of the earth, he fays, vacant of other plants, it 
 might be gradually fowed and overfpread with one kind only ; as, 
 for inftance, with fennel : and were it empty of other inhabitants, it 
 might in a few ages be repleniflied from one nation only ; as, for 
 inftance, with Engliflimen *. 
 
 This is incontrovertibly true. Through the animal and vegetable 
 kingdoms Nature has fcattered the feeds of life abroad with the moft 
 profufe and liberal hand ; but has been comparatively fparing in 
 the room and the nourifhment neceifary to rear them. The germs 
 of exigence contained in this fpot of earth, with ample food, and 
 ample room to expand in, would fill millions of worlds in the courfe 
 of a few thoufand years. Neceffity, that imperious all-pervading 
 law of nature, reftrains them within the prefcribed bounds. The 
 race of plants and the race of animals Ihrink under this great re- 
 ilri<Sive law ; and the race of man cannot by any efforts of reafon 
 cfcape from it. 
 
 In plants and animals the view of the fubjed: is fimple. They are 
 all impelled by a powerful inftin<5l to the increafe of their fpecics;. 
 
 * Frattklin's Mifcell. p. 9. 
 
 and 
 
CHAP. I. the Increafe of Population and Food. 3 
 
 and this inftindl is interrupted by no reafoning or doubts about 
 providing for their offspring. Wherever, therefore, there is liberty, 
 the power of increafe is exerted ; and the fuperabundant effedls are 
 repreiTed afterwards by want of room and nourifliment, which is 
 common to plants and animals; and among animals, by their be- 
 coming the prey of each other. 
 
 The effeds of this check on man are more complicated. Impel* 
 led to the increafe of his fpecies by an equally powerful inftind;, 
 reafon interrupts his career, and afks him whether he may not 
 bring beings into the world, for whom he cannot provide the means 
 of fupport. If he attend to this natural fuggeftion, the reftri<5lion 
 too frequently produces vice. If he hear it not, the human race 
 will be conftantly endeavouring to increafe beyond the means of 
 lubfiftence. But as by that law of our nature which makes food 
 neceflary to the life of man, population can never actually increafe 
 beyond the loweft nourifhment capable of fupporting it; a ftrong 
 check on population, from the difficulty of acquiring food, muft be 
 conltantly in operation. This difficulty muft fall fomewhere; and 
 muft neceffarily be feverely felt in fome or other of the various forms 
 of mifery, or the fear of mifery, by a large portion of mankind. 
 
 That population has this conftant tendency to increafe beyond 
 the means of fubfiftence, and that it is kept to its neceffary level by 
 thefe caufes, will fufficiently appear from a review of the different 
 ilates of fociety in which man has exifted. But before we proceed 
 to this review, the fubje<fl will perhaps be feen in a clearer light, 
 if we endeavour to afcertain, what would be the natural increafe of 
 population if left to exert itfelf with perfe-6t freedom; and what 
 might be expedled to be the rate of increafe in the productions of 
 the earth, under the moft favourable circumftances of human in- 
 duftry. A comparifon of thefe two rates of increafe will enable 
 us to judge of the force of that tendency in population to increafe 
 beyond the means of fubfiftence, which has been ftated to exift. 
 
 It will be allowed, that no country has hitherto been known, where 
 
 B 5 the 
 
4 Statement of the Suhjetf, Ratios of book I. 
 
 the manners were fo pure and iimple, and the means of {ubfiflcncc 
 lb abundant, that no check whatever has exifted to early marriages 
 from the difficulty of providing for a family; and no wafte of the 
 human fpecies has been occafioned afterw^ards by vicious cufloms, 
 by towns, by unhealthy occupations, or too fcvere labour. Confe- 
 quently in no ftate that we have yet known, has^ the pov^^er of 
 population been left to exert itfelf with perfect freedom. 
 
 Whether the law of marriage be inftituted, or not, the didtate of 
 nature and virtue feems to be an early attachment to one woman; 
 and where there were no impediments of any kind in the way of 
 an union to which fuch an attachment would lead, and no caufes of 
 depopulation afterwards, the increafe of the human fpecies would be 
 evidently much greater than any increafe which has been hitherto 
 known. 
 
 In the northern ftatcs of America, where the means of fubfiflence 
 have been more ample, the manners of the people more pure, and 
 the checks to early marriages fewer, than in any of the modern 
 ftates of Europe, the population was found to ^double itfelf for fome 
 fucceilive periods every twenty-five years. Yet even during thefe 
 periods, in fome of the towns, the deaths exceeded the births ^ ; 
 and they confequently required a continued fupply from the country 
 to fupport their population. 
 
 In the back fettlements, where the fole employment was agri- 
 culture, and vicious cuftoms and unwholefome occupations were 
 unknown, the population was found to double itfelf in fifteen 
 Yea.rs *". Even this c;xtraordinary rate of increafe is probably flaort 
 of the utmoft power of population. Very fevere labour is requifite 
 to clear a frefh country; fuch fituations are not in general confidered 
 as particularly healthy; and the inhabitants were probably occa- 
 fionally fubjed: to the incurfions of the Indians, which might deftroy 
 fome lives, or at any rate diminifh the fruits of their induflry. jf^ 
 
 * Price's Obferv. on Reverf, Pay. vol. i. p. 274. ^ Id, p. 282. 
 
 3 According 
 

 { 
 
 CHAP. I. fhe Increafe of Population and Food. i^ 
 
 According to a table of Euler, calculated on a mortality of 
 I in 36, if the birtlis be to the deaths in the proportion of 3 to r, 
 the period of doubling will be only 1 2, 4 years \ And thefe pro- 
 portions are not only poffible fuppofitions, but have actually occur- 
 red for fhort periods in more countries than one. 
 
 Sir William Petty fuppofes a doubling poffible in ib hort a time 
 as ten years ^. 
 
 But to be perfedly fure that \ve are far within the truth, we will 
 take the floweft of thefe rates of increafe ; a rate, in which all con- 
 curring teftimonies agree, and which has been repeatedly afcertained 
 to be from procreation only. 
 
 It may fafely be pronounced' therefore, that population when un- ^ 
 checked goes on doubling itfelf every twenty-five years, or increafes 
 in a geometrical ratio. 
 
 The rate according to which the produ<3:ions of the earth may 
 be fuppofed to increafe, it will not be fo eafy to determine. Of 
 this, however, we may be perfectly certain, that the ratio of their 
 increafe muft be totally of a different nature from the ratio of the 
 increafe of population. A thoufand millions are jufl as caflly 
 doubled every twenty-five years by the power of population as a 
 thoufand. But the food to fupport the increafe from the greater,^ 
 number will by no means be obtained with the fame facility. Man is 
 ncceffarily confined in room. When acre has been added to acre 
 till all the fertile land is occupied, the yearly increafe of food muft 
 depend upon the amelioration -of-thc land already in pofTeffion. 
 This is a llream, which, from the nature of all foils, inftead of in- 
 creafing, muft be gradually dimipifliing. But population, could it be 
 fupplied with food, ^ would go "on with unexhauftcd vigour; and 
 the increafe of one period would furnilh the power of a greater in- 
 creafe the next, and this, without any limit. 
 
 From the accounts we have of China and Japan, it may be 
 
 * See this table at the end of chap. iv. book ii. ** PoUt. Arith. p. 14. 
 
 fairly 
 
6' SlatementofiheSuhje^. Ratios of iiooKi. 
 
 i^irly doubted, whether the beft dired:ed efforts of human induftry 
 could double the produce of thefe countries even once in any num- 
 ber of years. There are many parts of the globe, indeed, hitherto 
 uncultivated, and almoft unoccupied ; but the right of exterminat- 
 ing, or driving into a corner where they muft ftarve, even the in- 
 habitants of thefe thinly peopled regions, will be queftioned in a 
 moral view. The procefs of improving their minds and directing 
 *their induftry, w^ould neceiTarily be flow; and during this time, 
 as population would regularly keep pace with the increafmg pro- 
 <3uce, it would rarely happen that a great degree of knowledge and 
 indufb;^^ would have to operate at once upon rich unappropriated 
 IbiLr Even where this might take place, as it does fometimes 
 in new colonies, a geometrical ratio increafes with fuch extra- 
 ordinary rapidity, that the advantage could not laft long. If Ame- 
 rica continue increaiing, which flie certainly will do, though not 
 with the fame rapidity as formerly, the Indians will be driven fur- 
 ther and further back into the country, till the whole race is ulti- 
 mately exterminated. 
 
 Thefe obfervations are, in a degree, applicable to all the parts of 
 the earth, where the foil is imperfe<ftly cultivated. To exterminate 
 the inhabitants of the greateft part of Aiia and Africa, is a thought 
 that could not be admitted for a moment. To civilize and direcft 
 the induftry of the various tribes of Tartars, and Negroes, would 
 certainly be a work of confiderable time, and of variable and un- 
 certain fuccefs. 
 
 Europe is by no means fo fully peopled as it might be. In 
 -Europe, there is the faireft chance that human induftry may receive 
 its beft direction. The fcience of agriculture has been much ftudied 
 in England and Scotland; and there is^^ftill a great portion of un- 
 cultivated land in thefe countries. Let us confider, at what rate 
 the produce of this ifland might be fuppofed to increafe under cir- 
 cuinftances the moft favourable to improvement. 
 
 If it be allowed, that by the beft poflible policy, and great en- 
 couragements 
 
CHAP. I the Increafe of Population and Food. y 
 
 courage ments to agriculture, the average produce of the ifland 
 could be doubled jn the firft twenty-five years, it will be allowing^ 
 probably a greater increafe than could with reafon be expedled. 
 
 In the next twenty-five years, it is impoflible to fuppofe that the 
 produce couTd be quadrupled. It would be contrary to all our 
 knowledge of the properties of land. The improvement of the 
 barren parts would be a work of time and labour ; and it raufl be 
 evident to thofe who have the flighteft acquaintance with agricul- 
 tural fubjedls, that in proportion as cultivation extended, the addi- 
 tions that could yearly be jimd^ to^^[e~^former average produce, m^iH 
 be gradually and regularly diminifhing. That we may be the better 
 able to compare the increafe of population and food, let us make a 
 fuppofition, which, without pretending to accuracy, is clearly more 
 favourable to the power of. produdlion in the earth, than any expe- 
 rience that we have had of its qualities will w^arrant. 
 
 Let us fuppofe that the yearly additions which might be made 
 to the former average produce, inflead of decreafing, which they 
 certainly would do, were to remafn the fame ; and that the pro- 
 duce of this ifland might be increafed every twenty-five years, by a 
 quantity equal to what it at prefent produces : the moft enthufi- 
 aflic fpeculator cannot fuppofe a,, greater increafe than this. In a. 
 few centuries it would make every acre of land in the ifland like a. 
 garden. "'"'"*~ ' 
 
 ""^ If this fuppofition be applied to the whole earth, and if it be aK 
 lowed that the fubfiftence for man which the eartk affords, might 
 be increafed every twenty-five years by a quantity equal to what it 
 at prefent produces, this will be fuppofing a rate of increafe much 
 greater than we can imagine that any poffible exertions of mankind' 
 . could make it. 
 
 It may be fairly pronounced therefore, that, confidering the pre- 
 fent average fl:ate of the earth, the means of fubfiftence, under cir- 
 cumftances the moft favourable to human induftry, could nofc 
 poflibly be made to increafe faller than in an arithmetical ratio. 
 
 The 
 
8 Statement of the Suhjedi, ^c. book I. 
 
 The neceflary effects of thefe two different rates of increafe, when 
 brought together, will be very ftriking. Let us call the population 
 of this illand eleven millions ; and fuppofe the prefent produce equal 
 to the eafy fupport of fuch a number. In the firft twenty-five 
 years the population would be twenty-two millions, and the food 
 being a1fo doubled, the means of fubfiftence would be equal to this 
 increafe. In the next twenty-five years, the population would be 
 forty-four millions, and the means of fubfiflence only equal to the 
 fupport of thirty-three millions. In the next period the population 
 would be eighty-eight millions, and the means of fubfiftence jufl 
 equal to the fupport of half of that number. And at the conclufion 
 of the rfl century, the population would be a hundred and fc- 
 venty-fix millions, and the means of fubfiflence only equal to the 
 fupport of fifty-five millions ; leaving a population of a hundred 
 and twenty-one millions totally unprovided for. 
 
 Taking the whole earth inflead of this ifland, emigration would 
 of courfe be excluded; and fuppofing the prefent population 
 equal to a thoufand millions, the human fpecies w^ould in- 
 creafe as the numbers i, 2, 4, 8, 16, 33, 64, 128, 2^6, and 
 fubfiflence as 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. In two centuries the po- 
 pulation w^ould be to the means of fubfiflence as 256 to 9 ; in 
 three centuries as 4096 to 13, and in two thoufand years the dif- 
 ference would be almofl incalculable. 
 
 In this fiippofition no limits whatever are placed to the produce 
 of the ea'rth. It may increafe for ever, and be greater than any 
 affignable quantity ; yet flill the power of population being in every 
 period fo much fuperior, the increafe of the human fpecies can only 
 be kept down to tlie level of the means of fubfiflence by the con- 
 flant operation of the flrong law of neceflity adling as a check upon 
 the greater power. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 Of the general Chech to Population ^ and the Mode of their Operation, 
 
 1 HE checks to population, which are conftantly operating with more 
 or lefs force in every fociety, and keep down the number to the level 
 of the means of fubfiftence, may be clafled under two general heads ; 
 the preventive^ andibhe pofitive checks. 
 
 The preventive check, is peculiar to man, and arifes from that dif- 
 tln<5tive fuperiority in his reafoning faculties, which enables him to 
 calculate diftant confequences. Plants and animals have apparently 
 no doubts about the future fupport of their offspring. The checks to 
 their indefinite increafe, therefore, are all pofitive. But man cannot 
 look around him, and fee the diftrefs which frequently preffes upon 
 thofe who have large families ; he cannot contemplate his prefent 
 poffeflions or earnings, which he now nearly confumes himfelf, and 
 calculate the amount of each fhare, when with very little addition 
 they muft be divided, perhaps, among feven or eight, without feeling 
 a doubt, whether if he follow the bent of his inclinations, he may be 
 able to fupport the offspring which he will probably bring into the 
 world. In a ftate of equality, if fuch can exift, this would be the 
 iimple queffion. In the prefent fbate of fociety other confiderations 
 occur. Will he not lower his rank in life, and be obliged to give up 
 in great meafure his former fociety ? Does any mode of employment 
 prefent itfelf by which he may reafonably hope to maintain a family ? 
 Will he not at any rate fubjed: himfelf to greater difficulties, and 
 more fevere labour than in his fmgle ftate ? Will he not be unable to 
 tranfmit to his children the fame advantages of education and im- 
 
 C provement 
 
10 Of the getieral Checks to Poptthtlonf book i. 
 
 provcment that he had hlmfelf poflefled ? Does he even feel fecure 
 that, fhould he have a large family, his utmoft exertions can fave 
 them from rags, and fqualid poverty, and their confequent degrada- 
 tion in the community ? And may he not be reduced to the grating 
 neceffity of forfeiting his independence, and of being obliged to the 
 fparing hand of charity for fupport ? 
 
 Thefe confiderations are calculated to prevent, and certainly do 
 prevent, a great number of perfons in all civilized nations from pur- 
 fuing the did:ate of nature in an early attachment to one woman. 
 
 If this reftraint do not produce vice, as in many inftances is the 
 cafe, and very generally fo among the middle and higher dalles of 
 women, it is undoubtedly the leaft evil that can arife from the prin- 
 ciple of population. Considered as a reftraint on an inclination, 
 Qtherwife innocent, and always natural, it muft be allowed to pro- 
 duce a certain degree of temporary unhappinefs ; but evidently flight, 
 compared with the evils which refult from any of the other checks to 
 population. 
 
 When this reftraint produces vice, as it does moft frequently among 
 men, and among a numerous clafs of females, the evils which follow 
 are but too confpicuous. A promifcuous intercourfe to fuch a de- 
 gree as to prevent the birth of children, feems to lower in the moft 
 marked manner the dignity of human nature. It cannot be without 
 its efFecfl on men, and nothing can be more obvious than its tendency 
 to degrade the female character, and to deftroy all its moil amiable 
 and diftinguifhing characleriftics. Add to which, that among thofe 
 unfortunate females with which all great towns abound, more real 
 diftrefs and aggravated mifery are perhaps to be found, than in any 
 other department of human life. 
 / When a general corruption of morals, with regard to the fex, per- 
 / vades all the clafles of fociety, its efed:s muft neceffarily be, to poifoii 
 I the fprings of domeftic happinefs, to weaken conjugal and parental 
 \ afFe6lion, and to leilen the united exertions and ardour of parents in 
 \the care and education of their children ; effe<fls;. which cannot take 
 
 place 
 
CHAP. II. and the Mode of their Operation. '11* 
 
 place without a decided diminution of the general happinefs and 
 virtue of the focicty ; particularly, as the neceffity of art in the ac- 
 complifliment and condu6l of intrigues, and in the concealment of 
 , their confequences, neceffarily leads to many other vices. 
 
 The pofitive checks to population are extremely various, and in- _ 
 elude every caufe, whether ariling from vice or mifery, which in any 
 degree contributes to Ihorten the natural duration of human life. * ' 
 Under this head therefore may be enumerated, all unwholefome qc- / 
 cupations, fcvere labour and expofure to the feafons, extreme poverty, j2 -^^ 
 bad nurfnig of children, great towns, excefles of all kinds, the whole 1/ ^^ 
 train of common difcafes and epidemics, wars, peftilence, plague, and *" ' 
 famine. 
 
 On examining thefe obftacles to the increafc of population which 
 I have claiTed under the heads of preventive, and pofitive checks, it 
 will appear that they are all refolvable into moral reftraint, vice, and 
 mifery. 
 
 the preventive checks, that which is not followed by Irregular 
 gratifications, may properly be termed moral reftraint. 
 
 Promifcuous intercourfe, unnatural paflions, violations of the mar- j^^" 
 riage bed, and improper arts to conceal the confequences of irregular 
 connexions, clearly come under the head of vice. 
 
 Of the pofitive checks, thofe which appear to arife unavoidably 
 from the laws of nature may be called exclufively mifery ; and thofc 
 which we obvioufly bring upon ourfelves, fuch as wars, excefles, and 
 many others which it would be in our power to avoid, are of a mixed 
 nature. They are brought upon us by vice, and their confequences 
 are mifery *. 
 
 In 
 
 * As the general confequence of vice is mifery, and as this confequence is the preclfe 
 reafon why an aftion is termed vicious, it may appear that tlie term mifery alone would 
 be here fufficient, and that it is fuperfluousto ufe both. But the rejelion of the term vice 
 would introduce a confiderable confufion into our language and ideas. We want it par- 
 ticularly to diftinguiih that clafs of actions, the general tendency of which is to produce 
 milery, but which, in their immediate or individual effedls, may produce perhaps exadtly 
 
 C 2 the 
 
 /I 
 
vf..,, 
 
 JZ Of the general Checks to Population, book i. 
 
 In every country, fome of thefe checks are, with more or lefs force, 
 in conftant operation ; yet notwithftanding their general prevalence, 
 there are few ftates in which there is not a conftant effort in the po- 
 pulation to incrcafe beyond the means of fubfiftence. This conftant 
 effort as conftantly tends to fubjed: the lower clailes of fociety to 
 diftrefs, and to prevent any great permanent amelioration of their 
 condition. 
 
 Thefe effects, in the prefent ftate of fociety, feem to be produced 
 in the following manner. We will fuppofe the means of fubfiftence 
 in any country juft equal to the eafy fupport of its inhabitants. The 
 conftant effort towards population, which is found to a6l even in the 
 moft vicious focieties, incrcafes the number of people before the means 
 of ftibfiftence are increafed. The food therefore which before fup- 
 port-ed eleven millions, muft now be divided among eleven millions 
 and a half. The poor confequently muft live much worfe, and many 
 of them be reduced to fevere diftrefs. The number of labourers alfo 
 being above the proportion of w^ork in the market, the price of la- 
 bour muft tend to fall ; while the price of proviHons would at the 
 fame time tend to rife. The labourer therefore muft do more w^ork, 
 to earn the fame as he did before. During this feafon of diftrefs, the 
 difcouragements to marriage, and the difficulty of rearing a family 
 are fo great, that population is nearly at a ftand. In the mean time, 
 the chcapncfs of labour, the plenty of labourers, and the jieceflity of 
 an increafed induftry among them, encourage cultivators to employ 
 more labour upon their land ; to turn up frcfli foil, and to manure 
 
 the contrary. The gratification of all our paffions in its immediate ciFefl is happinefs, 
 not miiery ; and in individual inftances even the remote confequences (at leafl: in this 
 life) come under the fame denomination. 1 have little douht that there have been fome 
 irregular connexions with women, which have added to thehappincfs of both parties, and 
 have injured no one. Thefe individual adlions therefore cannot come under the head of 
 mifery. But they are flill evidently vicious, becaufe an a6lion is fo denominated', the 
 general tendency of which is to produce mifery, whatev^er may be its individual effedl ; 
 and no pcrfon can doubt the general tendency of an illicit intercourfe between the fexes, 
 to injure the happinefs of fociety. 
 
 :n i^t- v-v' ' and 
 
 A' 
 
CHAP. II. (i'ttd the Mode of their Operation. 1 3 
 
 and improve more completely what is already in tillage ; till ulti- 
 mately the means of fubhllence may become in the fame proportion 
 to the population, as at the period from which we fet out. The fitua- ^ 
 tion of the labourer being then again tolerably comfortable, the re- 
 ftraints to population are in fome degree loofened ; and, after a fhort 
 period, the fame retrograde and progreffive movements, with refpec^ 
 to happinefs, are repeated. 
 
 This fort of ofcillation will not probably be obvious to common 
 view ; and it may be difficult even for the moft attentive obfcrver to 
 calculate its periods. Yet that, in the generality of old ftates, fome 
 fuch vibration does exift, though in a much lefs marked, and in a 
 much more irregular manner, than I have defcribed it, no receding 
 man who confiders the fubjedl deeply can well doubt. 
 
 One principal reafon why this ofcillation has been lefs remarked, 
 and lefs decidedly confirmed by experience than might naturally be 
 expe<5led, is, that the hiftories of mankind which we pofTefs, are, in 
 general, hiflories only of the higher clafiTes. We have not many ac- 
 counts, that can be depended upon, of the manners and cuftoms of 
 that part of mankind where thefc retrograde and progreffive movements 
 chiefly take place. A fatisfa6lory hillory of this kind, of one people 
 and of one period, would require the conftant and minute attention 
 of many obferving minds in local and general remarks on the ftate 
 of the lower claiTcs of fociety, and the caufes that influenced it ; and 
 to draw accurate inferences upon this fubjedl, a fucceffion of fuch . 
 hiftorians for fome centuries would be neceflary* This branch of 
 ftatiftical knowledge has of late years been attended to in fome coun- 
 tries % and we may promife ourfelves a clearer infight into the inter- 
 nal 
 
 ^ The judicious queftions which Sir John Sinclair circulated in Scotland, and the very 
 valuable accounts which he has colle<Sled in that part of the ifland, do him the higheft 
 honour; and thefe accounts will ever remain an extraordinary monument of the learning, 
 good fenfe, and general information of the clergy of Scotland. It is to be regretted that 
 the adjoining parifhes are not put together in the work, which v/ould have afUfted the 
 memory both in attaining and recolledting the ftate of particular diftri<^s. The repetitions 
 
 7 and 
 
14 Of the getieral Chech to Population, booki, 
 
 nal ftrudlure of human fpeiety from the progrefs of thefe inquiries. 
 But the fcience may be faid yet to be in its infancy, and many of the 
 objeds, on which it would be defirable to have information, have been 
 either omitted or not ftated with fufficient accuracy. Among thefc 
 perhaps may be reckoned, the proportion of the number of adults to 
 the number of marriages ; the extent to which vicious cuftoms have 
 prevailed in confequence of the reftraints upon matrimony j the com- 
 parative mortality among the children of the moft diftrefTed part of 
 the community, and of thofe who live rather more at their eafe ; the 
 variations in the real price of labour ; the obfervable differences in the 
 ftate of the lower cl^ffes of fociety with refpecl to eafe and happinefs, 
 at different times during a certain period ; and very accurate rcgifters 
 of births, deaths, and marriages, which are of the utmoft importance 
 in this fubjedl. 
 
 A faithful hiftory, including fuch particulars, would tend greatly to 
 elucidate the manner in which the conftant check upon population 
 aAs ; and would probably prove the exiftence of the retrograde and 
 progreffive movements that have been mentioned ; though the times 
 of their vibration muft neceffarily be rendered irregular from the ope- 
 ration of many interrupting caufes; fuch as, the introduftion of or fai- 
 lure of certain manufadtures, a greater or lefs prevalent fpirit of agri- 
 cultural enterprize ; years of plenty, or years of fcarcity ; wars, lickly 
 feafbns, poor laws, emigration, and other caufes of a fimilar nature. 
 
 A circumftance which has perhaps more than any other contri- 
 buted to conceal this ofcillation from common view, is, the differ- 
 
 and contradi6lory opinions which occur are not in my opinion fo objeftionable, as, to the 
 jrefuh of fuch teftimony, more faith may be given than we could poflibly give to the tefli- 
 mony of any individual. Even were this refult drawn for us by fome mafter hand, though 
 much valuable time would undoubtedly be faved, tlie information would not be fo fatis- 
 faftory. If, with a few fubordinate improvements, this work had contained accurate and 
 complete regifters for the laft 150 years, it would have been ineftimable, and would have 
 exhibited a better pi6lure of the internal (late of a country, than has yet been prefented to 
 the world. But this laft moft effential improvement no diligence could have efFedled. 
 
 encc 
 
CHAP. II. and the Mode of their Operation, ji 
 
 ence between the nominal and real price of labour. It very rarely 
 happens that the nomhial price of labour univerfally falls; but we 
 well know that it frequently remains the fame, while the nominal 
 price of proviHons has been gradually rifmg. This is, in efFedl^ 
 a real fall in the price of labour; and, during this period, the condi-, 
 tion of the lower clafles of the community muft be gradually grow- 
 ing worfe. But the farmers and capitalifts are growing rich from 
 the real cheapnefs of labour. Their increafmg' capitals enable them 
 to employ a greater number of men; and, as the population had 
 probably fuffered fome check from the greater difficulty of fupporting 
 a family, the demand for labour, after a certain period, would be 
 great in proportion to the fupply, and its price would of courfe rife,. 
 if left to find its natural level ; and thus the wages of labour, and 
 confequently the condition of the lower claiTes of fociety, might 
 have progreffive and retrograde movements, though the price of 
 labour might never nominally fall. 
 
 In favage life, where there is no regular price of labour, it is little 
 to be doubted that fimilar ofcillations take place. When population 
 has increafed nearly to the utmoft limits of the food, all the preven- 
 tive and the pofitive checks will naturally operate with increafed force. 
 Vicious habits with refpecft to the fex will be more general, the 
 cxpofing of children more frequent, and both the probability, and 
 fatality, of wars and epidemicks, will be confiderably greater; and 
 thefe caufes will probably continue their operation till the population 
 is funk below the level of the food ; and then the return to- 
 comparative plenty will again produce an increafe, and, after a 
 certain period, its further progrefs will again be checked by the 
 fame caufes ". 
 
 * Sir James Steuart very juftly compares the generative facuky to a fpring loadied with 
 a variable weight, (Polit. Econ. vol. i. b. i. c. 4. p. 20. ) which would of courfe produce 
 exadtly that kind of ofcillation which has been mentioned, hi the firll book of his Poli- 
 tical Economy, he has explained many parts of the fubjetSt of population very ably. 
 
 C3 ' But 
 
i6 Of the general Chech to Population, ^c. book i. 
 
 But without attempting to eftablifh in all cafes thefe progreffive 
 and retrograde movements in different countries, which would evi- 
 dently require more minute hiftories than we poflefs, the following 
 propoiitions are propofed to be proved: 
 
 1. Population is neceffarily limited by the means of fubfiftence. 
 
 2. Population invaribly increafes, where the means of fubfiflence 
 increafe, unlefs prevented by fome very powerful and obvious checks. 
 
 3. Thefe checks, and the checks which reprefs the fuperior power 
 of population, and keep its effedls on a level with the means of fub- 
 fiflence, are all refolvable into moral reflraint, vice, and mifery. 
 
 The firfl of thefe propofitions fcarcely needs illuflration. Tli 
 fecond and third will be fufficiently eflablifhed by a review of the 
 pafl and prefent flate of fociety. 
 
 This review will be the fubje<5l of the following chapters. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
CHAP* III. Of the Chech to Population, ^c, ly 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Of the Checks to Population in the lawefi Stage of Human Society. 
 
 1 HE wretched inhabitants of Terra del Fuego have been placed by 
 the general confent of voyagers at the bottom of the fcale of human 
 beings*. Of their domeftic habits and manners, however, we have 
 few accounts. Their barren country, and the miferable ftate in 
 which they live, have prevented any intercourfe with them that 
 might give fuch information ; but we cannot be at a lofs to conceive 
 the checks to population among a race of favages, whofe very appear- 
 ance indicates them to be half ftarved, and who, ihivering with cold, 
 and covered with filth and vermin, live in one of the mofl inhofpita- 
 ble climates in the world, without having fagacity enough to provide 
 themfelves with fuch conveniences as might mitigate its fe verities, and 
 render life in fome meafure more comfortable ''. 
 
 Next to thefc, and almoft as low in genius and refources, have been 
 placed, 4:he natives of Van Diemaa's land "^ ; but fome late accounts 
 have reprefented the illands of Andaman in the eaft, as inhabited by 
 a race of favages flill lower in wretchednefs even than thefe. Every 
 thing that voyagers have related of favage life, is faid to fall fhort of 
 the barbarifm of this people. Their whole time is fpent in fearch of 
 food ; and as their woods yield them few or no fupplies of animals, 
 and but little vegetable diet, their principal occupation is that of 
 climbing the rocks, or roving along the margin of the fea, in fearch 
 of a precarious meal of fifh, which, during the tempeftuous feafbn, 
 
 * Cook's Firft Voy. vol. ii. p. 59. ^ Second Voy. vol. ii. p. 187, 
 
 ' Vancouver's Voy. vol. ii, b. iii. c. i. p. 13. 
 
 D they 
 
/ 
 
 1% Of the Cfiecks to Population in the book r. 
 
 they often feek for in vain. Their ftature feldom exceeds fiv^e feet ; 
 their bellies are protuberant, with high fhoulders, large heads, and 
 limbs difproportionably flender. Their countenances exhibit the ex- 
 treme of wretchednefs, a horrid mixture of famine and ferocity ; and 
 their extenuated and difeafed figures plainly indicate the want of 
 w holefbme nouriiliment. Some of thefe unhappy beings have been 
 found on the Ibores in the laft ftage of famine *. 
 
 In the next fcale of human beings perhaps we may place the inha- 
 bitants of New Holland, of a part of whom we have fome accounts 
 that may be depended upon, from a peribn who refided a confiderable 
 time at Port Jackfon, and had frequent opportunities of being a wit- 
 nefs to their habits and manners. The narrator of Captain Cook's 
 firft voyage having mentioned the very fmall number of inhabitants 
 that was feen on the aftern coaft of New Holland, and the apparent 
 Inability of the country, from its defolate ftate, to fupport many more 
 bferves, " By what means the inhabitants of this country are reduced 
 '^ to fuch a number as it can fubfift, is not perhaps very eafy to guels ; 
 *' whether, like the inhabitants of New Zealand, they are deftroyed 
 " by the hands of each other in contefts for food, whether they are 
 " fwept off by accidental famine, or whether there is any caufe that 
 " prevents the increafe of the fpecies, mufl be left for future adven- 
 " turers to determine ^." 
 
 The account which Mr. Collins has given of thefe favages will, I 
 liope, afford in fome degree a fatisfaAory anfwer. They are defcribed 
 as, in general, neither tall nor well made. Their arms, legs, and 
 thighs, are thin, which is afcribed to the poornefs of their mode of 
 living. Thofe who inhabit the fea-coaft depend almoft entirely on 
 filh for their fiiffenance, relieved occasionally by a repaft on fome 
 large grubs which are found in the body of the dwarf gum tree. The 
 very fcanty flock of animals in the woods, and the very great labour 
 
 ' Symc'^s Embaffy to Ava, ch. i. p. 129. and Afiatic Refearches, vol. iv. p. 401. 
 ^ Cook's Firft Voy. vol. iii. p. 240.. 
 
 neceffary 
 
CHAP.lir. lowejl Stage of Human Society . i g 
 
 neceffary to take them, keep the inland natives in as poor a condi- 
 tion as their brethren on the coaft. They are compelled to climb 
 the tallefl; trees after honey, and the fmaller animals, fuch as the fly- 
 ing fquirrel and the opoflum. When the ftems are of great height, 
 and without branches, which is generally the cafe, in thick forells, 
 this is a procefs of great labour, and is effected by cutting a notch 
 with their ftone hatchets for each foot ilicceffively, while their left 
 arm embraces the tree. Trees were obferved notched in this man- 
 ner to the height of eighty feet before the firft branch, where the 
 hungry favage could hope to meet with any reward for fo much toil** 
 
 The woods, exclufive of the animals occafionally found in them, 
 afford but little fulcenance. A few berries, the yam, the fern root, 
 and the flowers of the different bankfia, make up the whole of the 
 vegetable catalogue^. 
 
 A native with his child, furprifed on the banks of the Hawkfbury 
 river by fbme of our colonifts, launched his canoe in a hurry, and left 
 behind him a fpecimen of his food, and of the delicacy of his fto- 
 Tnach. From a piece of water- foken wood, full of holes, he had been 
 extracting and eating a large worm. The fmell both of the worm 
 and its habitation was in the highefl degree offenfive. Thefe worms, 
 in the language of the country, are ca;lled cah-bro ; and a tribe of na- 
 tives dwelling inland, from the circumflance of eating thefe loath- 
 fome worms, is named Cah-brogal. The wood natives alfo make a 
 pafte formed of the fern root, and the large and fmall ants bruifed 
 together, and, in the feaibn, add the ggs of this infed: ^ 
 
 In a country, the inhabitants of which are driven to fuch refources 
 for fubfiflence, w^ere the fupply of animal and vegetable food is fo 
 extremely fcanty, and the labour neceffary to procure it is fo fcvere, 
 it is evident, that the population mufl be very thinly fcattered in pro- 
 portion to the territory. Its utmofl bounds muft be very narrow. 
 
 * Collins's Account of New South Wales, Appendix, p. 549. 4to. 
 * Id. Appen. p. 557. ^ Id. Appen. p. 558. 
 
 D i? But 
 
no Of the Chech to Population in the book j. 
 
 But when we advert to the ftrange and barbarous cuftoms of thefe 
 people, the cruel treatment of their women, and the difficulty of 
 rearing children ; inftead of being furprifed that it does not more 
 frequently prefs to pafs thefe bounds, we fhall be rather inclined to 
 confider even thefe fcanty refources as more than fufficient to fupport 
 all the population that could grow up under fuch circumftances. 
 X The prelude to love in this country is violence, and of the moft bru- 
 tal nature. The favage felecfls his intended wife from the women 
 of a different tribe, generally one at enmity with his own. He fteals 
 upon her in the abfence of her protedlors, and having firft ftupified 
 her with blows of a club, or wooden fword, on the head, back, and 
 ftioulders, every one of which is followed by a ftream of blood, he drags 
 her through the woods by one arm, regardlefs of the ftones and 
 broken pieces of trees that may lie in his route, and anxious only to 
 convey his prize in fafety to his own party, where a moft brutal 
 fcene eniues. The woman thus raviihed becomes his wife, and is in- 
 corporated into the tribe to which he belongs, and but feldom quits 
 him for another. The outrage is not refented by the relations of the 
 female, who only retaliate by a fimilar outrage when it is in their 
 power*. 
 
 The union of the fexes takes place at an early age, and inftances 
 were known to our colonifts of very young girls having been much 
 and fhamefully abufed by the males ''. ' 
 
 The conduct of the hufband to his wife, or wives, feerris to be 
 nearly in charafler with this Arrange and barbarous mode of court- 
 ship. The females bear on their heads the traces of the fuperiority 
 of the males, which is exercifed almoft as foon as they find ftrength 
 in their arms to infli(5l a blow. Some of thefe unfortunate beings 
 have been obferved with more fears on their fhorn heads cut m every 
 direction, than could well be counted. Mr. Collins feelingly fays, 
 ** The condition of thefe women is fo wretched, that I have often, on 
 
 ' Coilins's N. S. Wales, Appen, p. 559, ^ Appen p, ^6^ 
 
 *' feeing 
 
, CHAP. II!. hwejl Stage of Human Society. zi 
 
 " feeing a female child borne on its mothers flioulders, anticipated the 
 *' miferies to which it was born, and thought it would be a mercy 
 " to deftroy it\" In another place, fpcaking of Bennilong's wife 
 being delivered of a child, he fays, " I here find in my papers a note 
 " that for fome offence Bennilong had feverely beaten this woman 
 " in the morning, a lliort time before flie was delivered''." 
 
 Women treated in this brutal manner muft neceffarily be fubjeft ' 
 to frequent mifcarriages, and it is probable that the abufe of very 
 young girls, mentioned above as common, and the too early union of 
 the fexes in general, would tend to prevent the females from being 
 prolifick. Inftances of a plurality of wives were found more frequent 
 than of a fmgle wife; but what is extraordinary, Mr. Collins did not 
 recoiled: ever to have noticed children by more than one. He had 
 heard from fome of the natives, that the firft wife claimed an exclu- 
 ilve right to the conjugal embrace, while the fecond was merely 
 the Have and drudge of both ^ 
 
 An abfolutely exclufive right in the firft wife to the conjugal em- 
 brace feems to be hardly probable ; but it is poffible that the fecond 
 wife might not be allowed to rear her offspring. At any rate, if the 
 obfervation be generally true, it proves that a great part of the women 
 are without children, which can only be accounted for from the very 
 fevere hardihips which they undergo, or from fome particular cufloms 
 which may not have come to the knowledge of Mr. Collins. 
 
 If the mother of a fucking child die, the helplefs infant is buried ^ 
 alive in the fame grave with its mother. The father himfelf places 
 his living child on the body of his dead wife, and having thrown a 
 large ftone upon it, the grave is inftantly filled by the other natives. 
 This dreadful acfl was performed by Co-le-be, a native well known 
 to our colonifts, and who, on being talked to on the fubjed:, juflified 
 the proceeding by declaring that no woman could be found who 
 would undertake to nurfe the child, and that therefore it mufl have 
 
 * Collins's N. S. Wales, Ap'pen. p. 583. ^ Appen. note p. 562. *= Appen. p. 560. 
 
 died 
 
22 Of the Chech to Population In the book i. 
 
 died a much worfe death than that which he had given it. Mr. 
 CoUins had reafon to beHeve that this cuftom was generally preva- 
 lent, and obferves, that it may in fomc meafure account for the 
 thinnefs of the population ^. 
 
 Such a cuftom, though in itfelf perhaps it might not much 
 affec^l the population of a country, places in a ftrong point of 
 view the difficulty of rearing children in favage life. Women, 
 obliged by their habits of living to a conftant change of place, and 
 compelled to an unremitting drudgery for their hufbands, appear to 
 be abfolutely incapable of bringing up two or three children nearly 
 of the fame age. If another child be born before the one above 
 it can fhift for itfelf, and follow its mother on foot, one of the 
 two muil almoft neceffarily perilh for want of care. The tafk 
 of rearing even one infant, in fuch a wandering and laborious 
 life, muft be fo troublefome and painful, that we are not to be 
 furprifed that no woman can be found to undertake it, who is not 
 prompted by the powerful feelings of a mother. 
 
 To thefe caufes, which forcibly reprefs the rifmg generation, 
 muft be added thofe which contribute fubfequently to deftroy it ; 
 fuch as the frequent wars of thefe favages with different tribes, and 
 their perpetual contefts with each other ; their fl:range fpirit of re- 
 taliation and revenge which prompts the midnight murder, and the 
 frequent fhedding of innocent blood ; the fmoke and filth of their 
 miferable habitations, and their poor mode of living, produdive of 
 loathfome cutaneous diforders, and above all, a dreadful epidemic like 
 the fmall-pox, which fweeps off great numbers *. 
 
 In the year 1789 they were vifited by this epidemic which raged 
 among them with all the appearance and virulence of the fmall- 
 pox. The defolation that it occafioned was almoft incredible. Not 
 a living perfon was to be found in the bays and harbours that were 
 
 ^ Collins's N.S. Wales, Appendix, p. 607. \ 
 
 ^ See generally, the Appendix to Collins's Account of the Englifli Colony in New 
 -South Wales. 
 
 before 
 
CHAP. 1 11^ lo-weji Stage of Human Society,. z^ 
 
 before the mod frequented. Not a veftige of a human foot was 
 to be traced on the fands. They had left the dead to bury the dead. 
 The excavations in the rocks were filled with putrid bodies, and in 
 many places the paths were covered with fkelctons ^. 
 
 Mr. Collins was informed, that the tribe of Co-le-be, the native 
 mentioned before, had been reduced by the efFecfts of this dreadful 
 diforder to three perfons ; who found themfelves obliged to unite 
 with fome other tribe to prevent their utter extindlion ''. 
 
 Under fuch powerful caufes of depopulation, we fliould naturally 
 be inclined to fuppofe that the. animal and vegetable produce of the 
 country would be increafmg upon the thinly fcattered inhabitants, 
 and, added to the fupply of fifli from their fhores, would be more 
 than fufficient for their confumption ; yet, it appears upon the 
 whole, that the population is in general fo nearly on a level with 
 the average fupply of food, that every little deficiencj from unfavour- 
 able weather, or other caufes, occafions diftrefs. Particular times, 
 when the inhabitants feemed to be in great want, are mentioned as 
 not uncommon, and at thefe periods, fome of the natives were 
 found reduced to fkeletons, and almoft ftarved to death *=. 
 
 * CoUins's N. S. Wales, Appendix, p. 597. ^ Id. Appendix, p. 598. 
 
 '^ Id. c. iii. p. 34. and Appendix, p. 551 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 24 )_ 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Of the Checks to Population among the American Indlatis. 
 
 W E may next turn our view to the vail: continent of America, 
 the greateft part of which was found to be inhabited by fmall 
 independent tribes of favages, fubfifting nearly in a fimilar manner 
 to the natives of New Holland on the productions of unaffifted na- 
 ture. The foil was covered by an almoft univerfal foreft, and pre- 
 fented few of thofe fruits and efculent vegetables which grow in fiich 
 profufion in the illands of the South Sea. The produce of a moft rude 
 and imperfedl agriculture, known to fome of the tribes of hunters, was 
 fo trifling as to be confidered only as a feeble aid to the fubiiftence 
 acquired by the chace. The inhabitants of this new world, there- 
 fore, might be confidered as living principally by hunting and 
 filhing ^ ; and the narrow limits to this mode of fubfiftence are 
 obvious. The fupplies derived from fifhing could extend only to 
 thofe who were within a certain diftance of the lakes, the rivers, 
 or the fea-fhore ; and the ignorance and indolence of the improvi- 
 dent favagc would frequently prevent him from extending the bene- 
 fits of thefe fupplies much beyond the time when they were actually 
 obtained. The great extent of territory required for the fupport of 
 the hunter has been repeatedly fliated and acknowledged **. The 
 number of wild animals within his reach, combined with the fa- 
 cility with which they might be either killed or enfnared, muft 
 
 * Robertfon's Hiftory of America, vol.ii. b. iv. p. 137. et feq. oftavo edit. 1780. 
 ^ Franklin's Mifcell. p. 2. 
 
 neceffarily 
 
CHAP. IV. Of the Chech to Population, ^c. 25 
 
 neceflarily limit the number of his fociety. Tribes of hunters, Hke 
 beafts o( prey, whom they refemble in their mode of fubfiftence, 
 will confequently be thinly fcattered over the furface of the earth. 
 Like beafts of prey, they muft either drive away, or fly from, every 
 rival, and be engaged in perpetual contefts with each other ''. 
 
 Under fuch circumftances, that America Ihould be very thinly 
 peopled in proportion to its extent of territory, is merely an exem- 
 plification of the obvious truth, that population cannot increafc 
 without the food to fupport it. But the interefting part of the 
 inquiry, that part, to which I would wifli particularly to draw the 
 attention of the reader, is, the mode by which the population is 
 kept down to the level of this fcanty fupply. It cannot efcape ob- 
 fervation, that an infufficient fupply of food to any people, does 
 not fliew itfelf merely in the fhape of famine, but in other more 
 permanent forms of diftrefs, and in generating certain cuiloms, 
 which operate fbmetimes with greater force in the fuppreffion of a 
 rifing population, than in its fubfequent deftrud:ion. 
 
 It was generally remarked, that the American women were j^r 
 from being prolific, their marriages feldom producing above two or 
 three children ^. This unfruitful nefs has been attributed by fome 
 to a want of ardour in the men towards their women ; a feature of 
 character, which has been confidered as peculiar to the American 
 favage. It is not however peculiar to this race ; but probably exifts 
 in a great degree among all barbarous nations, w^iofe food is poor 
 ^ and infufficient, and who live in a conftant apprehenfion of being 
 prefled by famine, or by an enemy. Bruce frequently takes no- 
 tice of it, particularly, in reference to the Galla and Shangalla, fa- 
 
 * Robertfon, b. iv. p. 129. 
 
 ** Robertfon, b. iv. p. 106. Burke's America, vol. i. p. 187. Charlevoix, Hift. 
 ide la Nouvelle France, torn. iii. p. 304. Lafitau, Moeurs des Sauvages, torn. i. p. 590. 
 In the courfe of this chapter I often give the fame references as Robertfon ; but never, 
 without having examined and verified them myfelf. Where I have not had an oppor- 
 tunity of doing this, I refer to Robertfon alone. 
 
 E ' vage 
 
26 Of the Checks to Population book i. 
 
 vage nations on the borders of Abyffinia^' ; and Le Vaillant mentions 
 the phlegmatic temperament of the Hottentots as the chief reafon 
 of their thin population ^ . It feems to be generated by the hard- 
 ly fliips and dangers of fa vage life, which take off the attention from 
 i the fexual paffion. And that thefe are the principal caufes of it 
 ^ among the Americans, rather than any abfolute conftitutional de- 
 feft, appears probable, from its diminifhing, nearly in propor- 
 tion to the degree in which thefe caufes are mitigated, or removed. 
 In thofe countries of America, where, from peculiar fituation or 
 further advantages in improvement, the hardfhips of favage life are 
 lefs feverely felt, the paffion between the fexes becomes more ardent. 
 Among fome of the tribes feated on the banks of rivers well ftored 
 with filh, or others that inhabit a territory greatly abounding in 
 game or much improved in agriculture, the women are more 
 valued and admired ; and as hardly any reftraint is impofed on the 
 gratification of defire, the diffolution of t;heir manners is fometimes 
 exceffive '^. 
 
 If we do not then confider this apathy of the Americans as a 
 natural defed: in the bodily frame, but merely as a general cold- 
 nefs, and an infrequency of the calls of the fexual appetite, we 
 Ihall not be inclined to give much weight to it as affecting the num- 
 ber of children to a marriage; but fhall be difpofed to look for the 
 caufe of this unfruitfulnefs in the condition and cuftoms of the 
 women in a favage ftate. And here we fhall find reafons amply 
 fufficient to account for the fad; in queflion. 
 
 - It is finely obferved by Dr. Robertfon, that " Whether man 
 *' has been improved by the progrefs of arts and civilization, is a 
 
 * Travels to difcover the Source of the Nile, vol. ii. p. 223. 559. 
 
 * Voyage dans I'lnterieuv de I'Afrique, torn. i. p. 12, 13. 
 
 Robertfon, b. iv. p. 71. Lettres Edif. & Curieufes, torn vi. p. 48, 322, 330, 
 torn. vii. p. 20. i2i"no. edit. 1780. Charlevoix, torn. iii. p. 303, 423. Hennepin, 
 Moeurs des Sauyages, p, 37. 
 
 1 " queflion. 
 
CHAP. IV. among the Amerka7t Indians. 2y 
 
 " qucftion, which in the wantonnefs of difputation has been agitated 
 " among philofophcrs. That women are indebted to the refine- 
 " ment of polifhed manners for a happy change in their ftate,, 
 " is a point, which can admit of no doubt*." In every part of the 
 world, one of the molt general charadieriftics of the favage is to 
 defpife and degrade the female fex^ Among moil of the tribes in 
 America their condition is fo peculiarly grievous, that fervitude is 
 a name too mild to defcribe their wretched ftate. A wife is no 
 l?etter than a beaft of burthen. While the man pafTcs his days in idle- 
 nefs or amufement, the w^oman is condemned to inceftant toil. 
 Tafks are impofed upon her without mercy, and fervices are re- 
 ceived without complacence or gratitude ^ There are fome dif- 
 tridis in America where this ftate of degradation has been fo feverely 
 felt, that mothers have deftroyed their female infants, to deliver 
 them at once from a life in which they were doomed to fuch a , 
 miferable flavery ''. 
 
 This ftate of depreffion and conftant labour added to the unavoid- 
 able hardfliips of favage life muft be very unfavourable to the office 
 of child-bearing ' ; and the libertinage which generally prevails 
 among the women before marriage, with the habit of procuring 
 abortions, in which they rarely fail, muft neceftarily render them 
 more unfit for bearing children afterwards*'. One of the mif- 
 fionaries fpeaking of the common pradlice among the Natchez of 
 changing their wives, adds, unlefs they have children by them, a- 
 
 * Robertfon, b. iv. p. 103. 
 
 ^ Robertfon, b. iv. p. 103. Lettres Edif. paffim. Charlevoix Hift. Nouv. Fr. 
 torn. iii. p. 287. Voy. de Peroufe, c. ix. p. 402. 410. London. 
 
 ' Robertfon, b. iv. p. 105. Lettres Edif. torn, vi, p. 329. Major Roger's North 
 America, p. 211. Creuxii Hift. Canad. p. 57. 
 
 ^ Robertfon, b. iv. p. 106. Raynal, Hift. des Indcs, torn. iv. c. vii. p. iio. 8vo. 
 10 vol. 1795. 
 
 ' Robertfon, b. iv. p. 106. Creuxit Hift. Canad, p. 57. Lafitau, torn. i. p. 59*^. 
 
 ^ Robertfon, b. iv. p. 72. Ellis's Voyage, p. 198. Burke's America, vol. i. 
 p. 187. 
 
 E 5 proof. 
 
zS Of the Checks to Population book I. 
 
 proof, that thefe marriages were in general unfruitful, which may 
 be accounted for from the libertine lives of the women before 
 wedlock, which he had previoully noticed '. 
 
 The caufes, that Charlevoix affigns, of the fterility of the American 
 women, are, the fuckling their children for feveral years, during 
 which tiime they do not cohabit with their hufbands ; the cxceffivc 
 labour to which they are always condemned in whatever fituation 
 they may be ; and the cuflom eftabliflied in many places of per- 
 mitting the young women to proftitute themfelves before marriage. 
 Added to this, he fays, the extreme mifery to which thefe people are 
 fometimes reduceil, takes from them all defire of having children ^ 
 Among fome of the ruder tribes it is a maxim not to burden them- 
 felves with rearing more than two of their offspring *=. When 
 twins are bom, one of them is commonly abandoned, as the 
 mother cannot rear them both ; and when a mother dies during 
 the period of fuckling her child, no chance of preferving its life 
 remains, and, as in New Holland, it is buried in the fame grave 
 with the breaft that nourilhed it ''. 
 
 As the parents are frequently expofed to want themfelves, the 
 difficulty of fupporting their children becomes at times {o great, 
 that they are reduced to the neceffity of abandoning or deftroying 
 them*". Deformed children are very generally expofed; and among 
 fome of the tribes in South America, the children of mothers who 
 do not bear their labours well, experience a ilmilar fate, from a fear 
 that the offspring may inherit the weaknefs of its parent ^ 
 
 To caufes of this nature we muft afcribe the remarkable exemp- 
 tion of the Americans from deformities of make. Even when a mo- 
 ther endeavours to rear all her children without diftind;ion, fo great 
 
 " Letties Edlf. torn. vii. p. 20. 22. ^ Charlevoix, N. Fr. torn. iii. p. 304. 
 
 Robertfon, b. iv. p. 107. Lettres Edif. torn. ix. p. 140. "^ Robertfon, 
 
 b iv. p. 1C7, Lettres Edif. torn. viii. p. 86. f Robertfon, b. iv. p. 108. 
 
 ' Lafitau, McEurs des Sauv. torn, i. p. 592i 
 
 a proportion 
 
CHAP. IV. among the American LiJtans, zg 
 
 a proportion of the whole number pcriOies under the rigorous 
 treatment that muft be their lot in the favage ftate, that probably 
 none of thofe who labour under any original weaknefs or infir- 
 rnity can attain the age of manhood. If they be not cut off as foon 
 as they are born, they cannot long protrad their lives under the 
 fevere difcipline that awaits them ^ In the Spanifli provinces, where 
 the Indians do not live fo laborious a life, and are prevented from 
 dellroying their children, great numbers of them are deformed, 
 dwarfilh, mutilated, blind, and deaf*. 
 
 Polygamy feems to have been generally allowed among the Ame- 
 ricans, but the privilege was feldom ufed, except by the Caciques 
 and chiefs, and now and then by others in fome of the fertile pro- 
 vinces of the South, where fubfiftence was more eafdy procured. 
 The difficulty of fupporting a family confined the mafs of the people 
 to one wife "" ; and this difficulty was fo generally known and ac- 
 knowledged, that fathers, before they confented to give their daugh- 
 ters in marriage, required unequivocal proofs in the fuitor ot his ikill 
 in hunting, and his confequent ability to fupport a wife and chil- 
 dren \ The women, it is faid, do not marry early '; and this feems 
 to be confirmed by the libertinage among them before marriage, fa 
 frequently taken notice of by the miffionaries and other writers ^ 
 
 The cufloms above enumerated, which appear to have been gene- 
 rated principally by the experience of the difficulties attending the 
 rearing of a family, combined with the great proportion of children 
 that muft neceffarily perifli under the hardfhips of favage life, infpite 
 
 Charlevoix, torn. iii. p. 303. Raynal, Hift. dcs Indes, torn. viii. 1. xv. p. 22. 
 
 ** Robertfon, b. iv. p. 73. Voyage d'Ulloa, torn. i. p. 232. Robertfon,. 
 
 b. iv. p. 102. Lettres Edif. torn. viii. p. 87. ** Lettres Edif. torn. ix. 
 
 p. 364. Robertfon, b. iv. p. 115. * Robertfon, b. iv. p. 107. ^ Lettres 
 
 Edif. paflim. Voyage d'Ulloa, torn. 1. p. 343, Burke's America, vol. i. p. 187. 
 Charlevoix, torn. iii. p. 303, 304. 
 
 of 
 
30 Of the Chech to Population . book i. 
 
 of the beft efforts of their parents to fave them % muft, without 
 doubt, moft powerfully reprefs the rifmg generation. 
 
 When the young favagc, by a fortunate train of circumftances/ 
 has paifed fafely through the perils of his childhood, other dan- 
 gers fcarcely lefs formidable await him on his approach to manhood. 
 The difeafes to which man is fubjecft in the favage ftate, though 
 fewer in number, are more violent and fatal than thofe which pre- 
 vail in civilized fociety. As favages are wonderfully improvident, 
 and their means of fubfiftence always precarious, they often pafs 
 from the extreme of want to exuberant plenty, according to the 
 viciffitudes of fortune in the chace, or to the variety in the produc- 
 tions of the feafons ''. Their inconiiderate gluttony in the one cafe, 
 and their fevere abllinence in the other, are equally prejudicial to 
 the human conflitution ; and their vigour is accordingly at fome 
 feafons impaired by want, and at others by a fuperfluity of grofs 
 aliment, and the diforders arifmg from indigeftions ^ Thefe, 
 which may be confidered as the unavoidable confequence of their 
 mode of living, cut off confiderable numbers in the prime of life. 
 They are likewife extremely fubjedl to confumptions, to pleuretic, 
 afthmatic, and paralytic diforders, brought on by the immoderate 
 hardfliips and fatigues which they endure in hunting and war, and 
 by the inclemency of the feafons to which they are continually 
 expofed ^. 
 
 The miffionaries fpeak of the Indians in South America as fub- 
 jeA to perpetual difeafes for which they know no remedy ^ Igno- 
 rant of the ufe of the moft fimple herbs, or of any change in 
 their grofs diet, they die of thefe difeafes in great numbers. The 
 
 * Creuxius fays, that fcarcely one in thirty reach manhood. (Hift. Canad. p. 57) ; 
 but this muft be a great exaggeration. ^ Robertfon, b. iv. p. 85. '^ Char- 
 
 levoix, tom.iii. p. 302, 303. ^ Robertfon, b, iv. p. 86. Charlevoix, torn. iii. 
 
 p. 364. Lafitau, torn. ii. p. 36c, 361. "^ Lettres Edif. torn. viii. p. 83. 
 
 jefuit 
 
CHAP. TV. anio7tg ^he American Indians. ^i 
 
 jefuit Fauque fays, that, in all the different excurfions which he had 
 made, he fcarcely found a fingle individual of an advanced age *. 
 Kobertfon determines the period of human life to be fhorter among 
 iavasi;es than in well-regulated and induftrious communities ''. Ray- 
 nal, notwithftanding his frequent declarations in favour of favage 
 life, fays of the Indians of Canada, that few are fb long lived as 
 our people, whofe manner of living is more uniform and tranquil "", 
 And Cook and Peroufe confirm thefe opinions in the remarks which 
 they make on fome of the inhabitants of the northweft coail of 
 America ^. 
 
 In the vaft plains of South America, a burning Ilin operating on 
 the extenfive fwamps and the inundations that fucceed the rainy 
 feafon, fometimes generates dreadful epidemics. The mifiionaries 
 fpeak of contagious diftempers as frequent among the Indians, and 
 occafioning at times a great mortality in their villages '. The fmall- 
 pox every where makes great ravages, as, from want of care, and 
 from confined habitations, very few that are attacked recover from 
 it ^ The Indians of Paraguay are faid to be extremely fubjed: to 
 contagious diflempcrs, notwithflanding the care and attentions of 
 the Jefuits. The fmall-pox and malignant fevers, which, from the 
 ravages they make, are called plagues, frequently defolate thefe 
 fiourilhing mlffions, and, according to Ulloa, are the caufe that they 
 had not increafed in proportion to the time of their eflablilliment, 
 and the profound peace which they had enjoyed ^. 
 
 Thefe epidemics are not confined to the fouth. They are men- 
 tioned as if they were not uncommon among the more northern 
 nations '^ ; and, in a late voyage to the northwefl coaft of Ame- 
 rica, captain Vancouver gives an account of a mofl extraordinary 
 
 * Lettres Edif. torn. vii. p. 3 J 7. et feq. ^ b. iv. p. 86. '^ Raynal, 
 
 b. XV. p. 23. ^ Cook, third Voy. vol. iii. ch, ii. p. 520. Voy. de Peroufe, 
 
 ch. ix. ^ Lettres Edif. torn. viii. p. 79. 339. torn, ix, p. 125. 
 
 ^ Voyage d'UUoa, torn. i. p. 349. s Id. torn. i. p. 549. 
 
 ^ Lettres Edif. torn. vi. p. 335. 
 
 defolation 
 
^z Of the Chech to Population book i. 
 
 defolation apparently produced by fome diftemper of this kind. 
 From New Dungenefs he traverfed a hundred and fifty miles of 
 the coaft without feeing the fame number of inhabitants. De- 
 ferted villages were frequent, each of which was large enough to 
 contain all the fcattered favages that had been obferved in that 
 extent of country. In the different excurfions which he made, 
 particularly about Port Difcovery, the fkulls, limbs, ribs, and back- 
 bones, or fome other vefliges of the human body, were fcattered 
 promifcuoufly in great numbers ; and, as no warlike fears were ob- 
 ferved on the bodies of the remaining Indians, and no particular 
 flgns of fear and fufpicion, the mofl probable conjecture feems to be, 
 that this depopulation mufl have been occafioned by peflilential 
 difeafe *. The fmall-pox appears to be common and fatal among 
 the Indians on this coafl. Its indelible marks were obferved on 
 many, and feveral had lofl the fight of one eye from it ^. 
 
 In general, it may be remarked of favages, that, from their ex- 
 treme ignorance, the dirt of their perfons, and the clofenefs and 
 filth of their cabins ", they lofe the advantage which ufually attends 
 a thinly peopled country, that, of being more exempt from peflilen- 
 tial difeafes, than thofe which are fully inhabited. In fome parts of 
 America the houfes are built for the reception of many different fa- 
 milies, and fourfcore or a hundred people are crowded together 
 under the fame roof. When the families live feparately, the huts 
 are extremely fmall, clofe, and wretched, without windows, and 
 with the doors fo low, that it is neceffary to creep on the hands and 
 knees to enter them ^. On the northweft coafl of America, the 
 houfes are in general of the large kind; and Meares defcribes one of 
 jnofl extraordinary dimenfions belonging to a chief near Nootka 
 
 * Vancouver's Voy. vol. i. b. iu c. v. p. 256. ^ Id. civ, p. 242. 
 
 = Chadevolx fpeaks in the flrongeft terms of the extreme fihh and flench of the Ame- 
 rican cabins, "On ne peut entrer dans leur cabanes qu'on ne foit impeilei" ^^d the dirt 
 of their meals, he fays, " vous feroit horreur." Vol. iii. p. 338. 
 
 ^ Robertfon, b. iv, p. 182. Voyage d' UUoa, torn. i. p. 340. 
 
 7 Sound, 
 
CHAP. IV. among the American Indians. 33 
 
 Sound, in which eight hundred perfons eat, fat, and flept \ All 
 voyagers agree with refpeft to the filth of the habitations, and the 
 perfonal naftinefs of the people on this coaft ''. Captain Cook de- 
 fcribes them as fwarming with vermin, which they pick off and eat*^; 
 and the naftinefs and ftench of their houfes, he fays, is equal to their 
 confufion*^. Peroufe declares that their cabins have a nafHnefs and 
 flench, to which the den of no known animal in the world can be 
 compared ^. 
 
 Under fuch circumftances, it may be eafdy imagined what a dread- 
 ful havoc an epidemic muft make, when once it appears among them; 
 and it does not feem improbable, that the degree of filth defcribed 
 fhould generate diftempers of this nature, as the air of their houfes 
 cannot be much purer than the atmofphere of the mofl crowded 
 cities. 
 
 Thofe who efcape the dangers of infancy and of difeafe are con- 
 flantly expofed to the chances of war ; and notwithftanding the ex- 
 treme caution of the Americans in conducting their military opera- 
 tions, yet as they feldom enjoy any interval of peace, the wafte of 
 their numbers in war is confiderable ^ The rudeft of the American 
 nations are wxll acquainted with the rights of each community to its 
 own domains s. And as it is of the utmofi: confequence to prevent 
 others from deftroying the game in their hunting grounds, they guard 
 this national property with a jealous attention. Innumerable fubjedls 
 of difpute neceflarily ariie. The neighbouring nations live in a per* 
 petual ftate of hoftility with each other *". The very ad; of increafing 
 in one tribe, muft be an a<^ of aggreflion on its neighbours, as a larger 
 range of territory will be neceflary to fupport its increafed numbers. 
 
 * Meares's Voyage, ch. xii. p. 138, ^ Id. ch. xxiii. p. 252, Vancouver's Voy. 
 vol. iii. b.vi. c. i. p. 313. ' Cook's 3d Voyage, vol. ii. p. 305. . '' c, iii. p. 3i5. 
 
 * Voy. de Peroiift, ch. ix. p. 403. ^ Charlevoix, Hid. N. Fr. torn. iii. 20a, 
 303, 429. 8 Robertfon, b. iv. p, 147. '' Ibid. Lettres Edif. torn. viiUp- 4O, 
 86, &paffini. Cook's 3d Voy. vol.ii. p. 324. Meares's Voy. cli. xxiv, p. 267. 
 
 F ' The 
 
34 Of the Chech to Population book i. 
 
 The conteft will in this cafe naturally continue, either till the equi- 
 librium is reftored by mutual lofTes, or till the weaker party is extermi- 
 nated, or driven from its country. When the irruption of an enemy 
 defolates their cultivated lands, or drives them from their hunting 
 grounds, as they have feldom any portable ftores, they are generally 
 reduced to extreme want. All the people of the diflri<fl invaded are 
 frequently forced to take refuge in woods or mountains which can af- 
 ford them no fubfiftence, and where many of them perifh *. In fuch a 
 flight each confults alone his individual {diictj. Children defert their 
 parents, and parents confider their children asftrangers. The ties of 
 nature are no longer binding. A father will fell his fon for a knife 
 or a hatchet ^ Famine, and diftrefTes of every kind, complete the 
 deftrudion of thofe whom the fword had fpared ; and in this man- 
 ner whole tribes are frequently cxtinguilhed *=. 
 
 Such a ftate of things has powerfully contributed to generate that 
 ferocious fpirit of warfare obfervable among favages in general, and 
 moft particularly among the Americans. Their objeA in battle is not 
 conqueft, but deftrudion ^, The life of the vidor depends on the 
 death of his enemy; and, in the rancour and fell fpirit of revenge with 
 which he purfues him, he feems conftantly to bear in mind the dif- 
 trefles that would be confequent on defeat. Among the Iroquois> 
 the phrafe by which they exprefs their refolution of making war 
 againft an enemy, is, " Let us go and eat that nation." If they fo- 
 licit the aid of a neighbouring tribe, they invite it to eat broth made 
 of the flefli of their enemies ^. Among the Abnakis, when a body of 
 their warriors enters an enemy's territory, it is generally divided into 
 different parties of thirty or forty ; and the chief fays to each, to you 
 is given fuch a hamlet to eat, to you fuch a village ^, &c. Thefe ex- 
 
 * Robertfon, b. iv. p. 172. Charlevoix, N. Fr. torn. iii. p. 203. ^ Lettres 
 
 JEdif. torn. vlii. p. 346. ' Robertfon, b. iv. p. 172. Account of N. America, by 
 
 Major Rogers, p. 250. ^ Robertfon, b, iv. p. 150. ^ Id. p. 164. 
 
 ^ Lettres Edif. torn. vi. p. 205, 
 
 pre0ions 
 
CHAP. IV. among the Amerkafi Ind'mns. 35 
 
 preffions remain in the language of fome of the tribes, in which the 
 cuftom of eating their prifoners taken in war no longer exifts. Can- 
 nibalifm, however, undoubtedly prevailed in many parts of the new 
 world ^ ; and, contrary to the opinion of Dr. Robertfon, I cannot but 
 think that it muft have had its origin in extreme want, though the 
 cullom might afterwards be continued from other motives. It feems 
 to be a worfe compliment to human nature, and to the favage ftate, 
 to attribute this horrid repaft to malignant paffions, without the goad 
 of neccffity, rather than to the great law of felf-prefervation, which 
 has, at times, overcome every other feeling even among the moft hu- 
 mane and civilized people. When once it had prevailed, though only 
 occafionally, from this caufe, the fear that a favage might fed of be- 
 coming a repaft to his enemies, might eafily raife the pafTion of ran- 
 cour and revenge to fo high a pitch, as to urge him to treat his pri- 
 foners in this way, though not prompted at the time by hunger. 
 
 The miffionaries fpeak of feveral nations, which appeared to ufe 
 human flefh whenever they could obtain it, as they would the flefh 
 of any of the rarer animals ''. Thefe accounts may perhaps be exag- 
 gerated, tboug'h they feem to be confirmed, in a great degree, by the 
 late voyages to the north weft coaft of America, and by Captain 
 Cook's dcfcription of the ftate of fociety in the fouthern rfland of New 
 Zealand ^. The people of Nootka Sound appear to be cannibals ^, 
 and the chief of the diftri<5l Maquinna is faidto befo addidled to this 
 horrid banquet, that, in cold blood, he kills a flaye every moon to 
 gratify his unnatural appetite^. 
 
 The predominant principle of felf-prefervation, connected in the 
 breaft of the favage, moft intimately, with the fafety and power of 
 
 * Robertfon, b. Iv. p. 164. ** Lettres Edif. torn. vili. p. 105, S71. torn. vi. p. 265. 
 
 * Cautious as Captain Cook always is, he fays of the New Zealanders, " it was but 
 * too evident that they have a great liking for this kind of food." Second Voy. vol.i. 
 p. 246. And in the laft voyage, fpeaking of their perpetual hoftilities, he fays, *' and per- 
 ' haps the defire of a good meal may he no fmall incitement." Vol. i. p. 137. 
 
 ** Cook's Third Voy. vol. ii. p. 371. * Meares's Voy. ch. xxiii. p. 255. 
 
 Fij the 
 
3^ Of the Chech to Population Book i. 
 
 the community to which he belongs, prevents the admiffion of any 
 of thofe ideas of honour and gallantry in war, which prevail among 
 more civilized nations. To fly from an adverfary that is on his guard, 
 and to avoid a conteft where he cannot contend without rifk to his 
 own perfbn, and confequently to his community, is the point of ho- 
 nour with the American. The odds of ten to one are neceffary to 
 warrant an attack on a perfon who is armed and prepared to refift, and 
 even then, each is afraid of being the firft to advance ^. The great 
 objediofthe moft renowned warrior, is, by every art of cunning and 
 deceit, by every mode of ftratagem and furprize, that his invention 
 can fuggeft, to weaken and deftroy the tribes of his enemies with the 
 leaft poffible lofs to his own. To meet an enemy on equal terms is 
 regarded as extreme folly. To fall in battle, inftead of being rec- 
 koned an honourable death ^ is a misfortune, which fubjecfts the me- 
 mory of a warrior to the imputation of rafhnefs and imprudence. 
 But to lie in wait day after day, till he can rufh upon his prey, when 
 moft fecure, and leaft able to rellfl: him ; to fleal in the dead of night 
 upon his enemies, fet fire to their huts, and maflacre the inhabitants, 
 as they fly naked and defencelefs from the flames% are deeds of glory, 
 which will be of deathlefs memory in the breafls of his grateful 
 countrymen. 
 
 This mode of warfare is evidently generated by a confcioufnefs of 
 the difficulties attending the rearing of new citizens under the hard- 
 fhips and dangers of favage life. And thefe powerful caufes of de- 
 fl;ru6lion may, in fome inftances, be fo great, as to keep down the 
 population even coniiderably below the means of fubfiftence ; but 
 the fear that the Americans betray of any diminution of their fociety, 
 and their apparent wifh to increafe it, are no proofs that this is ge- 
 nerally the cafe. The country could not probably fupport the 
 addition that is coveted in each fociety ; but an acceffion of 
 
 * Lettres Edif. torn. vi. p. 360. ^ Charlevoix, N. Fr. torn. iii. p. 375. 
 
 ' Robertfon, b. iv. p. 155. Lettres Edif. torn, vi. p. 182, 360. 
 
 ftrength 
 
CHAP. IV. among the American Indians. 27 
 
 ftrcngth to one tribe, opens to it new fources of fubfiftence in the 
 comparative weaknefs of its adverfaries ; and, on the contrary, a di- 
 minution of its numbers, fo far from giving greater plenty to the re- 
 maining members, fubjeds them to extirpation or famine from the 
 irruptions of their ftronger neighbours. 
 
 The Chiriguanes, originally only a fmall part of the tribe of Gua- 
 ranis, left their native country in Paraguay, and fettled in the moun- 
 tains towards Peru. They found fufficient fubfiftence in their new 
 country, increafcd rapidly, attacked their neighbours, and, by fupe- 
 rior valour, or fuperior fortune, gradually exterminated them, and 
 took pofTeffion of their lands, occupying a great extent of country ; 
 and having increafed, in the courfe of fome years, from three or four 
 thoufand, to thirty thoufand % while the tribes of their weaker neigh- 
 bours were daily thinned by famine and the fword. 
 
 Such inftances prove the rapid increafe, even of the Americans, 
 under favourable circumftances, and fufficiently account for the fear 
 in every tribe of diminifhing its numbers, and the frequent wifh to 
 increafe them ^ without fuppofing a fuperabundance <of food in the 
 territory actually poiTefled. 
 
 That the increafe of the Americans is regulated more by the means 
 of fubfiftence, than by any of the other caufes that have been men- 
 tioned as affecting their population ; or rather, perhaps, I fhould fay, 
 that thefe caufes themfelves are principally regulated by the plenty 
 or fcarcity of fubfiftence, is fufficiently evinced, from the greater fre- 
 quency of the tribes, and the greater numbers in each, throughout all 
 thofe parts of the country, where, from the vicinity of lakes or rivers, 
 the fuperior fertility of the foil, or further advances in improvement, 
 food becomes more abundant. In the interior of the provinces bor- 
 dering on the Oronoco, feveral hundred miles may be traverfed in 
 
 * Lettres Edlf. torn. viii. p. 243. Les Chiriguanes multlpHerent prodigicufement, et 
 en afiez peu d'annees lenr nombre monta a trente mille ames. 
 ^ Lafitau, torn. ii. p. 163, 
 
 different 
 
36 Of the Chech to Population book i. 
 
 different dire<flions, without finding a fingle hut, or obfemng the 
 footfteps of a fnigle creature. In fome parts of North America, 
 where the climate is more rigorous, and the foil lefs fertile, the defo- 
 lation is ftill greater. Vaft trails of fome hundred leagues have been 
 croffed through uninhabited plains and forefts \ The miffionaries 
 fpeak of journies of twelve days without meeting wath a fmgle foul ^, 
 and of immenfe trafts of country, in which fcarcely three or fuur fcat- 
 tered villages were to be founds Some of thefe deferts did not fur- 
 nilh game*^, and were therefore entirely defolate; others, which were 
 to a certain degree ftocked with it, were traverfed in the hunting 
 feafons, by parties, who encamped, and remained in different fpots, 
 according to the fuccefs they met with, and were therefore really in- 
 habited in proportion to the quantity of fubfiftence which they 
 yielded ^ 
 
 Other diftridls of America are defcribed as comparatively fully 
 peopled ; fuch as the borders of the great northern lakes, the fhores 
 of the Miffifippi, Louifiana, and many provinces in South America. 
 The villages here were large, and near each other, in proportion to 
 the fuperior fruitfulnefs of the territory in game and fifti, and the ad- 
 vances made by the inhabitants in agriculture ^. The Indians of the 
 ^reat and populous empires of Mexico and Peru, fprung undoubtedly 
 from' the fame ftock, and originally poffeiTed the fame cuffoms, as 
 their ruder brethren ; but the moment that, by a fortunate train of 
 circumftances, they were led to improve and extend their agriculture, 
 B. coniiderable population rapidly followed, in fpite of the apathy of 
 the men, or the dcftru6live habits of the women. Thefe habits would, 
 indeed, in a great meafure yield to the change of circumftances ; and 
 the fubftitution of a more quiet and. fedentary life, for a life of per- 
 
 * Robertfon, b. iv, p. 129, 130. . ^ Lettres Edif. torn. vi. p. 357. 
 
 = Lettres Edif. torn. vi. p. 321. ' Lettres Edif. torn. ix. p. 145. 
 
 * Lettres Edif. torn. vi. p. 66^ 81, 345. torn. ix. p. 145. ^ Lettres Edit torn. ix. 
 p. 90, 143. Robertfon, b. iv. p. 141. 
 
 petual 
 
CHAP. IV. among the American hidtans, ' 3o 
 
 petual wandering and hardfhip, would immediately render the women 
 more fruitful, and enable them at the fame time to attend to the 
 wants of a larger family. 
 
 In a general view of the American continent, as defcribed by hif- 
 torians, the population feems to have been fpread over the furfacc 
 very nearly in proportion to the quantity of food, which the inhabit- 
 ants of the different parts, in the adlual flate of their indttftry and 
 improvement, could obtain ; and that, with few exceptions, it prefled 
 hard againft this limit, rather than fell fhort of it, appears, from 
 the frequent recurrence of diftrefs for want of food in all parts of 
 America. 
 
 Remarkable inddances occur, according to Dr. Robertfbn, of the 
 calamities which rude nations fufFer by famine. As one of them, he 
 mentions an account given by Alvar Nugnez Cabeca de Vaca, one 
 of the Spanilh adventurers, who refided almoft nine years among the 
 favages of Florida. He defcribes them as unacquainted with every 
 fpecies of agriculture, and living chiefly upon the roots of different 
 plants, which they procure with great difficulty, wandering from 
 place to place in fearch of them. Sometimes they kill game, fome- 
 times they catch fifh, but in fuch fmall quantities, that their hunger 
 is fo extreme, as to compel them to eat fpiders, the eggs of ants, 
 worms, lizards, ferpents, a kind of undluous earth, and, I am per- 
 fuaded, he fays, that, if in this country there were any ftones, they 
 would fwallow them. They preferve the bones of fifhes and fer- 
 pents, which they grind into powder and eat. The only feafon when 
 they do not fufFer much from famine, is when a certain fruit like the 
 opuntia, or prickly-pear, is ripe ; but they are fometimes obliged to 
 travel far from their ufual place of refidence in order to find it. In 
 another place, he obferves, that they are frequently reduced to pafs 
 two or three days without food \ 
 
 Ellis, in his voyage to Hudfon's Bay, feelingly defcribes the fuffer- 
 
 . Robertfon, note 28. to p. 117. b. iv, 
 
 ings 
 
4Q Of the Checks to Population book i, 
 
 ings of the Indians in that neighbourhood from extreme want. Hav- 
 ing mentioned the feverity of the cUmate, he fays, " Great as thefe 
 " hardfhips are which refult from the rigour of the cold, yet it may 
 " juflly be affirmed, that they are much inferior to thofe which they 
 ** feel from the fcarcity of provifions, and the difficulty they -arc 
 " under of procuring them. A ftory which is related at the fado- 
 *' ries, and known to be true, will fufficicntly prove this, and give the 
 " compaffionate reader a juft idea of the miferies to which thefe un- 
 " happy people are expofed," He then gives an account of a poor 
 Indian and his wife, who, on the failure of game, having eat up all 
 the fkins which they wore as clothing, were reduced to the dreadful 
 extremity of fupporting themfelves on the flefh of two of their chil- 
 dren '*. In another place he fays, " It has fometimes happened, that 
 ** the Indians who come in fummer to trade at the fadtories, miffing 
 *' the fuccours they expedled, have been obliged to finge off the hair 
 " from thoufands of beaver fkins in order to feed upon the leather ^." 
 
 The Abbe Raynal, who is continually realbning moft inconfiftently 
 in his comparifons of favage and civilized life, though in one place 
 he fpeaks of the favage as morally fure of a competent fubfiftence, yet 
 m his account of the nations of Canada, he fays, that though they 
 lived in a country abounding in game and fifh, yet in fome feafons, 
 and fometimes for whole years, this refource failed them; and famine 
 then occafioned a great deftru6bion among a people who were at too 
 great ^ diftance to affift each other''. 
 
 Charlevoix, fpeaking of the inconveniences and diftrefles to which 
 the miffionaries were fubjed:, obferves, that not unfrequently the 
 evils which he had been defcribing are effaced by a greater, in com- 
 parifon of which all the others are nothing. This is famine. It is 
 true, fays he, that the favages can bear hunger with as much pa- 
 tience, as they Ihew careleilnefs in providing againft it ; but they 
 
 *p. 196. ^ p. 194. *^ Raynal, Hift. des Indes, torn. v1Ti. I. xv. p. 22. 
 
 Z are 
 
CHAP. IV. among the American Indians. ^% 
 
 are fomctimes reduced to extremities beyond their power to fup- 
 port *. 
 
 It is the general cuftom among moft of the American nations, eyen 
 thofe which have made fome progrefs in agriculture, to difperfe 
 themfclves in the woods at certain feafons of the year, and to fubfift 
 for fome months on the produce of the chace, as a principal part of 
 their annual fupplies ''. To remain in their villages, expofes them to 
 certain famine*^; and in the woods they are not always fure to efcapc 
 it. The moft able hunters fometimes fail of fuccefs, even where ^ 
 there is no deficiency of game ^ ; and in their forefts, on the failure of 
 this refource, the hunter or the traveller is expofed to the mofl cruel 
 want^ The Indians, in their hunting excurfions, are fometimes re- 
 duced to pafs three or four days, without food*"; and a milTionary 
 relates an account of fome Iroquois who, on one of thefe occafions, 
 having fupported themfelves as long as they could, by eating the fkins 
 which they had with them, their fhoes, and the bark of trees, at 
 length, in defpair, facrificed fome of the party to fupport the reft. Oat 
 of eleven, five only returned alive s. 
 
 The Indians, in many parts of South America, live in extreme 
 want ^, and are fometimes dcftroyed by abfolute famines *. The 
 iilands, rich as they appeared to be, were peopled fully up to the level 
 of their produce. If a few Spaniards fettled in any diftrid:, fuch a 
 fmall addition of fupernumerary mouths foon occafioned a fevere 
 dearth of provifions ^. The flourilliing Mexican empire was in the 
 fame ftate in this refpeA; and Cortez often found the greatcft diffi- 
 culty in procuring fubfiflcnce for his fmall body of foldiers K Even 
 the Millions of Paraguay, with all the care and forefight of th^ Jc- 
 
 Hift. N. Fr. torn. iii. p. 338. ^ Lettres Edif. tortv. vi. pi ^, 8i, 345. ix. 145. 
 
 " Lettres Edif. torn. vi. 82, 196, 197,215. ix. 151. '^ Charlevoix, N. Fr. 
 
 torn. iii. p. 201. Henneflin, Moeurs des Sauv. p. 78. * Lettres Edif. torn vi. 
 
 p. 167, 220. ^ Id. torn. vi. p. 33. 6 Id. torn. vi. p. 71. 
 
 ^ Id. torn. vii. p. 383. ix. 140. ' Id. torn. viii. p. 79. ^ Robertfon, 
 
 b. iv. p. 121. Burke's America, vol. i. p. 30. * Robertfon, b. viii. p. ai2. 
 
 G fuits, 
 
4^ Of the Checks to Population book i. 
 
 iiiits, and notwithflanding that their population was kept down by 
 frequent epidemicks, were by no means totally exempt from the pref- 
 fure of want. The Indians of the Miflion of St. Michael are men- 
 tioned as having at one time incrcafed fo much, that the lands, capa- 
 ble of cultivation in their neighbourhood, produced only half of the 
 grain necelTary for their fupport ^. Long droughts often deftroyed 
 their cattle^ and occafioned a failure of their crops ; and on thefe 
 occafions fome of the Miflions were reduced to the moft extreme in- 
 digence, and would have perifhed from famine, but for the affiftancc 
 of their neighbours "", 
 
 The late voyages to the northweft coaft of America, confirm thefe 
 accounts of the frequent preflure of want in favage life, and fhew the 
 uncertainty of the refource of fifliing, which feems to afford, in ge- 
 neral, the moft plentiful harveft of food that is furnifhed by unaflift- 
 ed nature. The fea on the coaft near Nootka Sound is feldom or 
 never fo much frozen as to prevent the inhabitants from having ac- 
 cefs to it. Yet from the very great precautions they ufe in laying 
 up ftores for the winter, and their attention to prepare and preferve 
 whatever food is capable of it, for the colder feafons, it is evident that 
 the fea at thefe times yields no fifh ; and it appears, that they often 
 undergo very great hardfhips from want of provifions in the cold 
 months'". During a Mr. Maccay's ftay at Nootka Sound, from 1786 
 to 1787, the length and feverity of the winter occafioned a famine. 
 The ftock of dried fifli was expended, and no frefh fupplies of any 
 kind were to be caught, fo that the natives were obliged to fubmit to 
 a fixed allowance, and the chiefs brought every day to our country- 
 men the ftated meal of feven dried herrings' heads. Mr. Meares fays, 
 that the perufal of this gentleman's journal would fhock any mind 
 tindured with humanity ^ 
 
 Captain Vancouver mentions fome of the people to the north of 
 
 * Lettres Edif. torn. ix. p. 381. '' Id. torn. ix. p. 191. *^ Id. torn. ix. 
 
 f. 206, 380. * Meares's Voy. ch, xxiv. p. 266* * Id. ch. xi. p. i32. 
 
 Nootka 
 
CHAP. IV. among the Ajnerkan Indians. 43 
 
 Nootka Sound, as living very mifcrably on a pafte made of the inner 
 bark of the pine tree, and cockles ^. In one of the boat excurfions, 
 a party of Indians was met with who had fome hahbut, but, though 
 very high prices were offered, they could not be induced to part with 
 any. This, as Captain Vancouver obferves, was fingular, and indi- 
 cated a very fcanty fupply ^. At Nootka Sound in the year 1 794, fifli 
 had become very fcarce, and bore an exorbitant price ; as, either from 
 the badnefs of the feafon, or from neglecl, the inhabitants had experi- 
 enced the greateft diftrefs for want of provifions during the winter*'. 
 
 Peroufe defcribes the Indians in the neighbourhood of Port Fran- 
 cois, as living during the fummer in the greateft abundance by filh- 
 ing, but expofed in the winter to perifh from want ^. 
 
 It is not, therefore, as Lord Kaimes imagines, that the American 
 tribes have never increafed fufficiently to render the paftoral or agri- 
 cultural ftate neceffary to them " ; but, from fome caufe or other, tfiey 
 have not adopted in any great degree thefe more plentiful modes of 
 procuring fubfiftence, and therefore, cannot have increafed fo as to 
 become populous. If hunger alone could have prompted the favage 
 tribes of America to fuch a change in their habits, I do not conceive 
 that there would have been a fmgle nation of hunters and fifhers 
 remaining ; but it is evident, that fome fortunate train of circum- 
 ftances, in addition to this flimulus, is neceffary for this purpofe; and 
 it is undoubtedly probable, that thefe arts of obtaining food, will be 
 firft invented and improved in thofe fpots that are beft fuited to them, 
 and where the natural fertility of the fituation, by allowing a greater 
 number of people to fubfift together, would give the faireft chance 
 to the inventive powers of the human mind. 
 
 Among moft of the American tribes that we have been confider- 
 ing, fo great a degree of equality prevailed, that all the members oi 
 
 * Vancouver's Voy. vol. ii. b. ii. c. ii. p. 273. ^ Id. p. 28a. 
 
 ^ Id. vol. iii. b. vi. c. i. p. 304. ^ Voy. de Peroufe, ch. ix. p. 430. 
 
 * Sketches of the Hift. of Man. vol. i. p. 99, 105. 8vo. 2d edit. 
 
 G a each 
 
44 Of the Checks to Population uock. i. 
 
 each community would be nearly equal fharers in the general hard' 
 fhips of favage life, and in the prefliire of occafional famines. But 
 in many of the more fouthern nations, as in Bagota % and among 
 the Natchez ^, and particularly in Mexico and Peru, where a great 
 diftindiion of ranks prevailed, and the lower clafles were in a ftate 
 of abfolute fervitude % it is evident that, on occafion of any failure 
 of fubfillence, thefe would be the principal fufFerers, and the pofitivc 
 checks to population would ad: almoft exclufively on this part of 
 the community. 
 
 The very extraordinary depopulation that has taken place among 
 the American Indians, may appear to fome to contradid the theory 
 which is intended to be eltabliflied; but it will be found that tht 
 y caufes of this rapid diminution may all be refolved into the three 
 great checks to population that have been flated ; and it is not 
 afferted, that thefe checks, operating from particular circumftances 
 with unufual force, may not in fome inftances be more powerful 
 even than the principle of increafe. 
 
 The infatiable fondnefs of the Indians for fpirituous liquors ^f. 
 which, according to Charlevoix, is a rage that paiTes all expreffion % 
 by producing among them perpetual quarrels and contefls, which 
 often terminate fatally, by cxpofing them to a new train of dif- 
 orders which their mode of life, unhts them to contend with, 
 aad, by deadening and deftroying the generative faculty in its very 
 3urce, may alone be confidered as a vice adequate to produce the 
 prefent depopulation. In addition to this, it ihould be obferved, 
 that almoft every where the connexion of the Indians with Euro- 
 peans, has tended to break their fpirit, to weaken or to give a 
 wrong diredion to their induftry, and in confequence to diminifli 
 the fources of fubfiflence. in St. Domingo, the Indians negleded pur- 
 pofely to cultivate their lands iii order to ftarve out their cruel oppref- 
 
 ^ F^obertfon, b. iv. p. 141. ^ Lettres Edif. torn. vii. p. 21. Robcrtfon, 
 
 b. iv. p. 139. '^ Robertfon, b. vii. p. 190, 242. ^ Major Rogers's 
 
 Account of North America, p. aio. " Charlevoix, torn, iii. p. 302. 
 
 fors. 
 
CHAP. IV. among the American Indtam^ 4^ 
 
 fors*. In Peru and Chill, the forced induftrj of the natives v^as 
 fatally direcfted to the digging into the bowels of the earth, inftead 
 of cultivating its furface ; and among the northern nations, the 
 extreme defire to purchafe European fpirits, diredied the induftry of 
 the greateft part of them, almoft exclufiv^ely, to the procuring of 
 peltry for the purpofe of this exchange ^ which would prevent their 
 attention to the more fruitful fources of fubiiftence, and at the 
 fame time tend rapidly to deftroy the produce of the chace. The 
 number of wild animals, in all the known parts of America, is pro- 
 bably even more diminifhed than the number of people*". The 
 attention to agriculture has every where flackened, rather than in- 
 crcafed, as might at firft have been expelled, from European con- 
 nexion. In no part of America, either North or South, do we hear 
 of any of the Indian nations living in great plenty, in confequence of 
 their diminiflied numbers. It may not, therefore, be very far from ^ 
 the truth, to fay, that even now, in fpite of all the powerful caufes 
 of deftrudiion that have been mentioned, the average population 
 of the American nations is, with few exceptions, on a level with- 
 the average quantity of food, which in the pirefent ftate of their 
 induftry they can obtain. 
 
 ' Robertfon, b. il. p. 185. Burke's America, vol. i. p. 300. ^ Charle- 
 
 voix, N. Fr. torn. iii. p. 260. ^ The general introdudlion of iire-arms among 
 
 th.e Indians, has probably gieady contribotcd to the diminution.of tlie wild aniiaals.. 
 
 H A Pi 
 
( 4^ ) 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Of the Chech to Population hi the Iflaiids of the South Sea. 
 
 1 HE Abbe Raynal fpeaking of the ancient ftate of the Britiili 
 ides, and of iflanders in general, fays of them: " It is among thefe 
 " people that we trace the origin of that multitude of fmgular in- 
 '' ftitutions that retard the progrefs of population. Anthropophagy, 
 " the caftration of males, the infibulation of females, late mar- 
 " riages, the confecration of virginity, the approbation of celibacy, 
 '* the punifliments exercifed againft girls who become mothers at 
 ** too early an age *," &c. Thefe cuftoms, caufed by a fuperabund- 
 ance of population in iflands, have been carried, he fays, to the 
 continents, where philofophers of our days are ftill employed to 
 invefligate the reafon of them. The Abbe does not feem to be 
 aware, that a favage tribe in America, furrounded by enemies, or a 
 civilized and populous nation, hemmed in by others in the fame 
 ilate, is in many refpeAs in a fimilar fituation. Though the bar- 
 riers to a further increafe of population be not fo well defined, 
 and fo open to common obfervation, on continents, as on iflands, 
 yet they flill prefent obftacles that are nearly as infurmountable : 
 and the emigrant, impatient of the diftrefles which he felt in his 
 own country, is by no means fecure of finding relief in another. 
 There is probably no ifiand yet known, the produce of which could 
 not be further increafed. This is all that can be faid of the whole 
 earth. Both are peopled up to their a<5lual produce. And the whole 
 earth is in this refped: like an ifland. - But as the bounds to the 
 
 * Raynal, Hift. des Indes, vol.iti. liv. Ui. p. 3. 10 vols. 8 vo. 1795. 
 
 number 
 
CHAP. V. Of the Checks to Population, &c. 47 
 
 number of people on iflands, particularly when they are of fmall 
 extent, are fo narrow, and fo di{lind:ly marked, that every perfon 
 muft fee and acknowlege them, an inquiry into the checks to 
 population on thofe of which we have the moft authentic accounts 
 may perhaps tend confiderably to illullrate the prefent fubjetl. T he 
 queftion that is afked in captain Cook's firft voyage, with refped; 
 to the thinly fcattered favages of New Holland, '^ By what means 
 " the inhabitants of this country are reduced to fuch a number as it 
 *' can fubfift ^ ?" may be afked with equal propriety of the moft popu- 
 lous iflands in the South Sea, or of the beft peopled countries in Eu- 
 rope and Aiia. The queftion, applied generally, appears to me to be 
 highly curious, and to lead to the elucidation of fomc of the moft 
 obfcure, yet important points, in the hiftory of human fociety. I 
 cannot fo clearly and concifely defcribe the precife aim of the firft 
 part of the prefent work, as by faying, that it is an endeavour to 
 anfwer this queftion fo applied. 
 
 Of the large iflands of New Guinea, New Britain, New Cale- 
 donia, and the New Hebrides, little is known with certainty. The 
 ftate of fociety in them is probably very fmiilar to that which pre- 
 vails among many of the favage nations of America. They appear 
 to be inhabited by a number of different tribes who are engaged in 
 frequent hoftilities with each other. The chiefs have little au- 
 thority ; and private property being in confequence infecure, pro- A 
 vifions have been rarely found on them in abundance ^. With the 
 large ifland of New Zealand we are better acquainted; but not 
 in a manner to give us a favourable impreftion of the ftate of fociety 
 among its inhabitants. The picture of it drawn by captain Cook in 
 his three different voyages, contains fome of the darkeft fliadcs 
 that are any where to be met with in the hiftory of human nature. 
 
 * Cook's Firft Voyage, vol. iii. p. 240. 4to. ^ See the different accounts of 
 
 New Guinea and New Britain, in the Hijlolre des Navigations aux tencs Aujirales \ 
 and of N^w Caledonia and the New Hebrides in Cook's Second Voyage, vol. ii. b. iii. 
 
 I The 
 
48 Of the Chech to Population book i. 
 
 The {late of perpetual hoflility in which the different tribes of thefc 
 people live with each other, feems to be even more ftriking than 
 among the favages of any part of America ^ ; and their cuftom oi 
 eating human flefli, and even their relifh for that kind of food, are 
 eftablilhed beyond a poffibility of doubt ^ Captain Cook, who is by 
 no means inclined to exaggerate the vices of favage life, fays of the 
 natives in the neighbourhood of Queen Charlotte's Sound, " If I 
 *' had followed the advice of all our pretended friends, I might 
 ** have extirpated the whole race ; for the people of each hamlet 
 "*' or village, by turns, applied to me to deftroy the other. One 
 *' would have thought it almoft impoilible that fo ilriking a proof 
 ** of the divided ftate in which thefe miferable people \i\c, could 
 ** have been affigncd''." And in the fame chapter further on, he 
 favs, " From my own obfervations, and the information of Tawei- 
 '' harooa, it appears to me, that the New Zealanders muft live 
 *' under perpetual apprehenllons of being dcftroyed by each other ; 
 ** there being few of their tribes that have not, as they think, 
 *' fuftained wrongs from fome other tribes, which they are con- 
 " tinually upon the watch to revenge. And perhaps the defire of 
 *' a good meal may be no fmall incitement.****Their method of 
 '* executing their horrible defigns, is by ftealing upon the ad- 
 ** verfe party in the night; and if they find them unguarded 
 *' (which, however, I believe is very feldom the cafe) they kill 
 ** every one indifcriminately, not even fparing the women and 
 *' children. When the maifacre is completed, they either feafh 
 " and gorge themfelves on the fpot, or carry off as many of the 
 *' dead bodies as they can, and devour them at home with a<fts of 
 *' brutality too fhocking to be defcribed.****To give quarter, or to 
 *' take prifoners, makes no part of the military law, fo that the van- 
 
 Cook'^s Firft Voyage, vol. ii. p. 345'. SeCcSnd Voyage, vol i.p Joi. Third Voyage, 
 
 vol, i. p. 161, &c. ^ Second* Voyage, vol. i. p. 246. *^ Third Voyage, 
 vol. i p. 1:4- 
 
 2 *' quiflied 
 
CHAP. V. the I/lands of the South Sea. 40 
 
 *' quifhed can only fave their lives by flight. This perpetual ftate 
 " of war, and deftru6live method of condu<5ting it, operates {o 
 '^ ftrongly in producing habitual circumfpe(51:ion, that one hardly 
 *^ ever finds a Nevv^ Zealander off his guard, either by night or by 
 " day^" 
 
 As thefe obfervations occur in the laft voyage, in which, the 
 errors of former accounts w^ould have been corrected, and as a conftant 
 ilate of warfare is here reprefented as prevailing to fuch a degree, 
 that it may be considered as the principal check to the population 
 of New Zealand, little need be added on this fubje<5l. We are not 
 informed whether any cuftoms are pradlifed by the women unfa- 
 vourable to population. If fuch be known, they are probably never 
 reforted to, except in times of great diftrefs ; as each tribe will na- 
 turally wifh to increafe the number of its members, in order to give 
 itfelf greater power of attack and defence. But the vagabond life 
 which the women of the fouthern ifland lead, and the conftant 
 {tate of alarm in which they live, being obliged to travel and work 
 with arms in their hands ''j muft undoubtedly be very unfavourable 
 to geflation, and tend greatly to prevent large families. 
 
 Yet, powerful as thefe checks to population are, it appears, from 
 the recurrence of feafohs of fcarcity, that they feldom reprefs the 
 number of people below the average means of fubfiftence. ** That 
 *' fuch reafons there are (Captain Cook fays) our obfervations leave 
 ** us no room to doubts" Filh is a principal part of their food, 
 which, being only to be procured on the fea coaft, and at certain 
 times ^y muft always be confidered as a precarious refource. If 
 muft be extremely difficult to dry and preferve any conftderable 
 ftores in a ftate of fociety fubjed: to fuch conftant alarms ; particu- 
 larly, as we may fuppofe, that the bays and creeks moft abounding 
 iii fifti would moft frequently be the fubjeA of obftinate conteft, to 
 
 Cook's Third Voy. vol. i. p. 137. "^ Id. Second Voy. vol. i. p. 127. 
 
 * Id. Firft Voy. vol. iii, p. 66. Id. p. 43 
 
 H people 
 
50 Of the Checks to PopuIatloH ht book r* 
 
 people who were wandering in fearch of food*. The vegetable pro- 
 du6lions are, the fern root, yams, clams, and potatoes ^. The three 
 laft are raifed by cultivation, and are feldom found on the foutherrr 
 ifland, where agriculture is but little known''. On the occafional 
 failure of thefe fcanty refources from unfavourable feafons, it may 
 be imagined that the diftrefs muft be dreadful. At fuch periods it 
 does not feem improbable, that the defire of a good meal fhould give 
 additional force to the defire of revenge, and that they fhould be 
 *' perpetually deftroying each other by violence, as the only alter- 
 " native of perilhing by hunger ''." 
 
 If w^e turn our eyes from the thinly fcattered inhabitants of 
 New Zealand, to the crowded fliores of Otaheite and the Society 
 Iflands, a different fcene opens to our view. All apprehenfion of 
 dearth feems at firft fight to be banilhed from a country that is de- 
 fcribed to be fruitful as the garden of the Hefperides *. But this 
 firft impreffion would be immediately corred:ed by a moment's re- 
 flexion. Happinefs and plenty have always been confidered as the 
 moft powerful caufes of increafe. In a delightful climate, where 
 few difeafcs are known, and the women arc condemned to no 
 fevere fatigues, why Ihould not thefe caufes operate wdth a force un- 
 paralleled in Icfs favourable regions ? Yet, if they did, where 
 could the population find room and food in fuch circumfcribed 
 limits ? If the numbers in Otaheite, not 40 leagues in circuit, far- 
 prifed Captain Cook, when he calculated them at two hundred and 
 four thoufand \ where could they be difpofed of in a fmgle century, 
 when they would amount to above three millions, fuppofmg them 
 to double their numbers every twenty-five years ^,. Each ijland of 
 
 the 
 
 Cook^s Third Voy. vol. i. p. 157. '' Id. FirR Voy. vol. iii. p. 43. 
 
 ' 1(1. Firft Voy. vol. ii. p. 405. ^ Id. Fiifl: Voy. vol. iii. p. 45. 
 
 * Miflionary Voy. Appendix, p. 347. ' Cook's Second Voy. vol. i. p. 349. 
 
 s 1 feel very little doubt that this rate of increafe is much flower than would realiy 
 take place, fuppofing every check to be removed. If Qtahsite, with its prefent prc^ 
 
 duce,, 
 
HAP. V. the I/lands of the South Sea. ^t 
 
 the group would be in a fimilar fituation. The removal from one 
 to another, would be a change of place, but not a change of the 
 ipecles of dlftrefs. Effectual emigration, or effectual importation, 
 would be utterly excluded, from the fituation of the iflands, and the 
 Hate of navigation among their inhabitants. 
 
 The difficulty, here, is reduced to fo narrow a com.pafs, is {o clear, 
 precife, and forcible, that we cannot efcape from it. It cannot be 
 anfwered in the ufual vague and inconfidcrate manner, by talking 
 of emigration, and further cultivation. In the prefent inffcance we 
 cannot but acknowledge, that the one is impoffible, and the other 
 glaringly inadequate. The fuUeft convi(5lion muft ftare us in the 
 face, that the people on this' group of illands could not continue to 
 double their numbers every twenty-five years; and before we pro- 
 ceed to inquire into the ftate of fociety on them, we muft be per- 
 fe^ly certam, that, unlefs a perpetual miracle render the women 
 barren, we Ihall be able to trace fome very powerful checks to 
 population in the habits of the people. 
 
 The fucceffivx accounts that we have received of Otaheite and 
 the neighbouring iilands, leave us no room to doubt the exiftence 
 of the Eareeoie focieties * which have juftly occafioned fo much 
 furprife among civilized nations. They have been fo often defcribed, 
 that little more need be faid of them here, than that promifcuous 
 intercourfe and infanticide appear to be their fundamental Jaws. 
 They confift exclufively of the higher clafTes ; " and (according to 
 ** Mr. Anderfon'') fo agreeable is this licentious plan of life to their 
 
 *' difpofition, 
 
 duce, were peopled only with an hundred perfons, the two fexes in equal numbers, and 
 each man conllant to one woman, I cannot but think, that for five or {ix fucceffive 
 periods, the increafe would be more rapid than in any inftance hitherto known, and that 
 they would probably double their numbers in lefs than fifteen years. 
 
 ^ Cook's Firft Voy. vol.ii. p. 207. be feq. Second Voy. vol. i. p. 352. Third 
 Voy. vol. ii. p. 157. & feq. Miflionary Voy. Appendix, p. 34.6, 4to. 
 
 ^ Mr. Anderfon afted in the capacity of naturalift and furgeon in Cook's laft voyage. 
 Captain Cook and all the officers of the expedition feem to have had a very high opinion 
 
 H 2 of 
 
c^Z Of the Chech to Population in book x. 
 
 " difpofitlon, that the mofl: beautiful of both fexes thus commonly 
 *f fpend their youthful days, habituated to the practice of enormities 
 " that would difgrace the rnoft favage tribes. ****When an Eareeoie 
 '* woman is delivered of a child, a piece of cloth dipped in water 
 " is applied to the mouth and nofe which fuffocates it ^." Captain 
 Cook obferves, '^ It is certain, that thefe focieties greatly prevent 
 *' the increafe of the fuperior claffes of people of which they are 
 " compofed ^." Of the truth of this obfervation there can be no 
 doubt. 
 
 Though no particular inftitutions of the fame nature have beea 
 found among the lower clafles ; yet the vices which form their moft 
 prominent features are but too generally fpread. Infanticide is not 
 confined to the Eareeoies. It is permitted to all ; and as its preva- 
 lence, among the higher clafTes of the people, has removed from it 
 all odium, or imputation of poverty, it is probably often adopted, 
 rather as a fafhion, than a refort of neceffity, and appears to be 
 pradifed familiarly and without referve. 
 
 It is a very juft obfervation of Hume, that the permiffion of in- 
 fanticide generally contributes to increafe the population of a coun- 
 try ^, By removing the fears of too numerous a family, it encou- 
 rages marriage, and the powerful yearnings of nature prevent parents 
 from reforting to fo cruel an expedient, except in extreme cafes. 
 The fafhion of the Eareeoie focieties in Otaheite and its neighbour- , 
 ing iflands, may have made them an exception to this obfervation, 
 and the cuflom has probably here a contrary tendency. 
 
 The debauchery and promifcuous intercourfe which prevail among 
 the lower clafTes of people, though in fome inflances they may have 
 been exaggerated, are eflabliflied to a great extent, on unqueftion- 
 able authority. Captain Cook, in a profefTed endeavour to refcue 
 
 of his talents and accuracy of obfervation. His accounts therefore may be looked upon 
 as of the firft authority. 
 
 * Cook's Third Voy. vol. ii. p. 158, 159. ^ Id. Second Voy. vol: i. p. 352. 
 
 Hume's Efiays, vol. i. eflliy xi. p. 431. 8vo, 1764. 
 
 3 ' the 
 
CHAP. V. the IJlands of the South Sea. to 
 
 the women of Otaheite from a too general imputation of licen- 
 tioufnefs, acknowledges that there are more of this charadler here, 
 than in other countries, making at the fame time a remark of a 
 moft decifive nature, by obierving, that the women who thus 
 condu(5l themfelves, do not in any refpecl lower their rank in 
 fociety, but mix indifcriminately with thofe of the moft virtuous 
 character \ 
 
 The common marriages in Otaheite are without any other cere- 
 mony than a prefent, from the man to the parents of the girl. And 
 this feems to be rather a bargain with them for permiflion to try 
 their daughter, than an abfolute contrail for a wife. If the father 
 Ihould think that he has not been fufficiently paid for his daughter, 
 he makes no fcruple of forcing her to leave her friend, and to coha- 
 bit with another perfon who may be more liberal. The man is 
 always at liberty to make a new choice. Should his confort become 
 pregnant, he may kill the child, and after that continue his con- 
 nexion with the mother, or leave her, according to his pleafure. 
 It is only when he has adopted a child, and fuffered it to live, that 
 the parties are confidered as in the marriage ftate. A younger wife, 
 however, may afterwards be joined to the firft; but the changing 
 of connexions is much more general than this plan, and is a thing fo 
 common, that they fpeak of it with great indifference **. Liberti- 
 nage before marriage, feems to be no objed;ion to a union of this 
 kind ultimately. 
 
 The checks to population from fuch a ftate of fociety would alone 
 appear fufficient to counteract the effeifts of the moft delightful cli- 
 mate and the moft exuberant plenty. Yet thefe are not all. The 
 wars between the inhabitants of the different iflands, and their civil 
 contentions among themfelves, are frequent, and fometimes carried, 
 on in a very deftrudlive manner *". Befides the wafte of human life 
 
 * Cook's Second Voy. vol. i. p. 187. ^ Id, Third Voy. vol. ii. p. 157. 
 
 <= Bouganville, Voy. autour du Monde, ch. iii. p. 217. Cook's JFirll Voy. vol. ii. 
 p. 244. Miffionary Voy. p. 2%\. 
 
 in 
 
54 Of the Chech to Population in book i. 
 
 in the field of battle, the conquerors generally ravage the enemy's 
 territory, kill or carry off the hogs and poultry, and reduce as much 
 Bs poffible the means of future fubfiflence. The illand of Otaheite 
 which, in the years 1767 and 1768, fwarriied with hogs and fowls, 
 was, in 1773, fo ill fupplled with thefe animals, that hardly any 
 thing could induce the owners to part with them. Thisi was attri- 
 buted by Captain Cook principally to the wars which had taken 
 place during that interval ^. On Captain Vancouver's vifit to Otaheite 
 in 1 79 1, he found that moft of his friends that he had left in 1777, 
 were dead ; that there had been many wars fmce that time, in fome 
 of which, the chiefs of the weftern diftridls of Otaheite had joined 
 the enemy; and that the king had been for a confidcrable time 
 completely worfted, and his own diftrifts entirely laid wade. Moft 
 of the animals, plants, and herbs, which Captain Cook had left, had 
 been deftroyed by the ravages of war ^. 
 
 The human facrifices which are frequent in Otaheite, though 
 alone fufficient ftrongly to fix the ftain of barbarifm on the cha- 
 racter of the natives, do not probably occur in fuch confiderable 
 numbers as materially to affedl the population of the country; and 
 the difeafes, though they have been dreadfviUy increafed by Euro- 
 pean contact, were before peculiarly lenient; and even for fome 
 time afterwards, were not marked by any extraordinary fatality ''. 
 
 The great checks to increafe, appear to be the vices of promif- 
 cuous intercourfe, infanticide, and war, each of thefe operating with 
 very confiderable force. Yet powerful in the prevention and de- 
 fhruClion of life as thefe caufes mufl be, they have not always kept 
 down the population to the level of the means of fubfiftence. Ac- 
 cording to Mr. Anderfon, " Notwithftanding the extreme ferti- 
 " lity of the ifland, a. famine frequently happens in which it is faid 
 " many perifh. Whether this be owing to the failure of fome 
 
 ^ Cook's Second Voy. vol. i. p. 182, 183. * Vancouver's Voy. vol. i. b.i. c. 6. 
 p. 98. 4to. ^ Cook's Third Vey. Tol.ii. p. 148. 
 
 " feafons, 
 
CHAP. V* hi tJie IJlands of tlie South Sea, ^^ 
 
 " feafons, to over-population, which muft fometimes alraoft ne- 
 " ceffarily happen, or wars, I have not been able to determine ; 
 '' though the truth of the fa6l may fairly be inferred from the 
 " great economy that they obferve with refpecS to their food, even . 
 " when there is plenty ^" After a dinner with a chief at Ulietea, 
 Captain Cook obferved, that, when the company rofe, many of the 
 common people ruflied in, to pick up the crumbs which had fallen^ 
 and for which they fearched the leaves very narrowly. Several 
 people daily attended the Ihips, and affifted the butchers for the 
 fake of , the entrails of the hogs which were killed. In general, 
 little feemed to fall to their fhare except offals. " It muft, however, 
 *' be owned,," Captain Cook fays, " that they are exceedingly careful 
 " of every kind of provifion, and wafte nothing that can be eaten 
 ** by man, flefli and fifh efpecially ^."" 
 
 From Mr. Anderfon's account. It appears, that a very fmall 
 portion of animal food falls to the lot of the lower clafs of people, 
 and then, it is either fifli, fea-eggs, or other marine produd;ions ; 
 for they feldom or never eat pork. The king or principal chief, is 
 alone able to furniih this luxury every day ;. and the inferior chiefs, 
 according to their riches, once a week, fortnight, or month *". 
 When the hogs and fowls have been diminiflied by wars,, or too 
 great confumption, a prohibition is laid upon thefe articles of food, 
 which continues in. force fometimes for feveral months, or even for 
 a year or two, during which time, of courfe, they multiply very 
 fall, and become again plentiful''. The common diet even of 
 the Eareeoies, who are among the principal, people of the iflands, 
 is, according to Mr. Anderfon, made up of at leaft nine tenths of 
 vegetable food^ And, as a diftinction of ranks is fo ftrongly marked, 
 and the lives and property of the lower clafTes of people appear to 
 depend abfolutely on the will of their- chiefe,- we may. well imagine 
 
 * Cook's TM id Voy. vol. ii. p. 153, 154' ^ 1<1- Second Voy. vol. I. p. 176'.. 
 
 ^ Id. Third Voy. vol; ii. p. 154. ^- Id. p. 155. ^ Id. p. 148. 
 
 that: 
 
56' Of the Chech to Population hi book i. 
 
 that thefe chiefs will often live in plenty while their vaffals and fer- 
 Tants are pinched with want. 
 
 From the late accounts of Otahelte, in the Miffionary Voyage, it 
 would appear, that the depopulating caufes above enumerated, have 
 operated with moft extraordinary force fmce Captain Cook's laft 
 vifit. A rapid fucceffion of deftru<^ive wars, during a part of that 
 interval, is taken notice of in the intermediate vifit of Captain Van- 
 couver ^ ; and, from the fmall proportion of women remarked by the 
 Miffionaries ^ we may infer that a greater number of female infants 
 had been deftroyed than formerly. This fcarcity of women would 
 naturally increafe the vice of promifcuous intercourfe, and, aided by 
 the ravages of European difeafes, ftrike moft effectually at the root of 
 population '^. 
 ^ It is probable that Captain Cook, from the data on which he 
 founded his calculation, may have overrated the population of Ota- 
 helte, and perhaps the Miffionaries have rated it too low ^ ; but I 
 have no doubt that the population has very confiderably decreafed 
 fince Captain Cook's vifit, from the different accounts that are given 
 of the habits of the people, with regard to economy, at the different 
 periods. Captain Cook and Mr. Anderfon agree in defcribing their 
 extreme carefulnefs of every kind of food ; and Mr. Anderfon, appa- 
 rently after a very attentive inveftigatlon of the fubjeA, mentions the 
 frequent recurrence of famines. The Miffionaries, on the contrary, 
 though they ftrongly notice the diftrefs from this caufe in the Friendly 
 Iflands and the Marquefas, fpeak of the producftlons of Otahelte as 
 being in the greateft profufion ; and obferve, that, notwithftanding 
 the horrible wafte committed at feaftlngs, and by the Eareeole foci- 
 cty, want Is feldom known ^ 
 
 It would appear from thefe accounts, that the population of Ota- 
 helte is at prefent repreffed confiderably below the average means of 
 
 * Vancouver's Voy. vol. i. b. i. c. 7. p. i^y. ^ Miffionary Voyage, 
 p. 192, & 385. ' Id. Appen. p. 347. ^ Id. ch, xHi p. 212. 
 
 * Miffionary Voy. p. 19^. Appen. p. 385. 
 
 fubiiftence. 
 
CHAP.v. the TJlands of the South Sea tj 
 
 fubfiflence, but it would be premature to conclude that it will con- 
 tinue long ib. The variations in the ftate of the ifland which were 
 obferved by Captain Cook, in his different vifits, appear to prove that 
 there are marked ofcillations in its profperity and population *. And 
 this is exadlly what we Ihould fuppofe from theory. We cannot ima- 
 gine that the population of any of thefe iflands has, for ages paft, 
 remained ftationary at a fixed number, or that it can have been re- 
 gularly increafing, according to any rate, however flow. Great fluc- 
 tuations mufl: neceflarily have taken place. Overpopuloufnefs would 
 at all times increafe the natural propenfity of favages to war ; and 
 the enmities occafioncd by aggrefl[ions of this kind, would contin'Ue 
 to fpread devafl:ation, long after the original inconvenience, which 
 might have prompted them, had ceafed to be felt ^. The diftrefl!es 
 experienced from one or two unfavourable feafons, operating on a 
 crowded population,vsrhich wasbeforeliving with the greatefl: economy, 
 and prefling hard againfl: the limits of its food, would, in fuch a fl:ate 
 of fociety, occaflon the more general prevalence of infanticide and 
 promifcuous intercourfe ^ ; and thelc depopulating caufes would, in 
 the fame manner, continue to a<fl with increafed force, for fome time 
 after the occafion which had aggravated them was at an end. A 
 change of habits to a certain degree, gradually produced by a change 
 of circumfl:arices, would foon refl:ore the population, which could not 
 long be kept below its natural level, without the mofl: extreme vio- 
 lence. How far European contadl may operate in Otaheite with this 
 extreme violence, and prevent it from recovering its former popula- 
 tion, is a point which experience only can determine. But fliould 
 this be the cafe, I have no doubt that on tracing the caufes of it, we 
 fliould find them to be aggravated vice and mifery. 
 
 Cook's Second Voy. vol. i. p. 182, & feq. & 546. *' Miffionary Voy. p. 225- 
 
 ' 1 hope I may never be mifunderftood with regard taforae of thefe preventive caufes 
 of overpopulation, and be fuppofed to imply the flighteft approbation of them, merely 
 becaufe I relate their efFe<Sts. A caufe which may prevent any particular evil may be 
 beyond all comparifon worfe than the evil itfelf, 
 
 I Of 
 
5$ Of the Chech to Population In book i. 
 
 Of the other iflands in the Pacific Ocean we have a lefs intimate 
 knowledge than of Otaheite ; but our information is fufficient to 
 aflure us, that the ftate of fociety in all the principal groups of thefe 
 iflands is, in moil refpedls, extremely fimilar. Among the Friendly 
 and Sandwich iflanders, the fame feudal fyflcm, and feudal turbu- 
 lence, the fame extraordinary power of the chiefs, and degraded ftate 
 of the lower orders of fociety, and nearly the fame promifcuous in- 
 tercourfe among a great part of the people, have been found to pre- 
 vail, as at Otaheite. 
 
 Jn the Friendly Iflands, though the power of the king was faid 
 to be unUmited, and the life and property of the fubjedl at his dif- 
 pofal ; yet it appeared, that fome of the other chiefs acfted like petty 
 fovereigns, and frequently thwarted his meafures, of which he often 
 complained- " But however independent (Captain Cook fays) on 
 " the defpotic power of the king the great men may be, we faw in- 
 '* fiances enough to prove, that the lower orders of people have no 
 " property nor fafety for their perfons, but at the will of the chiefs, 
 " to whom they refpe6lively belong*." The chiefs often beat the in- 
 ferior people mofl unmercifully ^, and when any of them were caught 
 in a theft on board the fliips, their mafl:ers, far from interceding for 
 them, would often advife the killing of them *^, which, as the chiefs 
 themfelves appeared to have no great horror of the crime of theft, 
 could only arife from their confidering the lives of thefe poor people 
 as abfolutely of no value. 
 
 Captain Cook, in his firfl: vifit to the Sandwich Iflands, had reafon 
 to think that external wars, and internal commotions, were ex- 
 tremely frequent among the natives^. And Captain Vancouver, in 
 his later account, ftrongly notices the dreadful devafl:ations in many 
 of the iflands from thefe caufes, lncefl"ant contentions had occafioned 
 alterations in the different governments fmce Captain Cook's viflt. 
 
 Cook's Third Voy. vol. i. p. 406. ?* p. 232. p, 233. 
 
 ^ Jd. vol. ii. p. 247. 
 
 Only 
 
CHAP. V, the IJIands of the South Sea* 5p 
 
 Only one chief of all that were known at that time was living ; and, 
 on inquiry, it appeared that few had died a natural death, moft of 
 them having been killed in thefe unhappy contefts '. The power of 
 the chiefs over the inferior clafles of the people in the Sandwich 
 Iflands appears to be abfolute. The people, on the other hand, pay 
 them the moft implicit obedience ; and this ftate of fervility has ma- 
 nifeftly a great efFcdl in debafing both their minds and bodies **. The 
 gradations of rank feem to be even more flrongly marked here, than 
 in the other iflands, as the chiefs of higher rank behave to thofe who 
 are lower in this fcale in the moft haughty and oppreflive manner "^^ 
 
 It is not known that, either in the Friendly, or Sandwich Iflands, 
 infanticide is pradifed, or that any inftitutions are eftabliflied fimilar 
 to the Eareeoie focietres in Otaheite ; but it feems to be ftated on- 
 unqueftionable authority, that proftitution is extenfively difFufed, and 
 prevails to a great degree among the lower clafles of women'', which 
 muft always operate as a moft powerful check to population. It feems 
 highly probable, that the toutous, or fervants, who fpend the greateft 
 part of their time in attendance upon the chiefs', do not often marry; 
 and it is evident that the polygamy allowed to the fuperior people, 
 muft tend greatly to encourage and aggravate the vice of promif^ 
 cuous intercourfe among the inferior clafl!es. 
 
 Were it an eftabliflied fadl, that in the more fertile iflands of the 
 Pacific Ocean, very little, or nothing, was fufFered from poverty and 
 want of food ; as we could not expe<ft to find among favages in ftich 
 climates any great degree of virtuous reftraint, the theory on the 
 fubjed: would naturally lead us to conclude, that vice, including war, 
 was the principal check to their population. The accounts which, 
 we have of thefe iflands ftrongly confirm this conclufion-. In the 
 
 * Vancouver, vol. i. b. ii. c. ii. p. 187, 188. ^ Cook's Third' Voyage, 
 
 vol. iii. p. 157. <= Ibid. * Cook's Third Voy. vol. i. p. 401. Vol. ii. p. 543. 
 Vol. iii, p. 130. Miilionary Voy. p. 270. * Cook's Third Voy. vol. i. p. 394. 
 
 I z three^ 
 
6o Of the Chech to Popdaiton In book i, 
 
 three great groups of iilands which have been noticed, vice appears 
 to be a moil prominent feature. In Eafter Ifland, from the great 
 difproportion of the males to the females % it can fcarcely be doubted 
 that infanticide prevails, though the facl may not have come to the 
 knowledge of any of our navigators. Peroufe feemed to think that 
 the women in each diftrid: were common property to the men ot 
 that diftriifl^ though the numbers of children which he faw% would 
 rather tend to contradid; this opinion. The fluctuations in the po- 
 pulation of Eafler Ifland appear to have been very confiderable, iince 
 its firft difcovery byRoggewein in 1722, though it cannot have been 
 much affeded by European intercourfe. From the defcription of 
 Peroufe, it appeared, at the time of his vifit, to be recovering its po- 
 pulation, which had been in a very low flate, probably either from 
 drought, civil difTenfions, or the prevalence in an extreme degree of 
 infanticide, and promifcuous intercourfe. When Captain Cook vi- 
 flted it in his fecond voyage, he calculated the population at fix or 
 feven hundred "^, Peroufe at two thoufand " ; and, from the number of 
 children which he obferved, and the number of new houfes that 
 were building, he conceived that the population was on the increafe ^ 
 In the Marianne Iilands, according to Pere Gobien, a very great 
 number ^ of the young men remained unmarried, lived like the 
 members of the Earecoie fociety in Otaheite, and were diilinguiihed 
 by a iimilar name ^. In the iiland of Formofa, it is faid, that the 
 women were not allowed to bring children into the world before the 
 age of thirty-five. If they were with child prior to that period, an 
 abortion was eiFefled by the prieftefs, and till the huiband was forty 
 
 * Cook's Second Voy. vol. i. p. 289. Voyage de Peroufe, c. iv. p. 333. c. v, 
 p. 336. 4to. 1794. ^ Peroufe, c. iv. p. 326. c. v. p. 336, 
 
 ^ Peroufe, c. v. p. 336. ** Cook's Second Voy. vol. i. p. 289, 
 
 * Peroufe, c. v. p. 336. 'Ibid. b Une infinite de jeunes gens. Hifl. 
 des Navigations aux terrcs Auftrales, vol. ii. p. 507, ?* Cook's Third Voyage, . 
 vol. ii. p. 158. note of the Editor. 
 
 years 
 
CHAP. V. the IJlaiids of the South Sea. 6i 
 
 years of age, the wife continued to live in her father's koufe, and was 
 only {ecu by ftealth '. 
 
 The tranfient vifits that have been made to fome other iflands, 
 and the imperfed: accounts that w^e have of them, do not enable us 
 to enter into any particular detail of their cuftoms ; but, from the ge- 
 neral fimilarity of thefe cuftoms, as far as has been obferved, we have 
 xeafon to think, that, though they may not be marked by fome 
 of the more atrocious peculiarities which have been mentioned, 
 vicious habits with refped: to women, and wars, arc the principal 
 checks to their population. 
 
 Thefe, however, are not all. On the fubjedl of the happy ftate of 
 plenty in which the natives of the South Sea iflands have been faid 
 to live, I am inclined to think, that our imaginations have been car- 
 ried beyond the truth, by the exuberant defcriptions which have 
 fometimes been given of thefe delightful fpots. The not unfrequent 
 preiTure of want, even in Otaheite, mentioned in Captain Cook's laft 
 voyage, has undeceived us with regard to the moft fertile of all thefe 
 iflands ; and from the Miffionary Voyage it appears, that at certain 
 times of the year, when the bread fruit is out of feafon, all fufFer a 
 temporary fcarcity. At Oheitahoo, one of the Marquesas, it amgunted 
 to hunger, and the very animals were pinched for want of food. At 
 Tongataboo, the principal of the Friendly Iflands, the chiefs, to fe- 
 
 * Harris's Collei^ion of Voyages, 2 vols, folio, edit. I744. vol. i. p. 794. This r&- 
 iation is given by John Albert de Mandelloe, a German traveller of fome reputation for 
 fidelity, thougli I believe, in this inftance, he takes his account from the Dutch writers 
 quoted by Montefquieu, (Efprit des Loix, liv. 23. ch. 17.) The authority is not per- 
 haps fufficient to eilablifh the exiftence of fo (Irange a cuftom, though I confefs that it 
 docs not appear to me wholly improbable. In the fame account, it is mentioned, that 
 there is no difference of condition among thefe people, and that their wars are fo bloodlefs, 
 that the death of afmgle perfon generally decides them. In a very healthy climate, where 
 the habits of the people were favourable to population, and ^ community of goods wasefta- 
 blifhed, as no iriidividual would have reafon to fear particular; poverty from a large family, 
 the government would be in a manner compelled to take upon Itfelf the fuppreffion of the 
 population by law; and as this would be the greateft violation of every natural feelings 
 there cannot be a more forcible argument againft a community of goods. 
 
 7 cure 
 
62 Of the Checks to Population In book i. 
 
 cure plenty, changed their abodes to other iflands *, and at times' 
 many of the natives fufFered much from want''. In the Sandwich 
 Iflands, long droughts fometimes occur "^ ; hogs and yams are oftea 
 very fcarce*^, and vifitors are received with an unwelcome aufterity 
 very different from the profufe benevolence of Otaheite. In New 
 Caledonia, the inhabitants feed upon fpiders% and are fometimes re- 
 duced to eat great pieces of fteatite to appeafe the cravings of their 
 hunger ^ 
 
 Thefe fa<5ls flrongly prove, that in whatever abundance the pro- 
 dudiions of thefe iflands may be found at certain periods, or how- 
 ever they may be checked by ignorance, wars, and other caufes, the 
 average population, generally fpeaking, preiTes hard againft the limits 
 of the average food. In a ftate of Ibciety, where the lives of the infe- 
 rior orders of the people feem to be confidered by their fuperiors as 
 abfolutely of no value, it is evident that we are very liable to be de^ 
 ceived with regard to the appearances of abundance ;. and we may 
 eafily conceive, that hogs and vegetables might be exchanged in great 
 profufion for European commodities by the principal proprietors, 
 while their vaffals and flaves were fuffering feverely from w^nt. 
 
 I cannot conclude this general review of that department of hu- 
 man fociety, which has been clafled under the name of favage life, 
 without obferving, that the only advantage in it above civilized life 
 that I can difc^ver, is the poflTeflion of a greater degree of leifure by 
 the mafs of the people. There is lefs work to be done, and confe- 
 quently there is lefs labour. When we confider the inceflant toil to 
 which the lower clafles of ibciety in civilized life are condemned, 
 this cannot but appear to us a ftriking advantage ; but it is probably 
 overbalanced by greater difadvantages. In all thofe countries where 
 provifions are procured with facility, a moll tyrannical diftindtion o 
 
 * Miffionary Voy. Appen. p. 385. '' Id. p. 270. ^ Vancouver's 
 
 Voy. vol. ii. b. iii. c. viii. p. 230. ^ Id. c. vii. and vi'n. ' Voyage i a 
 
 fcarch of Peroufe, ch. xUi. p. 420. Eng. tranil. 410. ^ Id', ch, xiii, p. 400. 
 
 rank 
 
CHAP. V. the Ijlands of the South Sea. 6j 
 
 rank prevails. Blows, and violations of property, iecm to be matters 
 of courfe ; and the low^er clafles of the people are in a ftate of 
 comparative degradation much below what is known in civilized 
 nations. 
 
 In that part of favage life where a great degree of equality obtains, 
 the difficulty of procuring food, and the hardfhlps of inceflant war, 
 creatfe a degree of labour not inferior to that which is exerted by the 
 lower clafles of the people in civilized fociety, though much more 
 unequally divided. But though we may compare the labour of thefc 
 two claffes of human fociety, their privations and fufferings will ad- 
 mit of no comparifon. Nothing appears to me to place this in {o 
 ftriking a point of view, as the whole tenor of education among the 
 ruder tribes of favages in America. Every thing that can con-v 
 tribute to teach the moft unmoved patience under the feverei^ 
 pains and misfortunes, every thing that tends to harden the hearth 
 and narrow all the fources of fympathy, is moft feduloufly inculcated 
 in the favage. The civilized man, on the contrary, though he may 
 be advifed to bear evil with patience when it comes, is not inftrudled 
 to be always expecfling it. Other virtues are to be called into a^ion 
 befides fortitude. He is taught to feel for his neighbour, or even his 
 enemy in diftrefs ; to encourage and expand his fecial affedlions; and 
 in general, to enlarge the fphere of pleafurable emotions. The ob- 
 vious inference from thefe two different modes of education is, that 
 the civilized man hopes to enjoy, the favage expe6ls only to fuffer. 
 
 The prepofterous fyftem of Spartan difcipline, and that unnatural 
 abforption of every private feeling in concern for the public, which 
 has fometimes been fo abfurdly admired, could never have exifted 
 but among a. people, expofed to perpetual hardfhips and privations 
 from inceffant war, and in a ftate, under the conftant fear of dread- 
 ful reverfes of fortune. Inftead of confidering thefe phenomena as 
 indicating any peculiar tendency to fortitude and patriotifm in the 
 difpofition of the Spartans, I fhould merely confider them as a ftrong 
 
 indica- 
 
^4 Of the Chech to Population, &c, booki. 
 
 indication of the miferable and almoft favage ftate of Sparta, and of 
 Greece in general at that time. Like the commodities in a market, 
 thofe virtues will be produced in the greateft quantity for which 
 there is the greateft demand ; and where patience, under pain 
 and privations, and extravagant patriotic facrifices, are the moft 
 called for, it is a melancholy indication of the mifery of the people^ 
 and the infecurity of the ftate. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( ^5 ) 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Of the Checks to Population among the ancient Inhabitants of the North 
 
 of FjUj'ope. 
 
 A HISTORY of the early migrations and fettlcments of mankind, 
 with the motives which prompted them, would illuftrate in a flriking 
 manner the conftant tendency in the human race to increafe beyond 
 the means of fubfiftence. Without fome general law of this nature, 
 it would feem as if the world could never have been peopled. A 
 ftate of lloth, and not of reflleffnefs and activity, feems evidently to 
 be the natural ftate of man ; and this latter difpoHtion could not 
 have been generated but by the ftrong goad of neceffity, though it 
 might afterwards be continued by habit, and the new aflbciations 
 that were formed from it, the fpirit of enterprizc, and the thirft of 
 martial glory. 
 
 We are told, that Abram and Lot had fo great fubftance in 
 cattle, that the land would not bear them both, that they might 
 dwell together. There was ftrife between their herdfmen. And 
 Abram propofcd to Lot to feparate, and fald, " Is not the whole 
 ** land before thee ? If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go 
 *' to the right ; if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to 
 " the left \" 
 
 This fimple obfcrvation and propofal is a ftriking illuflration of 
 that great fpring of a^ion which overfpread the whole earth with 
 people, and in the progrefs of time, drove fome of the Icfs fortunate 
 
 * Genefis, ch. xiii. 
 
 K inha- 
 
66 Of the Checks to 'Population among the book i. 
 
 inhabitants of the globe, yielding to irrefiftible preflure, to feek a 
 fcanty fubfiftence in the burning deferts of Afia and Africa, and the 
 frozen regions of Siberia and North America. The firft migrations 
 would naturally find no other obftacles than the nature of the country; 
 but when a confiderable part of the earth had been peopled, though 
 but thinly, the poflefTors of thefe diftrids would not yield them to 
 others without a ftruggle ; and the redundant inhabitants of any of 
 the more central fpots, could not find room for themfelves without 
 expelling their nearelt neighbours, or at leaft paffing through their 
 territories, which would necefilirily give occafion to frequent contefts. 
 y The middle latitudes of Europe and Afia, feem to have been oc- 
 cupied at an early period of hiftory, by nations offhepherds. Thucy- 
 dides gave it as his opinion, that the civilized ftates of Europe and 
 Afia, in his time, could not refifl: the Scythians united. Yet a coun- 
 \i try in pafture cannot poflibly fupport fo many inhabitants as a country 
 in tillage ; but what renders nations of fhepherds fo formidable, is 
 the power which they pofiefs of moving altogether, and the neceffity 
 they frequently feel of exerting this power in fearch of frefh pafi:urc 
 . for their herds. A tribe that is rich in cattle has an immediate 
 / plenty of food. Even the parent fi:ock may be devoured in cafe of 
 \ abfolute neceffity. The women live in greater eafe than among 
 nations of hunters, and are confequently more prolific. The men, 
 bold in their united fi:rength, and confiding in their power of procur- 
 ing pafture for their cattle by change of place, feel probably but few 
 fears about providing for a family. Thefe combined caufes foon pro- 
 duce their natural and invariable effed:, an extended population. A 
 more frequent and rapid change of place then becomes necefi^ary. 
 A wider and more extenfive territory is fueccffively occupied. A 
 broader defolation extends all around them. Want pinches the lefs 
 fortunate members of the fociety ; and at length the impoffibility of 
 fupporting fuch a number together, becomes too evident to be re* 
 fiftcd. Young fcioiit^ are then pulhed out from the parent Hock, and 
 
 I iniiruifled 
 
CHAP. VI, ancient Inhabitants of the North ofEttirope, f- - 
 
 infl:ru6led to explore frelh regions, and to gain happier feats for them- 
 feves by their fwords. 
 
 * The world is all before them where to chufe." 
 
 Reftlefs from prefcnt diftrefs, flufhed with the hope o\ fairer prof- 
 peds, and animated with the fpirit of hardy enterprize, thefe daring 
 adventurers are Hkely to become formidable adverfaries to all who 
 oppofe them. The inhabitants of countries long fettled, engaged in 
 the peaceful occupations of trade and agriculture, would not often be 
 able to refift the energy of men acting under fuch powerful motives 
 of exertion. And the frequent contefls with tribes in the fame cir- 
 cumftances with themfelves, would be fo many ftruggles for exift- 
 ence, and would be fought with a defperate courage, infpired by the 
 reflec^liion, that death would be the punifliment of defeat, and life the 
 prize of victory. 
 
 In thefe favage contefts, many tribes muft have been utterly exter- 
 minated. Many probably perifhed by hardlhips and famine. Others, 
 whofe leading ftar had given them a happier direction, became great 
 and powerful tribes, and in their turn fent ofFfrefh adventurers in 
 fearch of other feats. Thefe would at firft owe allegiance to their 
 parent tribe ; but in a fhort time the tics that bound them would be 
 little felt, and they would remain friends, or become enemies, ac- 
 cording as their power, their ambition, or their convenience, might 
 didlate. 
 
 The prodigious wafte of human life occafioned by this perpetual ^ 
 iiruggle for room and food, would be more than fupplied by the 
 mighty power of population, ading in fome degree unfhackled from 
 the conftant habit of migration. A prevailing hope of bettering their 
 condition by change of place, a conftant exped:ation of plunder, a 
 power, even, if diftrefled, of felHng their children as flaves, added to 
 the natural carelefnefs of the Barbaric charad:er, would all confpire 
 to raife a population which would remain to be repreifed afterwards 
 by famine, or war. 
 
 Kz The 
 
6S Of the Checks to Poptdatton among the book r. 
 
 The tribes that pofTeiTed themfelves of the more fruitful regions, 
 though they might win them and maintain them by continual 
 battles, rapidly increafed in number and power, from the increafed 
 means of fubfiftence ; till at length the whole territory, from the 
 confines of China to the fliores of the Baltic, was peopled by a 
 various race of barbarians, brave, robuft, and enterprifmg, enured to 
 hardihips, and delighting in war \ While the different fixed govern- 
 ments of Europe and Afia, by fuperior population and fupcrior fkill, 
 were able to oppofe an impenetrable barrier to their deflroying 
 hordes, they wafted their fuperfluous numbers in contefls with each 
 other; but the moment that the weaknefs of the fettled govern- 
 ments, or the cafual union of marty of thefe wandering tribes, gave 
 them the afcendant in power, the florm difcharged itfelf on the 
 faireft provinces of the earth; and China, Perfia, Egypt, and Italy, 
 were overwhelmed at different periods in this Hood of barbarifm. 
 Thefe remarks are ftrongly exemplified in the fall of the Roman 
 empire. The fhepherds of the north of Europe were long held in 
 check by the vigour of the Roman arms, and the terror of the Ro- 
 man name. The formidable irruption of the Cimbri in fearch of 
 new fettlements, though fignalized by the deflrudion of five con- 
 fular armies, was at length arrefled in its victorious career by Ma- 
 rius; and the barbarians were taught to repent their raflmcfs by the 
 almofl complete extermination of this powerful colony \ The names 
 of Julius Cafar, of Drufus, Tiberius, and Germanicus, impreffed on 
 their minds by the flaughter of their countrymen, continued to 
 infpire them with a fear of encroaching on the Roman territory. 
 
 * The various branchings, divifions, and contefts, of the great Tartar iiation are cu- 
 rioufly defcribed in the genealogical hiflory of the Tartars by the Khan Abul Ghazi ; 
 (tranflated into Englifli from the French, with additions, in 2 vols. 8vo.) but the 
 misfortune of all hiftory is, that while the motives of a few princes and leaders, in their 
 various projets of ambition, are fometimes detailed with accuracy, the motives which 
 often crowd their flandards with willing followers, are totally overlooked^ 
 
 * Tacitus de Moribus Germanorum, f. 37- 
 
 But 
 
cHAP.vi. aitdeut Inhahitants of the North of Europe. 6g 
 
 But they were rather triumphed over, than vanquilhed^; and though 
 the armies, or colonies, which they fent forth, were either cut off, 
 or forced back into their original feats, the vigour of the great Ger- 
 man nation remained unimpaired, and ready to pour forth her hardy 
 fons in conftant fucceffion, wherever they could force an opening 
 for themfelves by their fwords. The feeble reigns of Decius, Gallus, 
 iEmilianus, Valerian, and Gallienus, afforded fuch an opening, and 
 were in confequence marked by a general irruption of barbarians. 
 The Goths, who were fuppofed to have migrated in the courfe of 
 fome years from Scandinavia to the Euxine, were bribed to with- 
 draw their victorious troops, by an annual tribute. But no fooner 
 was the dangerous fecret of the wealth and weaknefs of the Roman 
 empire thus revealed to the world, than new fwarms of barbarians 
 fpread devaftation through the frontier provinces, and terror as far 
 as the gates of Rome ''. The Franks, the Allemanni, the Goths,. 
 and adventurers of lefs confiderable tribes, comprehended under 
 thefe general appellations, poured like a torrent on different parts 
 of the empire. Rapine and oppreilion deftroyed the produce of the- 
 prefent, and the hope of future harvefts. A long and general fa- 
 mine was followed by a wafting plague, which for fifteen years 
 ravaged every city and province of the Roman empire ; and, judging^ 
 from the mortality in fome fpots, it was conjedlured, that in a few 
 years, war, peftilence, and famine, had confumed the moiety of the 
 human fpecies ^ Yet the tide of emigration ft:ill continued at in- 
 tervals to roll impetuoufly from the north, and the fucceffion of 
 martial princes, who repaired the misfortunes of their predeceffors, 
 and.propt the falling fate of the empire, had to accomplifh the la- 
 bours of Hercules in freeing the Roman territory from thefe barba- 
 rous invaders. The Goths, who, in the year 550, and the follow- 
 ing years, ravaged the empire both by fca and land, with various 
 
 * Tacitus de Moribus Gennanorum, f. 37. ^ Gibbon's Decline and Fall of 
 
 the Roman Empire, vol. i. c, x. p. 407. et feq. 8vo, edit, 1783. " Id. vol. i.. 
 
 ex. p. 455,45'3- 
 
 fuccefs> 
 
yo Of the Chech to Population among the book i. 
 
 fuccell, but in the end, with the almoft total lofs of their adven- 
 turous bands % in the year 26g, fent out an emigration of im- 
 menfe numbers with their wives and families for the purpofes of 
 fettlement ''. This formidable body, which was faid to confift at 
 firft of 330,000 barbarians % was ultimately deftroyed and dlfperfcd 
 by the vigour and wifdom of the emperor Claudius. His fuccefTor, 
 Aurelian, encountered and vanquiihed new hoft^ of the fame name 
 that had quitted their fettlements in the Ukraine ; but one of the 
 implied conditions of the peace, was, that he fliould withdraw the 
 Roman forces from Dacia, and rehnquifli this great province to the 
 Goths and Vandals ^. A new and moft formidable invafion of the 
 Allemanni threatened foon after to fack the miftrefs of the world, 
 and three great and bloody battles were fought by Aurelian before 
 this dellroying hoft could be exterminated, and Italy be delivered 
 from its ravages ^. 
 
 The ftrength of Aurelian had crufhed on every fide the enemies 
 of Rome. After his death, they feemed to revive with an increale 
 of fury and numbers. They were again vanquifhed on all fides by 
 the a(5tive vigour of Probus. Tht deliverance of Gaul alone from 
 German invaders is reported to have cofi: the lives of four hundred 
 thoufand barbarians ^ The vid:orious emperor purfued his fuccefles 
 into Germany itfelf, and the princes of the country, aftoniflied at 
 his prefence, and difmayed and exhaufled by the ill fucccfs of their 
 iaft emigration, fubmitted to any terms that the conquerors might 
 impofe s. Probus, and afterwards Diocletian ^, adopted the plan of 
 recruiting the exhaufted provinces of the empire,, by granting lands to 
 the fugitive or captive barbarians, and difpofnig of their fuperfluous 
 numbers where they might be the leaft likely to be dangerous to the 
 "ftate; but fuch colonizations were an infufficient vent for the popu- 
 
 * Gibbon, vol. i. ex. p. 431. ^ W. vol. ii. c. xi. p. 13. " Id. p. II. 
 
 ^ Id. p. 19. A. D. 270. = Id. p. 26. ^ Id. vol.-ii. c. xii. p. 75. 
 
 Id. p. 79. A. D. 277. ^ Id. c. xiii. p. 132. A. D. 396. 
 
 lation 
 
CHAP. Ti. ancient Inhabitants of the North of Europe. yi 
 
 Jation of the north, and the ardent temper of the barbarians would 
 not always bend to the flow labours of agriculture ^ During the 
 vigorous reign of Diocletian, unable to make an efFedlual impref- 
 fion on the Roman frontiers, the Goths, the Vandals, the Gepidas, 
 the Burgundians, and the Allemanni, wafted each other's ftrength 
 by mutual hoftilities, while the fubjecfls of the empire enjoyed the 
 bloody fpecflacle, confcious, that whoever vanquiflied, they vanquiflied 
 the enemies of Rome ''. 
 
 Under the reign of Conftantine the Goths were again formidable. 
 Their ftrength had been reftored by a long peace, and a new gene- 
 ration had arlfen, who no longer remembered the misfortunes of 
 ancient days ''. In two fucceffive wars great numbers of them were 
 flain. Vanquiflied on every fide, they were driven into the moun- 
 tains; and, in the courfe of a fevere campaign, above a hundred 
 thoufand were computed to have periflied by cold and hunger*^. 
 Conftantine adopted the plan of Probus and his fucceflbrs, in grant- 
 ing lands to thofe fuppliant barbarians who were expelled from their 
 own country. Towards the end of his reign, a competent portion 
 in the provinces of Pannonia, Thrace, Macedonia, and Italy, was 
 afligned for the habitation and fubfiftence of three hundred thou- 
 famd Sarmatians^. 
 
 The warlike Julian had to encounter and vanquifli new fwarms 
 of Franks and Allemanni, that, emigrating from their German fo- 
 rcfts during the civil wars of Conftantine, fettled in different parts 
 of Gaul, and made the fcene of their devaftations three times more 
 extenfive than that of their conquefts ^. Deftroyed and repulfed on 
 every fide, they were purfued, in five expeditions, into their own 
 country ^ ; but Julian had conquered, as foon as he had penetrated 
 into Germany; and in the midft of that mighty hive which had fent 
 
 * Gibbon, vol. ii. c. xii, p. 84. ^ Id. c. xiii. p. 130. *^ Id, c, xiv. 
 
 p. 254. A. D. 322. ^ Id. vol. ill. c.xviii. p. 125, A.D.33a. *Id. p.127. 
 
 ^ Id. vol. ill. c. xix. p. 215. A. D. 356. 8 Id. p. 328. and Yol. iv. c xxii. 
 
 p. 17. from A. D. 357 to 359. 
 
 out 
 
fz Of the Checks to Popuhit'wn among the book r, 
 
 out fuch fwarms of people, as to keep the Roman world in perpe- 
 tual dread, the principal obftacles to his progrefs were, almoft impaff- 
 able roads, and vaft unpeopled forefts ^. 
 
 Though thus fubdued and proftrated by the viclorious arms of 
 Julian, this hydra-headed monfler rofe again after a few years ; 
 and the firmnefs, vigilance, and powerful genius of Valentinian 
 wxre fully called into action, in protecting his dominions from the 
 different irruptions of the AUemanni, the Burgundians, the Saxons, 
 the Goths, the Quadi, and Sarmatians ''. 
 
 The fate of Rome was at length determined by an irrefiftiblc 
 emigration of the Huns from the eaft and north, which precipitated 
 on the empire the whole body of the Goths "^ ; and the continuance 
 of this powerful preffure on the nations of Germany, feemed to 
 prompt them to the refolution, of abandoning to the fugitives of 
 Sarmatia their woods and moraffes, or at leaft, of difcharging their 
 fuperfluous numbers on the provinces of the Roman empire '^, An 
 emigration of four hundred thoufand perfons iffued from the fame 
 coaft of the Baltic, which had poured forth the myriads of Cimbri 
 and Teutones during the vigour of the Republic ^. When this hoft 
 was deftroyed by war and famine, other adventurers fucceeded. 
 The Suevi, the Vandals, the Alani, the Burgundians, paffed the 
 Rhine never more to retreat ^ The conquerors who firft fettled, 
 were expelled or exterminated by new invaders. Clouds of barba- . 
 rians feemed to colled: from all parts of the northern hemifphere. 
 Gathering frefh darknefs and terror as they rolled on, the congregated 
 bodies at length obfcured the flin of Italy, and funk the weftern 
 world in night. 
 
 In two centuries from the flight of the Goths acrofs the Danube, 
 barbarians of various names and lineage had plundered and taken 
 
 * Gibbon, vol. iv. c. xxii. p. 17. and vol. ili. c. xix. p. 229. '' Id. vol. iv. 
 
 c. XXV. from A, D. 36410 375. ' Id. vol iv. c. xxvi. p. 3J<2. et feq. A. D. 376. 
 
 ^ M. vol. v. c. XXX. p. 213. *= Id. p. 214. A. D. 406^ ^ Id. p. 224. 
 
 poffeffion 
 
CHAP. VI. ajtcient Inhabitants of the North ofEurope, y^ 
 
 pofleffion of Thrace, Pannonia, Gaul, Britain, Spain, Africa, and 
 Italy ^ The moil horrible devaftations, and an incredible deftrudlion 
 of the human fpecies, accompanied thefe rapid conquefls ; and fa- 
 mine and peftilence, which always march in the train of war, when it 
 ravages with fuch inconfiderate cruelty, raged in every part of Eu- 
 rope. The hiftorians of the times, who beheld thefe fcenes of defo- 
 lation, labour, and are at a lofs for expreffions, to defcribe them; but 
 beyond the power of language, the numbers and the deftrud:ive 
 violence of thefe barbarous invaders were evinced by the total change 
 which took place in the ftate of Europe ^. Thefe tremendous effeds, -( 
 fo long, and fo deeply felt, throughout the faireft portions of the 
 earth, may be traced to the Umple caufe of the fuperiority of 
 the power of population to the means of fubfiftence. 
 
 Machiavel, in the beginning of his hiftory of Florence, fays, " Thci 
 *' people who inhabit the northern parts that lie between the Rhine! 
 " and the Danube, living in a healthful and prolific climate, often ( 
 " increafc to fuch a degree, that vafl numbers of them are forced 
 *' to leave their native country, and go in fearch of new habita- 
 " tions. When any one of thofe provinces begins to grow too popu- 
 *' lous, and wants to difburthen itfelf, the following method is ob- 
 '* ferved. In the firfl place, it is divided into three parts, in each of 
 " which, there is an equal portion of the nobility and commonalty, 
 " the rich and the poor. After this they caft lots, and that divi- 
 " iion on which the lot falls, quits the country and goes to feek 
 " its fortune, leaving the other two more room and liberty to 
 *' enjoy their pofleffions at home. Thefe emigrations proved the 
 " deftrudlion of the Roman empire ^" Gibbon is of opinion that 
 Machiavel has reprefented thefe emigrations too much as regular and 
 concerted meafures ^ ; but I think it highly probable that he has 
 
 not 
 
 * Robertfon's Charles V. vol. i. fed. i. p. 7. 8vo. 1782. ^ Id. p. 10, 11, I2. 
 
 ^ Iftorie Florentine Machiavelli, 1. i. p. i, 2. 
 
 * Gibbon, vol. i, c.ix, p. 360. note. Paul Diaconus, from whom it is fuppofed 
 
 L that 
 
74 Of the Chech to Popiihtton among the bqok r^ 
 
 not erred much in this refpecft, and that it was a forefight of the 
 frequent neceffity of thus difcharging their redundant population, 
 which gave occafion to that law among the Germans, taken notice 
 of by Caefar and Tacitus, of not permitting their cultivated lands to 
 remain longer than a year under the fame poiTeflbrs ^. The reafons 
 which Caefar mentions as being affigned for this cuftom, feem to 
 be hardly adequate ; but if we add to them, the profpe<5l of emi- 
 gration, in the manner dcfcribed by Machiavel, the cuftom will 
 appear to be highly ufeful, and a double weight will be given to one 
 of the reafons that Caefar mentions, namely, left they fhould be led, 
 by being accuftomed to one fpot, to exchange the toils of war for 
 the bufmefs of agriculture ^. 
 
 Gibbon very juftly reje(5^s, with Hume and Robertfbn, the impro- 
 bable fuppofition, that the inhabitants of the north were far more 
 numerous formerly, than at prefenf" ; but he thinks himfelf obliged 
 at the fame time ta deny the ftrong tendency to increafe in the 
 northern nations'^, as if the two fad;s were neceflarily connected. 
 But a careful diftind:ion Ihould always be made, between a redundant 
 population, and a population adually great. The Highlands of 
 
 that Machiavel has taken this defcription, writes thus: Septentrionalis plaga quanto 
 magis ab aeftu folis reinota eft, et nivali frigore gelida, tanto falubrior corporibus homi- 
 Bum et propagandis gentibus magis coaptata. Sicut e contrario, omnis meridiana regio, 
 quo folis eft feivori vicinioF eo morbis eft abundantior, et educandis minus apta mor- 
 talibus *****. Multaeque quoque ex ea, eo quod tantas mortalium turmas genninat, 
 quantas alere vix fufficit, fepe gentes egreffae funt, quae non folum partes Aflae, fed 
 etiara maxima fibi contiguam Europam afflixere. (De geftis Longobardorum, 1. i. c. i.) 
 Intra banc ergo conftituti populi, dum in tantam multitudinem puHulaflent,. ut jam. 
 fimul habitare non valerent, in tres (ut fertur) partes omnem catervam dividentes,. 
 quaenam ex illis patriam elTet reli<Stura, ut novas fedes exquirerent, forte difquirunt.. 
 Igitur ea pars, cui fors dederit genitale folum excedere, exteraque arva feftarl, conftitutis- 
 fupra fe duobus ducibus, Ibore fcilicet, et Agione, qui et Germani erant, et juvenili. 
 setate floridi, ceterifque preftantiores, ad exquirandas quas poflint incolere tenas, fedefque 
 ftatuere, valedicentes fuis fimul et patriae iter arripiunt. (c. ii.) 
 
 * De bello Gallico, vi. 22. De moribus German, f. xxvi. 
 
 * Pe bello Gallico vL 22. * Gibbon, vol, i, c.ix, p. 361. * Id. p. 348. 
 
 Scotland 
 
CHAP. VI. anc'tetit Inhahllants of the North of Europe, 75 
 
 Scotland are probably more redundant in population than any other 
 part of Great Britain ; and though it would be admitting a palpable 
 abfurdity, to allow that the north of Europe, covered in early ages 
 with immenfe forefts, and inhabited by a race of people who fup- 
 ported themfelves principally by their herds and flocks *, was more 
 populous in thofe times than in its prefent ftate ; yet the fa6ls de- 
 tailed in the Decline and Fall of the Roman empire, or even the very 
 ilight Iketch of them that I have given, cannot rationally be ac- 
 counted for, without the fuppofition of a moft powerful tendency 
 in thefe people to increafe, and to repair their repeated lofles by the 
 prolific power of nature. 
 
 From the firft irruption of the Cimbri, to the final extindion of 
 the weflern empire, the efforts of the German nations to colonize 
 or plunder were unceafmg ''. The numbers that were cut off dur- 
 ing this period by war and famine were almofh incalculable, and 
 ^ch as could not poflibly have been fupported with tindiminifhed 
 vigour by a country thinly peopled, unlefs the flream had been 
 fupplied by a fpring of very extraordinary power. 
 
 Gibbon defcribes the labours of Valentinian in fecuring the Gallic 
 frontier againfl the Germans, an enemy, he fays, whofe flrength 
 was renewed by a flream of daring volunteers which incefTantly 
 flowed from the mod diflant tribes of the north ^ An eafy adop- 
 tion of flirangers was probably a mode by which fome of the Ger- 
 man nations renewed their fl:rength fo fuddenly ^, after the mofl 
 deflrucftive defeats ; but this explanation only removes the difficulty 
 a little further off. It makes the earth refl upon the tortoife ; but 
 does not tell us, on what the tortoife refls. We may fl:ill afk, 
 what northern refervoir fupplied this inceffant flream of daring ad- 
 
 * Tacitus de moribus German, f. v. Caefarde bell. Gall. vl. 22. 
 ^ Caefar found in Gaul a moft formidable colony under Arioviflus, and a general dread 
 prevailing that in a few years all the Germans would pafs the Rhine. De bell. Gall. L 31. 
 Gibbon, vol, iv. c. xxv. p. 283. ^ Ibid. note. 
 
 L ^ venturers ? 
 
y6 Of the Checks to Population among the book i. 
 
 venturers ? Montefquieu's folution of the problem, will, I think, 
 hardly be admitted. The fwarms of barbarians which iflued for- 
 merly from the north, appear no more, he fays, at prefent ; and the 
 reafon which he gives is, that the violences of the Romans had 
 driven the people of the fouth into the north. As long as this^ 
 force continued, they remained there ; but as foon as it was weak- 
 ened, they fpread themfelves again over every country. 
 
 The fame phenomenon appeared after the conquefts and tyran- 
 nies of Charlemagne, and the fabfequent difTolution of his empire ; 
 and if a prince, he fays, in the prefent days were to make fimilar 
 ravages in Europe, the nations driven into the north, and refting 
 on the limits of the univerfe ^, would there make a ftand, till the 
 moment when they would inundate, or conquer, Europe a third 
 time. In a note he obferves, we fee to what the famous quef- 
 tion is reduced why the north is no longer fo fully peopled as in 
 former times ? 
 
 If the famous queftion, or rather the anfwer to it, be reduced to 
 this, it is reduced to a miracle ; for without feme fupernatural 
 mode of obtaining food, how thefe collected nations could fupport 
 themfelves in fuch barren regions, for fo long a period, as during the 
 vigour of the Roman empire, it is a little difficult to conceive ; 
 and one can hardly help fmiling at the bold figure of thefe prodi- 
 gious crowds making their laft determined ftand on the limits of 
 the univerfe, and living, as we muft fuppofe, with the moft patient 
 fortitude on air and ice for fome hundreds of years, till they could 
 return to their own homes, and refume their ufual more fubftantial 
 mode of fubfiftence. 
 
 The whole difficulty, however, is at once removed. If we apply to 
 the German nations at that time, a fad;, which is fo generally 
 known- to have occurred in America, and fuppofe, that, when not 
 
 * Les nations adoflees au limites de I'univers y tiendroient- ferme. Grandeur et 
 Decad. des Rom. c.xvi. p. 187. 
 
 checked 
 
CHAP. VI. ancient Inliahttants of the North of Europe. ^7 
 
 checked by wars and famine, they increafed at a rate that would 
 double their numbers in twenty-five or thirty years. The propriety, 
 and even the neceffity, of applying this rate of increafe to the inha- 
 bitants of ancient Germany, will ftrikingly appear from that moft 
 valuable picture of their manners which has been left us by Tacitus. 
 He defcribes them as not inhabiting cities, or even admitting of con- 
 tiguous fettlements. Ever}^ perfon furrounds his houfe with a va- 
 cant Ipace % a circumftance, which befides its beneficial efFedl as 
 a fecurity from fire, is ftrongly calculated to prevent the generation, 
 and check the ravages, of epidemics. They content themfelves -^ 
 almoil: univerfally with one wife. Their matrimonial bond is ftrid: 
 and fevere, and their manners in this refpe6l deferving of the highefi: 
 praife ^. They live in a ftate of well -guarded chaftity, corrupted by 
 no feducing fped:acles, or convivial incitements. Adultery is ex- 
 tremely rare, and no indulgence is fliewn to a proftitute. Neither 
 beauty, youth, nor riches can procure her a hufband; for none 
 there looks on vice with a fraile, nor calls mutual feduAion the way 
 of the world. To limit the increafe of children, or put to death any 
 of the hufband's blood, is accounted infamous ; and virtuous man- 
 ners have there more efficacy than good laws eliewhere '^. Every 
 mother fuckles her own children, and does not deliver them into 
 the hands of fervants and nurfes. The youths partake late of the 
 fexual intercourfe, and hence pafs the age of puberty unexhaufted. 
 Nor are the virgins brought forward. The fame maturity, the fime 
 full growth is required : the fexes unite equally matched and ro- 
 buft, and the children inherit the vigour of their parents. The 
 more numerous are a man's kinfmen and relations, the more com- 
 fortable is his old age ; nor is it any advantage to be childlefs '^. 
 
 With thefe manners, and a habit of enterprife and emigration, 
 which would naturally remove all fears about providing for a family, . 
 
 Tacitus de moribus Germ, f, xvl. ^ Id. f. xviii. '^ Id. f. xix. 
 
 ^ Id. f.xx. 
 
 it 
 
\ 
 
 78 Of the Chech to Population among the book i. 
 
 it is difficult to conceive a fociety with a ftronger principle of in- 
 creafe in it; and wc fee at once that prolific fource of fucceffive 
 armies and colonies, againft which, the force of the Roman empire 
 fo long ftruggled with difficulty, and under which, it ultimately 
 funk. It is not probable that for two periods together, or even for 
 one, the population within the confines of Germany ever doubled 
 |itfelf in twenty-five years. Their perpetual wars, the rude ftate of 
 I agriculture, and particularly the very ftrange cuftom adopted by 
 V moffc of the tribes, of marking their barriers by extenfive defarts% 
 would abfolutely prevent any very great actual increafe of numbers. 
 At no one period could the country be called well-peopled, though 
 it was often redundant in population. They abandoned their im- 
 menfe forefts to the exercife of hunting, employed in paflurage the 
 moft confiderable part of their lands, beftowed on the fmall remain- 
 der a rude and carelefs cultivation, and when the return of famine 
 feverely admonifhed them of the infufficiency of their fcanty re- 
 fources, they accufed the fterility of a country which refufed to fup- 
 ply the multitude of its inhabitants ^ ; but inftead of clearing their 
 forefls, draining their fwamps, and rendering their foil fit to fup- 
 port an extended population, they found it more congenial to their 
 [ martial habits and impatient difpofitions, to go *' in queft of 
 *' food, of plunder, or of glory *^," into other countries. Thefe ad- 
 venturers either gained lands for themfelves by their fwords, or 
 were cut off by the various accidents of war ; were received into 
 the Roman armies, or difperfed over the Roman territory ; or per- 
 haps, having relieved their country by their abfence, returned home 
 laden with fpolls, and ready, after having recruited their diminiflied 
 numbers, for frefli expeditions. The fucceffion of human beings 
 appears to have been moft rapid, and as fail as fomc were diipofed of 
 
 Csefar de bell. Gall. vi. 
 ^ U. ex. p. 417. 
 
 23- 
 
 * Gibbon, vol. i. c. ix. p. 360. 
 
 in 
 
CHAP. VI, ancient Inhabitants of the North ofEurope, 79 
 
 In colonies, or mowed down by the fey the of war and famine, others 
 rofe in increafed numbers to fupply their place. 
 
 According to this view of the fubje<5l, the North could never have 
 been exhaufted ; and when Dr. Robertfon, defcribing the calamities 
 of thefe invafions, fays, that they did not ceafe, till the North, by 
 pouring forth fucceffive fwarms, was drained of people, and could no 
 longer furnifh inftruments of dellrudlion % he will appear to have 
 fallen into the very error which he had before laboured to refute, 
 and to fpeak as if the northern nations were actually very populous. 
 For they muft have been fo, if the number of their inhabitants at any 
 one period, had been fufficient, befides the flaughter of war, to people 
 in fuch a manner Thrace^ Pannonia, Gaul, Spain, Africa, Italy, 
 and England, as in fome parts not to leave many traces of their 
 former inhabitants. The period of the peopling of thefe countries, 
 however, he himfelf mentions as two hundred years ^ and in fuch 
 a time new generations would arife that would more than fupply 
 every vacancy. 
 
 The true caufe which put a flop to the continuance of northern 
 emigration was the impoffibility any longer of making an impreffion 
 on the moft defirable countries of Europe. They were then inha- 
 bited by the defcendants of the braveft and moft enterpriiing of the 
 Germati tribes ; and it was not probable, that they Ihould fo foon 
 degenerate from the valour of their anceftors, as to fuffer their lands 
 to be wrefted from them by inferior numbers and inferior fkill, 
 though perhaps fuperior hardihood. 
 
 Checked for a time by the bravery and poverty of their neigh- 
 bours by land, the enterprifmg fpirit and overflowing numbers of 
 the Scandinavian nations foon found vent by fea. Feared before 
 the reign of Charlemagne, they were repelled with difficulty by the 
 care and vigour of that great prince, but during the diftradlions of 
 
 Robertfon's Charles V. vol. i. f. i. p. 11, ^ Id. vol. i. f.i. p. 7^ 
 
 tbc 
 
8o Of the Checks to Population among the book i. 
 
 the empire under his feeble fucceiTors, they fprcad like a devour- 
 ing fiame over Lower Saxony, Friezeland, Holland, Flanders, and 
 the banks of the Rhine as far as Mentz. 
 
 After having long ravaged the coafts, they penetitited into the 
 heart of France, pillaged and burnt her faireft towns, levied im- 
 menle tributes on her monarchs, and at length obtained, by 
 grant, one of the fined provinces of the kingdom. They made 
 themfelves even dreaded in Spain, Italy, and Greece, fpreading every 
 where defolation and terror. Sometimes they turned their arms 
 againft each other, as if bent on their own mutual deftrudion ; at 
 other times tranfported colonies to unknown or uninhabited coun- 
 tries, as if they were willing to repair, in one place, the horrid de- 
 ftru6lion of the human race occaiioned by their furious ravages, in 
 others '. 
 
 The mal-adminiftratlon and civil wars of the Saxon kings of 
 England produced the fame effed; as the weaknefs which followed 
 the reign of Charlemagne in France ^ and for two hundred years 
 the Britilh ifles were inceflantly ravaged, and often in part fubdued, 
 by thefe northern invaders. During the eighth, ninth, and tenth 
 centuries, the fea was covered with their veffcls from one end of 
 Europe to the other '^, and the countries, now the moft powerful in 
 arts and arms, were the prey of their conftant depredations. The 
 growing and confolidating ftrength of thefe countries, at length, re- 
 moved all further profpe^l of fuccefs from fuch invafions*^. The na- 
 tions of the north were ilowly and reludiantly compelled to confine 
 themfelves within their natural limits, and to exchange their paftoral 
 manners, and with them the peculiar facilities of plunder and emi- 
 
 * Mallet, Introd. a i'Hiftoire de Dannemarc, torn. i. c. x. p. 221, ^23^ 224. i2mo. 
 1^66. ^ Id. p. 226. "^ Id. p. 221. ** Perhaps the civilized 
 
 world could not be confidered as perfclly fecure from another northern or eaftern in- 
 undation, till the total change in the art of war, by the introduction of gunpowder, 
 gave to improved Ikill and knowledge the decided advantage over phyfical force. 
 
 gration 
 
CHAP. VI. ancient Inhahitants of the North of Kurope, 8r 
 
 gration which they afforded, for the patient labours, and flow re- 
 turns of trade and agriculture. But the flownefs of thefe returns 
 neceifarily effected an important change in the manners of the 
 people. 
 
 In ancient Scandinavia, during the time of its conftant wars and 
 emigrations, few or none, probably, were ever deterred from marrying 
 by the fear of not being able to provide for a family. In modern 
 Scandinavia, on the contrary, the frequency of the marriage union 
 is continually checked by the mofl: imperious and juftly founded ap- 
 prehenfions of this kind. This is moft particularly the cafe in Nor- 
 way, as I Ihall have occafion to remark in another place; but the 
 fame fears operate in a greater or lefs degree, though every where 
 with confiderable force, in all parts of Europe. Happily, the more 
 tranquil ftate of the modern world does not demand fuch rapid fup- 
 plies of human beings, and the prolific powers of nature cannot 
 therefore be fo generally called into adlion. 
 
 Mallet, in the excellent account of the northern nations which he 
 has prefixed to his hiftory of Denmark, obferves, that he had not 
 been able to difcover any proofs that their emigrations proceeded 
 from want of room at home ^; and one of the rcafons which he 
 gives, is, that, after a great emigration, the countries often remain- 
 ed quite deferted and unoccupied for a long time ''. But inftances 
 of this kind I am inclined to think were rare, though they might 
 occafionally happen. With the habits of enterprize and emigration 
 which prevailed in thofe days, a whole people would fometimes 
 move in fearch of a more fertile territory. The lands, which they 
 before occupied, muft of neceflity be defart for a time; and if 
 there were any thing particularly inelegible in the foil or fituation, 
 which the total emigration of the people would feem to imply, 
 it might be more congenial to the temper of the furrounding bar- 
 
 Hift. Dan. torn. i. c. ix. p. 206. ^ Id. p. 205, 2o5. 
 
 M barians. 
 
8j? Of the Chech to Population among the book i, 
 
 barians, to provide for themfelves better by their fwords, than to 
 occupy immediately thefe rejeded lands. Such total emigrations 
 proved the unvvdllingnefs of the fociety to divide, but by no means 
 that they were not ftraitened for room and food at home. 
 
 The other reafon which Mallet gives is, that, in Saxony, as well 
 as Scandinavia, vaft trails of land lay in their original uncultivated 
 {late, having never been grubbed up or cleared ; and that, from the 
 defcriptions of Denmark in thofe times, it appeared, that the coafts 
 alone were peopled, but the interior parts formed one vaft foreft *. 
 It is evident, that he here falls into the common error of confounding 
 a fuperfluity of inhabitants with great adlual population. The paf- 
 toral manners of the people, and their habits of war and enterprize, 
 prevented them from clearing and cultivating their lands ^ ; and then 
 thefe very forefts, by reftraining the fources of fubfiftence within 
 very narrow bounds, contributed to a fuperfluity of numbers, that 
 is, to a population beyond what the fcanty fiipplies of the country 
 could fupport. 
 
 There is another caufe, not often attended to, why poor, cold, 
 and thinly-peopled countries tend generally to a fuperfluity of inha- 
 bitants, and are ftrongly prompted to emigration. Jn warmer and 
 more populous countries, particularly thofe abounding in great 
 towns and manufad;ures, an infufficient fupply of food can leldom 
 continue long without producing epidemics, either in the fliape of 
 great and ravaging plagues, or of lefs violent, though more conftant, 
 fickneflies. In poor, cold, and thinly-peopled countries, on the con- 
 trary, from the antifeptic quality of the air, the mifery arifmg from 
 
 * Hift. Dan. torn. i. c. ix. p. 207. 
 
 ^ Nee arare terram aut expelare annum tam facile perfuaferis, quam vocare hoftes et 
 vulnera mereri; pigrum quinimo et iners videtur fudore acquirere quod poflis lan- 
 guine parare. Tacitus de mor. Germ. Nothing, indeed, in the ftudy of human 
 nature, is more evident than the extreme difficulty with which habits are changed ; 
 and no argument therefore can be more fallacious than to infer, that thofe people are 
 not pinched with want, who do not make a proper ufe of their lands, 
 
 infuflScient 
 
GHAP. VI. ancient Inhabkanis of the North of Europe. 83 
 
 infufficient or bad food, may continue a confiderable time without 
 producing thefe efFe<fls, and, confequently , this powerful ftimulus to 
 emigration continues to operate for a much longer period *. 
 
 I would by no means, however, be underftood to iay, that the 
 northern nations never undertook any expeditions unlefs prompted 
 by ftraitened food or circumftances at home. Mallet relates, 
 what was probably true, that it was their common cuftom to hold 
 an aflembly every fpring, for the purpofe of confidering in what 
 quarter they Ihould make war ^ ; and among a people who nourifhed 
 fo ftrong a paffion for war, and who confidered the right of the 
 ftrongeft as a right divine, occafions for it would never be wanting. 
 Befldes this pure and difniterefted love of war and enterprize, civil 
 diflenfions, the preiTure of a vicftorious enemy, a wifli for a milder 
 climate, or other caufes, might fometimes prompt to emigration'; 
 but, in a general view of the fubjecfl, I cannot help confidering this 
 period of hiftory as affording a very ftriking illuftration of the 
 principle of population ; a principle, which appears to me, to have 
 given the original impulfe and fpring of adion, to have furnilhed the 
 inexhauftible refources, and often prepared the immediate caufes, 
 of that rapid fucceffion of adventurous irruptions and emigrations, 
 which occaiioned the fall of the Roman empire; and afterwards 
 pouring from the thinly-peopled countries of Denmark and Norway, 
 for above two hundred years ravaged and over-ran a great part of 
 Europe. Without the fuppofition of a tendency to increafe almofl 
 as great as among the Americans, the fadls appear to me not to be 
 accounted for *" ; and with.fuch a fuppofitioii, we cannot be at a lofs 
 
 to 
 
 Epidemics have their feldomer or frequenter returns according to their fundry foils, 
 fitnations, air, &c. Hence, fome have them yearly, as Egypt and Conftantinople ; 
 others, once in four or five years, as about Tripoli and Aleppo ; others, fcarce once in 
 ten, twelve, or thirteen years, as England ; otliers, not in Icfs than tw^enty years, as 
 Norway and the Northern ijlands. Short, Hiftory of Air, Seafons, &c. vol. ii. p. 344. 
 
 " Hifl. Dan. c, ix. p. 309, - * Gibbon, Robertfon, and Mallet, fcem all rather 
 
 M a to 
 
 \ 
 
84 Of the Chech to PopulatJOHi &c. Book j, 
 
 to name the checks to the adlual population, when we read the 
 difgufting details of thofe unceafing wars, and of that prodigal 
 wafte of human Hfe, which marked thefe barbarous periods. 
 
 Inferior checks would undoubtedly concur ; but we may fafely pro- 
 nounce, that among the fhepherds of the north of Europe, war and 
 famine, were the principal checks, that kept the population down to 
 the level of their fcanty means of fubfiftence, 
 
 to fpeak of Jornandes's expreffion vagina nationum as incorre(Sl and exaggerated; but to 
 me it appears exadlly applicable, though the other expreffion, officina gentium, at leaft 
 their tranflation of it, Jiorehoufe of nations, may not be quite accurate. 
 
 Ex hac igitur Scanzia infula, quafi officina gentium, aut certe veiut vagina nationuRl 
 egrcffi, &c. Jornandes de rebus Geticis, p. 83. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 85 ) 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 Of the Chech to Population among modern Fajioral Nations, 
 
 1 HE paftoral tribes of Afia, by living in tents and moveable huts^ 
 inftead of fixed habitations, are ftill lefs conne<fled w^th their terri- 
 tory than the fhepherds of the north of Europe. The camp, and not 
 the foil, is the native country of the genuine Tartar. When the 
 forage of a certain diftridl is confumed, the tribe makes a regular 
 march to frefli paftures. In the fummer, it advances towards the 
 north, in the winter returns again to the fouth ; and thus, in a time 
 of moft profound peace, acquires the pra<flical and familiar knowledge 
 of one of the moft difficult operations of war. Such habits would 
 ftrongly tend to diffufe among thefe wandering tribes the fpirit of 
 emigration and eonqueft. The thirft of rapine, the fear of a too 
 powerful neighbour, or the inconvenience of fcanty paftures, have in 
 all ages been fufiicient eaufes to urge the hordes of Scythia boldly to 
 advance into unknown countries, where they might hope to find 
 a more plentiful fubfiftence, or a lefs formidable enemy *. 
 
 In all their invafions, but more particularly when dired:ed againft 
 the civilized empires of the fouth, the Scythian fhepherds have been 
 uniformly adluated by a moft favage and deftrudlive fpirit. When 
 the Moguls had fubdued the northern provinces of China, it was 
 propofed, in calm and deliberate council, to exterminate all the inha- 
 bitants of that populous country, that the vacant land might be con- 
 verted to the pafture of cattle* The execution of this horrid de%n 
 
 * Gibbon, vol. Iv. c. xxvi. p. 34.8. 
 
 "was 
 
86 Of the Chech to Population book i, 
 
 was prevented by the wifdom and firmnefs of a Chlnefe mandarin ^ ; 
 but the bare propofal of it exhibits a ftriking picture, not only of the 
 inhuman manner, in -which the rights of conqueft were abufed, but 
 of the powerful force of habit among nations of fhepherds, and the 
 confequent difficulty of the tranfltion from the paftoral to the agri- 
 cultural ftate. 
 
 To purfue, even in the mod curfory manner, the tide of emigra- 
 tion and conqueft in Afia, the rapid increafe of fome tribes, and the 
 total extinction of others, would lead much too far. During the pe- 
 riods of the formidable irruptions of the Huns, the wide-extended 
 invafions of the Moguls, tlie fanguinary conquefts of Tamerlane and 
 Aurengzebe, and the dreadful convulfions which attended the difTo- 
 lution, as well as the formation, of their empires, the checks to po- 
 pulation are but too obvious. In reading of the devaftations of the 
 human race in thofe times, when the llighteft motive of caprice or 
 convenience, often involved a whole people in indifcriminatc maf^ 
 facre '', inftead of looking for the caufes which prevented a further 
 progrefs in population, we can only be aftonifhed at the force of that 
 principle of increafe, which could furnifli frefli harvefts of human 
 beings for the fcythe of each fticceffive conqueror. Our inquiries 
 will be more ufefully dired:ed to the prefent ftate of the Tartar 
 nations, and the ordinary checks to their increafe, when not under 
 the influence of thefe violent convulfions. 
 
 The immenfe country inhabited at prefent by thofe defcendants of 
 the Moguls and Tartars, who retain nearly the fame manners as their 
 anceftors, comprifes in it almoft all the middle regions of Afia, and 
 pofTefTes the advantage of a very fine and temperate climate. The 
 foil is in general of great natural fertility. There are comparatively 
 but few genuine deferts. The wide- extended plains without a flirub, 
 which have fometimes received that appellation, and which the 
 Bufiians call fteppes, are covered with a luxuriant grafs, admirably 
 
 * Gibbon, vol. vi. ch. xxxiv. p. 54. * Id. p. 55. 
 
 7 fitted 
 
CHAP. VII. amov^ modern Pajl oral Nat mis, 87 
 
 fitted for the pafture of numerous herds and flocks. The principal 
 defed: of this extenfive country is a want of water; but it is faid that 
 the parts which are fupplied with this neceflary article, would be 
 fufficient for the fupport of four times the number of its prefent in- 
 I habitants, if it were properly cultivated''. Every Orda, or tribe, has a 
 'particular canton belonging to it, containing both its fummer and 
 winter paftures; and the population of this vafl territory, whatever it 
 may be, is probably diftributed over its furface nearly in proportion 
 to the degree of a6tual fertility in the different diflricfts. 
 
 Volney juftly defcribes this neceffary diftribution in fpeaking of tho 
 Bedoweens of Syria : " In the barren cantons, that is, thofe which 
 '* are ill furniflied with plants, the tribes are feeble, and very diftant 
 *' from each other ; as in the defert of Suez, that of the Red Sea, 
 '* and the interior part of the Great Defert. When the foil is better 
 *' covered, as between Damafcus and the Euphrates, the tribes are 
 " ftronger and lefs difl:ant. And in the cultivable cantons, as the 
 " Pachalic of Aleppo, the Hauran, and the country of Gaza, the in- 
 " campments are numerous and near each other''.'* Such a diftri- 
 bution of inhabitants, according to the quantity of food which they 
 can obtain in the actual ftate of their induftry and habits, may be 
 applied to Grand Tartary, as well as to Syria and Arabia, and is, in fa6l, 
 equally applicable to the whole earth, though the commerce of civil- 
 ized nations prevents it from being fo obvious, as in the more fimplc 
 ftages of fociety. 
 
 The Mahometan Tartars, who inhabit the weftern parts of Grand 
 Tartary, cultivate fome of their lands ; but this, in fo flovenly and 
 infufficient a manner, as not to afford a principal fource of fubfift- 
 ence ". The llothful and warlike genius of the Barbarian every where 
 prevails, and he does not eaiily reconcile himfelf to the acquiring by 
 labour what he can hope to acquire by rapine. When the annals of 
 
 Gcneal. Hift. of Tartars, vol. ii. fee. i. 8vo. 1730. '' Voy. de Volney, 
 
 torn. i. ch. xxiii. p. 351. 8vo. 1787. f Geneal, Hift. Tar. vol. ii. p. 382. 
 
 Tartary 
 
88 Of the Chech to Population book i. 
 
 Tarcary are not marked by any fignal wars and revolutions, its do- 
 meftic peace and induftry are conftantly interrupted by petty contefts, 
 and mutual invafions for the fake of plunder. The Mahometan 
 Tartars are faid to live almoft entirely by robbing and preying upon 
 their neighbours, as well in peace as in war\ 
 
 The Ufbecks, who poffefs as mailers the kingdom of Chowarafm, 
 leave to their tributary fubjeds, the Sarts and Turkmans, the fineft 
 paftures of their country, merely, becaufe their neighbours on that 
 fide are too poor, or too vigilant, to give them hopes of fuccefsful 
 plunder. Rapine is their principal refource. They are perpetually 
 making incurfions into the territories of the Perfians, and of the Uf- 
 becks of Great Bucharia ; and neither peace nor truce can reftrain 
 them; as the flaves, and other valuable efFeds, which they carry off, 
 form the whole of their riches. The Ufbecks, and their fubjedls 
 the Turkmans, are perpetually at variance ; and their jealoufics, fo- 
 mented often by the princes of the reigning houfe, keep the country 
 in a conftant ftate of inteftine commotion ''. The Turkmans are 
 always at war with the Curds and the Arabs, who often come and 
 break the horns of their herds, and carry away their wives and 
 daughters ^ 
 
 The Ufbecks of Great Bucharia are reckoned the mofl civilized of 
 all the Mahometan Tartars, yet are not much inferior to the refl 
 in their fpirit of rapine ''. They are always at war with the Perfians, 
 and laying wafle the fine plains of the province of Chorafan. Though 
 the country which they poifefs is of the greatefl natural fertility, and 
 fome of the remains of the ancient inhabitants pracflife the peaceful 
 arts of trade and agriculture ; yet neither the aptitude of the foil, nor 
 the example which they have before them, can induce them to 
 change their antient habits ; and they would rather pillage, rob, and 
 
 * Geneal. Hift. Tart. vol. ii. p. 390. 
 
 ^ Id. p. 430)43 1- 
 
 ^ Id. p. 426. 
 
 ^ Id. p. 459- 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 kill. 
 
THAP. VII, among modem I* qftoral Nat iotts, 8q 
 
 kill, their neighbours, than apply themfelves to improve the benefits 
 which nature fo liberally offers them \ 
 
 The Tartars of the Cafatfhia Orda in Turkeftan, live in a ftatc of 
 continual w^arfare w^ith their neighbours to the north and eaft. In 
 the winter they make their incurfions towards the Kalmucks, who, 
 about that time, go to fcour the frontiers of Great Bucharia, and the 
 parts to the fouth of their country. On the other fide, they perpetu- 
 ally incommode the Cofacks of the Yaik, the Nogai Tartars, and 
 the Kalmuck tribes which obey Ajuka Chan. In the fummer they 
 crofs the mountains of Eagles, and make inroads into Siberia. And 
 though they are often very ill treated in thefe incurlions, and the 
 whole of their plunder is not equivalent to what they might obtain 
 with very little labour from their lands, yet they chufe rather to 
 expofe themfelves to the thoufand fatigues and dangers neceffarily 
 attendant on fuch a life, than apply themfelves ferioufly to 
 agriculture ^. 
 
 The mode of life among the other tribes of Mahometan Tartars, 
 prcfents the fame uniform picture, which it would be tirefome to re- 
 peat, and for which, therefore, I refer the reader to the Genealogical 
 Hiftory of the Tartars, and its valuable notes. The condu6l of the 
 author of this hiftory himfelf, a Chan of Chowarafm, affords a cu- 
 rious example of the favage manner in which the wars, of policy, of 
 revenge, or plunder, are carried on in thefe countries. His invailons 
 of Great Bucharia were frequent, and each expedition was flgnalized 
 by the ravage of provinces, and the utter ruin and deftrud:ion of 
 towns and villages. When, at any time, the number of his prifoners 
 impeded his motions, 'he made no fcruple to kill them on the fpot. 
 Wilhing to reduce the power of the Turkmans who were tributary 
 to him, he invited all the principal people to a folemn feaft, and had 
 them maffacred to the number of two thoufand. He burnt and de- 
 ftroyed their villages with the moft unfparing cruelty, and committed 
 
 " Geneal. Hift. Tart. vol. ii. p. 455. ^ Id. p. 573, et feq. 
 
 N fuch 
 
po Of the Checks to Population BooKir 
 
 fuch devaflations, that the effedl of them returned on their authors, 
 and the army of the victors fufFered feverelj from dearth *. 
 
 The Mahometan Tartars in general hate trade, and make it 
 their bufinefs to fpoll all the merchants who fall into their hands \ 
 The only commerce that is countenanced is the commerce in flaves. 
 Thefe form a principal part of the booty which they carry off in their 
 predatory incurfions, and are confidered as a chief fource of their 
 riches. Thofe which they have occafion for themfclves, either for 
 the attendance on their herds, or as wives and concubines, they keep> 
 and the reft they fell^ The Circaffian and Dagheftan Tartars, and 
 the other tribes in the neighbourhood of Caucafus, living in a poor 
 and mountainous country, and, on that account, lefs fubjed: to inva- 
 iion, generally overflow with inhabitants ; and when they cannot ob- 
 tain flaves in the common way, fteal from one another, and even fell 
 their own wives and children ^. This trade in flaves, fo general 
 among the Mahometan Tartars, may be one of the caufes of their 
 conftant wars; as, when a profped: of a plentiful fupply for this kind- 
 of trafBck offers itfelf, neither peace nor alliance can rcftrain them V 
 
 The heathen Tartars, the Kalmucks, and Moguls,, do not make 
 much ufe of flaves, and are faid, in general,, to lead a much more 
 peaceable and harmlefs life, contenting themfelves with the pro^ 
 duce of their herds and flocks, which form their folc riches. They 
 rarely make war for the fake of plunder ; and feldom, invade the ter- 
 ritory of their neighbours, unlefs to revenge a prior attack. They are 
 not, however, without deftrudive wars. The inroads of the Maho- 
 
 ^ Geneal. Htft. Tart. vol. i. c. xii. ^ Id. vol. ii. p. 412. ^ Id. p. 413. 
 
 ^ Id. vol. ii. p. 413, 414, and ch. xii. 
 
 ^ ** They jufrify it as lawful to have many wives^ becaufe they fay they bring us many 
 * children, v^rhich we can fell for ready money, or exchange for neceflary conveniences ;. 
 *' yet when they have not wherewithal to maintain them, they hold it a piece of charity 
 *' to murder infants new born, as alfo they do fuch as are fick, and paft recovery, becaufe 
 *' they fay they free them from a great deal of mifery," Sir John Chardin's Travels.. 
 Harris's Col. b. iii. c.ii, p. 855. 
 
 metan 
 
CHAP. VII. among modern P aft oral Nations. gi 
 
 metan Tartars oblige them to conftant defence and retaliation ; and 
 feuds fubfift between the kindred tribes of the Kalmucks and Moguls, 
 which, fomented by the artful policy of the emperor of China, are 
 carried on with fuch animofity, as to threaten the entire deftrudion 
 of one or other of thefe nations *. 
 
 The Bedoweens of Arabia and Syria do not live in greater tran- 
 quillity than the inhabitants of Grand Tartary. The very nature of ' 
 
 \ the paftoral ftate, feems to furnifh perpetual occafions for war. The 
 paftures which a tribe ufes at one period, form but a fmall part of its 
 poiTeflions. A large range of territory is fucceffively occupied in the 
 
 Icourfe of the year; and as the whole of this is abfolutely neceflary 
 for the annual fubiiflence of the tribe, and is confidered as appropri- 
 ated, every violation of it, though the tribe may be at a great dif- 
 tance, is held to be a juft caufe of war^ Alliances and kindred 
 make thefe wars more general. When blood is flied, more muft ex- 
 piate it ; and as fuch accidents have multiplied in the lapfe of years, 
 the greateft part of the tribes have quarrels between them, and live 
 in aftate of perpetual hoftility^ In the times which preceded Ma- 
 \homet, feventeen hundred battles are recorded by tradition; and a 
 partial truce of two months, which was reHgioufly kept, might be 
 confidered, according to a juft remark of Gibbon, as ftill more ftrongly 
 expreflive of their general habits of anarchy and warfare '^. 
 
 The wafte of life, from fuch habits, might alone appear fufficient 
 to reprcfs their population ; but probably their effect is ftill greater 
 
 \ in the fatal check which they give to every Ipecies of induftry, and 
 
 ( particularly to that, the object of which is to enlarge the means of 
 
 * Geneal. Hift. Tart. vol. ii. p. 545. 
 
 ^ lis fe difputeront la terre inculte comme parmi nous les cltoyetis fe difputent les 
 heritages. Ainfi lis trouveront de frequentes occafions de guerre pour la nourriture de 
 leur l^eftiaux, &:c. *** jlsauront autant de chofes a regler par le droit des gens qu'ils en 
 auront peu a decider par le droit civil. Montef. Efprit des Loix, 1. xviii. c. xii. 
 
 = Voy. de Volney, torn. i. c. xxii. p. 361, 362, 363. 
 
 ^ Gibbon, vol. ix. c. 1. p. 238, 239. 
 
 N jz fubfiftence. 
 
p2 Of the Checks to Population book r*. 
 
 fubfiftence. Even the conflrudion of a well, or a refervoir of water, 
 requires fome funds and labour in advance ; and war may dcilroy in 
 one day, the work of many months, aoid the refources of a whole 
 year \ The evils feem mutually to, produce each other. A fcarcity 
 of fubfiftence might at firft perhaps give occafion to the habits of war^ 
 and the habits of war in return powerfully contribute to narrow the 
 means of fubfiflence. 
 
 Some tribes, from the nature of thcdeferts in which they live, feem 
 to. be neccffarily condemned to a paftoral life ^ ; but even thofe which 
 inhabit foils proper for agriculture, have but little temptation to 
 pradiife this art, while furrounded by marauding neighbours. The 
 peafants of the frontier provinces of Syria, Perfia, and Siberia, espofed 
 as they are to, the conftant incurfions of a devaf^ting enemy, do not. 
 lead a life that is to be envied by the wandering Tartar or Arab. A. 
 
 X certain degree of fecurity, is perhaps ftill more neceffary, than richnefs 
 of foil, to encourage the change from the paftoral to the agricultural 
 ftate ; and where this canjiot be attained, the fedentary labourer is 
 more expofed to the viciffitudes of fortune, than he who leads a wan-* 
 dering life, and carries all his property with him *". Under the feeble,, 
 yet oppreflive government of the Turks, it is not uncommon for pea- 
 iants to defert their villages and betake themfelves to a paftoral ftate> 
 in which they expeA to be better able to efcape from the plunder of 
 their Turkifh mafters and Arab neighbours ''. 
 
 ^ It may be faid, however, of the fhepherd, as of the hunter, that 
 if want alone could efFed: a change of habits, there would be few paf- 
 toral tribes remaining. Notwithftanding the conftant wars of the 
 Bedoween Arabs, and the other checks to their increafe, from the 
 hardlhips of their mode of life, their population prefTes fo hard againft 
 
 - the limits of their food, that they are compelled from neceffity to a 
 degree of abftinence, which nothing but early and conftant habit 
 
 Voy. de Volney, torn. i. c. xxiii. p. 353. ^ W. p. 350. '^ Id. p. 354. 
 
 < Id. ^. 350. 
 
 could 
 
CHAP. VI r. mtong modem P^oral Nations . 53 
 
 could enable the human conilitution to fupport. According to Vol- 
 jiey^ the lower clafles of the Arabs live in a ftate of habitual mifery 
 and famine \ The tribes of the defert deny that the religion of Ma- 
 homet was made for them. For how, they fay, can we perform ab- 
 lutions, when we have no water ; how can we give alms, when we 
 have no riches ; or what oceafion can there be to faft during the 
 month of Ramadan, when we faft all the year "^ ? 
 
 The power and riches of a Chaik confift in the number of his 
 trifee. He confiders it therefore as his intereft to encourage popula- 
 tion, without refleding how it may be fupported. His own" confe- 
 quence much depends on a numerous progeny, and kindred '^ ; and 
 in a ftate of fociety where power generally procures fubfiftence, each 
 individual family derives ftrength and importance from its numbers. 
 Thefe ideas a^ ftrongly as a bounty upon population, and co-operat- 
 ing with a fpirit of generoiity which almoll: produces a community of 
 goods '', contribute to pulh it to its utmoft verge, and to deprefs the 
 body of the people in the moil: rigid poverty. 
 
 The habits of polygamy, where there have been loffes of men in 
 war, tend perhaps alfo to produce the fame efFe^l. Niehbur obferves 
 that polygamy multiplies families till many of their branches fmk into 
 the moft wretched mifery ^ The defcendants of Mahomet are found 
 in great numbers all over the eaft, and many of them in extreme po- 
 verty. A Mahometan is in fome degree obliged to polygamy from a 
 principle of obedience to his prophet, who makes one of the great 
 duties of man to confift in procreating children to glorify the Crea^ 
 tor. Fortunately, individual intereft, corrects in fome degree, as in 
 many other inftances, the abfurdity of the legiflator, and the poor 
 Arab is obliged to proportion his religious obedience to the fcantinefs 
 of his refources. Yet ftill the dire<5l encouragements to population 
 are extraordinarily great; and nothing can place, in a more flriking 
 
 Voy. de Volney, torn. i. c. xxiii. p. 359. '' Id. p. 380. " Id. p. 366. 
 
 ^ Id. p. 378. ^ NIehbur's Travels, vol. ii. c. v. p. 207. 
 
 . point 
 
94 Of the Chech to Population book i, 
 
 point of view, the futility and abfurdity of fuch encouragements, than 
 the prefent ftate of thefe countries. It is univerfally agreed, that if 
 their population be not lefs than formerly, it is indubitably not great- 
 er ; and it follows as a diredl confequence, that the great increafe of 
 fome families has abfolutely pulhed the others out of exiflence. Gib- 
 bon, fpeaking of Arabia, obferves, that " The meafure of population- 
 *' is regulated by the means of fubfiftence, and the inhabitants of this 
 ** vaft peninfula, might be out-numbered by the fubjedls of a fertile 
 *' and induftrious province*." Whatever . may be the encourage- 
 ments to marriage, this meafure cannot be pafled. While the Arabs 
 retain their prefent manners, and the country remains in its prefent 
 ftate of cultivation, the promife of Paradife to every man who had 
 ten children, would but little increafe their numbers, though it might 
 greatly increafe their mifery. Direfl encouragements to population 
 " have no tendency whatever to change thefe manners, and promote 
 cultivation. Perhaps, indeed, they have a contrary tendency, as the 
 conftant uneaiinefs from poverty and want which they occafion, 
 would encourage the marauding fpirit " and multiply the occaiions 
 of war. 
 
 Among the Tartars, who, from living in a more fertile foil, are 
 comparatively richer in cattle, the plunder to be obtained in preda- 
 tory incurfions, is greater than among the Arabs. And as the con- 
 tefts are more bloody, from the fuperior ftrength of the tribes, and 
 the cuftom of making Haves is general, the lofs of numbers in war 
 will be more confiderable. Thefe two circumllances united, enable 
 fome hordes of fortunate robbers to live in a ftate of plenty, in com- 
 
 * It is rather a curious cireumftance, that a truth fo important which has been ftated, 
 and acknowledged, by fo many authors, fhould fo rarely have been purfued to its confe- 
 quences. People are not every day dying of famine. How then is the population regu- 
 lated to the meafure of the means of fubfiftence ? 
 
 ^ Aufli arrive-t'il chaque jour des accidens, des enlevements de beftiaux ; et cette guerre 
 de maraude eft une de celles qui occupent d'avantage les Arabes, Voy. de Volney, torn. i. 
 . xxiii. p. 364. 
 
 J pariibn 
 
CHAP. VII. among modern P a/lor al Nations, g^ 
 
 parifon of their lefs enterprifing neighbours. ProfefTor Pallas gives a 
 particular account of two wandering tribes fubjedl to Ruffia, one 
 of which fupports itfelf almofl entirely by plunder, and the other lives 
 as peacefully as the reftlefsnefs of its neighbours will admit. It may be 
 curious to trace the different checks to population that refult from 
 thefe different habits. 
 
 The Kirgifiens, according to Pallas % live at their eafe in compa- 
 rlfon of the other wandering tribes that are fubje6l to Ruffia. 
 The fpirit of liberty and independence which reigns amongft them, 
 joined to the facility with which they can procure a flock fufficient 
 for their maintenance, prevents any of them from entering into the 
 fervice of others. They all exped: to be treated as brothers, and the 
 rich, therefore, are obliged to ufe Haves. It may be afked what are 
 the caufes which prevent the lower clafTes of people from increafing 
 till they become poor ? 
 
 Pallas has not informed us how far vicious cuftoms with refpec^ 
 to women, or the reflraints on marriage from the fear of a family, 
 may have contributed to this effe<ft ; but, perhaps, the defcription 
 which he gives of their civil conftitution, and licentious fpirit of ra- 
 pine, may be alone almoft fufficient to account^ for it. The Chan 
 cannot exercife his authority but through the medium of a council 
 of principal perfons, chofen by the people ; and even the decrees 
 thus confirmed are continually violated with impunity ^. Though 
 the plunder and capture of perfons, of cattle, and of merchandize, 
 which the Kirgifiens exercife on their neighbours the Kazalpacs, the 
 Bucharians, the Perfians, the Truchemenes, the Kalmucks, and the 
 Ruffians, are prohibited by their laws, yet no perfbn is afraid to- 
 avow them. On the contrary, they boafl of their fuccefTes in this 
 
 * Not having been able to procure the work of Pallas on- the hiftory of the Mongol 
 nations, I have here made ufe of a general abridgement of the works of the Ruffian tra- 
 vellers, in 4 vols. o(St. publiflied at Berne and Laufanne in 1781 and 1784, entitled, Dc 
 couvertes Ruffes, tom. iii. p. 399. 
 
 ^ Dccouv. Ruff, torn, iii. p. 389, 
 
g6 Of the Checks to Population book (. 
 
 way, as of the moft honourable enterprizes. Sometimes they pafs 
 their frontiers alone, to feek their fortune, fometimes colled: in troops 
 under the command of an able chief, and pillage entire caravans. 
 A great number of Kirgifiens, in exercifmg this rapine, are either 
 killed, or taken into llavery ; but about this the nation troubles itfelf 
 very little. When thefe ravages are committed by private adven- 
 turers, each retains what he has taken, whether cattle or women. 
 The male ilaves and the merchandize are fold to the rich, or to 
 foreign traders*. 
 
 With thefe habits, in addition to their national wars, which, from 
 the fickle and turbulent difpoiition of the tribe, are extremely fre- 
 quent ^ we may eafily conceive that the checks to population from 
 violent caufes may be fo powerful as nearly to preclude all others. 
 Occafional famines may fometimes attack them in their wars of de- 
 vaftation '', their fatiguing predatory incurlions, or from long droughts, 
 and mortality of cattle ; but, in the common courfe of things, the ap- 
 proach of poverty would be the fignal for a new marauding expedi- 
 tion ; and the poor Kirgifien would either return with fufficient to 
 fupport him, or lofe his life or liberty in the attempt. He who de- 
 termines, to be rich, or die, and does not fcruple the means, cannot 
 long remain poor. 
 
 The Kalmucks, who, before their migration in 1771, inhabited 
 the fertile fteppes of the Wolga, under the protection of Ruffia, lived, 
 in general, in a different manner. They were not often engaged in 
 any very bloody wars ^ ; and the power of the Chan being abfolute % 
 and the civil adminiflration better regulated than among the Kirgi- 
 
 ' I>eGouv. Ruff. torn. iii. p. 396, 397, 398. ^ Id. p. 378. 
 
 * Cette multitude devafte tout ce qui fe trouve fur fon paffage, ils emmenent avec eux 
 tout le betail qii'ils ne confomment pas, et reduifent a I'efclavage les femmes, les enfans,ct 
 ]es hommes, qu'ils n'oiit par malTacres. Id. p. 390. 
 
 ^ Decouv. Ruff. torn. iii. p. 331. The tribe is dcfcribed here under the name of the 
 Torgots, which was their appropriate appellation. The Ruffians called them by the more 
 general name of Kalmucks. ^ Id. p. 327. 
 
 I * fiens. 
 
CHAP. VII. among modern F aft oral tsat ions, 97 
 
 iiens, the marauding expeditions of private adventurers were checked. 
 The Kalmuck women are extremely prolific. Barren marriages are 
 rare, and three or four children are generally feen playing round every 
 hut. From which it may naturally be concluded, Fallas obferves, 
 that they ought to have multiplied greatly during the hundred and 
 fifty years that they inhabited tranquilly the fteppe of the Wolga. The 
 reafons which lie gives for tneir not having increafed fo much as might 
 be expedled, are, the many accidents occafioned by falls from horfes, 
 the frequent petty wars between their different princes, and. with 
 their different neighbours ; and, particularly, the numbers among the 
 poorer claffes who die of hunger, of mifery, and every fpecies of ca- 
 lamity, of which the children are moft frequently the viclims'. 
 
 It appears that when this tribe firft put itfelf under the prote(5lion 
 of Ruffia, it had feparated from the Soongares, and was by no means 
 numerous. The poffeffion of the fertile fteppe of the Wolga, and 
 a more tranquil life, foon increafed it, and in 1663 it amounted to 
 fifty thoufand families^. From this period to 1771, the time of its 
 migration, it feems to have increafed very flowly. The extent of paf- 
 tures poffeffed, would not probably admit of a much greater popula- 
 tion, as at the time of its flight from thefe quarters, the irritation of 
 the Chan at the condud: of Ruflia, was feconded by the complaints 
 of the people, of the want of pafture for their numerous herds. At 
 this time the tribe amounted to between c^i, and 60,000 families. 
 Its fate in this curious migratioii, was what has probably been the 
 fate of many other wandering hordes, who, -from fcanty paftures, or 
 other caufes of difcontent, have attempted to feek for frefli feats. 
 The march took place in the winter, and numbers periflied on this 
 painful journey from cold, famine, and mifery. A great part was 
 
 ' Decouv. Ruff. torn. iii. p. 319, 320, 321. 
 
 ^ Id, p. 221. Tooke's View of Ruffian Empire, vol. ii. b.ii. p. 30. Another inftancc 
 of rapid increafe prefents itfelf in a colony of baptized Kalmucks, who received from Ruffia 
 a fertile diftrifk to fettle in. From 8695, which was its number in 1754, it had increafe J 
 in 1771 to 14,000. Tooke's View of Ruf. Em. vol. ii. b. ii. p. 32, 33. 
 
 O either 
 
98 Of the Checks to Population book r. 
 
 either killed or taken by the Kirghifcs ; and thofe who reached their 
 place of deftination, though received at firft kindly by the Chinefe^ 
 were afterwards treated with extreme feverity^ 
 
 Before this migration, the lower clafles of the Kalmucks had lived 
 in great poverty and vvretchednefs^ and had been reduced habitually 
 to make ufe of every animal, plant, or root, from which it was poffible 
 to extra6t nourifliment ^ They very feldom killed any of their cattle 
 that were in health, except indeed they were ftolen,' and then they 
 were devoured immediately for fear of a difcovery. Wounded, or 
 worn out horfes, and hearts that had died of any difeafe, except 
 a contagious epidemic, were confidered as moft defireable food. Some 
 of the pooreft Kalmucks would eat the nioft putrid carrion, and even 
 the dung of their cattle''. A great number of children perifhed of 
 courfe from bad nourifliment '^. In the winter all the lower clafles 
 fufFered feverely from cold and hunger ^ In general, one third o 
 their fheep, and often much more, died in the winter, in fpite of all 
 their care ; and if a froft came late in the feafon after rain and fhow^ 
 fo that the cattle could not get at the grafs, the mortality among 
 their herds became general, and the poorer clafles of the Kalmucks 
 were expofed to inevitable famine ^ 
 
 Malignant fevers, generated principally by their putrid food and 
 the putrid exhalations with which they were fiirrounded, and the 
 fmall-pox, which is dreaded like the plague, fometimes thinned their 
 numbers s ; but in general, it appears, that their population prefled fo 
 hard againft the limits of their means of fubfiftence, that want, with 
 the difeafes ariflng from it,, might be confidered as the principal check 
 to their increafe. 
 
 A perfon travelling in Tartary during the fummer months, would 
 probably fee extenfivc lleppes unoccupied, and grafs in profufion,, 
 
 ' Tooke's View of Ruf. Emp. vol. li. b. 15. p. 39, ^0, 31. Decouv. Ruf. torn. iii. 
 p. 221. '' Id. p. 275, 276. "= Id, p. 272, 273, 274. "^ Id. p. 324. 
 
 * Id. p. 310. * Ibid, and p. 270. Id. p- 31 r, 312, 313. 
 
 fpoiling 
 
tiHAP. Vix. among modern P aft or at Nations, ^^ 
 
 fpoiling for want of cattle to confume It. He would infer, perhaps, 
 that the country could fupport a much greater number of inhabit- 
 ants, even fuppofnig them to remain in their fhepherd ftate. But 
 this might be a hafty and unwarranted conclufion. A horfe, or any 
 other working animal, is faid to be ftrong only in proportion to the 
 flrength of his weakeft part. If his legs be flender and feeble, the 
 ftrength of his body will be but of little confequence ; or if he Wants 
 power in his back and haunches, the ftrength which he may polTefs in 
 his limbs can never be called fully into a6lion. The fame reafbning 
 muft be applied to the power of the earth to fupport living creatures. 
 The profufion of nourifhment which is poured forth in the feafons of 
 plenty, cannot all be confumed by the fcanty numbers that were able 
 to fubfift through the feafon of fcarcity. When human induftfy and 
 forefight are directed in the beft manner, the population that the foil 
 can fupport is regulated by the average produce throughout the year ; 
 but among animals, and in the uncivilized ftates of man, it will ht 
 miuch below this average. The Tartar would find it extremely dif- 
 ficult to colled: and carry with him fuch a quantity of hay, as would 
 feed -all his cattle well during the winter. It would impede his mo^ 
 tions, expofe him to tlie attacks of his enemies, and an unfortu- 
 nate day might deprive him of the labours of a whole fummer, as in 
 the mutual invafions which occur, it feems to be the univerfal pradlice 
 to burn and deftroy all the forage and provifions which cannot be car- 
 ried away ^. The Tartar, therefore, provides only for the moft valuable 
 of his cattle during the winter, and leaves the reft to fupport them- 
 felves by the fcanty herbage which they can pick up. This poor 
 living, combined with the fevere cold, naturally deftroys a confiderable 
 
 * On rait le feu a toutes les meuks de bled et 3e fourrage. **** Cent cinquante vil- 
 lages egalcmcnt encendies. Memoires du Baron de Tott, torn. i. p. 272. He gives a cu- 
 rious defcription of the devaftations of a Tartar army, and of its fufferings in a winter 
 campaign. Cette journee couta a I'armee plus de 3,000 hommes, et 30,000 chevaux, 
 <jui perkent de froid, p. 267 . 
 
 O z part 
 
ICO Of the Chech to Populaiton book i. 
 
 part of them". The population of the tribe is meafured by the 
 population of its herds ; and the average numbers of the Tartars, 
 as of the horfes that run wild in the defart, is repreffed fo low by 
 the annual returns of the cold and fcarcity of winter, that they 
 cannot confume all the plentiful offerings of fummer. 
 "^ Droughts and unfavourable feafons have, in proportion to their 
 frequency J the fame effe<5l as the winter. In Arabia ^ and a great 
 part of Tartary % droughts are not uncommon ; and if the periods 
 of their return be not above fix or eight years, the average popula- 
 tion can never much exceed what the foil can fupport during thefe 
 unfavourable times. This is true in every fituation ; but perhaps in the 
 fhepherd ftate, man is peculiarly expofed to be affeded by the fea- 
 fons ; and a great mortality of parent flock is an evil more fatal and 
 longer felt, than the failure of a crop of grain. Pallas and the other 
 Ruflian travellers fpeak of epizootics, as very common in thefe 
 parts of the world ''. 
 
 As among the Tartars, a family is always honourable, and women 
 are reckoned very ferviceable in the management of the cattle 
 and the houfehold concerns, it is not probable that many are 
 deterred from marriage, from the fear of not being able to fupport 
 a family ^ At the fame time, as all wives are bought of their pa- 
 rents, it mufl fometimes be out of the power of the poorer clafTes 
 to make the purchafe. The monk Rubruquis, fpeaking of this 
 cuflom, fays, that as parents keep all their daughters till they can 
 fell them, their maids are fometimes very ftale before they are mar- 
 ried ^ Among the Mahometan Tartars female captives would fup- 
 ply the place of wives ^ ; but among the pagan Tartars, who make 
 
 Decouvertes Ruffes, vol. iii. p. 261. ^ Voy. de Volney, vol. i. c. 23. 
 
 p. 3^3. <" Decouv. Ruff. torn. i. p. 467. ii. p. 10, 11, 12, &c. bcc. 
 
 ^ Id. torn. i. p. 290, &c. ii. p. 11. iv. p. 304. *= Geneal. Hi ft. Tartars, 
 
 vol. ii. p. 407. ^ Travels of Wm. Rubruquis in 1253. Harris's CoUedtion of 
 
 Voy. tj. i. c. ii. p. 561. * Decouv. Ruff. torn. iii. p- 413. 
 
 I but 
 
CHAP. VII. among modern Pajf oral Nations. loi 
 
 but little ufe of flaves, the inability of buying a wife, muil fre- 
 quently operate on the poorer clafles as a check to marriage, parti- 
 cularly as their price would be kept up by the pracflice of polygamy 
 among the rich *. 
 
 The Kalmucks are faid not to be jealous'', and, from the general 
 prevalence of the venereal difeafe among them '', we may infer that 
 a certain degree of promifcuous intercourfe prevails. 
 
 On the whole, therefore, it would appear, that in that department 
 of the ihepherd life which has been confidered in this chapter,, the 
 principal checks which keep the population down to the level of 
 the means of fubfiftence, are, reftraint, from inability to obtain a 
 wife, vicious cuftoms with refpe6l to women, epidemics, wars, fa- 
 mine, and the difeafes arifing from extreme poverty. The three firft 
 checks and the laft appear to have operated with much lefs force 
 among the ihepherds of the north of Europe. 
 
 = Pallas takes notice of the fcarcity of women, or the fuperabundance of males among 
 the Kalmucks, notwithftanding the more conftant expofure of the male fex to every kind. 
 bf accident. Decouv. Ruff. torn. iii. p. 320. 
 
 ** Decouv. Ruff. torn. iii. p. 239. '^ Id. p. 324. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 103 ) 
 
 CHAP. vrii. 
 
 Of the Chech to Population in different Parts of Africa. 
 
 X HE parts of Africa vifitcd by Park, are defcribed by him as neither 
 %vell cultivated, nor well peopled. He found many extenfive and 
 beautiful di{lrid:s entirely deftitute of inhabitants ; and in general^ 
 the borders of the different kingdoms were either very thinly peo- 
 pled, or perfedly deferted. The fw^ampy banks of the Gambia, 
 . the Senegal, and other rivers towards the coaft, appeared to be un- 
 favourable to population, from being unhealthy "" ; but other parts 
 were not of this defcription ; and it was not poffible, he fays, to be- 
 hold the wonderful fertility of the foil, the vaft herds of cattle pro- 
 per both for labour and food, and reflexft on the means which pre- 
 fented themfelves of vaft inland navigation, without lamenting that 
 a country fo abundantly gifted by nature, ihould remain in its pre- 
 fent favage and neglecfled ftate ^ 
 
 The caufes of this negled:ed ftate clearly appear, however, in 
 the defcription which Park gives of the general habits of the ne- 
 groe nations. In a country divided into a thoufand petty ftates, 
 moftly independent and jealous of each other, it is natural to ima- 
 gine, he fays, that wars frequently originate from very frivolous pro- 
 vocations. The wars of Africa are of two kinds, one called killi, 
 that which is openly avowed ; and the other, tegria, plundering or 
 ftealing. Thefe latter are very common, particularly about the 
 beginning of the dry feafon, when the labours of harveft are over, 
 
 * Park's Interior of Africa, c. xx. p. 261. 410. ^ Id. c. xxiiK p. 312. 
 
 3 and 
 
 ^o 
 
CHAP. VIII. Of the Chech to PopuJatlottj ^c. joo 
 
 and proviiions are plentiful. Thefe plundering excurfions always 
 produce fpeedy retaliation ^ 
 
 The infecurity of property arifmg from this conftant expofure toJ- 
 plunder, muft neceflarily have a moft baneful efFedl on induftry. 
 The deferted ftate of all the frontier provinces, fufficiently proves to 
 what a degree it operates. The nature of the climate is unfavour- 
 able to the exertion of the negroe nations ; and, as there are not 
 many opportunities of turning to advantage the iurplus produce of 
 their labour, we cannot be furprifed that they ihould in general, 
 content themfelvcs with cultivating only as much ground as is ne- 
 cefTary for their own fupport**. Thefe caufes appear adequately to- 
 account for the uncultivated ftate of the country. 
 
 The wafte of life in thefe conftant wars and predatory incuriions 
 muft be confiderable ; and Park agrees with Buffon in flating, that, 
 independent of violent caufes, longevity is rare among the ne- 
 groes. At forty, he fays, moft of them became greyhaired and 
 covered with wrinkles, and but few of them furvive the age of 
 fifty-five, or flxty^ Buftbn attributes this fhortnefs of life to the pre- 
 mature intercourfe of the fexes, and the very early and exceffive de- 
 bauchery*^. On this fubjed: perhaps he has been led into exagge- 
 rations ; but, without attributing too much to this caufe, it feems 
 agreeable to the analogy of nature to fuppofe, that, as the natives of 
 hot climates arrive much earlier at maturity than the inhabitants of 
 colder countries, they ftiould alfo perifti earlier. 
 
 According to Buffon, the negroe women are extremely prolific ; 
 but, it appears from Park, that they are in the habit of fuckling 
 
 * Park's Africa, c. xxii. p. 291. & feq. ^ Id. c. xxi. p. iSb. " Id. p, 274*. 
 
 ^ L'ufage premature des fe mines eft peut-etre Ja caufe de la brievete de leur vie; 
 les enfans font fi debauches, et ii peu contraints par les peres et meres, que des leur plus 
 tendre jeunefle lis fe livrent a tout ceque la nature leur fuggere, rien n'eft fi rare que de 
 trouver dans ce peuple quelque fiUe qui puife fe fouvenir du tems auquel elle a cefle 
 d'etre vierge. Hiftoire Naturelle de i'Homme, vol. vi. p. 235. 5th edit. lamo. 
 2 1 vok. 
 
 their 
 
104 Of the Chech to Population m book i. 
 
 their children two or three years, and as the hufband, during this 
 time, devotes the whole of his attention to his other wives, the 
 family of each wife is feldom numerous *. Polygamy is uni- 
 verfally allowed among the negro nations ^, and confequently with- 
 out a greater fuperabundance of women than we have reafon to 
 fuppofe, many will be obliged to live unmarried. This hardihip will 
 probably fall principally on the flaves, who, according to Park, are 
 in the proportion of three to one to the free men ''. A maiter is not 
 permitted to fell his domeftic flaves, nor thofe born in his own 
 houfe, except in cafe of famine, to fupport himfelf and family. We 
 may imagine, therefore, that he will not fuffer them to increafe be- 
 yond the employment which he has for them. The flaves which 
 are purchafed, or the prifoners taken in war, are entirely at the dif- 
 pofal of their mafters ^. They are often treated with extreme feve- 
 rity, and in any fcarcity of women arifmg from the polygamy of the 
 free men, would of courfe be deprived of them without fcruple. 
 Few or no women, probably, remain in a ftate of ftri^l celibacy; but, 
 in proportion to the number married, the ftate of fociety does not 
 feem to be favourable to increafe. 
 
 Africa has been at all times the principal mart of flaves. The 
 drains of its population in this w^ay have been great and conftant, 
 particularly fmce their introduction into the European colonies ; but 
 perhaps, as Dr. Franklin obferves, it would be difficult to find the 
 gap that has been made by a hundred years exportation of negroes 
 which has blackened half America '. For, notwithflanding this con- 
 
 * Park's Africa, c. xx. p. 265. As the accounts of Park, and thofe on which Buffon 
 has founded his obfervations, are probably accounts of different nations, and Certainly 
 at different periods, we cannot infer that either is incorred becaufe they differ from each 
 other : but as far as Park's obfervations extend, they are certainly entitled to more credit 
 than any of the travellers which preceded him, 
 
 ^ Id. c. XX. p. 267. ^ Id. c. xxil. p. 287. * Id 288. 
 
 " Franklin's Mifcell. p. 9. 
 
 ilant 
 
c H A-P . V 1 1 1 . different Parts vf Africa. i o ^ 
 
 ftant emigration, the lofs of numbers from inceffant war, and the ^ 
 checks to increafe from vice and other caufes, it appears, that the 
 population is continually paiTmg beyond the means of fubfiftence. 
 According to Park, fcarce years and famines are frequent. Among 
 the four principal caufes of flavery in Africa, he mentions famine 
 next to war * ; and the exprefs permifiion given to mailers to fell 
 their domeftic flaves for the fupport of their family, which they are 
 not allowed to do on any lefs urgent occalion ^, feems to imply the 
 not infrequent recurrence of fevere want. During a great fcarcity, 
 which lafted for three years in the countries of the Gambia, great num- 
 bers of people became flaves. Park was aflured by Dr. JLairdly, that 
 at that time many free-men came, and begged with great earneft- 
 nefs, to be put upon his Have chain to fave them from perifhing 
 with hunger ^. While Park was in Manding, a fcarcity of provi- 
 fions was feverely felt by the poor, as the following circumftance 
 painfully convinced him. Every evening during his ftay, he obferved 
 iive or fix women come to the Manfa's houfe, and receive each of 
 them a certain quantity of corn. " Obferve that boy," faid the 
 Manfa to him, pointing to a fine child about five years of age 
 " his mother has fold him to me for forty days prov;fion for hcrfelf 
 " and the reft of her family. I have bought another boy in the 
 " fame manner ^." In Soofecta, a fmall Jallonka village, Mr. 
 Park was informed by the mafter, that he could furnifh no pro- 
 vifions, as there had lately been a great fcarcity in that part of the 
 country. He aflured him, that before they had gathered in their 
 prefent crops, all the inhabitants of Kullo had been for twenty- 
 nine days without tafting corn ; during which time they had fup- 
 ported themfelves entirely on the yellow powder which is found 
 in the pods of the riitta, fo called by the natives, a ipecles of mi- 
 
 Park's Africa, c. xxii. p. 295. " Id. p. 288. note. ^ Id. p. 295. 
 
 ^ Id. c. xix. p. 348. 
 
 P niofa. 
 
io6 Of the Chech to Population m booki. 
 
 mofa, and upon the feeds of the bamboo cane, "which, when pro- 
 perly pounded and dreffed, tafte very much like rice ^. 
 
 It may be faid, perhaps, that as, according to Park's account, much 
 good land remains uncultivated in Africa, the dearths may be at- 
 tributed to a want of people; but if this were the cafe, we can 
 hardly fuppofe that fuch numbers would yearly be fent out of the 
 country. What the negroe nations really want, is, fecurity of pro- 
 
 / perty, and its general concomitant, induftry; and without thefe, 
 an increafe of people would only greatly aggravate their diftrefTes. 
 If, in order to fill up thofe parts that appeared to be deficient in inha- 
 
 bitants, we were to fuppofe a high bounty given on children, the 
 effe<fls would probably be, the increafe of wars, the increafe of the 
 exportation of flaves, and a great increafe of mifery, but little or no 
 real increafe of population. 
 
 The cufloms of fome nations, and the prejudices of all, operate in 
 fome degree like a bounty of this kind. The Shangalla negroes, 
 according to Bruce, hemmed in on every fide by adlive and power- 
 ful enemies, and leading a life of fevere labour, and of conftant 
 apprehenfion, feel but little defire for women. It is the wife and 
 not the man, that is the caufe of their polygamy. Though they 
 live in feparate tribes or nations, yet thefe nations are again fiib- 
 divided into families. In fighting, each family attacks and defends 
 by itfelf, and their's is the fpoil and plunder who take it. The 
 mothers, therefore, fenfible of the difadvantages of a fmall family, feek 
 to multiply it by all the means in their power ; and it is by their 
 importunity, that the hufband fuffers himfelf to be overcome ^ 
 The motives to polygamy among the Galla, are defcribed to be the 
 fame, and in both nations, the firfl wife courts the alliance of a 
 fecond, for her hufband; and the principal argument that Ihe makes 
 
 * Park's Africa, c. xxv. p. 336. 
 * Bruce's Travels to (Tifcover the Source of the Nile, vol. ii, p. 556. 4to. 
 
 3 ^^e 
 
c H A p . V 1 1 r . different Parts of Africa . 1^7 
 
 ufe of, is, that their families may be joined together and be ilrong, 
 and that her children, by being few in number, may not fall a prey 
 to their enemies in the day of battle ^. It is highly probable that 
 this extreme defire of having large families, defeats its own purpofe ; 
 and that the poverty and mifery which it occafions, caufe fewer 
 children to grow up to maturity than if the parents had confined 
 their attention to the rearing of a fmaller number. 
 
 Bruce is a great friend to polygamy, and defends it in the only 
 way in which it is capable of being defended, by aflerting, that, in the 
 countries in which it principally prevails, the proportion of girls to 
 boys born, is two or three to one. A fad: fo extraordinary, how- 
 ever, cannot be admitted upon the authority of thofe vague inqui- 
 ries on which he founds his opinion. That there are confiderably 
 more women living, than men, in thefe climates, is in the higheft 
 degree probable. Even in Europe, where it is known with certainty 
 that more boys are born than girls, the women in general exceed 
 the men in number ; and we may imagine, that, in hot and unr 
 healthy climates, and in a barbarous flate of fociety, the accidents 
 to which the men are expofed muft be very greatly increafed. 
 The women by leading a more fedentary life, would fufFer lefs from 
 the effects of a fcorching fun and fwampy exhalations. They would 
 in general be more exempt from the diforders arifmg from debauch - 
 cry ; but above all, they would efcape in great meafure the ravages 
 of war. In a ftate of Ibciety in which hoftilities never ceafe, the 
 <irains of men, from this caufe alone, muft occafion a great difpro- 
 portion of the fexes, particularly where it is the cuftom, as related 
 of the Galla in Abyflinia ^ to maflacre indifcriminately all the males, 
 and fave only the marriageable women from the general deftru6lion. 
 The a(5tual difproportion of the fexes arifing from thefe caufes, pro- 
 bably, firft gave rife to the permiflion of polygamy, and has, perhaps. 
 
 " Bruce's Travels to difcover the Source of the Nile, vol. ii, p. 223. 
 ^ 1<1. vol. iv. p. 411, 
 
 P 2 contributed 
 
io8 Of the Chech to Population In book r. 
 
 contributed to make us more eafily believe, that the proportion of 
 male and female children, in hot climates, is very different from what 
 we have experienced it to be, in the temperate zone. 
 
 Bruce, with the ufual prejudices on this fubjed:, feems to think 
 that the celibacy of a part of the women is fatal to the population 
 of a country. He obferves of Jidda, that, on account of the great 
 fcarcity of provifions which is the refult of an extraordinary con- 
 courfe of people to a place almoft deftitute of the neceflaries of life, 
 few of the inhabitants can avail themfelves of the privilege granted 
 by Mahomet. They cannot, therefore, marry more than one wife ; 
 and from this caufe arifes, he fays, the want of people and the 
 large number of unmarried women *. But it is evident, that the 
 want of people in this barren fpot arifes folely from the want of pro- 
 vifions, and that if each man had half a dozen wives, the number 
 of people could not be much increafed by it. 
 
 In Arabia Felix, according to Bruce, where every fort of provifion 
 is exceedingly cheap, where the fruits of the ground, the general 
 food of man, are produced fpontaneoufly, the fiipport of a number of 
 wives cofls no more than that of fo many flaves or fervants ; their food 
 is the fame, and a blue cotton Ihirt, a habit common to them all, 
 is not more chargeable for the one than for the other. The confe- 
 quence is, he fays, that celibacy in women is prevented, and the 
 number of people increafed in a fourfold ratio by polygamy, to what 
 it is in thofe countries that are monogamous ^. And yet, notwith- 
 ftanding this fourfold increafe, it does not appear that any part of 
 Arabia is really very populous. 
 
 The effect of polygamy in increaiing the number of married women 
 and preventing celibacy, is beyond difpute; but how far this may 
 tend to increafe the ad:ual population, is a very different confideration. 
 It may perhaps contribute to prefs the population harder againfi 
 the limits of the food ; but the fqualid and hopelefs poverty which 
 
 * Bruce, vol. i. c.xi. p. 280. * Id, vol. i. c. xi. p. 281. 
 
 this 
 
CHAP. Till. different Paris of Africa. rop 
 
 this occafions, is by no means favourable to induflry ; and in a 
 climate in which there appears to be many predifpofing caufes of 
 ficknefs, it is difficult to conceive that this ftate of wretchednefs 
 does not poMrerfully contribute to the extraordinary mortality which 
 has been obferved in fome of thefe countries. 
 
 According to Bruce, the whole coaft of the Red Sea, from Suez: 
 to Babelmandel, is extremely unwholefome, but more efpecially be- 
 tween the tropics. Violent fevers, called there nedad, make the 
 principal figure in this fatal lift, and generally terminate the third 
 day in death *. Fear frequently feizes ftrangers upon the firft fight 
 of the great mortality which they obferve on their firft arrival. 
 
 Jidda and all the parts of Arabia ad;a<:ent to the eaftern coaft of 
 the Red Sea, are in the fame manner very unwholefome ^. 
 
 In Gondar, fevers perpetually reign, and the inhabitants are all 
 the colour of a corpfe ". 
 
 In Sire, one of the fineft countries in the world, putrid fevers of 
 the very worft kind are almoft conftant^. In the low grounds of 
 Abyffinia, in general, malignant tertians occafion a great mortality *=. 
 And every where, the fmall-pox makes great ravages, particularly 
 among the nations bordering on Abyflinia, where it fometimes ex- 
 tinguifhes whole tribes ^ 
 
 The efFedl of poverty, bad diet, and its almoft conftant conco- 
 mitant want of cleanlinefs, in aggravating malignant . diftempers, is 
 well known ; and this kind of wretchednefs feems generally to pre- 
 vail. Of TchagafTa, near Gondar, Bruce obferves, that the inha- 
 bitants, notwithftanding their threefold harvefts, are miferably poor s. 
 At Adowa, the capital of Tigre, he makes the fame remark, and. 
 applies it to all the Abyflinian farmers. The land is let yearly to 
 the higheft bidder, and, in general, the landlord furnifhes the feed. 
 
 Bruce, vol. iii. p. 33. ^ Id. vol. i. 279. <= Id. vol. iii. p. 178.' 
 
 "* Id. p. 153. e Id. vol. iv. p; 22, ^ Id. vol. iii. c. iii. p. 68. 
 
 c. vii. p. 178. vol. i. c. xiii. p. 2S,Z' ^ W- yo^* i"* cvJi. p. 195. 
 
 on 
 
no Of the Chech to Population in book i. 
 
 on condition to receive half of the produce ; but, it is faid, that he 
 is a very indulgent mafter who does not take another quarter for the 
 rifk he has run ; fo that the quantity which comes to the ihare of the 
 hulhandman is not more than fuificient to afford a bare fuftenancc 
 to his wretched family ^. The Agows, one of the moil confiderable 
 nations of Abyffmia in point of number, arc defcribed by Bruce as 
 living in a ftate of mifery and penury fcarcely to be conceived. 
 We faw a number of women, he fays, wrinkled and funburnt, fo 
 as fcarcely to appear human, wandering about under a burning fun, 
 with one and fometimes two children upon their backs, gathering 
 the feeds of bent grafs to make a kind of bread ^, The Agow 
 women begin to bear children at eleven years old. They marry ge- 
 nerally about that age, and there is nofuch thing asbarrennefs known 
 among them *". In Dixan, one of the frontier towns of Abyffmia, 
 the only trade is that of felling children. Five hundred are ex- 
 ported annually to Arabia ; and in times of fcarcity, Bruce obferves, 
 four times that number ^. 
 
 In Abyiliuia, polygamy does not regularly prevail. Bruce, indeed, 
 makes rather a ftrange aflertion on this fubje<5l, and fays, that 
 though we read from the Jefuits a great deal about marriage and 
 polygamy, yet that there is nothing which may be averred more 
 truly, than that there is no fuch thing as marriage in Abyflinia ^. 
 But, however this may be, it appears clear, that few or no women 
 live a life of celibacy in Abyflinia, and that the prolific powers of 
 nature are nearly all called into adlion, except as far as they are 
 checked by promifcuous intercourfe. This, however, from the 
 ftate of manners defcribed by Bruce, mufl operate very powerfully ^. 
 " The check to population from war, appears to be exceffive. For 
 the lafl four hundred years, according to Bruce, it has never ceafed 
 to lay defolate this unhappy country ^ ; and the favage manner in 
 
 * Bruce, vol. iii. c. v. p. 124. ^ Id. c. xix. p. 738. ' Id. p. 739. 
 
 ^ Id. vol. iii. c. iii. p. 88* ^ Id. c. xi. p. 306. [ Id. p. 092. 
 
 Id. vol. iv. p. 119. 
 
 which 
 
CHAP. VIII. different Farts of Africa. m 
 
 which it is carried on, furrounds it with tenfold deftrudion. 
 When Bruce flrft entered Abyffinia, he faw on every fide ruined 
 villages deftroyed to the lowefl foundation, by liafs Michael in his 
 march to Gondar^. In the courfe of the civil wars, while Bruce 
 was in the country, he fays, ** The rebels had begun to lay waftc 
 *' Dcmbca, and burnt all the villages in the plain, from fouth to 
 " weft ; making it like a defert between Michael and Fasil.--'-' -'-* 
 '* The king often afcended to the top of the tower of his palace,^ 
 " and contemplated, with the greateft difpleafure, the burning of 
 " his rich villages in Dembea *'." In another place, he fays, " the 
 " whole country of Degwefla was totally deftroyed ; men, women, 
 " and children, were entirely extirpated, without diftindion of age 
 " or fex ; the houfes rafed to the ground, and the country about it 
 " left as defolate as after the deluge. The villages belonging to the 
 ** king were as feverely treated ; a univerfal cry was heard from all 
 *' parts, but no one dared to fuggeft any means of help ^'* In 
 Maitftia, one of the provinces of Abyflinia, he was told, that if 
 ever he met an old man, he might be fure that he was a ftranger, 
 as all that were natives died by the lance young ^. 
 
 If the pidure of the ftate of Abyffinia, drawn by Bruce, be In 
 any degree near the truth, it places, in a ftjong point of view, the 
 force of that principle of increafe which preferves a population fully 
 up to the level of the means of fubfiftence, under the checks of war, 
 peftilential difeafes, and promifcuous intcrcourfe, all operating in an. 
 exceffive degree. 
 
 The nations which border dn Abyffinia are univcrfally ihort-lived'. 
 A Shangalla woman at twenty-two, is, according to Bruce, more 
 wrinkled and deformed by age than is an European woman at fixty^ 
 It would appear therefore, that, in all thefe countries, as among the 
 northern ihepherds, in the times of their conftant emigrations^ 
 
 * Bruce, vol. Hi. c. vii. p. 192. ^ Id. vo!. iv. c. v. p. 112. 
 
 <' Id.vol. iv. p. 258, 5 Id, c. i. p. 14. f Id. vol. ii. p. 559. 
 
 there 
 
J 13 Of the Checks to Population m book i. 
 
 there is a very rapid fucceffion of human beings, and the difference 
 in the two inftances is, that our northern anceftors died out of their 
 own country, whereas thefe die at home. If accurate regifters of 
 mortaUty were kept among thefe nations, I have little doubt that it 
 would appear, that, including the mortality from wars, i in 17 or 1 8 
 at the leaft, die annually, inftead of i in 34 or 36, as in the gene- 
 Tality of European ftates. 
 
 The defcription which Bruce gives of fome parts of the country 
 -which he paffed through on his return home, prefents a picture 
 more dreadful even than the ftate of Abyflinia, and Ihews how little 
 population depends on the birth of children, in comparifon of the 
 produ<5tion of food, and of thofe circumftances of natural and poli- 
 tical fituation which influence this produce. 
 
 " At half pafl fix," Bruce fays, " we arrived at Garigana, a 
 " village whofe inhabitants had all perifhed with hunger the year 
 ^* before ; their wretched banes being all un buried, and fcattered 
 *' upon the furface of the ground where the village formerly flood. 
 " We encamped among the bones of the dead, no fpace could be 
 " found free from them \" 
 
 Of another town or village in his route, he obferves, '^ The 
 '' flrength of Teawa was 25 horfe. The refl of the inhabitants 
 " might be 1200, naked, miferable, and defpicable Arabs, like the 
 ** refl of thofe which live in villages.***-*Such was the flate of 
 ''^ Teawa. Its confequence was only to remain till the Daveina 
 " Arabs fliould refolve to attack it, when its cornfields being burnt 
 '* and defhrpyed in a night, by a multitude of horfemen, the bones 
 " of its inhabitants fcattered upon the earth, would be all its re- 
 '" mains like thofe of the miferable village of Garigana ^. , 
 
 " There is no water between Teawa and Beyla. Once Jngedi- 
 ^' dema and a number of villages were fupplied with water from 
 *' wells, and had large crops of Indian corn fown about their pof- 
 
 * J3rucc, vol. iv. p, 349. ^ Id. p. 353. 
 
 ** feffions. 
 
CHAP. VIII. different Parts of Africa. 113 
 
 " fcffions. The curfe of that country the Arabs Daveina have dc- 
 *' ftroyed Ingcdidema, and all the villages about it ; filled up their 
 " wells, burnt their crops, and expofed all the inhabitants to die 
 *' by famine ^." 
 
 Soon after leaving Sennaar, he fays, " We began now to fee 
 *' the effe^^s of the quantity of rain having failed. There was little 
 *' corn Ibwn, and that fo late, as to be fcarcely above ground. It 
 *' feems the rains begin later as they pafs northward. Many people 
 *' were here employed in gathering grafs-feeds to make a very bad 
 '* kind of bread. Thefe people appear perfedl fkeletons, and -no 
 ** wonder, as they live upon fuch fare. Nothing increafes the dan- 
 '* ger of travelling and prejudice againft ftrangers, more than the 
 *' fcarcity of proviiions in the country through which you are 
 *' to pafs ^ 
 
 *' Came to Eltic, a ftraggling village about half a mile from the 
 *' Nile, in the north of a large bare plain ; all pafture, except the 
 *' banks of the river which are covered with wood. We now no 
 *' longer faw any com fbwn. The people here were at the fame 
 *' miferable employment as thofe we had feen before, that of gather- 
 '** ing grafs-feeds ''." 
 
 Under fuch circumftances of climate and political fituation, 
 though a greater degree of forefight, induftry, and fecurity, might 
 confiderably better their condition, and increafe their population, 
 the birth of a greater number of children without thefe conco- 
 mitants, would only aggravate their mifery, and leave their popula- 
 tion where it was. 
 
 The fame may be faid of the once flourifliing and populous coun- 
 try of Egypt, Its prefent depreifed ftate has not been caufed by the 
 weakening of the principle of increafe, but by the weakening of 
 the principle of induftry and forefight, from the infecurity of pro- 
 perty confequent on a moft tyrannical and oppreflive government. 
 
 * Bruce, vol. iv. p. 411, * Id. p. 511. ^ Ibid. 
 
 Q The 
 
114 Of the Chech to Population In book r. 
 
 The principle of increafe in Egypt, at prefent, does all that is pof- 
 lible for it to do. It keeps the population fully up to the level of 
 the means of fubfiflence; and, were its power ten times greater than 
 it really is, it could do no more. 
 
 The remains of ancient works, the vafl lakes, canals, and large con- 
 duits for water deftined to keep the Nile under controul, ferving as 
 refervoirs to fupply a fcanty year, and as drains and outlets to pre- 
 vent the fuperabundance of water in wet years, fufficiently indi- 
 cate to us, that the ancients by art and induftry contrived to ferti- 
 lize a much greater quantity of land from the overflowings of their 
 river, than is done at prefent ; and to prevent, in fome meafure, the 
 diftreffes which are now fo frequently experienced from a redundant 
 or infufficient inundation ^. It is faid of the governor Petronius, 
 that, eiFeding by art what was denied by nature, he caufed abun- 
 dance to prevail in Egypt under the difadvantage of fuch a deficient 
 inundation, as had always before been accompanied by dearth''. A 
 flood too great is as fatal to the hufbandman, as one that is deficient ; 
 and the ancients had, in confequence, drains and outlets to fpread 
 the fuperfluous waters over the thirfty fands of Lybia, and render 
 even the defert habitable. Thefe works are now all out of repair, 
 and by ill management often produce mifchief infl:ead of good. 
 The caufes of this ncgled;, and confequently of the diminiflied means 
 of fubfiflence, are obvioufly to be traced to the extreme ignorance 
 and brutality of the government, and the wretched flate of the 
 people. The Mamelukes, in whom the principal power refides, 
 think only of enriching themfelves, and employ for this purpofe 
 what appears to them to be the fimplefl: method, that of feizing 
 wealth wherever it may be found, of wrefting it by violence from 
 the pofifeflbr, and of impofing continually new and arbitrary contribu- 
 tions *". Their ignorance and brutality, and the conftant fl:ate of 
 
 * Bruce, vol. iii. c. xvii. p. 710. 
 * Voyage de Vobiey, torn. i. c. iiu p. 33. 8vo. i Id. c. xii. p. 170. 
 
 alarm 
 
CHAP. VIII. different Parts of Africa. -^i^ 
 
 alarm in which they live, prevent them from having any views 
 of enriching the country, the better to prepare it for their plunder. 
 No public works therefore are to be expedled from the government, 
 and no individual proprietor dares to undertake any improvement 
 which might imply the poffeffion of capital, as it would probably be 
 the immediate fignal of his deftrud:ion. Under fuch circumftances, 
 we cannot be furprifed, that the ancient works are neglecfled, that 
 the foil is ill cultivated, and that the means of fubfiftence, and con- 
 fequently the population, are greatly reduced. But fuch is the na- 
 tural fertility of the Delta from the inundations of the Nile, that 
 even without any capital employed upon the land, without a right 
 of fucceflion, and confequently almoft without a right of property, 
 it ftill maintains a confiderable population in proportion to its ex- 
 tent ; fufficient, if property were fecure, and industry well dired:ed, 
 gradually to improve and extend the cultivation of the country, and 
 reftore it to its former ftate of profperity. It may be fafely pro- 
 nounced of Egypt, that it is not the want of population that has 
 checked its induftry, but the want of induftry that has checked its 
 population. 
 
 The caufes which keep down the population to the level of the 
 prefent contracted means of fubfiftence are but too obvious. The 
 
 /. peafants are allowed for their maintenance only fufficient to keep 
 them alive *. A miferable fort of bread made of doura without 
 leaven or flavour, cold water, and raw onions, make up the whole of 
 their diet. Meat and fat, of which they are paffionately fond, never 
 appear but on great occafions, and among thofe who are more at 
 
 ^ their cafe. Their habitations are huts made of earth, where a 
 Granger would be fuffocated with the heat and fmoke; and where 
 the difeafes that are generated by want of cleanlinefs, by moifture, 
 and by bad nourifhment, often viflt them and commit great ravages. 
 To thefe phyficd evils are added, a conftant ftate of alarm, the 
 
 * Voyage de Volney, torn. i. c. xii. p. 17a* 
 
 Qi 2, "fear 
 
ii6 Of the Chech to Population, ^c, book i. 
 
 fear of the plunder of the Arabs, and the vifits of the Man:ielukes, 
 the fpirit of revenge that is tranfmitted in famiUes, and all the evils 
 of a continued civil war*. 
 'Ty In the year 1783 the plague w^as very fatal ; and in 1784 and 
 1785, a dreadful famine reigned in Egypt, from a deficiency in the 
 inundations of the Nile, Volney draws a frightful pidlure of the 
 mifery that was fuffered on this occafion. The flreets of Cairo, 
 which at firft were full of beggars, were foon cleared of all thefe 
 objeds, who either perifhed or fled. A vaft number of unfortunate 
 wretches, in order to efcape death, fpread themfelves over all the 
 neighbouring countries, and the towns of Syria were inundated with 
 Egyptians. The ftreets, and public places were crowded with ex- 
 tenuated and dying ikeletons. All the moft revolting modes of fa- 
 tisfying the cravings of hunger were reforted to; the moft difgufting 
 food was devoured with eagernefs ; and Volney mentions the having 
 feen, under the walls of ancient Alexandria, two miferable wretches 
 feated on the carcafe of a camel, and difputing with the dogs its 
 putrid flefh. The depopulation of the two years was eftimated at 
 one fixth of all the inhabitants ^. 
 
 * Volney, torn. i. c. xii. p. 173. This fketchof the ftateofthe peafantry in Egypt, 
 given by Volney, feems to be nearly confirmed by all the other writers on the fubjedl ; . 
 and particularly in a valuable paper intitled, Conjiderations generales fur V Jpkultiire ds 
 l*Egypte, par L. Reynier. (Memoirs fur L'Egypte, torn. iv. p. I.) 
 
 ^ Voy. de Volney, torn. i. c. xii. f. ii. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 117 ) 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Of the Chech to Population in Siberia, Northern and Southern, 
 
 ">C 1 HE inhabitants of the moft northern parts of Aiia fubfift chiefly / 
 ' by hunting and fifhing ; and we may fuppofe, therefore, that the 
 checks to their increafe are of the fame nature as .thofe which prevail 
 among the American Indians ; except that the check from war is 
 confiderably lefs, and the check from famine, perhaps, greater than in 
 the temperate regions of America. M. de LeiTeps, who travelled 
 from Kamtfchatka to Peterfburgh with the papers of the unfortunate 
 Peroufe, draws a melancholy picture of the mifery that is fometimes 
 fufFered in this part of the world from a fcarcity of food. He ob- 
 ferves, while at Bolcheretfk, a village of Kamtfchatka, " very heavy 
 *' rains are injurious in this country, becaufe they occafion floods, 
 '* which drive the filh from the rivers. A famine, the mofl diftreiT- 
 ** ing to the poor Kampfchadales, is the refult, as it happened laft 
 ** year in all the villages along the weflern coaft of the peninfula. 
 " This dreadful calamity occurs fo frequently in this quarter, that 
 *' the inhabitants are obliged to abandon their dwellings, and repair 
 *' with their families to the borders of the Kamtfchatka river, where 
 " they hope to find better refources, fifh being more plentiful in this 
 *' river. M. KaslofF (the Ruffian officer who conduced M. dc 
 " Leffeps) had intended to proceed along the weftern coaft ; but 
 * the news of this famine determined him, contrary to his wilhes, 
 ^' to return, rather than be driven to the neceffity of flopping half 
 7 '* way. 
 
Ii8 Of the Chei'h to Popdatlon in ^ook i. 
 
 *' way, or perlfliing with hunger *." Though a different route was 
 'purfued, yet in the courfe of the journey almoft all the dogs which 
 drew the fledges died for want of food; and every dog, as foon as he 
 failed, was immediately devoured by the others'*. 
 
 Even at Okotfk, a town of confiderable trade, the inhabitants wait 
 with hungry impatience for the breaking up of the river Okhota in 
 the fpring. When M. de Lefleps was there, the ftock of dried fifli 
 was nearly exhaufted. Meal was fo dear, that the common people 
 were unable to purchafe it. On drawing the feine prodigious numbers 
 of fmall fifli were caught, and the joy and clamour redoubled at the 
 fight. The moft famiflied were firft ferved. M. de Lefleps feelingly 
 fays, " I could not refrain from tears on percerving the ravenoufnefs 
 " of thefe poor creatures ;**** whole families contended for the fifli, 
 " which were <ievoured raw before my eyes*^." 
 
 Throughout all the northern, parts of Siberia, the fmall-pox is very 
 fatal. In Kampfchatka, according to M. de Lefl^eps, it has carried 
 off three fourths ^ of the native inhabitants. 
 
 Pallas confirms this account ; and, in defcribing the Ofliacks on the 
 Obi who live nearly in the fame manner, obferves, that this diforder 
 makes dreadful ravages among them, and may be confidered as the 
 principal check to their increafe ^ The extraordinary mortality of 
 the fmall-pox among thefe people, is very naturally accounted for, 
 from the extreme heat, filth, and putrid air, of their underground 
 habitations. Three or four Ofliack families are crowded together in 
 one yourt, and nothing can be fo difgufling as their mode of living. 
 They never wafh their hands, and the putrid remains of the fifh, and 
 the excrements of the children, are never cleared away. From this 
 defcription, fays Pallas, one may cafily form an idea of the ftench, the 
 foetid vapours, and humidity of their yourts K They have feldom 
 many children. It is a rare thing to fee three or four in one family. 
 
 * Travels in Kamtfchatka, vol. i. p. 147. 8vo. Eng. tranf. 1790. ^ Id. p. 264. 
 
 <^ Id. vol. ii. p. 252, 253. ^ Id. vol. i. p. 128. ^ Voy. dc Pallas, 
 
 torn. iv. p. 68. 4to. 5 vols. 1788. Paris. ^ Id. p. 60. 
 
 The 
 
CHAP. IX. Sib ena, Northern afid Sojithern. jip 
 
 The reafon which Pallas gives, is, that fo many die young on account 
 of their bad nourifliment *. To this, perhaps, ihould be added the 
 ftate of miferable and laborious fervitude to which the women are 
 condemned'', which certainly prevents them from being prolific. 
 
 The Samoyedes, Pallas thinks, are not quite fu dirty as the Ofliacks,. 
 becaufe they are more in motion during the winter in hunting ; but 
 he defcribes the ftate of the women amongft them as a ftill more 
 wretched and laborious fervitude *" ; and confequently the check to 
 population from this caufe would be greater. 
 
 Moft of the natives of thefe inhofpitable regions live nearly in the 
 fame miferable manner, which it would be, therefore, mere repetitioa 
 to defcribe. From what has been faid, we may form an idea of the 
 principal checks that keep the adlual population down to the level of 
 the fcanty means of fubfiftence which thefe dreary countries afford. 
 
 In fbme of the fouthern parts of Siberia, and in the diftrids ad- 
 joining the Wolga, the Ruffian travellers defcribe the foil to be of 
 extraordinary fertility. It confifts in general of a fine black mould of 
 fo rich a nature as not ta require, or even to bear, dreffing. Manure 
 only makes the corn grow too luxuriantly, and fubjed;s it to fall to the 
 ground and be fpoiled. The only mode of recruiting this kind of 
 land which is pradifed, is, by leaving it one year out of three in fal- 
 low, and proceeding in this way, there are fome grounds, the vigour 
 of which is faid to be inexhauftible ^. Yet notwithftanding the faci- 
 lity with which, as it would appear, the moft plentiful fubfiftence 
 might be procured, many of thefe diftrids are thinly peopled, and in 
 none of them, perhaps, does population increafe in the proportion 
 that might be expeded from the nature of the foil. 
 
 Such countries feem to be under that moral impoffibility of in- 
 creafing, which is well defcribcd by Sir James Steuart ^ Man, 
 though he may often be produced without a Sufficient demand for 
 
 * Voy. de Pallas, torn. iv. p. 72. ** Id, p. 5o. ^, Id. p. 92^ ^ Id. p. 5^ 
 
 Polit. Econ. b. i, c. v. p. 30. 410. 
 
150 Of the Checks to Population ht book i,' 
 
 '^ liim, cannot really multiply and profper unlefs his labour be wanted ; 
 and the reafon that the population goes on fo flowly in thefe countries, 
 1^ is, that there is very little demand for men. The mode of agricul- 
 ture is defcribed to be extremely fimple, and to require very few la- 
 bourers. In fome places the feed is merely thrown on the fallow*. 
 The buck- wheat is a common culture ; and though it is fown very 
 thin, yet one fowing willlaft five or fix years, and produce every year 
 twelve or fifteen times the original quantity. The feed which falls 
 during the time of the harveft is fufficient for the next year, and it 
 is only neceflary to pafs a harrow once over it in the fpring. And 
 this is continued, till the fertility of the foil begins to diminifh. 
 It is obferved, very juftly, that the cultivation of no kind of grain 
 can fo exadly fuit the indolent inhabitants of the plains of Siberia ^. 
 
 With fuch a fyflem of agriculture, and with few or no manufac- 
 tures, the demand for men muft be very eafily fatisfied. Corn will 
 undoubtedly be very cheap ; but labour will be in proportion ftill 
 cheaper. Though the farmer may be able to provide an ample quan- 
 tity of food for his own children, yet the wages of his labourer will 
 not be fufficient to enable him to rear up a family with eafe. 
 
 If, from obferving the deficiency of population, compared with the 
 fertility of the foil, we were to endeavour to remedy it by giving a 
 bounty upon children, and thus enabling the labourer to rear up a 
 greater number ; what would be the confequence ? Nobody would 
 w^ant the work of thefe fupernumerary labourers that were thus 
 brought into the 'market. Though the ample fubfiftence of a man 
 for a day might be purchafed for a penny, yet nobody will give thefe 
 people a farthing for their labour. The farmer is able to dd all that 
 he wilhes, all that he thinks neceflary in the cultivation of the foil, by 
 itoeans of his own family, and the one or two labourers which he 
 iiiight have before. As thefe people, therefore, can give him nothing 
 
 * Voy. de Pallas, torn, i. p. 250. 
 ^ Dccouv. RufT. vol. iv. p. 329. 8vo. 4 vols. Berne. 
 
 that 
 
CHAP. TX. Siberia, Northern and Souihei^n. izi 
 
 that he wants, it is not to be expelled that he fliould overcome his 
 natural indolence, and undertake a larger and more troublefome con- 
 cern, merely to provide them gratuitoufly with food. In fuch a ftate 
 of things, when the very fmall demand for manufa(fturing labour is 
 fatisned, what are the reft do ? They are, in fad:, as completely with- 
 out the means of fubfiftence, as if they were living upon a barren 
 fand. They muft either emigrate to fome place where their work 
 is wanted, or perifti miferably of poverty. Should they be prevented 
 from fuffering this laft extremity by a fcanty fubfiftence given to 
 them, in confequence of a fcanty and only occafional ufe of their la- 
 bour, it is evident, that though they might exift themfelves, they 
 would not be in a capacity to marry, and continue to increafe the 
 population. 
 
 It might be fuppofed, perhaps, that if there were much good land 
 unufed, the redundant population would naturally betake itfelf to the 
 cultivation of it, and raife its own food. But though there are many 
 countries where good land remains uncultivated, there are very few 
 where it may be obtained by the firft perfon who chufes to occupy 
 it. Even were this the cafe, there would be ftill fome obftacles re- 
 maining. The fupernumerary labourer whom I have defcribed, has 
 no funds whatever, that can enable him to build a houfe, to purchaie 
 ftock and utenfils, and to fubfift till he has brought his new land into 
 proper order, and obtained an adequate return. Even the children of 
 the farmer, when they grow up, would find it very difficult to obtain 
 thefe necefTary funds. In a ftate of fociety where the market for corn 
 is extremely narrow, and the price very low, the cultivators are always 
 poor ; and though they may be able amply to provide for their family, 
 in the fimple article of food ; yet they cannot realife a capital to divide 
 among their children, and enable them to undertake the cultivation 
 of frefh land. Though this ncceftary capital might be very fmall, 
 yet even this fmall fum, the farmer perhaps cannot acquire ; for when 
 l^K! grows a greater quantity of corn than ufual, he finds no purchafcr 
 
 R for 
 
i^Z Of the Checks to Population in book i, 
 
 for it % and cannot convert it into any permanent article, which will 
 enable any of his children to command an equivalent portion of fub- 
 fiftence or labour in future. In general, therefore, he contents him- 
 felf with growing only what is fufficient for the immediate demands 
 of his family, and the narrow market to which he is accuftomed. 
 And if he has a large family, many of his children probably fall into 
 the rank of labourers, and their further increafe is checked, as in the 
 cafe of the labourer before defcribed, by a want of the means of 
 fubfiflence. 
 
 It is not therefore a dire(5l encouragement to the procreation and 
 rearing of children that is wanted in thefe countries, in order ta in^ 
 creafe their population ; but the creation of an effedlual demand for 
 
 j the produce of the foil, by promoting the means of its diflribution. 
 
 ^ This can only be effecfled, either by the introduction of manufad:ures, " 
 and by infpiring the cultivator with a tafte for them, which muft 
 neceffarily be a work of time ; or by affifting new colonifts and the 
 children of the old cultivators with capital to enable them to occupy 
 fucceffively, and bring into cultivation, all the land that is fit for it. 
 
 The late Emprefs of RuiTia adopted both thefe means of increafing 
 the population in her dominions. She encouraged both manufacturers 
 and cultivators; and furnilhed to foreigners of either defcription, 
 capital, and funds for fubfiflence, free of all intereft for a certain term 
 of years''. Thefe well-direded efforts, added to what had been done 
 by Peter I. had, as might be expedled, a confiderable efFed ; and 
 the Ruffian territories, particularly the Afiatic part of them, which 
 had flumbered for centuries, with a population nearly ftationary, or 
 at moft increafmg very languidly, feem to have made a fudden ftart 
 of late years. Though the population of the more fertile provinces 
 of Siberia be ftill very inadequate to the richnefs of the foil ; yet in 
 feme of them, agriculture flourilhes in no ineonfiderable degree, and 
 
 * II y a fort peu de debit dans le pays, parce que le phipart des habitans Ion cultlvateurs 
 et elevent eux memes des beftiaux. Voy. de Pallas, torn. iv. p. 4. 
 ^ Tooke's View of Ruffian Empire, vol. ii. p. 242. 
 
 great 
 
CHAP. IX. Siberia, Northern and Southern. 12,^ 
 
 great quantities of corn are grown. In a general dearth which hap- 
 pened in I y6g, the province of Ifetik was able, notwithftanding a 
 fcanty harveft, to fupply, in the ufual manner, the founderies and 
 forges of Ural, befides preferving from the horrors of famine all the 
 neighbouring provinces*. And in the territory of Krafnoyarfk, on 
 the Ihores of the YenilTey, in fpite of the indolence and drunken- 
 nefs of the inhabitants, the abundance of corn is fo great, that no 
 inflance has ever been known of a general failure *. Pallas juftly 
 obferves, if we confider that Siberia, not two hundred years ago, 
 was a wildernefs utterly unknown, and, in point of population, w^as 
 even far behind the almoft defert tra6ls of North America, we may 
 juftly be aftonifhed at the prefent ftate of this part of the world, and 
 at the multitude of its Ruffian inhabitants, who in numbers greatly 
 exceed the natives "". 
 
 When Pallas was in Siberia, provifions in thefe fertile diftrid:s, par- 
 ticularly in the environs of Krafnoyarfk, were moft extraordinarily 
 cheap. A pood, or forty pounds, of wheaten flour, was fold for about 
 twopence halfpenny, an ox for five or fixihillings, and a cow for three 
 or four ^. This unnatural cheapnefs, owing to a want of vent for the 
 products of the foil, was perhaps the principal check to the population. 
 In the period which has lince elapfed, the prices have rifen coniidcr- 
 ably*^; and we may conclude, therefore, that the objedl principally 
 wanted has been attained, and that the population proceeds with 
 rapid ftrides. 
 
 Pallas, however, complains, that the intentions of the Emprefs re- 
 fpe^ling the peopling of Siberia, were not always well fulfilled by her 
 fubordinate agents, and that the proprietors, to whofe <:are this was 
 left, often fent off colonifts, in every refpe^ unfit for the purpofe, in 
 regard to age, difeafes, and want of induftrious habits^. Even the 
 
 Voy. de Pallas, torn. iii. p. 10. ^ Id. torn. iv. p. 3. *= Id. p. 6. 
 
 ^ Id. p. 3. Tooke's View of Ruffian Empire, vol. iii. p. 239. 
 
 ' Voy. de Pallas, torn. v. p. 5. 
 
 "K 2, German 
 
;1^24 Of the Chech to Populatton In book I. 
 
 German fettlers in the diftridts near the Wolga, are, according to 
 Pallas, deficient in this laft point % and this is certainly a moil eflen- 
 tial one. It may, indeed, be fafely afferted, that the importation of 
 induftry is of infinitely more confequence to the population of a 
 country, than the importation of men and women confidered only 
 with regard to numbers. Were it poffible at once to change the 
 habits of a whole people, and to dired: its induilry at pleafure, no 
 government would c\'crt)e reduced to the neceflity of encouraging 
 foreign fettlers. But to change long-exifting habits is of all enter- 
 prizes the moft difficult. Many years muft elapfe under the moil 
 favourable circumftances, before the Siberian boor will pofTefs the in* 
 duftrj^ and a<5livity of an Englilh labourer. And though the Ruffian 
 government has been inceffimt in its endeavours, to convert the paf- 
 toral tribes of Siberia to agriculture ; yet many obftinately perfift in 
 bidding defiance to any attempts that can be made to wean them 
 from their injurious floth ^. 
 
 Many obftacles concur to prevent that rapid growth of the Ruf- 
 fian colonies which the procreative power would permit. Some of 
 the low countries of Siberia are unhealthy, from the number of 
 marflies which they contain *=, and great and wafting epizootics are 
 frequent among the cattle ^. In the diftrids near the Wolga, though 
 the foil is naturally rich, yet droughts are fo frequent, that there is 
 feldom more than one good harveft out of three ^ The colonifts of 
 Saratof, after they had been fettled for fome years, were obliged to 
 remove on this account to other diftrid:s, and the whole expence of 
 building their houfes, amounting to above a million of rubles, was 
 remitted to them by the Emprefs ^ For purpofes either of {dSttty or 
 convenience, the houfes of each colony are all built contiguous, or 
 nearly fo, and not fcattered about upon the different farms. A want 
 
 * Voy. de Pallas, torn. v. p. 253. ^ Tooke's Ruffian Empire, vol. iii. p 313. 
 = Voy. de Pallas, torn. iii. p. 16; ^ Id. p. 17. torn. v. p. 411. 
 
 * Id. p. 252, et feq. ^ Tooke's Ruffian Empire, vol, ii. p. 245, 
 
 of 
 
CHAP. IX. Siberia, Northern and Southern. 15^ 
 
 of room is, in confequence, foon felt in the immediate neighbourhood 
 of the village, while the diflant grounds remain in a ftate of very im- 
 perfe<5l cultivation. On obferving this in the colony of Kotfchefnaia, 
 Pallas propofed that a certain part fhould be removed by the Emprefs 
 to other diftridls, that the remainder might be left more at their 
 cafe ^ This propofal feems to prove that fpontaneous divifions of this 
 kind did not often take place, and that the children of the coloniils 
 might not always find an eafy mode of fettling themfelves, and rear- 
 ing up frefh families. In the flourilliing colony of the Moravian 
 brethren at Sarepta, it is faid, that the young people cannot marry 
 without the confent of their priefts; and that their confent is not in 
 general granted till late ^. It would appear, therefore, that among 
 the obftacles to the increafe of population, even in thefe new colonies, 
 the preventive check has its fhare. Population can never increafe 
 with great rapidity but when the price of common labour is very 
 high, as in America ; and from the ftate of fociety in this part of the 
 Rufiian territories, and the confequent want of a proper vent for the 
 produce of induflry, this efFed;, which ufually accompanies new 
 colonies, and is eflential to their rapid growth, docs not take place in 
 any confiderable degree. 
 
 * Voy. de Pallas, torn. v. p. 253. ** Id. p. 175. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
< 156 ) 
 
 C H A P. X. 
 
 Of the Chech to Population in the Turhjh Dominions, and Ferfia. 
 
 IN the Afiatic parts of the Turkilh dominions, it will not be diffi- 
 cult, from the accounts of travellers, to trace the checks to popula- 
 tion, and the caufes of its prefent decay ; and as there is little differ- 
 ence in the manners of the Turks, whether they inhabit Europe or 
 Alia, it will not be worth while to make them the fubje<ilof diftind; 
 confideration. 
 
 The fundamental caufe of the low ftate of population in Turkey, 
 compared with its extent of territory, is undoubtedly the nature of 
 the government. Its tyranny, its feeblenefs, its bad laws, and worfc 
 adminiftration of them, with the confequent infecurity of property, 
 throw fuch obftacles in the way of agriculture, that the means of fub- 
 fiftence are neceflarily decreaiing yearly, and with them, of courfe, 
 the number of people. ^ The miri, or general land tax, paid to the 
 fultan, is in \tiii moderate ^ ; but by abufes inherent in the Turklih 
 government, the pachas, and their agents, have found out the means 
 of rendering it ruinous. Though they cannot abfolutely alter the 
 impoft which has been eftablilhed by the fultan, they have introduced 
 a multitude of changes, which, without the name, produce all the 
 effects of an augmentation ''. In Syria, according to Volney, having 
 the greateft part of the land at their difpofal, they clog their con- 
 ceffions with burdenfome conditions, and exadl the half, and fome- 
 times even two thirds, of the crop. When the harveft is over, they 
 
 * Voy. de Volney, torn. ii. c. xxxvii. p. 373. (8vo. 1787.) '' Ibid. 
 
 cavil 
 
CHAP. X. Of the Chech to Population, ^c. 127 
 
 cavil about loiTes, and, as they have the power in their hands, they 
 carry ofFw^hat they think proper. If the feafon fail, they ftill exa(5l 
 the fame fum, and expofe every thing that the poor peafant polfeflcs 
 to fale. To thefe conftant oppreflions, are added a thoufand acci- 
 dental extortions. Sometimes a whole village is laid under contri- 
 bution for fome real or imaginary offence. Arbitrary prefents are 
 exacted on the acceffion of each governor ; grafs, barley, and ftraw, 
 are demanded for his horfes ; and commiflions are multiplied, that 
 the foldiers who carry the orders may live upon the ftarving peaiants, 
 whom they treat with the moft brutal infolence and injuftice^. 
 
 The confequence of thefe depredations is, that the poorer clafs of 
 inhabitants, ruined, and unable any longer to pay the miri, become a 
 burden to the village, or fly into the cities ; but the miri is unal- 
 terable, and the fum to be levied mud be found fome where. The 
 portion of thofe who are thus driven from their homes falls on the 
 remaining inhabitants, whofe burden, though at firft light, now be- 
 comes infupportablc. If they fhould be vifited by two years of 
 drought and famine, the whole village is ruined and abandoned ; and 
 the tax, which it lliould have paid, is levied on the neighbouring 
 lands ^ 
 
 The fame mode of proceeding takes place, with regard to the tax 
 on the Chriftians, which has been raifed by thefe means from three, 
 five, and eleven piaftres, at which it was firft fixed, to thirty-five and 
 forty, which abfolutely impoveriihes thofe on whom it is levied, and 
 obliges them to leave the country. It has been remarked, that thefe 
 exactions have made a rapid progrefs during the lafi: forty years, from 
 which time are dated the decline of agriculture, the depopulation of 
 the country, and the diminution in the quantity of fpecie carried, to 
 Confl:antinople *". 
 
 The peafants are every where reduced to a little flat cake of barley, 
 or doura, onions, lentils, and water. Not to lofe any part of their 
 
 * Voy. de Volhey, torn, ii, c. xxxvii. ^ Id. c. xxxvii, p. 375. ' Id. p. 376. 
 
 corn. 
 
128 Of the Chech to Population m book i. 
 
 corn, they leave in it all forts of wild grain, which often produces 
 bad confequences. In the mountains of Lebanon and Nablous, in 
 time of dearth, they gather the acorns from the oaks, which they eat 
 after boiling, or roafting them on the alhes *. 
 
 By a natural confequence of this mifery, the art of cultivation is 
 in the moft deplorable ftate. The hufbandman is almoft without 
 inftruments, and thofe he has, are very bad. His plough is frequently 
 no more than the branch of a tree cut below a fork, and ufed with- 
 out wheels. The ground is tilled by afles and cows ; rarely by oxen, 
 which would befpeak too much riches. In the diftri^ls expofed to 
 the Arabs, as in Paleftine, the countryman muft fow with his mufket 
 in his hand ; and fcarcely does the corn turn yellow, before it is 
 reaped and concealed in fubterraneous caverns. As little as pofTible 
 is employed for feed corn, becaufe the peafants fow no more than is 
 barely neceflary for their fubfiftence. Their whole induftry is limited 
 to a fupply of their immediate wants ; and to procure a little bread, 
 a few onions, a blue fhirt, and a bit of woollen, much labour is not 
 neceflary. " The peafant lives therefore in diftrefs ; but at leaft he 
 " does not enrich his tyrants, and the avarice of defpotifm is its own 
 " punifhment ''." 
 
 This pidure, which is drawn by Volney, in defcribing the ftate of 
 the peafants in Syria, feems to be confirmed by all the other travel- 
 lers in thefe countries; and, according to Eton, it reprefents very nearly 
 the condition of the peafants in the greateft part of the Turkilh do- 
 minions *". Univerfally, the offices of ever}- denomination are fet up 
 to public fale, and in the intrigues of the feraglio, by which the dif- 
 pofal of all places is regulated, every thing is done by means of bribes. 
 The pachas, in confequence, who are fent into the provinces, exert 
 to the utmoft their power of extortion ; but are always outdone by 
 
 Voy. de Volnfiy, torn. ii. c. xxxvii. p. 377, ^ Id. p. 379. 
 
 * JEton's Turkifh Emp. c. viii, 2d edit. 1799. 
 
 the 
 
CHAP. X. the Turhjh domhiions and Ferjia. i^p 
 
 the officers immediately below them, who, in their turn, leave room 
 for their fubordinatc agents ^ 
 
 The pacha muft raife money to pay the tribute, and alfo to in- 
 demnify himfelf for the purchafe of his office ; fupport his dignity, 
 and make a provifion in cale of accidents ; and, as all power, both 
 militar)' and civil, centers in his perfon, from his reprefenting the 
 fultan, the means are at his difcretion, and the quickeft are invari- 
 ably confidered as the beft ^. Uncertain of to-morrow, he treats his 
 province as a mere tranflent pofleffion, and endeavours to reap, if 
 poffible, in one day, the fruit of many years, without the fmalleft 
 regard to his fuccelTor, or the injury that he may do to the perma- 
 nent revenue '^. 
 
 The cultivator is neceffarily more expofed to thefe extortions thaii 
 the inhabitants of the towns. From the nature of his employment, 
 he is fixed to one fpot, and the producftions of agriculture do not ad- 
 mit of being eafdy concealed. The tenure of the land and the right 
 of fucceffion are befides uncertain. When a father dies, the inherit- 
 ance reverts to the fultan, and the children can only redeem the fuc- 
 ceffion by a confiderable ffim of money. Thefe confiderations natu- 
 rally occafion an indifference to landed eftates. The country is de- 
 ferted, and each perfon is dcfirous of flying to the towns, where he 
 will not only in general meet with better treatment, but may hope 
 to acquire a fpecies of wealth, which he can more eafily conceal from 
 the eyes of his rapacious matters ''. 
 
 To complete the ruin of agriculture, a maximum is in many cafes 
 eflablifhed, and the peafants are obliged to furnifh the towns with 
 corn at a fixed price. It is a maxim of Turkifli policy, originating in 
 the feeblenefs of the government, and the fear of popular tumults, to 
 keep the price of corn low in all the confiderable towns. In the cafe 
 of a failure in the harvefl, every perfon who pofTefTes any corn is 
 
 Eton's Turkifh Emp. c. ii. p. 55. '^ Voy. de Volney, torn. ii. c. xxxiii. ? 347* 
 
 * Id. p. 350, ^ Id, c. xxxvi. p. 369. 
 
 S obliged 
 
1 30 Of the Checks to Population in book I. 
 
 obliged to fell it at the price fixed, under pain of death ; and if there 
 be none in the neighbourhood, other diftrid:s are ranfacked for it *. 
 When Conflantinople is in want of proviiions, ten provinces are 
 perhaps famiflied for a fiipply ''. At Daraafcus, during a fcarcity in 
 1784, the people paid only one penny farthing a pound for their 
 bread, while the peafants in the villages were ahfolutely dying with 
 hunger '^. 
 
 The effect of fuch a iyftem of government on agriculture, need not 
 be infiftcd upon. The caufes of the decreafing means of fubfiflence 
 / are but too obvious ; and the checks which keep the population 
 down to the level of thefe decreafmg refources, may be traced with 
 nearly equal certainty ; and will appear to include almoft every fpecies 
 of vice and mifery that is known. 
 
 It is obferved, in general, that the Chriftian families confift of a 
 greater number of children, than the Mahometan families where 
 polygamy prevails ^. This is an extraordinary fafl ; becaufe, though 
 polygamy, from the unequal diftribution of women which it occa- 
 fions, be naturally unfavourable to the population of a whole country j 
 yet the individuals who are able to fupport a plurality of wives, ought 
 ^certainly, in the natural courfe of things, to have a greater number 
 of children, than thofe who are confined to one. The way in which 
 Volney principally accounts for this fa6l is, that, from the prad:ice of 
 polygamy, and very early marriages, the Turks are enervated while 
 young, and impotence at thirty is very common ^ Eton notices an 
 unnatural vice, as prevailing in no inconflderable degree among the 
 common people, and confiders it as one of the checks to the popula* 
 ^ tion ^ ; but the five principal caufes of depopulation which he enu- 
 merates, are, 
 
 I . The plague, from which the empire is never entirely free^ 
 
 Voy. de Volney, torn. ii. c. xxxviii. p. 38. ^ Id. c. xxxiil. p. 345, 
 
 Id. c. xxxviii. p. 381. ^ Eton's Turkifli Emp. c. vii. p. 275. 
 
 Voy. de Volney, torn, ii. c, xl, p. 445. ^ Eton's Turkiih Emp. c. vii. p. 275. 
 
 55. Thofe 
 
CHAP. X. the Turkipi dominions and Perfia. 131 
 
 2. Thofe terrible diforders which almoft always follow it, at lead 
 jn Afia. 
 
 3. Epidemic and endemic maladies in Afia, which make as dread- 
 ful ravages as the plague itfelf, and which frequently vifit that part 
 of the empire. 
 
 4. Famine. 
 
 5. And laftly, the fickneffes which always follow a famine, and 
 which occafion a much greater mortality*. 
 
 He afterwards gives a more particular account of the devaftations 
 of the plague in different parts of the empire, and concludes by ob- 
 ferving, that if the numbers of the Mahometans have decreafed, this 
 caufe alone is adequate to the effedl ^ ; and that, things going on in 
 their prefent train, the Turkifh population will be extinct in another 
 century *=. But this inference, and the calculations which relate to 
 it, are without doubt erroneous. The increafe of population in the 
 intervals of thefe periods of mortality, is probably greater than he is 
 aware of. At the fame time, itmuft be remarked, that in a country 
 where the induftry of the hufbandman is confined to the fupply of 
 his necelTary wants, where he fows only to prevent himfelf from 
 flarving, and is unable to accumulate any furplus produce, a great 
 lofs of people is not eafily recovered, as the natural effedis from the 
 diminifhed numbers cannot be felt in the fame degree, as in countries 
 where induflry prevails, and property is fecure. 
 
 According to the Perfian legillator, Zoroafter, to plant a tree, to 
 cultivate a field, to beget children, are meritorious a<fts ; but it ap- 
 pears, from the account of travellers, that many among the lower 
 clafles of people cannot eafily attain the latter ipecies of merit ; and 
 . in this inftance, as in numberlefs others, the private intereft of the 
 individual correds the errors of the legiflator. Sir John Chardia 
 iays, that matrimony in Perfia is very expenfive, and that only men 
 of efliates will venture upon it,, left it prove their ruin **, The Ruffian 
 
 Eton's Turkifli Emp. c, vii. p. 264. ** Id. p. 291. ' W. p. S,%0. 
 
 * Sir John Chardin's Travels. Harris's ColIc<l. b. iii. e. ii. p. 870. 
 
 S z traveller? 
 
l^Z Of the Chech to Population, &c\ book i. 
 
 travellers feem to confirm this account, and obferve, that the 
 lower claiTes of people are obliged to defer marriage till late ; and thai 
 it is only among the rich that this union takes place early ^. 
 
 The dreadful convulHons to which Perfia has been continually 
 fubjecfl for many hundred years, muft have been fatal to her agricul- 
 ture. The periods of repofe from external wars, and internal com- 
 motions, have been Ihort and few, and even during the times of pro- 
 found peace, the frontier provinces have been conftantly fubjed: to 
 the ravages of the Tartars. 
 
 The effedl of this ftate of things is fuch as might be expected. 
 The proportion of uncultivated, to cultivated land, in Perfia, Sir John 
 Chardin flates to be, ten to one ^ ; and the mode in which the offi- 
 cers of the Shah and private owners let out their lands to hufband- 
 men, is not that which is beft calculated to reanimate induflry. The 
 grain in Perfia is, befides, much fubje<flto be deflroyed by hail, drought, 
 locufls, and other infed:s % which probably tends rather to difcourage 
 the employment of capital in the cultivation of the foil. 
 
 The plague does not extend to Perfia ; but the fmall-pox is men- 
 tioned by the Ruffian travellers, as making very fatal ravages '*. 
 
 It will not be worth while to enter more minutely on the checks 
 to population in Perfia, as they feem to be nearly fimilar to thofe 
 which have been jufl defcribed in the Turkifh dominions. The fu- 
 perior deflrud:ion of the plague in Turkey, is, perhaps, nearly balanced 
 by the greater frequency of internal commotions in Perfia. 
 
 ^ Decouv. Ruff. torn, ii, p. 293. ^ Chardin*s Travels. Harris's ColIe<5l. 
 
 b. iii. c. ii. p. 902, f Ibid. ^ Decouv. Ruff. torn. ii. p. 377. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( m ) 
 
 C H A p. XL 
 
 Of the Chech to Population in Indojlaii and Tibet. 
 
 In the ordinances of Menu, the Indian. legiflator, which Sir Wm. 
 Jones has tranflated and called ths In/ittutes of Hindu Law, marriage; 
 is very greatly encouraged, and a male heir is confidered as an objed; 
 of the firft importance. 
 
 *' By a fon, a man obtains victory over all people ; by a fon's 
 " fon, he enjoys immortality ; and afterwards, by the fon of that 
 " grandfon, he reaches the folar abode." 
 
 " Since the fon delivers his father from the hell, named put, he 
 " was therefore called puttra, by Brahma himfelf *." 
 
 Among the different nuptial rites, Menu has afcribed particular 
 qualities to each. 
 
 " A fon of a Brdhmi, or wife, by the firft ceremony, redeems from 
 " fin, if he perform virtuous ad:s, ten anceftors, ten defcendants, and 
 ** himfelf, the twenty-firft perfon." 
 
 " A fon born of a wife by the Daiva nuptials, redeems feven and 
 " feven, in higher and lower degrees ; of a wife by the Arfka, three 
 " and three ; of a wife by the Frdjapatya, fix and fix^." 
 
 A houfekeeper is confidered as of the moft eminent order. " The 
 ** divine fages, the manes, the gods, the fpirits, and guefts, pray for 
 
 Sir Wm. Jones's Works, vol, iii. c, ix. p. 354. Speaking of the Indian laws, the 
 AbbeRaynal fays, *' La population eft un devoir primitif, un ordre de la nature fi facre, 
 * que la loi permet de tromper, de mentir, de fe parjurer pour favorifer un marriage." 
 Hift. des Indes, torn. i. Li. p, 81. 8vo. 10 vols. Paris 1795. 
 
 |> Sir Wm. Jones's Works, vol, iii. c. iii. p. 124. 
 
 7 " benefits 
 
134 ^f the Chech to Population in book r. 
 
 *' benefits to mafters of families \" An elder brother not married 
 before the younger is mentioned among the perfons who are parti- 
 cularly to be Ihunned ^. 
 
 Such ordinances would naturally caufe marriage to be confidered 
 as a religious duty ; yet it feems to be rather a fucceffion of male 
 heirs, than a very numerous progeny, that is the obje6l fo much 
 defired. 
 
 " The father having begotten a fon, difcharges his debt to his own 
 *' progenitors." 
 
 " That fon alone, by whofe birth he difcharges the debt, and 
 *' through whom he attains immortality, was begotten from a fenfe 
 " of duty ; all the reft are confidered by the wife as begotten from 
 " love of pleafure ^." 
 
 A' widow is, on fome occadons, allowed to have one fon by the 
 brother, or fome appointed kinfman of the deceafed hufband, but 
 on no account a fecond. " The firft objed: o^ the appointment being 
 " obtained, according to law, both the brother and the fifter muft 
 " live together like a father and daughter by affinity*^." 
 
 In almoft every part of the ordinances of Menu, fenfuality of all 
 kinds is ftrongly reprobated, and chaftity inculcated as a religious 
 duty. 
 
 " A man by the attachment of his organs to fehfual pleafure incurs 
 " certain guilt ; but having wholly fubdued them, he thence attains 
 '' heavenly blifs." 
 
 " Whatever man may obtain all thofe gratifications, or whatever 
 " man may refign them completely, the refignation of all pleafures 
 " is far better than the attainment of them '.'* 
 
 It is rcafonable to fuppofe, that fuch paflages might, in fome de- 
 gree, tend to counteraft thofe encouragements to increafe, which, 
 h^ve been before mentioned, and might prompt fome religious per- 
 
 * Sir Wm. Jones's Works, vol. lii. c. iil. p. 130. ^ Id. p. 141. 
 
 * Id. c. ix. p. 349. * Id. p. 343. Id. c. ii. p. 96. 
 
 fons 
 
CHAP. XI. Indojlan and Tibet. i j^ 
 
 fons to defift from further indulgencies when they had obtained one 
 
 fon, or to remain more contented than they otherwife would have 
 
 been, in an unmarried ftatc. Strict and abfolute chaflity, feems, 
 
 indeed, to fuperfede the obHgation of having defcendants. 
 
 " Many thoufands of Brahmens having avoided fenfuaHty from 
 
 " their early youth, and having left no ifllie in their families,, have 
 
 ** afcended neverthelefs to heaven." 
 
 " And, like thofe abftemious men, a virtuous wife afcends to 
 
 " heaven, though flie have no child, if, after the deceafe of her lord, 
 
 '* fhe devote herfelf to pious aufterity*.*^* 
 
 The permiffion to a brother, or other kinfman, to raife up an heir 
 
 for the deceafed hufband, which has been noticed, extends only to 
 
 women of the fervile <:lafs ''. Thofe of the higher claffes are not even 
 
 to pronounce the name of another man, but to 
 
 " Continue till death forgiving all injuries, performing harfh duties, 
 
 ** avoiding every fenfual pleafure, and cheerfully pra<5lifmg the in- 
 
 '* comparable rules of virtue '."^ 
 
 Besides thefe flrid: precepts relating to the government of the 
 
 paffions, other circumftances would perhaps concur to prevent the 
 full effedl of the ordinances which encourage marriage. 
 
 The diyifion of the people into claiTes, and the continuance of the 
 fame profeflion in the fame family, would be the means of pointing 
 out to each individual, in a clear and diftind; manner, his future prof- 
 pecfls refpecfling a livelihood ; and from the gains of his father, he 
 would be eafily enabled to judge whether he could fupport a family 
 by the fame employment. And though, when a man cannot gain a 
 fubfiftence in the employments appropriate to his clafs, it is allowable 
 for him, under certain reftriAions, to feek it in another ; yet fome 
 kind of difgrace feems to attach to this expedient, and it is not pro- 
 bable that many perfons would marry with the certain proipecl of 
 
 * Sir Wm. Jones's Works, vol.iii. c. v. p. ^ar. 
 * Id. cjx. p. 343. I Id. c. V. p. 22K 
 
 being 
 
1^6 Of the Chech to Population hi book i. 
 
 being obliged thus to fall from their clafs, and to lower in fo marked 
 a manner their condition in life. 
 
 In addition to this, the choice of a wife feems to be a point of 
 considerable difficulty. A man might remain unmarried for ibme 
 time, before he could find exadlly fuch a companion as the legiflator 
 prefcribes. Ten families of a certain defcription, be they ever fo 
 great, or ever fo rich in kine, goats, Iheep, gold, and grain, are 
 fludioufly to be avoided. Girls with too little or too much hair, 
 who are too talkative, who have bad eyes, a difagreeable name, or 
 any kind of ficknefs, who have no brother, or whofe father is not 
 well known, are all, with many others, excluded ; and the choice 
 will appear to be in fome degree confined, when it muft neceflarily 
 reft upon 
 
 " A girl, whofe form has no defed:; who has an agreeable name; 
 *' who walks gracefully, like a phenicopteros, or a young elephant ; 
 *^ whofe hair and teeth are moderate refpeAively in quantity and 
 ** fize; whofe body has exquifite foftnefs *." 
 
 It is obferv ed, that a woman of the fervile clafs is not mentioned, 
 even in the recital of any ancient ftory, as the wife of a Brahmen or 
 of a Cfhatriya, though in the greateft difficulty to find a fuitable 
 match ; which fcems to imply that fuch a difficulty might fome- 
 times occur''. 
 
 Another obftacle to marriage arifing from the Hindoo cuftoms, is, 
 that an elder brother who does not marry, feems in a manner to 
 confine all his other brothers to the fame ftate ; for a younger bro- 
 ther who marries before the elder incurs difgrace, and is mentioned 
 among the perfons who ought to be fhunned *^. 
 
 The charadler which the legiflator draws of the manners and dif- 
 pofition of the women in India is moft extremely unfavourable. 
 
 * Sir William Jones's Works, vol. iii. c. iii. p. 120. 
 
 ^ Id. p. 121. 
 
 = M. p. 141. 
 
 
 
 Among 
 
CHAP. XT. Indojian and Tibet, 137 
 
 Among many other paflages exprefled with equal feverlty, he ob- 
 ferves, that, 
 
 " Through their paffion for men, their mutable temper, their 
 '* want of fettled afFe6lion, and their perverfe nature, (let them be 
 " guarded in this world ever fo well), they foon become alienated 
 " from their hufbands *." 
 
 This character, if true, probably proceeded from their never / 
 being allowed the fmalleft degree of liberty ^ and from the ftate of 
 degradation to which they were reduced by the pra^ice of poly- 
 gamy ; but however this may be, fuch paiTages tend ftrongly to 
 Ihew, that illicit intercourfe between the fexes was frequent not- 
 withftanding the laws againft adultery. Thefe laws are noticed as 
 not relating to the wives of public dancers or fmgers, or of fuch 
 bafe men as lived by the intrigues of their wives *=; a proof that thefe 
 characters were not uncommon, and were to a certain degree per- 
 mitted. Add to this, that the pradlice of polygamy ^ among the rich, 
 would fometimes render it difficult for the lower clafTes of people to 
 obtain wives ; and this difficulty would probably fall particularly hard 
 on thofe who were reduced to the condition of flaves. 
 . From all thefe circumftances combined, it feems probable, that 
 among the checks to population in India, the preventive check ^^ 
 
 would have its (hare ; but from the prevailing habits and opinions of 
 the people, there is reafon to believe, that the tendency to early mar- 
 riages was ftill always predominant, and in general prompted every 
 perfon to enter into this ftate, who could look forward to the 
 flighteft chance of being able to maintain a family. The natural 
 confequence of this was, that the lower claffes of people were re- 
 duced to extreme poverty, and were compelled to adopt the moft 
 frugal and fcanty mode of fubfiftence. This frugality was ftill fur- 
 ther increafed, and extended in fome degree to the higher clafTes of 
 
 ^ Sir William Jones's Works, vol. iii. c. ix. p. 337. "^ Id. c. v. p. 2J9, 
 
 Id. e. viii. p. 325. <* Id. c. ix. p. 346, 347. 
 
 T - fociety, 
 
138 Of the Checks to population In book i. 
 
 fociety, by' its being confidered as an eminent virtue*. The popu' 
 lation would thus be prefTed hard againft the Hmits of the means of 
 fubfiftence, and the food of the country would be meted out to the 
 major part of the people in the fmallefl: fliares that could fupport 
 life. In fuch a ftate of things, every failure in the crops from un- 
 favourable feafons w^ould be felt moft feverely; and India, as might 
 be expeded, has in all ages been iubje<ft to the moft dreadful 
 famines. 
 
 A part of the ordinances of Menu is exprefsly dedicated to the 
 confideration of times of diftrefs, and inftrudions are given to the 
 different claflcs refpe6ling their condud during thefe periods. Brah- 
 mens pining with hunger and want are frequently mentioned^; and 
 certain ancient and virtuous chara6lers are defcribed, who had done 
 impure and unlawful aAs, but who were conlidered by the legifla- 
 tor as juftified, on account of the extremities to which they were 
 reduced. 
 
 " Ajigarta, dying with hunger, was going to deftroy his own fori 
 " by felling him for fome cattle ; yet he was guilty of no crime, for 
 " he only fought a remedy againft familliing." 
 
 " Vamadeva, who well knew right and wrong, was by no means 
 " rendered impure, though defirous, when oppreiTed by hunger, of 
 *' eating the flelh of dogs." 
 
 *' Vifwamitra too, than whom none knew better the diftincHiions 
 " between virtue and vice, refolved, when he was perilhing with 
 ** hunger, to eat the haunch of a dog, which he had received fromi 
 " a Qhandala^r 
 
 If thefe great and virtuous men of the higheft clafs, whom all 
 perfons were under the obligation of alTifting, could be reduced to 
 fach extremities, we may eafily conjed:ure what mufl have been 
 the fufferings of the loweft clafs. 
 
 * Sir William Jones's Works, vol. ill. c. iii. p. 13^, ''' Id. c. iv. p. 165. 
 
 ex. p. 397. Md. ex. p. 397, 398. 
 
 Such 
 
CHAP. $1. Tndojian and Tibet. 139 
 
 Such pailages clearly prove the exiftence of fcafons of the mod 
 fevcre diftrefs, at the early period when thefe ordinances were com- 
 pofed; and we have reafon to think that they have occurred at irregular 
 intervals ever fnice. One of the Jefuits fays, that it is impoffible for 
 him to defcribe the mifcry to wdiich he was witnefs, during the 
 two years famine in 1737 and 1738 " ; but the defcription which he 
 gives of it, and of the mortality which it occafioned, is fufficiently 
 dreadful without further detail. Another Jefuit, fpeaking more ge- 
 nerally, fays, " Every year we baptize a thoufand children, whom 
 *' their p:; rents can no longer feed, or who, being likely to die, are 
 *' fold to us by their mothers in order to get rid of them ''." 
 
 The pofitive checks to population would of courfe fall principally 
 upon the Sudra clafs, and thofe ftiil more miferable beings, who are 
 the outcafts of all the clafTes, and are not even fufFered to live with- 
 in the towns". 
 
 On this part of the population the epidemics which are the con- 
 iequences of indigence and bad nouriihment, and the mortality 
 among young children, would ncccfl'arily make great ravages ; and 
 thoufands of thefe unhappy wretches would probably be fwept off 
 in a period of fcarcity, before any confiderable degree of want had 
 reached the middle clafTes of the fociety. The Abbe Raynal fays, on 
 what authority I know not, that when the crops of rice fail, the 
 huts of thefe poor outcafts are fet on fire, and the flying inhabitants 
 (hot by the proprietors of the grounds, that they may not confume 
 any part of the produce ^. 
 
 The difficulty of rearing a family, even among the middle and 
 higher clafTes of fociety, or the fear of fmking from their cafl, has 
 dri\en the people in fome parts of India to adopt the tnofl cruel ex- 
 pedients to prevent a numerous offspring. In a tribe on the frontiers 
 
 LettresEcUf. torn. xiv. p. 178. *> Id. p. 384. " Srr William Jones*s 
 
 Works, vol. iii. c. x. p, 390. ^ Hid. des hides, torn. i. liv. i. p. 97. 8vo. 10 vols. 
 Paris, 1795. 
 
 T 3 of 
 
140 Of the Chech to Population In book i. 
 
 of Junapore, a diftricfl of the province of Benares, the prad;ice of 
 deftroying female infants has been fully fubftantiated. The mothers 
 were compelled to ftarve them. The reafon that the people gave 
 for this cruel pra6lice, was, the great expence of procuring fuitable 
 matches for their daughters. One village only furnifhed an excep- 
 tion to this rule, and in this village feveral old maids were living. 
 It would naturally occur, that the race could not be continued upon 
 this principle ; but it appeared, that the particular exceptions to the 
 general rule, and the intermarriages with other tribes, were fuffi- 
 cient for this purpofe. Our Eafh India Company obliged thefe peo- 
 ple to enter into an engagement not to continue this inhuman 
 practice *. 
 
 On the coafi: of Malabar the Nayrs do not enter into regular mar- 
 riages, and the right of inheritance and fucceffion refts in the mo- 
 ther of the brother, or other wife goes to the fifter's fon, the father 
 of the child being always confidered as uncertain. 
 
 Among the Brahmens, when there are more brothers than one, 
 only the elder, or eldeft of them, marries. The brothers who thus 
 maintain celibacy cohabit with Nayr women without marriage in 
 the way of the Nayrs. If the eldefl brother has not a fon, then the 
 next brother marries. 
 
 Among the Nayrs, it is the cuftom for one Nayr woman to have 
 attached to her two males, or four, or perhaps more. 
 
 The lower calls, fuch as carpenters, ironfmiths, and others, have 
 fallen into the imitation of their fuperiors, with this difference, that 
 the joint concern in one woman is confined to brothers and male 
 relations by blood, to the end that no alienation may take place in 
 the courfe of the fucceflion ^. 
 
 Montefquieu takes notice of this cuftom of the Nayrs on the coafl 
 of Malabar, and accounts for it on the fuppofition that it was adopted 
 in order to weaken the family ties of this caft, that, as foldiers, they 
 
 * Afiatic Refearches, vol. iv. p. 354. ^ Id. vol. v. p. 14^ 
 
 might 
 
CHAP. XI. Indoflan and Ttheti 141 
 
 might be more at liberty to follow the calls of their profeflion ; but 
 I fliould think that it originated, more probably^ in a fear of .the po- 
 verty arifing from a large family, particularly, as the cuflom feems to 
 have been adopted by the other clafles *. 
 
 In Tibet, according to Turner's late account of it, a cuftom of 
 this kind prevails generally. Without pretending abfolutely to de- 
 termine the queftion of its origin, Mr. Turner leans to the fuppo- 
 fition that it arofe from the fear of a population too great for an un- 
 fertile country. From travelling much in the eaft, he had probably 
 been led to obferve the efFedls neceffarily refulting from an overflow- 
 ing population, and is in confequence one among the very few 
 writers who fee thefe efFeAs in their true light. He expreffes him- 
 felf very ftrongly on this fubjed:, and, in reference to the cuflom 
 above mentioned, fays, " It certainly appears, that a fuperabundant 
 " population in an unfertile country mufl: be the greateft of alL ca- 
 " lamities, and produce eternal warfare or eternal want. Either 
 " the moft a6live and the moft able part of the community muft be 
 *' compelled to emigrate, and to become foldiers of fortune, or mer- 
 " chants of chance ; or elfe, if they remain at home, be liable to 
 " fall a prey to famine, in confequence of fbme accidental failure in 
 " their fcanty crops. By thus linking whole families together in the 
 " matrimonial yoke, the too rapid increafe of population was perhaps 
 " checked, and an alarm prevented, capable of pervading the moft 
 " fertile region upon the earth, and of giving birth to the moft in- 
 " human and unnatural prad:ice, in the richeft, the moft produc- 
 " tive, and the moft populous country in the world. I allude to 
 " the empire of China, where a mother, not forefeeing the means 
 " of raifmg or providing for a numerous family, expofes her new- 
 " born infant to perifli in the fields ; a crime, however odious, by 
 *' no means, I am aflured, unfrequent''." 
 
 * Efprlt desXoix, liv. xvi. c. 5. 
 ^ Turner's Embafly to Tibet, part ii. c. x. p. 351. 
 
 1 -In- 
 
143 Of the Chech to Population In , book ic 
 
 111 almoft every country of the globe individuals are impelled, by 
 xronfiderations of private intereft, to habits which tend to reprefs the 
 natural increafe of population ; but Tibet is perhaps the only country 
 where thefe habits are univerfally encouraged by the government, 
 and where to reprefs, rather than to encourage population, feems to be 
 a public objecfl. 
 
 In the firfl: career of life the Bootea is recommended to diftindion 
 by a continuance in a ftate of celibacy, as, on the contrary, any 
 matrimonial contract proves almofl: a certain hindrance to his rife in 
 rank, or his advancement to offices of political importance. Popu- 
 lation is thus oppofed by the two powerful bars of ambition and 
 religion ; and the higher orders of men, entirely engroifed by poli- 
 tical or ecclefiaftical duties, leave to the hufbandman and labourer, 
 to thofe who till the fields and live by their induflry, the exclufivc 
 charge of propagating the fpecies*. 
 
 Hence religious retirement is frequent ^ and the number of mo- 
 nafteries and nunneries is confiderable. The flricfteft laws exifl to 
 prevent a woman from accidently palling a night within the limits 
 of the one, or a man within thofe of the other; and a regulation is 
 framed, completely to obviate abufe, arrid eftabliih refped: towards 
 the facred orders of both fexes. 
 
 The nation is divided into two diflind and feparate clafles, thofe 
 who carry on the bufinefs of the world, and thofe who hold inter- 
 courfe wath heaven. No interference of the laity ever interrupts the 
 regulated duties of the clergy. The latter, by mutual compad, take 
 -charge of all fpiritual concerns ; and the former, by their labours, 
 enrich and populate the ftate . 
 
 But, even among the laity, the bufin'efs of population goes on 
 very coldly- All the brothers of a family, without any reftridiion of 
 age or of numbers, aflbciate their fortunes with one female, who is- 
 
 Turner's EmbalTy, jsart ii. c. i. p. ijfj. ^ Ibid. * Id. c. viii. p. 312.] 
 
 chofcn 
 
c^A-f- ?^i- hdoflan an4 Tiket, 143 
 
 chofea by tjie eldeft, and confidered as the ijiiflrefs pf the hq^^e ; 
 and whatever may be the profits of their feverai purfuits, the refuU 
 fiows into the common ftore *. 
 
 The number of hufbands is not, apparently, d,efined or feftrided 
 within any limits. It fometimes happens that in a fma^ fenily 
 there is but one male r and the number, Mr. Turner fays, may fel- 
 dom exceed that which a native of rank at Tellioo Loomboo pointed 
 out to him in a family refident ia the neighbourhood, in which five 
 brothers were then living together very happily with one female 
 under the fame connubial compad:. Nor is this fort of league con- 
 fined to the lower ranks of people alone, it is found alfo frequently in 
 the moft opulent families''. 
 
 It is evident that this cuftom, Combined with the celibacy of fuch 
 a numerous body of ecclefiaftics, muft operate in the moll powerful 
 manner as a preventive check to population. Yet notwithftanding 
 this exceffive cheek, it would appear, from Mr. Turner's account of 
 the natural fterility of the foil, that the population is kept up to the 
 level of the means of fubfiftenee, and this fee ms to be confirmed by 
 the number of beggars in Teflioo Loomboo. On thefe beggars, and 
 the charity which feeds them, Mr. Turner's remark, though com- 
 mon, is yet fo juft and important,, that it cannot be too often re- 
 peated. 
 
 " Thus I unexped:edly difcovered," he fays, " where I had con- 
 " ftantly feen the round of life moving in a tranquil regular routine, 
 " a mafs of indigence and idlenefs of which I had no idea. But yet 
 " it by no means furprifed me, when I confidered that wherever in- 
 " difcriminate charity exifts, it will never want objects on which 
 *' to exercife its bounty, but will always attract exped:ants more 
 " numerous than it has the means to gratify. No human being 
 ** can fuffer want at Tefhoo Loomboo. It is on this humane 
 " dlfpofition that a multitude even of Muffelmen, of a frame 
 
 * Turner's Embafly, part ii. c. x. p. 348. 350. ** W. p. 349 
 
 3, ** probably 
 
144 Of the Chech to Population, &c. ' bo'ok'I^. 
 
 " probably the largeft and moft robuft in the world, place their rc^ 
 
 " liancc for the mere maintenance of a feeble life ; and befides thefe, 
 
 *' I am informed, that no lefs than three hundred Hindoos, Gofeins, 
 
 " and Sunniafles, are daily fed at this place by the Lama*s 
 
 ** bounty".'* 
 
 Turner's Embafly, part ii. c, ix, p. 330. 
 
 CHAF. 
 
{ 145 ) 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 Of the Checks to Population in Chhta and Japan, 
 
 J. HE account wluch has lately been given of the population -of 
 China is fo extraordinary, as to ftartle the faith of many readers, and 
 tempt them to flippofe, either that fbme accidental error muft have 
 crept into the calculations from an ignorance of the language, or that 
 the mandarin who gave Sir George Staunton the information, muft 
 have been prompted by a national pride, which is common every 
 where, but is particularly remarkable in China, to exaggerate the 
 power and refources of his country. It muft be allowed, that neither 
 of thefe circumftances is very improbable ; at the fame time it will 
 be found, that the ftatement of Sir George Staunton, does not very 
 eflentially differ from other accounts of good authority ; and ib far 
 from involving any contradi<5lion, is rendered probable, by a reference 
 to thofe defcriptions of the fertility of China in which all the writers 
 who have vifited the country agree. 
 
 According to Duhalde, in the poll made at the beginning of the 
 reign of Kang-hi, there were found 11,052,872 families, and 
 59,788,364 men able to bear arms; and yet, neither the princes, nor 
 the officers of the court, nor the mandarins, nor the ibldiers who 
 had ferved and been difcharged ; nor the literati, the licentiates, the 
 dttftors, the bonzas, nor young peribns under twenty years of age ; 
 Bor the great multitudes living either on the fca, or on rivers in 
 barks, are comprehended in this number*. 
 
 DuhaUe's Hift. of China, 2 vols, folio, 1738. vol. i. p. 244. 
 
 U the 
 
14^ Of the Chech to Topulation tn book r, 
 
 The proportion which the number of men of a military age, bears 
 to the whole population of any country, is generally eftimated as 
 I to 4. If we multiply 59,788,364 by 4, the refult will be 239, 153,456; 
 but in the general calculations on this fubje<3:, a youth is confidered \ 
 
 as capable of bearing arms before he is twenty. We ought therefore 
 to have multiplied by a higher number. The exceptions to the poll 
 feem to include almoft all the fuperior dalles of fociety, and a very 
 great number among the lower. When all thefe circumftances are 
 taken into confideration, the whole population, according to Duhalde,. / 
 
 will not appear to fall very fliort of the 333,000,000 mentioned by 
 Sir George Staunton ^. 
 
 The fmall number of families, in proportion to the number of per- 
 fons able to bear arms, which is a ftriking part of this fhatement of 
 Duhalde, is accounted for by a cuftom noticed by Sir George Staun:-. 
 ton as general in China. In the inclofure belonging to one dwelling,, 
 he obferves, that a whole family of three generations, with all their 
 refped:ive wives and children, will frequently be found. One fmall 
 room is made to ferve for the individuals of each family, fleeping in 
 different beds, divided only by mats hanging from the ceiling. One 
 common room is ufed for eating ^. In China there is, befides, a pro- 
 digious number of flaves % who will, of courfe, be reckoned as part 
 of the families to which they belong. Thefe two circumflances 
 may perhaps be fufficient to account for what at firil appears to be a 
 contradi(5lion in the flatement. 
 
 To account for this population, it will not be necefTary to recur 
 to the fuppofition of Montefquieu, that the climate of China is in any 
 peculiar manner favourable to the production of children, and that 
 the women are more prolific than in any other part of the world ^. 
 T he caufes which have principally contributed to produce this effedl, 
 3tppear to be the following.: 
 
 * Embafly to China, vol, ii. Appen. p. 615. 4to. '^ Id. p. 1^^. 
 
 < Puhalde'5 China, vol. i. p.- 278. * Efprit des Loix, liv. viii. c. xxi. 
 
CHAP. XII. CKtna and ^apm. 1^7 
 
 Firft, the excellence of the natural foil, and its advantageous pofi- 
 tion in the warmeft parts of the temperate zone ; a fituation the 
 moft favourable to the productions of the earth. Duhalde has a long 
 chapter on the plenty which reigns in China, in which he obferves, 
 that almofi: all that other kingdoms afford, may be found in China- 
 but that China produces an infinite number of things which are to 
 be found no where elfe. This plenty, he fays, may be attributed as 
 well to the depth of the foil, ^s to the painful induftry of its inha- 
 bitants, and the great number of lakes, rivers, brooks, and canals, 
 wherewith the country is watered *. 
 
 Secondly, The very great encouragement that from the beginning 
 of the monarchy has been given to agriculture, which has dire(fled 
 the labours of the people to the production of the greateil: pofTible 
 quantity of human fubfiftence. Duhalde fays, that what makes 
 thefe people undergo fuch incredible fatigues in cultivating the earth, 
 is not barely their private intereft, but rather the veneration paid to 
 agriculture, and the eftecm which the emperors themfelves have 
 always had for it, from the ^fj^mencement of the monarchy. One 
 emperor of the higheft reputation was taken from the plough to fit 
 on the throne. Another found out the art of draining water from 
 feveral low countries, which were, till then, covered with it, of con- 
 veying it in canals to the fea, and of ufmg thefe canals to render the 
 foil fruitful^. He befides wrote feveral books on the manner of 
 cultivating land, by dunging, tilling, and watering it. Many other 
 emperors exprefled their zeal for this art, and made laws to promote 
 it ; but none raifed its eileem to a higher pitch than Ven-ti, who 
 reigned 179 years before Chrifl. This prince, perceiving that his 
 country was ruined by wars, refolved to engage his fubjedls to culti- 
 vate their lands, by the example of ploughing with his own hands 
 the land belonging to his palace, which obliged all the ^iniflers and 
 great men of his court to do the fame ^ 
 
 * Duhaldc's China, vol. 1. p. 314, ^ Id. p. 274. " Id. p. 275. 
 
 \5 2, A great 
 
148 Of the Chech to Population m book i^ 
 
 A great feftlval, of which this is thought to be the origin, is folcmr 
 nized every year in all the cities of China on the day that the fun 
 enters the fifteenth degree of Aquarius, which the Chinefe confider 
 as the beginning of their fpring. The emperor goes himfelf in a fo- 
 lemn manner to plough a few ridges of land, in order to animate the 
 hufbandman by his own example ; and the mandarins of every city 
 perform the fame ceremony \ Princes of the blood, and other illuf- 
 trious perfons, hold the plough after the emperor, and the ceremony 
 is preceded by the fpring facrifice which the emperor, as chief pon- 
 tiff, offers to Shang-ti to procure plenty in favour of his people. 
 
 The reigning emperor, in the time of Duhalde, celebrated this {c{-^ 
 tival with extraordinary folemnity, and in other refpedls (liewed an 
 uncommon regard for hufbandmen. To encourage them in their 
 labours, he ordered the governors of all the cities to fend him notice 
 every year of the perfon in this profeffion, in their refpe(5live diflrids, 
 who was mofl remarkable for his- application to agriculture, for un- 
 blemifhed reputation, for preferving union in his own family, and 
 peace with his neighbours, and for his frugality and averfion to all 
 extravagance*'. The mandarins in their different provinces encou- 
 ' rage with honours the vigilant cultivator, and ftigmatize with dif^ 
 grace the man whofe lands are negleded \ 
 
 In a country, in which the whole of the government is of the pa- 
 triarchal kind, and the emperor is venerated as the father of his 
 people, and the fountain of inflrudlion, it is natural to fuppofe, that 
 thefe high honours paid to agriculture fliould have a powerful efFed:. 
 ]n the gradations of rank, they have raifed the hufbandman above 
 the merchant or mechanic ^ and the great object of ambition among 
 the lower clafTes, is, in confequence, to become poffefTed of a fmall 
 portion of land. The number of manufa<5turers bears but a very 
 mconfiderable proportion to that of hufbandmen in China *" ; and the 
 
 DuhaWe's China, vol. 1. p. 275. ^ Id. p 276. 
 
 Lettres Edif. torn, xix. p. 132. ^ Dijialde's China, vol. i, p. 27a'. 
 
 Embafly to China, Staunton, vol ii. p. 544* 
 
 whole 
 
CH A p . X 1 1 . China and Japan, j ^g 
 
 whole furface of the empire is, with trifling exceptions, dedicated to 
 the production of food for man alone. There is no meadow, and 
 very little paflure ; neither are the fields cultivated in oats, beans, or 
 turitips, for the fupport of cattle of any kind. Little land is taken 
 up for roads, which are few and narrow, the chief communication 
 being by water. There are no commons, or lands fufFered to lie wafle 
 by the negledl, or the caprice, or for the fport, of great proprietors. 
 No arable land lies fallow. The foil, under a hot and fertilizing fun, 
 yields annually, in- moft initances, double erop&, in confequence of 
 adapting the culture to the foil, and of fupplyirig its defed:s by mix- 
 ture with other earths, by manure, by irrigation, and by careful and 
 judicious induftry of every kind. The labour of man is Httle diverted 
 from that induftry, to miniiler to the luxuries of the opulent and 
 powerful, or in employments of no real ufe. Even the foldiers of the 
 Chinefe army, except during the ihort intervals of the guards which 
 they are called upon to mount, or the exercifes, or other other occa- 
 fional fervices, which they perform, are moflly employed in agricul- 
 ture. The quantity of fubfiflence is increafed alfo by converting 
 more fpecies of animals and vegetables to that purpofe, than is ufual 
 in other countries *. 
 
 This account, which is given by Sir George Staunton^, is confirmed 
 by Duhaldc, and the other Jefuits, who agree in defcribing the per- 
 fevering induflry of the Chinefe, in manuring, cultivating, and wa- 
 tering their lands, and their fuccefs in producing a prodigious quantity 
 of human fubfiftence ''. The effect of fuch a fyl^em of agriculture on- 
 population muft be obvious. 
 
 Laflly, The extraordinary encouragements that have been given tO" 
 marriage, which have caufed the immenfe produce of the country to- 
 be divided into very fmall Ihares, and have confequently renderedl 
 
 Embaffy to China, Staunton, vol. ii. p. 545. 
 ^ Duhalde, chapteton agriculmre, vol. i. p. 272. chapter on plenty, p. 314^ 
 
 Chin 
 
io Of the Chech to Population In book i. 
 
 China more populous in proportion to its means of fubfiftence, than 
 perhaps any other country in the world. 
 
 The Chinefe acknowledge two ends in marriage ' ; the firft is, that 
 of perpetuating the facrifices in the temple of their fathers ;' and the 
 fecond, the multiplication of the fpecies. Duhalde fays, that the 
 veneration and fubmiffion of children to parents, which is the grand 
 principle of their political government, continues even after death, 
 and that the fame duties are paid to them as if they wxre living. In 
 confequence of thefe maxims, a father feels fome fort of difhonour, 
 and is not eafy in his mind, if he do not marry off all his children ; 
 and an elder brother, though he inherit nothing from his father, muft 
 bring up the younger children, and marry them, left the family 
 Ihould become extin^l, and the anceftors be deprived of the honours 
 and duties they are entitled to from their defcendants ^. 
 
 Sir George Staunton obferves, that whatever is ftrongly recom- 
 mended, and generally pradiifed, is at length confidered as a kind of 
 religious duty, and that the marriage union, as fuch, takes place in 
 China, wherever there is the leaft profpecft of fubfiftence for a future 
 family. This profpecfl, however, is not always realized, and the 
 children are then abandoned by the wretched authors of their being '' ; 
 but even this permiffion given to parents thus to cxpofe their off- 
 fpring, tends undoubtedly to facilitate marriage, and encourage po- 
 pulation. Contemplating this extreme refource beforehand, lefs fears 
 are entertained of entering into the married ftate, and the parental 
 feelings will always ftep forwards to prevent a recurrence to it, ex- 
 cept under the moft dire neceffity. Marriage with the poor is, be- 
 fides, a meafure of prudence, becaufe the children, particularly the 
 fons, are bound to maintain their parents ^. 
 
 The eftc6l of thefe encouragements to marriage among the rich, 
 is to fubdividc property, which has in itfelf a ftrong tendency to pro- 
 
 * Lettres Edif. et Curieufes, torn. x.xlli. p. 448. 
 ** Duhalde's China, vol. i. p. 3"3,. * Embafly to China, vol. ii. p. 157. ''Ibid. 
 
 I mote 
 
CHAP. XII, China and Japan, jj-i 
 
 mote population. In China, there is lefs inequaUty in the fortunes 
 than in the conditions of men. Property in land has been divided 
 inta very moderate parcels, by the fucceffive diftribution of the pof- 
 feffions of every father equally among his fons. It would rarely happen 
 that there was but one fonto enjoy the whole property of his deceafed 
 parents; and, from the general prevalence of early marriages, this 
 property would not often be increafed by collateral fucceffion*. Thefe 
 caufes conftantly tend to level wealth, and few fucceed to fuch an 
 accumulation of it, as to render them independent of any efforts of 
 their own for its increafe. Jt is a common remark among the Chi- 
 nefe, that fortunes feldom continue confiderable in the fame family 
 beyond the third generation''. 
 
 The effed: of the encouragements to marriage on the poor, is to 
 keep the reward of labour as low as poffible, and confequently to 
 prefs them down to the moft ab;e6l flate of poverty. Sir George 
 Staunton obferves, that the price of labour is generally found to bear 
 as fmall a proportion every where to the rate demanded for provifions 
 as the common people can fuffer ; and that notwithftanding the ad- 
 vantage of living together in large families, like foldiers in a mefs, and 
 the exercife of the greateft economy in the management of thefe 
 meffes, they are reduced to the ufe of vegetable food, with a very 
 rare and fcanty relifli of any animal fubftance*^. 
 
 Duhalde, after defcribing the painful induftry of the Chinefe, and 
 the Ihifts and contrivances, unknown in other countries, to which, 
 they have recourfe in order to gain a fubfiftence, fays, " yet it muft 
 " be owned, that notwithftanding the great fobriety and induftry of 
 " the inhabitants of China, the prodigious number of them occafions. 
 " a great deal of mifery. There are fome fo poor, that being unabM 
 " to fupply their children with common neceflaries, they expofe 
 " them in the ftreets."****" In the great cities, fuch as Pekin andi 
 ** Canton,^ this fhocking ftght is very common ^'* 
 
 * Embaffy to China, Staunton, vol. ii. p. 151. * Id. pi 152^ 
 
 Id p. 156. * Duhalde's China, vol, i. p-277y 
 
 Thfi 
 
i^Z Of the Checks to Population in book i. 
 
 The Jefuit,Premare, writing to a friend of the fame fociety, fays, 
 " I will tell you a fa6l, which may appear to be a paradox % but is 
 " neverthelefs ftriftly true. It is, that the richeft and moft flourifh- 
 ** ing empire of the world, is, notwithftanding, in one fenfe, the pooreft 
 '^ and the moft miferable of all. The country, however extenfive and 
 " fertile it may be, is not fufficient to fupport its inhabitants. Four 
 " times as much territory would be neceffary to place them at their 
 " eafe. In Canton alone, there is, without exaggeration, more than 
 ". a million of fouls, and in a town three or four leagues diftant, a 
 " ftill greater number. Who then can count the inhabitants of this 
 *' province? But what is this to the whole empire, which contains 
 " fifteen great provinces all equally peopled. To how many millions 
 " would fuch a calculation amount. A third part of this infinite 
 " population would hardly find fufficient rice to fupport itfelf 
 " properly. 
 
 " It is well known that extreme mifery impels people to the moft 
 " dreadful cxcefiTes. A fped:ator in China, who examines thitigs 
 ** clofely, will not be furprifed that mothers deftroy, or expofe, many 
 '* of their children; that parents fell their daughters for a trifle; that 
 '^ the people fhould be interefted ; and that there ftiould be fuch a 
 ' number of robbers. The furprife is, that nothing ftill more dread- 
 " ful ftiould happen, and that, in the times of famines, which are 
 "' here but too frequent, millions of people ftiould perifti with hunger, 
 ** without having recourfe to thofe dreadful extremities, of which we 
 ** read examples in the hlftories of Europe. 
 
 , * It cannot be faid in China, as in Europe, that the poor are idle, 
 ** and might gain a fubfiftence if they would work. The labours 
 " and efforts of thefe poor people arc beyond conception. A Chi- 
 " nefe will pafs whole days in digging the earth, fometimes up to 
 ** his knees in water, and in the evening is happy to eat a little 
 
 * Lettrcs Edit", et Curlettfcs, torn. xvi. p. 394. 
 
 ,1 '* fpoonful 
 
CHAP. xit. Chirm and Japan. I^j 
 
 ^^ fpoonful of rice, and to drink the infipid water in which it was 
 ** boiled. This is all that they have in general*.'' 
 
 A great part of this account is repeated in Duhalde, and, even allow- 
 ing for fome exaggeration, it fhews, in a flirong point of view, to 
 what degree population has been forced in China, and the wretched- 
 nefs which has been the confequence of it. The population which 
 has arifen naturally from the fertility of the foil, and the encourage- 
 ments to agriculture, may be confidered as genuine and defireable ; 
 but all that has been added by the encouragements to marriage, has 
 not only been an addition of fo much pure mifery in jtfelf, but has 
 completely interrupted the happinefs which the reft might have 
 enjoyed. 
 
 The territory of China is eftimated at about eight times the terri- 
 tory of France ''. Taking the population of France only at 26 mil- 
 lions, eight times that number will give 208,000,000; and when the 
 three powerful caufes of population, which have been flated, are con- 
 fidered, it will not appeal" incredible, that the population of China 
 fhould be to the population of France, according to their refpe^tive 
 fuperficies, as ^^^ to 208, or a little more than 3 to 3. 
 
 The natural tendency to increafe is every where fo great, that it 
 will generally be ealy to account for the height at which the popula- 
 tion is found in any country. The more difficult, as well as the more 
 interefting part of the inquiry, is to trace the immediate caufes which 
 flop its further progrefs. The procreative power would, with as 
 much facility, double, in twenty-five years, the population of China, 
 as that of any of the ftates of America ; but we know that it cannot do 
 this, from the palpable inability of the Ibil to fupport fuch an additional 
 number. What then becomes of this mighty power in China ? and 
 what are the kinds of reftraint, and the forms of premature death, 
 which keep the population down to the level of the means of fub- 
 iiftence ? 
 
 , Lettres Edif. et Curieufes, torn. xvL p. 394, et fq. 
 ^ Embafly to China, Staunton, vol. ii, p. $4^. 
 
 X Notwith- 
 
1^4 Of the Chech to Population in book r. 
 
 Notwithftanding the extraordinary encouragements to marriage in 
 China, we fliould perhaps be led into an error, if we were to fuppofc 
 that the preventive check to population does not operate. Duhalde 
 fays, that the number of bonzas is confiderably above a miUion, of 
 which there are two thoufand unmarried, at Pekin, befides three 
 hundred and fifty thoufand more in their temples eflablifhed in dif- 
 ferent places by the emperor's patents, and that the literary bache- 
 lors alone are about ninety thoufand *. 
 
 The poor, though they would probably always marry when the* 
 fllghtefi: profpe<^ opened to them of being able to fupport a family, 
 and, from the permiflion of infanticide, would run great rifks in this 
 refpecft; yet they would undoubtedly be deterred from entering into 
 this ftate under the certainty of being obliged to expofc all their 
 children, or to fell themfelves and families as flaves ; and from the 
 extreme poverty of the lower clafies of people, fucha certainty would 
 often prefent itfelf. But it is among the flaves themfelves, of which, 
 according to Duhalde, the mifery in China produces a prodigious 
 multitude, that the preventive cheek to population principally ope- 
 rates. A man fometimes fells his fon, and even himfelf and wife, at a. 
 very moderate price; The common mode is, to mortgage themfelves 
 with a condition of redemption> and a great number of men and maid 
 fervants are thus bound in a family^. Hume, in fpeaking of the prac- 
 tice of flavery among the ancients, remarks very juftly, that it will 
 generally be cheaper to buy a full grown flave, than to rear up one 
 'from a child. This obfervation appears to be particularly, applicable 
 to the Chinefe. All writers agree in mentioning the frequency of 
 the dearths in China, and, during thefe periods> it is probable that 
 flaves would be fold in great numbers for little more than a bare 
 
 * Duhalde's China, vol. i. p. 244. 
 
 ^ Id. p. 278. La mifere et le grand nombre d'habltans de I'empire y caufent cetfc 
 multitude prodigieufe d'efclaves: prefque tous les valets, et generalement toutes les filles 
 de fervice d'unc maifon font efclavS. Lettres Edif. torn. xix. pv 145. 
 
 main- 
 
CHAP. XII. ' China and Japan. i^^ 
 
 maintenance. It could very rarely therefore anfwer to the matter of 
 a family to encourage his flaves to breed ; and we may fuppofe, in 
 confequence, that a great part of the fervants in China, as in Europe, 
 remain unmarried. 
 
 The check to population arifing from a vicious intercourfe with 
 the fex, does not appear to be very confiderable in China. The 
 women are faid to be modeft and referved, and adultery is rare. Con- 
 cubinage is however generally pradlifed, and, in the large towns, 
 publick women are regiflered ; but their number is not great, being 
 proportioned, according to Sir George Staunton, to the fmall num- 
 ber of unmarried perfons, and of hufbands abfent from their families *. 
 
 The pofitive checks to population from difeafe, though confider- 
 able, do not appear to be fo great as might be expelled. The climate 
 is in general extremely healthy. One of the miffionaries goes fo far 
 as to fay, that plagues, or epidemic diforders, are not feen once in a 
 century ^ ; but this is undoubtedly an error, as they are mentioned by 
 others, as if they were by no means fo infrequent. In fome inftrudlions 
 to mandarins relating to the burying of the poor, who have in gene- 
 ral no regular places of fepulture, it is obferved, that, when epidemic 
 difeafes prevail, the roads are found covered with bodies fufficient to 
 infed: the air to a great diftance*"; and the expreffion of years of con- 
 tagion ^, occurs foon after, in a manner which feems to imply that 
 they are not uncommon. On the firft and fifteenth day of every 
 month, the mandarins affemble, and give their people a long dif- 
 courfe, wherein every governor a6ls the part of a father who inftruds 
 iiis family*'. In one of thefe difcourfes which Duhalde produces, 
 the following paffage occurs : " Beware of thofe years which happen 
 " from time to time, when epidemic diftempers, joined to a fcarcity 
 ^* of corn, make all places defolate. Your duty is then to have com- 
 
 * Embafly to China, vol. ii. p. 157. *" Lettres Edif. torn. xxii. p. 187. 
 
 ^ Id. torn. xix. p. 126. ^ Id. p. 127. ^ Duhalde's China, vol. i. p. 254. 
 
 X J3 " paffion 
 
ts6 Of the Checks to Population in book it 
 
 " paiTion on your fellow citizens, and affift them with whatever you 
 " can fpare*." 
 
 It is probable that the epidemics, as is ufually the cafe, fall feverely 
 on the children. One of the Jefuitfe, fpeaking of the number of in* 
 fants whom the poverty of their parents condemns to death the 
 moment that they are born, writes thus : " There is feldom a year in 
 *' which the churches at Pekin do not reckon five or fix thoufand of 
 *'^ thefe children purified by the waters of baptifm. This harveft is 
 *' more or lefs abundant according to the number of catechifts which 
 " we can maintain. If we had a fufficient number, their cares need 
 " not be confined alone to the dying infants that are expofed. There 
 *' would be other occafions for them to exercife their zeal, particu- 
 *' larly at certain times of the year, when the fmall-pox, or epide- 
 " mic diforders, carry off an incredible number of children''." It is 
 indeed almoft impoffible to fuppofe, that the extreme indigence of 
 the lower clafiTes of people, fhould not produce difeafes, that would be 
 fatal to a confiderable part of thofe children, whom their parents 
 might attempt to rear in fpite of every difficulty. 
 
 Refpediing the number of infants which are actually expofed, it 
 would be difficult to form the flighteft guefs ; but, if we believe the 
 Chinefe writers thcmfelves, the pra(?l:ice muft be very common. At- 
 tempts have been made at different times by the government to put 
 a ftop to it, but always without fuccefs. In a book of inftrudlions 
 before alluded to, written by a mandarin celebrated for his humanity 
 and wifdom, a propofal is made for the eftablifhment of a foundling 
 hofpltal in his diftri<B:, and an account is given of fome antient efta- 
 blifhments of the fame kind% which appear to have fallen into difufe. 
 In this book, the frequency of the expofure o children, and the dread- 
 ful poverty which prompts it, are particularly defcribed. We fee, he 
 fays, people fo poor, that they cannot furnilli the nourifhment necef- 
 
 Duhalde's CTiina, vol, i. p. 256. 
 * Lettres Edif. torn. xix. p. lOO, ^ Id. p. no. 
 
 fary 
 
CHAP. XII, Chhia and Japan, i^y 
 
 fary for tbeif own children. It is on this account that they expofe 
 fo great a number. In the metropoUs, in the capitals of the pro- 
 vinces, and in the places of the greateft commerce, their number is 
 the moft confiderable ; but many are found in parts that are Icfs fre- 
 quented, and even in the country. As the houfcs in tow^ns are more 
 crowded together, the pradice is more obvious ; but every where 
 thefe poor unfortunate infants have need of affiftance *. 
 
 In the fame work, part of an edidl to prevent the drowning of chil- 
 dren, runs thus: " When the tender offspring juft produced, is thrown 
 *' without pity into the waves, can it be faid, that the mother has 
 " given, or that the child has received life, when it is loll as foon as 
 ** it is begun to be enjoyed ? The poverty of the parents is the caufe 
 ** of this crime. They have hardly enough to fupport themfelves, 
 *' much lefs are they able to pay a nurfe, and provide for the ex- 
 " pences neceflary for the fupport of their children. This drives 
 *' them to defpair, and not being able to bring themfelves to fuffer 
 *' two people to die that one may live, the mother, to preferve the 
 " life of her hufband, confents to facrifice her child. It cofts much, 
 " however, to the parental feeUngs ; but the refolution is ultimately 
 " taken, and they think that they are jullified in difpofmg of the 
 " life of their child to prolong their own. If they expofed their chil- 
 " dren in a fecret place, the babe might work upon their compaffion 
 " with its cries. What do they do then ? They throw it into the 
 " current of the river, that they may lofe fight of it immediately, 
 ** and take from it at once all chance of life ''." 
 
 Such writings appear to be moft authentick documents refpeding 
 the general prevalence of infanticide. 
 
 Sir George Staunton has ftated, from the befl; information which he 
 could collect, that the number of children expofed annually at Pe- 
 kin is about two thoufand ' ; but it is highly probable, that the 
 
 * Lettres Edif. torn. xix. p. iii. 
 )* Id. p. 124, ^ Embafly 10 China, vol. ii. p. .159. 
 
 number 
 
15B Of the CJiech to Population m book i, 
 
 number varies extremely from year to year, and depends very much 
 upon feafons of plenty or feafons of fcarcity. After any great epide- 
 mic or deftrudive famine, the number is probably very fmall ; it is 
 natural that it fhould increafe gradually on the return to a crowded 
 population, and is, without doubt, the greateft, when an unfavourable 
 "feafon takes place, at a period in which the average produce is already 
 infufficient to fupport the overflowing multitude. 
 
 Thefe unfavourable feafons do not appear to be infrequent, and 
 the famines which follow them, are perhaps the moft powerful of all 
 the pofitive checks to the Chinefe population ; though at fome pe- 
 riods, the checks from wars and internal commotions have not been 
 inconfiderable *. In the annals of the Chinefe monarchs, famines 
 are often mentioned '' ; and it is not probable that they would find a 
 place among the moft important events and revolutions of the em- 
 pire, if they were not dcfolating and deftru<5live to a great degree. 
 
 One of the Jefuits remarks, that the occafions when the manda- 
 rins pretend to Ihew the greateft compaflion for the people are, when 
 they are apprehenfive of a failure in the crops, either from drought, 
 from exceffive rains, or from fome other accident, fuch as a multitude 
 of locufts, which fometimes overwhelms certain provinces'^. The 
 caufes here enumerated, arc probably thofe which principally contri- 
 bute to the failure of the harvcfts in China ; and the manner in 
 which they are mentioned, feems to ihew that they are not un- 
 common. 
 
 Meares fpeaks of violent hurricanes, by which whole harvefts arc 
 ^iffipated, and a famine follows. From a fimilar caufe, he fays, 
 accompanied by exceflive drought, a moft dreadful dearth prevailed 
 in 1787, throughout all the fouthern provinces of China, by which 
 an incredible number of people perifhed. It was no uncommon 
 thing at Canton, to fee the familhed wretch breathing his laft, while 
 
 Annals of the Chinefe Monarchs. Duhalde's China, vol. i. p. 136. 
 * Ibid. Lettres Edif. torn, xix, p. 154. 
 
 mothers 
 
CHAP. XII. China and Japan, 159 
 
 mothers thought it a duty to deftroy their infant children, and the 
 young to give the ftroke of fate to the aged, to fave them from the 
 agonies of fuch a dilatory death ^ 
 
 The Jefuit Parennin, writing to a member of the Royal Academy 
 of Sciences, fays, " another thing that you can fcarcely believe, is, 
 *' that dearths fhould be fo frequent in China ^ ;" and in the con- 
 clufion of his letter he remarks, that if famine did not, from time to 
 time, thin the immenfe number of inhabitants v^hich China contains, 
 it would be impoffible for her to live in peace ^.. The caufes of thefe 
 frequent famines, he endeavours to inveftigate, and begins by obferv- 
 ing, very juflly, that, in a time of dearth, China can obtain no aflift^ 
 ance from her neighbours, and muft neceflarily draw the whole of 
 her refources from her own provinces '^. He then defcribes the de- 
 lays and artifices which, often, defeat the emperor's intentions to affift 
 from the public granaries thofe parts of the country which are the 
 moft diftrefled. When a harveft fails in any province, either from 
 exceffive drought, or a. fuddert inundation, the great mandarins 
 have recourfe to the public granaries ; but often find them empty, 
 owing to the dilhoncfty of the inferior mandarins, who have the 
 charge of them. Examinations and refearches are then made, and 
 an unwillingnefs prevails to inform the court of fuch difagreeablc 
 intelligence. Memorials are however at length prefented. Thefe 
 memorials pafs through many hands, and do not reach the emperor 
 till after many days. The great officers of flate are then ordered to 
 affemble, and to deliberate on the means of relieving the mifery of 
 the people. Declarations, full of expreffions of compaffion for the 
 people,, are in the mean, time publifhed throughout the empire. The 
 refolution of the tribunal is at length made known; but numberlefs 
 other ceremonies delay its execution ; while thofe who are fufFering, 
 have the time to die with hunger before the remedy arrives.. Thofe 
 
 * Meares's "Voyage, ch. vii. p. 92. ^ Lettres Edif. et Curieufes, torn. xxii. p, 174. 
 
 * Id. p. 186. d Id. p, 17^, 
 
 whoi 
 
i63 Of the Chech to Population hi book I. 
 
 who do not wait for this laft extremity, crawl as well as they can 
 into other (ii{lri(?ls, where they hope to get fupport, but leave the; 
 greatefl: part of their number dead on the road \ 
 
 If, when a dearth occurs, the court do not make fome attempt to 
 relieve the people, fmall parties of plunderers foon collect, and their 
 numbers increafe by degrees, fo as to interrupt the tranquillity of the 
 province. On this account, numerous orders are always given, and 
 movements are continually taking place, to amufe the people, till 
 the famine is over; and as the motives to relieve the people are gene- 
 rally rather reafons of ftate, than genuine compaffion, it is not pro- 
 bable that they fhoiild be relieved at the time, and in the manner, 
 that their wants require ''. 
 
 The laft caufe of famine, which is mentioned in this inv^iiigation, 
 and oh which the writer lays confiderable ftrefs, is the very great 
 confumption of grain in making ipirits*^ ; but in ftating this as a caufc 
 of famine, he has evidently fallen into a very grofs error ; yet, in the 
 Abbe Grofier*s general deicriptlon of China, this error has been 
 copied, and the caufe above mentioned has been conildered as one of 
 the grand fources of the evil '^. But, in reality, the whole tendency 
 of this caufe is in a contrary dirediion. The confumption of corn in 
 any otl^er way but that of neceffary food, checks the population 
 before it arrives at the utmoft limits of fubfiftence ; and as the grain 
 may be withdrawn from this particular ufe in the time of a fcarcity, 
 a public granary is thus opened, richer, probably, than could have 
 been formed by any other means. When fuch a confumption has 
 been once eftablilhed, and has become permanent, its effect is ex- 
 aftly as if a piece of land with all the people upon it were removed 
 from the country. The reft of the people would certainly be pre- 
 cifely in the fame ftate as they were before, neither better nor worfe 
 in years of average plenty ; but in a time of dearth the produce of this 
 
 * LettresEdif. torn. xxii. p. i8o. ** Id. p. 187. ' Id. p. 184. 
 
 ^ Vol. i. b. iy. c. iii. p. 396. 8vo. Eng trail. 
 
 7 land 
 
CHAP. XII. Chhia and Japan. i6t 
 
 land would be returned to them, without the mouths to help them 
 to eat it. China, without her diftilleries, would certainly be more 
 populous, but on a failure of the feafons, would have ftill lefs re- 
 fource than flie has at prefent, and as far as the magnitude of the 
 caufe would operate, would in confequence be more fubjedl to fa- 
 mines, and thofe famines would be more fevere. 
 
 The ftate of Japan refembles in fo many refpeds that of China, 
 that a particular confideration of it would lead into too many repe- 
 titions. Montefquieu attributes its populoufnefs to the birth of a 
 greater number of females * ; but the principal caufe of this popu- 
 loufnefs is, w^ithout doubt, as in China, the perfevering induftry of 
 the natives, dired:ed, as it has always been, principally to agriculture. 
 
 In reading the preface to Thunburgh's account of Japan, it would 
 feem extremely difficult to trace the checks to the population of a 
 country, the inhabitants of which are faid to live in fiich happinefs and 
 plenty; but the continuation of his own work contradicts the impreffion 
 of his preface ; and, in the valuable hiftory of Japan by Ksemfer, thefe 
 checks are fufficiently obvious. In the extracts from two hiftorical 
 chronicles publiflied in Japan, which he produces^, a very curious 
 account is given of the different mortalities, plagues, famines, bloody 
 wars, and other caufes of deftrudlion which have occurred fince the 
 commencement of thefe records. The Japanefe are diftinguillied 
 from the Chinefe, in being much more warlike, feditious, dillblute, 
 and ambitious; and it would appear, from Ksemfer's account, that the 
 check to population from infanticide, in China, is balanced by the 
 greater dilTolutenefs of manners with regard to the fex, and the 
 greater frequency of wars and inteftine commotions, which prevail 
 in Japan. With regard to the pofitive checks to population from 
 difcafe and famine, the two countries feem to be nearly on a level. 
 
 * Liv. xxiii. c. xii. It is furprifing that Montefquieu, who appears fometimes to under- 
 hand the fubje6l of population, fliould at other times make fuch obfervations as this. 
 ^ Bookii. 
 
 Y CHAP. 
 
( 1^5 ) 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 Of the Chech to Population among the Greeks. 
 
 It has been generally allowed, and will not indeed admit of a doubt, 
 that the more equal divifion of property among the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans, in the early period of their hiftory, and the diredlion of their 
 induflry principally to agriculture, muft have tended greatly to en^ 
 courage population. Agriculture is not only, as Hume fhates % that 
 fpecies of induflry, which is chiefly requifite to the fubfiflence of mul- 
 titudes, but it is in fad; th.Qfole fpecies by which multitudes can exifl j 
 and all the numerous arts and manufadlures of the modern world, by 
 which fuch numbers appear to be fupported, have no tendency what- 
 ever to increafe population, except as far as they tend to increafe the 
 quantity, and to facilitate the diflribution, of the products of agri- 
 culture. 
 
 In countries where, from th operation of particular caufes, pro- 
 perty in land is divided into very large fliares> thefe arts and manu- 
 factures are abfolutely neceffary to the exiflence of any confiderabic 
 population. Without them, modern Europe would be unpeopled. 
 But w^here property is divided into fmall fhares, the fame neceffity 
 for them does not appear. The divifion itfclf attains immediately one 
 great objedl, that of diflribution ; and if the demand for men be con- 
 flant, to fight the battles, and fupport the power and dignity of the 
 flate, we may eafily conceive that this motive, joined to the natural 
 
 Eflay xi. p. 467. 4to. edit, 
 
 love 
 
CHAP. XIII. Of the Checks to Population y&c. 163 
 
 love of a family, might be fufficient to induce each proprietor to 
 cultivate his land to the utmoft, in order that it might fupport the 
 greatefl number defcendants. 
 
 The divifion of people into fmall ftates, during the early periods of 
 Greek and Roman hiftory, gave additional force to this motive. 
 Where the number of free citizens did not perhaps exceed ten or 
 twenty thoufand, each individual would naturally feel the value of 
 his own exertions, and knowing that the ftate to which he belonged, 
 iituated in the midft of envious and watchful rivals, muft depend 
 chiefly on its population for its means of defence and fafety, would 
 be fenfible, that in fuffering the lands which were allotted to him to 
 lie idle, he would be deficient in his duty as a citizen. Thefe caufes 
 appear to have produced a confiderable attention to agriculture with- 
 out the intervention of the artificial wants of mankind to encourage 
 it. Population followed the produd:s of the earth with more than 
 equal pace ; and when the overflowing numbers were not taken off by 
 the drains of war or difeafe, they found vent in frequent and repeated 
 colonization. The necefiHty of thefe frequent colonizations, joined 
 to the fmallnefs of the ftates, which brought the fubjec^ immediately 
 home to every thinking perfon, could not fail to point out to the 
 legiflators and philofophers of thefe times, the ftrong tendency of po- 
 pulation to increafe beyond the means of fubfiftence ; and they did 
 not, like the ftatefmen and projedors of modern days, overlook the 
 confideration of a queftion which fo deeply affecfts the happinefs and 
 tranquillity of foclety. However we may juftly execrate the barba- 
 rous expedients which they adopted to remove the difficulty, we can- 
 not but give them fome credit for their penetration in feeing it ; and 
 in being fully aware, that, if not confidered and obviated, it would be, 
 fufficient of itfelf to deftroy their befl planned fchemes of republican 
 equality and happinefs. 
 
 The power of colonization is neceflarily limited, and after the lapfc 
 of fome time, it might be extremely difficult, if not impoffible, in a 
 country, not particularly well fituated for this purpofe, to find a 
 
 Yz vacant 
 
1 54 Of the Checks to Population book i. 
 
 vacant fpot proper for the fettlement of its expatriated citizens. It 
 was necefTarj, therefore, to confider of other refources befides colo- 
 nization. 
 
 It is probable that the pradlice of infanticide had prevailed from 
 the earlieft ages in Greece. In the parts of America where it was 
 found to exift, it appears to have originated from the extreme diffi- 
 culty of rearing many children in a favage and wandering life, 
 , expofed to frequent famines and perpetual wars. We may eafily 
 conceive that it had a fimilar origin among the anceflors of the 
 Greeks, or the native inhabitants of the country. And when Solon 
 permitted the expofmg of children, it is probable that he only gave 
 the fandlion of law to a cuftom already prevalent. 
 
 In this permiffion he had, without doubt, two ends in view, 
 Firft, that which is moft obvious, the prevention of fuch an ex- 
 ceffive population as would caufe univerfal poverty and dlfcontent ; 
 and, fecondly, that of keeping the population up to the level of 
 what the territory could fupport, by removing the terrors of too 
 numerous a family and, confequently, the principal obftacle to 
 marriage. From the effect of this prad:lce in China, we have rea- 
 fon to think that it is better calculated to attain the latter, than the 
 former purpofe. But if the legiflator, either did not fee this, or 
 if the barbarous habits of the times prompted parents invariably to 
 prefer the murder of their children to poverty, the pradice would 
 appear to be very particularly calculated to anfwer both the ends in 
 view, and to preferve, as completely and as conftantly as the nature 
 of the thing would permit, the requifite proportion between the 
 food and the numbers which were to confume it. 
 
 On the very great importance of attending to this proportion, 
 and the evils that muft neceilarily refult, of weaknefs on the one 
 hand, or of poverty on the other, from the deficiency or the ex- 
 cefs of population, the Greek political writers ftrongly infift ; and 
 propofe in confequence various modes of maintaining the relative 
 proportion defired. 
 
 Plato, 
 
CHAP.xiir. among the Greeks. 16^ 
 
 Plato, in the republick which he confiders in his books of laws, 
 limits the number of free citizens, and of habitations, to five thou- 
 fand and forty; and this number he thinks may be preferved, if the 
 father of every family chufe one out of his fons for his fuccelTor to 
 the lot of land which he has poffefled, and difpofing of his daughters 
 in marriage according to law, diftribute his other fons, if he have 
 any, to be adopted by thofe citizens who are without children. 
 But if the number of children, upon the whole, be either too great 
 or too few, the magiftrate is to take the fubjedl particularly into 
 his confideration, and to contrive fo, that the fame number of five 
 thoufand and forty families fhould ilill be maintained. There are 
 many modes, he thinks, of efFed:ing this object. Procreation, when 
 it goes on too faft, may be checked, or when it goes on too flow, 
 may be encouraged, by the proper diflribution of honours and marks 
 of ignominy, and by the admonitions of the elders to prevent or pro- 
 mote it according to circumflances \ 
 
 In his philofophical republick ^ he enters more particularly into this 
 fubje(5l, and propofes that the moft excellent among the men fhould 
 be joined in marriage to the moil excellent among the women, and 
 the inferior citizens matched with the inferior females ; and that 
 the offspring of the firft fhould be brought up ; of the others, not. 
 On certain feftivals appointed by the laws, the young men and 
 women who are betrothed, are to be afiembled, and joined together 
 with folemn ceremonies. But the number of marriages is to be 
 determined by the magiftrates, that, taking into confideration the 
 drains from wars, difeafes, and other caufes, they may preferve, 
 as nearly as poflible, fuch a proportion of citizens as will be neither 
 too numerous nor too few, according to the refources and demands 
 of the ftate. The children who are thus born from the mofi: ex- 
 cellent of the citizens are to be carried to certain nurfes defi:ined 
 to this office, inhabiting a feparate part of the city; but thofe 
 
 Plato de Leglbus, lib. v. ; * Plato de Republica, lib. v. 
 
 which 
 
1 66 Of the Chech to Population booki, 
 
 which are born from the inferior citizens, and any from the others 
 which are imperfect in their hmbs, are to be buried in fome obfcure 
 and unknown place. 
 
 He next proceeds to confider the proper age for marriage, and 
 determines it to be twenty for the woman, and thirty for the man. 
 Beginning at twenty, the woman is to bear children for the ftate 
 till fhe is forty, and the- man is to fulfil his duty in this refped;, 
 from thirty to fifty-five. If a man produce a child into publick 
 either before or after this period, the ad;ion is to be confidered in 
 the fame criminal and profane light as if he had produced one with- 
 out the nuptial ceremonies, and infligated folely by incontinence. 
 The fame rule Ihould hold, if a man, who is of the proper age for 
 procreation, be connected with a woman who is alfo of the proper age, 
 but without the ceremony of marriage by the magiflrate ; he is to 
 be confidered as having given to the flate a fpurious, profane, and 
 incefluous offspring. When both fexes have paffed the age affigned 
 for prefenting children to the flate, Plato allows a great latitude of 
 intercourfe, but no child is to be brought to light. Should any in- 
 fant by accident be born alive, it is to be expofed in the fame 
 manner as if the parents could not fupport it *. 
 
 From thefe paffages it is evident, that Plato fully faw the ten- 
 dency of population to increafe beyond the means of fubfiftence. 
 His expedients for checking it are indeed execrable ; but the ex- 
 pedients themfelves, and the extent to which they were to be ufed, 
 fhew his conceptions of the magnitude of the difficulty. Contem- 
 plating, as he certainly mufl do in a fmall republick, a great propor- 
 tional drain of people by wars; if he could flill propofe to deflroy 
 the children of all the inferior and lefs perfedl citizens ; to deflroy 
 alfo all that were born not within the prefcibcd ages, and with 
 the prefcribed forms ; to fix the age of marriage late, and after all 
 to regulate the number of thefe marriages ; his experience and his 
 
 Plato de Repub. lib. v. 
 
 reafonings 
 
CHAP. xiii among the Greeh, 167 
 
 reafonings muft have ftrongly pointed out to him the great power 
 of the principle of increafe, and the neceffity of checking it. 
 
 Ariftotle appears to have itzn this neceffity ftill more clearly. 
 He fixes the proper age of marriage at thirty-feven for the men, and 
 eighteen for the women; which muft of courfe condemn a great 
 number of women to celibacy, as there never can be fo many men 
 of thirty-feven as there are women of eighteen. Yet though he has 
 fixed the age of marriage for the men at fo late a period, he flill 
 thinks that there may be too many children, and propofes that the 
 number allowed to each marriage fhould be regulated ; and if any 
 woman be pregnant after ihe has produced the prefcribed number, 
 that an abortion fliould be procured before the foetus has life. 
 
 The period of procreating children for the ftate, is to ceafe with 
 the men at fifty- four or fifty-five, becaufe the offspring of old men^ 
 as well as of mea too young, is imperfect both in body and mind. 
 When both fexes have pafied the prefcribed age, they are allowed 
 to continue a connexion; but, as in Plato's republick, no child which 
 may be the refult, is to be brought to light "*. 
 
 In difcuffing the merits of the republick propofed by Plato in his 
 books of laws, Ariftotle is of opinion, that he has by no means been 
 fufficiently attentive to the fubjeft of population ; and accufes him 
 of inconfiftency, in equalizing property without limiting the num- 
 ber of children. The laws on this fubje<fl, Ariilotle very juilly ob- 
 ferves, require- to be much, more definite and precife in a ftate 
 where property is equalized than in others. Under ordinary govern- 
 ments an increafe of population would only occafion a greater fub- 
 divifion of landed property; whereas in fuch a republick the fuper- 
 numeraries would be altogether deftitute, becaufe the lands, being 
 reduced to equal, and as it were elementary, parts, would be incapa- 
 ble of further partitioa"*. 
 
 He 
 
 * Ariftotells Opera. De Repub. lib. vli. c. xvi. 
 * De Repub. lib. ii. c vi. Gillies's Ariftotle, vol. ii. b, ii. p. 87. For the con- 
 venience of thofe who may not chufe the trouble of confulting the original, I refer at 
 
 the 
 
l68 Of the "Checks to Population book T. 
 
 He then remarks, that It is neceflary, in all cafes, to regulate the 
 proportion of children that they may not exceed the proper number. 
 In doing this, deaths and barrennefs are of courfe to be taken into con- 
 fideration. But, if, as in the generality of ftates, every perfon be left 
 free to have as many children as he pleafes, the neceilary confequencc 
 muft be poverty; and poverty is the mother of villany and fedition. 
 On this account Pheidon of Corinth, one of the moft ancient writers 
 on the fubjed; of politicks, introduced a regulation diredly the 
 reverfe of Plato's, and limited population without equalizing pof- 
 feffions % 
 
 Speaking afterwards of Phaleas of Chalcedon, w^ho propofed as 
 a moft falutary institution, to equalize wealth among the citizens, 
 he adverts again to Plato's regulations refpe(5ling property, and ob- 
 ferves, that thole who would thus regulate the extent of fortunes, 
 ought not to be ignorant that it is abfolutely neceflary at the fame 
 time to regulate the number of children. For, if children multiply 
 beyond the means of fupporting them, the law will neceflarily be 
 broken, and families will be fuddenly reduced from opulence to 
 beggary ; a revolution always dangerous to publick tranquillity''. 
 
 Jt appears from thefe paflages, that Ariftotle clearly faw, that 
 the ftrong tendency of the human race to increafe, unlefs checked 
 by ftridl and pofitive laws, was abfolutely fatal to every fyftem 
 founded on equality of property ; and there cannot furely be a 
 ftrcnger argument againft any iyftem of this kind, than the necef- 
 fity of fuch laws as Ariftotle himfelf propofes. 
 
 From a remark which be afterwards makes reipe<fling Sparta, it 
 appears flill more clearly that he fully underftood the principle of 
 population. From the improvidence of the laws relating to fuccef- 
 
 tlie fame time to Gillies's tranflatron ; but fome paflages he has wholly omitted, and 
 of others he has not given the literal fenfe, his objc6l being a free verfion. 
 
 ^ De Repub. lib. ii. c. vii. Gillies's Ariftot. vol. ii. h. ii. p. 87. 
 
 *" De Repub. lib. ii. c. vii. Gillies's Ariftot. vol. ii. b. ii. p. 91. 
 
 3 fion> 
 
C H A P . X 1 1 1 . among the Greeh. \ 69 
 
 fion, the landed property in Sparta had been cngrofTcd by a few, 
 and the efFedl was greatly to diminifh the populonfnefs of the coun- 
 try. To remedy this evil, and to fupply men for continual wars, 
 the kings preceding Lycurgus had been in the habit of naturalizing 
 ftrangers. It would have been much better, however, according to 
 Ariilotle, to have increafed the number of citizens by a nearer equali- 
 zation of property. But the law relating to children was directly 
 adverfe to this improvement. The legiflator wifhing to have many 
 citizens, had encouraged as much as poffiblc the procreation of 
 children. A man who had three fons was exempted from the 
 night-watch ; and he who had four, enjoyed a complete immunity 
 from all publick burdens. But it is evident, Ariftotle moft juftly 
 obferves, that the birth of a great number of children, the divifion 
 of the lands remaining the fame, would neceflarily caufe only an 
 accumulation of poverty '. 
 
 He here feems to fee exadly the error, into which many other 
 iegiflators befides Lycurgus have fallen, and to be fully aware, that, 
 to encourage the birth of children, without providing properly for 
 their fupport, is to obtain a very fmall acceflion to the popu- 
 lation of a country at the expence of a very great acceflion of 
 mifery. 
 
 The legiflator of Crete '' as well as Solon, Pheidon, Plato, and 
 Ariftotle, faw the neceflity of checking population in order to pre- 
 vent general poverty; and, as we mufl: fuppofe that the opinions of 
 fuch men, and the laws founded upon them, would have conflder- 
 able influence, it is probable, that the preventive check to increafe 
 from late marriages and other caufes, operated to a confiderable 
 degree among the free citizens of Greece. 
 
 For the pofitive checks to population, we need not look beyond 
 the wars in which thefe fmall fl:ates were almofl: continually en- 
 
 * De Repub. lib. ii. c. ix. Gillies's Ariftot. vol. ii. b. ii. p. 107. 
 
 ** Ariftot, de Repub. lib. ii, c. x, Gillies's Ariftot. vol, ii. b. ii. p. I13. 
 
 gaged. 
 
170 Of the Chech to Populathn, &c\ book i 
 
 gaged, though we have an account of one walling plague at leaft, 
 in Athens ; and Plato fuppofes the cafe of his republick being greatly 
 reduced by difeafe *. Their w^ars were not only almoft conftant, but 
 extremely bloody. In a fmall army, the whole of which would 
 probably be engaged in clofe fight, a much greater number in pro- 
 portion would be llain, than in the large modern armies, a conli- 
 derable part of which often remains untouched ^ ; and as all the free 
 citizens of thefe republicks were generally employed as foldiers in 
 every war, lofles would be felt very feverely, and would not appear 
 to be very eafily repaired, 
 
 * De legibus, lib, v. * Hume, Effay xu p. 451. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 171 ) 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 Of the Checks to Population among the Romans. 
 
 1 HE havock made by war in the fmaller ftates of Italy, particularly 
 ' during the firll ilruggles of the Romans for power, fecms to have ^ 
 been ftill greater than in Greece. Wallace, in his diflertation on 
 the numbers of mankind, after alluding to the multitudes which 
 fell by the fword in thefe times, obferves, ** On an accurate re- 
 " view of the hiftory of the Italians during this period, we fhall 
 " wonder how fuch vaft multitudes could be raifed as were en- 
 *' gaged in thofe continual v^ars till Italy was entirely fubdued \'* 
 And Livy expreffes his utter aftonifhment that the Volci and iEqui, 
 {o often as they were conquered, Ihould have been able to bring 
 frefh armies into the field ^. But thefe wonders will perhaps be 
 fufficiently accounted for, if we fuppofe, what feems to be highly- 
 probable, that the conftant drains from wars had introduced the 
 ^abit of giving nearly full fcope to the power of population, and 
 >^that a much greater number of youths, in proportion to the whole 
 people, were yearly rifmg into manhood, and becoming fit to bear 
 arms, than is ufual in other ftates not fimilarly circumftanced. It 
 was, without doubt, the rapid influx of thefe fupplies, which ena- 
 bled them, like the ancient Germans, to aftonifh future hiflorians, 
 by renovating in fo extraordinary a manner their defeated and half- 
 deftroyed armies. 
 , Yet there is reaibn to believe, that the pradice of infanticide pre- 
 
 * Difiertatlon, p. 62. 8vo. 1763, Edinburgh. * Lib. tI. c. xii. 
 
 Z a vailed 
 
^ 
 
 Yjz Of the Checks to Poptihtmi book r, 
 
 vailed in Italy as well as in Greece, from the earlieft times. A law 
 of Romulus forbad the expofmg of children before they were three 
 years old% which implies, that the cuftom of expofmg them as foon as 
 they were born had before prevailed. But this pra6lice was of courfe 
 never reforted to but when the drains from wars were infufficient 
 to make room for the riilng generation ; and confequently, though it 
 may be confidered as one of the pofitive checks to the full power of 
 increafe, yet, in the actual ftate of things, it certainly contributed 
 rather to promote than impede population. 
 
 Among the Romans themfelves, engaged as they were in inceiTant 
 wars, from the beginning of their republick to the end of it, many 
 of which were dreadfully deflrud:ive, the pofitive check to popu- 
 lation from this caufe alone, mufl have been enormoufly great. 
 But this caufe alone, great as it was, would never have occafioned 
 that want of Roman citizens, under the emperors, which prompted 
 Auguftus and Trajan to iflue laws for the encouragement of mar- 
 riage and of children, if other caufes flill more powerful m depopu- 
 lation had not concurred. 
 
 When the equality of property, which had formerly prevailed in 
 the Roman territory, had been deftroyed by degrees, and the land 
 had fallen into the hands of a few great proprietors, the citizens 
 who were by this change fuceeflively deprived of the means of 
 fupporting themfelves, would naturally have no relburce to pre- 
 vent them from ftarving, but that of felling their labour to the 
 rich, as in modern ftates ; but from this refource they were comr 
 pletely cut off by the prodigious number of flaves, which, increafing 
 by conftant influx with the increafing luxury of Rome, filled up 
 every employment both in agriculture and manufa(ftures. Under 
 fuch circumflances, fo far from being aflonifhed that the number of 
 free citizens fhould decreafe, the wonder feem& to be, that any 
 :9iould exift befides the proprietors. And, in fad, many could, not 
 
 Dionyfius HalicarOi lib. U. 15. 
 
 have 
 
CHAP. XIV, among the Romans. lyg 
 
 have exifted, but for a ftrange and prepoflcrous cuftom, whictt 
 however, perhaps, the ftrange and unnatural ftate of the city re-^ 
 quired, that of diftrlbutlng vail quantities of corn to the poorer 
 citizens gratis. Two hundred thoufand received this diftribution In 
 Auguftus's time ; and it is highly probable that a great part of them, 
 had little elfe to depend upon. It is fuppofed to have been given 
 to every man of full years ; but the quantity was not enough for a 
 family, and too much for an individual *. It could not therefore 
 enable them to increafe; and, from the manner in which Plutarch 
 fpeaks of the cuftom of expofmg children among the poor'', there 
 is great reafon to believe that many were deflrojed in fpite of the 
 jus trium liberorum. The paflage in Tacitus in which, fpeaking of 
 the Germans, he alludes to this cuftom in Rome, feems to point to 
 the fame conclufion *^. What effed:, indeed, could fuch a law have 
 among a fet of people who appear to have been fo completely barred 
 out from all the means of acquiring a fubfiftence, except that of 
 charity, that they would be fcarcely able to fupport themfelves, 
 much lefs a wife and two or three children. If half of the flaves- 
 had been fent out of the country, and the people had been employed 
 in agriculture and manufadlures, the effed: would have been to 
 increafe the number of Roman citizens with more certainty and 
 rapidity than ten thoufand laws for the encouragement of children. 
 
 It is poflible that the jus trium liberorum, and the other laws of 
 the fame tendency, might have been of fomelittle ufe among the 
 
 ^ Hume, Eflay xi. p. 488. ^ De amore proKs. 
 
 ' De moribus Germanorum, ig. How completely the laws relating to the encou- 
 ragement of marriage and of children were defpifed, appears from a fpeech of Minucius 
 Felix in Olavio, cap. 30. " Fos enim video procreatos film nunc ferh et avlbus exponerey. 
 *' nunc adjlrangulatos mifero mortis genere elidere ; fi^nt qua in ipjis vifceribus wedicatninibus- 
 *' epotis originem fiituri hominis extinguant, et parricidium faciant antequam pariant.'^ 
 
 This crime had grown fo much into a cuftom in Rome tliat even Pliny attempts to 
 excufe it j ** Quoniam aliquarum fecuuditas plena liberis tali veniaindiget.'* Lib. xxi., 
 c. jv, 
 
 highec 
 
^M 
 
 T74 Of the Chech to TopiilaUon . -book 1, 
 
 higher clafTes of the Roman citizens ; and, indeed, from the nature 
 ot thefe laws, confifting as they did principally of privileges, it would 
 appear that they were directed chiefly to this part of fociety. But 
 vicious habits of every pofiible kind, preventive of population *, feeni 
 to have been fo generally prevalent at this period, that no corrective 
 laws could have any confiderable influence. Montefquieu juftly 
 obferves, that " the corruption of manners had deflroyed the office 
 " of ccnfor, which had been eftablilhed itfelf to deftroy the corrup- 
 " tion of manners ; but when the corruption of manners becomes 
 " general, cenfure has no longer any force ''." Thirty-four years 
 after the paffing of the law of Auguftus refpeCting marriage, 
 the Roman knights demanded its repeal. On feparating the 
 married and the unmarried, it appeared that the latter confiderably 
 exceeded in number he former ; a ftrong proof of the inefficacy 
 of the law*^. 
 
 In moft countries, vicious habits preventive of population appear 
 to be rather a confequence than a caufe of the infrequency of mar- 
 riage ; but in Rome the depravity of morals feems to have been the 
 <iirc6l caufe which checked the marriage union, at lead among the 
 higher clafles. It is impoffible to read the fpecch of Metellus Nu- 
 midicus in his cenforfhip without indignation and difguft. " If it 
 *' were poffible," he fays, " entirely to go without wives, we would 
 " deliver ourfelves at once from this evil ; but as the laws of nature 
 *' have fo ordered i , that we can neither live happy with them, nor 
 " continue the fpecies without them, we ought to have more regard 
 ^' for our lafting fecurity than for our tranfient pleafures '^." 
 
 Fofitive laws to encourage marriage and population, enacted on 
 the urgency of the occaiion, and not mixed with religion, as in 
 
 ' Sed jacet aurato vix ulla puerpera le6to 
 Tantum artes hujus, tantum medicarnina poffunt. 
 QufB fteriles facit, atqiie homines in ventre necandos 
 Conducit. Juvenal, fat. vi. 593. 
 -* Efprit des Loix, Uv. xxiii. c. 21. '^ :bid. ^ Aulus Gcllius, lib. i. c. 6. 
 
 i2 China 
 
HAP. xiTe among the Romans. ty^ 
 
 China and fbme other countries, arc feldom calculated to anfwer 
 the end which they aim at, and therefore generally indicate igno- 
 rance in the legiilator who propofes them ; but the apparent 
 neceffity of them almoft invariably indicates a very great degree of 
 moral and political depravity in the ftate ; and, in the countries in^ 
 which they are moft ftrongly infifted on, not only vicious manners 
 will generally be found to prevail, but political inftitutions extremely 
 unfavourable to induftry, and confequently to population. 
 
 On this account^ I cannot but agree with Wallace^ in thinking 
 that Hume was wrong in his fuppofition that the Roman world was 
 probably the moft populous during the long peace under Trajan and 
 the Antonines''. We well know that wars do not depopulate 
 much, while induftry continues in vigour ; and that peace will not 
 increafe the number of people when they cannot find the means of 
 fubfiftence. The renewal of the laws relating to marriage under 
 Trajan indicates the continued prevalence of vicious habits, and of 
 a languifliing induftry, and feems to be inconfiftent wath the fuppo- 
 fition of a great increafe of population. 
 
 It might be faid, perhaps, that the vaft profufion of flaves would' 
 more than make up for the want of Roman citizens ; but it appears 
 that the labour of thele flaves was not fufficiently directed to agri- 
 culture to fupport a very great population. Whatever might be the 
 cafe with fome of the provinces, the decay of agriculture in* Italy 
 feems to be generally acknowledged. The pernicious cuftom of 
 importing great quantities of corn to diftribute gratis to the people 
 had given it a blow which it never afterwards recovered. Hume 
 obferves, that " when the Roman authors complain that Italy, 
 " which formerly exported corn, became dependent on all the pro- 
 " vinces for its daily bread, they never afcribe this alteration to the 
 ** increafe of its inhabitants, but to the neglect of tillage and agri- 
 ^" culture ^" And in another place he fays, " All ancient authors- 
 
 * Diflertation, Appendix, p. 247, * Eflay xi. p. 505. * Id. p. 504. 
 
 ** tdl 
 
iy6 Of the Chech to Population book i. 
 
 *^ tell us, that there was a perpetual flux of flaves to Italy from the 
 *' remoter provinces, particularly Syria, Cilicia, Cappadocia, and 
 " the Lefler Afia, Thrace, and Egypt ; yet the number of people 
 " did not increafe in Italy; and writers complain of the continual 
 *' decay of induftry and agriculture \" It feems but little probable 
 that the peace under Trajan and the Antonines fliould have given 
 . fo fudden a turn to the habits of the people as eflentially to alter 
 this (late of things. 
 
 On the condition of ilavery it may be obferved, that there can- 
 not be a ftronger proof of its unfavourablenefs, to the propagation 
 of the fpecies in the countries where it prevails, than the neceffity of 
 this continual influx. This neceflity forms at once a complete refu- 
 tation of the obfervation of Wallace, that the antient flaves were 
 more ferviceable in raiflng up people than the inferior ranks of men 
 in modern times'*. Though it is undoubtedly true, as he obferves, 
 ihat all our labourers do not marry, and that many of their children 
 die, and become fickly and ufelefs through the poverty and negli- 
 gence of their parents "^ ; yet notwithfl:anding thefe obfliacles to in- 
 creafe, there is, perhaps, fcarcely an infliance to be produced, where 
 the lower clafl^cs of fociety, in any country, if free, do not raife up 
 people, fully equal to the demand for their labour. 
 - To account for the checks to population which are peculiar to a 
 ftate of flavery, and which render a confl:ant recruit of numbers ne- 
 ceflary, we mufl: adopt the comparifon of flaves to cattle, which 
 Wallace and Hume have made; Wallace, to fliew that it would be 
 the interefl; of mafters to take care of their flaves and rear up their 
 offspring'^ ; and Hume, to prove that it would more frequently be the 
 interefl: of the mafl:er to prevent than to encourage their breeding *". 
 If Wallace's obfervation had been jufl:, it is not to be doubted that 
 the flaves would have kept up their own numbers with eafe by procrea- 
 
 * Hume, EflTay xi. p. 433. ^ DifTert. on the numbers of mankind, p. 91. 
 
 ' Id. p. 88. '^ Id. p. 89. = Hume, Effay xi. - p. 433. 
 
 I tion ; 
 
/CHAP.XIV. among the ^otnafti, ly^ 
 
 tion ; and as it is acknowledged that they did not do this, the truth 
 of Hume's obfervation is clearly evinced. " To rear a child in Lon- 
 ** don till he could be ferviceable, would coft much dearer, than to 
 " buy one of the fame age from Scotland or Ireland, where he had 
 '^^ been raifed in a cottage, covered with rags, and fed on oatmeal and 
 " potatoes. Thofe who had flaves, therefore, in all the richer and 
 " more populous countries, w^ould difcourage the pregnancy of the 
 *' females, and either prevent or deflroy the birth ^" It is acknow- 
 ledged by Wallace, that the male flaves greatly exceeded in number 
 the females'*, which muft neceflarily be an additional obilacle to their 
 increafe. It would appear, therefore, that the preventive check 
 ^ to population, muft have operated with very great force among the 
 Greek and Roman flaves ; and as they were often ill treated, fed 
 perhaps fcantily, and fometimes great numbers of them confined 
 together in clofe and unwholefome ergaftula, or dungeons % it is pro- 
 bable that the pofitive checks to population from difeafe, were alfo 
 fevere, and that when epidemicks prevailed they would be moft de- 
 ftruftive in this part of the fociety.- 
 
 The unfavourablenefs of flavery to the propagation of the fpecies 
 in the country where it prevails, is not, however, decifive of the 
 qucftion refpe<fling the abfolute population of fuch a country, or, the 
 greater queftion, refpe^ling the populoufnefs of antient and modern 
 nations. We know that fome countries could afford a great and 
 conftant fupply of flaves, without being in the fmallefl: degree depo- 
 pulated themfelves ; and if thefe fupplies were poured in, as they pro- 
 bably would be, exa(5lly in proportion to the demand for labour in the 
 nation which received them, the quefl:ion refpedting the populoufnefs 
 of this nation, would reft precifely on the fame grounds as in modern 
 ftates, and depend upon the number of people which it could employ 
 and fupport. Whether the pra<3.ice of domeftick flavery, therefore, 
 
 Hume, Eflay xi. p. 433. 
 * Appendix to Differtation, p. 182. ^ Hume, Eflay, xJ p. 430* 
 
 A a prevail 
 
1^8 Of the Chech to Population sook i. 
 
 prevail or not, it may be laid down as a pofition not to be contro- 
 verted, that, taking a fufficient extent of territory to include within 
 it exportation and importation, and allowing fome variation for the 
 prevalence of luxury, or of frugal habits, that the population of 
 thefe countries will always be in proportion to the food which 
 the earth is made to produce. And no caufe, phyiical or moral, 
 unlcfs it operate in an exceflive and unufual manner % can have 
 any confiderable and permanent efFed on the population, except in 
 as far as it influences the produdion and diftribution of the means 
 of fubfiftence. 
 
 In the controverfy concerning the populoufnefs of antient and 
 modern nations, this point has not been fufficiently attended to, and 
 phyfical and moral caufes have been brought forward on both fides^^ 
 from which no juft inference in favour of either party could be drawn. 
 It feems to have efcaped the attention of both writers, that the more 
 productive and populous a country is, in its a(ftual ftate, the lefs pro- 
 bably will be its power of obtaining a further increafe of produce, 
 and confequently the more checks muft neceflarily be called into 
 a<ftion to keep the population down to the level of this ftationary, or 
 flowly-increafmg produce. From finding fuch checks, therefore, in 
 antient or modern nations, no inference can be drawn againft the 
 abfolute populoufnefs of either. On this account, the prevalence of 
 the fmall-pox, and of other diforders unknown to the antients, can 
 by no means be confidered as an argument againft the populoufnefs 
 of modern nations, though to thefe phyfical caufes, both Hume ^ 
 and Wallace *^ allow confiderable weight. 
 
 " The extreme infalubrity of Batavia, and perhaps the plague in fome countries, may- 
 be confidered as phyfical caufes operating in an exceflive degree. The extreme and unu- 
 fual attachment of the Romans to a vicious celibacy, and the promifcuous intercourfe ia 
 Otaheite, may be confidered as moral caufes of the fame nature. Such inftances may 
 perhaps form exceptions to the general obfervation. 
 
 ^ Effay xi. p. 435. I Differtation, p. 80. 
 
 In 
 
C H A P . X I ^f. among the Romans. i yg 
 
 In the moral caufes which they have brought forward, they have 
 fallen into a fimilar error. Wallace introduces the pofitive encou- 
 ragements to marriage among the antients, as one of the principal 
 caufes of the luperior populoufnefs of the antient world * ; but the 
 neceflity of pofitive laws to encourage marriage, certainly rather indi- 
 cates a want than an abundance of people ; and in the inftance of 
 Sparta, to which he particularly refers, it appears from the paflage in 
 Ariftotle, mentioned in the laft chapter, that the laws to encou- 
 rage marriage were inftituted for the exprefs purpofe of remedying a 
 marked deficiency of people. In a country with a crowded and over- 
 flowing population, a legiflator w^ould never think of making exprefs 
 laws to encourage marriage and the procreation of children. Other 
 arguments of Wallace will be found upon examination to be almofl 
 equally ineffe^lual to his purpofe. 
 
 Some of the caufes which Hume produces, are in the fame man- 
 ner unfatisfadtory, and rather make againfl the inference which he 
 has in view than for it. The number of footmen, houfemaids, and 
 other perfons remaining unmarried in modern flates, he allows to be 
 an argument againft their populoufnefs **. But the contrary inference 
 of the two, appears to be the more probable. When the difficulties 
 attending the rearing of a family are very great, and confequently, 
 many perfons of both fexes remain flngle, we may naturally enough 
 infer that population is ftationary, but by no means that it is not 
 abfolutely great ; becaufe the difficulty of rearing a family may arife 
 from the very circumflance of a great abfolute population, and the 
 confequent fullnefs of all the channels to a livelihood ; though the 
 fame difficulty may undoubtedly exifl in a thinly-peopled country, 
 which is yet flationary in its population. The number of unmarried 
 perfons in proportion to the whole number, may form fome criterion 
 by which we can judge whether population be increafing, flationary, 
 oi decreafmg; but will not enable us to determine any thing refpeding 
 
 Diflcrtation, p. 93. ^ Eflay xi. 
 
 A a ^ abfolute 
 
i8o Of the Chech to Poptlatton book iv 
 
 abfolute populoufnefs. Yet even in this criterion, we are liable to be 
 deceived. In fome of the fouthern countries early marriages are ge- 
 neral, and very few women remain in a ftate of celibacy, yet the- 
 people not only da not increafe, but the a<flual number is perhaps 
 fmall. In this cafe the removal of the preventive check is made up 
 by the exceffive force of the poficive check. The fum of all the po- 
 fitive and preventive checks taken together, forms undoubtedly the 
 immediate caufe which re prefTes population ; but we never can expeA 
 to obtain and eftimate accurately this fum in any country ; and we 
 can certainly draw no fafe conclufion from the contemplation of twa 
 or three of thefe checks taken by themfelves, becaufe it fo frequently 
 happens, that the excefs of one check is balanced by the defed: of 
 fome other. Caufes which afFedl the number of births or deaths,, 
 may, or may not, affed; the average population, according to circum- 
 ftances ; but caufes which ai?e6l the production and diftribution of 
 the means of fubfiftence muft neceflarily affed: population ; and it is 
 therefore only on thefe caufes, befides a(Sual enumerations, on which 
 we can with any certainty rely. 
 
 AH the checks to population which have been hitherto confidered 
 in the courfe of this review of human fociety, are clearly refolvable 
 into moral reftraint, vice, and mifery. 
 
 Of moral reftraint, though it might be rafh to affirm that it has 
 not had fome fhare in repreffing the natural power of population, yet 
 it muft be allowed to have operated very feebly indeed, compared 
 to the others. Of the preventive check, confidered generally, and 
 without reference to its producing vice, though its effect appears 
 to have been very confiderable in the later periods of Roman Hiftory, 
 a^d in fome few other countries ; yet, upon the whole, its operation 
 feems to have been inferior to the poiitive checks. A large portion 
 of the procreative power appears to have been called into a(51:ion, 
 the redundancy from which was checked by violent caufes. Among 
 thefe, war is the moft prominent and ilriking feature ; and after this> 
 
 majr 
 
GHAP. Xiv^ among the Romans, x8i 
 
 may be ranked famines and violent difeafes. In mofl of the coun- 
 tries confidered, the population feems to have been feldom mea- 
 fured accurately according to the average and permanent means of 
 fubfiftence, but generally to have vibrated betw^een the two extremes, 
 and confequently the ofcillations between want and plenty, arc 
 flrongly marked, as we Ihould naturally expedl among lefs civilized, 
 nations. 
 
ESSAY, &c. 
 
 B O O K II. 
 
 OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION IN THE DIFFERENT STATES OF 
 
 MODERN EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. L 
 
 Of the Chech to Population in Norway, 
 
 In reviewing the ftates of modern Europe, we Ihall be affifted in 
 our inquiries by regifters of births, deaths, and marriages, which, 
 when they are complete and corre<5l, point out to us with fome de- 
 gree of preciiion, whether the prevaiUng checks to population are of 
 the pofitive, or of the preventive kind. The habits of moft Euro- 
 pean nations, are of courfe much alike, owing to the fimilarity of the 
 circumftances in which they are placed ; and it is to be expedled, 
 therefore, that their tables of mortality fliould fometimes give the 
 fame refults. Relying, however, too much upon this occafional coin- 
 cidence, political calculators have been led into the error of fup- 
 pofmg, that there is, generally fpeaking, an invariable order of mor- 
 y tality 
 
184 Of the Chech to Population In Norway. _ book it, 
 
 tality in all countries ; but it appears, on the contrary, that this order 
 is extremely variable ; that it is very different in different places of 
 the fame country, and, within certain limits, depends upon circum- 
 ftances, which it is in the power of man to alter. 
 
 Norway, during nearly the whole of the lafl century, was in a pe- 
 culiar degree exempt from the drains of people by war. The climate 
 is remarkably free from epidemick fickneffes, and, in common years, 
 the mortality is lefs than in any other country in Europe, the regi- 
 fters of which are known to be correcft*. The proportion of the 
 annual deaths to the whole population, on an average throughout the 
 whole country, is only as i to 48 ''. Yet the population of Norway 
 never feems to have increafed with great rapidity. It has made a 
 flart within the laft ten or fifteen years, but, till that period, its pro- 
 grefs mufi: have been very flow, as we know that the country was 
 peopled in very early ages, and in 1769 its population was only 
 
 723^141 ' 
 
 Before we enter upon an examination of its internal economy, we 
 mufl feel affured, that, as the pofitive checks to its population have 
 been fo fmall, the preventive checks mufl have been proportionably 
 great ; and w^e accordingly find from the regifters, that the propor- 
 tion of yearly marriages to the whole population, is as i to 130^, 
 which is a fmaller proportion of marriages than appears in the re- 
 gifters of any other country, except Switzerland. 
 
 One caufe of this fmall number of marriages is the mode in which 
 the enrolments for the army have been conducted, till within a very 
 few years. Every man in Denmark and Norway born of a farmer 
 or labourer is a foldier ^ Formerly, the commanding officer of the 
 
 * The regifters for Ruffia give a fmaller mortality ; but it is fuppofed that they are 
 defetlive. 
 
 * Thaarup's Statiftik der Danifchen Monarchic, vol. ii. p. 4. 
 Id. Table ii. p. 5. '^ Id. vol. ii. p. 4. 
 
 * The fev/ particulars which I ftiall mention relating to Norway, were colledled during 
 3 fummer excurfion in that country in the year 1799. 
 
 I diflria 
 
CHAP. T. Of the Checks to Population in Norway. 185 
 
 diftrlA might take thcfe peafants at any age he pleafed, and he in 
 general preferred thofe that were from twenty-five to thirty, to fuch 
 as were younger. After being taken into the fervicc, a man could 
 not marry without producing a certificate figned by the minifter of 
 the parifh, that he had fubftance enough to fupport a wife and 
 family ; and even then, it was further necefiiary for him to obtain the 
 permiffion of the officer. The difficulty, and fometimes the ex- 
 pence, attendant on the obtaining of this certificate and permiffion, 
 generally deterred thofe who were not in very good circumftances, 
 from thinking of marriage till their fervice of ten years was expired ; 
 and as they might be enrolled at any age under thirty-fix, and the 
 officers were apt to take the oldeft firft, it would often be late in Hfe 
 before they could feel themfelves at liberty to fettle. 
 
 Though the minifter of the parilh had no legal power to prevent 
 a man from marrying who was not enrolled for fervice; yet it ap- 
 pears, that cuftom had in fome degree fanftioned a difcretionary power 
 of this kind, and the prieft often refufed to join a couple together, 
 when the parties had no probable means of fupporting a family. 
 
 Every obftacle, however, of this nature, whether arifing from law 
 or cuftom, has now been entirely removed. A full liberty is given to 
 marry at any age, without leave either of the officer or prieft ; and in 
 the enrolments for the army, all thofe of the age of twenty, are 
 taken firft, then all thofe at twenty-two, and fo on till the necefiTary 
 number is completed. 
 
 The officers in general difapprove of this change. They fay that a 
 young Norwegian has not arrived at his full ftrength, and does not 
 make a good foldier at twenty. And many are of opinion, that the 
 peafants will now marry too young, and that more children will be 
 born than the country can fupport. 
 
 But, independently of any regulations refpedling the military en- 
 rolments, the peculiar ftate of Norway throws very ftrong obftacles 
 in the way of early marriages. There are no large manufadluring 
 towns to take off the overflowing population of the country ; and as 
 
 Bb each 
 
1 85 Of the Chech to Population in Norway. book ii, 
 
 each village naturally furnilhes from itfelf a fupply of hands more 
 than equal to the demand, a change of place in fearch of work fel- 
 dom promifes any fuccefs. Unlefs, therefore, an opportunity of 
 foreign emigration offer, the Norwegian peafant generally remains in 
 the village in which he was born ; and as the vacancies in houfes and 
 employments muft occur very flowly, owing to the fmall mortality 
 that takes place, he will often fee himfclf compelled to, wait a con- 
 fiderable time, before he can attain a fituation which will enable him 
 to rear a family. 
 
 The Norway farms have in general a certain number of married 
 labourers employed upon them, in proportion to their fize, who are 
 called houfe-men. They receive from the farmer a houfe and a 
 quantity of land nearly fufficient to maintain a family ; in return for 
 which, they are under the obligation of working for him at a low 
 and fixed price whenever they are called-upon. Except in the iiri- 
 mediate neighbourhood of the towns, and on the feacoaft, the var 
 cancy of a place of this- kind, is- the only profpec^ w^iich prefents 
 itfelf of providing for a family. From the fmall number of people, 
 and the little variety of employment, the fubjedl is brought diftind:ly 
 within the view of ca-ch individual; and he muft feel the ablolute 
 ncceffity of rcpreffmg his inclinations to marriage, till fome fuch 
 vacancy offer. If, from the plenty of materials, he,lhould be led 
 to build a houfe himfelf, it could not be expected that the farmer, if 
 he had a fufficient number of labourers before, fhould give him 
 an adequate portion of land with it ; and though he would, in 
 general, find employment for three or four months in the fummer, 
 yet there would be little chance of his earning enough to fupport a 
 family during the w.hole year. It is probable, that it was in cafes of 
 this kind, where the impatience of the parties prompted them to 
 build, or propofe to build, a houfe tbemfclves, and truft to what they 
 could earn, that the parifli pricftsexercifcd fehe difcretionary power, 
 of refufing to marry. 
 
 The young men and women therefore, are obliged to remain, 
 
 with 
 
CHAP. !. -Of the Chech to Population in Not-way. 187 
 
 with the farmers as unmarried fervants, till a houfeman's place be- 
 comes vacant : and of thefe unmarried fervants, there is in every 
 iarm, and every gentleman's family, a much greater proportion than 
 the work w^ould feem to require. There is but little divifion of 
 labour in Norway. Almoft all the wants of domeftick economy are 
 fupplied in each feparate houfchold. Not only the common opera- 
 tions of brewing, baking, and wafliing, are carried on at home, 
 but many families make, or import, their own cheefe and butter, 
 kill their own beef and mutton, import their own grocery ftores ; 
 and the farmers, and country people, in general, fpin their own flax 
 and wool, and weave their own linen and w^oollen clothes. In the 
 largeft towns, fuch as Chriftiania and Drontheim, there is nothing 
 that can be called a market. It is extremely difficult to get a 
 joint of frefh meat ; and a pound of frefh butter is an article 
 not to be purchafed, even in the midll: of fummer. Fairs are 
 held at certain feafons of the year, and ftores of all kinds of 
 provisions that will keep, are laid in at thefe times ; and if this care 
 be negled:ed, great inconveniences are fufFered, as fcarcely any thing 
 is to be bought retail. Perfons who make a temporary refidence, in 
 the country, or fmall merchants not poflefled of farms, complain 
 heavily of this inconvenience ; and the wives of merchants who have 
 large eftates fay, that the domeftick economy of a Norway family is . 
 fo exteniivc and complicated, that the neceflary fuperintendence of it 
 requires their whole attention, and that they can find no time for 
 any thing elfe. 
 
 It is evident that a fyftem of this kind muft require a great num- 
 ber of fervants. It is faid befides, that they are not remarkable for 
 diligence, and that to do the fame quantity of work, more are ne- 
 ceflary than in other countries. The confequence is, that in every 
 eftablilhment two or three times the number of fervants will be 
 found, as in a family, living at the fame rate in England ; and it 
 IS not uncommon for a farmer in the country, who, in his appear- 
 
 B b 3 ancc, 
 
/ 
 
 i88 Of the Chech to Population In Norway. book ii. 
 
 ance, is not to be diftinguiflied from any of his labourers, to have a 
 houfehold of twenty perfons, including his own family. 
 
 The means of maintenance to a fmgle man are, therefore, much 
 lefs confined than to a married man j and under fuch circuraftances, 
 the lower clafles of people cannot increafe much, till the increafe 
 of mercantile ftock, or the divifion and improvement of farms, fur- 
 niflies a greater quantity of employment for married labourers'. 
 In countries more fully peopled this fubjecfl is always involved in 
 great obfcurity. Each man naturally thinks that he has as good a 
 chance of finding employment as his neighbour, and that if he 
 cannot get it in one place, he iliall, in fome other. He marries, 
 thereJ^Dre, and trufts to fortune ; and the efFeft too frequently is> 
 that the redundant population occafioned in this manner is repreffed 
 by the pofitive checks of poverty and difeafe. In Norway the fub- 
 jed: is not involved in the fame obfcurity. The number of addi- 
 tional families which the increafmg demand for labour will fupport,. 
 is more diftindlly marked. The population is fo fmall, that, even 
 in the towns, it is difficult to fall into any confiderable error on this 
 fubje6l; and in the country, the divifion and improvement of an 
 eftate, and the creation of a greater number of houfemen's places, 
 muft be a matter of complete notoriety. If a man can obtain one 
 of thefe places, he marries, and is able to fupport a family ; if he 
 cannot obtain one, he remains fmgle. A redundant population is 
 thus prevented from taking place, inftead of being deftroyed after 
 it has taken place. 
 
 It is not to be doubted, that the general prevalence of the 
 preventive check to population, owing to the ftate of fociety 
 which has been defcribed, together 'with the obftacles thrown 
 in the way of early marriages from the enrolments for the- army,^ 
 have powerfully contributed to place the lower claffes of people 
 in Norway in a better fituation, than could be expected from 
 the nature of the foil and climate. On the feacoaft, where, on 
 
 account 
 
<5fiAP. I. Of the Chech to FopuJatmi ht Nonjcqy, 189 
 
 account of the hopes of an adequate fupply of food, from filhing, 
 the preventive check does not prevail in the fame degree, the people 
 are very poor and wretched ; and, beyond comparifon, in a worfe 
 ftate, than the peafants in the interior of the country. 
 
 The greateft part of the foil in Norway is abfolutely incapable of 
 bearing^ corn, and the climate is fubjed: to the moft fudden and 
 fatal chatiges. There are three nights about the end of Auguft 
 which are particularly diftinguifhed by the name of iron nights, on 
 account of their fometimes blading the promifc of the faireft crops. 
 On thefe occasions, the lower clafles of people neceflarily fuffer ; 
 but, as there are fcarcely any independent labourers, except the 
 houfemen that have been mentioned, who all keep cattle, the hard- 
 Ihip of being obliged to mix the inner bark of the pine with their 
 bread, is mitigated, by the ftores of cheefe, of fait butter, of fait 
 meat, fait fifli, and bacon, which they were enabled to lay up for 
 winter provifion. The period in which the want of corn preiTes the 
 moft feverely, is, generally, about two months before harveft; and at 
 this time the cows, of which the pooreft houfemen have generally 
 two or three, and many five or fix, begin to give milk, which 
 muft be a great affiftance to the family, particularly to the younger 
 part of it. In the fummer of the year i y^g, the Norwegians ap- 
 peared to wear a face of plenty and content, while their neighbours, 
 the Swedes, were abfolutely ftarving : and I particularly remarked, 
 that the fons of houfemen, and the farmers boys, were fatter, larger, 
 and had better calves to their legs, than boys of the fame age and 
 in fimilar fituations in England. 
 
 It is alfo, without doubt, owing to the prevalence of the pre*^* 
 . ventive check to population, rather than to any peculiar healthinefs 
 'of the air, that the mortality in Norway is fo fmall. There is no- 
 thing in the climate, or the foil, that would lead to the fuppofition 
 of its being in any extraordinary manner favourable to the general 
 health of the inhabitants ; but as in every country the principal 
 mortality takes place among very young children, the fmaller 
 
 number 
 
igo Of the Checks to Population in Norway, book h. 
 
 number of thcfe in Norway, in proportion to the whole population, 
 will naturally occafion a fmaller mortality, than in other countries, 
 fuppofmg the climate to be equally healthy. 
 
 It may be faid, perhaps, and with truth, that one of the princi- 
 pal rcafons of the fmall mortality in Norway, is, that the towns 
 are inconfidcrable and few, and that few people are employed in 
 unwholcfome manufactories. In fome of the agricultural villages 
 in England, where the preventive check to population docs not pre- 
 vail in the fame degree, the mortality is as- fmall as in Norway. 
 But it fliould be recolledlcd, that the calculation, in this cafe, is ioi 
 thofe particular villages alone; whereas in Norway the calculation of 
 r in 48 is for the whole country. The redundant population of the 
 villages in England is difpofed of by conftant emigrations to the 
 towns, and the deaths of a great part of thofe that are born in the pa- 
 rifti do not appear in the regiflers. But in Norway all the deaths are 
 within the calculation, and it is clear that if more were born than 
 the country could fupport, a great mortality muft take place in fome 
 form or other. If the people were not deftroyed by difeafe, they 
 would be deftroyed by famine. It is indeed well know^n that bad 
 and infufficient food will produce difeafe and death in tlie pureil: 
 air and the fineft climate. Suppofmg, therefore, no great foreign emi- 
 gration, and no extraordinary increafe in tlie refources of the coun- 
 try, nothing but the more extenfivc prevalence of the preventive 
 check to population in Norway could fecure to her a fmaller mor- 
 tality than in other countries, however pure her air may be, or 
 however healthy the employments of her people. 
 
 Norway feems to have been antiently divided into large eftates or 
 farms, called Gores; and as, according to the law of fucceffion, all 
 the brothers divide the property equally, it is a matter of furprife, 
 and a proof how flowly the population has hitherto increafcd, that 
 thcfe eftates have not been more fubdivided. Many of them are 
 indeed now divided into half gores, and quarter gores, and fome 
 ftill lower; but it has in general been the cuftom, on the death of 
 I the 
 
CHAP. I. Of the Chech to Population in 'Norway. ipi 
 
 the father, for a commiffion to value the eftate at a low rate, and 
 if the eldeft fon can pay his brothers' and fillers' ^ fhares, according 
 to this valuation, by mortgaging his eftate, or otherwife, the 
 w^hole is awarded to him ; and the force of habit, and natural indo- 
 lence, too frequently prompt him to condud: the farm after the 
 manner of his forefathers, with few or no efforts at improvement. 
 
 Another great obftacle to the improvement of farms in Norway, 
 is a law which is called Odel's right, by which, any lineal defcend- 
 ant can repurchafe an eftate which had been fold out of the family, 
 by paying the original purchafe-money. Formerly, collateral as 
 well as lineal defcendants had this power, and the time was abfo- 
 lutely unlimited, fo that the purchafer could never confider himfelf 
 as fecure from claims. Afterwards, the time was limited to twenty 
 years, and, in 1771, it was ftill further limited to ten years, and 
 all the collateral branches were excluded. It muft, however, be an 
 uninterrupted poffeffion of ten years ; for if before the expiration of 
 this term, a perfon who has a right to claim under the law, give 
 notice to the poffcfTor that he does not forego his claim, though he 
 is not then in a condition to make the purchafe, the poffeflbr is 
 obliG;ed to wait fix years more before he is perfc(B;ly fecure. And as, 
 in addition to this, the eldcft in the lineal dcfcent may reclaim aa 
 eftate that has been repurchafed by a younger, brother, the law, even. 
 in its prefent amended ftate, muft be confidered as a very great bar 
 to improvement ; and in its former ftate when the time was un- 
 limited, and the fale of eftates in this way was more frequent, it 
 feems as if it muft have been a moft complete obftacle to the ame- 
 lioration of farms, and obvipufly accounts for the very flow increafc 
 of the population in Norway for many centuries. 
 
 A further difficulty in the way of clearing and cultivating the 
 land, arifes- from the fears of the great timber merchants refpe6ling 
 tlie woods. When a farm has been divided among children and. 
 
 * A daughter's portion is the half of the fon's portion. 
 
 grandchildren,. 
 
i^gz Of the Checks to Population in Norway. book it. 
 
 grandchildren, as each proprietor has a certain right in the woods, 
 each, in general, endeavours to cut as much as he can; and the 
 timber is thus felled before it is fit, and the woods fpoiled. To 
 prevent this, the merchants buy large tracts of woods of the farmers, 
 who enter into a contrail, that the farm iliall not be any further 
 fubdivided or more houfemen placed upon it ; at leaft, that if the 
 number of families be increafed, they Ihould have no right in the 
 woods. It is faid, that the merchants who make thefe purchafes 
 are not very ftri(5t, provided the fmaller farmers and houfemen do 
 not take timber for their houfes. The farmers who fell thefe trad:s * 
 of wood are obliged by law to referye to themfelves the right of - 
 pafturing their cattle, and of cutting timber fufficient for their 
 houfes, repairs, and firing. 
 
 A piece of ground round a houfeman's dwelling cannot be inclofed 
 for cultivation, without an application, firft, to the proprietor of the 
 woods, declaring that the fpot is not fit for timber, and afterwards 
 to a magiflrate of the difi;ri(5t, whofe leave on this occafion is alfo 
 neceflary, probably for the purpofe of afcertaining whether the leave 
 of the proprietor had been duly obtained. 
 
 In addition to thefe obftacles to improved cultivation, which may 
 be confidered as artificial, the nature of the country prefents an in- 
 fuperable obftacle to a cultivation and population in any refped; 
 proportioned to the furface of the foil. The Norwegians, though 
 not in a nomadic ftate, are ftill in a confiderable degree in the 
 paftoral flate, and depend very much upon their cattle. The high 
 grounds that border on the mountains, are abfolutely unfit to bear 
 corn, and the only ufe to which they can be put, is to pafbure 
 cattle upon them for three or four months during the fummer. The 
 farmers, accordingly, fend all their cattle to thefe grounds at this time 
 of the year, under the care of a part of their families; and it is here 
 that they make all their butter and cheefe for fale, or for their own 
 confumption. The great dif&culty is to fupport their cattle dur- 
 
 3 '""^ 
 
CHAP. I. Of the (%ch to Population in Norway. 193 
 
 ing the long winter, and for this purpofe, it is neceflary that a con- 
 fiderable proportion of the moil fertile land in the vallies ihould be 
 mowed for grafs. If too much of it were taken into tillage, the number 
 of cattle muft be proportionably diminifhed, and the greateft part 
 of the higher grounds would become abfolutely ufelefs ; and it might 
 be a queftion, in that cafe, whether the country, upon the whole, 
 would fupport a greater population. 
 
 Notwithftanding, however, all thefe obftacles, there is a very con- 
 fiderable capacity of improvement in Norway, and of late years it 
 has been called into ad:ion. I heard it remarked by a profeflbr at 
 Copenhagen, that the reafon why the agriculture of Norway had 
 advanced fo llowly, was, that there were no gentlemen farmers 
 who might fet examples of improved cultivation, and break the 
 routine of ignorance and prejudice in the conduc^l of farms, that 
 had been handed down from father to fon for fucceffive ages. From 
 what I faw of Norway, I Ihould fay that this want is now, in fome 
 degree, fupplied. Many intelligent merchants and well-informed 
 general officers are at prefent engaged in farming. In the country 
 round Chriftianla, very great improvements have taken place in the 
 fyftem of agriculture ; and even in the neighbourhood of Dron- 
 theim the culture of artificial grailes has been introduced, which, in 
 a country where fo much winter feed is neceifary for cattle, is a 
 point of the higheft importance. Almofl every where the cultiva- 
 tion of potatoes has fucceeded, and they are growing more and more 
 into general ufe, though in the diftant parts of the country they 
 are not yet relifhed by the common people. 
 
 It has been more the eullom of late years, than formerly, to divide 
 farms ; and, as the vent for commodities in Norway is ilot perhaps 
 fufficient to encourage the complete cultivation of larg^ farms, this 
 divifion of them has probably contributed to the improvement of the 
 land. It fcems, indeed, to be univerfally agreed, among thofe who 
 are in a fituation to be competent judges, that the agriculture of 
 
 C c Norway 
 
!94 -Of the Chech to PopulaiiaX^tn Norway, bookii^ 
 
 Norway in general has advanced confiderably of late years ; and the 
 regifters fhew that the population has followed with more than 
 equal pace. On an average of ten years, from 177?; to 1784, the 
 proportion of births to deaths was 141 to 100 ^ But this feems to 
 have been rather too rapid an increafe; as the following year, 1785, 
 was a year of fcarcity and iicknefs, in which the deaths confiderably 
 exceeded the births ; and for four years afterwards, particularly in 
 1789, the excefs of births was not great. But in the five years 
 from 1789 to 1794, the proportion of births to deaths was nearly 
 150 to 100 ^ 
 
 Many of the moft thinking and beft informed perfons exprefs their 
 apprehenfions on this fubjecSl, and on the probable refult of the new 
 regulations reipecft^ing the enrolments for the army, and the appa- 
 rent intention of the court of Denmark to encourage, at all events, 
 the population. No very unfavourable feafon has occurred in 
 Norway fince 1785; but it is feared that, in the event of fuch a 
 feafon, the moft fevere diftrefs might be felt from the increafed 
 population. 
 
 Norway is, I believe, almofl the only country in Europe where a tra- 
 veller will hear any apprehenfions exprefled of a redundant population, 
 and where the danger to the happinefs of the lower clafTes of people, 
 from this caufe, is, in fome degree, feen and underflood. This ob- 
 vioufly arifes from the fmallnefs of the population altogether, and 
 the confequent narrownefs of the fubjc6l. If our attention were 
 confined to one parifli, and there were no power of emigrating 
 from it, the moft carelefs obferver could not fail to remark that 
 if all married at twenty, it w^ould be pcrfecflly impoffible for the 
 farmers, however carefully they might improve their land, to find 
 employment and food for thofe that would grow up ; but, when a 
 great number of thefe parifhes are added together in a populous 
 
 * Thaarup's Statlftlk der Danifchen Monarchic, vol. ii. p. 4. 
 
 * Id, table i. p. 4. 
 
 kingdom. 
 
CHAP, I, Of the Chech to Foptilatioii m Noj-way, ig^ 
 
 kingdom, the largenefs of the fubjed:, and the power of moving 
 from place to place, obfcure and confufe our view. We lofc 
 fight of a truth which before appeared completely obvious ; and, 
 in a moft unaccountable manner, attribute to the aggregate quan- 
 tity of land a power of fiipporting people beyond comparifon 
 greater than the fum of all its parts. 
 
 C C 2 CHAP. 
 
( 19^ ) 
 
 CHAP. IL 
 
 Of (he Checks to Population in Sweden. 
 
 OWEDEN is, in many refpe^s, in a ftate fimilar to that of Nor- 
 way. A very large proportion of its population is, in the fame man- 
 ner, employed in agriculture; and in moft parts of the country the 
 married labourers who work for the farmers, like the houfemen of 
 Norway, have a certain portion of land for their principal mainte- 
 nance, while the young men and women that are unmarried, live as 
 fervants in the farmers' families. This ftate of things, however, is not 
 fo complete and general, as in Norway ; and from this caufe, added 
 to the greater extent and population of the country, the fuperior 
 iize of the towns, and the greater variety of employment, it has 
 not occafioned, in the fame degree, the prevalence of the preven- 
 tive check to population, and confequently the positive check has 
 operated with more force, or the mortality has been greater. 
 
 According to a paper publiihed by M. Wargentin in the Me- 
 moires ahreges de V Academte Royale des Sciences de Stockholm *, the 
 yearly average mortality in all Sweden, for nine years, ending in 
 1653, was to the population as 1 to 34t''- M. Wargentin fur- 
 nifhed Dr. Price with a continuance of thefe tables, and an average 
 of 3 1 years gives a refult of i to 344, nearly the fame '^. This is 
 undoubtedly a very great mortality, confidering the large propor- 
 tion of the population in Sweden which is employed in agricul- 
 
 * I vol. 4to. printed at Paris, 1772. '' P. 27. 
 
 ' Price's Obferv. on Rcverf. Paym. vol. li. p. i%6, 
 
 ture. 
 
CHAP. II. Of the Chech to Population in SwcJm. igy 
 
 ture. It appears from fome calculations in Cantzlaer's account of 
 Sweden, that the inhabitants of the towns are to the inhabitants 
 of the country only as i to 13 "* ; whereas, in well-peopled countries, 
 the proportion is often as i to 3, or above ''. The fuperior mortality 
 of towns, therefore, could not much affed; the general proportion 
 in Sweden. 
 
 The average mortality of villages, according to Sufmilch, is 
 I in 40 ". In Pruffia and Pomerania, which include a number of 
 great and unhealthy towns, and where the inhabitants of the towns 
 are to the inhabitants of the country as i to 4, the mortality is 
 Jefs than i in 37 ^.^ The mortality in Norway, as has been men- 
 tioned before, is i in 48, which is in a very extraordinary degree 
 lefs than in Sweden, though the inhabitants of the towns in Nor- 
 way bear a greater proportion to the inhabitants of the country 
 than in Sweden ^ The towns in Sweden are indeed larger, and 
 more unhealthy, than in Norway ; but there is no reafon to think 
 that the country is naturally more unfavourable to the duration of 
 human life. The mountains of Norway are in general not habit- 
 able. The only peopled parts of the country are the vallles. Many 
 of thefe vallies are deep and narrow clefts in the mountains ; and 
 the cultivated fpots in the bottom, furrounded as they are by almoft 
 perpendicular cliifs of a prodigious height^, which intercept the 
 
 rays 
 
 * Memoires pour fervir a la connoiffance des affaires politiques et economiques du Roy- 
 aume de Swede, 410. 1776, ch. vi. p. 187. This work is confidered as very corre*fi 
 in its information, and is in great credit at Stockholm. 
 
 ^ Sufmilch's Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i. ch. ii. fe6l. xxxiv. edit. 1798. 
 
 ' Sufmilch's Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i. ch.ii. fedt.xxxv. p. 91. ''Id. vol.iii, p. 60. 
 
 * Thaarup's Statiftlk der Danifchen Monarchie, vol. ii. tab. ii. p. 5. 1765, 
 
 ^ Some of thefe vallies are flrikingly pi6lurefque. The principal road from Chrif- 
 tiania to Drontheim leads, for nearly 180 Englifli miles, througli a continued valley 
 of this kind, by the fide of a very fine river, which in one part flretches out into the 
 extenfive lake Miofen. I am inclined to believe that there is not any river in all 
 Europe, the courfe of which, affords fuch a conflant fuccefTion of beautiful and ro- 
 mantic 
 
ipS Of the Chech to Population In Sweden, book ir. 
 
 rays of the fun for many hours, do not feem as if they could be 
 fo healthy, as the more expofed and drier foil of Sweden. 
 
 It is difficult, therefore, entirely to account for the mortality of 
 Sweden, without fuppofmg that, the habits of the people, and the 
 continual cry of the government for an increafe of fubjed;s, tend to 
 prefs the population too hard againft the limits of fubfiftence, and, 
 confequently, to produce difeafes which are the neeeflary efFe<5l of 
 poverty and bad nouriihment ; and this, from obfervation, appears 
 to be really the cafe. 
 
 Sweden does not produce food fufficient for its population. Its 
 annual want in the article of grain, according to a calculation 
 made from the years 1768 and 1772, is 440,000 tuns*. This 
 quantity, or near it, has in general been imported from foreign 
 countries, befides pork, butter, and cheefe, to a confiderable 
 amount ''. 
 
 The diftillation of fpirits m Sweden is fuppofed to confume above 
 400,000 tuns of grain ; and when this diftillation has been prohibited 
 by government, a variation in defecfl appears in the tables of im- 
 portations *^ ; but no great variations in excefs are obfervable, to fup- 
 ply the deficiencies in years of fcanty harvefts, which, it is well 
 Jvnown, occur frequently. In years the moft abundant, when the 
 diftillation has been free, it is aflerted, that 388,000 tuns have in- 
 general been imported ^. It follows, therefore, that the Swedes con- 
 fume all the produce of their beft years, and nearly 400,000 more ; 
 and that, in their worft years, their confumption muft be diminilhed 
 by nearly the whole deficiency in their crops. The mafs of the 
 
 mantle fcenerv. It goes under different names in different parts. The verdure in the 
 Norway vallies is peculiarly foft, the foliage of the trees luxuriant, and in fummer, na 
 traces appear of a northern climate. 
 
 Memoircsdu Royaume do Suede, table xvii. p. 174. ^ Id. c. vi, p. 19??. 
 
 Id. table xlii. p. 418. c vi. p. 201. I did not find out exadlly the meafure of the 
 Swediih tun. It is rather lefs than our fack or half quarter. 
 
 ^ Memoires du Royaume de Suede, c. vi, p. aoi. 
 
 people 
 
G H A P . r r / Of the Checks to Population In Sweden. 1 99 
 
 people appears to be too poor to purchafe nearly the fame quantity 
 of corn at a very advanced price. There is no adequate encourage- 
 ment, therefore, to corn merchants to import in great abundance ; 
 and the effed; of a deficiency of one fourth, or one third, in the crops, 
 is, to obhge the labourer to content himfelf with nearly three-fourths 
 or two thirds of the corn which he ufed before, and to fupply the 
 reft by the ufe of any fubftitutes which neceffity, the mother of in- 
 vention, may fuggeft. I have faid, nearly, becaufe it is difficult to 
 fuppofe that the importations lliould not be fomething greater in 
 years of fcarcity than in common years, though no marked differ- 
 ences of this kind appear in the tables publiflied by Cantzlaer. The 
 greateft importation, according to thefe tables, was in the year 1768, 
 when it amounted to 590,265 tuns of grain ^ ; but even this greateft 
 importation is only 150,000 tuns above the average wants of the 
 country ; and what is this, to fupply a deficiency of one fourth or 
 one third of a crop ? The whole importation is indeed in this 
 refped: trifling. 
 
 The population of Sweden, at the time that Cantzlaer wrote, was 
 about two millions and an half ''. He allows four tuns of grain to a 
 man*^. Upon this fuppofition the annual wants of Sweden v/ould be 
 ten millions of tuns, and four or five hundred thoufand would go but 
 a little way in fupplying a deficiency of two millions and a half, or 
 three millions ; and, if we take only the difference from the average 
 importation, it will appear, that the afidftance which the Swedes 
 receive from importation in a year of fcarcity is perfedlly futile*. 
 
 The confequence of this ftate of things is, that the population of 
 Sweden is in a peculiar manner affeded by every variation of the 
 feafons; and we cannot be furprifed at a very curious and inftruc- 
 tivc remark of M. Wargentin, that the regifters of Sweden ftiew, 
 that the population and the mortality increafe or decreafe, accord- 
 
 ' Memolres du Royaume de Suede, table xlii. p. 418, 
 *> Id. ch. vi. p. 184. " Id. p. io5. 
 
 ing 
 
200 Of the Chech to Population In Sweden. book ir. 
 
 ing as the harvefls are abundant or deficient. From the nine years 
 of which he had given tables, he inftances the following. 
 
 Marriages. Births. Deaths. 
 
 Barren nyS7 ^^799 81878 68054 
 
 years. {jy^Q ,^^84 83399 7437a . 
 
 Abundant ri759 53210 85579 62662 
 
 years, li^^o 23383 90635 60083*. 
 
 Here it appears, that in the year 1760 the births were to the 
 deaths as 15 to lo; but in the year 1758 only as 11 to 10. By 
 referring to the enumerations of the population in 1757 and 1760 ^ 
 which M. Wargentin has given, it appears, that the number of 
 marriages in the year 1 760, in proportion to the whole population, 
 was as I to 10 1 ; in the year 1757, only as i to about 1:34. The 
 deaths in 1 760, were to the whole population as i to 39 ; in i y^y 
 as I to 32, and in 1758 as i to 31. 
 
 In making fome obfcrvations on the tables which had been pro- 
 duced, M. Wargentin fays, that in the unhealthy years about i in 
 29 have died annually, and in the healthy years i in 39 ; and that, 
 taking a middle term, the average mortality might be confidered at 
 I in 36 ^ But this inference does not appear to be juft, as a mean 
 between 59 and ^g would give 34; and indeed the tables which 
 he has himfelf brought forward, contradict an average mortality of 
 I in 36, and prove that it is about i in 34^. 
 
 The proportion of yearly marriages to the whole population, ap- 
 pears to be, on an average, nearly as 1 to 112, and to vary between 
 the extremes of i to 10 1, and i to 124, according to the temporary 
 profpe6l of a fupport for a family. Probably, indeed, it varies 
 between much greater extremes, as the period from which thefe 
 calculations are m^de is merely for nine years. 
 
 * Memcires Abreges de I'Academie de Stockholm, p. 29. 
 '' Id. p. 21, 22. *^ Id. p. 29. 
 
 3 In 
 
CtLA^P.u. Of the Checks to Population in Sweden. Sioi 
 
 In another paper which M. Wargentln publifhed in the fame col- 
 leftion, he again remarks, that in Sweden, the years which are the 
 ftioft fruitful in produce, are the moft fruitful in children ^. 
 
 If accurate obfervations w^ere made in other countries, it is highly- 
 probable that diifercnces of the fame kin-d would appear, though not 
 to the fame extent ''. With regard to Sweden, they clearly prove 
 that its population has a very ftrong tendency to increafe ; and that 
 it is not only always ready to follow with the greateft alertnefs any 
 average increafe in the means of fubfiftence, but that it makes a ftart 
 forwards at every temporary and occafional increal'e of food, by which 
 means, it is continually going beyond the average increafe, and is 
 reprelfed by the periodical returns of fevere want, and the difeafes 
 arifmg from it. 
 
 Yet notwithftanding this conftant and {Iriking tendency to over- 
 flowing numbers, ftrange to fay ! the government and the political 
 economifts of Sweden, are continually calling out for population, po- 
 pulation. Cantzlaer obferves, that the government, not having the 
 power of inducing Grangers to fettle in the country, or of augment- 
 ing at pleafure the number of births, has occupied itfelf fmce 1 748 
 in every meafure which appeared proper to increafe the population 
 of the country ^ But fuppofe, that the government really poflefTed 
 the power of inducing ftrangers to fettle, or of increafmg the num- 
 ber of births at pleafure, what would be the confequence ? If the 
 flrangers were not fuch as to introduce a better fyftem of agriculture, 
 they would either be ftarved themfelves, or caufe more of the Swedes 
 to be ftarved ; and if the yearly number of births were confiderably 
 increafed, it appears to me perfe(5l:ly clear, from the tables of M. War* 
 gentin, that the principal cfFe6t would be merely an increafe of mor- 
 
 * Memoires abreges de I'Acad. de Stockholm, p. 31. 
 
 * This has been confirmed, with regard to England, by the abftrads of paridi regifters 
 which have lately been publifhed. The years 1795 and i8o3, are marked by a diminu- 
 tion of marriages and births, and an increafe of deaths. 
 
 Memoires du Royaume de Suede, c. vi. p. 188. 
 
 D d tality. 
 
zoz Of the Chech to Population In Sweden, book ie, 
 
 tality. The adual population might, perhaps, even be diminifhed by 
 it, as when epidemicks have once been generated by bad nourifhment 
 and crowded houfes, they do not always flop when they have taken 
 off the redundant population, but take off with it a part, and fome- 
 times a very confiderable part, of that which the country might be able 
 properly to fupport. 
 
 In all very northern climates, in which the principal bufinefs of 
 agriculture muft neceffirily be comprefTed into the fmall fpace of a 
 few fummer months, it will almoft inevitably happen, that during 
 this period a want of hands is felt ; but this temporary want Ihould 
 be carefully diftinguiflied from a real and efFedlual demand for labour, 
 which includes the power of giving employment and fupport through 
 the whole year, and not merely for two or three months. The po- 
 pulation of Sweden in the natural courfe of its increafe, will always 
 be ready fully to anfwer this effedual demand ; and a fupply beyond 
 it, whether from ftrangers or an additional number of births, could 
 only be productive of mlfery. 
 
 It is aflerted by Swedifh authors, that a given number of men and 
 of days, produces, in Sweden, only a third part of what is produced by 
 the fame number of each, in fome other countries * ; and heavy ac- 
 cufations are in confequencc brought againil the national induftry. 
 Of the genera] grounds for fuch accufations, a ftranger cannot be a 
 competent judge ; but in the prefent inftance, it appears to me, that 
 more ought to be attributed to the climate and foil, than to an adlual 
 want of induflry in the natives. For a large portion of the year their 
 exertions arc neceffarily cramped by the feverity of the climate ; and 
 during the time when they are able to engage in agricultural opera- 
 tions, the natural indifference of the foil, and the extent of furface 
 required for a given produce, inevitably employ a great proportional 
 quantity of labour. It is well known in England, that a farm of 
 large extent confifting of a poor foil, is worked at a much greater 
 
 Memoires du Royaumede SiKde, (Cantzlati) ch, vi. p. 191. 
 
 expencc 
 
CHAP. rr. CftJie Checks to Population hi Sweden. 203 
 
 xpence for the fame produce, than a fmall one of rich land. The 
 natural poverty of the foil in Sweden, generally fpeaklng, cannot be 
 denied. 
 
 In a journey up the weftern'fide of the country, and afterwards In 
 croffing it from Norway to Stockholm, and thence up the eaflern 
 coaft to the paflage over to Finland, I confefs that I faw fewer marks 
 of a want of national induftry than I fhould have exped:ed. As far as 
 I could judge, I very feldom faw any land uncultivated which would 
 have been cultivated in England, and I certainly faw many fpots of 
 land in tillage, which never would have been touched with a plough * 
 here. Thefe were lands in which, every five or ten yards, there were 
 large ftones or rocks, round which the plough muft neceflarily be 
 turned, or be lifted over them ; and the one or the other is generally 
 done according to their fize. The plough is very light, and dravvn 
 by one horfe, and in ploughing among the Humps of the trees when 
 they are low, the general pradlice is to lift it over them. The man 
 who holds the plough does this very nimbly, with little or no ftop to 
 the horfe. 
 
 Of the value of thofe lands for tillage, which are at prefent covered 
 with immenfe forefts, I could be no judge ; but both the Swedes and 
 the Norwegians are accufed of clearing thefe woods away too preci- 
 pitately, and without previoufly confidering what is likely to be the 
 real value of the land when cleared. The confequence is, that, for 
 the fake of one good crop of rye, which may always be obtained 
 from the manure afforded by the aflies of the burnt trees, much 
 growing timber is fometimes fpoiled, and the land, perhaps, after- 
 wards, becomes almofl entirely ufelefs. After the crop of rye has been 
 obtained, the common practice is to turn cattle in upon the grafs, 
 which may accidentally grow up. If the land be naturally good, the 
 feeding of the cattle prevents frefh firs from rifmg; but if it be bad, 
 the cattle of courfe cannot remain long in it, and the feeds with 
 which every wind is furcharged, ibw the ground again thickly with 
 firs. ^ 
 
 D dz On 
 
504 Of the Chech to Populatton in Sweden: book ii-. 
 
 On obfervmg many fpots of this kind both in Norway and Swedcnj, 
 I could not help being ftruck with the- idea, that, though for other 
 reafons, it was very little probable, fuch appearances certainly made 
 it feem poffible, that thefe countries might have been better peopled 
 formerly, than at prefent ; and that lands, which arc now covered 
 with forefts, might have produced corn a thoufand years ago. Wars,. 
 plagues, or that greater depopulator than either, a tyrannical govern- 
 ment, might have fuddenly deftroyed, or expelled, the greatefh part 
 of the inhabitants, and a negled: of the land for twenty or thirty 
 years in Norway or Sweden, would produce a very ilrange difference 
 in the face of the country. But this is merely an idea which I could 
 not help mentioning, but which the reader already knows has not 
 had weight enough, with me, to make me fuppofe the fad; in any 
 degree probable. 
 
 To return to the agriculture of Sweden. Independently of any 
 deficiency in the national induftry, there are certainly fome circum- 
 ftances in, the political regulations of the country, which tend. to im- 
 pede the natural progrefs of its cultivation. There are ftill fome bur- 
 denfome corvees remxaining, which the poffeiTors of certain lands are 
 obliged to perform for the domains of the crown \ The pofting of 
 the country is undoubtedly very cheap and convenient to the tra- 
 veller ; but is condudled in a manner to occafion a great wafte of 
 labour to the farmer, both in men and horfes. It is calculated by 
 the Swedifh economics, that the labour which would be faved by 
 the abolition of this fyftem alone, would produce annually 300,000 
 tuns of grain ^. The very great diftance of the markets in Sweden, 
 and the very incomplete diviiion of labour wdiich is almoft a necef- 
 fary confequcnce of it, occafion alfo a great wafte of time and exer- 
 tion. And, if there be no marked want of diligence and activity 
 ^mong the Swedifh peafants, there is certainly a want of knowledge 
 
 * Mi^naolres du Royaume dc Suede, ch. vi. p. 202. * Id. p. 204.- 
 
CHAP. ir. Of the Chech to Fopulation hi Sweden. 2,0^ 
 
 in the befl modes of regulating the rotation of their crops, and of 
 manuring and improving their lands \ 
 
 If the government wxre employed in removing thcfe impedi- 
 ments, and in endeavours to encourage and dired; the induftry of 
 the farmers, and circulate the beft information on agricultural fub- 
 je(fls, it would do much more for the population of the country, than 
 by the eilablifhment of five hundred foundling hofpitals. 
 
 According to Cantzlaer,. the principal meafures in which the go- 
 vernment had been engaged for the encouragement of the popula- 
 tion, were, the eftablilhment of colleges of medicine, and of lying-in 
 and foundling hofpitals^. The eftablifhment of colleges of medicine, 
 for the cure of the poor, gratis, may in many cafes be extremely be- 
 neficial, and was fo, probably, in the particular circumftances of 
 Sweden; but the example of the hofpitals of France, which have the 
 fame objed:, may create a doubt, whether even fuch eftablifhments 
 are univerfally to be recommended. Lying-in hofpitals, as far as 
 they have an efFe<5l, are probably rather prejudicial than otherwife, as, 
 according to the principle on which they are generally conduced, 
 their tendency is certainly to encourage vice. Foundling hofpitals, 
 whether they attain their profefi^ed and immediate objed:, or not, are 
 ip every view hurtful to the ftatc ; but the mode in which, they 
 operate, I fhall have occafion to difcufs more particularly in another 
 chapter. 
 
 The Swedifh government, however, has not been exclufively em- 
 played in meafures of this nature. By an edii6t in 1776, the com- 
 merce of grain v/as rendered completely free throughout the whole 
 interior of the country, and, with regard to the province of Scania, 
 which grows more than its confumption, exportation free of every 
 duty was allowed ^ Till this period, the agriculture of the 
 fouthern provinces had been checked by the want of vent for their 
 grain, on account of the difficulty of tranfport, and the abfolute pro- 
 
 * Memoires duRoyaume de Suede, ch. vi. ^ Id. p. 188. ' Id. p. 204. 
 
 hibition. 
 
 # 
 
2o6 Of the Checks to Populathn In Szveden. book ii. 
 
 hibition of felling it to foreigners at any price. The northern pro- 
 vinces are ftlll under fome little difficulties in this refped:, though, 
 as they never grow a quantity fufficient for their confumption, thefe 
 difficulties are not ib much felt*. It may be obferved, however, in 
 general, that there is no check more fatal to improving cultivation, 
 than any difficulty in the vent of its produce, which prevents the 
 farmer from being able to obtain, in good years, a price for his 
 corn, not much below the general average. 
 
 But what perhaps has contributed more than any other caufe to 
 the increaiing population of Sweden, is the abolition of a law in 1 748, 
 which limited the number of perfons to each henman, or farm ^ 
 The obje<fl of this law appears to have been, to force the children of 
 the proprietors to undertake the clearing and cultivation of frefh 
 lands, by which, it was thought, that the whole country would be 
 fooner improved. But it appeared from experience, that thefe chil- 
 dren being without fufficient funds for fuch undertakings, were 
 obliged to feek their fortune in fome other way, and great numbers, 
 in confequence, are faid to have emigrated. A father may now, 
 however, not only divide his landed property into as many Ihares as 
 lie thinks proper ; but thefe dlvlfions are particularly recommended 
 hy the government, and, considering the immenfe flze of the Swedilh 
 henmans, and the impoffibility of their being cultivated completely 
 hy one family^ fuch dlvlfions muft in every point of view be highly 
 ufeful. 
 
 The population of Sweden In 1751, was 2,2,2,^,661 "". In 1799, 
 according to an account which I received in Stockholm from pro- 
 feflbr Nlcander, the fucceflbr to M. Wargentin, it was 3,043,731. 
 This is a very confiderable addition to the permanent population of 
 the country, which has followed a proportional increafe in the pro- 
 duce of the foil, as the imports of corn are not greater than they were 
 
 * Mcmorres du Royaume'de Suede, ch. vi. p. 204, 
 * Id. p. 177. W. p. 184. 
 
 formerly. 
 
CHAP, ir,^ Of the Checks to Populatton m Svotden. zoy 
 
 formerly, and there is no reafon to think that the condition of the 
 people is, on an average, worfe. 
 
 This increafe, however, has not gone forwards, without periodical 
 checks, which, if they have not, for the time, entirely flopped its 
 progrefs, have always retarded the rate of it. How often thefe checks 
 have recurred during the laft 50 years, I am not furnifhed with fuf- 
 ficient data to be able to fay, but I can mention fome of fhem. 
 From the paper of M. Wargentin% already quoted in this chapter, it 
 appears, that the years 1757 and 1758, were barren, and compara- 
 tively mortal years. If we were to judge from the increafcd importa- 
 tion of 1768^, this would alfo appear to be an unprodudlive year. 
 According to the additional tables with which M. Wargentin fur- 
 niflied Dr. Price, the years 1771, 1775, and 1773, were particularly 
 mortal*". The year 1789 muft have been very highly fo, as, in the 
 accounts which I received from profefTor Nicander, this year alone 
 materially affcAed the average proportion of births to deaths for the 
 twenty years ending in 1795. This proportion, including the year 
 1789, was TOO to yy \ but abfi:rad;ing it, was 100 to 7^ ; which is a 
 great difference for one year to make in an average of twenty. To 
 conclude the catalogue, the year 1799, when I was in Sweden, muft 
 have been a very fatal one. In the provinces bordering on Norway, 
 the peafants called it the worft that they had ever remembered. The 
 cattle had all fuffered extremely during the winter, from the drought 
 of the preceding year; and, in July, about a month before the harveft, 
 a Gonfiderable portion of the people w^as living upon bread made of 
 the inner bark of the fir, and of dried forrel, abfolutely without any 
 mixture of meal, to make it more palatable and nourifliing. The 
 fallow looks, and melancholy countenances of the people, betrayed" 
 the unwholefomcnefs of their nouriihmcnt. Many had died, but the 
 
 * Memoires de I'Academie de Stockholm j p. 29. 
 * Memoires du Royaume de Suede, table xlii. 
 '' Price's Obferv. on Reveii", Pay. vol, ii. p. 125. 
 
 .^ full 
 
5o8 Of the CJu'ch to Population hi Sweden. book. li. 
 
 full effed:s of fuch a diet had not then been felt. They would pro- 
 bably appear afterw?irds in the form of fome epidemick ficknefs. 
 
 The patience with which the lower clafTcs of people in Sweden 
 bear thefe fcvere preffiires, is perfetflly aftonifliing, and can only arife 
 from their being left entirely to their own refources, and from the 
 belief that they are fubmitting to the great law ofneceffity, and not 
 to the caprices of their rulers. Moft of the married labourers, as has 
 been before obferved, cultivate a fmall portion of land; and when, from 
 an imfavourable feafon, tlieir crops fail or their cattle die, they fee the 
 caufe of their want, and bear it as the vifitation of providence. 
 Every man will fubmit, with becoming patience, to evils which he 
 believes to arife from the general laws of nature ; but when the va- 
 nity, and miftaken benevolence of the government and the higher 
 clalTcs of fociety, have, by a perpetual interference with the concerns 
 of the lower claiTcs, endeavoured to perfuade them, that all the good 
 which they enjoy is conferred upon them by their rulers and rich 
 benefac5lors, it is very natural that they Ihould attribute all the evil 
 which they fuffer to the lame fources, and patience, under fuch cir- 
 cumftances, cannot reafonably be expe<5led. Though to avoid ftill 
 greater evils, we may be allowed to reprefs this impatience by force, 
 if it Ihew itfelf in overt a<5ls, yet the impatience itfelf appears to be 
 clearly juftified in this cafe; and thofe are in a great degree anfwer- 
 able for its confequences, whofe condudl has tended evidently to 
 encourage it. 
 
 Though the Swedes had fupported the fevere dearth of 1799 with 
 extraordinary refignation ; yet afterwards, on an edi(5l of the govern- 
 ment to prohibit thS diftillation of fpirits, it is faid that there were 
 confidcrable commotions in the country. The meafure itfelf was cer- 
 tainly calculated to benefit the people ; and the manner in which it 
 was received, affords a curious proof of the different temper with 
 which people bear an evil, arifmg from the laws of nature, or a pri- 
 vation caufed by the edids of a government. 
 
 The fickly periods in Sweden which have retarded the rate of its 
 I increafc 
 
CHAP. TI. Of the Chech to Fopidaiton in Sweden. i,og 
 
 increafe in population, appear in general to have arifen from the un- , 
 wholefome nourifliment occafioned by fevere want. And this want 
 has been caufed by unfavourable feafons falling upon a country wliich 
 was without any refcrved ftore, either in its general exports, or in the 
 liberal divifion of food to the labourer in common years, and which 
 was therefore peopled fully up to its produce, before the occurrence 
 of the fcanty harveft. Such a ftate of things is a clear proof, that if, 
 as fome of the Swedilh economifts aflert, their country ought to have 
 a population of nine or ten millions % they have nothing further to 
 do, than to make it produce food fufficient for fuch a number, and 
 they may reft perfectly aiTured that they will not want mouths to 
 eat it, without the aiTiftance of lying-in, and foundling hofpitals. 
 
 Notwithftanding the mortal year of 1789, it appeared from the ac- 
 counts which I received from profeflbr Nicander, that the general 
 healthinefs of the country had incrcafed. The average mortality for 
 the twenty years ending 179^, was i in ^y, inftead of i in Icfs than 
 35, which had been the average of the preceding twenty years. As 
 the rate of increafe had not been accelerated in the twenty years 
 ending in 1795, the diminifhed mortality muft have been occafioned 
 by the increafed operation of the preventive check. Another calcu- 
 lation which I received from the profeflbr, feemed to confirm this fup- 
 pofition. According to M. Wargentin, as quoted by Sufmilch^ 5 ftand- 
 ing marriages produced yearly i child ; but in the latter period, the 
 proportion of ftanding marriages to annual births, was as 5xV> and 
 fubtrading illegitimate children, as 5-rV to i ; a proof, that in the 
 latter period the marriages had not been quite fo early and fo prolifick. 
 
 Memoires du Royaume de Suede, ch. vi. p. 196. 
 ^ Gottliche Ordaung, vol. i. c. vi. f. 120. p. 231. 
 
 E e CHAP, 
 
( ^^o ) 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Of the Checks to Population in Rii/fia, 
 
 JL HE lifts of births, deaths, and marriages, in Ruffia, prefent fuch 
 extraordinary refults, that it is impoffible not to receive them with a 
 confiderable degree of fuJ[picion ; at the fame time, the regular man- 
 ner in which they have been collected, and their agreement with 
 each other in different years, entitle them to attention. 
 
 In a paper prefented in 1786, by B. F. Herman, to the academy 
 of Peterfburgh, and publifhed in the Nova A6la Academ'ta, torn. iv 
 a comparifon is made of the births, deaths, and marriages, in the dif- 
 ferent provinces and towns of the empire, and the following propor- 
 tions are given : 
 
 In Peterfburgh the births are to the burials, as 13 to 10 
 
 In the government of Mofcow, 
 
 Diftri(5l of Mofcow, excepting the town, 
 
 Tver, ... - 
 
 Novogorod, - - - 
 
 Pfkovfk, 
 
 Refan, - - - - 
 
 Veronefch, - - 
 
 Vologda, - - - 
 
 Koftroma, - - - - 
 
 Archangel, - 
 
 Tobolfk, - - 
 
 Town of Tobolfk, - - - 
 
 Reval, - - - - 
 
 Vologda, - - 
 
 51 
 
 10 
 
 zi 
 
 10 
 
 z6 
 
 10 
 
 zo 
 
 10 
 
 52 
 
 10 
 
 50 
 
 10 
 
 59 
 
 10 
 
 23 
 
 10 
 
 2,0 
 
 10 
 
 13 ~ 
 
 10 
 
 51 
 
 10 
 
 13 
 
 10 
 
 II 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 
 Some 
 
CHAP. III. Of the Checks to Population in RuJ/ia, zi i 
 
 Some of theie proportions, it will be obferved, are extraordinarily 
 high. ]n Veronefch, for inflance, the births are to the deaths, nearly 
 as 3 to I , which is as great a proportion, I believe, as ever was known 
 in America. The average refult, however, of thefe proportions, has 
 been confirmed by fubfequent obfervations. Mr. Tooke, in his View 
 of the RaiTian Empire, makes the general proportion of births to 
 burials throughout the whole country, as 225 to roo *, which is z 
 and 3 to I ; and this proportion is taken from the lifts of 1793 ^. 
 
 From the number of yearly marriages, and yearly births, M. Her- 
 man draws the following conclufions : 
 
 In Peterfburgh one marriage yields - 4 children. 
 
 In the government of Mofcow, about - 3 
 
 Tver, - - - - - 3 
 
 Novogorod, - - - - 3 
 
 Pfkovfk, - - - - 3 ' 
 
 Refan, - - - "3 
 
 Veronefch, - - 4 
 
 Vologda, - - - 4 
 
 Koftroma, - - - - 3 
 
 Archangel, - - - ^_ 
 
 Reval, - - - ^ 
 
 Government of Tobolfk, - - - 4 
 
 Town of Tobolfk, from 1768 to 1778^ - 3 
 
 from 1779 to 1783, - 5 
 
 in 1783, - - 6 
 
 M. Herman obferves, that the fruitfulnefs of marriages in Ruffia, does 
 not exceed that of other countries, though the mortality is much 
 lefs ; as appears from the following proportions, drawn from a rough 
 calculation of the number of inhabitants in each government : 
 
 In Peterfburgh, - - i in jjS dies annually. 
 
 In the government of Mofcow, - i 33 
 
 Vol. ii. b. iii. p. 162. " Id. p. 145. 
 
 E e r? Diftrid 
 
mz 
 
 Uf the L/iecks to rop 
 
 ulatton m K 
 
 n//ta, BOOK II. 
 
 Diftria: of Mofcow, 
 
 I 
 
 in 74 dies annuall)^. 
 
 Tver, 
 
 ] 
 
 I 7S 
 
 Novogorod, 
 
 ] 
 
 I -.684 
 
 Pfkovfk, 
 
 ] 
 
 t 701 
 
 Refan, 
 
 m 
 
 ^ 50 
 
 Veronefch, - 
 
 i 
 
 [ 79 
 
 Vologda, 
 
 
 
 I -65 
 
 Koflroma, - *- 
 
 - 
 
 f 59 
 
 Archangel, 
 
 - 
 
 I - 281 . 
 
 Reval, 
 
 m 
 
 I 29 
 
 Government of Tobolik, 
 
 - 
 
 I 44 
 
 TownofTobolfk, 
 
 - 
 
 I 33 
 
 in 1783, 
 
 - 
 
 I 2Zl 
 
 It may be concluded, M. Herman fays, that in the greatefl number 
 of the Ruffian provinces, the yearly mortality is i in 60 *. 
 
 This average number is fo high, and fome of the proportions in 
 the particular provinces are fo extraordinary, that it is almofl im- 
 poffible to believe them accurate. They have been nearly confirmed, 
 however, by fubfequent lifts, which, according to Mr. Tooke, make 
 the general mortality in all Ruffia, 1 in 58 ^. But Mr. Tooke himfelf 
 feems to doubt the accuracy of this particular department of the regi- 
 fters ; and I have iince heard from good authority, that there is reafon 
 to believe, that the omiffions in the burials are in all the provinces 
 much greater than the omiffions in the births, and confequently, that 
 the very great excefs of births, and very fmall mortality, are more 
 apparent than real. It is fuppofed that many children, particularly 
 In the Ukraine, are privately interred by their fathers without infor- 
 mation to the prieft. The numerous and repeated levies of recruits 
 take off great numbers whofe deaths are not recorded. From the 
 
 * Nova A6ta Academiae, tom.iv. 
 ^ View of the Ruffian Empire, vol.ii.. b. iii. p. 148, 
 
 frequent 
 
CtrAP. III. Of the Checks to Population hi Rujjia. sit2 
 
 frequent emigrations of whole families to difFcrcnt parts of the empire, 
 and the tranfportation of malefa6tors to Siberia, great numbers necef- 
 farily die on journics, or in parts where no regular lifts are kept ; and 
 fome omiffions are attributed to the negled of the parifh priefts who 
 have an intereft in recording the births, but not the deaths. 
 
 To thefe reafons I fliould add, that the population of each pro- 
 vince, is probably eftimated by the number of boors belonging to 
 each eftate in it ; but it is well known that a great part of them has 
 leave to refide in the towns. Their births, therefore, appear in the 
 province, but their deaths do not. The apparent mortality of the 
 towns is not proportionably increafcd by this emigration, becaufe it is 
 eftimated according to adlual enumeration. The bills of mortality in 
 the towns exprefs correctly the numbers dying out of a certain num- 
 ber known to be ad:ually prefent in thefe towns ; but the bills of 
 mortality in the provinces, purporting to exprefs the numbers 
 dying out of the eftimated population of the province, do really 
 only exprefs the numbers dying out of a much fmaller population, 
 becaufe a confiderable part of the eftimated population is abfent. 
 
 In Peterfburgh, it appeared by an enumeration in 1784, that the 
 number of males was 156,827, and of females only 65,619 ^ The 
 proportion of males was therefore very nearly double, arifing from 
 the numbers who came to the town, to earn their capitation tax, 
 leaving their families in the country, and from the cuftom among 
 the lords, of retaining a prodigious number of their boors as houfehold 
 fervants, in Peterfburgh and Mofcow. 
 
 The number of births in proportion to the whole population in 
 Ruflia, is not different from a common average in other countries, 
 being about i in 2.6 ^. 
 
 According to the paper of M. Herman, already quoted, the pro- 
 portion of boys dying within the firft year, is, at Peterft)urgh, -f . In 
 
 * Memoire par W. L, Krafft, Nova Ala Academiae, torn. iv. 
 ^ Tooke's View of Ruffian Empire, vol. ii. b. iii. p. 147. 
 
 the 
 
214 Of the Chech to Popuh-itton m RuJJia. book ii. 
 
 the government of Tobolfk -,V. In the town of ToboHk 4 In 
 Vologda TT- In Novogorod tV. In Veronefch vV. In Archangel 4. 
 The very fmall mortality of infants in fome of thefe provinces, par- 
 ticularly, as the calculation does not feem to be liable to much error, 
 makes the fmallnefs of the general mortality more credible. In 
 Sweden, throughout the whole country, the proportion of infants 
 which dies within the firft year, is ~ or more '. 
 
 The proportion of yearly marriages in Ruffia to the whole popu- 
 lation, is, according to M. Herman, in the towns, about i in 100, 
 and in the provinces about i in 70 or 80. According to Mr. Tooke, 
 in the fifteen governments of which he had lifts, the proportion 
 was I in 92 ^. This is not very different from other countries. In 
 Peterfburgh, indeed, the proportion was i in 1 40 "^ ; but this is 
 clearly accounted for, by what has already been faid of the extra- 
 ordinary number of the males in comparifon of the females. 
 
 The regiflers for the city of Peterfburgh are fuppofed to be fuch 
 as can be entirely depended upon ; and thefe tend to prove the ge- 
 neral falubrity of the climate. But there is one fadl recorded in them, 
 which is directly contrary to what has been obferved in all other coun- 
 tries. This is a much greater mortality of female children than of male. 
 In the period from 1781 to 1785, of 1000 boys born, i47only, died 
 wuthin the firft year, but of the fame number of girls 3 1 o ''. The pro- 
 portion is as 10 to 31, which is inconceivable, and muft indeed 
 have been, in fome meafure, accidental, as, in the preceding periods, 
 the proportion was only as 10 to 14; but even this is very extra- 
 ordinary, as it has been generally remarked, that, in every flage of 
 life, except during the period of childbearing, the mortality among 
 females is lefs than among males. The climate of Sweden does 
 not appear to be very different from that of RufTia ; and M. War- 
 
 Memoires Abreges de TAcaderaie de Stockholm, p. 28. ^ View of Ruff. 
 
 Emp. vol. ii. b. iii. p- 146. ' Memoire pai W. L. KrafFt, Nova Adla Acade- 
 
 iiiiae, torn. iv. ** Td. torn, iv, 
 
 gcntin 
 
CHAP. in. Of the Chech to Population hi RuJJia, 215 
 
 gentln obfcrves, with refpedl to the Swedifli tables, that it appears 
 from them, that the fmaller mortahty of females, is not merely 
 owing to a more regular and lefs laborious life, but is a natural 
 law which operates conftantly from infancy to old age *. 
 
 According to M. Krafft ^, the half of all that are born in Peterf- 
 burgh, live to 25 ; which fhews a degree of hcalthinefs in early life 
 very unufual for fo large a town ; but after twenty, a mortality, 
 much greater than in any other town in Europe, takes place, w^hich 
 is juilily attributed to the immoderate ufe of brandy "". The mor- 
 tality between 10 and 15 is fo fmall, that only i in 47 males, 
 and I in 29 females, die. From 2,0 to 25, the mortality is fb 
 great, that i in 9 males, and i in 13^ females, die. The tables 
 fhew, that this extraordinary mortality is occaiioned principally by 
 pleurefies, high fevers, and confumptions. Pleureiies deftroy 4, 
 high fevers 4? and confumptions \, of the whole population. The 
 three together take off 4 of all that die. 
 
 The general mortality during the period from 1781 to 1785, was, 
 according to M. Krafft, i in 37. In a former period, it has been: 
 I in ^c^j and in a fubfequent period, when epidemick difeafes pre- 
 vailed, I in 29 **. This average mortality is fmall for a large town; 
 but there is reafon to think, from a paffage in M. Krafft's memoir", 
 that the deaths in the hofpitals, the prifons, and in the ma'ifon des 
 'Eivfans trouves^ are either entirely omitted, or not given with cor- 
 re(5lneis ; and undoubtedly, the infertion of thefe deaths might make 
 a great difference in the apparent healthinefs of the town. 
 
 In the ma'ifon des Eifans trouves alone, the mortality is prodigious. 
 No regular lifts are publifhed, and verbal communications are al- 
 ways liable to fome uncertainty. I cannot, therefore, rely upon the 
 information which I collected on the fubjedl ; but, from the moft 
 
 ' Memoires Abrcges de TAcademie de Stockholm, p. 28. ^ Nova A<fta Aca-- 
 
 demiae, torn. iv. ^ Tooke's View of the Ruffian Empire, vol. ii. b. iii. 
 
 P- 155. ^ Id. p. 151. See a Note in Tooke's AHew of Ruff. Empi 
 
 vol. ii. b. iii. p. 150. 
 
 ^ eareful 
 
2i6 Of ihe Chech to Population hi Ruia, book ii, 
 
 careful Inquiries which I could make of the attendants at the houfe 
 in Peterfburgh, I underftood that lOO a month was the common 
 average. In the preceding winter, which was the winter of 1788, 
 it had not been uncommon to bury 18 a day. The average number 
 received in the day, is about 10 ; and though they are all fent into 
 the country to be nurfcd three days after they have been in the 
 houfe, yet, as many of them are brought in a dying ftate, the 
 mortality muft ncceflarily be great. The number faid to be received, 
 appears, indeed, almoft incredible ; but, from what I faw myfelf, I 
 fhould be inclined to believe, that both this and the mortality be- 
 fore mentioned, might not be far from the truth. I was at the 
 houfe about noon, and four children had been juft received, one of 
 which was evidently dying, and another did not feem as if it 
 would long furvive. 
 
 A part of the houfe is deflined to the purpofe of a lying-in hof- 
 pital, where every woman that comes is received, and no queftions 
 are afked. The children which are thus born, are brought up by 
 nurfes in the houfe, and are not fent into the country like the 
 others. A mother, if fhe chufe it, may perform the office of nurfe 
 to her own child, in the houfe, but is not permitted to take it away 
 with her. A child brought to the houfe, may at any time be re- 
 claimed by its parents, if they can prove themfelves able to fupport 
 it ; and all the children are marked and numbered on being received, 
 that they may be known and produced to the parents, when re- 
 quired, who, if they cannot reclaim them, are permitted to vifit 
 them. 
 
 The country nurfes receive only two roubles a month, which, 
 as the current paper rouble is feldom worth more than half a crown, 
 is only about fifteen pence a week ; yet, the general expences are 
 faid to be 100,000 roubles a month. The regular revenues be- 
 longing to the inflitution are not nearly equal to this fum ; but the 
 government takes on itfelfthe management of the whole affair, and 
 confequently bears all the additional expences. As the children are 
 
 I received 
 
CHAP. It I. Of the Checks to Population ht KuJJta. z\y 
 
 received without any limit, it is abfblutely neceffary, that the cx- 
 pences fhould alfo be unlimited. It is evident that the moft dread- 
 ful evils muft refult from an unlimited reception of children, and 
 only a limited fund to fupport them. Such inftitutions, therefore, 
 if managed properly, that is, if the extraordinary mortality do not 
 prevent the rapid accumulation of expence, cannot exift long ex- 
 cept under the protediion of a very rich governmejdt ; and even 
 under fuch protection there muft ultimately be a limit. 
 
 At fix or feven years old the children vv^ho have been fent into the 
 country, return to the houfe, where they are taught all forts of trades, 
 and manual operations. The common hours of working are, from 
 6 to I a, and from 2, till 4. The girls leave the houfe at 1 8, and 
 the boys at i3o or ^i. When the houfe is too full, fome of thofe 
 which have been fent into the country are not brought back. 
 
 The principal mortality, of courfe, takes place among the infants 
 who are juft received, and the children which are brought up in 
 the houfe ; but there is a confiderable mortality among thofe which 
 are returned from the country, and are in the firmeft ftages of 
 life. I was, in fome degree, furprifed at hearing this, after having 
 been particularly ftruck with the extraordinary degree of neatnefs, 
 cleanlinefs, and fweetnefs, which appeared to prevail in every de- 
 partment. The houfe itfelf had been a palace, and all the rooms 
 were large, airy, and even elegant. I was prefent while 180 boys 
 were dining. They were all dreffed very neatly ; the table-cloth 
 was clean, and each had a feparate napkin to himfelf. The pro- 
 viilons appeared to be extremely good, and there was not the fmalleft 
 difagrecable fmell in the room. In the dormitories there was a fepa- 
 rate bed for each child ; the bedfteads were of iron without teller 
 or curtains, and the coverlids and Iheets particularly clean. 
 
 This degree of neatnefs, almofl inconceivable in a large infti- 
 tution, was to be attributed principally to the prefent emprefs 
 dowager, who interefted herfelf in all the details of the manage- 
 ment ; and, when at Peterfburgh, feldom paiTed a week without in- 
 
 F f fpcdling 
 
^i8 Of the Chech to Fopulatton In RtiJJta, book ii. 
 
 fpe<5lmg them in perfon. The mortality which takes place in fpite 
 of all thefe attentions, is a clear proof, that the conftitution, in early 
 youth, cannot fupport confinement and work for 8 hours in the day. 
 The children had all rather a pale and fickly countenance, and if 
 a judgment had been formed of the national beauty from the girls 
 and boys in this eftablifhment, it would have been moft unfavourable. 
 
 It is evident, that if the deaths belonging to this inftitution be 
 omitted, the bills of mortality for Peterfburgh cannot give a repre- 
 fentation, in any degree near the truth, of the real ftate of the city, 
 with refped: to healthinefs. At the fame time, it ihould be recol- 
 led:ed, that fome of the obfervations which atteft its healthinefs, 
 fuch as the number dying in a thoufand, &c. are not influenced by 
 this circumflance ; unlefs indeed we fay, what is perhaps true, that 
 nearly all thofe who would find any difficulty in rearing their chil-- 
 dren, fend them to the foundling hofpital, and the mortality among 
 the children of thofe who are in eafy circumflances, and live in 
 comfortable houfes, and airy fituations, will of courfe be much lefs 
 than a general average taken from all that are born. 
 
 The matfon des Erifans trauves, at Mofcow, is condu(n;ed exacflly 
 upon the fame principles as that at Peterfburgh ; and Mr. Tooke 
 gives an account of the furprifing lofs of children which it had fuf- 
 tained in twenty years, from the time of its firft eflablifhment to 
 the year 1786. On this occafion, he obferves, that if we knew pre- 
 cifely the number of thofe who died immediately after reception, or 
 who brought in with them the germ of diffolution, a fmall part 
 only of the mortality would probably appear to be fairly attributable 
 to the foundling-hofpital ; as none would be fo unreafonable, as to- 
 lay the lofs of thefe certain vidlims to death to the account of a 
 philanthropical inflitution, which enriches the country from year to> 
 year with an ever-increafing number of healthy, active, and induf- 
 trious burghers ^. 
 
 Viewof the Ruffian Empire, vol. il. b. iii. p. 201. 
 
 It 
 
CHAP. III. Of the Checks to Population in Kujjia. 219 
 
 It appears to me, however, that the greateft part of this prema- 
 ture mortality is clearly to be attributed to thefe inftitutions, mif- 
 called philanthropical. If any reliance can be placed on the accounts 
 which are given of the infant mortality in the Ruffian towns and 
 provinces, it would appear to be unufually fmall. The greatnefs of it, 
 therefore, at the foundling hofpitals, may juftly be laid to the ac- 
 count of inftitutions which encourage a mother to defert her child, 
 at the very time, when of all others, it {lands moft in need of her 
 foftering care. The frail tenure by w^hich an infant holds its life, 
 will not allow of a remitted attention, even for a few hours. 
 
 The furprifing mortality which takes place at thefe two foundling 
 hofpitals of Peterfburgh and Mofcow, which are managed in the 
 beft poffible manner, as all who have feen them, with one confent, 
 affert, appears to me incontrovertibly to prove, that the nature of thefe 
 inftitutions is not calculated to anfwer the immediate end that they 
 have in view, which I conceive to be, the prefervation of a cer- 
 tain number of citizens to the ftate, which might otherwife, perhaps, 
 perifh from poverty or falfe fhame. It is not to be doubted, that 
 if the children received into thefe hofpitals, had been left to the 
 management of their parents, taking the chance of all the difficul- 
 ties in which they might be involved, a much greater proportion 
 of them would have reached the age of manhood, and have be- 
 come ufeful members of the ftate. 
 
 When we look a little deeper into this fubjedl, it will appear, that 
 thefe inftitutions not only fail in their immediate object, but by 
 -encouraging, in the moft marked manner, habits of licentioufnefs, 
 difcourage marriage, and thus weaken the main fpring of popula- 
 tion. All the well-informed men with whom I converfed on this 
 ftibjecft, at Peterfburgh, agreed invariably, that the inftitution had 
 produced this effect in a furpriiing degree. To have a child, was 
 confidered as one of the moft trifling faults which a girl could com- 
 mit. An Englifti merchant at Peterfburgh told me, that a Ruffian 
 ^irl, living in his family, under a miftrefs, who was confidered as 
 
 Y i 2, very 
 
230 Of the Chech to Fopuhtlon inRuJJia, bookii. 
 
 very flrid:, had fent fix children to the foundling hofpltal without 
 the lofs of her place. 
 
 It fliould be obferved, however, that generally fpeaking, fix chil- 
 dren are not common in this kind of intercourfe. Where habits of 
 licentioufnefs prevail, the births are never in the fame proportion 
 to the number of people, as in the married ftate; and therefore the 
 difcouragement to marriage, arifing from this licentioufnefs, and the 
 diminifhed number of births which is the confequence of it, will 
 much more than counterbalance any encouragement to marriage,, 
 from the profped: held out to parents of difpofing of the children 
 which they cannot fupport. 
 
 Confidering the extraordinary mortality which occurs in thefe in- 
 ftitutions, and the habits of licentioufnefs which they have an evi- 
 dent tendency to create, it may be faid, perhaps, with truth, that 
 if a perfon wifhed to check population, and were not folicitous 
 about the means, he could not propofe a more eifedlual meafure, 
 than the eftablifhment of a fufRcient number of foundling hofpitals,. 
 unlimited in their reception of children. And with regard to the 
 moral feelings of a nation, it is difficult to conceive that they muft 
 not be very feniibly impaired by encouraging mothers to defert their 
 offspring, and endeavouring to teach them, that their love for their 
 new-born infants is a prejudice, which it is the intereft of their 
 country to eradicate. An occafional child-murder, from falfe fliame^ 
 is faved at a very high price, if it can only be done by the facrifice 
 of fome of the beft and moft ufeful feelings of the human heart in 
 a great part of the nation. 
 
 On the fuppofition that foundling hofpitals attained their pro- 
 pofed end, the ftate of flavery in Ruffia would, perhaps, render them 
 more juftiflable in that country than in any other ; becaufe, every 
 child brought up at the foundling hofpitals becomes a free citizen, 
 and in this capacity is likely to be more ufeful to the ftate, than if 
 it had merely increafed the number of flaves belonging to an indi- 
 vidual proprietor. But in countries not fimilarly circumftanced, the 
 
 moft 
 
CHAP. III. Of the Checks to Population In RuJJla. 221 
 
 mofl; complete fuccefs in inftitutions of this kind would be a glaring 
 injuflice to other parts of the fociety. ^ The true encouragement to 
 marriage is, the high price of labour, and an increafe of employ- 
 ments, which require to be fupplied with proper hands ; but if the 
 principal part of thefe employments, apprenticefhips, &c. be filled 
 up by foundlings, the demand for labour among the legitimate part 
 of the fociety muft be proportionally diminiflied, the difficulty of 
 fupporting a family be increafed, and the befl encouragement to 
 marriage removed. 
 
 RuiTia has great natural refources. Its produce is, in Its prefent 
 ftate, above its confumption, and it wants nothing but greater free- 
 dom of induftrious exertion, and an adequate vent for its commo- 
 dities in the interior parts of the country, to occafion an increafe of 
 population aftonifhingly rapid. The principal obftacle to this, is, 
 the vaffalage, or rather flavery, of the peafants, and the ignorance and 
 indolence, which almoft necefTarily accompany fuch a ftate. The for- 
 tune of a Ruffian nobleman is meafured by the number of boors that 
 he pofTeffes, which in general are faleable, like cattle, and not adfcrlpti 
 gkhce. His revenue arifes from a capitation tax on all the males. 
 When the boors upon an eftate are increafing, new diviilons of land 
 are made at certain intervals, and either more is taken into culti- 
 vation, or the old ffiares are fubdivided. Each family is awarded 
 fuch a portion of land as it can properly cultivate, and will enable it 
 to pay the tax. It is evidently the intereft of the boor not to im- 
 prove his lands much, and appear to get confiderably more than is 
 neceffiary to fupport his family and pay the poll-tax ; becaufe the na- 
 tural confequence will be, that in the next divifion that takes place, 
 the farm, which he before pofleffed, will be confidered as capable of 
 fupporting two families, and he will be deprived of the half of it. 
 The indolent cultivation that fuch a ftate of things muft produce, is 
 eafily conceivable. When a boor is deprived of much of the land 
 which he had before ufed, he makes complaints of inability to pay 
 
 his 
 
Z22, Of the Chech to Population In Rtiffia, book ir. 
 
 his tax, and demands permiffion for himfelf, or his fons, to go and 
 earn it in the towns. This permiffion is in general eagerly 
 fought after, and is granted without much difficulty by the feig- 
 neurs, in confideration of a fmall increafe of the poll-tax. The 
 confequence is, that the lands in the country are left half cul- 
 tivated, and the genuine Spring of population impaired in its 
 fource. 
 
 A Ruffian nobleman at Peterfburgh, of w^hom I afked fome quef- 
 tious, refpeding the management of his eftate, told me, that he 
 never troubled himfelf to inquire whether it was properly cultivated 
 or not, which he feemed to confider as a matter in which he was 
 not in the fmalleft degree concerned. Cela mefl egaJ, fays he, cela 
 me fait nl hlen nl mal. He gave his boors permiffion to earn their tax 
 how and where they liked, and as long as he received it, he was fa- 
 tisfied. But it is evident, that, by this kind of condud:, he facrificed 
 the future population of his eftate, and the confequent future in- 
 creafe of his revenues, to confiderations of. indolence and prefent 
 convenience. 
 
 It is certain, however, that of late years many noblemen have at- 
 tended more to the improvement and population of their eftates, 
 inftigated, principally, by the precepts and examples of the emprefs 
 Catherine, who made the greateft exertions to advance the culti- 
 vation of the country. Her immenfe importations of German fettlers, 
 not only contributed to people her ftate with free citizens, inftead 
 of flaves, but what was perhaps of ftill more importance, to fet an 
 example of induftry, and of modes of directing that induftry, totally 
 unknown before to the Ruffian peafants. 
 
 Thcfe exertions have been crowned, upon the whole, with great 
 fuccefs ; and it is not to be doubted, that, during the reign of the 
 late emprefs, and fmce, a very confiderable increafe of cultivation 
 and of population has been going forward^ in almoft every part of 
 the Ruffian empire. 
 
 7 In 
 
CHAP. III. Of the Checks to Population In Rujpa, 223 
 
 In the year 17^3, an enumeration of the people, eftimated by the 
 poll-tax, gave a population of 14,756,696; and the fame kind of 
 enumeration in 1783, gave a population of 25,677,000, which, if 
 corred:, ihews a very extraordinary increafe ; but it is fuppofed, 
 that the enumeration in 1 783, was more corred: and complete than 
 the one in 1763. Including the provinces not fubjed: to the poll- 
 tax, the general calculation for 1763, was 50,000,000, and for 
 1796, 36,000,000 ^ 
 
 * Tooke's View of the Ruffian Empire, vol, ii. book iii. fe6l. i, p. ia6, et feq^ 
 
 cmkv. 
 
( 554 ) 
 
 C H A P. IV. 
 
 On the frultfuJnefs of Marriages . 
 
 JN OTWITHSTANDING the extraordinary proportions of births to 
 deaths in Ruffia, which have been noticed in the laft chapter, and 
 the confirmation of thefe proportions, in a confiderable degree, by 
 adual enumerations, which eftabHlli a very rapid increafe, it ap- 
 pears, that, in moft of the provinces, each marriage yields only three 
 children. 
 
 But if we refled; a moment, it will be clear, that to prevent 
 the population of a country from regularly decreafing, it is abfo- 
 lutely neceflary that each marriage, on an average, Ihould yield a 
 marriage, that is, yield two children who live to be married. If 
 the refult fall ihort of this, the number of marriages muft be gra- 
 dually diminiftiing, and the number of children to each marriage 
 remaining the fame, the population, of courfe, will continue decreaf- 
 ing. If each marriage yield accurately two marrying children, the 
 number of marriages, and the number of children, being the fame in 
 every generation, the population can be neither retrograde nor pro- 
 greflive, but muft remain exactly ftationary. 
 
 Suppofmg each marriage to produce three children, as appears to 
 be the cafe, according to the lifts in fome of the provinces of Ruftia, 
 it will be granted, that one, out of three, is but a fmall proportion 
 to allow for all who die in infancy and celibacy. But admitting 
 this proportion, which may perhaps be true in the prefent inftance, 
 though it is very rarely fo in other fituations, it will follow that 
 
 exad:ly 
 
c H A p , I V . On the fru'itfulnefs of Marriages. 525 
 
 exactly two children, and no more, from cver}^ marriage, live to 
 form a frelh union ; in which cafe, from what has been before ob- 
 ferved, no increafe is pofTible. And yet in thefe fame provinces, the 
 proportion of the births to the deaths is given as 26 to 10; 53 to 10; 
 21 to 10; 20 to 10, &c : which implies a very rapid increafe. The 
 lifts therefore involve a moft complete contradiction. Yet there is 
 no reafon to fufpc6l the accuracy of the ftatements rcfped;ing the 
 births and marriages ; and, allowing for fome omiffions in the burials, 
 the excefs of births will ftill be great, and indeed, the increailng 
 ftate of the population has been afcertained by the enumerations, 
 mentioned in the laft chapter. 
 
 Contradictory as thefe lifts appear, they do not involve a greater 
 contradidiion than the lifts of other countries, which purport to ex- 
 prefs the number of births which each marriage yields. And it may 
 perhaps contribute to the better underftanding of the tables, which 
 I fliall have occafion to notice in the next chapter, if I endeavour 
 to explain a very important error into which all the writers in poli- 
 tical arithmetic, that I have ever met with, have fallen, relative to 
 this fubjedt. 
 
 Thefe lifts are, in reality, enumerations of the annual marriages 
 and the annual births ; and the proportion between them, of courfe, 
 accurately expreftes the proportion of births to marriages which 
 takes place in the year ; but this proportion has been aftumed to 
 exprefs the number of births which each individual marriage in the 
 courfe of its duration yields. On what grounds this aftumption has 
 been made, will appear from the following confiderations. 
 
 If, in a country where there were no exports or imports of 
 people, we could obtain the number of births and of marriages that 
 had taken place in the courfe of a very long period, it is evident, 
 that double the number of marriages, or, which is the fame thing, 
 the number of married people, would exprefs accurately the propor- 
 tion of the born which had lived to be married ; and the difference 
 between this number and the number of births, would alfo exprefs 
 
 G g accurately. 
 
226 0?i ihe fruttfulnefs of Marriages, book ii, 
 
 accurately, the proportion of the born which had died in infancy 
 and cehbacy. But the whole numbers of births and marriages, dur- 
 ing this period, are evidently nothing more than the fum of the 
 annual births, and the fum of the annual marriages. If, therefore, 
 in any country, an average proportion can be obtained between the 
 annual births and annual marriages, this proportion will manlfeftly 
 exprefs the fame thing as the whole numbers ; that is, the number 
 of perfons annually married, compared with the number of annual 
 births, will accurately exprefs the proportion of the born which lives 
 to be married ; and the dliference between them, the proportion of 
 the born which dies in infancy and celibacy. For inftance, if the 
 average proportion of annual marriages to annual births, in any coun- 
 try, be as I to 4, this will imply, that, out of four children born, two 
 of them live to marry, and the other two die in infancy and celi- 
 bacy. This is a moft important and intereftlng piece of information, 
 from which the mofl ufcful inferences are to be drawn; but it is 
 totally different from the number of births which each individual 
 marriage yields in the courfe of its duration ; fo much fo, that on 
 the fuppofitlon which has beenjuft made, that half of the born live 
 to be married, which is a very ufual proportion, the annual mar- 
 riages would be to the annual births as i to 4, whether each indi- 
 vidual marriage yielded 4 births, 2, births, or 100 births. If the 
 latter number be taken, then, according to the prefent fuppofitlon, 
 50 would live to be married; and out of every 100 births there 
 would be 25 marriages, and the marriages would ftill be to the births 
 as J to 4. The fame proportion would evidently hold good in the 
 cafe of two births yielded by each marriage, as this proportion is not 
 in the fmallcft degree affedled by the number of children which a 
 marriage in the courfe of its duration may yield, but merely relates 
 to the number of thefc children who live to be married, or the 
 number of births from which one marriage refults. 
 
 The only cafe in which the proportion of annual births to annual 
 -marriages, is the fame, as the proportion of births v/hich each indi- 
 vidual 
 
C H A P . I V. On the fruhfiihiefs of Marriages, 22y 
 
 vidual marriage yields, is, when the births and deaths are exadly 
 equal ; and the reafon of their being the fame in this cafe is, that, 
 in order to make the births and deaths exa6lly equal, we muft 
 aflume, that each marriage yields exadly another marriage, and that, 
 whatever be the number of children born from each union, they all 
 die in infancy and celibacy, except one pair. Thus, if each marriage 
 yield five children, two of which only live to form a frcfh union, the 
 proportion of. annual marriages, to annual births, wdll be as i to 5, 
 which is the fame as the number of births yielded by each individual 
 marriage, by hypothcfis. But whenever each marriage yields either 
 more or lefs than one marrying pair, that is, whenever the popula- 
 tion is either increafmg or decreafing, then the proportion of 
 armual births to annual marriages, can never be the fame, as the pro- 
 portion of births yielded by each individual marriage in the couife of 
 its duration. 
 
 Hence it follows, that whenever we afTume them to be the fame, 
 any increafe of population is impoffible. Thus, if the foregoing rea- 
 soning be admitted, and it be granted that the proportion of perfons 
 yearly married, to-the number of children yearly born, truly exprelTes 
 the proportion of the born which lives to be married; then, aifuming 
 at the fame time, what is afiumed by thofe who produce thefe lifts, 
 that they exprefs the number of births yielded by each individual 
 marriage, it is evident, that all fucli lifts prove that the population is 
 ftationary ; whereas, perhaps, from other accounts, it is known with 
 certainty, that a rapid increafe is going forwards. Thus, in Sweden, 
 if we allow that the proportion of yearly marriages to yearly births, 
 which is as I to 4 and tV, exprefles, what it really does, that out of 
 4 and T-o births, one pair lives to marry ; and fuppofe, at the fame 
 time, according to Wargentin, Sufmilch, Crome, Price, and others, 
 that each marriage, in the courfe of its duration, yields only 4tV births, 
 it would follow, that, out of 41V births, 2, and -^^ die in infancy and 
 celibacy, and only two children from each marriage live to form a 
 frclh union, in which cafe no increafe would be polTible, though, from 
 
 G ^ Z the 
 
228 On thefruttfuhefs of Marriages. B o o k i r, 
 
 the excefs of births above the deaths, and even from adlual enume- 
 rations, it might be completely afcertained, that the progrefs of the 
 population was confiderable. 
 
 Dr. Price had confidered this fubjedl fufRciently to fee, that, in 
 countries where an incrcafe or decreafe of population was taking 
 place, thefe lifls did not accurately exprefs the number of births 
 yielded by each marriage ; but that he was very far from comirfg at 
 what 1 conceive to be the jult eonclufion on this point, appears, from 
 his obferving that, on the fuppofition that half of the born live to 
 marry, if the prolificknefs of marriages were to increafe, the births 
 would rife above quadruple the weddings ^ ; whereas, in faft, as long 
 as exa6lly half of the born live to be married, the annual births will 
 always be exadly quadruple the annual weddings, let the prolifick- 
 nefs of marriages vary in any conceivable degree '. 
 
 As a further proof that Dr. Price did not underftand this fubjedl^ 
 though he has a long and elaborate note on it, he often mentions the 
 lifts of the yearly births and marriages, as expreffing the number of 
 children born to each marriage, and particularly notices the propor- 
 tion in Sweden, as fhewing the degree of prolificknefs in the mar- 
 riages of that country *=. He merely thought that the lifts of annual 
 births and marriages, did not, in all cafes, exprefs accurately the pro- 
 lificknefs of marriages ; but he does not feem to have been in the 
 fmalleft degree aware, that they had abfolutely nothing to do with it ; 
 and that, fo far from being merely inaccurate, it would be impofli- 
 
 Obfervations on Reverf. Paym. vol. i. p. 270, note. 
 
 ^ That is, when a fufficient time has elapfed, to let the births afFed the marriages. 
 Before this period, indeed, Dr. Price's obfervation would be juft ; but, pra6tically, it fel- 
 dom happens that the women of a country become all at once more prolifick than ufual ; 
 and in the general tables of mortality from which the deductions are made, if they be not 
 fuch, as for the births to afFedl the marriages, they cannot exprefs a jufl average of anv kind, 
 and are in every point of view almoft entirely ufelefs. 
 
 Obfervations on Reverf. Paym. vol. i. p. 375. 
 
 < bk, 
 
CHAP. IV. On the frtiltfulnefs of Marriages, 2;2g 
 
 ble, from fuch lifts, unaccompanied by other information, to tell 
 with certainty, whether the prolificknefsjn the marriages of any 
 country were fuch as to yield 2, births, or 1 00 births in the courfe of 
 their duration. 
 
 Such lifts, therefore, confidered as exprefling the prolifickneis 
 of marriages, muft be rejected as perfectly ulelefs ; but confidered 
 as expreffing the proportion of the born which lives to be married, 
 Ihould be preferved as highly valuable, and as giving a moft inte- 
 refting and dcfirable piece of information. 
 
 The late emprefs Catherine, in her inftrudions for a new code of 
 laws in Ruftia, fays, " our peafants have for the moft part twelve, 
 " fifteen, and even as far as twenty children frorrr one marriage \'* 
 This is certainly an exaggeration ; but the probability is, that the after- 
 tion was founded on a knowledge that the Ruffian women were 
 generally prolifick ; and yet, according to the lifts which have been 
 produced, it would appear that in moft of the provinces, one marriage 
 yields only three children, which is perfedly irreconcileable with the 
 aftertions of the emprefs. But, according to the foregoing reafonings, 
 thefe lifts merely exprefs that, out of three children born, two live to 
 be married, which agrees with the extraordinary healthinefs in early 
 life noticed in fome of the provinces. The probability is, that each 
 marriage in thefe provinces, yields about 6 births, 4 of which live to 
 marry ; and this fuppofition, which retains the proper proportion of 
 the births to the marriages, according to the lifts, will account for 
 the excefs of the births above the deaths, and the rapid increafe of 
 the population. 
 
 In thofe provinces where the annual births are to the annual mar- 
 riages as 4 to I, there, according to the principles laid down, only 
 2, out of 4, inftead of z out of 3, live to be married ; and to produce 
 the excefs of births, obferved in fome of thefe provinces, even after 
 
 * Chap. xii. p. 188. 4to. 1770. Peterfburgh* 
 
 making 
 
2^0 On the frniifuhtefs of Marriages . book 1 1. 
 
 making great allowances for omiffions in the burials*, it will be 
 necefTary to fuppofe, that there were full as many as 8 births to each 
 marriage in the courfe of its duration. 
 
 Taking the general proportion of annual births to marriages for 
 the whole country, as given by Mr. Tooke, then it would appear, 
 that, out of 362 births, 200 lived to marry ^ ; and to produce a pro- 
 portion of births to deaths, as 2 to i, inftead of 2 1 to i, as given by 
 Mr. Tooke, that is, allowing the I fortheomifTions in the burials, it 
 will be neceiTary 'to fuppofe 7 or 7I births to each marriage, which 
 may in fome degree juftify the aflertions of the emprefs"^. 
 
 Thefe are rough calculations, formed by conftru(fling tables on 
 the plan of one produced by Wallace, in his Differtation on the 
 Numbers of Mankind, and obferving the proportions of births to 
 deaths, which refult from different fuppofitions rcfped;ing the num- 
 ber of children born, and the number which live to be married. As 
 this differtation is not in every perfon's hands, I infert the table, in 
 order that the reader may fee the grounds on which I have gone in 
 thefe calculations. 
 
 It fets out with a fmgle pair, but of courfe it is the fame thing, 
 whether we begin with 2 people or z millions of people. There are 
 8 columns, the contents of which are explained at the top of each. 
 
 * I am inclined to believe, that where only half of the born live to be married, the pro- 
 pouion of tlie births to the deaths can never rife quite fo high as 2 to i, whatever may be 
 the number of children to a marriage. The lifts, therefore, fuch as thofe of Veronefch, 
 which imply that only half of the born live to be married, at the fame time that the births 
 are to the deaths in the proportion of above 2 to i, can only be accounted for by great 
 omiflions in the deaths, and by emigrations. 
 
 ^ Tooke's View of Ruffian Empire, vol. ii. b. iii. p. 147. 
 
 *= On the fuppofition that I have not aflumed the proper proportions of births to deaths, 
 which, from not knowing how to eftimate the acknowledged omiffions in the burials, is 
 very probable, the refults of courfe will be changed, and therefore too much flrefs ihould 
 not be laid on them. 
 
 TABLE 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 Ofi the fruitfulnefs of Marriages, 
 
 531 
 
 TABLE I. 
 
 Periods of 
 the fcheme. 
 
 Years of 
 the fcheme. 
 
 Born fince 
 rhe hft pe- 
 riod. 
 
 Of whom 
 died fince 
 laft period. 
 
 And remain 
 in life to 
 propagate. 
 
 Died fince 
 
 the laft pe- 
 riodat an ad- 
 vanced age. 
 
 The fum of all who are alive 
 at the r jfpedive periods. 
 
 The fum of 
 the laft co- 
 lumn collec- 
 ted. 
 
 Col. I. 
 
 Col. 2. 
 
 Col. 3. 
 
 Col. 4. 
 
 Col. 5. 
 
 Col. 6 
 
 Col. 7. 
 
 Col. 8. 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 334- 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 2+4 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 66\ 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 6+82 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 100 
 
 24 
 
 8 
 
 16 
 
 4 
 
 12+164 
 
 24 
 
 4 
 
 133i- 
 
 48 
 
 16 
 
 32 
 
 8 
 
 24 + 328 
 
 48 
 
 5 
 
 166^ 
 
 9Q 
 
 32 
 
 64 
 
 16 
 
 48+6416 
 
 96 
 
 6 
 
 200 
 
 192 
 
 6'4 
 
 128 
 
 32 
 
 96+12832 
 
 192 
 
 The obje<S of Mr. Wallace, in this table, was merely to Ihew the 
 progrefsof population from a iingle pair, and the period of doubling; 
 but, if no ell'ential fault be found with the conftrudion of it, it may- 
 be applied more extenfively and ufefully. 
 
 The periods are taken at ^^l^ years ; but the real period of a gene- 
 ration will, of courfe, vary in different countries, according to the 
 average age of marriage. Each marriage is fuppofed to yield 6 chil- 
 dren, 2, of whom, or one third, die in infancy or celibacy ; and 4, or 
 two thirds, forming two marriages, are left alive to breed. 
 
 If we examine the numbers in the fecond period, we ihall find iz, 
 in the 3d column, which expreffes the births ; 4, in the 4th column, 
 which expreffes the deaths in infancy and celibacy ; and 2, in the 6th 
 column, which exprelTes the deaths of the parents. Confequently 
 the births are to the deaths, in the fame period, as 12 to 4+2, as 12 
 to 6, or 2 to I, and the proportions continue the fame in all the other 
 I periods. 
 
233 On the fmitfulnefs of Marriages, book n, 
 
 periods. From which, I think, we may fafcly infer, that, if in any 
 country the births be to the deaths as 2 to i, and two thirds af the 
 born Uve to marry, that each marriage muft yield exa<5lly 6 children. 
 
 If we examine the births and marriages in any of the contempo- 
 raneous periods, we fhall find, in the fecond period, 1 2 births, and 8 
 marrying perfons, or the proportion of 1 2 births to 4 marriages ; in 
 the third period^ 24 births and 16 marrying perfons, or the propor- 
 tion of 24 births to 8 marriages ; and fo on always in the proportion 
 of>3-to I. But the proportion of the fum of births to the fum of 
 marriages, during thefe periods, muft be the fame, as any corre6t annual 
 average ; and confequently, the annual births are to the annual mar^ 
 riages as 3 to i ; from which, according to the ufual mode of calcula- 
 tion, it would be inferred, that each marriage yielded 3 children, 
 though we fet out with the fuppofition of 6 children to each mar- 
 riage ; a contradidlion, which ftrongiy confirms the reafonings of the 
 foregoing part of this chapter, ^and Ihews, that the proportion of 
 annual births to annual marriages does not exprefs the number of 
 children to each marriage, but a very different thing, namely, the 
 number of the born which live to marry. 
 
 If, inflead of two thirds, as in the prcfent inftance, we fuppofe that 
 only half of the born live to marry, which is a more common propor- 
 tion ; then, for the fecond period, we fhall have in the third column, 
 xpreffing the births, the number 9, and in the fifth column, expreif- 
 ing the marrying perfons 4! : confequently, the marriages will be 
 to the births as 1 to 4, which is the moft ufual average of Europe ; 
 though, in the prefent inflance, we flill fuppofe, that each marriage 
 yields fix children in the courfe of its duration. On the fame fup- 
 pofition, the births will be to tlie deaths, as 9 to 4 1 -{-2, as 18 to 13, 
 or about 134 to 10; and confequently it may be inferred, that, when 
 the births are to the deaths as 13I to 10, or 138 to 100, and half of 
 .the born live to marry, each marriage mufl; yield fix births. 
 
 If we fuppofe five births to a marriage, and that half of the born 
 Jive to marry, then, according to the table, the births will be to the 
 
 deaths. 
 
CHAP. IV. On the fmltfulnefs of Man) ages, zxx 
 
 deaths, as, about I2y to lo; and confequently we may infer, in the 
 fame manner, that when the births are to the deaths as 12-L. to 10, 
 and half of the born live to marry, that each marriage muft yield c; 
 children. 
 
 Upon thefe principles, if we can obtain, in any country, the propor- 
 tion of births to deaths, and of births to marriages, we may calculate 
 pretty nearly the number of children born to each marriage \ This 
 number will indeed turn out to be very different from the refults of 
 the old mode of calculation ; but this circumftance is rather in favour 
 of its corredlnefs; becaufe the known fa(fls refpecfling population, 
 cannot poffibly be accounted for, according to the ufual mode of 
 cftlmating the number of births to a marriage, which gives lefs 
 than four, for the general average of Europe. 
 
 Buffon has inferted in his work fome tables of mortalitv. which he 
 means lliould be confidercd as applicable to the whole human race. By 
 thefe, it appears, that half of the born die under eight years and one 
 month old ''. If we apply the average of four children to a marriage, 
 to Buffon's eftimate of mortality, it would appear, that the population 
 of Europe, inilcad of having a ftrong tendency to increafe, is in 
 danger of being cxtincfl in the courfe of fome years. Inftead of 
 increafmg in a geometrical ratio, it would be decreafmg In a geome- 
 trical ratio. If two, out of the four cliUdren allowed to each mar- 
 riage, were to die under 8 years and a month old, the utmoll that 
 we could poffibly expe<^, is, that i| fliould furvlve, to form a frefli 
 union, or that four prefent marriages fliould yield three in the next 
 generation ; a ratio of decreafe, which would, in no very long period, 
 unpeople Europe. 
 
 But the truth is, that both the calculations are incorrc(5l. Buffon's 
 tables were taken from the rcglfters of Paris, and its neighbouring 
 
 * That is, upon the fuppofition, that there is no inooiredlners in the conftru(5lion of the 
 table, or in the inferences which I thh^k may he drawn from it. At prefent I do not 
 fee any. 
 
 * Hiftoire Najurelle de rHorame, torn. iv. p. 420. i2mo. 1752. 
 
 H h villages, 
 
r>o2j. Oft the friutfnhiefs of Marriages. book ir. 
 
 villac^es, and can by no means be confidered as generally applicable. 
 The fource of the other error has been attempted to be pointed out in 
 this chapter. 
 
 It is only in unhealthy towns, or villages very peculiarly circum- 
 ftanced, that half of the born die under 8 or 9 years of age. Taking 
 an average throughout Europe, I have little doubt, that not only 
 above half of the born live beyond the age of puberty, but that each 
 marriage yields coniiderably above four births, I Ihould think, more 
 than five. The poverty which checks population, tends much more 
 powerfully to increafe the number of deaths, than to diminifh the 
 number of births. 
 
 In forming conclufions refped:ing the proportion of the born which 
 lives to be married from the lifts of annual births and annual mar- 
 riages, which, according to the principles laid down, is the only point 
 of view in which they are ufeful ; there is one circumftance, w^hich, 
 if not particularly attended to, may lead to confiderable error. 
 
 In country parifhes, from which there are emigrations, the pro- 
 portion which lives to be married will be given too fmall, and in 
 towns which receive continually an acceffion of ftrangers, this pro- 
 portion will be given much too great. The proportion of annual 
 births to annual marriages, is in general higher, in the country, than 
 in towns ; but if there were no changing of inhabitants, the pro- 
 portion in the towns would be much the higheft. If, in a country 
 parifh, the births be to the weddings, as 4, or 4!, to 1, this implies, 
 that, out of 4 or 4I births, in that place, 2, lived to be married in 
 that place ; but many probably emigrated and married in other 
 places, and therefore we cannot pofitively infer, from this proportion, 
 that only z out of the 4, or 4!, lived to be married. 
 
 In towns, the proportion of births to marriages is very often only 
 3, and 3I, to I, which would feem to imply that, out of 3, or 3I 
 children, 2, lived to be married ; but in thefe towns, it is known 
 perhaps from the bills of mortality, that much above half of the 
 born die under the age of puberty. The proportion which has been 
 
 mentioned. 
 
CHAP. IV. On the fruitfulnefs of Marriages. 53 c 
 
 mentioned, therefore, cannot poffibly exprefs the real proportion of 
 the children born in the town, which Hves to be married, but is 
 caufed by the accellion of ftrangers, whofe marriages appear in the 
 regifters, though not their births. In towns, where there is a great 
 mortality in early life, if no marriages were regiftered but of thofe 
 who were born in the place, the proportion of annual births to 
 annual marriages, would be greater than the proportion of children 
 born to each marriage, in the courfe of its duration, and would 
 amount, perhaps, to 6 or 7 to r, inftead of 3, or 3I, to i. 
 
 In Leipfic, the proportion of births to weddings, is only z and -\ 
 to I * ; and Sufmilch, fuppofing this to imply that there w^ere only 
 2, and -'- children born to each marriage, puzzles himfelf to account 
 for this extraordinary unfruitfulnefs ; but this appearance in the re- 
 gifters, without doubt, arifes, either from a great acceffion of ftran- 
 gers, or from a cuftom among the inhabitants of the neighbouring^ 
 country, of celebrating their marriages in the town. 
 - At Geneva, where the regifters are fuppofed to be kept with con- 
 fiderable care, the number of marriages, from the year 1701 to 1760;, 
 was :? 1,493, ^^^ ^^ number of births in the fame period, 42,076 ; 
 from which it is inferred, that each marriage had yielded, on an 
 average, lefs than two children. The author of a valuable paper in 
 the Bibliotheque Britannique, who mentions thefe numbers ^ natu- 
 rally exprefles fome furprife at the refult, but flill adopts it as the 
 meafure of the fruitfulnefs of the Geneva women. The circumflance,. 
 however, arifes undoubtedly from the conftant influx of new fettlers, 
 whofe marriages appear in the regifters but not their births. If the 
 number of children from each individual mother were traced with 
 care in the bills of mortality at Geneva, I am confident that the 
 refult would be very ditFerent. 
 
 In Paris the proportion of annual births to annual marriages, 
 is about 4I to i % and the women have, in confequence, been ' 
 
 * Sufmilch's Gottliche Ordnung, vol.i. c. v. f. Ixxxiii. p. 171. ' Tom.iv. p. 38. note.' 
 
 * Sufinilch's Gottliche Orduung, vol.i. c. v. f. Ixxxv. p. 174. '* * * ' ** 
 
 H h 2 confidered 
 
2 $6 On iJiefriiiifulnefs of Marriages, Book n. 
 
 confidered as more prolifick than ufual for a large town ; but no fuch 
 inference can properly be drawn from this proportion, which is pro- 
 bably caufed, merely by the infrequency of marriages among perfons 
 not born in the town, and the cuftom of celebrating marriages in the 
 neighbouring villages. The fmall number of weddings which takes 
 place in Paris, in proportion to the whole population '^, and the more 
 than ufual number in the villages round Paris, feem to confirm this 
 fuppofition. 
 
 The rapidity of the increafe In population depends upon the 
 number of children born to each marriage, and the proportion of 
 that number which lives to form a frefh union. The mcafurc of this 
 rapidity is the proportion, which the excefs of the births above the 
 deaths, bears to the whole population. 
 
 That the reader may fee at once the tendency to increafe, and the 
 period of doubling, which would refult from any obferved proportion, 
 of births to deaths, and of thefe to the whole population, I fubjoia 
 two tables from Sufmilch, calculated by Euler, which I believe arc 
 very correct. The firft is confined to the fuppofition of a mortality 
 of I in 36, and therefore can only be applied to countries where 
 fiich a mortality is known to take place. The other is general, 
 depending folely upon the proportion, which the excefs of the births 
 above the burials, bears to the whole population, and therefore may 
 be applied univerfally to all countries, whatever may be the degree 
 of their mortality. 
 
 It will be obferved, that when the proportion between the births 
 and burials is given, the period of doubling will be lliorter, the 
 
 In Paris the pf^oportion of anmial marriages to the whole population, is, according to 
 Sufmilch, 1 to 137 ; according toCrome, i to 160. In Geneva, it is as i to 64; and this 
 extraordinary proportion of marriages, is certainly owing principally to the great influx 
 of foreign fettlers. In places, where the proportion of annual hirths to annual marriages 
 is much influenced by new fettlers, or emigrations, few accurate inferences can be drawn 
 from them, in any way. They neither exprefs the fruilfulnefs of marriages, nor the pro- 
 portion of the born which lives to be married. 
 
 2;reater 
 
CHAP. IV. On the fru'ttfiilHefs of Marriages, 237 
 
 greater the mortality; becaufe the births, as well as deaths, are 
 increafed by this fuppofition, and they both bear a greater proportion 
 to the whole population, than if the mortality were fmaller, and 
 there were a greater number of people in advanced life. 
 
 The general mortality of Ruffia, according to Mr. Tooke, as has 
 before been ftated, is i in 58, and the proportion of births i in 26. 
 Allowing fomething for the omiiTions in the burials, if we affume the 
 mortality to be i in 52, then the births will be to the deaths as 3 to f , 
 and the proportion, which the excefs of births bears to the whole 
 population, will be y'-. According to Table III. the period of dou- 
 bling will, in this cafe, be about 36 years. But if we were to keep 
 the proportion of births to deaths as 3 to i, and fuppofe a mortality 
 of I in 2i^, as in Table II. the excefs of births above the burials would 
 be y^ of the whole population, and the period of doubling would be 
 only 25 years. 
 
 It is evident, that in countries which are very healthy, and where, 
 in confequence, the number of grown up people is great, the births 
 can never bear the fame proportion to the whole population, as where 
 the number of grown people is fmaller ; and therefore the excefs of 
 births above the deaths, cannot, in fo Ihort a time, produce a number 
 equal to the former population. 
 
 TABLE 
 
238 
 
 On the fruitfiilnefs of Marriages. 
 
 BOOK II, 
 
 TABLE 11. 
 
 When in any country there are ioo,coo perfons living and the mor- 
 
 tahty is I in 36. 
 
 If the proportion of 
 
 Then the excefs of the 
 
 The proportion of the 
 excefs of the bi-ths, to 
 
 And therefore the period 
 
 deaths to births be as . 
 
 births will be 
 
 the whole population. 
 
 of doubling will be 
 
 
 
 will be 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 277 
 
 I 
 
 250 years. 
 
 
 12 
 
 555 
 
 TT'o' 
 
 125 
 
 
 13 
 
 833 
 
 I 
 
 831- 
 
 
 14 
 
 1110 
 
 I 
 T-o- 
 
 624 
 
 
 15 
 
 1388 
 
 TY 
 
 50^ 
 
 
 1(5 
 
 1666 
 
 1 
 
 T"o- 
 
 42 
 
 10: < 17 
 
 1943 
 
 TT 
 
 S5l 
 
 
 18 
 
 2221 
 
 I 
 
 TT 
 
 31t 
 
 
 19 
 
 2499 
 
 I 
 ? 0- 
 
 28 
 
 
 20 
 
 2777 
 
 TT 
 
 25A 
 
 
 22 
 
 3332 
 
 yo 
 
 214- 
 
 
 25 
 
 4165 
 
 
 17 
 
 
 L30 
 
 5554 
 
 I 
 
 12-i 
 
 TABLE IIJ. 
 
 The proporti.>n of the 
 excefs of births above 
 the deaths,to the whole 
 of the living. 
 
 Periods of doubling in 
 years, and ten thoufandth 
 parts. 
 
 The proportion of the 
 excefs of births above 
 the deaths, tothewhoit 
 of the living. 
 
 Periods of doubling in 
 years, and ten thoufandtli 
 parts. 
 
 
 rio 
 
 7.2722 
 
 
 r2i 
 
 14.9000 
 
 
 11 
 
 7.9Q59 
 
 
 22 
 
 \5.59S9. 
 
 
 12 
 
 ^.6595 
 
 
 23 
 
 16.2864 
 
 
 13 
 
 9-^530 
 
 
 24 
 
 16.9797 
 
 
 14 
 
 10.0465 
 
 A 
 
 25 
 
 17.6729 
 
 1 : < 
 
 15 
 
 10.7400 
 
 26 
 
 1 8 3662 
 
 
 16 
 
 11.4333 
 
 
 27 
 
 19.0594 
 
 
 17 
 
 12.1266 
 
 
 28 
 
 19.7527 
 
 
 18 
 
 12.8200 
 
 
 29 
 
 20.4458 
 
 
 19 
 
 13.5133 
 
 
 L30 
 
 21.1391 
 
 
 L20 
 
 14.2066 
 
 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 On t he fruitfulnejs of Marriages, 
 
 239 
 
 1 he proforcloT of the 
 
 
 The proportion of the 
 
 
 excefs of births above 
 
 Periods of doubling in 
 
 excefs of births above 
 
 Periods of doublirg in 
 
 the ccTths, to ths wholr 
 
 years, and ten thoufandth 
 
 the deaths, to the whole 
 
 years, and ten thoufandth 
 
 of the living. 
 
 ;iarts. 
 
 of the living. 
 
 parts. 
 
 
 32 
 
 22.5255 
 
 
 "210 
 
 145.9072 
 
 
 34 
 
 23.9119 
 
 
 220 
 
 152.8387 
 
 
 36 
 
 25.2983 
 
 
 230 
 
 159.7702 
 
 
 38 
 
 26.6847 
 
 
 240 
 
 166.7017 
 
 1 42 
 
 28.0711 
 
 , J 250 
 
 \7S.63S2 
 
 29 4574 
 
 J ! ^ 
 
 260 
 
 180.5647 
 
 
 44 
 
 30.8438 
 
 
 270 
 
 1 87.4961 
 
 
 46 
 
 32 2302 
 
 
 280 
 
 194.4275 
 
 
 48 
 
 33.6165 
 
 
 290 
 
 201.3590 
 
 
 .50 
 
 35.0029 
 
 
 
 .300 
 
 208.2905 
 
 
 " 55 
 
 38.4687 
 
 
 "310 
 
 215.2220 
 
 
 60 
 
 41.9345 
 
 
 320 
 
 222.1535 
 
 
 65 
 
 45.4003 
 
 
 330 
 
 229.0850 
 
 
 70 
 
 48.8661 
 
 
 340 
 
 236.0164 
 
 1 : < 
 
 15 
 
 52.3318 
 
 J:< 
 
 350 
 
 242.9479 
 
 80 
 
 55.7977 
 
 360 
 
 249.8794 
 
 
 85 
 
 59.2634' 
 
 
 370 
 
 256.8109 
 
 
 90 
 
 6Q.72.92 
 
 
 380 
 
 263.7425 
 
 
 95 
 
 66.1950 
 
 
 390 
 
 270.6740 
 
 
 ,100 
 
 69.6607 
 
 
 .400 
 
 277-6055 
 
 
 "110 
 
 76.5923 
 
 
 ^410 
 
 284 5370 
 
 
 120 
 
 83.5238 
 
 
 420 
 
 291 4685 
 
 
 130 
 
 90.4554 
 
 
 430 
 
 298.4000 
 
 
 140 
 
 97.3868 
 
 
 440 
 
 305.3314 
 
 1 . J 
 
 150 
 
 104.3183 
 
 , . <; 4^0 1 
 
 312.2629 
 
 ^ ' 1 160 
 
 111.2598 
 
 1 . ^ 
 
 460 
 
 3l9.'i943 
 
 
 170 
 
 118.1813 
 
 
 470 
 
 326.1258 
 
 
 180 
 
 125.1128 
 
 
 480 
 
 333.0573 
 
 
 190 
 
 132.0443 
 
 
 490 
 
 339.9888 
 
 
 .200 
 
 U%.9757 
 
 
 ^500 
 
 346.9202 
 
 
 
 1 : 1000 
 
 693.49 . 
 
 CHAP, 
 
( 540 ) 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Of the Chech to Pop7iIaiion hi the middle parts of "Europe, 
 
 1 HAVE dwelt longer on the northern ftates of Europe, than their 
 relative importance might, to fome, appear to demand, becaufe their 
 internal economy is, in many refpedls, effentially different from our 
 own, and aperfonal, though flight, acquaintance with thefe coun- 
 tries, has enabled me to mention a few particulars which have not 
 yet been before the publick. In the middle parts of Europe, the di- 
 vifion of labour, the diftributlon of employments, and the propor- 
 tion of the inhabitants of towns to the inhabitants of the country, 
 differ fo little from what is obfervable in England, that it would be 
 in vain to feek for the checks to their population in any peculiarity 
 of habits and manners fufficiently marked to admit of defcription. 
 I fhall, therefore, endeavour to dircdl the reader's attention, princi- 
 pally, to fome inferences drawn from the lifts of births, marriages, 
 and deaths in different countries ; and thefe data will, in many im- 
 portant points, give us more information refpecling their internal 
 economy tWn we could receive from the moft obferving traveller. 
 
 One of the moft curious and inftru^ive points of view in which 
 we can confider lifts of this kind, appears to me to be, in the depend- 
 ence of the marriages on the deaths. It has been juftly obferved by 
 Montefquieu, that wherever there is a place for two perfons to 
 live comfortably, a marriage will certainly cnfue ^ : but in moft of 
 the countries in Europe, in the prefent ftate of their population, ex- 
 
 f Efprit des Loix, liv. xxiii. c. x, 
 
 J pcrience 
 
CHAP. V. Of the Chech to Fopulatwn, &c, 541 
 
 perience will not allow us to exped any fudden and great increafe 
 in the means of fupporting a family. The place, therefore^ for the 
 new marriage muft, in general, be made by the diflblution of an old 
 one ; and we find, in confequence, that, except after fome great 
 mortality, from whatever caufe it may have proceeded, or fome fud- 
 den change of policy peculiarly favourable to cultivation and trade, 
 the number of annual marriages is regulated principally by the num- 
 ber of annual deaths. They reciprocally influence each other,. 
 There are few countries in which the common people have fo much ^ 
 forefight, as to defer marriage, till they have a fair profpedl of being 
 able to fupport properly all their children. Some of the mortality, 
 therefore, in almoft every country, is forced by the too great fre- 
 quency of marriage ; and in every country, a great mortality, whe- 
 ther arifmg principally from this caufe, or occafioned by the number 
 of great towns and manufa(5lories, and the natural unhcalthinefs of 
 the fituation, will neceffarily produce a great frequency of marriage. 
 
 A moft ftriking exemplification of this obfervation occurs in the 
 cafe of fome villages in Holland. Sufmilch has calculated the m>ean 
 proportion of annual marriages, compared with the number of inha- 
 bitants, as between i in 107, and i in 113, in countries which have 
 not been thinned by plagues or wars, or in which there is no fudden 
 increafe in the means of fubfiftence *. And Crome, a later ftatiftical 
 writer, taking a mean between i in 92 and i in iZ2f eftimates the 
 average proportion of marriages to inhabitants as i to 1 08 ''. But in 
 the regifters of 22 Dutch villages the accuracy of which, according 
 to vSufmilch, there is no reafon to doubt, it appears that out of 
 64 perfons there is i annual marriage *^. This is a moft extraordinary 
 deviation from the mean proportion. When I firft faw this num- 
 ber mentioned, not having then adverted to the mortality in thefe 
 
 Sufmilch, Gotdiche Ordnung, vol. i. civ. fet. IvI. p. 125. 
 
 > Crome, uber die Grofle und Bevojkerving der Europ. Staaten, p. 88. Leipf, 1785. 
 
 * Suftnilch, Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i. c. iv. fefl. Iviii, p. 137. 
 
 I i ' villages, 
 
24^' Of the Checks to PopiIath?t tn book ix, 
 
 villages, I was much aftoniftied, and very little fatisfied with Suf- 
 milch's attempt to account for it, by talking of the great number of 
 trades, and the various means of getting a livelihood, in Holland % 
 as it is evident, that, the country having been long in the fame ftate, 
 there would be no reafonto expert any great yearly acceffion of new 
 trades and new means of fubiiftence, and the old ones would of 
 courfe all be full. But the difficulty was immediately folved, when 
 it appeared that the mortality was between i in 2:3, and i in 23 S 
 inftead of being i in 36, as is ufual when the marriages are in the 
 proportion of i to 108. The births and deaths were nearly equal. 
 The extraordinary number of marriages was not caufed by the open- 
 ing of any new fources of fubfiftence, and therefore produced no in- 
 creafe of population. It was merely occafioned by the rapid diflb- 
 lution of the old marriages by death, and the confequent vacancy of 
 fome employment by which a family might be fupported. 
 
 It might be a queftion, in this cafe, whether the too great fre-*1 
 quency of marriage, that is, the preflure of the population too hard 1 
 againft the limits of fubfiftence, contributed moft to produce the 
 mortality, or the mortality, occafioned naturally by the employments 
 of the people and unhealthinefs of the country, the frequency of 
 marriage. In the prefent inftahce, I fliould, without doubt, incline_J 
 to the latter fuppofition, particularly, as it feems to be generally 
 agreed, that the common people in Holland are, upon the whole, 
 well off. The great mortality probably arifes, partly from the natural 
 marlhinefs of the foil, and the number of canal s> and partly from 
 the very great proportion of the people, which is engaged in fedentary 
 occupations, and the very fmall number in the healthy employments 
 of agriculture. 
 
 . A very curious and ftriking contraft to thefe Dutch villages, tend- 
 ing to illuftrate the prefent fubjedl, will be recolledled in what was 
 
 * Sufmilch, Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i. c. iv, kdi, Iviii. p. I28 
 ^ Id. c, ii, fet. xxxvi, p. 92. 
 . faid 
 
CHAP. V. the middle parts of Europe. 24^ 
 
 faid refpe<^ing the ftate of Norway. In Norway, the mortahty is 
 I in 48, and the marriages i in 130. In the Dutch villages, the 
 mortality i in 23, and the marriages i in 64. The difference both 
 in the marriages and deaths is above double. They maintain their 
 relative proportions in a very exaA manner, and fliew how much 
 the deaths arid marriages mutually depend upon each other, and that, 
 except where fome fudden ftart in the agriculture of a country en- 
 larges the means of fubfiftence, an increafe of marriages will only pro-^ 
 duce an increafe of mortality, and vice verfd. 
 
 In Ruffia, this fudden ftart in agriculture has, in great meafure, 
 taken place; and confequently, though the mortality is very fmall, 
 yet, the proportion of marriages is not fo. But in the progrefs oi 
 the population of Ruffia, if the proportion of marriages remain the 
 fame as at prefent, the mortality will inevitably increafe, or if the 
 mortality remain nearly the fame, the proportion of marriages will 
 diminifli. 
 
 Sufmilch has produced fome ilriking inftances of this gradual de- 
 creafe in the proportional number of marriages, in the progrefs of a 
 country to a fuller population, ' and a more complete occupation of 
 all the means of gaining a livelihood. 
 
 In the town of Halle, in the year 1700, the number of annual 
 marriages was to the whole population , as i to 77. During the 
 courfe of the <^c^ following years, this proportion changed gradually, 
 according to Sufmilch's calculation, vto i in 167'. This is a moft 
 extraordinary difference, and, if the calculation were quite accurate, 
 would prove to what a degree the preventive check to population 
 had operated, and how completely it had meafured itfelf to the 
 means of fubfiftence. As, however, the number of people is eftimated 
 by calculation, and not taken from enumerations, this very great 
 difference in the proportions may not be perfectly corl'ed:, or may be 
 occafioned in part by other caufes. 
 
 Sufmilch, Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i. c. iv. fe6t. Ixii. p, 132. 
 
 I i i? In 
 
244 Of the Chech to Populatto7i m book ii. 
 
 In the town of Leipfic, in. the year 1630, the annual marriages 
 were to the population as i to 85 : from the year 1741 to ly^S, 
 they were as i to 1 30 *. 
 
 In Augfburgh, in 1510, the proportion of marriages to the popu- 
 lation was as 1 to 86; in 1750, as i to 123 ^. 
 
 In Dantzic, in the year i 705, the proportion was as i to 89 ; in 
 1 745 as I to 1 1 8 ^ 
 
 In the dukedom of Magdeburgh in 1 700, the proportion was as 
 I to 87; from 1753 to 1755, as i to 125. 
 
 In the principality of Halberftadt, in 1690, the proportion was as 
 I to 88 ; in 1756, as i to 1 13. 
 
 In the dukedom of Cleves, in 1705, the proportion was i to 83; 
 in 1755, I to 100. 
 
 In the Churmark of Brandenburgh, in 1700, the proportion was 
 I to 76; in 1755, I to 108'^. 
 
 More inftances of this kind might be produced ; but thefe are 
 fufficlent to Ihew that, in countries where, from a fudden increafe 
 in the means of fubfiflence, arifmg either from a great previous mor- 
 tality, or from improving cultivation and trade, room has been 
 made for a number of marriages much beyond thofe diffolved by 
 death ; this additional number will annually decreafe, in proportion 
 as all the new employments are filled up, and there is no. further 
 room for an increafmg population. 
 
 But in countries which have long been fully peopled, and in 
 which no new fources of fubfiflence are opening, the marriages be- 
 ing regulated principally by the deaths, will generally bear nearly 
 the fame proportion to the whole population, at one period as at 
 another, i^nd the fame conftancy will take place, even in countries 
 where there is an annual increafe in the means of fubfiftence, pro- 
 vided this increafe be uniform and permanent. Suppofing it to be 
 
 Sufmilch, Gotdlche Ordnung, vol. i. c. iv. fe<5t, Ixiii. p. 134. 
 Id. fea,}xiv. p. I34 W. fedt. Ixv. p. 135. ''Id. fedt. Ixxi, p. 140. 
 
 fuch. 
 
CHAP. V, tJie middle parts ofEur Ope. 24^ 
 
 fuch, as for half a century, to allow every year of a fixed number of 
 marriages beyond thofe diffolved by death, the population would 
 then be increafing, and perhaps rapidly \ but it is evident, that the 
 proportion of marriages to the whole population, would remain the 
 fame during the whole period. 
 
 This proportion Sufmilch has endeavoured to afccrtain in differ- 
 ent countries and different fituations. In the villages of the Chur- 
 mark. of Brandenburgh, i marriage out of 109 perfons takes place 
 annually ^ ; and the general proportion for agricultural villages, he 
 thinks, may be taken at between i in 108, and i in 115 ^ In the 
 fmall towns of the Churmark where the mortality is greater, the pro- 
 portion is I to 98 " : in the Dutch villages mentioned before, i to 64 : 
 in Berlin i to iio*^: in Paris i to 137*": according to Crome in 
 the unmarrying cities of Paris and Rome, the proportion is only 
 I to 160 ^ 
 
 All general proportions, however, of every kind, fhould be applied 
 with confiderable caution, as it feldom happens that the increafe of 
 food and of population is uniform ; and when the circumftances of 
 a country are varying, either from this caufe, or from any change in 
 the habits of the people wiih refpedl to prudence and cleanlineis, 
 it is evident, that a proportion which is true at one period, will not be 
 fo at another. 
 
 Nothing is more difficult than to lay down rules on thefc fub- 
 je<fts that do not admit of exceptions. Generally fpeaking, it might 
 be taken for granted, that an increafed facility in the means of gain- 
 ing a livelihood, cither from a great previous mortality, or from im- 
 proving cultivation and trade, would produce a greater proportion 
 of annual marriages ; but this efFe<5l might not perhaps follow. Sup- 
 
 * Sufmilch, Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i. c. iv. fel. Ivi. p. 135. 
 Id. fed. Ixxv. p. 147. ' Id. fed. Ix. p. 129. ^ Ibid. 
 
 Id. feft. Ixix, p. 137. ' Crome, uber die Groffe und Bevolkerung der Euro- 
 
 paifchen Staaten, p. 89. 
 
 1 ^ pofing 
 
 iKr 
 
24^ Of the Chech to Population in' bookii. 
 
 ^ pofing the people to have been before in a very depreffed ftate, and 
 much of the mortaUty to have arifen from the want of forefight 
 which ufually accompanies fuch a ftate, it is poflible, that the fud- 
 den improvement of their condition, might give them more of a 
 decent and proper pride ? and the confequence would be, that the 
 proportional number of marriages might remain nearly the fame, 
 but they would all rear more of their children, and the additional 
 population that was wanted, would be fupplied by a diminilhed mor- 
 tality, inftead of an increafed number of births. 
 
 In the fame manner, if the population of any country had been 
 long ftationary, and would not eafily admit of an increafe, it is 
 poflible that a change in the habits of the people, from improved 
 education, or any other caufe, might diminifli the proportional num- 
 ber of marriages ; but as fewer children would be loft in infancy, 
 from the difeafes confequent on poverty, the diminution in the 
 number of marriages would be balanced by the diminilhed mortality, 
 and the population would be kept up to its proper level by a fmaller 
 number of births. 
 
 Such changes, therefore, in the habits of a people fhould evidently 
 be taken into conflderation. 
 
 The moft general rule that can be laid down on this fubjedl is, 
 perhaps, that any d'tre^ encouragements to marriage muft be ac- 
 companied by an increafed mortality. The natural tendency to 
 marriage is, in every country, fo great, that, without any encourage- 
 ments whatever, a proper place for a marriage will always be filled 
 up. Such encouragements, therefore, muft be either perfectly futile, 
 or produce a marriage where there is not a proper place for one, and 
 the confequence muft neceflarily be, increafed poverty and mortality. 
 Montefquieu, in his Lettres Perfanes, fays, that in the paft wars of 
 France, the fear of being inrolled in the militia, tempted a great 
 number of young men to marry, without the proper means of fup- 
 porting a family, and the effecil was, the birth of a crowd of chil- 
 ^ dren. 
 
c H A P . V . the middle parts of Eur/jpe, 24^ 
 
 dren, " que Ton cherche encore en France, et que la misere la fa- 
 " mine et les maladies en ont fait difparoitre *." 
 
 After fo ftriking an illuftration of the neccffary efFeds, of dire (51 
 encouragements to marriage, it is perfedlly aftonifhing, that in his 
 Efprit des Loix, he fhould fay that Europe is Hill in a ftate to re- 
 quire laws which favour the propagation of the human fpecies ^, 
 
 Sufmilch adopts the fame ideas, and though he contemplates the 
 cafe of the number of marriages coming necelTarily to a ffcand, when 
 the food is not capable of further increafe, and examines fome coun- 
 tries, in which, the number of contrad:ed marriages is exa(5lly mea- 
 fured by the number diflblved by death, yet he flill thinks that it is- 
 one of the principal duties of government to attend the number of 
 marriages. He cites the examples of Auguftus and Trajan, and 
 thinks that a prince or a flatefman would really merit the name of 
 father of his people, if, from the proportion of 1 to 150 or 125, he 
 could increafe the marriages to the proportion of i to 80 or 90 *^. 
 But as it clearly appears, from the inftances which he himfelf pro- 
 duces, that in countries which have been long tolerably well peopled^ 
 death is the moft powerful of all the encouragements to marriage, 
 the prince or flatefman who fliould fucceed in thus greatly increaf- 
 ing the number of marriages, might, perhaps, deferve much more 
 juftly the title of deftroyer, than father, of his people. 
 
 The proportion of yearly births to the whole population, muft 
 evidently depend principally upon the proportion of the people mar- 
 rying annually ; and, therefore, in countries which will not admit of 
 a great increafe of population, muft, like the marriages, depend prin- 
 cipally on the deaths. Where an atSual decreafe of population h 
 not taking place, the births will always fupply the vacancies made 
 by death, and exactly fo much more, as the increafmg agriculture 
 and trade of the country will admit. In almoft every part of Europe- 
 
 * Lettre cxxii. Efprit des Loix, liv. xxiii. c. xxvi. 
 
 Sufmilch, Gottliche Ordnung, vol i. civ. fed. Ixxviii. p. 151. 
 
 * ... Jfl..' 
 
 during 
 
2^S Of the Chech io Populatioji m 900K ii. 
 
 during the Intervals of the great plagues, epidemlcks, or unufually 
 dcftni(5llve wars, with which it is oecadonally villted, the births ex- 
 ceed the deaths ; but as the mortality varies very much in different 
 countries and Situations, the births will be found to vary in the 
 fame manner, though from the cxcefs of births above deaths, which 
 moft countries can admit, not in the iame degree. 
 
 In 39 villages of Holland, where the deaths are about i in 23, the 
 births are alfo about i in 2^ *. In 15 villages round Paris, the births 
 bear the fame, or even a greater proportion to the whole population, 
 on account of a ftill greater mortality. The births are i in 2,2,^0, 
 and the deaths the fame ^, In the fmall towns oi Brandenburgh, 
 which are in an increafnig ftate, the mortality is i in 29, and the 
 births I in 24tV. In Sweden, where the mortality is about i in ^^^ 
 the births are i in 28 **. la 1036 villages of Brandenburgh, in 
 which the mortality is about i in 39 or 40, the births are about i in 
 30 \ In Norway, where the mortality is i in 48, the births are i 
 in 34 ^ In all thefe inftances, the births are evidently meafured by 
 the deaths, after making a proper allowance for the excefs of births 
 which the ftate of each country will admit. In Ruflia this allowance 
 mufl be great, as, although the mortality may perhaps be taken as 
 only I in 48 or 50, the births are as high as i in 26, owing to the 
 prefent rapid increafe of the population. 
 
 Statiftical writers have endeavoured to obtain a general meafure of 
 mortality for all countries taken together ; but, if fuch a meafure 
 could be obtained, I do not fee what good purpofe it could anfwcr. 
 It would be but of little ufe in afcertaining the population of Europe, 
 or of the world ; and it is evident, that, in applying it to particu- 
 lar countries or particular places, we might be led into the grofleft 
 errors. When the mortality of the human race, in different coun- 
 
 Sufmilch, Gottllche Ordnung, vol. i. c. vi. f. cxvi. p. 225. 
 
 ** Ibid, and c. ii. f. xxxvii. p. 93. ' Id. c. ii. f. xxviii. p. 80. and c. vi. 
 
 f. cxvi. p. 225. ^ Id. c. vi. f. cxvi. p. 225. * Ibid. 
 
 ' Thaarup's Statiftik, vol. ii, p. 4. 
 
 tries. 
 
CHAP. V. the middle Paris ofEurope, 24^ 
 
 tries, and different fituatTions, varies fb much as from i in 20, 
 to I in 60, no general average could be ufed with fafety in a parti- 
 cular cafe, without fuch a knowledge of the circumftances of the 
 country, with refpevfl to the number of towns, the habits of the 
 people, and the healthinefs of the fituation, as would probably 
 fuperfedc the neceility of rcforting to any general proportion, by the 
 knowledge of the particular proportion fuited to the country. 
 
 There is one leading circumftance, however, afFed;ing the mor- 
 tality of countries, which may be coniidered as very general, and 
 which is, at the fame time, completely open to obfervation. This is 
 the number of towns in any ftate, which has been before alluded to, 
 and the proportion of town to country inhabitants. The unfavour- 
 able efFcifts of clofe habitations and fedcntary employments on the 
 health are univerfal ; and therefore, on the number of people living 
 in this manner, compared with the number employed in agricul- 
 ture, will much depend the general mortality of the ftatc. Upon 
 this principle it has been calculated, that when the proportion of 
 the people in the towns, to thofe in the country, is as i to 3, then 
 the mortality is about i in ^fi, which rifes to i in ^c^^ or I ^^ ^Sr 
 when the proportion of townflnen to village to 5, or 3 to 7 ; 
 
 and falls below i in 36, -when this proportion is 3 to 7, or 
 On thcfc grounds the mortality in Pruffia is i ?n 38 ; in Pomcrania, 
 I in 37 J ; in the Ncumark, i in 37 ; in the Churmark, i in 35; 
 according to the hfts for i y{y6 *. 
 
 The ncarefl average mcafure of mortality for all countri , ..^ 
 
 towns and villages together, is, according to Sufmiich, f 6 ^ 
 
 But Crome thinks that this mcafure, though it might poiTibl , 
 fuited the time at which Sufmiich wrote, is not correct at prM 
 when in moil of the ftatcs of Europe both the number and ^ 
 of towns have increafed'. He feems to be of opinion, indeed 
 
 Sufmiich, Gottliche Ordnung, vol. ili. p. 60. ** Vol. i. c. ii. f . x / 
 
 ' Cromc, ubcr <)ie Groflie und Bevolk'erung der Europaifchea Staaten, p. iit. 
 
 K Ji 
 
^50 Of the Chech to Population In book ii. 
 
 this mortality was rather below the truth in Sufmllch's time, and 
 that now i in 30 would be found to be nearer the average meafure. 
 It is not improbable that Sufmilch's proportion is too fmall, as he 
 had a little tendency, with many other ftatiftical writers, to throw 
 out of his calculations epidemick years ; but Crome has not advanced 
 proofs fufficient to eftabliih a general meafure of mortality in op- 
 pofition to that propofed by Sufmilch. He quotes Bufching, who 
 ilates the mortality of the whole Pruffian monarchy to be i in 30 '. 
 But it appears that this inference was drawn from lifls for only three 
 years, a period much too fhort to determine any general average. 
 This proportion for the Pruflian monarchy is, indeed, completely 
 contradicted by fubfequent obfervations mentioned by Crome. 
 According to lifts for five years, ending in 1784, the mortality was 
 only I in 37 ''. During the fame period the births were to the deaths 
 as 131 to 100. In Silefia the mortality from 1781 to 1784, was i in 
 30; and the births to deaths as 138 to 100. In Gelderland, the 
 mortality from 1776 to 1781 was i in 27, and the births i in 26. 
 Thefe are the two provinces of the monarchy in which the morta- 
 lity is the greateft. In fome others it is very fmall. From 1 78 1 to 
 1784, the iiverage mortality in Neuffchatel and Ballengin, was only 
 I in 44, and the births i in 31. In the principality of Halberftadtz, 
 from 1778 to 1784, the mortality was ftill lefs, being only I in 45 
 or 46, and the proportion of births to deaths 137 to 100''. 
 
 The general conclufion that Crome draws, is, that the ftates of 
 Europt m?iy be divided into three clafles, to which a different mea- 
 fiire of mortality ought to be applied. In the richefl and moil 
 populous ftates, where the inhabitants of towns arc to the inha- 
 bitants of the country, in fo high a proportion as i to 3, the mor- 
 tality may be taken as i in 30. In thofe countries, which are in a 
 middle ftate, with regard to population and cultivation, the mortality 
 
 V 
 
 " Crome, uber die Bevolkcrung der Europaifrh. Staat. p. 118. 
 * Id. p. 120. ' Id. p. 122. 
 
 may 
 
CHAP. V. the middle Paris of Europe, 2^1 
 
 may be confidered as i in 33. And in the thinly- peopled northern 
 flates, Sufmilch's proportion of i in 36 may be applied \ 
 
 Thefe proportions feem to make the general mortality rather too 
 great, even after allowing epidemick years to have their full efFed; 
 in the calculations. - ' 
 
 Crome's Europaifchen Staaten, p. 127* 
 
 K k 2 
 
 C II A p^ 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Effects of Eptdemkks o?t Tables of Mortality, 
 
 It appears clearly, from the very valuable tables of mortality which 
 Sufmilch has colleded, and which include periods of 50 or 60 
 years, that all the countries of Europe are iubjetft to periodical 
 fickly feafbns, which check their increafe ; and very few are exempt 
 from thofe great and wafting plagues, which, once or twice, per- 
 haps, in a century, *fweep ofF the third or fourth part of their 
 inhabitants. The way in which thefe periods of mortality afFed: 
 all the general proportions of births, deaths, and marriages, is ftrik- 
 ingly illuftrated in the tables for Pruffia and Lithuania, from the 
 year 169:? to the year 1757 '. 
 
 Sufmilch, Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i. table xxi. p. 83, of the tables. 
 
 TABLE 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 Effedis of Epldemicks on Tables of Moriality, 
 TABLE IV. 
 
 ^S3 
 
 Annual average. 
 
 Marriages. 
 
 Birth J. 
 
 Deaths. 
 
 Proportion of births 
 to marriages. 
 
 Proporticn of deaths 
 to births. 
 
 5 y" to 1697 
 5 y" 1702 
 6y" 1708 
 
 5747 
 6070 
 6082 
 
 19715 
 
 24112 
 26896 
 
 14862 
 14474 
 16430 
 
 10 : 34 
 10 : 39 
 10 : 44 
 
 100 : 132 
 100 : 165 
 100 : 163 
 
 In 1709 and 17 10 
 
 a plague 
 
 number deftroy- 
 ed in 2 years. 
 
 247735 
 
 
 
 In 1711 
 In 1712 
 
 12028 
 6267 
 
 32522 
 22970 
 
 10131 
 10445 
 
 10 : 27 
 10 : 36 
 
 100 : 320 
 100 : 220 
 
 5 y" to 1716 
 5 y" 1721 
 5 y" 1726 
 5y" 1731 
 4 y" 1735 
 
 4968 
 4324 
 4719 
 4808 
 5424 
 
 21603 
 21396 
 21452 
 29554 
 22692 
 
 11984 
 12039 
 12863 
 12825 
 15475 
 
 10 : 43 
 10 : 49 
 10 : 45 
 ip : 4^2 
 10 ; 41 
 
 100 : 180 
 100 : 177 
 100 ; 166 
 100 : 160 
 100 : 146 
 
 In 1736 
 In 1737 
 
 5280 
 5765 
 
 21859 
 18930 
 
 26371 
 24480 
 
 Epidemic years. 
 
 
 5 y" to 1 742 
 
 4 y" 1746 
 5y" 1751 
 
 5 y" 1756 
 
 5582 
 5469 
 6423 
 5599 
 
 22099 
 25275 
 
 28235 
 28392 
 
 15255 
 15117 
 
 17272 
 19154 
 
 10 : 39 
 10 : 46 
 10 : 43 
 10 : 50 
 
 100 : 144 
 100 t 167 
 100 : 163 
 100 : 148 
 
 In the 1 6 y" before 
 the plague 
 
 955^5 
 
 380516 
 
 245763 
 
 10 : 39 
 
 100 : J54 
 
 In 46 y" after the 
 plague 
 
 2^^777 
 
 1083872 
 
 690324 
 
 10 : 43 
 
 100 : 157 
 
 In 62 good years 
 
 344361 
 
 1464388 
 936087 
 
 936087 
 
 10 : 43 
 
 100 : 156 
 
 More born than 
 died 
 
 
 528301 
 
 
 
 
 In the 2 plague y" 
 
 5477 
 
 23977 
 
 247733 
 
 
 
 In all the 647" in 
 eluding the plague 
 
 340838 
 
 1488365 
 1183820 
 
 1183820 
 
 10 : 42 
 
 100: 125 
 
 More born than 
 died 
 
 . 
 
 304745 
 
 
 
 
254 "BffeSls of Eptdemkh oti Tables of Mortality. book h. 
 
 The table, from which this is copied, contains the marriages, births, 
 and deaths, for every particular year during the whole period ; but to 
 bring it into a fmaller compafs, I have retained only the general 
 average drawn from the fhorter periods of five and four years, ex- 
 cept where the numbers for the individual years prefented any fadl 
 worthy of particular obfervation. The year 171 1, immediately fuc- 
 ceeding the great plague, is not included by Sufmilch in any general 
 average ; but he has given the particular numbers, and if they be 
 accurate, they fliew the very fudden and prodigious effect of a great 
 mortaUty on the number of marriages. 
 
 Sufmilch calculates that above one third of the people was de- 
 ilroyed by the plague ; and yet, notwithftanding this great diminu- 
 tion of the population, it will appear, by a reference to the table, 
 that the number of marriages in the year 171 1, was very nearly double 
 the average of the fix years preceding the plague ^. To produce this 
 efFed, we muft fuppofe, that almoft all who were at the age of pu- 
 berty were induced, from the demand for labour, and the number 
 of vacant employments, immediately to marry. This immenfe 
 number of marriages in the year, could not poffibly be accompanied 
 by a great proportional number of births, becaufe we cannot fuppofe 
 that the new marriages could each yield more than one birth in the 
 year, and the reft muft come from the marriages which had con- 
 tinued unbroken through the plague. We cannot, therefore, be fur- 
 prifed, that the proportion of births to marriages In this year fliould 
 be only z and tV to i, or 57 to 10. But though the proportion of 
 
 * The number of people before the plague, according to Sufmilch's calculation, 
 (vol. i. ch. ix. fe<Sk. 173.) was 570,000; from which, if we fubtradt 247,733, the 
 number dying in the plague, the remainder 322,267 will be the population after the 
 plague ; which, divided by the number of marriages and the number of births for the year 
 L71.1., makes the marriages about one twenty-fixth part of the population, and the births 
 about one tenth part. Such extraordinary proportions could only occur, in any country, 
 in an individual year. If they were to continue, they would double the population in 
 lefs than ten, years. 
 
 births 
 
CHAP. VI. Efei^s of Epidenikks on Tables of Mortality, 2^^ 
 
 births to marriages could not be great ; yet, on account of the ex- 
 traordinary- number of marriages, the abfolute number of births muft 
 be great ; and as the number of deaths would naturally be fmall, 
 the proportion of births to deaths is prodigious, being 320 to 100 ; 
 an excefs of births, as great, perhaps, as has ever been known in 
 America. 
 
 In the next year, 1 71 2, the number of marriages muft of courfe 
 diminifh exceedingly, becaufe, nearly all who were at the age of 
 puberty having married the year before, the marriages of this year 
 would be fupplicd principally by thofe who had arrived at this age, 
 fubfequent to the plague. Still, however, asrt// who were marriage- 
 able had not probably married the year before, the number of mar- 
 riages, in the year 1712, is great in proportion to the population ; 
 and, though not much more than half of the number which took 
 place during the preceding year, is greater than the average num- 
 ber in the lafl period before the plague. The proportion of births 
 to marriages in 171 2, though greater than in the preceding year. 
 on account of the fmaller comparative number of marriages, is, 
 with reference to other countries, not great, being, as 3 A to t, 
 or ^6 to 10. But the proportion of births to deaths, though lefs 
 than in the preceding year, when {o very large a proportion of the 
 people married, is, with reference to other countries, ftill unufuallv 
 great, being as zzo to 100 ; an excefs of births which, calculated on 
 a mortality of i in 36, would double the population of a country 
 (according to Table II. page 338) in 21 4- years. 
 
 From this period the number of annual marriages begins to be 
 regulated by the diminifhed population, and of courfe to fmk con- 
 fiderably below the average number of marriages before the plague, 
 depending principally on the number of perfons rifmg annually to a 
 marriageable ftate. In the year 1720, about nine or ten years 
 after the plague, the number of annual marriages, either from acci- 
 dent, or the beginning operation of the preventive check. Is the 
 fmalleft ; and it is at this time, as might be expcded, that the 
 I proportion 
 
2^6 EffeSfs of EpUemkks 07t Tables of Mortality. book ii. 
 
 proportion of births to marriages rifes very high. In the period from 
 1 7 1 7 to 1 7^2 1 the proportion, as appears by the Table, is 49 to 10; and, 
 in the particular years 17 19 and 1720, it is 50 to 10, and 55 to 10. 
 
 Sufmilch draws the attention of his readers to the fruitfulnefs of 
 marriages in Pruffia after the plague, and mentions the proportion of 
 50 annual births to 10 annual marriages as a proof of it. There 
 are the beft reafons for fuppofing that the marriages in Pruilia at this 
 time, were very fruitful ; but certainly this proportion by itfelf is 
 no proof of it, being evidently caufed by the fmaller number of 
 marriages taking place in the year, and not by the greater number 
 of births ". In the two years immediately fiicceeding the plague, 
 when the excels of births above the deaths was fo aftonifhing, the 
 births bore a fmall proportion to the marriages, and, according to 
 the ufual mode of calculating, it would have followed, that each 
 marriage yielded only 2 ^^, or 3 -^%. children. In the laft period of 
 the table, from i/^2 to 1756, the births are to the marriages as 5 
 to I, and in the individual year 1756, as 6 to- to i ; and yet, during 
 this period, the births are to the deaths only as 148 to ico ; which 
 could not have been the cafe, if the high proportion of births to 
 marriages, had indicated a greater number of births than ufual, in- 
 Head of a fmaller number of marriages. 
 
 The variations in the proportion of births to deaths in the differ- 
 ent periods of the 64 years included in the table, dcfervc particular 
 attention. If we were to take an average of the four years imme- 
 diately fuccecding the plague, the births would be to the deaths, in 
 the proportion of above 22, to 10, which, fuppofing the mortality 
 to be I in 36, would double the population in lefs than 21 years. 
 If we take the 20 years from 171 1 to 1731, the average proportion 
 of the births to deaths will appear to be about 1 7 to i o ; a pro- 
 portion which (according to Table II. page ^38) would double 
 the population in about ^^ years. But if, inftcad of 50 years, we 
 
 * Sufmilch, Gottliche Odnung, vol. i. c. v, f. Ixxxvi. p. 175. 
 
 were 
 
CHAP. VI. Effe&s of Epidemtch on Tables ofMorialtty, 557 
 
 were to take the whole period of 64 years, the average proportion 
 of births to deaths turns out to be but a little more than 13 to 10; 
 a proportion which would not double the population in lefs than 
 125 years. If we were to include the mortality of the plague, or 
 even of the epidemick years 1736 and 1737, in too Ihort a period, 
 the deaths might exceed the births, and the population would . ap- 
 pear to be decreafmg. 
 
 Sufmilch thinks that inftead of i in 36, the mortality in Pruffia 
 after the plague might be i in 38 ; and it may appear perhaps to 
 fome of my readers, that the plenty, occafioned by fuch an event, 
 ought to make a ftill greater difference. Dr. Short has particularly 
 remarked, that an extraordinary healthinefs generally fucceeds any 
 very great mortality * ; and I have no doubt that the obfervation is 
 juft, comparing fimllar ages together. But under the moft favour- 
 able circumftances, infants under three years, are more fubje<5l to 
 death than at other ages; and the extraordinary proportion of children 
 which ufually follows a very great mortality, counterbalances the 
 natural healthinefs of the period, and prevents it from making much 
 difference in the general mortality. 
 
 If we divide the population of Pruflia, after the plague, by the 
 number of deaths in the year 171 1, it will appear that the morta-- 
 lity was nearly i in 31, and was therefore increafed, rather than 
 diminifhed, owing to the prodigious number of children born in 
 that year. And, in general, we Ihall obferve, that, from this caufe, a 
 great previous mortality produces a much more fenfible effed: on the 
 births than on the deaths. By referring to the table, it will appear 
 that the number of annual deaths regularly increafes with the in- 
 creafmg population, and nearly keeps up the fame relative proportion 
 all the way through. But the number of annual births is not very 
 different during the whole period, though, in this time, the popular 
 tipn had more than doubled itfelf ; and therefore the proportion q 
 
 Hiftory of air, feafons, &c. vol. ii. p. 344* 
 
 LI births 
 
2^S Effeois of Epidemtch on Tables of Mortality, book rr. 
 
 births to the whole population, at firft, and at laft^ muft have changed 
 in an extraordinary degree. 
 
 On an average of the 46 years after the plague, the proportion of 
 annual births to annual marriages is as 43 to i o, that is, according 
 to the principles laid down in the fourth chapter of this book, out 
 of 43 children born, 20 of them live to be married. The average 
 proportion of births to deaths during this period is 157 to 100. 
 But to produce fuch an increafe, on the fuppofition that only 20 
 children out of 43, or 2 out of 4 A live to be married, each marriage, 
 I am perfuaded, for the reafons given in that chapter, muft have 
 yielded 8 births. 
 
 Crome obferves, that when the marriages of a country yield lefs 
 than 4 births, the population is in a very precarious ftate * ; and, 
 like the other writers on this fubjed:, he eflimates the number of 
 children from each marriage by the proportion of yearly births to 
 yearly marriages. But I fhould fay, on the contrary, that the popu- 
 lation was in a more precarious ftate, when the yearly marriages in 
 thefe lifts appeared to give more than four children. If lefs than 
 half of the born live to be married, which would then be the cafe, 
 an extraordinary number of children to each marriage is neceffary 
 to produce any confiderable increafe. In Pruffia, the marriages were 
 fo fruitful, as to allow of a confiderable mortality among the chil- 
 dren, without flopping the increafe ; but this mortality in itfelf 
 cannot be confidered as a favourable fi gn ; and, in other countries in 
 which a rapid increafe is going on, the proportion of yearly births to 
 yearly marriages is generally not fo high as 4 to i, or, according to 
 the common mode of calculating, each marriage yields lefs than 4 
 children. 
 
 In the Churmark of Brandenburgh, for 15 years after 1694, the 
 proportion of births to deaths was nearly 17 to 10, which, -if it had 
 continued, would have doubled the population in ^^ years ; yet the 
 
 f Uber die Bevolkerung der Europaif. Staat. p. Qit 
 
 proportion 
 
CHAP. VI. Effedfs of Epldemtch on Tahks of Mortality, 2^9 
 
 proportion of yearly births to yearly marriages was only 37 to 10. 
 In the whole period from 1692 to 1756, in which the population 
 had ad:ually more than doubled itfelf, notwithftanding many epide- 
 mick years, this proportion w^as nearly the fame, or about ^y^ to 
 
 In the dutchy of Pomerania from 1 694 to i y^6, the population 
 had doubled itfelf, and the average proportion of yearly births to 
 yearly marriages was 38 to 10''. 
 
 In the Newmark of Brandenburgh from 1694 to 1756, there 
 were fome periods of rapid increafe, though it was checked more 
 frequently and effcdiually by epidemicks. In 30 years, to 1726, the 
 average proportion of births to deaths was 1 48 to J 00, and the pro- 
 portion of annual births to annual marriages 38 to 10. In the 
 whole period, the births were to the deaths as 136 to 100^ and the 
 proportion of births to marriages the fame as in the period of thirty 
 years ^. 
 
 In Ruffia, we know that a very rapid increafe is going forwards, 
 though the proportion of annual births to annual marriages is only 
 about 36 to 10. And, if we had lifts for America, where the progrefs 
 of population is ftill more rapid, I ftiould expedl to find that the pro- 
 portion of annual births to annual marriages was lefs than 4 to i ^. 
 
 On 
 
 Sufmllch, Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i, table xxii. p. 88. of the tables. 
 
 *' Id. table xxiii. p. 9'. ^ Id. table xxv. p. 99. 
 
 * From a paper in the TranfacStions of the Society at Philadelphia (vol. iii. N" vii, 
 p. 2^.) by Mr. Barton, entitled, Ohfervatiom on the probability of life in the United States^ 
 which I have feen fince this was written, I am not fure that I might not be difappointed 
 in the expelation here expreffed. If, indeed, Mr. Barton's calculations were to be 
 confidered as true for the United States in general, it would appear that half of tlie 
 born die under 13 or 14 ; and therefore half of the born could not live to marry. But 
 the faft is, that Mr. Barton's calculations, which he applies generally, are merely taken 
 from the town of Philadelphia, and one or two fmall towns or villages which are certainly 
 not healthy. Our largeft European towns are, of courfe, not fo healthy as Philadelphia, 
 where it appears that half of the born die under 12^, but many of our moderate towns arc 
 
 Liz much 
 
26o "Effects of Epldemich on Tables of MoriaUty. book ii. 
 
 On the contrary, in Silcfia, where the proportion of births to 
 deaths is only 13 to 10, and where confequently the progrefs of the 
 population is not rapid, the proportion of yearly births to yearly 
 marriages is 4 ^V to i, or 41 to 10 ^ And in France, this proportion 
 before the revolution, was 4I to i, though the progrefs of population 
 was flower than in Silefia. In Corfica, the births are faid to be to 
 the marriages as 5 to i, though the population of Corfica cannot 
 poffibly be in a continued flate of rapid increafe. The proportion of 
 births to deaths in Norway, is greater than in Sweden, though in 
 Norway the annual births are to the annual marriages as 38 to 10, 
 and in Sweden, as 41 to 10. 
 
 It cannot therefore be faid, that the population of a country is in 
 a precarious flate when the proportion of yearly births to yearly mar- 
 riages is lefs than 4 to i. Such a proportion is, on the contrary, 
 favourable to population, and is found to exift in many countries, 
 where the increafe of people is very rapid. A proportion greater 
 than 4 to I is in itfelf unfavourable to the progrefs of population, 
 and though it may occafionally exill in countries which are increaf- 
 
 much more healthy. Mr. Barton's calculations of a mortanty ofi in 45, at PhiladelphFa, 
 and I in 47 at Salem, certainly contradi6l his other eftimates, and can therefore only 
 have been taken for fliort periods, and rejcdling epidemick years ; indeed, he acknow- 
 ledges the having made this kind of rejedtion in one or two inflances, and of courfe his 
 calculations are not to be relied on. He mentions 6t births to a marriage, but his num- 
 bers give only 4^ : and, fuppofing this to be the true proportion of children to a mar- 
 riage, if, at the fame time we were to fuppofe that half of the born die under 14, all 
 increafe in the population of America would be impoflible. On the whole, though we 
 cannot imagine that the calculations in this paper are applicable to the United States in 
 general, and that half of the born die under 14, inftead of living to 25 or 30 and 
 above, as in Europe ; }^t, if we fuppofe, that they imply a confiderable mortality under 
 puberty, we muft believe that each marriage yields full as many as 7 or 8 births, to 
 account for the rapid progrefs of population which we know for a certainty is going for- 
 wards in America. Dr. Frankhn fuppofes 8 births to a marriage in America, and that 
 half of the born live to marry, which probably is not far from the truth. (Mifcell. p. 3.) 
 *Sufmilch, Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i, table xx. p. 81, 
 
 Ing 
 
CHAP. VI. EffeSis of Epldemich on Tables of Mortality. z6l 
 
 ing rapidly, owing to an extraordinary fruitfulnefs of the marriages, 
 yet it will be found more frequently in countries where the prop-refs 
 of population is flow. 
 
 I take every opportunity that occurs of illuftrating this fubjed:, 
 becaufe fo many refpedlable writers have fallen into the error of 
 eftimating the number of children produced by each marriage in the 
 courfe of its duration, by the proportion of yearly births to yearly 
 marriages, and I am willing to give ample rcafons to the reader 
 for differing from fuch united authority. All thefe writers them- 
 felves exprefs their furprife at the refults that the lifts, w^iich they 
 thus make ufe of, give. Sufmilch and Crome particularly remark, 
 that the average of 4 or 4 i children to a marriage, contradi6ls the 
 experience we have of the fruitfulnefs of particular women, many of 
 whom bear above i z children *, though a confiderablc part of them 
 may die in the rearing. And Wargentin takes notice of the fmall- 
 nefs of this number, in reference to the reputed fecundity of the 
 Northern women ''. 
 
 I feel ftrongly perfuaded, that it has been principally owing to 
 this error in the mode of eftimating the fruitfulnefs of marriages, 
 that Dr. Price, and almoft all the writers in political arithmetick, 
 have fo totally mifapprehended the principle of population, if in- 
 deed this mode of calculation were juft, the fears of depopulation 
 would really be well founded. 
 
 When it appears, from the lifts of any country, that the annual births 
 are to the annual marriages in a higher proportion than 4 to i, that is, 
 according to the principles laid down, when lefs than half of the born 
 live to be married, it cannot be determined from fuch a proportion 
 alone, whether this cffcS. arifes from a number of perfons above the 
 age of puberty dying unmarried, the operation of the preventive check ; 
 or from a confidcrable mortality among children, the operation of the 
 
 Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i. c. v. f. Ixxxiii. p. 169. Crome, p. 91. 
 *> Sufmilch, vol. i. c. v. f. Ixxxv. p. J73. 
 
 pofttive 
 
26 z EffeSIs of Eptdemkh on Tahles of Mortality, BooKii. 
 
 pofitlve check. But the proportion of deaths and births will generally 
 afcertain, to which dais it ought to be referred. In Pruffia, it is 
 undoubtedly occafioned principally by the mortality among children ; 
 and it does not feem improbable, that where fo many children are 
 born to each marriage, many lliould perifh for want of fufiicient at- 
 tention, though there might be no want of food. I think it is ge- 
 nerally to be obferved, that when the women in the lower clafTes 
 of life marry very young, they not only have more children, but 
 lofe a greater proportion of them, than when they marry later, and 
 from having a fmaller number, are able to take better care of them. 
 It appears, from a table given by Sufmilch, that in Pruffia, during 
 this period, half of the born died under 34^. And as not much lefs 
 than half of the born lived to be married, the marriages muft have 
 been early, and the preventive check could not have operated much. 
 
 In Sweden, half of the born live to ^^ ^ and as about half, or 
 rather lefs, live to be married, the preventive check would operate 
 much more than in Pruffia, though ftill not to a great degree. In 
 France, where a fmaller proportion of the born lives to be married, 
 the operation of the preventive check is probably not very different 
 from w^hat it is in Sweden, though I fliould think that it was certainly 
 rather lefs. According toNecker^ the proportion of marriages to the 
 population in France is as i to 1 1 34. 
 
 The operation of the preventive check is beft meafured by the pro- 
 portion which the whole population bears to the yearly marriages ^ ; 
 but though this proportion be obtained by multiplying the number 
 of annual births in proportion to each annual marriage, by the 
 number of inhabitants in proportion to each annual birth ; yet it 
 does not follow that it will be fmall, becaufe lefs than half of the 
 
 born 
 
 * Gottllche, Ordnung, vol. iil. tab. xxi. p 29. ^ Price's Obferv. onReverf, Paym. 
 
 tab.xliii. p. 132. ' Del' Adminiftrationdes Finances, torn. i. c, ix. p. 255. i2mo. 1785. 
 
 ^ Even from this meafure, the inferences are not entirely to be depended upon, as 
 it is liable to be influenced by the fruitfulnefs of marriages, and the proportion of the 
 
 population 
 
C H A p . V I . "Effects of Eptdemkh on Ta hies oj^ Mortality. o, 6^ 
 
 born live to be married, or be great, becaufe more than half of the 
 born live to be married. In that part of the Pruffian dominions 
 included in the table that has been given, and during the period 
 there mentioned, lefs than half of the born lived to be married, yet 
 the proportion of annual marriages to the whole population was as 
 high as I to 93 ^ In Norway, where more than half of the born 
 live to be married, the proportion of annual marriages to the whole 
 population is as low as i to 130. The reafon is, that the propor- 
 tion of the population to annual births, which is the multiplier, is, 
 in the two cafes, extremely different. 
 
 In Norway, it is probable, that half of the born live to forty- 
 three, forty-four, or above ; and therefore, though rather more than 
 half of the born live to be married, there will neceflkrily be many 
 perfons between the ages of 20 and 44 living unmarried, that is, 
 the preventive check will prevail to a confiderable degree. In a 
 part of the Pays de Vaud in Switzerland, half of the born live to 45 ; 
 
 population which IS under the age of puberty. If all the marriages which take place 
 in a country, be they few or many, take place young, and be confequently prolifick, 
 it is evident that to produce the fame proportion of births, a fmaller proportion of mar- 
 riages will be necefTary ; or with the fame proportion of marriages a greater proportion 
 of births will be produced. This latter cafe feems to be applicable to France, where 
 both the births and deaths are greater than in Sweden, though the proportion of marriages 
 is nearly the fame, or rather lefs. And when in two countries compared, one of them 
 has a much greater proportion of its population under the age of puberty, than the other, 
 it is evident, that any general proportion of annual marriages to the whole population, 
 will not imply the fame operation of the preventive check among tbofe of a marriageable 
 age. It is, in part, the fmall proportion of the population in towns under the age of pu- 
 berty, as well as the influx of ftrangers, which makes it appear in tiie regifters, that 
 the preventive check operates lefs in towns than in the <;ountry ; whereas there can be 
 little doubt, that the number of unmarried perfons of a marriageable age is the greateft 
 in towns. The converfe of this will of courfe be true, and confequently, in fuch a 
 country as America, where above half of the population is under fixteen, the proportion of 
 yearly marriages to the whole population will not accurately exprefs, how little the pre- 
 ventive check really operates. The fubjedl is intricate, and requires fome attention. 
 * Sufmilch, Gottliche Oidnung, vol. i. c. iv. f. Ixxi. p. 141. 
 
 I and 
 
264 Effe(^s ofEpldemlcks on Tables of Mortality^ book it^ 
 
 and therefore if none married before 40, and all married when they 
 reached that age, more than half of the born would live to be mar- 
 ried ; yet all being unmarried under 40, the preventive check might 
 be faid to prevail to a very great degree. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that we cannot infer the abfence of the 
 preventive check, becaufe a confiderable proportion of the born lives 
 to be married. And it is equally evident, that we cannot infer the 
 contrary. 
 
 In Holland, it would appear from the regifters, that more than 
 half of the born live to be married ^ ; yet, from the proportion of 
 annual marriages, to the whole population in the Dutch villages, men- 
 tioned before, it is clear, that the preventive check cannot operate much. 
 In the Churmark of Brandenburgh, from 1694 to 1756, more than 
 half of the born lived to be married. But it appears from a table given 
 by Sufmilch, that, in the Churmark, half of the born die under 2,2, **. 
 The marriages, therefore, muft have been very early indeed. And, from 
 the proportion of the marriages, for the Churmark, which he has given 
 in one place, it appears that it was greater in comparifon of the 
 whole population, than in any other country, which he has men- 
 tioned, except Holland ". Still, however, if it be true, that half of 
 the born die under 52, it is rather difficult to conceive that more 
 than half Ihould live to be married. 
 
 Sufmilch, Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i. table xvii. p. Sf. 
 
 ^ Id. vol. iii. table xxii. p. o^c^. 
 
 ' Sufmilch's proportions and calculations for the fame countries, appear now and then 
 a little to contradi6l each other. This arifes from their being formed at different periods. 
 The proportion of marringes to the population for the Churmark of Brandenburgh, from 
 1700 to 1755, (vol. i. ch.-iv. {^z. Ixxi. p. 141.) appears to be i in 90, and up to the 
 year 1722, 1 in 87. But in another calculation, which includes only the period from 
 1738 to 1748, the proportion for the villages of the Churmark is i in log, and for the 
 fmall towns, i in 98, (fee. Ix, p. 129). 
 
 The table, which makes half of the born in the Churmark die under 32, was not 
 formed from the period when the increafe was fo rapid, and when the lifts appeared to 
 fhew that above half of the born lived to be married. 
 
 There 
 
CHAP. VI. Fffedfs of Epldemkh on the Tables ofMortaUiy, 2,6^ 
 
 There is one clrcumftance not yet noticed, which may contribute 
 to fmooth this difficulty, and which fhould be attended to in all 
 cafes. This is the number of fecond and third marriages. Jn 
 the dukedom of Pomerania, it was obferved, during a period of 
 feven years, from 1748 to 1754, that out of 23,324 marriages, that 
 were contrac^led, 6170 of them were between perfons, one of which 
 had been married before, and 12 14, between perfons, both of which 
 had been married before \ The whole of the latter number, there- 
 fore, and half of the former, ought to be fubtradcd, in order to find 
 the number of the born w^hich lived to be married. And, from this 
 caufe, all the lifts w ill give the proportion of the born which lives to 
 be married, greater than the truth. In the prefent inftance, probably, 
 full as many as half of the born died unmarried ; and this correction, 
 I am perfuaded, ought to be applied to the Dutch villages, in parti- 
 cular, where the proportion of marriages is fo great, as it is difficult 
 to conceive, that a mortality of i in 23, fhould not deftroy more 
 than half of the born before they reach the age of twenty. In addi- 
 tion to this, I have little doubt that many of the marriages in the' 
 Dutch villages, are, as in towns, between perfons not born in the 
 place. There is a conftant influx of ftrangers into all parts of Hoi- 
 land. It has been called the church-yard of Germany. 
 
 For the periodical, though irregular, returns of fickly fcafons, I 
 refer the reader to the valuable tables of mortality which Sufmilch 
 has collected. The common epidemical years that are interfperfed 
 throughout thcfe tables, will not, of courfc, have the fame effects on 
 the marriages and births, as the great plague in -the table forPruffia ; 
 but in proportion to their magnitude, their operation w411 in general 
 be found to be fimilar. From the regifters of many other countries, 
 and particularly of towns, it appears, that the vifitations of the plague 
 were frequent at the latter end of the 17th, and the beginning of 
 the 1 8th centuries. 
 
 Sufmilch, Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i. c. v. f. xc. p. 183. 
 
 Mm In 
 
:j6'6 EffeSis of Eptdemlcks on the Tables of Mortality . book ii 
 
 . In contemplating the plagues, and fickly feafons which occur in 
 thefe tables, after a period of rapid incrcafe, it is impoffible not ta 
 be imprefl'ed with the idea that the number of inhabitants had, in 
 thefe inftances, exceeded the food and the accomodations neceffary 
 to prefefve them in health. The mafs of the people would, upon 
 this fuppofition, be obliged to live more hardly, and a greater num- 
 ber of them would be crowded together in one houfe ; and thefe 
 natural caufes would evidently contribute to produce ficknefs, even 
 though the country, abfolutely confidered, might not be crowded 
 and populous. In a country, even thinly inhabited, if an increafe 
 of population take place, before more food is raifed, and more houfes 
 are built, the inhabitants muft be diftrefled for room and fubfiftence. 
 If, in the Highlands of Scotland, for the next ten ar twelve years, the. 
 marriages were to be either more frequent, or more prolifick, and 
 no emigration were to take place, inftead of five to a cottage, there 
 might be feven, and this, added to the neceflity of worfe living, 
 would evidently have a moft unfavourable efFed on the health of the 
 common people. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( ^^1 ) 
 
 CHAP. VIL 
 
 Of the Checks to Fopulatlon in Switzerland* 
 
 JL HE fituation of Switzerland, is, in many refpecls, fo different from 
 the other ftates of Europe ; and fome of the fadis that have been col- 
 lected refpefting it, are fo curious, and tend fo ftrongly to illuftrate 
 the general principles of this work, that it feems to merit a feparate 
 conllderation. 
 
 About 35 or 40 years ago, a great and fudden alarm appears to 
 have prevailed in Switzerland, refpe^ing the depopulation of the 
 country ; and the tranfacflions of the Economical Society of Heme, 
 which had been eftablifhed fome years before, were crowded with 
 papers deploring the decay of induftry, arts, agriculture, and manu- 
 factures, and the imminent danger of a total want of people. The 
 greater part of thefe writers coniidered the depopulation of the 
 country as a fa<ft {o obvious as not to require proof. They employed 
 themfelves therefore chiefly in proposing remedies, and among others, 
 the importation of midwives, the eftablilhment of foundling hofpi- 
 tals, the portioning of young virgins, the prevention of emigration, 
 and the encouragement of foreign fettlers ''. 
 
 A paper, containing very valuable materials, was, however, about 
 this time publilhed, by a Monf Muret, minifter of Vevey, w^ho, 
 before he proceeded to point out remedies, thought it neceflary to 
 fubftantiate the exiftence of the evil. He made a very laborious and 
 careful refe^rch into the regillers of different parifties up to the time 
 
 * See the different Memoirs for the year 1765. 
 
 Mmz of 
 
s6S Of the Checks to Population In Switzerland. book il. 
 
 of their firft eflabUfhment, and compared the number of births 
 which had taken place during three different periods of 70 years 
 each, the firft ending in 1620, the fecond in 1690, and the third in 
 1760^. Finding, upon this comparifon, that the number of births 
 was rather 1q/s in the fecond than in the firft period, (and by the 
 help of fuppofmg fome omiffions in the fecond period, and fome 
 redundances in the third,) that the number of births in the third was 
 alfo lefs than in the fecond, he confidered the evidence for a con- 
 tinued depopulation of the country from the year 1550, as incon- 
 trovertible. 
 
 Admitting all the premifes, the conclufion is not perhaps fo cer- 
 tain as he imagined it to be, and, from other fa(5ts which appear in 
 his memoir, I am ftrongly difpofed to believe, that Switzerland, 
 during this period, came under the cafe fuppofed in page 246, and 
 that the improving habits of the people, with refped: to prudence, 
 cleanlinefs, &c. had added gradually to the general healthinefs of the 
 country, and by enabling them to rear up to manhood a greater pro- 
 portion of their children, had furnilhed the requifite increafe of 
 population with a fmaller number of births. Of courfe, the propor- 
 tion of annual births to the whole population, in the latter period, 
 would be lefs than in the former. 
 
 From accurate calculations of M. Muret, it appears, that, during 
 the laft period, the mortality was extraordinarily fmall, and the pro- 
 portion of children reared from infancy to puberty, extraordinarily 
 great''. In the former periods, this could not have been the cafe in 
 the fame degree. M. Muret himfelf, obferves, that, " The ancient 
 ** depopulation of the country was to be attributed to the frequent 
 ** plagues which in former times defolated it;" and adds, '* if it 
 ** could fupport itfelf, notwithftanding the frequency of fo dreadful 
 
 Memoires, &c. par la Societe Economiqne dc Berne. Annee 1766, premiere partie, 
 p. 15. et feq. o6tavo. Berne. 
 
 * Id. table xiii. p. 120. Annee 1766. ' 
 
 I "an 
 
CHAP. VII. Of the Checks to Population ht Switzerlmid. 26 g 
 
 ** an evil, it is a proof of the goodnefs of the dimate, and of the 
 " certain refources which the country could furnifh, for a prompt 
 " recovery of its population'." He negleds to apply this obfervation 
 as he ought, and forgets that fuch a prompt repeopling could not take 
 place w^ithout an unufual increafe of births, and that, to enable a 
 country to fupport itfelf againftfuch a fource of deftrudion, a greater 
 proportion of births to the whole population would be neceffary than 
 at other times. 
 
 In one of his tables, he gives a lift of all the plagues that had pre- 
 vailed in Switzerland, from which it appears, that this dreadful 
 fcourge defolated the country, at fhort intervals, during the whole of 
 the firft period, and extended its occafional ravages to within 22 
 years of the termination of the fecond ''. 
 
 It would be contrary to every rule of probability, to fuppofe, that, 
 during the frequent prevalence of this diforder, the country could be 
 particularly healthy, and the general mortality extremely fmall. Let . 
 us fuppofe it to have been fuch, as at prefent takes place in many 
 Other countries which are exempt from this calamity, about i in 
 33, inftead of i in 45, as in the laft period. The births would, of 
 courfe, keep their relative proportion, and inftead of i in ^6 '^, be 
 about I in 26. In eitimating the population of the country by the 
 births, we fhould thus have two very different multipliers for the 
 different periods; and though the abfolutc number of births might be 
 greater in the firfl period, yet the fad: would by no means imply a 
 greater population. 
 
 In the prefent inflance, the flim of the births in 17 parifhes during 
 the iirfl 70 years, is given as 49,860, which annually would be 
 about 712. This, multiplied by 26, would indicate a population of 
 18,512. In the lall period, the fum of the births is given 43,910'^, 
 which will be about 626 annually. This, multiplied by ;^6, will 
 
 Memoires, Sec. par la Societe Econ. de Perne. Annee 1765, premiere partie, p. 22. 
 * Id. table iv. p. 22. " Id. table i. p. 2i. * Id. p. i6. 
 
 indicate 
 
2/0 Of the Chech to Population in Switzerland, book n, 
 
 indicate a population of 22,^3^ ' and if the multipliers be juft, it 
 will thus appear, that, inflead of the decreafe which was intended to 
 be proved, there had been a confiderable increafe. 
 
 That I have not eflimated the mortality too high, during the firil 
 period, I have many reafons for fuppofmg, particularly, a calculation 
 refpecling the neighbouring town of Geneva, in which it appears, 
 that in the i6th century, the probability of life, or the age to which 
 half of the born live, was only 4.883, rather lefs than four years and 
 -,Vths ; and the mean life 18.51 r, about 18 years and a half. In the 
 17th century, the probability of life was 11.607, above 11 years and 
 a half; the mean life 33.358. In the i8th century, the probabihty 
 of life had increafed to 27.183, 27 years and nearly a fifth, and the 
 mean life to 32 years and a fifth \ 
 
 It is highly probable, that a diminution of mortality, of the fame 
 kind, though, perhaps, not in the fame degree, fhould have taken 
 place in Switzerland ; and we know from the regifters of other 
 countries, which have been already noticed, and moft particularly 
 from that of Pruffia, that the period of the greater mortality natu- 
 rally produces a greater proportion of births. 
 
 Of this dependence of the births on the deaths, M. Muret him- 
 fclf produces many inftances ; but not being aware of the true prin- 
 ciple of population, they only ferve to aflonifh him, and he does not 
 apply them. 
 
 Speaking of the want of fruitfulnefs in the Swifs women, he 
 fiiys, that Pruflia, Brandenburgh, Sweden, France, and indeed every 
 country, the regiilers of which he had feen, give a greater pro- 
 portion of baptifms to the number of inhabitants, than the Pays 
 dc Vaud, where this proportion is only as i to ^6^. He adds, that, 
 from calculations lately made in the Lyonois, it appeared, that in 
 Lyons itfelf, the proportion of baptifms was i in 28 ; in the fmall 
 
 * See a paper In the Blbliotheque Brltannique, publiflied at Geneva, torn. iv. p. 328. 
 ^ Memoires,&c. par la Societe Econ.de Berne. Annee, 1766, premierepariie, p.47,48. 
 
 towns 
 
CHAP. VII. Of the Chcks to Population In Switzerland, Z/i 
 
 towns, I in 25 ; and in the parifhes, i in 23 or 24. What a prodi- 
 gious difference, he exclaims, between the Lyonois and the Pays de- 
 Vaud, where the n^oft favourable proportion, and that only in two 
 fmall pariflies of extraordinary fecundity, is not above i in ^6, 
 and in many parilhes it is confiderably lefs than i in 40 ^ The fame 
 difference, he remarks, takes place in the mean life. In the Lyonois,, 
 it is a little above 25 years, while in the Pays de Vaud, the lowell 
 mean lite, and that only in a fmgle marfhy and unhealthy parifh,. 
 is 29'- years, and in many places it is above 45 years'', 
 
 " But w^hence comes it," he fays, " that the country where chil- 
 dren efcape the bell: from the dangers of infancy, and where the 
 mean life, in whatever way the calculation is made, is higher than- 
 in any other, fhould be precifely that, in which the fecundity is the 
 fmalleft ? How comes it again, that, of all our pariflies, the one 
 which gives the mean life the higheft, fhould alfo be the one, where 
 the tendency to increafe is the fmalleft ? 
 
 *' To refolve this qucftion, I will hazard a conjecfhire, which, 
 however, I give only as fuch. Is it not, that, in order to maintain 
 in all places the proper equilibrium of population, God has 
 wifely ordered things in fuch a manner, as that the force 
 of life, in each country, fliould be in the inverie ratio of its 
 fecundity ^, 
 
 " In effed:, experience verifies my conjecflure. Lcyzin (a village in. 
 the Alps) with a population of 400 perfons, produces but a little 
 above eight children a year. The Pays de Vaud, in general, in pro- 
 portion to the fame number of inhabitants, produces- 1 1, and the 
 Lyonois 16. But if it happen, that at the age of 50years> the 8, the 
 1 1, and the 16, are reduced to the fame number, it will appear, that 
 the force of life gives in one place, what fecundity does in another. 
 And thus the moft healthy countries, having lefs fecundity, will not 
 
 ^ Memohes, &c. par la Societe Econ.de Berne. Annee 1766, premiere partie, p. 45. 
 ^ Ibid. Id. p. 48. et fecj, 
 
2,*]% Of the Chech to Population In Suntzerland, book ii. 
 
 *' overpeople themfelves, and the unhealthy countries, by their ex- 
 *' traordinary fecundity, will be able to fuftain their population." 
 
 We may judge of the furprife of M. Muret, at finding from the 
 regifters, that the moft healthy people were the leaft prolifick, by 
 his betaking himfelf to a miracle in order to account for it. But the 
 nodus does not feem in the prefent inftance to be worthy of fuch an 
 interference *. The fad; may be accounted for, w^ithout reforting to 
 {o ftrange a fuppofition, as that the fruitfulnefs of women fliould 
 vary inverfely as their health. 
 
 There is certainly a confiderable difference in the healthinefs of 
 different countries, arifmg partly from the foil and fituation, and 
 partly from the habits and employments of the people. When, from 
 thefe, or any other caufcs whatever, a great mortality takes place, 
 a proportional number of births immediately enfues, owing both to 
 the greater number of yearly marriages, from the increafed demand 
 for labour, and the greater fecundity of each marriage, from being 
 contracted at an earlier, and naturally a more prolifick, age. 
 
 On the contrary, when, from oppofite caufes, the healthinefs of any 
 country or parilh is extraordinarily great ; if, from the habits of the 
 people, no vent for an overflowing population be found in emigration, 
 the abfolute necefiity of the preventive check will be forced fo 
 ffrongly on their attention, that they muft adopt it, or flarve ; and 
 confequently, the marriages being very late, the number annually 
 contra<5led will not only be fmall, in proportion to the population, 
 but each individual marriage wdll natuially be lefs prolifick. 
 
 In the parifh of Levzln, noticed by M. Muret, all thefe circum- 
 flances appear to have been combined in a very high degree. Its 
 fituation in the Alps, but yet not too high, gave it probably the 
 mgfl pure and falubrious air ; and the employments of the people 
 being all paftoral, were confequently of the moft healthy nature. 
 From the calculations of M. Muret, the accuracy of which there is 
 
 " Nee deus interfit nifi dignus vindice nodus. 
 " no 
 
CHAP. VII. Of the Chech to Population hi Switzerland. zy^ 
 
 no reafon to doubt, the probability of life in this parifti, appeared to 
 be fo extraordinarily high as 6i years ^. And the average number of 
 the births, being, for a period of 30 years, almofl accurately equal to 
 the number of deaths ^, clearly proved, that the habits of the people- 
 had not led them to emigrate, and that the refources of the pariili 
 for the fupport of population had remained nearly ftationary. We 
 are warranted, therefore, in concluding, that the paftures were 
 limited, and could not eafily be increafed, either in quantity or qua- 
 lity. The number of cattle which could be kept upon them, would 
 of courfe be limited ; and, in the fame manner^ the number of perfons 
 required for the care of thefe cattle. 
 
 Under fuch circumftances, how would it be poffible for the young 
 men who had reached the age of puberty, to leave their father's 
 houfes, and marry, till an employment of herdfman, dairy-man, or 
 Ibmething of the kind, became vacant by death. And as, from the 
 extreme hcalthinefs of the people, this muft happen very llowly, it 
 is evident, that the majority of them muft wait during a great part 
 of their youth, in their bachelor ftate, or run the moft obvious riik 
 of ftarvinsf thcmfelves and their families. The cafe is flill ftron^cr 
 than in Norway, and receives a particular preciiion from the cir- 
 cumftance of the births and deaths being fo nearly equal. 
 
 If a father had, unfortunately, a larger family than ufual^ the ten- 
 dency of it would be rather to decreafe, than increafe, the number 
 of marriages. He might, perhaps, with economy, be juft able to 
 fupport them all at home, though he could not probably find ade- 
 quate employment for them on his fmall property ; but it would 
 evidently be long before they could quit him ; and the firft marriage 
 among the fons would probably be after the death of the father ; 
 whereas, if he had had only two children, one. of them might perhaps 
 have married without leaving the parental roof, and the other, on the 
 
 Memo'iTcs par la Societe Econ. de Berne. Annce J.765, table v. p. 64.. 
 ^ Id. table i. p. 15. 
 
 Nn - ^$] dcitk . 
 
2/4 Of the Checks to Population in Switzerland. book ii. 
 
 death of the father. And, in a general \iew, it may be faid, that 
 the abfence or prefence of four grown up unmarried people, will 
 make the difference of there being room, or not, for the eftablifh- 
 ment of another marriage and a frefh family. 
 
 As the marriages in this parifh would, with few exceptions, be 
 very late, and yet, from the extreme healthinefs of the fituation, be 
 very flowly diffolved by the death of either of the parties, it is evi- 
 dent, that a very large proportion of the fubfifling marriages would 
 be among perfons fo far advanced in life, that moft of the women 
 w^ould have ceafed to bear children ; and in confequence, the whole 
 number of fubfifhing marriages, was found to be, to the number of 
 annual births, in the very unufual proportion of 12 to r. The births 
 were only about a 49th part of the population ; and the number of 
 perfons above fixteen, was to the number below that age, nearly 
 as 3 to I \ 
 
 As a contraft to this parifli, and a proof how little the number of 
 births can be depended upon, for an eftimate of population, M. Muret 
 produces fhe parifti of St. Cergue in the Jura, in which the flibfifl- 
 ing marriages were, to the annual births, only in the proportion of 
 4 to I, the births were a 26th part of the population, and the 
 number of perfons above and below fixteen juft equal ^ 
 
 Judging of the population of thefe parifhes, from the proportion 
 of their annual births, it would appear, he fays, that Leyzin did not 
 exceed St. Cergue by above one fifth at moft ; whereas, from adlual 
 enumeration, the population of the former turned out to be 405, 
 and of the latter, only 1 7 1 *". 
 
 I have chofen, he obferves, the parifhes where the contraft is the 
 moft ftriking ; but though the difference be not fo remarkable in 
 the reft, yet it will always be found true, that, from one place to 
 
 Memoires, &c. par la Societe Eaon. de Berne. Annee 1766, p. II and 12. 
 " ibid. ' Id. p. II. 
 
 another. 
 
CHAP. VII. Of the Chech to Population hi Switzerland. 275 
 
 another, even at vcrj fmall diflances, and in fituations apparently 
 fimilar, the proportions will vary confiderably \ 
 
 It is ffcrange, that, after making thefe obfervations, and others of 
 the fame tendency, which I have not produced, he lliould reft the 
 whole proof of the depopulation of the Pays de Vaud on the propor- 
 tion of births. There is no good reafon for fuppofmg that this pro- 
 portion fhould not be different, at different periods, as well as in dif- 
 ferent fituations. The extraordinary contraft in the fecundity of the 
 two parifhes of Leyzin and St. Cergue, depends upon caufes within 
 the power of time and circumftances to alter. From the great pro- 
 portion of infants which was found to grow up to maturity in 
 St. Cergue, it appeared that its natural healthinefs was not much 
 inferior to that of Leyzin ^. The proportion of its births to deaths, 
 was 7 to 4 *^ ; but as the whole number of its inhabitants did not 
 exceed 171, it is evident, that this great excefs of births could not 
 h^ve been regularly added to the population during the laff two 
 centuries. It muff have arifen, therefore, either from a fudden 
 increafe of late years in the agriculture, or trade, of the parifh, or 
 from a habit of emigration. The latter fuppofition I conceive to be 
 the true one, and it feems to be confirmed by the fmall proportion 
 of adults which has already been noticed. The parifli is fituated in 
 the Jura, by the fide of the high road from Paris to Geneva, a fitua- 
 tion which would evidently tend to facilitate emigration ; and in 
 effe<5l, it feems to have ad:ed the part of a breeding parifli for the 
 towns and flat countries, and the annual drain of a certain portion of 
 the adults, made room for all the refb to marry, and to rear a nume- 
 rous offspring. 
 
 A habit of emigration in a particular parifli, will not only depend 
 on fituation, but probably often on accident. I have little doubt 
 that three or four very fuccefsful emigrations have frequently given 
 
 Memoires, &c. par la Societe Econ. de Berne. Annee 1766, p, 13. 
 ^ Id, table xiii. p. 120. ^ Id. table i. p. ii. 
 
 N n j? a fpirit 
 
2/6 Of the Chech to Popuhtion in Switzerland. book ir. 
 
 a fpirit of enterprize to a whole village ; and three or four unfuc- 
 cefsful ones, a contrary fpirit. If a habit of emigration were intro- 
 duced into the village of Lejzin, it is not to be doubted that the 
 proportion of births would be immediately changed ; and at the end 
 of twenty years, an examination of its rcgifters might give rcfults as 
 different from thofe at the time of M. Muret's calculations, as thej 
 were then, from the contrafted parifli of St. Cergue. It w^ill hence 
 appear, that other caufes befides a greater mortality, will concur to 
 make an eflimate of population, at different periods, fram the pro- 
 portion of births, liable to great uncertainty. 
 
 The fad:s which M. Muret has collected are all valuable, though 
 his inferences cannot always be eonfidered in the fame light. He 
 made fome calculations at Vevey, of a nature really to afccrtain the 
 queftion, refpediing the fecundity of marriages, and to fliew the 
 fallacy of the ufual mode of eftimating it, though without this par- 
 ticular objeA in view at the time. He found that ^y^ mothers, had 
 yielded 5093 children, all born alive, from which it followed, that 
 each mother had produced 5.1^, or nearly fix children^. Thefe, how- 
 ever, were all a6lually mothers, which every wife is not ; but allowing 
 for the ufual proportion of barren wives at Vevey, which he had found 
 to be 20 out of 478, it will ftill appear that the married women, 
 one with another, produced above 57 children. And yet this was in 
 a town, the inhabitants of which, he feems to accule of not entering 
 into the marriage ftate at the period when nature called them, and 
 when married, of not having all the children which they might 
 have^. The general proportion of the annual marriages to the 
 annual births in the Pays de Vaud is as i to 3.9% and, of courfe, 
 according to the common mode of calculation, the marriages would 
 appear to yield $.g children each. 
 
 In a divifion of the Pays de Vaud into eight different diffrids, 
 
 * Memoircs, Sec. par la Societe Econ. de Berne. Annee 1766, p. 29. et feq. 
 ^ Id. p. 32. ^ id. table i, p. 3i 
 
 M. Muret 
 
CHAP. VII. Of the Chech to Population In Switzerland. zy^ 
 
 M. Muret found, that, in fcven towns, the mean life was '^^ years ;. 
 and the probability of life, or the age to which half of the borft 
 live, -^y. In ^^ villages, the mean life was "^jy and the probability 
 af life ^z. In nine pariflies of the Alps the mean life was 40; 
 and the probability of life 47. In feven pariflies of the Jura, thefe 
 two proportions were 38 and 43 : in 12 corn pariflies, 2,^ and 40: 
 in 18 pariflies among the great vineyards, 34 and 2,1 '- in 6 pariflies 
 of mixed vines and hills, 331V and .36 : and in one marfhy, 59 
 and 54 ^ 
 
 From another table, it appears, that the number of perfons dying 
 under the age of puberty, was Icfs than 4 in the extraordinary parifli 
 of Leyzin; and lefs than \ in many other pariflies of the Alps and 
 the Jura^ For the whole of the Pays de Vaud it was about -3 ''. 
 
 In fome of the largefl; towns, fuch as Laufanne and Vcvey, oix 
 account of the number of ftrangers above the age of puberty fettling 
 in them, the proportion of adults to thofe under 15, was nearly as 
 great as in the parifli of Leyzin, and not far from 3 to i. In the 
 pariflies from which there were not many emigrations, this propor- 
 tion was about 2, to i. And in thofe which furniflied inhabitants 
 for other countries, it approached more towards an equality '^, 
 
 The whole population of the Pays de Vaud, M. Muret efl:imated 
 at 113 thoufand, of which 76 thoufand were adults. The propor- 
 tion of adults, therefore, to thofe under the age of puberty, for the 
 whole country, was 3 to i. Among thefe yd thoufand adults, there 
 were 19 thoufand fubfifliing marriages, and confequently 38 thoufand 
 married perfons; and the fame number of perfons unmarried,though of 
 the latter number nine thoufand, according to M. Muret, would pro- 
 bably be widows or widowers'". With fuch an average ftore of perfons 
 not in the aAual fiiate of marriage, amounting to the half of all the 
 adults, there was little ground for apprehenfion, that any probable 
 
 * Memoires, &c. par la Societe de Berne. Annee 1766, tabJe viil. p. 92. et feq. 
 ^ Id. table xiii. p. 12a ?= Id. tabJe xii. '' Id. p. 27. 
 
 emigrations^ 
 
2/S Of the Checks to Population In SwUzerland. book ir, 
 
 emigrations, or military levies, would affed the number of annual 
 marriages, and check the progrefs of population. 
 
 The proportion of annual marriages to inhabitants in the Pays de 
 Vaud, according to M. Muret's tables, was only i to 140% which 
 is even lefs than in Norway. 
 
 All thefe calculations of M. Muret, imply the operation of the 
 preventive check to population in a very confiderable degree, 
 throughout the whole of the diftri(^ which he confidered ; and there 
 is reafon to believe, that the fame habits prevail in other parts of Swit- 
 zerland, though varying confiderably from place to place, according 
 as the fituation or the employments of the people render them more 
 or lefs healthy, or the refources of the country make room, or not, 
 for an increafe. 
 
 In the town of Berne, from the year 1583 to 1654, the fovereign 
 council had admitted into the BourgeoiHe 487 families, of which 
 Q,y^ became extind: in the fpace of two centuries, and in 1783 
 only 108 of them remained. During the hundred years, from 1684 
 to 1784, 207 Bernoife families became extinct. From 1624 to 
 1 71 5, the Bourgeoifie was given to 80 families. In 1623, the fo- 
 vereign council united the members of 1 1 3 different families, of 
 which 58 only remain \ 
 
 The proportion of unmarried perfons in Berne, including widows 
 and widowers, is confiderably above the half of the adults, and the 
 proportion of thofe below fixteen, to thofe above, is nearly as i to 3 ''. 
 Thefe are ftrong proofs of the powerful operation of the preventive 
 check. 
 
 The pcafants in the canton of Berne have always had the repu- 
 tation of being rich, and, without doubt, it is greatly to be attributed 
 to this cauie. A law has for fome time prevailed, which makes it 
 
 * Mem. Soc. de Bcrnc, Annec 1766, tab. i. 
 
 ** Statiftique de la Suifle, Durand, torn. iv. p. 405. 8vo. 4 vols. Laufanne, 1 796. 
 
 Befchreibung von Bern, vol. ii. tab. i. p. 35. 2 vols. 8vo, Bern, 1796. 
 
 neceiTary 
 
CHAP. VII. Of the Chech to Population tn Switzerland, 279 
 
 neceffary for every peafant to prove himfclf in pofleffion of the arms 
 and accoutrements neccflary for the militia, before he can obtain 
 permiffion to marry. This at once excludes the very pooreft from 
 marriage; and a very favourable turn may be given to the habits of 
 many others, from a knowledge that they cannot accomplifli the 
 objed: of their wifhes, without a certain portion of induilry and eco- 
 nomy. A young man, who, with this end in view, had engaged in 
 fervice, either at home, or in a foreign country, when he had gained 
 the neceflary fum, might feel his pride rather raifed, and not be con- 
 tented merely with what would obtain him permiffion to marry, 
 but go on till he could obtain fomcthing like a provifion for a 
 family. 
 
 I was much difappointed, when in Switzerland, at not being 
 able to procure any details rcfpecfling the fmaller cantons, but the 
 difturbed ftate of the country made it impoffible. It is to be pre- 
 fumed, however, that as they are almoft entirely in pafture, they 
 muft refemble in a great meafure, the alpine pariQies of the Pays de 
 Vaud, in the extraordinary health of the people, and the abfolute 
 neceffity of the preventive check ; except where thefe circumilanccs 
 may have been altered by a more than ufual habit of emigration, or 
 by the introduction of manufadlures which has taken place in- fomc 
 parts. 
 
 The limits to the population of a country ftri^lly paftoral, are 
 ftrikingly obvious. There are no grounds lefs fufceptible of im- 
 provement than mountainous paftures. They muil neceiTarily be 
 left chiefly to nature ; and when they have been adequately flocked' 
 with cattle little more can be done. The great difficulty in thefe 
 parts of Switzerland, as in Norway, is to procure a fufficient quan- 
 tity of fodder for the winter fupport of the cattle which have been 
 fed on the mountains in the fummer. For this purpofe, every bit of 
 grafs is colledled with the greateft care. In places inacceffiblc to 
 cattle, the peafant fometimcs makes hay with crampons on his icct ; 
 grafs is cut not three inches high, in fome places, three times a 
 
 3 year; 
 
d=8o Of the Checks to FopuJatmt In Swifzfrland. rook ir. 
 
 year ; and in the vallies, the fields are feen fhaven as clofe as a 
 bowling-green, and all the inequalities dipped as with a pair of 
 fcifTars. In Switzerland, as in Norway, for the fame rcafons, the 
 art of mowing feems to be carried to its higheil; pitch of perfection. 
 As, however, th-e improvement of the lands in the vallies muft de- 
 pend principally upon the manure arifmg from the ftock ; it is evi- 
 dent, that the quantity of hay and the number of cattle, will be 
 mutually limited by each other; and as the population will of courfe 
 be limited by the produce of the ftock, it does not feem poflible to 
 increafe it beyond a certain point, and that, at no great diftance. 
 Though the population, therefore, in the flat parts of Switzerland, 
 has increafed during the laft century, there is reafon to believe that it 
 has been ftationary, in the mountainous parts. According to M. Muret, 
 it has decreafed very confiderably in the Alps of the Pays de Vaud; 
 but his proofs of this faA have been noticed as extremely uncertain. 
 It is not probable that the Alps are lefs ftocked with cattle than they 
 were formerly : and if the inhabitants be really rather fewer in num- 
 ber, it is probably owing to the fmaller proportion of children, and 
 to the improvement which has taken place in the mode of living. 
 
 In fome of the fmaller cantons, manufactures have been intro- 
 duced, which, by furnifhing a greater quantity of employment, and, 
 at the fame time, a greater quantity of exports for the purchafe of 
 corn, have, of courfe, confiderably increafed their population. But 
 the Swifs writers feem generally to agree, that the diftrids where 
 they have been eftabliihed, have, upon the whole, fuffcred in point 
 of health, morals, and happinefs. 
 
 It is the nature of pafturage to produce food for a much greater 
 number of people than it can employ. In countries, ftridly paftoral, 
 therefore, many perfons will be idle, or at moft be very inadequately 
 occupied. This ftate of things naturally difpofes to emigration, and 
 has been a chief caufe that the Swifs have been fo much engaged in 
 foreign fervice. When a father had more than one fon, it would 
 
 rarely 
 
c H A p . V 1 1 . Of the Checks to Population In Switzerland, ^R i 
 
 rarely happen, that fome of the reft did not enrol themfelves as 
 ibldiers, or emigrate in fome other way. 
 
 It is poffible, though not probable, that a more than ufual fpirit 
 of emigration, operating upon a country, in which, as it has ap- 
 peared, the preventive check prevailed to a very confiderable de- 
 gree, might have produced a temporary check to increafe at the 
 period when there was fuch a univcrfal cry about depopulation. If 
 this were fo, it without doubt contributed to improve the condi- 
 tion of the lower clailes of people. All the foreign travellers in 
 Switzerland, foon after this time, invariably take notice of the ftate 
 of the Swifs peafantry as fuperior to that of other countries. In a 
 late excurfion to Switzerland, I was rather difappointed not to find 
 it fo fuperior as I had been taught to expect. The greateft part of 
 the unfavourable change might juftly be attributed to the lofTes and 
 fuffcrings of the people during the late troubles ; but a part, per- 
 haps, to the ill-dire<fted efforts of the different governments to in- 
 creafe the population, and to the ultimate confequences even of efforts 
 well dire<5ted, and for a time, calculated to advance the comforts and 
 happinefs of the people. 
 
 I was very much {truck with an effed: of this laft kind, in an ex- 
 pedition to the Lac de Jotix in the Jura. The party had fcarcely ar- 
 rived at a little inn at the end of the lake, when the miftrefs of the 
 houfe began to complain of the poverty and mifery of all the pa- 
 riflies in the neighbourhood. She faid that the country- produced little, 
 and yet was full of inhabitants ; that boys and girls were marrying 
 who ought ftill to be at fchool ; and that, while this habit of early 
 marriages continued, they fhould always be wretched, and diftreffcd 
 for fubfiftence. 
 
 The pcafant, who afterwards conducted us to the iburce of the 
 Orbe, entered more fully into the fubjed:, and appeared to under- 
 ftand the principle of population almoft as well as any man I ever 
 met with. He faid, that the women were prolifick, and the air of 
 the mountains fo pure and healthy, that very few children died, 
 
 O o except 
 
583 Of the Chech to Fopidation In Switzerland. book 11. 
 
 except from the confequences of abfolute want ; that the foil, being 
 barren, was inadequate to yield employment and food for the num- 
 bers that were yearly growing up to manhood ; that the wages of 
 labour were confequently very low, and totally infufficient for the 
 decent fupport of a family ; but that the mifery and ftarving con- 
 dition of the greater part of the fociety did not operate properly as 
 a warning to others, who ftill continued to marry and to produce a 
 numerous offspring which they could not fupport. This habit of 
 early marriages might really, he fuid, be called k vice du pays ; and 
 he was fo ftrongly imprefled with the neceflary and unavoidable 
 wretchednefs that muft refiilt from it, that he thought a law ought 
 to be made reflriding men from entering into the marriage {late be- 
 fore they were forty years of age, and then allowing it only with 
 " des vleUesJiUeSf' who might bear them two or three children inftead 
 of fix or eight. 
 
 I could not help being diverted with the earneftnefs of his oratory 
 on this fubjetft, and particularly, with his concluding proportion, 
 which went far beyond even my ideas refpe<5ling the neceffity of the 
 preventive check. He muft have {ecu. and felt the mifery arifmg 
 from redundant population, mofh forcibly, to have propofed fo 
 violent a remedy. 1 found, upon inquiry, that he had himfelf 
 married very young. 
 
 The only point in which he failed, as to his philofophical know- 
 ledge of the fubjed:, was, in confining his reafonings too much to 
 barren and mountainous countries, and not extending them into the 
 plains ; in fertile fituations, he thought, perhaps, that the plenty of 
 corn and employment might remove the difficulty, and allow of 
 early marriages. Not having lived much in the plains, it was natural 
 for him to fall into this error ; particularly, as in fuch fituations, the 
 difficulty is not only more concealed from the extenfivenefs of the 
 fubje6l ; but is in reality lefs, from the greater mortality, naturally 
 occafioned by low grounds, towns, and manufadlories. 
 
 On inquiring into the principal caufe of what he had named the 
 
 predomhiant 
 
CHAP. VII. Of the Checks to Populatmt hi Switzerland. 283 
 
 predominant vice o{ his country, he explained it with great philofo- 
 phical precifion. He faid, that a manufadlure for the poHlliing of 
 ftones, had been eftabliflied fome years ago, which for a time had 
 been in a very thriving ftate, and had furnifhed high wages and 
 employment to all the neighbourhood; that the facility of provid- . 
 ing for a family, and of finding early employment for children, had 
 encouraged, to a great degree, early marriages ; and that the fame 
 habit had continued, when, from a change of falhion, accident, and 
 other caufes, the manufa<5lure was almoft at an end. Very great 
 emigrations, he faid, had of late years taken place, but the breed- 
 ing fyftem went on fo faft, that they were not fufficient to relieve 
 the country of its fuperabundant mouths, and the efFed: was fuch 
 as he had defcribed to me, and as I had in part feen. 
 
 In other converfations which I had with the lower claiTes of people 
 in different parts of Switzerland and Savoy, I found many, who, 
 though not fufficicntly fkilled in the principle of population, to 
 fee its effects on fociety, like my friend of the hac de Joux, yet faw 
 them clearly enough, as afFecfling their own individual interefts, and 
 were perfcdly aware of the evils w'hich they ihould probably bring 
 upon themfelves by marrying before they could have a tolerable 
 profpecfl of being able to maintain a family. From the general ideas 
 which I found to prev^ail on thefe fubje6ts, I fhould by no means 
 fay that it would be a difficult tafk to make the common people 
 comprehend the principle of population, and its efFecft in producing 
 low wages and poverty. 
 
 Though there is no abfolute provifion for the poor in Switzerland, 
 yet each parifh generally pofTefTes fome feigneural rights, and property 
 in land, for the public ule, and is expecfted to maintain its own poor. 
 Thcfe funds, however, being limited, will of courfe often be totally 
 infufficient, and, occafionally, voluntary colle(n;ions are made for this 
 purpofe. But the whole of the fupply being comparatively fcanty 
 and uncertain, has not the fame bad efFe(5ls as the parifh rates of 
 jEngland. Of late years much of the common lands belonging t<) 
 
 O p 3 ' parifhef. 
 
zB4 Of the Chech' to Populatwn in Switzerland. book ii. 
 
 pariflies, has been parcelled out to individuals, which has, of courfe, 
 tended to improve the foil and increafe the number of people ; but, 
 from the manner in which it has been conduced, it has operated 
 perhaps too much as a fyflematic encouragement of marriage ; and 
 has contributed to increafe the number of poor. In the neighbour- 
 hood of the richeft communes, I often obferved the greateft quantity 
 of beggars. 
 
 There is reafon to believe, however, that the efforts of the Eco- 
 nomical Society of Berne to promote agriculture were crowned with 
 fome fuccefs, and that the increafing refources of the country have 
 made room for an additional population, and furniflied an adequate 
 fupport for the greateft part, if not the whole, of that increafe 
 which has of late taken place. 
 
 In 1764, the population of the whole canton of Berne, including 
 the Pays de Vaud, was eftimated at 2)3^>^'^9' ^^ ^79'^* ^^ had in- 
 creafed to 414,420. From 1764 to 1777, its increafe proceeded at 
 the rate of 2000 each year; and, from 1778 to 1791, at the rate of 
 3 1 09 each year *. 
 
 * Befchreibung von Bern, voh ii. p. 40. 
 
 CHAV 
 
( ^85 ) 
 
 CHAP. viir. 
 
 Of the Checks to Population in France, 
 
 As the tables of mortality in France, before the revolution, were 
 not kept with pecuUar care, nor for any great length of time, and as 
 the few, which have been produced, exhibit no very extraordinary 
 refults, I fhould not have made this country the fubjedl of a diftincS 
 chapter, but for a circumllance attending the revolution which has 
 excited confiderable furprife. This is, the undiminifhed flate of the 
 population, in fpite of thelofles fuftained during fo long and deilruc- 
 tive a conteft. 
 
 A great national work, founded on the reports of the Prefedis In 
 the different departments, is at prefent in fome ftate of forward- 
 nefs at Paris, and, when completed, it may realonably be expe<fted 
 to form a very valuable accelTion to the materials of ftatiflical fcience 
 in general. The returns of all the Prefe(fts are not, however, yet 
 complete ; but 1 was pofitively aifured by the perfon who has the 
 principal fuperintendence of them, that enough is already known, to 
 be certain, that the population of the old territory of France has rather 
 increafed than diminifhed during the revolution. 
 
 Such an event, if true, very ftrongly confirms the general prin- 
 ciples of this work ; and afTuming it, for the prefent, as a fad, it 
 may tend to throw fome light on the fubje6l, to trace, a little in 
 detail, the manner in which fuch an event might happen. 
 
 In every country, there is always a confiderable body of unmar- 
 ried perfons, formed by the gradual accumulation of the excefs of the 
 
 number 
 
sSS Of the Checks to Population in France. book if. 
 
 number rifing annually to the age of puberty, above the number of 
 perfons annually married. The flop to the further accumulation of 
 this body, is when its number is fuch, that the yearly mortality 
 equals the yearly acceflions that are made to it. In the Pays de 
 Vaud, as appeared in the laft chapter, this body, including widows 
 and widowers, perfons who are not actually in the ftate of marriage, 
 equals the whole number of married perfons. But in a country 
 like France, where both the mortality, and the tendency to mar- 
 riage, are much greater than in Switzerland, this body does not 
 bear fo large a proportion to the population. 
 
 According to a calculation in an E/Jai d' n?ie Stalitifque Generahf 
 publillied at Paris in 1800, by M. Peuchet, the number of un- 
 married males in France between 18 and 50 is eftimatcd at 1,451,063, 
 and the number of males, whether married or not, between the fame 
 ages, at 5,000,000 *. It does not appear at what period exactly 
 this calculation was made. The number of unmarried perfons feems 
 to be too great for any period after fome years of the revolution had 
 elapfed ; and rather too fmall for the period before the revolution. 
 Let us fuppofe, however, that this number of 1,451,063, exprefles 
 the collective body of unmarried males of a military age at the com- 
 mencent of the revolution. 
 
 The population of France, before the beginning of the war, was 
 eftimated by the National AiTembly, at 26,363,074 ^ ; and there is 
 no reafon to believe that this calculation was too high. Necker, 
 though he mentions the number 24,800,000, expreiTes his firm be- 
 lief that the yearly births, at that time, amounted to above a million, 
 and confequently, according to his multiplier of 25 4> that the whole 
 population was nearly 26 millions " ; and this calculation was made 
 ten years previous to the eflimate of the National Aflembly. 
 
 P. 32. 8yo. 78 pages. 
 
 ^ A. Young's Travels in France, vol. i. c. xvii. p. 466. 4to. 1792. 
 
 ' Pe rAdminiftration des Finances, torn, i, c. ix. p. 256. lamo. 17S5. 
 
 Taking 
 
CHAP. VIII. Of the Chech to Population in France, 287 
 
 Taking then the annual births at rather above a million, and efti- 
 mating that rather above 4- would die under 18, which appears to 
 be the cafe from fome calculations of M. Peuchet % it will follow, 
 that 600,000 perfons will annually arrive at the age of 18. 
 . The annual marriages, according to Necker, are 213,774''; but as 
 this number is an average of ten years, taken while the population 
 was increafing, it is probably too low. If we take 220,000, then 
 440,000 perfons will be fuppofed to marry out of the 600,000 riiing 
 to a marriageable age ; and cionfequently, the excefs of thofe rifing to 
 the age of 18, above the number wanted to complete the ufual propor- 
 tion of annual marriages, will be 160,000, or 80,000 males. It is 
 evident, therefore, that the accumulated body of 1,4^1,063, unmar- 
 ried males, of a military age, and the annual fupply of 80,000 
 youths of 18, might be taken for the fervice of the ftate, without 
 affecting, in any degree, the number of annual marriages. But we 
 cannot fuppofe that the 1,451,063 Ihould be taken all at once, 
 and many foldiers are married, and in a fituation not to be entirely 
 ufelefs to the population. Let us fuppofe 600,000 of the corps of 
 unmarried males to be embodied at once ; and JLhis number to be 
 kept up by the annual fupply of 150,000 perfons, taken partly from 
 the 80,000, rifing annually to the age of 1 8, and not wanted to 
 complete the number of annual marriages, and partly, from the 
 851,063 remaining of the body of unmarried males which exifted 
 at the beginning of the war. 
 
 It is evident, that, from thefe two fources, 150,000 might be fup- 
 plied each year, for ten years, and yet allow of an increafe in the 
 ufual number of annual marriages of above 10,000. it is true, 
 that, in the courfe of the 10 years, many of the original body of un- 
 married males will have paiTed the military age ; but this will be 
 balanced, and, indeed, much more than balanced, by their utility in 
 the married life. From the beginning, it fhould be taken into con- 
 
 Effai, p. 31. * De I'Adrainiflration des Finances, torn. i. c. ix. p. 255. 
 
 fideration, 
 
2^S -Of the Chech to Population hi France. book ii. 
 
 fideration, that though a man of fifty be generally confidered as paft 
 the miUtary age, yet if he marry a fruitful fubjecft, he may by no 
 means be ufelefs to the population ; and in fad:, the fupply of 
 150,000 recruits each year, would be taken principally from the 
 300,000 males rifuig annually to 18, and the annual marriages 
 would be fupplied, in great meafure, from the remaining part of the 
 original body of unmarried perfons. Widowers and bachelors of 
 forty and fifty, who, in the common ftate of things, might have 
 found it difficult to obtain an agreeable partner, would probably fee 
 thefe difficulties removed in fuch a fcarcity of hufbands ; and the 
 abfence of 600,000 perfons, would of courfe make room for a very 
 ^onfiderable addition to the number of annual marriages. This ad- 
 dition in all probability took place. Many, among the remaining 
 part of the original body of bachelors, who might otherwife have 
 continued fmgle, would marry under this change of circumftances ; 
 and it is known, that a very confiderable portion of youths under 
 18, in order to avoid the military confcriptions, entered prematurely 
 into the married ftate. This was fo much the cafe, and contri- 
 buted fo much to diminifh the number of unmarried perfons, that, 
 in the beginning of the year 1 798, it was found necefTary to repeal 
 the law which had exempted married perfons from the confcriptions; 
 and thofe who married fubfequently to this new regulation, were 
 taken indifcriminately with the unmarried. And though after this, 
 the levies fell, in part, upon thofe who were acirtually engaged in the 
 peopling of the country ; yet the number of marriages untouched by 
 thefe levies might ftill remain greater than the ufual number of mar- 
 riages before the revolution ; and the marriages which were broken 
 by the removal of the hufband to the armies, would not probably 
 have been entirely barren. 
 
 Sir Francis D'lvernois, who had certainly a tendency to exgge- 
 rate> and probably has exaggerated confidcrably, the loffes of thfe 
 French nation, eftimates the total lofs of the troops of France both 
 
 I ^y 
 
CHAP. viii. Of the Chech to Population In France, 289 
 
 by land and fea, up to the year 1799, at a million and a half*. 
 The round numbers which I have allowed, for the fake of illuftrating 
 the fubjed:, exceed Sir Francis D'lvernois's eftimate by fix hundred 
 thoufand. He calculates, however, a lofs of million of perfons more, 
 from the other caufes of deflrucftion attendant on the revolution ; but 
 as this lofs fell indifcriminately on all ages and both fexes, it would 
 not affed; the population in the fame degree, and will be much more 
 than covered by the 600,000 men in the full vigour of life, which 
 remain above Sir Francis's calculation. It fliould be obferved alfo/ 
 that in the latter part of the revolutionary war, the military con- 
 fcriptions were probably enforced with ftill more feverity in the 
 newly acquired territories, than in the old ftate; and, as the popula- 
 tion of thefe new acquisitions is eftimated at 5 or 6 millions, it 
 would bear a confiderable proportion of the million and a half fup- 
 pofed to be deftroyed in the armies. And, although the law, which . 
 facilitated divorces to fo great a degree, be radically bad, both in a 
 moral and political view, yet, under the circumftance of a great 
 fcarcity of men, it would operate a little like the cuftom of poly- 
 gamy, and increafe the number of children in proportion to the 
 number of hufbands. In addition to this, the women without huf- 
 bands" do not appear all to have been barren, as the proportion of 
 illegitimate births is now raifed to -rV of the whole number of births, 
 from TT ^ which it was before the revolution ; and though this be 
 a melancholy proof of the depravation of morals, yet it would cer- 
 
 * Tableau des Pertes, 8cc. c. ii. p. 7. Monf. Gamier, in the notes to his edition 
 of Adam Smith, calculates, that only about a fixtieth part of the French population was 
 deflroyed in the armies. He fuppofes only 500,000 embodied at once, and that this 
 number was fuppiled by 400,000 more in the courie of the war ; and allowing for the 
 number which would die naturally, that the additional mortality occafioned by the war, 
 was only about 45, coo each year. Tom. v. note xxx. p. 284. If theadlual lofs were 
 no more than thefe ftatements make it, a fmall increafe of births would have eafily 
 repaired it ; but I (hould think that thefe eftiniates are probably as much below the truth 
 9S Sir F. ryivernois's are above. 
 
 ^ JEflai de Peuchet, p 28. 
 
 P p tainlj 
 
sgo Of the Chech to Population m Vrance, book ii, 
 
 tainly contribute to increafe the number of births; and as the fenvale 
 peafants in France were enabled to earn more than ufual during the 
 revolution, on account of the fcarcity of hands, it is probable, that a 
 confiderable portion of thcfe children would furvive. 
 
 Under all thefe circumftances, it cannot appear impoffible, and 
 fcarcely even improbable, that the population of France fhould re- 
 main undiminifhed, in fpite of all the caufes of deftru6lion which 
 have operated upon it during the courfe of the revolution, provided, 
 that the agriculture of the country has been fuch, as to continue 
 the means of fubfiftence unimpaired. And it feems now to be ge- 
 nerally acknowledged, that, however feverely the manufactures of 
 France may have fufFered, her agriculture has increafed rather than 
 diminilhed. At no period of the war, can we fuppofe, that the 
 number of embodied troops exceeded the number of men employed 
 before the revolution in manufactures. Thofe who w^re thrown out 
 of work by the deftruClion of thefe manufactures, and who did not 
 go to the armies, w^ould of courfe betake themfelves to the labours 
 of agriculture ; and it was always the cuftom in France for the 
 women to work much in the fields, which cuftom was probably 
 increafed during the revolution. At the fame time, the abfence of 
 a large portion of the beft and moft vigorous hands, would raife the 
 price of labour; and as, from the new land brought into cultivation, 
 and the abfence of a confiderable part of the greatefl confumers % in 
 foreign countries, the price of provifions did not rife in proportion ; 
 this advance in the price of labour would not only operate as a 
 powerful encouragement to marriage, but would enable the peafants 
 to live better, and to rear a greater number of their children. 
 
 At all times, the number of fmall farmers and proprietors in France 
 was great ; and though fuch a ftate of things be by no means favour- 
 
 * Suppofmg the increafed number of children, at any period, to equal the number of 
 men abfent in the armies, yet thefe children being all very young, could not be fuppofed 
 to confume a quantity equal to that which would be confumed by the fame number of 
 grown up perfons. 
 
 able 
 
fcHAP. vm. Of the Chech to 'Population In Trance. ijoi 
 
 able to the clear furplus produce, or difpofeable wealth, of a nation ; 
 yet, fometimes, it is not unfavourable to the abfolute produce, and it 
 has always a moft powerful tendency to encourage population. From 
 the fale and divifion of many of the large domains of the nobles and 
 clergy, the number of landed proprietors has confiderably increafed 
 during the revolution ; and as a part of thefe domains confifted of 
 parks and chaces, new territory has been given to the plough. It is 
 true, that the land tax has been not only too heavy, but injudicioufly 
 impofed. It is probable, however, that this difadvantage has been 
 nearly counter-balanced by the removal of the former oppreflions 
 under which the cultivator laboured, and that the fale and divifion of 
 the great domains, may be confidered as a clear advantage on the 
 fide of agriculture, or, at any rate, of the grofs produce, which is the 
 principal point with regard to mere population. 
 
 Thefe confiderations make it appear probable, that the means of 
 fubfiftence have at leaft remained unimpaired, if they have not in- 
 creafed, during the revolution ; and a view of the cultivation of 
 France in its prefent ftate, certainly rather tends to confirm this 
 fuppofition. 
 
 We Ihall not, therefore, be inclined to agree with Sir Francis 
 D'lvernois, in his conjefture, that the annual births in France have 
 diminilhed by one feventh during the revolution ^ On the contrary, 
 it is much more probable, that they have increafed by this number. 
 The average proportion of births, to the population in all France, 
 before the revolution, was, according to Necker, as i to 55^ **. It 
 has appeared in the reports of fome of the Prefedls which have been 
 returned, that the proportion in many country places, was raifed to 
 I to ^i, 23, 2^1, and 23''; and though thefe proportions might, 
 in fome degree, be caufed by the abfence of a part of the population 
 in the armies, yet I have little doubt that they are principally to be 
 
 * Tableau des Pertes, &c. c. ii. p. 14. 
 ^ De rAdminiflration des Finances, tom.i. c.ix. p. 254. "" Eflai de Peuchet, p. 28. 
 
 P p ;$ attributed 
 
2g2 Of the Chech to Population in France. book ii. 
 
 attributed to the birth of a greater number of children than ufuaL 
 If, when the reports of all the Prefects are put together, it Ihould 
 appear, that the number of births has not increafed in proportion to 
 the population, and yet, that the population is undiminifhed ; it will 
 follow, either that Nccker's multiplier for the births was too fmall, 
 which is extremely probable, as from this caufe he appears to have 
 calculated the population too low ; or that the mortality among 
 thofe not expofed to violent deaths, has been lefs than ufual, which, 
 from the high price of labour, and the defertion of the towns for the 
 country, is not unlikely. 
 
 According to Necker and Moheau, the mortality in France, before 
 the revolution, was i in 30 or 30-L *. Confidering that the proportion 
 of the population w^hich lives in the country, is, to that in the towns, 
 as 3 1 to I ^ this mortality is extraordinarily great, caufed, probably, 
 by the mifery arifmg from an excefs of population ; and from the 
 remarks of Arthur Young on the ftate of the peafantry in France % 
 which are completely fand:ioned by Necker ^, this appears to have 
 been really the cafe. If we fuppofe, that from the removal of a part 
 of this redundant population, the mortality fliould have decreafed 
 from I in 30, to i in 35 ", this favourable change would go a con- 
 fiderable way in repairing the breaches made by war on the frontiers^. 
 
 The probability is, that both the caufes mentioned have operated in 
 part. The births have increafed, and the deaths of thofe remaining 
 in the country have diminifhed ; fo that, putting the two circum- 
 llances together, it will probably appear, when the refults of all the 
 
 De I'Adminiftration des Finances, torn. i. c. ix. p. 255. Eflai de Peuchet, p. 29. 
 ** Young's Travels in France, vol. i. c. xvii. p. 466. 
 
 ^ See generally, c. xvii. vol. i. and the juft obfervations on thcfe fubje<5ls, interfperfed 
 in many other parts of his very valuable tour. 
 
 * De I'Adminiftration des Finances, torn, i, c. ix. p. 262. et feq. 
 
 * If it fliould appear that the mortality among thofe remaining in the country has not 
 diminiflied, it will be attributable to the greater proportion of infants, a circumftance 
 noticed in reference to the Proi&an table, in c. vi. of this book. 
 
 reports 
 
CHAP. vni. Of the Chech to PopiiJatwn in France, s^^-^ 
 
 reports of the Prefeds are known, that, including thofe who have 
 fallen in the armies, and by violent means, the deaths have not 
 exceeded the births in the courfe of the revolution. 
 
 The returns of the Prefecfls are to be given for the year 9 of the 
 republick, and to be compared with the year 1789 ; but if the pro- 
 portion of births to the population be given merely for the individual 
 year 9, it will not fhew with precifion the average proportion of 
 births to the population during the courfe of the revolution. In the 
 confufion occafioned by this event, it is not probable that any very 
 exadl regifters fhould have been kept ; but, from theory, I fliould be 
 inclined to exped:, that, foon after the beginning of the war, and at 
 other periods during the courfe of it, the proportion of births to the 
 whole population would be greater, than in 1 800 and 1801. If it 
 fliould appear by the returns, that the number of annual marriages 
 has not increafed during the revolution, the circumftance w^ill be 
 obvioufly accounted for by the extraordinary increafe in the illegiti- 
 mate births, mentioned before in this chapter, which amount, at 
 prefent, to one eleventh of all the births, inftead of one forty- feventh, 
 according to the calculation of Necker before the revolution \ 
 
 Sir Francis D'lvernois obfervcs, that " thofe have yet to learn the 
 ** firfl principles of political arithmetick, who imagine that it is 
 ** in the field of battle and the hofpitals, that an account can be 
 " taken of the lives which a revolution or a war has coft. The 
 ** number of men it has killed, is of much lefs importance than the 
 ** number of children which it has prevented, and will ftill prevent, 
 " from coming into the world. This is the deepeft wound which 
 *' the population of France has received." " Suppoling," he fays, 
 ** that, of the whole number of men deftroyed, only two millions 
 
 * Eflai de Peuchet, p. 28. It is highly probable that this increafe of illegitimate births 
 occafioned a more than ufual number of children to be expofed in thofe dreadful recep- 
 tacles, Les Hopiteaux des Enfans trouves, as noticed by Sir Francis D'lvernois; but pro- 
 bably this cruel cuftom was confined to particular diftrids, and the number expofed, upon 
 the whole, might bear no great proportion to the fum of all the births. 
 
 had 
 
594 Of the Chech to Population In France. book ii. 
 
 -* had been united to as many females ; according to the calculation 
 " of Buffon, thefe two millions of couples ought to bring into the 
 " world twelve millions of children, in order to fupply, at the age 
 " of thirty-nine, a number equal to that of their parents. This is 
 *' a point of view, in which the confequences of fuch a deftrudlion 
 " of men becomes almofl: incalculable ; becaufe they have much 
 '^ more effed: with regard to the twelve millions of children, which 
 *' they prevent from coming into exiftence, than with regard to the 
 ' actual lofs of the two millions and a half of men, for whom 
 *' France mourns. It is not till a future period, that Ihe will be 
 '' able to eftimate this dreadful breach %** 
 
 And yet, if the circumftances on which the foregoing reafonings 
 are founded, fhould turn (Jut to be true, it will appear, that France 
 has not loft a fmgle birth by the revolution. She has the moft juft 
 reafon to mourn the two millions and a half of individuals which 
 file may have loft, but not their pofterity : becaufe, if thefe indivi- 
 duals had remained in the country, a proportionate number of 
 children, born of other parents, which are now living in France, 
 would not have come into exiftence. If, in the beft governed country 
 in Europe, we were to mourn the pofterity which is prevented from 
 coming into being, we ftiould always wear the habit of grief. 
 
 It is evident, that the conftant tendency of the births, in every 
 country, to fupply the vacancies made by death, cannot, in a moral 
 point of view, afford the flighteft fhadow of excufe for the wanton 
 facTifice of men. The pofitive evil that is committed, in this cafe, 
 the pain, mifery, and wide-fpreading defolation and forrow, that are 
 occafioncd to the exifting inhabitants, can by no means be counter- 
 balanced by the confideration, that the numerical breach in the popu- 
 lation will be rapidly repaired. We can have no other right, moral 
 or political, except that of the moft urgent neceflity, to exchange the. 
 
 * Tableau des Pertes, &c. c. ii, p. 13, 14. 
 
 lives 
 
C H A p . V 1 1 1 , Of the Checks to Population m France, sp^ 
 
 lives of beings in the full vigour of their enjoyments, for an equal 
 number of helplefs infants. 
 
 It fhould alfo be remarked, that though the numerical population 
 of France may not have fuffered by the revolution ; yet, that if her 
 loffes have been in any degree equal to the conjed;ures on the fubjed:, 
 her military ftrength cannot be unimpaired. Her population at pre- 
 fent muft confift of a much greater proportion than ufual of women 
 and children ; and the body of unmarried perfons of a military age, 
 muft be diminiflied in a very ftriking manner. This, indeed, is 
 known to be the cafe, from the returns of the Prefe(5ls which have 
 already been received. 
 
 It has appeared, that the point at which the drains of men will 
 begin efTentially to afFeft the population of a country, is, when the 
 original body of unmarried perfons is exhaufted, and the annual 
 demands are greater than the excefs of the number of males riling 
 annually to the age of puberty, above the number wanted to com- 
 plete the ufual proportion of annual marriages. France was pro- 
 bably at fome diftance from this point, at the conclufion of the war ; 
 but, in the prefent ftate of her population, with an increafed propor- 
 tion of women and children, and a great diminution of males of a 
 military age, fhe could not make the fame gigantic exertions which 
 "were made at one period, without trenching on the fources of her 
 population. 
 
 At all times, the number of males of a military age in France, 
 was fmall in proportion to the population, on account of the ten- 
 dency to marriage % and the great number of children. Necker 
 takes particular notice of this circumftance. He obferves, that the effedl 
 of the very great mifery of the peafantry, is, to produce a dreadful 
 mortality of infants under three or four years of age ; and the confe- 
 quence is, that the number of young children will always be in too 
 
 * The proportion of marriages to the population in France, according to Necker, is i 
 to 113, torn. i. c. ix. p. 255. 
 
 I great 
 
2g6 Of the Checks to Population in France, book li. 
 
 great a proportion to the number of grown up people. A million of 
 individuals, he juftly obfervxs, will, in this cafe, neither prefent the 
 fame military force, nor the fame capacity of labour, as an equal 
 number of individuals in a country where the people are lefs 
 miferable *. 
 
 Switzerland, before the revolution, could have brought into the 
 lield, or have employed in labour appropriate to grown up perfons, 
 one third more in proportion to her population, than France, at the 
 fame period. 
 
 It will be but of little confequence, if any of the fa<5ls or calcula- 
 tions which have been aiTumed in the courfe of this chapter, fhould 
 turn out to be falfe. The reader will fee, that the reafonings are of 
 a general nature, and may be true, though the facets taken to illuftrate 
 them may prove to be inapplicable ''. 
 
 * De rAdmlnlflration des Finances, torn. i. c. Ix. p. 263. 
 
 ^ Since I wrote this chapter I have had an opportunity of feeing the Analyfe des Proc)s 
 Verbaux des Confeils Gencraux de Departementy which gives a very particular, and highly 
 curious account of the internal ftate of France for the year 8. With refpe6l to the popu- 
 lation, out of 69 departments, the reports from which are given, in 16, the population is 
 fuppofed to be increafed ; in 42, diminifhed ; in 9, ftationary ; and in 2, the adlive popula- 
 tion is faid to be diminifhed, but the numerical to remain the fame. It appears, however, 
 that moft of thefe reports are not founded on a(Slual enumerations ; and without fuch pod- 
 tive data, the prevailing opinions on the fubjel of population, together with the necefTary 
 and univerfally acknowledged fa6l, of a very confiderable diminution in the males of a 
 military age, would naturally difpofe people to think that the numbers, upon the whole, 
 muft be dimini{l:ied. Judging merely from appearances, the fubftitution of a hundred 
 children, for a hundred grown up perfons, would certainly not produce the fame impreffion, 
 with regard to population. I lliould not be furprifed, therefore, if, when the enumera- 
 tions for the year 9 are completed, it fhould appear, that the population, upon the whole, 
 has not diminifhed. In fome of the reports, I'^aifance generale repandue fur le feuple^ and 
 ta div'ijion des grands propr'ietaires^ are mentioned as the caufes of increafe ; and almoft uni- 
 verfally, les mar'iages prematures, and les marlages midtip/iees par la crainte des lolx mllitairesy 
 are particularly noticed. 
 
 With refpedl to the Hate of agriculture, out of 78 reports, 6 are of opinion that it is 
 improved ; 10, that it is deteriorated ; 70 demand that it fliould be encouraged in general ; 
 ^'..complain de la multipHcite des defrlchements ; and I2 demand des encouragements pour les 
 
 defrichcments. 
 
CHAP. VIII. Of the Checks to Fopulatton in France. zgy 
 
 defrichements . One of tlie reports mentions, la quantiti prodigieufe de terns vagues mife en 
 culture depuis quelque terns, et les travaux mult'ipliees, au de la de ce peuvent executcr ies bras 
 employes en agriculture ; and others fpeak of les defrichements mult'ipliees qui ont eu lieu depuis 
 plujzeurs annees, which appeared to be fuccefsful at firft ; but it was foon perceived, that it 
 would be more profitable to cultivate lefs, and cultivate well. Many of the reports notice 
 the cheapnefs of corn, and the want of fufficient vent for this commodity ; and in the 
 difcuffion of the queftion refpecSling the divifion oi xX\q biens communaux,\x. Is obferved, 
 that " le partage en operant le defrichement de ces biens, a fans doute produit une aug- 
 *' mentation reelle de denrees, mais d'un autre cote, les vaines patures n'exiftent plus, et 
 *' les beftiaux font peutetre diminues." On the whole, therefore, I fhould be inclined to 
 infer, that though the agriculture of the country does not appear to have been conducted 
 judicioufly, fo as to obtain a hvgc furplus produce, yet that the ab/olute produce had by no' 
 means been diminifhed during the revolution, and that the attempt to bring fo much new 
 land under cultivation, had contributed to make the fcarclty of labourers llill more fenfible. 
 And if it be allowed, that the food of the country did not decreafe during the revolution, 
 the high price of labour, which is very generally noticed, mull have operated as a moft 
 powerful encouragement to population among the labouring part of the fociety. 
 
 The land tax, or contribution Jonciere, is univerfally complained of; indeed, it appears to 
 be extremely heavy, and to fall very unequally. It was intended to be only a fifth of 
 the net produce ; but, from the unimproved ftate of agriculture in general, the number 
 of fmall proprietors, and, particularly, the attempt to cultivate too much furface in propor- 
 tion to the capital employed, it often amounts to a fourth, a third, or even a half. Tiie 
 ftate of agriculture in France has never been fuch,as to yield a furplus produce in propor- 
 tion to the grofs produce, in any refpet equal to what it yields in England ; and, therefore, 
 a land tax bearing the fame relation to the grofs produce, would caufe a very different 
 degree of preffure in the tvjo countries. And, when property is fo much divided, that 
 the rent and profit of a farm muft be combined, in order to fupport a family upon it, a 
 land tax muft necefTarlly greatly impede cultivation ; though it has little or no efte6l of 
 this kind, when farms are large, and let out to tenants, as is moft fequently the cafe in 
 England. Among the impediments to agriculture mentioned in the reports, the two great 
 divifion of lands from the new laws of fucceflion is noticed. The partition of fome of the 
 great domains would probably contribute to the improvement of agriculture ; but fubdi- 
 vifions of the nature here alluded to, would certainly have a contrary effe6l, and would 
 tend moft particularly to diminilh furplus produce, and make a land tax both oppreffive 
 and unprodutive. If all the land in England were divided into farms of 20I. a year, we 
 ftiould probably be more populous than we are at prefent ; but, as a nation, we ihould be 
 extremely poor. We fhould be almoft without difpofeablc revenue, and fhould be under 
 a total inability of maintaining the fame number of manufa(5lures, or collecling the lame 
 taxes, as at prefent. All the departments demand a diminution of the contribution foncie re 
 as abfolutely necefTary to the profpcrity of agriculture. 
 
 Of the ftate of the hofpitals, and charitable eftabliftiments, of the prevalance of beggary, 
 
 Q^q and 
 
29 3 Of the Chech to PopuJatton hi France. book h. 
 
 and the mortality among the expofed children, a moft deplorable pidlure is drawn in almoft 
 -all the reports. From which, we fhould at firft be difpofed to infer, a greater degree of 
 poverty and mifery among all the lower clafles of people in general. It appears, how- 
 t\-tr, that the hofpitals and charitable eflabiifhments loft almoft tlie whole of their reve- 
 nues during the revolution ; and this fudden fubtrac^ion of fupi)ort from a great number 
 of people w ho had no otlier reliance, logetlier with the known failure of manufadures in 
 the towns, and the very great increafe of illegitimate children, might produce all the diftrelT- 
 ing appearances defaibed in the reports, without impeaching the great faft of the ame- 
 liorated condition of agricultural labourers in general, neceffarily arifing from the ackaow- 
 Icdged high price of labour, and comparative cheapnefs of corn ; and it is from this part of 
 the fociety that the efledlive population of a country is principally fupplied. If the poor's 
 rates of England were fuddenly aboliflied, there would undoubtedly be the moft compli- 
 cated diftrefs among thofe who were before fupported by them ; but I fliould not expeft, 
 that either the condition of the labouring part of the fociety in general, or the population 
 of tlie country, would fufFer from it. As the proportion of illegitimate children in 
 >ance has rifen fo extraordinarily, as from ^'y of all the births to ^\, it is evident that 
 more might be abandoned in hofpitals, and more out of thefe die than ufual, and yet a 
 jnore than ufual number be reared at home, and efcape the mortality of thefe dreadful 
 receptacles. It appears that, from the low ftate of the funds in the hofpitals, the proper 
 nurfes could not be paid, and numbers of children died from abfolute famine. Some of 
 the hofpitals, at laft, very properly refufed to receive any more. 
 
 The reports, upon the whole, do not prefent a favourable pilure of the internal ftatc 
 of France ; but fomething is undoubtedly to be attributed to the nature of thefe reports, 
 which, confifting as they do of obfervations explaining the ftate of the different depart- 
 ments, and of particular demands with a view to obtain afliftance or relief from govern- 
 ment, it is to be expeled that they (hould lean rather to the^unfavourable fide. When 
 the queftion is refpefling the impofition of new taxes, or the relief from old ones, people 
 will generally complain of their poverty. On the fubje6l of taxes indeed, it would appear 
 as if the French government muft be a little puzzled For though it very properly recom- 
 mended to the conJcUs goieraux not to indulge in vague complaints, but to mention fpeci- 
 fick grievances, and propofe fpecifick remedies, and particularly not to advife the abolition 
 of one tax, without fuggefting another; yet all the taxes, appear to me, to be reprobated, 
 and moft frequently in general terms, without the propofal of any fubftitute. La contri- 
 bution fonder e, la taxe mobiliare, les bam'crcs, les droits de doudne, all excite bitter complaints, 
 and the only new fubftitute that ftruck me, was a tax upon game, which, being at prefent 
 almoft extinfl in France, cannot be expeded to yield a revenue fufficient to balance all 
 the reft. The work, upon the whole, is extremely curious, and as Ihewing the wifti of 
 the government to know the ftate of each department ; and to liften to every obfervation, 
 and propofal, for its improvement, is highly creditable lo the ruling power. It was pub- 
 iifhed for a fhort time, but the circulation of it was foon ftopped, and confined to the 
 
 minifters, 
 
CHAP. vrir. Of the Chech to 'Population in France, zg^ 
 
 minifters, les confeils generanx, &cc. Indeed the documents are evidently more of a private 
 than of a publick nature, and certainly have not the air of being intended for general 
 circulation. 
 
 For the ftate of population in Spain, I refer the reader to the valuable, and entertaining 
 travels of Mr. Townfend, in that country, in which he will often find the principle of 
 population very happily illuftrated. I fhould have made it the fubjefl of a diftin6l chap- 
 ter, but was fearful of extending this part of the work too much, and of falling, almoft. 
 unavoidably, into too many repetitions, from the neceflity of drawing the fame kind of 
 inference from fo majvy different countries. I could expe6V, befides, to add very little to 
 what has been fo well done bv Mr. Townfend. 
 
 Qq Z cil.VP 
 
( 30O ) 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Of the Chech to Population in England. 
 
 X HE moft curfory view of fociety in this country, muft convince 
 us, that throughout all ranks, the preventive check to population 
 prevails in a confiderable degree. Thofe among the higher claiTes, 
 who live principally in towns, often want the inclination to marry, 
 from the facility with which they can indulge themfelves in an illicit 
 intercourfe with the fex. And others are deterred from marrying, by 
 the idea of the expences that they muft retrench, and the pleaflires 
 of which they muft deprive themfelves, on the fuppoiition of having 
 a family. When the fortune is large, thefe conftderations are cer- 
 tainly trivial ; but a preventive forefight of this kind, has objecfls of 
 much greater weight for its contemplation as we go lower. 
 
 A man of liberal education, with an income only juft fufficient to 
 enable him to aflbciate in the rank of gentlemen, muft feel abfo- 
 lutely certain, that if he marry, and have a family, he ftiall be obliged, 
 if he mix in fociety, to rank himfelf with farmers and tradefmen." 
 The woman, that a man of education would naturally make the 
 obje(5l of his choice, is one brought up in the fame habits and fenti- 
 ments with himfelf, and ufed to the familiar intercourfe of a fociety 
 totally different from that to which flie muft be reduced by marriage. 
 Can a man eafily confent to place the object of his affedlion in a 
 fituation fo difcordant, probably, to her habits and inclinations. Two 
 or three fteps of defcent in fociety, particularly at this round of the 
 ladder, where education ends and ignorance begins, will not be con- 
 fidered by the generality of people as a chimerical, but a real evil. 
 
 If 
 
CHAP. IX. Of the Checks to Population in England. 301 
 
 If fociety be dcfirable, it furely muft be free, equal, and reciprocal 
 fociety, where benefits are conferred as well as received, and not 
 fuch as the dependent finds with his patron, or the poor with the 
 rich. 
 
 Thefe confiderations certainly prevent a great number in this rank 
 of life, from following the bent of their inclinations in an early attach- 
 ment. Others, influenced either by a ftronger paffion, or a weaker 
 judgment, difregard thefe confiderations; and it would be hard 
 indeed, if the gratification of fo delightful a paffion as virtuous love, 
 did not fometimes more than counterbalance all its attendant evils. 
 But I fear that it muft be acknowledged, that the more general 
 confequences of fuch marriages are rather calculated to juftify, than 
 to difappoint, the forebodings of the prudent. 
 
 The fons of tradefmen and farmers, are exhorted not to marry, 
 and generally find it neccfifary to comply with this advice, till they 
 are fettled in fome bufmefs or farm, which may enable them to fup- 
 port a family. Thefe events may not, perhaps, occur till they are far 
 advanced in life. The fcarcity of farms is a very general complaint ; 
 and the competition in every kind of bufmefs is fo great, that it is not 
 pofiQble that all fliould be fuccefsful. Among the clerks in counting 
 houfes, and the competitors for all kinds of mercantile and profeffional 
 employment, it is probable, that the preventive check to population 
 prevails more than in any other department of fociety. 
 
 The labourer who earns eighteen-pence or two fliillings a day, and 
 lives at his eafe as a fingleman, will hefitate a little, before he divides 
 that pittance among four or five, which feems to be not more than 
 fufficient for one. Harder fare, and harder labour, he would perhaps 
 be willing to fubmit to, for the fake of living with the woman that 
 he loves ; but he muft feel confcious, that, Ihould he have a large 
 family, and any ill fortune whatever, no degree of frugality, no 
 poffible exertion of his manual flrength, would preferve him from 
 the heart-rending fenfatlon of feeing his children ftarve, or of being 
 obliged to the parifh for their fupport. The love of independence 
 
 3 ^^' 
 
305 Of the Chech to Population ttt England . Book ri. 
 
 is a fentlment that furejy none would wifli to fee eradicated ; though 
 the parifh law of England, it muft be confefled, is a fyftem of all 
 others the moft calculated gradually to weaken this fentlment, and 
 in the end will probably deftroy it completely. 
 
 The fervants who live in the families of the rich, have reftraints 
 yet ftronger to break through in venturing upon marriage. They 
 pofTefs the neceffarles, and even the comforts, of life, almoft in as 
 great plenty as their mafters. Their work is eafy, and their food 
 luxurious, compared with the work and food of the clafs of labour- 
 ers ; and their fenfe of dependence is w^eakened by the confcious 
 power of changing their mailers, if they feel themfelves offended. 
 Thus comfortably fituated at prefent, what are their profpedls if they 
 marry. Without knowledge, or capital, either for bufmefs, oj 
 farming, and unufed, and therefore unable, to earn a fubfiftence by 
 dally labour, their only refuge feems to be a miferable alehoufe, which 
 certainly offers no very enchanting profpe<5l of a happy evening to 
 their lives. The greater number of them, therefore, deterred by this 
 uninviting view of their future fituatlon, content themfelves with 
 remaining fmgle where they are. 
 
 If this Iketch of the ftate of foclety in England be near the truth, 
 it will be allowed, that the preventive check to population operates 
 with confiderable force throughout all the claffes of the community. 
 And this obfervation Is further confirmed by the abftradls from tks 
 reglfters returned in confequencc of the late Population Ad:. The 
 refults of thefe abftrad;s fhew, that the annual marriages in England 
 and Wales, are to the whole population as i to 153^*, a fmaller 
 proportion of m.arrlages than obtains in any of the countries which 
 have been examined, except Norway and Switzerland. , 
 
 * Obferv. on the Refults of the Population A6t, p. 11. The anfwersto the Population 
 ASi, have at length happily refcued the queftion of the population of this country from 
 the obfcurity in which it has been fo long involved, and have afforded fome very valuable 
 data to the political calculator. At the fame time, it mud be confefied, that they are not 
 fo complete, as entirely to exclude reafonings and conje6tureSj refpefting the inferences 
 
 which 
 
CHAP. IX. Of the Checks to Popidathn in England. 30 J 
 
 In the earlier part of the laft century, Dr. Short cftunated this 
 proportion at about i to 115*. It is probable that this calcula^ 
 tion was then oorred:, and the prefcnt diminution in the proportion 
 of marriages notwithftanding an increafe of population more rapid 
 than formerly, owing to the more rapid progrefs of commerce and 
 aoriculture, is partly a caufe, and partly a confequence., of the dimi- 
 niflied mortality that has been obferved of late years. 
 
 The returns of the marriages, purfuant to the late ad:, are fup- 
 pofed to be lefs liable to the fufpicion of inaccuracy, than any other 
 parts of the regifters. 
 
 Dr. Short in his New Ohfen^atwjis on Town and Country Bills of 
 Mortality, {ays, he will " conclude with the obfervation of an eminent 
 " Judge of this nation, that the growth and increafe of mankind is more 
 " ftinted from the cautious difficulty people make to enter on marriage, 
 *' from the profpe6l of the trouble and expcnces in providing for a fa- 
 " mily, than from anything in the nature of the fpecics." And, in con- 
 formity to this idea. Dr. Short propofes to lay heavy taxes and fines^ 
 on thofe who live fmgle, for the fupport of the married poor ^. 
 
 The obfervation of the eminent Judge is, with regard to the num- 
 bers which are prevented from being born, perfectly juft; but the in- 
 ference that the unmarried ought to be puniflied, does not appear to be 
 equally fo. It will not, I believe, be very far from the truth, to fay, 
 that, in this country, not more than half of the prolifick power of 
 nature is called into adion, and yet, that there arp more children 
 born than the country can properly fupport. 
 
 If w^e fuppofe that the yearly births were -rs- part of the population, 
 
 which are to be drawn from them. It Is earneftly to be hoped, that the fubjecSl may not 
 be fuffered to drop after the prefent effort. Now that the firft difficulty is removed, an 
 enumeration, every ten years, might be rendered eafy and familiar ; and the regifters of 
 births, deaths, and marriages, might be received every year, or at leaft, every five years. 
 1 am perfuaded- that more inferences are to be drawn, refpedting the internal ftate of a 
 country, from fuch regifters, than we have yet been in the habit of fuppofing. 
 * New Obferv. on. Bills of Mortality, p. 265. 8vo, 1750, ^ Id. p. 247. 
 
 a pro- 
 
304 Of the Chech to Population m England. book 11. 
 
 a proportion, which, for ftiort periods, obtains frequently on the 
 continent % and conftantly, perhaps, in many parts of America ; and 
 allowing one third for the mortality under 20, which is a moderate 
 fuppofition, as, according to Dr. Short, this mortality, in fome - 
 places, is only one fifth or one fourth ''; then if all were to marry 
 at 20, which is by no means fo early an age as is poffible, ^'-oth part 
 of the population would, in that cafe, marry annually ; that is, there 
 would be one annual marriage out of 60 perfons, inftead of one 
 marriage out of 133 perfons, as is the cafe at prefent. It may fairly 
 be faid, therefore, that not more than one half of the prolifick power 
 of nature is called into ad;ion in this country. And yet, when we 
 contemplate the infufficiency of the price of labour to maintain a 
 large family, and the quantum of mortality which arifes diredlly 
 and indirectly from poverty; and add to this, the crowds of children, 
 which are cut ofF prematurely in our great towns, our manufactories, 
 and our workhoufes, we fhall be compelled to acknowledge, that 
 if the number born annually, were not greatly thinned by this pre- 
 mature mortality, the funds for the maintenance of labour muft 
 increafc with much greater rapidity than they have ever done hither- 
 to in this country, in order to find work and food for the additional 
 numbers that would then grow up to manhood. 
 
 Thofc, therefore, who live fmglc, or marry late, do not, by fuch 
 conduct, contribute, in any degree, todiminilli the aClual population; 
 but merely to diminifh the proportion of premature mortality which 
 would otherwife be excelTive; and confequently in this point of 
 view do not feem to deferve any very fevere reprobation or punifli- 
 ment. 
 
 The returns of the births and deaths are fuppofed, on good grounds, 
 
 * On an average of five yeais, after the plague in PrufRa, rejefling the firft extraor- 
 dinary year, the proportion of births to tlie whole population was above i to i8, 
 (table iv. page 253). In New Jcifey, according to Dr. Price (Obferv. on 
 Reverf. Paym, vol i. p. 283.) it was i to 18, and in the back fettlements probably 
 1 to 15. ^ New Obferv, on Bills of Mortality, p. 59. 
 
 to 
 
CHAP. IX, Of the Checks to 'Population hi 'England. 30 tf 
 
 to be deficient, and it will therefore be difficult to eftimate, with 
 any degree of accuracy, the proportion which they bear to the whole 
 population. 
 
 If we divide the exifling population of England and Wales, by the 
 average of burials for the five years ending in 1 800, it would appear, 
 that the mortality was only i in 49 ^; but this is a proportion fo 
 extraordinarily fmall, confidering the number of our great towns 
 and manufactories, that it cannot be confidered as approaching to the 
 truth. 
 
 Whatever may be the exacfl proportion of the inhabitants of 
 the towns to the inhabitants of the country, the fouthern part 
 of this ifland certainly ranks in that clafs of ftates, where this 
 proportion is greater than i to 3 ; indeed, there is ample rea- 
 fon to believe, that it is greater than i to 3. According to the 
 rule laid down by Crome, the mortality ought, confequently, to 
 be above i in 30'' ; according to Sufmilch, above i in 2>h^' In the 
 Ohfenmttons on the Rejiilts of the Population AB ^, many probable 
 caufes of deficiency in the regiflry of the burials, are pointed out ; 
 but no calculation is offered refpecfting the fum of thefe deficiencies, 
 and I have no data whatever to fupply fuch a calculation. I will 
 only obferve, therefore, that if we fuppofe them altogether to amount 
 to fuch a number, as will make the prefent annual mortality about 
 I in 40, this mufl appear to be the loweft proportion of deaths that 
 can well be fuppofed, confidering the cireumftances of the country ; 
 and if true, would indicate a moft afl:onifhing fuperiority over the 
 generality of other ftates, either in the habits of the people w ith 
 refpe(5l to prudence and cleanlinefs, or in natural healthinefs of fitu- 
 ation % Indeed, it feems to be nearly afccrtained, that both theie 
 
 caufes, 
 
 * The population is taken at 9,168,000, and the annual deaths at i85,ooo, (Obf. 
 on the Refults of Pop. At. p. 6 & 9.) ' Uber die Bevolkerung der Europaifchen 
 
 taaten, p. 127. ^ SujTmilch, Gottliche Ordnung, vol. iii. p.. 60, ^ P. 6, 
 
 '- l\ is by no means furpriiing that our population ihould have been under-rated fpr- 
 
 K r nierly, 
 
306 Of the Chech io Toptiht mi hi "England. book 11. 
 
 caufes, which tend to diminlfh mortality, operate in this country to 
 a confidcrable degree. The fmall proportion of annual marriages 
 mentioned before, indicates, that habits of prudence, extremely fa- 
 vourable to happinefs, prevail through a large part of the commu- 
 nity, in fpite of the poor-laws ; and it appears from the cleareft 
 evidence, that the generality of our country parilhes are very healthy. 
 Dr. Price quotes an account of Dr. Percival, colle6led from the 
 minifters of different parifhes, and taken from pofitive enumera- 
 tions, according to which, in fome villages, only a 45th, a 50th, 
 a 60th, a 66th, and even a 75th pnrt, dies annually. In many of 
 thefe parifhes the births are to the deaths above 2 to i, and in a 
 fmgle parifh above 3 to i ^. Thefe, however, are particular inftances^ 
 and cannot be applied to the agricultural part of the country in ge- 
 neral. In fome of the flat fituations, and particularly thoie near 
 marfties, the proportions are found very different, and in a few, the 
 deaths exceed the births. In the 54 country parifhes, the regiffers 
 of which. Dr. Short colledled, chufmg them purpofely in a great 
 variety of fituations, the average mortality was as high as i in 37 ^ 
 This is certainly much above the prefent mortality of our agricul- 
 tural parifhes, in general. The period which Dr. Short took, in- 
 <;luded fome confidcrable epidemicks, which may poflibly have been 
 
 merly, at leaft by any perfon who attempted to eftimate it from the proportion of births 
 or deaths. Till the late Population MX., no oe would have imagined, that the aflual 
 returns of annual deaths, which might naturally have been expefled to be as accurate 
 in this country as in others, would turn out to be lefs than a 49th part of the popu- 
 lation. If the adlual returns for France, even fo long ago as the ten years ending 
 with 1780, had been multiplied by 49, fhe would have appeared at that time to have 
 a population of aboVie40 millions. The average of annual deaths, was 818,491. Necker, 
 de TAdminiftration des Finances, torn. i. c. ix. p. 255. lamo. 1785. 
 
 * Price's Obferv, on Reverf. Paym. vol. ii. note, p. 10, Firfl additional EfTay. In 
 particular parifhes, private communications are perhaps more to be depended upon than 
 public returijs ; becaufe in general thofe clergymen only are applied to, who are in fome 
 degree interefted in the fubjedl, and of courfe take more pains to be accurate. 
 
 ^ New Obfervations on bUls of Mortality, table ix. p. 133. 
 
 above 
 
CHAP. IX. Of the Checks to Population m England. goJ 
 
 above the ufual proportion. But fickly feafons fhould always be 
 included, or we fliall fall into great errors. In 1056 villages of Bran- 
 denburgh, which Sufmilch examined, the mortality for 6 good years, 
 was I in 43 ; for 10 mixed years, about i in 38 4: ^, In the villages of 
 England, which Sir F. M. Eden mentions, the mortality feems to be 
 about I in 47 or 48 ^ ; and in the late returns puriuant to the Popu^ 
 lation Ad:, a ftill greater degree of healthincis appears. Combining 
 thefe obfervations together, if we take i in 46, or i in 48, as the 
 average mortality of the agricultural part of the country including 
 fickly feafons, this will be the lowxft that can be fuppofcd with any 
 degree of probability. But this proportion will certainly be raifed 
 to I in 40, when we blend it with the mortality of the towns, and 
 the manufaduring part of the community, in order to obtain the 
 average for the whole kingdom. 
 
 The mortality in London, which includes fo confiderable a part of 
 the inhabitants of this country, was, according to Dr. Price, at the 
 time he made his calculations, i in 2o|; in Norwich i in 24 1; in 
 Northampton i in 56 4; in Newbury i in 27 4^; in Manchefter i 
 in i^B ; in Liverpool i in 2y i^, &c. He obferves, that the number 
 dying annually in towns is feldom fo low as i in 28, except in con- 
 fequence of a rapid increafe produced by an influx of people at thofe 
 periods of life when the feweft die, which is the cafe with Manchefler 
 and Liverpool *, and other very flourifhing manufacturing towns. In 
 general he thinks, that the mortality in great towns may be ftated at 
 from J in 19^ to i in 22 and 23 ; in moderate towns, from i in 24 
 to I in 28 ; and, in country villages, from i in 40, to i in 50 s. 
 
 The tendency of Dr. Price to exaggerate the unheal thinefs of towns 
 may juftly be objed:ed to thefe ilatcments ; but the objection feems 
 
 Gottlichc Or<!nung, vol. i. c. il. f. xxl. p. 74. ^ Eftimate of the number 
 
 of Inhabitants in G. Britain. '= Price's Obferv. on Revcrf. Paym. vol. i. note 
 
 p. 272. ^ Id. vol, ii. Firft additional Eflay, note, p. 4. ^ Ibid. 
 
 ^ The Mortality at Stockholm was, according to Wargentin, i In 19. 
 
 Obferv. on Reverf. Payra, vol. ii, Firft additional ElTay, p. 4. 
 
 R r J? to 
 
308 Of the Chech to Population in 'England, uooK it, 
 
 to be only of weight with regard to London. The accounts from 
 the other towns which are given, are from documents which his 
 particular opinions could not influence. It fliould be remarked,, 
 however, that there is good reafon to believe, that not only Lon- 
 don, but the other towns in England, and probably alfo country 
 villages, were, at the time of thefe calculations, lefs healthy than at 
 prefent. Dr. William Heberden remarks, that the regifters of the 
 ten years from 1759 to 1768 % from which Dr. Price calculated the 
 probabilities of life in London, indicate a much greater degree of 
 unhealthinefs than the regifters of late years. And the returns pur- 
 fuant to the population a6l, even after allowing for great omiffions. iv^ 
 in the burials, exhibit in all our provincial towns, and in the coun- 
 try, a degree of healthinefs much greater than had before been cal- 
 culated. At the fame time I cannot but think, that i in 31, the 
 proportion of mortality for London, mentioned in the Ohfervations 
 on the Refults of the Topulai'ion Ati ^^ is fmaller than the truth. Five 
 thoufand may not, perhaps, be enough to allow for the omiffions in 
 the burials ; or, perhaps, the abfentees in the employments of war 
 and commerce, may not be included in thefe omiffions. In eftimat- 
 ing the proportional mortality the refident population alone fhould 
 be confidered. 
 
 There certainly feems to be fomething in great towns, and evea 
 in moderate towns, peculiarly unfavourable to the very early ftages 
 of life ; and the part of the community on which the mortality prin- 
 cipally falls, feems to indicate, that it arifes more from the clofenels 
 and foulnefs of the air, which may be fuppofed to be unfavourable to 
 the tender lungs of children, and the greater confinement, which 
 they almoft neceflarily experience, than from the fuperior degree of 
 luxury and debauchery, ufually, and juftly, attributed to towns. A 
 married pair, with the beft conftitutions, who lead the moft regu- 
 
 * Increafe and Decreafe of Difeafes, p. 3'?. 4to. i8qi. ^ P- 13. 
 
CHAP. IX. Of the Chech to Population hi England. ggg 
 
 lar and quiet life, feldom find that their children enjoy the fame 
 health in towns as in the country. 
 
 In London, according to former calculations, one half of the 
 born 4i64 .ui^der three years of age ; in Vienna and Stockholm under 
 two; in Manchefler, under five ; in Norwich, under five; in Nor- 
 thampton, under ten *. In country villages, on the contrary, half of 
 the born live till thirty, thirty-five, forty, forty-fix, and above. 
 In the parifli of Ackworth, in Yorkfhire, it. appears, from a very 
 exad: account kept by Dr. Lee of the ages at which all died there for 
 20 years, that half of the inhabitants live to the age of 46 ^, and 
 there is little doubt, that, if the fame kind of account had been kept 
 in fome of thofe parifhes before mentioned, in w^hich the mortality is 
 fo fmall as i in 60, 1 in 66, and even i in 75, half of the born 
 would be found to have lived till 50 or ^^, 
 . As the calculations refpedling the ages to which half of the born 
 live in towns, depend more upon the births and deaths which ap- 
 pear in the regifliers, than upon any efi:imates of the number of 
 people, they are on this account lefs liable to uncertainty, than the 
 calculations refpe6ling the proportion of the inhabitants of any place 
 which dies annually. 
 
 To fill up the void occafioned by this mortality in towns, and to 
 anfwer all further demands for population, it is evident, that a con- 
 ji ftant fupply of recruits from the country is necefi"ary, and this fupply 
 appears, in facft, to be always flowing in from the redundant births 
 of the country. Even in thofe towns, where the births exceed the 
 deaths, this efFed: is produced by the marriages of perlbns not born 
 in the place. At a time when our provincial towns were increaf- 
 ing much lefs rapidly than at prefent. Dr. Short calculated that tV 
 of the married were flrangers^. Of 1618 married men, and 1618 
 
 * ^Price's Obferv. on Reverf. Paym. vol. i. p. 264 266. ^Idi vol. i. p. a68. 
 
 * New Obfcrvations on bills of Mortality, p. 76* 
 
 married 
 
3 10 Of the Chech to Popilatlon In England, book ir. 
 
 married women, examined at the Weftminfter Infirmary, only 329 
 of the men, and 495 of the women, had been born in London *. 
 
 Dr. Price fuppofes, that London, with its neighbouring pariflies, 
 where the deaths exceed the births, requires a fupply of 10,000 per- 
 fons annually. Graunt, in his time, eftimated this fupply for Lon- 
 don alone at 6000 ^ ; and he further obferves, that let the mortality 
 of the city be what it will, arifmg from plague, or any other great 
 caufe of deftruAion, that it always fully repairs its lofs in two 
 years ^. 
 
 As all thefe demands, therefore, are fupplied from the country, 
 it is evident, that we fhould fall into a very great error, if we were 
 to eftimate the proportion of births to deaths for the whole king- 
 dom, by the proportion obferved in country pariflies, from which 
 there muft be fuch numerous emigrations. 
 
 We need not, however, accompany Dr. Price in his apprehenfions, 
 that the country will be depopulated by thefe emigrations, at leaft, 
 as long as the funds for the maintenance of agricultural labour re- 
 main unimpaired. The proportion of births, as well as the pro- 
 portion of marriages, clearly proves, that in fpite of our increafmg 
 towns and manufactories, the demand on the country for people is 
 by no means very prefTing. 
 
 If we divide the prefcnt population of England and Wales, by the 
 average number of baptifms for the laft five years, it will appear, 
 that the baptifms are to the population, as i to very nearly ^6 ^ ; 
 but it is fuppofed, with reafon, that there are great omiffions in 
 the baptifms ; and it is conje<5lured, that thefe omiffions are greater 
 than in the burials. On this point, however, I fliould be inclined 
 to think differently, at Icafl, with rcfped to the lafl twenty years, 
 
 Price's Obferv. on Reverf. Paym. v.ol. ii. p. 17. ^ Short's New Obferv. 
 
 Abftradl from Graunt, p 277. <^ Id. p. 276. ^ Average medium of 
 
 baptifms for the lafl five year^ 255,4^6. Pop. 9,168,000. (Obferv. on Rcfults, p. 9.) 
 
 though 
 
CHAP. IX. Of the Chech to Population In Knghnd. 311 
 
 though probably it was the cafe formerly. It would appear, by the 
 prefent proportion of marriages, that the more rapid increafe of po- 
 pulation, fuppofed to have taken place fmce the year 1780, has 
 arifen more from the diminution of deaths, than the increafe of the 
 births. 
 
 ^'^Dr. Short eftimated the proportion of births to the population of 
 (\ England as i to 58 \^ti the agricultural report of Suffolk, the pro- 
 portion of births to the population was calculated at i to 30. For 
 the whole of Suffolk, according to the late returns, this proportion 
 is not much lefs than i to ^^ **. According to a correal account of 
 thirteen villages from a<ftual enumerations, produced by Sir F. M. 
 Eden, the proportion of births to the population was as i to 33 ; 
 and from another account, on the fame authority, taken from towns 
 and manufatfturing parifhes, as i to 57 t^- If> combining all thefe 
 circumflances, and adverting, at the fame time, to the acknow- 
 ledged deficiency in the regiflry of births, and the known increafe 
 of our population of late years, we fuppofe the true proportion of 
 the births to the population to be as i to 30 ; then, affuming the 
 prefent mortality to be i in 40, as before fuggefted, we ftiall nearly 
 keep the proportion of baptifms to burials, which appears in the late 
 returns. The births will be to the deaths as 4 to 3 or 133- to 10, 
 a proportion more than fufficient to account for the increafe of po- 
 pulation which has taken place ilnce the American war, after allow- 
 ing, for thofe who may be fuppofed to have died abroad, and for 
 a greater general mortality, in the earlier part of this period. 
 
 In the Ohfervattons on the Refults of the Population A6i, it is re- 
 marked, that the average duration of life in England appears to 
 
 * New Obferv. p. 267. * In private inquiries, diffenters, and thofe who do 
 
 not chriiflen their children, will not of courfe be reckoned in the population, and con- 
 fequently fuch inquiries, as far as they extend, will more accurately exprefs the true pro- 
 portion of births; and we are fairly juflified in making ufe of them, in order to eftimate 
 the acknowledged deficiency of births in the public returns. 
 
 <= Eftimate of the number of Inhabitants in G. Britain, &c, p. 27. 
 
 I have 
 
313 Of the Checks to Population in England. book ii. 
 
 have Increafed in the proportion of 117 to 100 % fince the year 
 1780. So great a change, in fo ihort a time, if true, would be a 
 moft flriklng phenomenon. But I am inchned to fufpedl, that the 
 whole of this proportional diminution of burials does not arife from 
 increafed healthinefs, but is occafioned, in part, by the greater num- 
 ber of deaths which mufl necefTarily have taken place abroad, owing 
 to the very rapid increafe of our foreign commerce fmcc this period ; 
 and to the great number of perfons abfent in naval and military em- 
 ployments, during the late war, and the conftant fupply of freih 
 recruits neceffary to maintain undiminiihed fo great a force. A per- 
 petual drain of this kind, would certainly have a tendency to pro- 
 duce the efFe<fl obferved in the returns, and might keep the burials 
 ftationary, while the births and marriages were increafmg with fome 
 rapidity. At the fame time, as the increafe of population fmce 1 780 
 is incontrovertible, and the prefent mortality extraordinarily fmall, 
 I fhould ftill be difpofed to believe, that the greater part of the 
 effed; is to be attributed to increafed healthinefs. 
 
 If we fuppofe, that the mortality about the year 1780 was i in . 
 36, inllcad of i in 40, as at prefent, this will be making a great 
 allowance for increafed healthinefs, though not fo much as the pro- 
 portion of 117 to 100 ; and afluming the proportion of births to 
 have been nearly the fame as at prefent, the births about the year 
 1780, will appear to have been to the deaths, as ^6 to 30, or 12 to 
 10; a proportion, which, calculated on a mortality of i in 36, doubles 
 the population of a country, in 125 years^; and is, therefore, as great 
 a proportion, as can be true for the average of the whole century. 
 The higheft eilimates of our population do not make it double o. 
 what it was at the revolution. 
 
 We muft not fuppofe, however, that this proportion of births to 
 deaths, or of births and deaths to the whole population, continued 
 uniform before 1780. It appears from the regiftcrs of every country 
 
 P. !^. > See table ii. p 238. 
 
 which 
 
CHAP. IX. Of the Checks to Topulat'mi hi 'England. 313 
 
 which have been kept for any length of time, that confiderable va- 
 riations occur at different periods. Dr. Short, about the middle of 
 the century, eflimated the proportion of births to deaths at 1 1 to 
 10*; and if the births were at the fame time a twenty-eighth part 
 of the population, the mortality was then as high as i in 30 \, We 
 now fuppofe that the proportion of births to deaths is above 13 to 10; 
 but if we were to aflume this proportion as a criterion by which to 
 eftimate the increafe of population for the next thirty or forty years, 
 we Ihould probably fall into a very grofs error. The effedls of the 
 latefcar cities are ftrongly marked, in the returns of the Population A5f, 
 by a decreafe of births, and an increafe of burials, and fhould fuch 
 feafons frequently recur, they would foon deftroy the great excefs 
 of births which has been obferved during the laft twenty years ; and 
 indeed we cannot reafonably fuppofe, that the refources of this coun- 
 try fhould increafe, for any long continuance, with fuch rapidity, as 
 to allow of a permanent proportion of births to deaths as 13 to 10, 
 unlefs, indeed, this proportion were principally caufed by great 
 foreign drains. 
 
 From all the data that could be colle^led, the proportion of births, 
 to the whole population of England and Wales, has been afTumed to 
 be as I to 30 ; but this is a fmaller proportion of births than has ap- 
 peared, in the courfe of this review, to take place in any other 
 country, except Norway and Switzerland ; and it has been hitherto 
 ufual with political calculators to confider a great proportion of births, 
 as the fureft fign of a vigorous and flourifhing ftate. It is to be 
 hoped, however, that this prejudice will not laft long. In countries 
 circumftanced like America or Ruflia, or in other countries after any 
 great mortality, a large proportion of births may be a favourable 
 lymptom ; but in the average ftatc of a well-peopled territory, there 
 
 New Obferv. tables ii. & iii. p. aa & 44. Price^s Obferv. on Reyerf. Paym. 
 vol. ii. p. ^11. 
 
 S f cannot 
 
314 Of the Chech to Fopulatwn In England, book ii. 
 
 cannot well be a worfe fign than a large proportion of births, nor 
 can there well be a better fign than a fmall proportion. 
 
 Sir Francis D'lvernois very juftly obferves, that '^ if the various 
 " flates of Europe kept and publifhed annually an exad: account of 
 " their population, noting carefully in a fecond column the exad: 
 *' age at which the children die, this fecond column would fliew the 
 '* relative merit of the governments, and the comparative happinefs 
 " of their fubjeds. A fimple arithmetical ftatement would then, 
 *' perhaps, be more conclufive, than all the arguments that could 
 " be adduced \" In the importance of the inferences to be drawn 
 from fuch tables, I fully agree with him : and to make thefe infer- 
 ences, it is evident, that we Ihould attend lefs to the column ex- 
 preffing the number of children born, than to the column exprefT- 
 ing the number which furvived the age of infancy and reached man- 
 hood ; and this number will, almoft invariably, be the greateft, 
 where the proportion of the births to the whole population is the 
 leaft. In this point, we rank next after Norway and Switzerland, 
 which, confidering the number of our great towns and manufactories, 
 is certainly a very extraordinary faCl. As nothing can be more clear,, 
 than that all our demands for population are fully fupplied, if this 
 be done with a fmall proportion of births, it is a decided proof of a 
 very fmall mortality, a diftindion on which we may juftly pride 
 ourfelves. Should it appear from future inveftigations, that I have 
 made too great an allowance for omiffions, both in the births and 
 in the burials, I fhall be extremely happy to find, that this diftinc- 
 tlon which, other circumflances being the fame, I confider as the- 
 fureft tcft of happinefs and good government, is even greater than I 
 have fuppofcd it to be. In defpotic, miferable, or naturally unhealthy 
 countries, the proportion of births to the whole population will 
 generally be found very great. 
 
 According to one of Sir F. M. Eden's calculations, taken from 
 
 * Tableau dcs Pcites, &c. c. ii. p. 16. 
 
 towns 
 
CHAl. ix. Of the Chech to Populathn m England. 31 ^ 
 
 towns and manufadluring parlflies, the annual births are to the an- 
 nual marriages as 3 to I*. In 1 1 1 agricultural parifhes for 13 years, 
 ending in i ygg, the annual births are to the annual marriages in the 
 proportion of above 4 to i ^. From which it might appear, that, in 
 our tow^ns, more than half of the bom live to be married, and in the 
 country lefs. But for the rcafons mentioned in page 234, the con- 
 trary is probably true. In our towns, from the mortality that takes 
 place in the early ftages of life, it is not to be doubted that lefs than 
 half of the born live to be married, and the great proportion of mar- 
 riages is occafioned merely by new fettlers. In the country, on ac- 
 count of the emigrants that marry in other places, more than half 
 of the born live to be married, though, allowing for fecond and third 
 marriages, probably not much more. But from what was faid in 
 page 2,62, the degree in which the preventive check operates 
 cannot be determined by the proportion of the born which lives to 
 be married ; but depends upon the proportion of annual marriages, 
 and the proportion of annual births to the whole population ; and till 
 the firft of* thefe proportions rifes from lin 123 to 1 in 80, of i in 
 70, and the fecond from i in 30 to i in 24, 22 or 20, it cannot be 
 {aid, that the towns draw hard upon the country for population. 
 
 If taking the towns and country together, and rejecting at prefent 
 fecond and third marriages and illegitimate children, we fuppofe, that 
 accurately half of the born live to be married, then, according to 
 table i. page 231, each marriage muft yield five births, in order to 
 produce a proportion of births to deaths, as 12 t to 10. And if the 
 proportion of our births to deaths be above this, or 13 4- to 10, then, 
 including all circumftances, it does not appear that we can allow 
 lefs than 5^ births to each marriage. 
 
 In judging of the proportion of the born which lives to be mar- 
 ried, by the proportion of annual births to annual marriages, the 
 number of fecond and third marriages, and the number of illegiti- 
 
 Eftimate of the Number of Inhabitants in Great Britain, p. 10. ^ W- P- 79- 
 
^i6 Of the Checks to Population ht Eiigland. book ii. 
 
 mate children, tend to corred: each other. The fecond and third 
 marriages tend to give the proportion which Uves to be married too 
 great, and the illegitimate children too fmall. It muft depend on 
 the particular circumllances of the country, which of thefe two 
 caufes of irregularity preponderates. 
 
 According to the late returns, it would appear, that, in this coun- 
 try, confiderably more than half of the born live to be married ; but 
 when the deficiency in the births is aflumed to be fuch as is fug- 
 gefled in this chapter, the refult is rather on the contrary fide. 
 
 On an average of the five years ending in 1780, the proportion of 
 births to marriages is 350 to 100. In 1760, it was 362 to 100, from 
 which, an inference is drawn, that the regifters of births, however 
 deficient, were certainly not more deficient formerly, than at prefent *. 
 But a change of this nature, in the appearance of the regifters, might 
 arife from a caufe totally uneonneded with deficiencies. If from 
 the acknowledged greater healthinefs of the latter part pf the 
 century, compared with the middle of it, a greater number of 
 children furvived the age of infancy, a greater proportion of the born 
 would of courfe live to marry ; and this circumftance would produce 
 exactly the effecfl obferved in the regifters. From what has already 
 been faid on this fubjcA, the reader will be aware, that this change 
 may take place without diminishing the operation of the preven- 
 tive check. If half of the born live to 40 inftead of 30, it is evi- 
 dent, that a greater proportion might live to marry, and yet the 
 marriages be later. 
 
 It has been made a queftion, whether we have juft grounds for 
 fuppofmg, that the regillry of births and deaths was in general more 
 deficient in the former part of the century, than in the latter part. 
 It appears to me, that the late returns tend to confirm the fufpicion 
 of former inaccuracy, and to fhew that the regifters of the earlier 
 part of the century, in every point of view, afford very uncertain data 
 
 Obfervations on the Refults of the Population A(Sl, p. 8. 
 
 / 
 
 on 
 
CHAP. IX. Of the Checks to Population in EnglanJ. 317 
 
 on which to ground any eftimates of pail population. In the years 
 1 7 10, 1730, and 1730, it appears from the returns, that the deaths 
 exceeded the births; and taking the fix periods ending in 1750% 
 including the firll half of the century, if we compare the fum of 
 the births with the fum of the deaths, the excefs of the births is fo 
 fmall, as to be perfecflly inadequate to account for the increafe of a 
 million, which, upon a calculation from the births alone, is fup- 
 pofed to have taken place in that time ''. Confequently, either the 
 regifters are very inaccurate, and the deficiencies in the births greater 
 than in the deaths ; or thefe periods, each at the diftance of ten 
 years, do not exprefs the juft average. Thefe particular years may 
 have been more unfavourable with refpedt to the proportion of births 
 to deaths than the reft; indeed one of them,. 1710, is known to have 
 been a year of great fcarcity and diftrefs. But if this fufpicion, 
 which is very probable, be admitted, fo as to afFe<5l the fix firft: 
 periods, we may juftly fufpe(^ the contrary accident to have happened 
 with regard to the three following periods ending with 1780, in 
 which thirty years, it would feem by the fame mode of calculation, 
 that an increafe of a million and an half had taken place \ At 
 any rate it muft be allowed that the three feparate years, taken in 
 this manner, can by no means be confidered as fufficient to efta- 
 blifh a juft average ; and what rather encourages the fiifpicion that 
 thefe particular years might be more than ufually favourable with 
 regard to births, is, that the increafe of births from 1780 to 1785, 
 is unufually fmall ^, which would naturally take place, without 
 fuppofing a flower progrefs than before, if the births in 1780 had 
 been accidentally above the average. 
 
 On the whole, therefore, confidering the probable inaccuracy 
 of the earlier regifters, and the very great danger of fallacy, in draw> 
 
 * Population Abftra6l Pari{h Regifters. Final Summary, p. 455. 
 '' Obfervations on the Refults of the Population At, p. 9. 
 ^ Ibid. > Ibid. 
 
 ing 
 
3i8 Of the Checks to Population In E.ngland, Book 7i, 
 
 ing general Inferences from a few detached years, I do not think 
 that we can depend upon any eflimates of paft population, founded 
 on a calculation from the births, till after the year 1780, when 
 every following year is given, and a juft average of the births may 
 be obtained. As a further confirmation of this remark, I will juft 
 obferve, that in the final fummary of the abftracfts from the regifters 
 of England and Wales, it appears, that in the year 1790, the total 
 number of births was 248,774, in the year 1795, :?47,3i8, and m 
 1800, 247,147*. Confequently, if we had been eftimating the 
 population from the births, taken at three feparate periods of five 
 years, it would have appeared that the population during the laft 
 ten years, had been regularly decreafing, though we have very good 
 reafon to believe, that it has increafed confiderably. 
 
 In the Ohfervations on the Refults of the Population ASl ^ a table 
 is given of the population of England and Wales throughout the laft 
 century calculated from the births ; but, for the reafons given above, 
 little reliance can be placed on it, and for an eftimate of the popu- 
 lation at the revolution, I fliould be inclined to place more depend- 
 ance on the old calculations from the number of houfes. 
 
 It muft, indeed, have appeared to the reader, in the courfe of this 
 work, that regifters of births or deaths, excluding any fufpicion of 
 deficiencies, muffc at all times afford very uncertain data for an efli- 
 raate of population. On account of the varying circumftances of 
 every country, they are both very precarious guides in this refped: ; 
 but of the two, perhaps, the births ftill more fo, than the deaths ; 
 though from the greater apparent regularity of the former, political 
 calculators have generally adopted them as the ground of their efti- 
 mates, in preference to the latter. Necker, in eftimating the popu- 
 lation of France, obferves, that an epidemick difeafe, or an emigra- 
 tion, may occafion temporary differences in the deaths, and that 
 
 * Population Abflrad Parilh Regifters, p. 455. '^ P. 9. 
 
 therefore 
 
CHAP. IX. Of the Chech io Population m Engla7id. 319 
 
 therefore the number of births is the moft certain criterion \ But 
 the very circumftance of the apparent regularity of the births in the 
 regifters will now and then lead into the groffeft errors. If in any 
 country we can obtain regiflers of burials for two or three years toge- 
 ther, a plague or mortal epidemick will always fhew itfelf, from the 
 very fudden increafe of the deaths during its operation, and the flill 
 greater diminution of them afterwards. From thefe appearances we 
 fhould of courfe be direcfled not to include the whole of a great 
 mortality, in any very lliort term of years. But there would be 
 nothing of this kind to guide us in the regifters of births ; and, after 
 a country had loft an eighth part of its population by a plague, an 
 average of the five or fix fubfequent years would probably Ihew an 
 increafe in the number of births, and our calculations would give 
 the population the higheft at the very time that it was the loweft. 
 This appears very ftrikingly, in many of Sufmilch's tables, and moft 
 particularly in the table for Pruflia and Lithuania, which I have 
 inferted in chap. vi. of this book, w^here, in the year fubfequent ta 
 the lofs of one third of the population, the births were confider- 
 ably increafed, and in an average of five years, but very little 
 diminilhed ; and this, at a time, when, of courfe, the country could 
 have made but a very fmall progrefs towards recovering its former 
 population. 
 
 We do not know indeed of any extraordinary mortality which has 
 occurred in England fmce 1700; and there are reafons for fuppofing 
 that the proportions of the births and deaths to the population dur- 
 ing the laft century, have not experienced fuch great variations as 
 in many countries on the continent ; at the fame time it is certain, 
 that the fickly fcafons which are known to have occurred, would, in 
 proportion to the degree of their fatality, produce fimilar efFcds ;. 
 and the change which has been obferved in the mortality of late 
 
 * De rAdminiftration des Finances, torn. i. c. ix. p. 25. i2mo. 1785. 
 
 S years^ 
 
 # 
 
3^0 Ofihe Chech to Population In England, book ii, 
 
 years, fliould dlfpofe us to believe that fimllar changes might for- 
 merly have taken place refpeding the births, and fhould inftru6l us 
 to be extremely cautious in applying any proportions wliich arc 
 obferved to be true at prefent, to pall or future periods. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
( Si ) 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Of the Chtch to Population m Scotland and Ireland, 
 
 An examination, in detail, of the ftatiftical account of Scotland, 
 would fumifli numerous illuftrations of the principle of population ; 
 but I have already extended this part of the work fo much, that I am 
 fearful of tiring the patience of my readers ; and iliall therefore con- 
 fine my remarks in the prefent inftance to a few circumflances 
 which have happened to flrike me. 
 
 On account of the acknowledged omiflions in the regiilers of births, 
 deaths, and marriages, in moft of the parifties of Scotland, few juft 
 inferences can be drawn from them. Many give extraordinary refill ts. 
 In the parilli of Crofsmichael * in Kircudbright, the mortality appears 
 to be only i in 98, and the yearly marriages i in 192. Thefe 
 proportions would imply the moft unheard-of healthinefs, and the 
 moft extraordinary operation of the preventive check; but there can 
 be little doubt, that they are principally occadoned by omiflions in 
 the regiftry of burials, and the celebration of a part of the marriages 
 in other pariflies. 
 
 In general, however, it appears from reglfters that are ftippofed to 
 be accurate, that in the country parifties the mortality is fmall ; and 
 that the proportions of i in 45, i in 50, and i in 55, are not un- 
 common. According to a table of the probabilities of life, calculated 
 from the bills of mortality in the parifh of Kettle, by Mr. Wilkie ; 
 
 * Statiftical Account of Scotl^d, vol. i, p. 167. 
 
 T t the 
 
^22 Of the Chech to Popuhtlojt hi book it, 
 
 the ex!j)ed:atIon of an infant's life is 46.6% which is very high, 
 and the proportion which dies in the firfl year is only ^V. Mr. Wilkie 
 further adds, that, from 36 parifh accounts, publifhed in the firft 
 volume, the expectation of an infant's life appears to be 40.3. But 
 in a table, which he has produced in the laft volume, calculated for 
 the Whole of Scotland from Dr. Webfter's furvey, the cxped:ation 
 at birth appears to be only 31 years''. This, however, he thinks, 
 muft be too low, as it exceeds but little the calculations for the town 
 of Edinburgh. 
 
 The Scotch regiflers appeared to be, in general, fo incomplete, 
 that the returns of gg parifhes only, are publifhed in the Population 
 Ab{lra(fl ;^and, if any judgment can be formed from thefe, they fliew 
 a very extraordinary degree of healthinefs, and a very fmall proportion 
 of births. The fum of the population of thefe parifhes in 1801, was 
 :? 17,873"^; the average of burials for 5 years ending in 1800, was 
 about 3815; and of births, 4928 '^ : from which it would appear 
 that the mortality in thefe parifhes w^as only i in ^6, and the pro- 
 portion of births i in 44. But thefe proportions are {o extraordinary, 
 that it is difficult to conceive, that they approach near the truth. 
 Combining them with the calculations of Mr. Wilkie, it will not 
 appear probable, that the proporrion of deaths and births in Scot- 
 land, fliould be fmaller than what has been allowed for England and 
 Wales ; namely, i in 40 for the deaths, and i in 30 for the births j 
 and it feems to be generally agreed that the proportion of births to 
 deaths is 4 to 3 \ 
 
 With refpe(5L to the marriages, it will be ftill more difficult to 
 form a conjed:ure. They arc regiflered fo irregularly, that no returns 
 of them are given in the Population Abflrad. I fhould naturally 
 have thought, from the Statiflical Account, that the tendency 
 
 * Statiftlcal Account of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 407. ^ Id. vol. xxi. p. 383. 
 
 ' Population Ab{lral:, Parifli Regifters, p. 459. * Id. p. 458. 
 
 <" Statiflical Account of Scotland, vol. xxi. p-383. 
 
 I to 
 
c H A p . X . Scotland and Ireland. o 23 
 
 to marriage in Scotland, was, upon the whole, greater than in 
 England ; but if it be true, that the births and deaths bear the fame 
 proportion to each other, and to the whole population, in both 
 countries, the proportion of marriages cannot be very different. It 
 Ihould be remarked, however, that, fuppofmg the operation of the 
 preventive check to be exacflly the fame, in both countries, and the 
 climates to be equally falubrious, a greater degree of want and 
 poverty would take place in Scotland, before the fame mortality was 
 produced as in England, owing to the fmaller proportion of towns 
 and manufactories in the former country than in the latter. 
 
 From a general view of the ftatiftical accounts, the refult fccms 
 clearly to be, that the condition of the lower clailcs of people in Scot- 
 land, has been confiderably improved of late years. The price of 
 provifions has rifen ; but, almoft, invariably, the price of labour has 
 rifen in a greater proportion ; and it is remarked in moft pariflies,. 
 that more butcher's meat is confumed among the common people 
 than formerly ; that they are both better lodged and better clothed ; 
 and that their habits, with refpe<5l to cleanlinefs, are decidedly 
 improved. 
 
 A part of this improvement is probably to be attributed to the 
 increafe of the preventive check. In fome pariflies, a habit of later mar- 
 riages is noticed, and in many places, where it is not mentioned, it 
 may be fairly inferred, from the proportions of births and marriages, 
 and other circumftances. The writer of the account of the parifh 
 of Elgin*, in enumerating the general caufes of depopulation in 
 Scotland, fpeaks of the dlfcouragement to marriage from the union 
 of farms, and the confequent emigration of the flower of their young 
 men of ever)' clafs and defcription, very few of whom ever return. 
 Another caufe that he mentions, is, the dlfcouragement to marriage 
 from luxury ; at leaft, he obferves, till people are advanced in years, 
 and then a puny race of children are produced. ** Hence, how 
 
 * Vol. V. p. r, 
 
 T t 3 '* many 
 
/ 
 
 324 Of the Chech to PopuJat'tonht book it, 
 
 " many men of every defcriptlon remain fingle, and how many 
 ** young women of every rank are never married, who, in the 
 ** beginning of this century, or even fo late as 1745, would have 
 " been the parents of a numerous and healthy progeny." 
 
 In thofe parts of the country where the population has been rather 
 diminiflied, by the introdudion of grazing, or an improved fyftem 
 of hufbandry which requires fewer hands, this effedl has chiefly taken 
 place; and I have little doubt, that, in eftimating the decreafe of their 
 population, fmce the end of the laft, or the beginning of the prefent 
 century, by the proportion of births at the different periods, they 
 have fallen into the error which has been particularly noticed, with 
 regard to Switzerland, and have, in confequence, made the difference 
 greater than it really is ''. 
 
 The general inference on this fubjedl, which I fhould draw from 
 the different accounts is, that the marriages are rather later than 
 formerly. There are, however, fome decided exceptions. In thofe 
 parifhes where manufactures have been introduced, which afford em 
 ployment to children as foon as they have reached their 6th or 7th 
 year, a habit of marrying early naturally follows; and while the 
 manufaAure continues to flourifh and increafe, the evil arifing from 
 it is not very perceptible; though humanity mufl confefs with a figh, 
 that one of the reafons why it is not fo perceptible, is, that room is 
 made for frefh families, by the unnatural mortality which takes place 
 among the children fo employed. 
 
 There are other parts of Scotland, however, particularly the 
 Weftern Ifles, and fome parts of the Highlands, where population has 
 confiderably increafed from the fubdivifion of pofTcflions, and where, 
 perhaps, the marriages may be earlier than they were formerly, 
 though not caufed by the introduAion of manufactures. Here, the 
 
 * One writer takes notice of this circumftance, and obferves, that formerly tlie births 
 feem to have born a greater proportion to the whole population than at prefent. Pro- 
 bably, he fays, more were born, and there was a greater mortality. Parilh of Mont- 
 quitter, vol. vi. p. 121. 
 
 poverty 
 
C H A p . X . Scotland and Ireland, o 2 c 
 
 poverty which follows is but too confpicuous. In the account of 
 Delting in Shetland % it is remarked, that the people marry very 
 young, and are encouraged to this by their landlords, who wifli to 
 have as many men on their grounds as poffible to profecute the ling 
 fifliery ; but that they generally involve themfelves in debt and 
 large families. The writer further obferves, that formerly there 
 were fome old regulations called country acfls, by one of which, it 
 was enabled, that no pair fhould marry unlefs pofTefTed of 40I. Scots, 
 of free gear. This regulation is not now enforced. It is faid that 
 thcfe regulations were approved and confirmed by the parliament of 
 Scotland, in the reign of Queen Mary, or James VI. 
 
 In the account of Breflay Burra and Quarff in Shetland ^ it is 
 obferved, that the farms are very fmall, and few have a plough. The 
 objc6l of the proprietors is to have as many fifhermen on their lands 
 as poffible a great obftacle to improvements in agriculture. They 
 filh for their matters, who either give them a fee totally inadequate, or 
 take their fiih at a low rate. The writer remarks, that, " in moft 
 " countries the increafe of population is reckoned an advantage, and 
 ** juftly. It is, however, the reverfc, in the prefent ftate of Shetland. 
 " The farms are fplit. The young men are encouraged to marry 
 " without having any ftock. The confequence is poverty and diflrefs.. 
 ** It is believed that there is at prefent in thefe iflands, double the 
 " number of people that they can properly maintain." 
 
 The writer of the account of Auchterderran % in the county of 
 Fife, fays, that the meagre food of the labouring man is unequal to 
 oppofe the effects of inceflant hard labour upon his conftitution, and 
 by this means his frame is worn down before the time of nature's 
 appointment, and adds, " That people continue voluntarily to enter 
 " upon fuch a hard fituation by marrying, lliews how far the union 
 ** of the fexes, and the love of independence, are principles of human 
 ** nature." In this obfervation, perhaps, the love of independence 
 had better have been changed for the love of a progeny* 
 
 ? Vol. i. p. 385. * Vol. X. p. 194. ' Vol. i. p. 449, 
 
 The 
 
^z6 Of the Checks to Fopulatmi In book ii. 
 
 The ifland of Jura * appears to be abfolutely overflowing with 
 inhabitants in fpitc of conftant and numerous emigrations. There 
 are fometimes 50 or 60 on a farm. The writer obferves, that fuch 
 a fwarm of inhabitants, where manufadlures and many other branches 
 of induftry are unknown, are a very great load upon the proprietors, 
 and ufelefs to the ftate. 
 
 Another writer'' is aftonifhed at the rapid incrcafe of population, 
 infpite of a confiderable emigration to America in 1770, and a large 
 drain of young men during the late war. He thinks it difficult to 
 affign adequate caufes for it, and obferves, that if the population con- 
 tinue to increafe, in this manner, unlefs fome employment be found 
 for the people, the country will foon be unable to fupport them. 
 And in the account of the pariih of Callander % the writer fays, that 
 the villages of this place, and other villages in fimilar fituations, arc 
 filled with naked and ftarving crowds of people, who are pouring 
 down for fhelter or for bread; and then obferves that whenever the 
 population of a town or village exceeds the induftry of its inhabitants, 
 from that moment the place muft decline. 
 
 A very extraordinary inftance of a tendency to rapid increafe, 
 occurs in the regiftcr of the parifli of Duthil ^, in the county of 
 Elgin ; and as errors of excefs are not fo probable, as errors of omif- 
 iion, it feems to be worthy of attention. The proportion of annual 
 births to the whole population is as i to 12 ; of marriages, as i to 
 55; and of deaths the fame. The births are to the deaths as 70 
 to 15, or 4f to I. We may fuppofe fome inaccuracy refpe6ling the 
 number of deaths, which feems to err on the fide of defe<i:l ; but the 
 very extraordinary proportion of the annual births, amounting to -rV 
 of the whole population, does not feem to be eafily liable to error; and 
 the other circumftances refpe<5ting the parifh,tend to confirm the ftate- 
 ment. Out of a population of 830, there were only 3 bachelors, and 
 
 * Vol.xii. p. 317- '' Pariih of Lochalfli, county of Rofs, vol. xi. p. 422. 
 
 * Vol. xi. p. 574. ^ Vol. iv. p. 308. 
 
 each 
 
C H A? ^ !E . Scothihif 'nifid tfelanct, i^y 
 
 each niclrrlagc yiefd^d 7 children. Yet with all this, the population 
 is fuppofed to have decreafed confidcrably fince 1 745 ; and it appears, 
 that this exceffive tendency to increafe, had been occafioned by an 
 exccffive tendency to emigrate. The writer mentions very great emi- 
 grations ; and obferves, that whole tribes who enjoyed the comforts 
 of life in a reafonable degree, had of late years emigrated from dif- 
 ferent parts of Scotland, from mere humour, and a fantaftical idea 
 of becoming their ow^n mafters and freeholders. 
 
 Such an -extraordinary proportion of births caufed evidently by 
 habits of emigration, fhews the extreme difficulty of depopulating a 
 country merely by taking away its people. Take but away its 
 induftry, and the fourccs of its fubfiftence, and it is done at once. 
 
 It may be obferved, that in this parifli, the average number of 
 children to a marriage is faid to be 7, though, from the proportion of 
 annual births to annual marriages, it would appear to be only 4I-. 
 This difference occurs in many other parilhes, from which we may 
 conclude, that the writers of thefe accounts very judiciouUy adopted 
 fome other mode of caculation, than the proportion of annual births 
 and marriages ; and probably founded the refults they give, either on 
 perfonal inquiries, or refearches into their regifters, to find the num- 
 ber of children which had been born to each mother in the courfc 
 of her marriage. 
 
 The women of Scotland appear to be prolifick. The average of 
 6 children to a marriage is frequent; and of 7, and even 7I, not 
 very uncommon. One inftance is very curious, as it appears as if 
 this number was adlually living to each marriage, which would of 
 courfe imply, that a much greater number had been, and would be, 
 born. In the parifh of Nigg", in the county of Kincardine, the 
 account fays, that there are ^y land families, and 405 children; 
 which gives nearly y~ each ; 42; fifher families, and 3 1 4 children ; 
 nearly 7^ each. Of the land families, which have had no chil^ 
 
 Vol. vii. p. 194. 
 
 dren. 
 
358 Of the Checks to Population m book ii 
 
 drcn, there were 7 ; of the fifhers, none. If this ilatement bejuft, 
 I fliould conceive that each marriage muft have yielded, or would 
 yield, in the courfe of its duration, as many as 9 or 10 births. 
 
 When, from any acElual furvey, it appears, that there is about 3 
 living children to each marriage, or 5 perfons, or only 4 1- to a houfe, 
 which are very common proportions, we mufl not infer that the 
 average number of births to a marriage is not much above 3. We 
 muft recoiled that all the marriages, or eftabliihments, of the prefent 
 year, are of courfe without children; all of the year before, have only 
 one ; all of the year before that, can hardly be expected to have as 
 many as two, and all of the fourth year preceding will certainly, in 
 the natural courfe of things, have lefs than three. One out of five 
 children is a very unufually fmall proportion to lofe in the courfe of 
 ten years ; and after ten years, it may be fuppofed that the eldeft 
 begin to leave their parents ; fo that if each marriage be fuppofed 
 accurately to yield 5 births in the courfe of its duration, the families 
 which had increafed to their full complement would only have 4 
 children, and a very large proportion of thofe which were in the ftages 
 of increafe would have lefs than three ^ ; and confequently, taking 
 into confidcration the number of families where one of the parents 
 may be fuppofed to be dead, I much doubt, whether in this cafe, a 
 furvey would give 44: to a family. In the parifh of DuthiP, already 
 noticed, the number of children to a marriage is mentioned as 7, and 
 the number of perfons to a houfe, as only 5. 
 
 I have taken notice of this circumftancc, to obviate an objecfllon 
 which might perhaps appear to arife from the refult of fuch furveys, 
 to the proofs which have been adduced, that marriages are in general 
 more prolifick than they have been ufually fuppofed to be. The 
 accounts of many of the pariflies in Scotland, which mention 6, 7, 
 and 77, as the average number of children to a marriage tend very 
 
 * It has been calculated that, on an average, the difference of age in the children of the 
 fame family is about two years. '^ Vol. iv. p. 308. 
 
 ftroQgly 
 
CHAP. X. Scotland and Ireland. o^g 
 
 ftrongly to confirm this fuppofition ; and as in thefe fame pariflies, 
 the proportion of annual births to annual marriages, is feldom above 
 31, 4, or 41, to I ; they prove at the fame time the fallacy of this 
 mode of eftimating the fruitfulnefs of marriages. In thofe parifhes 
 where the authors have adopted this mode, they generally mention, 
 as might be expelled, 3, 3^, 4^ and \\, as the average number of 
 children to a marriage. 
 
 The poor of Scotland are in general fupported by voluntary con- 
 tributions, diflributed under the infpedlion of the minifter of the 
 pariili ; and it appears, upon the vs^hole, that they have been con- 
 ducted vs^ith confiderable judgment. Having no claim of right to 
 relief, and the fupplies, from the mode of their colledion, being 
 neceifarily uncertain, and never abundant, the poor have confidered 
 them merely as a laft refource in cafes of extreme diftrefs, and not as 
 a fund on which they might fafely rely, and an adequate portion of 
 which belonged to them by the laws of their country, in all dif- 
 ficulties. 
 
 The confequence of this is, that the common people make very 
 confiderable exertions to avoid the neceffity of applying for fuch a 
 fcanty and precarious relief. It is obfervcd, in many of the accounts, 
 that they feldom fail of making a provifion for ficknefs and for age ; 
 and in general, the grown-up children and relations of perfons, who 
 are in danger of falling upon the parilh, ftep forward, if they be in 
 any way able, to prevent fuch a degradation, which is univerfally 
 confidered as a difgrace to the family. 
 
 The writers of the accounts of the different pariflies, frequently 
 reprobate, in very flrong terms, the fyftem of Englifli aflefrmcnts for 
 the poor, and give a decided preference to the Scotch mode of relief. 
 In the account of Paifley % though a manufacturing town, and with 
 a numerous poor, the author ftill reprobates the Englifli lyftem, and 
 makes an obfervation on this fubjedl, in which, perhaps, he goes too 
 
 * Vol. vii. p. 74. 
 
 U u far. 
 
g^o Of the Chech to Popidatmi in book ii. 
 
 far. He fays, that though there are in no country fuch large con- 
 tributions for the poor as in England, yet there is no where fo great 
 a number of them ; and their condition,- in comparifon of the poor of 
 other countries, is truly moji mlferahle. 
 
 In the account of Caerlaverock *, in anfwer to the queftion, How 
 ought the poor to be fupplied ? it is moft judicioufly remarked, 
 *' that dillrefs and poverty multiply in propcr:on to the funds 
 " created to relieve them ; that the meafures of charity ought to 
 " remain invifible, till the moment when it is neceffary that they 
 " Ihould be diflributed ; that in the country parilhes of Scotland, 
 ** in general, fmall occafional voluntary colledlions are fufficient ; 
 " that the legiflature has no occafion to interfere to augment the 
 " flream which is already copious enough ; in fine, that the eftablifh- 
 " ment of a poors rate would not only be unneceffary, but hurtful, 
 " as it would tend to opprefs the landholder, without bringing 
 *' relief on the poor." 
 
 Thefe, upon the whole, appear to be the prevailing opinions of the 
 clergy of Scotland. There arc, however, fome exceptions ; and the 
 iyftem of aifeiTments is fometimes approved, and the eftablifliment 
 of it propofed. But this is not to be wondered at. In many of 
 thefe pariflies, the experiment had never been made ; and without 
 being thoroughly aware of the principle of population, from theory, 
 or having fully fctn the evils of poor laws, in pradiice, nothing feems, 
 on a firft view of the fubjecft, more natural, than the propolal of an 
 afleflment, to which the uncharitable, as well as the charitable, 
 fliould be made to contribute, according to their abilities, and which 
 might be increafed or diminiihed, according to the wants of the 
 moment. 
 
 The endemick and epidemick difeafes in Scotland, fall chiefly, as is 
 ufual, on the poor. The fcurvy is in fome places extremely trouble- 
 fome and inveterate ; and in others it arifes to a contagious leprofy, 
 
 ' Vol. vi. p. 21. 
 
 the 
 
c H A P . X . ScotIa?td and Ireland. o ^ j 
 
 the efFeds of which are always dreadful, and not unfrcquently 
 mortal. One writer calls it the fcourge and bane of human nature \ 
 It is generally attributed to cold and wet fituations, meagre and 
 unwholefome food, impure air from damp and crowded houfes, indo- 
 lent habits, and the want of attention to cleanlinefs. 
 
 To the fame caufes, in great meafure, are attributed the rheuma- 
 tifms which are general, and the eonfumptions which arc frequent 
 among the common people. Whenever, in any place, from parti- 
 cular circumftances, the condition of the poor has been rendered 
 worfe, thefe diforders, particularly the latter, have been obferved to 
 prevail with greater force. 
 
 Low nervous fevers, and others of a more violent and fatal nature, 
 are frequently epidemick, and fometimes take off confiderablc num- 
 bers ; but the moil fatal epidemick, fnice the extin61:ion of the plague, 
 which formerly vifited Scotland, is the fmall-pox, the returns of 
 w^hich, are, in many places, at regular intervals ; in others, irregular, 
 but feldom at a greater diftance than 7 or 8 years. Its ravages are 
 dreadful, though in fome pariihes not fo fatal as they were fome 
 time ago. The prejudices againft inoculation are ftill great ; and as 
 the mode of treatment muft almoft neceiTarily be bad, in fmall and 
 crowded houfes, and the cuftom of vifiting each other during the 
 diforder ftill fubfifts in many places, it may be imagined that the 
 mortality muft be confiderable, and the children of the poor the 
 principal fufferers. In fome parifties of the Weftern Illes, and the 
 Highlands, the number of perfons to a houfe has increafed from 4^, 
 and 5, to 6i, and 7. It is evident, that if fuch a confiderable increafe, 
 without the proper accommodations for it, do not abfolutely generate 
 the difcafe, it muft give to its devaftations tenfold force when it 
 arrives. 
 
 Scotland has at all times been fubjeA to years of fcarcity, and 
 occafionally even to dreadful famines. The years 1635, 1680, 1688, 
 
 * Pari&es of Forbes and Kearn, County of Aberdeen, vol. xi. p. 189. 
 
 Uu:3 die 
 
^^Z Of the Checks to Population in book ii. 
 
 the concluding years of the laft century, the years 1740, 1756, 1766, 
 1778, 178^, and 1783, are all mentioned in different places, as years of 
 very great fufferings from want. In the year 1680, fo many families 
 perifhed from this caufe, that, for fix miles, in a well-inhabited extent, 
 there was not a fmoke remaining^. The feven years at the end of the 
 laft century were called the ill years. The writer of the account of 
 the parifh of Montquhitter ^ fays, that of 16 families on a farm in 
 that neighbourhood, 13 were extinguilhed ; and on another, out of 
 169 individuals, only 3 families, the proprietors included, furvived. 
 Extenfive farms, now containing a hundred fouls, being entirely 
 defolated, were converted into a llieep walk. The inhabitants of the 
 parifli in general were diminiflied by death to one half, or as fome 
 affirm to one fourth, of the preceding number. Until 1709 many 
 farms were wafte. In 1740, another feafon of fcarcity occurred, 
 and the utmoft mifery was felt by the poor, though it fell fhort of 
 death. Many offered in vain to fcrve for their bread. Stout men 
 accepted thankfully twopence a day in full for their work. Great 
 diftrefs was alfo fuffered in 178:2 and 1783, but none died. " If, at 
 " this critical period," the author fays, " the American war had not 
 *' ceafed ; if the copious magazines, particularly of peafe, provided 
 '' for the navy, had not been brought to fale, what a fcene of defo- 
 " lation and horror would have been exhibited in this country !" 
 
 Many iimilar defcriptions occur in different parts of the Statlflical 
 Account ; but thefe will be fufficient to fhew the nature and inten- 
 sity of the diflrefs which has been occafionally felt from want. 
 
 The year 1783 depopulated fome parts of the Highlands, and is 
 mentioned as the reafon why in thefe places the number of people 
 was found to have diminilhed fmce Dr. Webfter's furvey. Mofl of 
 the fmall farmers in general, as might be expected, were abfolutely 
 ruined by the fcarcity ; and thofe of this defcViption, in the High- 
 lands, were obliged to emigrate to the Lowdands as common 
 
 Parlih of Duthil, vol.iv. p. 308. *> Vol. vi. p. 121. 
 
 labourers. 
 
CHAP. X, Scotland mid Ireland, 333 
 
 labourers % in fcarch of a precarious fupport. In fome parilhcs at 
 the time of the laft furvey, the effed of the ruin of the farmers 
 during this bad year, was ftill vifible in their depreflcd condition, 
 ^nd the increafed poverty and mifcry of the common people which 
 is a necefl'ary confequence of it. 
 
 In the account of the parilh of Grange '", in the county of Banff, 
 it is obferved, that the year 1783 put a flop to all improvements by 
 green crops, and made the farmers think of nothing but raifing grain. 
 Tenants were mofl of them ruined. Before this period, confump- 
 tions were not near fo frequent as they have been fince. This may 
 be juflly attributed to the efFedls of the fcarcity and bad vidtual in 
 the year 1783, to the long inclement harvefts in 1783 and 1787, in 
 both which feafons, the labourers were expofed to much cold and 
 wet during the three months that the harvefls continued ; but prin- 
 cipally to the change that has of late taken place in the manner of 
 Jiving among the lower ranks. Formerly every houfeholder could 
 command a draught of fmall beer, and killed a fheep now and then, 
 out of his own little flock ; but now the cafe is different. The fre- 
 quent want of the necefTaries of life among the poor, their damp 
 and {linking houfes, and dejc^lion of mind among the middling 
 clafTes, appear to be the principal caufes of the prevailing diflempers, 
 and mortality of this parifh. Young people are cut off by confump- 
 tions, and the more advanced by dropfies and nervous fevers. 
 
 The Hate of this parifh, which, though there are others like it, 
 may be confidered as an exception to the average flate of Scotland, 
 "was, without doubt, occafioned by the^ruin of the tenants; and the 
 effedl is not to be wondered at, as no greater evil can eafily happen 
 to a country, than the lofs of agricultural flock and capital. 
 
 We may obferve, that the difeafes of this parifli are faid to have 
 increafed, in confequence of the fcarcity and bad vi(5lual of 1783. 
 The fame circumflance is noticed in many other parifhes, and it is 
 
 * Parifh of Kincardine, County of Rofs, vol. iii. p. 505. * Vol.ix. p. 550. 
 
 remarked. 
 
334 Q/* ^^^^ Chech to Population in B o o K j i , 
 
 remarked, that though few people died of abfolute famine, yet that 
 mortal difeafes almoft univerfally followed. 
 
 It is remarked, alfo, in fome pariflies, that the number of births 
 . and marriages are affeded by years of fcarcity and plenty. 
 
 Of the parifli of Dingwall % in the county of Rofs, it is obferved, 
 that, after the fcarcity of 1783, the births were 16 below the average, 
 and 14 below the loweft number of late years. The year 1787 was 
 a year of plenty, and the following year the births increafed in a 
 fimilar proportion, and were 17 above the average, and 1 1 above 
 the higheft of the other years. 
 
 In the account of Dunroflhefs ^ in Orkney, the writer fays, 
 that the annual number of marriages depends much on the feafons. 
 In good years they may amount to thirty or upwards ; but when 
 crops fail, will hardly come up to the half of that number. 
 
 The whole increafe of "[Scotland fmce the time of Dr. Webfler's 
 furvey in 1755, is about 260,000'', for which a proportionate pro- 
 vifion has been made in the improved ftate of agriculture and manu- 
 factures, and in the increafed cultivation of potatoes, which in fome 
 places form two-thirds of the diet of the common people. It has 
 -'been calculated that the half of the furplus of births in Scotland is 
 drawn off in emigrations ; and it cannot be doubted that this drain 
 tends greatly to relieve the country, and to improve the condition of 
 thofe which remain. Scotland is certainly ftill overpeopled, but not 
 fo much as it was a century or half a century ago, when it contained 
 fewer inhabitants. 
 
 The details of the population of Ireland are but little known. I 
 lliall only obferve, therefore, that the extended ufe of potatoes, has 
 allowed of a very rapid increafe of it during the laft century. But 
 the cheapnefs of this nourifhing root, and the fmall piece of ground, 
 
 * Vol. iii. p, I. ^ Vol. vii. p. 391. 
 
 = According to the returns irj the late efti mate, the whole population of Scotland Is 
 above 1,590,000, and therefore the increafe up to the prefent timejw above 330,000. 
 
 I which, 
 
CHAP. X, Scotland and Ireland, o^e 
 
 which, under this kind of cultivation, will, in average years, produce 
 the food for a family, joined to the ignorance and barbarifm of the 
 people, which have prompted them to follow their inclinations with 
 no other profpe^l than an immediate bare fubfiftence, have encou- 
 raged marriage to fuch a degree, that the population is puflied much 
 beyond the induflry and prefent refources of the country; and the 
 confequence naturally is, that the lower claiTes of people are in the 
 moft depreiled and miferable ftate. The checks to the population 
 are of courfe chiefly of the pofitive kind, and -irife from the difeafcs 
 occafioncd by fqualid poverty, by damp and wretched cabins, by bad 
 and infufficient clothing, by the filth of their perfons, and occafional 
 want. To thefe pofitive checks, have, of late years, been added the 
 vice and mifery of intefhine commotion, of civil war. and of martial 
 law. 
 
 All the checks to population which have been obferved to prevail 
 in fociety, in the courfe of this review of it, are clearly refolvable 
 into moral reflraint, vice, and mifery. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 33^ ) 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 General dedudilons from the preceding view of Society. 
 
 J. HAT the checks, which have been mentioned, are the true 
 caufes of the flow increafe of population, and that thefe checks re- 
 fult principally from an infufficiency of fubfiftence, will be evident 
 from the comparatively rapid increafe, which has invariably taken 
 place, whenever, by fome fudden enlargement in the means of fub- 
 fiftence, thefe checks have been in any confiderable degree removed. 
 It has been univerfally remarked, that all new colonies, fettled in 
 healthy countries, where room and food were abundant, have con- 
 ftantly made a rapid progrefs in population. Many of the colonies 
 from antient Greece, in the courfe of one or two centuries, appear to 
 have rivalled, and even furpafled, their mother cities. h;yracufe and 
 Agrigentum in Sicily ; Tarentum and Locri in Italy ; Epheflis 
 and Miletus in LeHerAfia; were, by all accounts, at leaft equal to any 
 of the cities of antient Greece ^. All thefe colonies had eftabliflied 
 themfeives in countries inhabited by favage and barbarous nations, 
 which eafily gave place to the new fettlers, who had of courfe plenty 
 of good land. It is calculated that the Ifraelites, though they in- 
 creafed very flowly, while they were wandering in the land of Ca- 
 naan, on fettling in a fertile diftrid; of Egypt, doubled their numbers 
 every fifteen years during the whole period of their ftay ^i But not 
 to dwell on remote inftances, the European fettlements in America, 
 
 * Smith's Wealth of Nations, vol. ii. p. 360. 
 ^ Short's New Obferv. on Bills of Mortality, p. 259, 8vo. 1750. 
 
 /-: \ ' 
 
 A 
 
 bear 
 
CHAP. XI. General dedu6lmiSy ^c, o:>y 
 
 bear ample teftimony to the truth of a remark, that has never, f 
 believe, been doubted. Plenty of rich land, to be had for little 
 or nothing, is fo powerful a caufe of population, as generally to 
 overcome all obilacles. ' 
 
 No fettlements could eaiily have been worfe managed than thofe 
 of Spain, in Mexico, Peru, and Quito. The tyranny, fuperftition, 
 and vices, of the mother country, vv^ere introduced in ample quanti- 
 ties among her children. Exorbitant taxes w^ere exacted by the 
 crown; the moft arbitrary reftridlions wxre impofed on their trade ; 
 and the governors were not behind hand, in rapacity and extortion for 
 themfelves as well as their mafter. Yet under all thefc difficulties, 
 the colonies made a quick progrefs in population. The city of 
 Quito, which was but a hamlet of Indians, is reprefented by Ulloa 
 as containing fifty or fixty thoufand inhabitants above fifty years 
 ago *. Lima, which was founded fmce the conquefl, is mentioned 
 by the fame author, as equally or more populous, before the fatal 
 earthquake in 1 746. Mexico is faid to contain a hundred thoufand 
 inhabitants, which, notvvithftanding the exaggerations of the Spanifh 
 writers, is fuppofed to be five times greater than what it contained 
 in the time of Montezuma ^, 
 
 In the Portuguefe colony of Brazil, governed with aimoft equal 
 tyranny, there were fuppofed to be, above thirty years ago, fix hun- 
 dred thoufand inhabitants of European extraAion ''. 
 
 The Dutch and French colonies, though under the government of 
 exclufive companies of merchants, which, as Dr. Smith juftly ob- 
 serves, is the worft of all poffible governments, ftill perfifted in 
 thriving under every difadvantage ''. 
 
 But the Englilh North American colonies, now the powerful 
 people of the United States of America, far outftripped all the others, 
 in the progrefs of their population. To the quantity of rich land, 
 
 
 
 Voy. d'Ulloa, torn. i. liv. v. ch. v. p. 229. 4to. 1752. ** Smith's Wealth 
 
 f Nations, vol. ii. b. iv. ch. vii, p. 363. = Id. p. '^6$. ^ Id. p. 368, 369. 
 
 X X which 
 
^^H General deduSlmts from the book IT, 
 
 which they poileilcd in common with the Spanifh and Portugucfe 
 colonies, they added a greater degree of hberty and equahty. Though 
 not without fome reftri^lions on their foreign commerce, they were 
 allowed the liberty of managing their own internal affairs. The 
 political inftitutions which prevailed, were favourable to the aliena- 
 tion and divifion of property. Lands, which were not cultivated by 
 the proprietor within a limited time, were declared grantablc 
 to any other perfon. In Penfylvania, there was no right of primo- 
 geniture; and, in the provinces of New England, the eldeft fon 
 had only a double fhare. There were no tythes in any of the 
 States, and fcarcely any taxes. And an account of the extreme 
 cheapnefs of good land, a capital could not be more advantageoufly 
 employed than in agriculture, which, at the fame time that it affords 
 the greatell quantity of healthy work, fupplies the mofl valuable 
 produce to the fociety. 
 
 The confequence of thefe favourable clrcumftanccs united, was, 
 a rapidity of increafe almoft without parallel in hiflory. Through- 
 out all the northern provinces the population was found to double 
 itfelf in 25 years. The original number of perfons which had fettled 
 in the four provinces of New England in 1643 ^^^ Z\,2,oo. After- 
 wards, it was calculated, that more left them than went to them. 
 In the year 1760, they were increafed to half a million. They had, 
 therefore, all along, doubled their number in 25 years. In New 
 Jerfey, the period of doubling appeared to be 2,2, years ; and in Rhode 
 Ifland ftill lefs. In the back fettlements, where the inhabitants ap- 
 plied themfelves folely to agriculture, and luxury was not known, 
 they were fuppofed to double their number in fifteen years. Along 
 the fea-coaft, which would naturally be firfl inhabited, the period 
 of doubling was about 2,5 years, and in fome o the maritime towns 
 the population was abfolutcly at a ftand *. From the late cenfus 
 
 made 
 
 Price's Obferv. ort Reverf. Paym. vol. i. p. 282, 283, and vol. li. p. 360. I 
 have lately had an opportunity of feeing fome extracts from the fermon of Dr. Styles, 
 
 from 
 
CHAP. XI. preceding view of Society, o^g 
 
 made in x\menca, it appears, that, taking all the States together, they 
 have fhll continued to double their numbers every 25 years ; and, as 
 the whole population is now^ fo great, as not to be materially affedlcd 
 by the emigrations from Europe ; and as it is known, that in fome 
 of the towns, and diflridls near the fea-coaft, the progrefs of popu- 
 lation has been comparatively flow ; it is evident, that in the inte- 
 rior of the country, in general, the period of doubling from procrea- 
 tion only, muft have been confiderably lefs than 25 years. 
 
 The population of the United States of America, according to the 
 late cenfus, is 5,172,313''. We have no reafon to believe that Great 
 Britain is lefs populous, at prcfent, for the emigration of the fmall 
 
 from which Dr. Price has taken thefe fadts. Speaking of Rhode Ifland, Dr. Styles 
 fays, that though the period of doubling for the whole colony is 25 years, yet that it 
 is different in different parts, and within land is 20 and 15 vears. The five towns of 
 Glouceller, Situate, Coventry, Weftgreenwich, and Exeter, were 5033, A. D. 1748, 
 and 6986 AD. 1755 ; which implies a period of doubling of 15 years only. He 
 mentions afterwards that the county of Kent doubles in 20 years i and the county of 
 Providence in 1 8 years. 
 
 I have aifo lately feen a ^^L'^tr o^ FaHs and calculations rcfpe^'mg the population of the 
 United States, which makes the period of doubling for the whole of the States, fince their 
 firft fettlemejit, only 20 years. I know not of what authority this paper is ; but, far as 
 it goes upon puhlick fa6ls and enumerations, 1 Ihould think, that it mud be to be depended 
 on. One period is very ftriking. From a return to Congrefs in 1782, the population 
 appeared to be 2,389,300, and in the cenfus of 1790, 4,000,003 : increafe in 9 years, 
 1,610,700: from which deduct ten thou fand per annum for European fettlers, which 
 will be 90,000 ; and allow for their increafe at 5 per cent, for 4^ years, which will be 
 20,250: the remaining increafe during thefe 9 years, from procreation only, will be 
 1,500,450, which is very nearly 7 percent. ; and confec^uently the period of doubling at 
 this rate would be lefs than 16 years. 
 
 If this calculation for the whole population of the States be in any degree near the truth, 
 it cannot be doubted, that, in particular dillridls, the period of doubling from procreation 
 only, has often been lefs thefe 15 years. The period immediately lucceedmg the war 
 was likely to be a period of very rapid increafe. 
 
 * One fmall State is mentioned as being omitted in the cenfus ; and I underftand that 
 the population is generally confidered at above this number. It is faid to approach to- 
 wards 6,000,000. But fuch vague opinions cannot of courfe be much relied on. 
 
 X X ^ parent 
 
J40 General dediiSitom from the. book if. 
 
 parent ftock which produced thefe numbers. On the contrary, a 
 certain degree of emigration is known to be favourable to the popu- 
 lation of the mother countr)\ It has been particularly remarked 
 that the two Spanifh provinces from which the greateft number of 
 people emigrated to America, became in confequence more po- 
 pulous. 
 
 v/ Whatever was the original number of Britifli emigrants which 
 increafed fo fail in North America; let us afk, Why does not an 
 equal number produce an equal increafe in the fame time in Great 
 Britain ? The obvious reafon to be affigned is, the want of food ; 
 and that this want is the moft efficient caufc of the three great 
 checks to population, which have been obferved to prevail in alt 
 focieties, is evident, from the rapidity with which even old dates 
 recover the defolations of war, pellilence, famine, and the convulfions 
 of nature. They are then, for a fliort time, placed a little in the 
 iituation of new colonies, and the efFed: is always anfwerable to what 
 might be expe<Sled. If the induftry of the inhabitants be not 
 deftroyed, fubfiftence will foon increafe beyond the wants of the 
 reduced numbers ; and the invariable confequence will be, that popu- 
 lation, which before, perhaps, was nearly ftationary, will begin imme- 
 diately to increafe, and will continue its progrefs till the former 
 population is recovered. 
 
 The fertile province of Flanders, which has been fo often the feat 
 of the moft deftrudiive wars, after a refpite of a few years, has 
 always appeared as rich and as populous as ever. The undiminifhed 
 population of France, which has before been noticed, is an inftance 
 very ftrongly in point. The tables of Sufmilch afford continual 
 proofs of a very rapid increafe, after great mortalities ; and the 
 table for Pruffia and Lithuania, which I have inferted "", is par- 
 ticularly flriking in this refpecfc. The effects of the dreadful plague 
 in London, in 1666, were not perceptible 15 or 50 years afterwards. 
 
 ' See p. 253. 
 
 It 
 
t 
 
 CHAP. XI. preceding view of Society , 341 
 
 It may even be doubted, whether Turkey and Egypt are, upon an 
 average, much lefs populous for the plagues v^^iich periodically lay 
 them wafte. If the number of people w^hich they contain be con- 
 fiderably lefs now, than formerly, it is rather to be attributed to the 
 tyranny and oppreffion of the governments under which they groan, 
 and the confequent difcouragements to agriculture, than to the 
 loffes which they fuflain by the plague. The traces of the moft 
 deftrudiive famines in China, Indollan, Egypt, and other countries, 
 ^ by all accounts very foon obliterated; and the moft tremendous 
 convulfions of nature, fuch as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, 
 if they do not h ppen. fo frequently as to drive away the inhabitants, 
 or deftroy their fpirit of induftry, have been found to produce but a 
 trifling effe6l on the average population of any ftate. 
 
 It has appeared from the regifters of different countries which 
 have already been produced, that the progrefs of their population is 
 checked by the periodical, though irregular, returns of plagues and 
 fickly feafons. Dr. Short, in his curious refearches into bills of mor- 
 tality, often ufes the expreffion of " terrible correctives of the 
 redundance of mankind^ ;" and in a table of all the plagues, peftilences, 
 and famines, of which he could colled: accounts, fhews the conftancy 
 and univerfality of their operation. 
 
 The epidemical years in his table, or the years in which the 
 plague or fome great and wafting epidemick prevailed, for fmaller 
 fickly feafons, feem not to be included, are 431 ^ of which 33 were 
 before the Chriftian asra ^. If we divide, therefore, the years of the 
 prefent aera by 399, it will appear, that the periodical returns of fuch 
 epidemicks, to fome country that we are acquainted with, have 
 been on an average only at the interval of about 4 \ years. 
 
 Of the 254 great famines and dearths, enumerated in the table, 
 15 were before the Chriftian aera"^, beginning with that which 
 occurred in Paleftine, in the time of Abraham. If, fubtrading theie 
 
 * New Obferv. on Bills of Mortality, p. 96. ** Hift. of Air, Seafons, &c. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 3:66. ": Id. vol, ii. p. ao2. ^ Id. vol. ii. p. 206. 
 
 15, we 
 
^f 
 
 343 General dedu6i torn from the book 11. 
 
 1 5, we divide the years of the prefent asra by the remainder, it will 
 appear that the average interval between the vifits of this dreadful 
 fcourgc has been only about 7 I years. 
 
 How far thefe " terrible correctives to the redundance of man- 
 '^ kind," ha\x been occafioned by the too rapid incrcafe of popula- 
 tion, is a point which it would be very difficult to determine with 
 any degree of precifion. The caufes of moft of our difeafes appear 
 to us to be fo myfterious, and probably are really fo various, that 
 it would be raflinefs to lay too much ftrefs on any fuigle one: but 
 it will not, perhaps, be too much to fay, that, among thefe caufes, 
 we ought certainly to rank crowded houfes, and infufficient or 
 unwholefome food, which are the natural confequences of an 
 increafe of population, fafter, than the accommodations of a country, 
 with refpedl to habitations and food, will allow. 
 
 Almoft all the hiflories of epidemicks which we have, tend to con- 
 firm this fuppofition, by defcribing them in general as making their 
 principal ravages among the lower clafles of people. In Dr. Short's 
 tables, this circumftance is frequently mentioned "" ; and it further 
 appears, that a very confiderable proportion of the epidemick years, 
 either followed, or were accompanied by feafons of dearth and bid 
 food ^. In other places he alfo mentions great plagues as diminifh- 
 ing particularly the numbers of the lower or fervile fort of people ^ ; 
 and, in fpeaking of different difeafes, he obferves, that thofe which 
 are occafioned by bad and unwholefome food, generally lafl the 
 longefl ^. 
 
 We know, from conftant experience, that fevers are generated in 
 our jails, our manufa6lories, our crowded workhoufes, and in the 
 narrow and clofc flreets of our large towns ; all which fituations 
 appear to be fnnilarin their effects to fqualid poverty: and we cannot 
 doubt that caufes of this kind, aggravated in degree, contributed 
 to the production and prevalence of thofe great and wafting plagues 
 
 * Hid. of Air, Seafons, &c. vol. li. p. 2o5. ct feq. ^ Ibid, and p. 366. 
 
 *^ New Obferv. p 125. ^ Id. p. ic8. 
 
 formerly 
 
CHAP. XT. preceding view of Society, 343 
 
 formerly fb common in Europe, but which now, from the mitiga- 
 tion of thefe caufes, are every where confiderably abated, and in 
 many places appear to be completely extirpated. 
 
 Of the other great fcourge of mankind, famine, it may be 
 obferved, that it is not in the nature of things, that the increafe of 
 population fliould abfolutely produce one. This increafe, though 
 rapid, is necefl'arily gradual ; and as the human frame cannot be fup- 
 ported, even for a very fhort time, without food, it is evident, that 
 no more human beings can grow up, than there is provifion to main- 
 tain. But though the principle of population cannot abfolutely pro- 
 duce a famine, it prepares the way for one in the moil complete 
 manner ; and, by obliging all the lower clafTes of people to fubfift 
 nearly on the fmalleft quantity of food that will fupport life, turns 
 even a flight deficiency from the failure of the fcafons into a fevere 
 dearth; and may be fairly fald, therefore, to be one of the principal 
 caufes of famine. Among the figns of an approaching dearth. Dr. 
 Short mentions one or more years of luxuriant crops together ^ ; and 
 this obfervation is probably juft, as we know that the general effed: 
 of years of cheapnefs and abundance is to difpofe a greater number of 
 perfons to marry, and under luch circumflances, the return to a 
 year, merely of an average crop, might produce a fcarcity. 
 
 The fmall-pox, which at prefent may be confidered as the moft 
 prevalent and fatal epidemick in Europe, is of all others, perhaps, 
 the moft difficult to account for, though the periods of its return are 
 in many places regular ''. Dr. Short obferves, that from the hiftories 
 o this diforder, it feems to have very little dependence upon the pad 
 or prefent conftitution of the weather or feafons, and that it appears 
 epidemically at all times, and in all ftates of the air, though not fo 
 frequently in a hard froft. We know of no inftances, I believe, of 
 its being clearly generated under any circumftances of fituation. I 
 do not mean, therefore, to infinuate, that poverty and crowded houfes 
 
 * Hift. of Air, Seafon, 6cc, vol. ii. p. 367. ^ Id. vol. ii. p. 411. 
 
 ever 
 
344 Gejteral dedu5iio7ts from the book ii. 
 
 ever abfolutely produced it ; but I may be allowed to remark, that - 
 in thofe places where its returns are regular, and its ravages among 
 children, particularly among thofe of the lower clafs, are confider- 
 able, it neceflarily follows, that thcfe circumftances, in a greater 
 degree than ufual, muft always precede and accompany its appearance; 
 that is, from the time of its laft vifit, the average number of children 
 will be increafmg, the people will, in confequence, be growing 
 poorer, and the houfes will be more crowded, till another vifit removes 
 this fuperabundant population. 
 
 In all thefe cafes, how little foever force we may be difpofed to 
 attribute to the effeds of the principle of population in the a6lual 
 production of diforders, we cannot avoid allowing their force as 
 predifpofmg caufes to the reception of contagion, and as giving very 
 great additional force to the extenfivenefs and fatality of its ravages. 
 
 It is ohferved by Dr. Short, that a feverc mortal epidemick is 
 generally fucceeded by an uncommon healthinefs, from the late 
 diflemper having carried off moft of the declining worn-out confti- 
 tutions *. It is probable, alfo, that another caufe of it, may be, the 
 greater plenty of room and food, and the confequently ameliorated 
 condition of the lower clafles of the people. Sometimes, according 
 to Dr. Short, a very fruitful year is followed by a very mortal and 
 fickly one, and mortal ones often fucceeded by very fruitful, as 
 though Nature fought either to prevent or quickly repair the lofs 
 by death. In general the next year after fickly and mortal ones is 
 prolifick in proportion to the breeders left ''. 
 
 This laft effe(5l we have feen moft ftrikingly exemplified in the 
 table for Pruffia and Lithuania ^ And from this and other tables 
 of Sufmllch, it alfo appears, that when the increafmg produce of a 
 country and the increafmg demand for labour, fo far ameliorate the 
 condition of the labourer, as greatly to encourage marriage, the cuf- 
 tom of early marriages is generally continued, till the population has 
 gone beyond the increafed produce, and fickly feafons appeai; to be 
 
 Hift. of Air, Weather, tec. vol.ii. p. 344. ^ New Obferv. p. 191. p. J153. 
 
 I the 
 
CHAP. XI. preceding view of Society, 34^ 
 
 the natural and neceflary confequence. The continental reglfters 
 exhibit many inftances of rapid increafe, interrupted in this manner 
 by mortal difeafes, and the inference feems to be, that thofe coun- 
 tries where fubfiftence is increafing fufficiently to encourage popu- 
 lation, but not to anfwer all its demands, will be more fubjed; to 
 periodical epidemicks, than thofe where the increafe of population 
 is more nearly accommodated to the average produce. 
 
 The converfe of this will of courfe be true. In thofe countries 
 which are fubjed: to periodical ficknefles, the increafe of population, 
 or the excefs of births above the deaths, will be greater, in the inter- 
 vals of thefe periods, than is ufual in countries not fo much fubje(fl 
 to thefe difeafcs. If Turkey and Egypt have been nearly flationary 
 in their average population for the laft century, in the intervals of 
 their periodical plagues, the births mufl have exceeded the deaths 
 in a much greater proportion than in fuch countries as France and 
 .England. 
 
 It is for thefe reafons, that no eftimates of future population or 
 depopulation, formed from any exifting rate of increafe or decreafe, 
 can be depended upon. Sir William Petty calculated that, in the 
 year 1800, the city of London would contain 5,359,000 * inhabit- 
 ants, inftead of which, it does not now contain a fifth part of that 
 number. And Mr. Eton has lately prophefied the extincftion of the 
 population of the Turkilh empire in another century ^ ; an event 
 which will, as certainly, fail of taking place. If America were to 
 continue increafmg at the fame rate as at prefcnt, for the next 150 
 years, her population would exceed the population of China ; but 
 though prophecies are dangerous, I will venture to fay, that fuch an 
 increafe will not take place in that time, though it may perhaps in 
 five or fix hundred years. 
 
 Europe was, without doubt, formerly more fubjed: to plagues and 
 wafting epidemicks than at prefcnt, and this will account, in great 
 
 * Political Arithmetick, p. 17. ^ Survey of the Turkifh Empire, c. vii. p. 281. 
 
 Y y meafure, 
 
34^ General dedu5itons from the book ir. 
 
 meafure, for the greater proportion of births to deaths in former 
 times, mentioned by many authors, as it has always been a common 
 practice, to eftimate thefe proportions from too fliort periods, and 
 generally to rejedl the years of plague as accidental. 
 
 The higheft average proportion of births to deaths in England 
 may be confidered as about 12, to 10, or 12,0 to 100. The 
 proportion in France for ten years, ending in 1780, was about 
 115 to 100^. Though thefe proportions have undoubtedly varied, 
 at different periods, during the laft century, yet we have reafon to 
 think that they have not varied in any very confiderable degree ; and 
 it will appear, therefore, that the population of France and Eng- 
 land has accommodated itfelf more nearly to the average produce of 
 each country than many other ftates. The operation of the pre- 
 ventive check, vicious manners, wars, the filent, though certain,. 
 deftru6lion of life in large towns and manufactories, and the clofe 
 habitations and infufficient food of many of the poor, prevent popu- 
 lation from outrunning the means of fubfiftenee ; and if I may ufe 
 an expreffion, which certainly at firft appears ftrange, fuperfede the 
 neceffity of great and ravaging epidemicks to deftroy what is redund- 
 ant. If a wafting plague were to fweep off two millions in England, 
 and fix millions in France, it cannot be doubted, that after the inha- 
 bitants had recovered from the dreadful fhock, the proportion of 
 births to deaths would rife much above the ufual average in either 
 country during the laft century ^. 
 
 In New Jerfey the proportion of births to deaths, on an average 
 of 7 years, ending 1743, w^as 300 to 100. In France and England, 
 the higheft average proportion cannot be reckoned at more than 12,0 
 to 100. Great and aflonilhing as this difference is, we ought not 
 to be fo wonder-ftruck at it, as to attribute it to the miraculous 
 interpofition of heaven. The caufes of it are not remote, latent, and 
 
 * Necker de rAdmlniftratlon des Finances, torn. i. c. ix. p. 255. 
 ^ This remark has been, to a certain degree, verified of late in France, by the increafe 
 of births which has taken place fince the revolution. 
 
 myflerious. 
 
CHAP. XI. preceding view of Society. 247 
 
 myfterious, but near us, round about us, and open to the inyeftlga- 
 tion of every inquiring mind. It accords with the moft liberal fpirit 
 of philofophy to believe, that not a ftone can fall, or plant rife, 
 without the immediate agency of divine power. But we know, from '' 
 experience, that thefe operations of what we call nature, have been 
 conduc^led almoft invariably according to fixed laws. And Unce the 
 world began, the caufes of population and depopulation have been 
 probably as conftant as any of the laws of nature with which 
 we are acquainted. 
 
 The paffion between the fexes has appeared in every age to be 
 fo nearly the fame, that it may always be conlidered, in algebraic 
 language, as a given quantity. The great law of neceflity, which 
 prevents population from increafmg in any country beyond the food 
 which it can either produce or acquire, is a law, io open to our 
 view, fb obvious and evident to our underftandings, that we cannot 
 for a moment doubt it. The different modes which nature takes to 
 reprefs a redundant population, do not appear indeed to us fo cer- 
 tain and regular ; but though we cannot always predict the mode, 
 we may with certainty predid; the fad:. If the proportion of the 
 births to the deaths for a few years, indicate an increafe of numbers 
 much beyond the proportional increafed or acquired food of the 
 country, we may be perfedlly certain, that unlefs an emigration take 
 place, the deaths will ihortly exceed the births, and that the increafe 
 that had been obferved for a few years, cannot be the real average 
 increafe of the population of the country. If there were no other 
 depopulating caufes, and if the preventive check did not operate 
 very ftrongly, every country would, without doubt, be fubjed: to 
 periodical plagues or famines. 
 
 The only true criterion of a real and permanent increafe in the 
 population of any country, is the increafe of the means of fubfiftence. 
 But even this criterion is fubjed; to fome flight variations, which 
 however are completely open to our obfervation. In fome countries 
 population feems to have been forced; that is, the people have been 
 
 Y J 2 habituated, 
 
SA^ Genera/ deductions from the book it. 
 
 habituated, by degrees, to live almoft upon the fmalleft poffible 
 quantity of food. There muft have been periods in fuch countries 
 when population increafed permanently without an increafe in the 
 means of fubfiftence. China, India, and the countries pofTeffed by 
 the Bedoween Arabs, as we have feen in the former part of this 
 work, appear to anfwer to this dcfcription. The average produce of 
 thefe countries feems to be but barely iufRcient to fupport the lives 
 of the inhabitants, and of courfe any deficiency from the badnefs of 
 the feafons muft be fatal. Nations in this Hate muft neceflarily be 
 fubje<5l to famines. 
 
 In America, where the reward of labour Is at prefent fo liberal, the 
 lower claiTes might retrench very confiderably in a year of fcarcity, 
 without materially diftreffing themfelves. A famine, therefore, feems 
 to be almoft impoffible. It may be expedled, that in the progrefs 
 of the population of America, the labourers will in time be much 
 lefs liberally rewarded. The numbers will in this cafe permanently 
 increafe without n proportional increafe in the means of fubfiftence. 
 
 In the different countries of Europe, there muft be fome variations 
 in the proportion of the number of inhabitants, and the quantity of 
 food confumed, arifuig from the different habits of living which 
 prevail in each ftate. The labourers of the South of England are 
 fo accuftomed to eat fine wheaten bread, -that they will fuffer 
 themfelves to be half-ftarved, before they will fubmit to live like 
 the Scotch peafants. They might, perhaps, in time, by the conftant 
 operation of the hard law of neceffity, be reduced to live, even like 
 the lower claffes of the Chinefe, and the country would then, with 
 the fame quantity of food, fupport a greater population. But to 
 effed; this, muft always be a difficult, and every friend to humanity 
 will hope, an abortive attempt. 
 
 I have mentioned fome cafes where population may permanently 
 
 increafe, without a proportional increafe in the means of fubfiftence. 
 
 But it is evident, that the variation in different ftates, between the 
 
 food, and the numbers fupported by it, is reftri6ted to a limit 
 
 I beyond 
 
CHAP. XI. , preceding view of Society, 349 
 
 beyond which It cannot pafs. In every country, the population of 
 which is not abfolutely decreafing, the food mull be neceflarily fuffi- 
 cient to fupport and to continue the race of labourers. 
 
 Other circumftances being the fame, it may be affirmed, that 
 countries are populous according to the quantity of human food 
 which they produce, or can acquire; and happy, according to the 
 liberality with which this food is divided, or the quantity which a 
 day's labour will purchafe. Corn countries are more populous than 
 pafture countries; and rice countries more populous than corn 
 countries. But their happinefs does not depend either upon 
 their being thinly or fully inhabited, upon their poverty or their 
 riches, their youth or their age ; but on the proportion which the 
 population and the food bear to each other. This proportion is 
 generally the mofl favourable in new colonies, where the knowledge 
 and induftry of an old flate, operate on the fertile unappropriated 
 land of a new one. In other cafes the youth, or the age, of a flate 
 is not, in this refpecfl, of great importance. It is probable that the 
 food of Great Britain is divided in more liberal fhares to' her inha- 
 bitants at the prefent period, than it was, tw^o thoufand, three thou- 
 fand, or four thoufand years ago. And it has appeared that the 
 poor and thinly-inhabited tracts of the Scotch Highlands are more 
 diflrefled by a redundant population, than the mofl populous parts 
 of Europe. 
 
 If a country were never to be over-run by a people more ad- 
 vanced in arts, but left to its own natural progrefs in civilization ;. 
 from the time that its produce might be confidered as an unit, to the 
 time that it might be confidered as a million, during the lapfe of 
 many thoufand years, there would not be a fmgle period, when the 
 mafs of the people could be faid to be free from diflrefs, either diredly 
 or indiredly, for want of food. In every flate in Europe, fmcc w^e 
 have firfl had accounts of ..it, millions and milHons of human 
 exiflences have been repreffed from this fim^ple caufe, though 
 perhaps, in fome of thefe flates> an abfolute famine may never have 
 
 been known. 
 
 Famine 
 
 X 
 
35 General dedu&mis from the book ir. 
 
 Famine feems to be the laft, the moft dreadful refburce of nature. 
 The power of population is fo fuperior to the power in the earth to 
 produce fubfiftence for man, that, unlefs arretted by the preventive 
 check, premature death muft in fome fhape or other vifitthe human 
 race. The vices of mankind are adlive and able minifters of depopula- 
 tion. They are the precurfors in the great army of defi:ru<5lion, and 
 often finifh the dreadful work themfelves. But fliould they fail in this 
 war of extermination, fickly feafons, epidemicks, peflilence, and plague, 
 advance in terrifick array, and fweep off their thoufands and ten 
 thoufands. Should fuccefs be ftill incomplete, gigantick inevitable 
 famine ftalks in the rear, and, with one mighty blow, levels the 
 population with the food of the world. 
 
 Muft it not then be acknowledged, by an attentive examiner of 
 the hiftories of mankind, that, in every age, and in every ftate, 
 in which man has' exifled, or does now exift. 
 
 The increafe of population is necefTarily limited by the means of 
 fubfiftence. 
 
 Population invariably increafes when the means of fubfiftence 
 increafe, unlefs prevented by powerful and obvious checks. 
 
 Thefe checks, and the checks which keep the population down to 
 the level of the means of fubfiftence, are, moral reftraint, vice, and 
 mifery. "> 
 
 In comparing the Jlate of fociety which has been confidered in 
 this fecond book with that which formed the fubjcd of the firft, 
 I think it appears, that in modern Europe the pofitive checks to 
 populat,ion prevail lefs, and the preventive checks more, than in paft 
 times, and in the more uncivilized parts of the world. 
 
 War, the predominant check to the population of favage nations, 
 ha;5 certainly abated, even including the late unhappy revolutionary 
 contefts : and fince the prevalence of a greater degree of perfonal 
 cleanlinefs, of better modes of clearing and building towns, and 
 of a more equable diftribution of the produces of the foil from im- 
 proving knowledge in political economy, plagues, violent difeafes, 
 3 and 
 
CHAP. XI. preceding view of Society. 351 
 
 and famines, have been certainly mitigated, and have become lefs 
 frequent.. 
 
 With regard to the preventive checks to population, though it 
 muft be acknowledged, that moral reftraint does not at prefent 
 prevail much among the male part of fociety ; yet I am ftrongly 
 difpofed to believe that it prevails more than in thofe ftates which 
 were firft confidered ; and it can fcarcely be doubted, that in modern 
 Europe, a much larger proportion of women pafs a coniiderable part 
 of their lives in the exercife of this virtue, than in paft times and 
 among uncivilized nations. But however this may be, taking the 
 preventive check in its general acceptation, as implying an infre- 
 quency of the marriage union from the fear of a family, without 
 reference to its producing vice, it may be confidered, in this light, as 
 the moft powerful of the checks, which in modern Europe keep, 
 down the population to the level of the means of fubfiflence. 
 
iW-'M 
 
ESSAY, &c. 
 
 BOOK in. 
 
 OF THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OR EXPEDIENTS WHICH HAVE 
 BEEN PROPOSED OR HAVE PREVAILED IN SOCIETY, AS THEY 
 AFFECT THE EVILS ARISING FROM THE PRINCIPLE OF 
 POPULATION. 
 
 C H A P. I. 
 
 Of Syjlems of Equality, Wallace, Condor cet. 
 
 JL o a perfon who views the paft and prefent ftates of mankind in 
 the Hght in which they have appeared in the two preceding books, 
 it cannot but be a matter of aftoniihment, that all the writers on 
 the perfeAibility of man and of fociety, who have noticed the 
 argument of the principle of population, treat it always very fllghtly, 
 and invariably reprefent the difficulties arifmg from it, as. at a great, 
 and almoft immeafurable diflance. Even Mr. Wallace, who thought 
 the argument itfelf of fb much weight, as to deftroy his whole 
 fyftem of equality, did not feem to be aware that any difficulty 
 would arife from this caufe, till the whole earth. had been cultivated 
 like a garden, and was incapable of any further increafe of produce. 
 Were this really the cafe, and were a beautiful fyftem of equality in 
 other refpeds pradicable, I cannot think that our ardour in the 
 purfuit of fuch a fcheme ought to be damped by the contemplation 
 
 Zz of 
 
354 OfSyJietns of Equality, Wallace, Condor cet, book hi. 
 
 of fo remote a difficulty. An event at fuch a diftance might fairly 
 be left to providence. But the truth is, that if the view of the 
 argun^ent given in this eflay be juft, the difficulty, fo far from being 
 remote, would be imminent and immediate. At every period 
 during the progrefs of cultivation, from the prefent moment to the 
 time when the whole earth was become like a garden, the dif- 
 trefs for want of food would be conftantly preffing on all mankind, 
 if they were equal. Though the produce of the earth would be 
 irtcreaiing every year, population would be increafmg much fafter, and 
 the redundancy muft neceflarily be checked by the periodical, or 
 conftant a6lion, of moral reftraint, vice, or mifery. 
 
 M. Condorcet's Efqutffe un tableau Jilftorlque des pr ogres de Tefprit 
 humain, was written, it is faid, under the preflure of that cruel 
 prolcription which terminated in his deaths If he had no hopes of 
 its being feen during his life, and of its interefling France in his 
 favour, it is a fmgular inftance of the attachment of a man to 
 principles, which every day's experience was, fo fatally for himfelf, - 
 contradidling. To fee the human mind, in one of the moft enr 
 lightened nations of the world, dcbafed by fuch a fermentation of 
 difgufting paffions, of fear, cruelty, malice, revenge, ambition, mad- 
 nefs, and folly, as would have difgraced the moft favage nations 
 in the moft barbarous age, muft have been fuch a tremendous fhock 
 to his ideas of the neccflary and inevitable progrefs of the human 
 mind, that nothing but the firmcfl conviction of the truth of his 
 principles, in fpite of all appearances, could have withftood. 
 
 This poflihumous publication is only a fketch of a much larger 
 work which he propofed jQiould be executed. It neceffarily wants, 
 therefore, that detail and application, which can alone prove the 
 truth of any theory. A few obfervations will be fufficient to fhew 
 how completely this theory is contradidled, when it is applied to the 
 real and not to an imaginary ftate of things. 
 
 'In the laft divifion of the work, which treats of the future pro- 
 grefs of man towards pei:fe<^tion, M, Condorcet fays, that, comparing 
 
 in 
 
CHAP. I Of Syjicnts of Equality, WalJdce. Condorcct. 355 
 
 in the different civilized nations of Europe, the aftual population 
 with the extent of territory ; and obferving their cultivation, their 
 induftry, their divifions of labour, and their means of fubfiftcnce, wc 
 ihall fee that it vs^ould be impoflible to preferve the fame means of 
 iubfiftence, and confequcntly the fame population, without a number , 
 of individuals who have no other means of fupplying their wants 
 than their induftry. 
 
 Having allowed the neceflity of fuch a clafs of men, and adverting 
 afterwards to the precarious revenue of thofe families that would 
 depend fo entirely on the life and health of their chief*, he fays very 
 juftly, " There exifts then a necefTary caufe of inequality, of dc- 
 " pcndence, and even of mifery, which menaces, without ceafmg, 
 " the moft numerous and acflive clafs of our focieties." The diffi- 
 culty is juft, and well ftated ; but his mode of removing it, will, I 
 fear, be found totally inefficacious. 
 
 By the application of calculations to the probabilities of life, and 
 the intereft of money, he propofes that a fund Ihould be eftabliftied, 
 which Should affure to the old an afliftancc, produced in part by their 
 own former favings, and in part by the favings of individuals, who, 
 in making the fame facrifice, die before they they reap the benefit of 
 it. The fame, or a iimilar fund, fhould give afTiftance to women 
 and children, who lofe their hufbands or fathers ; and afford a capi- 
 tal to thofe who were of an age to found a new family, fufficicnt 
 for the development of their induftry. Thefe eftablilhments, he 
 obferves, might be made in the name, and under the protection, of 
 the focicty. Going ftlll further, he fays, that by the juft application 
 of calculations, means might be found of more completely preferving 
 a ftate of equality, by preventing credit from being the exclufive pri- 
 vilege of great fortunes, and yet giving it a bafis equally folid, and by 
 
 To (ave time and long quotat'fons, I fhall here give the fublbnce of fome of M.Con- 
 dorcct's fcntiments, and I hope that I fliall not mifreprefent them; but I refer the reader 
 to the work ilfelf, which will amufe if it do not convince him. 
 
 Z z z rendering 
 
3S^ Qf^^^^^^ of Equality. Wallace. Coitdorcet. book iir. 
 
 rendering the progrefs of induftry and the adlivity of commerce, left 
 dependent on great capitalifts. 
 
 Such eftablifliments and calculations may appear very promifing 
 upon paper ; but when applied to real life, they will be found to be 
 abfolutely nugatory. M. Condorcet allows, that a clafs of people 
 which maintains itfelf entirely by induflry is neceflary to every flate. 
 Why does he allow this ? No other reafon can well be afTigned, than 
 becaufe he conceives, that the labour neceflary to procure fubfiftencc 
 for an extended population, will not be performed without the goad 
 ofnecefTity. If by cftablifhments, upon the plans that have been 
 mentioned, this fpur to induftry be removed ; if the idle and negli- 
 gent be placed upon the fame footing with regard to their credit, 
 and the future fupport of their wives and families, as the a6tive and 
 induftrious, can we expecfl to fee men exert that animated activity in 
 bettering their condition, which now forms the mafter-fpring of pub- 
 lick profperity. If an inquifition were to be cftablifhed to examine 
 the claims of each individual, and to determine whether he had, or 
 had not, exerted himfelf to the utmoft, and to grant or refufe affift- 
 ance accordingly, this would be little elfe than a repetition upon a 
 larger fcale, of the Englilli poor laws, and would be completely 
 deftru<R:ive of the true principles of liberty and equality. 
 
 But independently of this great obje<5lion to thefe eftabliftiments, 
 and fuppofmg, for a moment, that they would give no check to pro- 
 duction, the greateft difficulty remains yet behind. 
 
 Were every man fure of a comfortable provifion for a family, 
 almoft every man w^ould have one ; and were the rifing generation 
 free from the " killing froft" of mifery, population muft increafe 
 with unufual rapidity. Of this, M. Condorcet feems to be fully 
 aware himfelf; and, after having defcribed further improvements, 
 he fays, 
 
 ** But in this progrefs of induftry and happinefs, each generation 
 ** will be called to more extended enjoyments, and, in confequence, 
 ** by the phyfical conftitution of the human frame, to an increafe in 
 
 *' the 
 
CITAP. I. OfSyJlems of Equality. Wallace. Condor cet. 35.7- 
 
 " the number of individuals. Muft not there arrive a period then> 
 " when thefe laws, equally necefTary, ihall counteradl each other? 
 " when the increafe of the number of men furpaffing their means of' 
 " fubfiftence, the neceflary refult mull be, either a continual dimi- 
 " nution of happinefs, and population a movement truly retro- 
 " grade; or, at leaft, a kind of ofcillation between good and evil? 
 " In focieties arrived at this term, will not this ofcillation be a con- 
 *' ftantly fubfifting caufe of periodical mifery ? Will it not mark the' 
 " limit when all further amelioration will' become impoffible, and' 
 " point out that term to the perfed;ibility of the human race, which 
 '* it may reach in the courfe of ages, but can never pafs ?" He 
 then adds, 
 
 *' There is no perfon who does not fee how very diftant fuch a- 
 " period is from us. But ihall we ever arrive at it ? It is equally 
 '* impoffible to pronounce for, or againft, the future realization of 
 " an event, which cannot take place but at an asra, when the 
 ** human race will have attained improvements of which we can/ at' 
 " prefent, fcarcely form a conception." 
 
 M. Condorcet's picture of what may be expelled to happen, when 
 the number of men fhall furpafs their means of fubfiftence, is juftly 
 drawn. The ofcillation which he defcribes will certainly take place, 
 and' will, without doubt, be a conftantly fubfifting caufe of periodi- 
 cal mifery. The only point in which I differ from M. Condorcet in 
 this defcription, is, with regard to the period when it may be applied 
 to the' human race. M. Cbndorcet thinks that it cannot poffibly be 
 applicable, but at an asra extremely diftant. If the proportion- 
 between the natural increafe of population and food, which was: 
 dated in the beginning of this eifay, and which has received confi- 
 derabie confirmation from the poverty that has been found to prevail 
 in every ftage and department of human fociety, be in any degree 
 near the truth, it will appear, on the contrary, that the period when 
 the number of men furpafs their means of fubfiftence, has long fince 
 arrived; and that this necefiliiry ofcillation, this conftantly fubfifting 
 aufe of periodical mifery, has exifted ever fince wx have had any. 
 
 hiftories 
 
B5^ ^f ^Jlfi^^^ of Equality* Wallace. Condor cet, book. lit. 
 
 hiflorles of mankind, does exift at prefcnt, and will for ever continue 
 to exift, unlefs fome decided change take place in the phyfical con- 
 {litution of our nature. 
 
 M. Condorcet, however, goes on to fay, that lliould the period 
 which he Conceives to be fo diftant ever arrive, the human race, and 
 the advocates of the perfe6libility of man, need not be alarmed at it. 
 He then proceeds to remove the difficulty in a manner which I pro- 
 fefs not to underftand. Having obferved, that the ridiculous preju- 
 dices of fuperftition would by that time have ceafed to throw over 
 morals a corrupt and degrading aufterity, he alludes either to a pro- 
 mifcuous concubinage, which would prevent breeding, or to fome- 
 thing elfe as unnatural. To remove the difficulty in this way, will 
 furely, in the opinion of moft men, be, to deftroy that virtue and 
 purity of manners, which the advocates of equality, and of the per- 
 fedlibility of man, profefs to be the end and objedl of their views. 
 
 The laft queftion which M. Condorcet propofes for examination, 
 is, the organic perfe^libility of man. He obferves, that if the proofs 
 which have been already given, and which, in their development, 
 will receive greater force in the work itfelf, are fufficient to eftablifh 
 the indefinite perfedlibility of man, upon the fuppoiition, of the fame 
 natural faculties, and the fame organization which he has at prefent ; 
 what will be the certainty, what the extent of our hopes, if this 
 organization, thefe natural faculties themfelves, be fufceptible of 
 amelioration ? 
 
 From the improvement of medicine ; from the ufe of more whole- 
 fome food, and habitations ; from a manner of living, which will 
 improve the ftrength of the body by exercife, without impairing it 
 by excefs ; from the deftrucElion of the two great caufes of the degra- 
 tion of man, mifcry, and too great riches ; from the gradual removal 
 of tranfmiflible and contagious diforders, by the improvement of 
 phyfical knowledge, rendered more efficacious, by the progrefs of 
 reafon and of fecial order ; he infers, that though man will not abfb- 
 lutely become immortal, yet that the duration between his birth,. 
 
 and 
 
CHAP. I. OfSyJlemsofEquaJUy, Wallace. Condorcet, 359 
 
 and natural death, will increafe without ceafing, will have no affign- 
 able term, and may properly be exprefled by the word indefinite. 
 He then defines this word to mean, either a conftant approach to an 
 unlimited extent, without ever reaching it ; or, an increafe in the 
 immenfity of ages to an extent greater than any affignable quantity. 
 
 But furely the application of this term in either of thefe fenfes, to 
 the duration of human life, is in the higheft degree unphilofophical, 
 and totally unwarranted by any appearances in the laws of nature. 
 Variations from different caufes are elTentially diftincH: from a regular 
 and unretrograde increafe. The average duration of human life will, 
 to a certain degree, vary, from healthy or unhealthy climates,^ from 
 wholefome or unwholefome food, from virtuous or vicious manners, 
 and other caufes ; but it may be fairly doubted, whether there has 
 been really the fmallefl perceptible advance in the natural duration 
 of human life, fmce firfl we had any authentic hiflory of man. 
 The prejudices of all ages have, indeed, been direlly contrary to this 
 fuppofition ; and though I would not lay much flrefs upon thefe pre- 
 judices, they will in fome meafure tend to prove, that there has been 
 no marked advance in an oppofitc direction. 
 
 It may perhaps be faid, that the world is yet fo young, fo com^ 
 pletely in its infancy, that it ought not to be expecfled that any dif- 
 ference fhould appear fo foon. 
 
 If this be the cafe, there is at once an end of all human fciencc. 
 The whole train of reafbnings from effecfls to caufes will be deflroyed. 
 We may Ihut our eyes to the book of nature, as it will no longer be 
 of any ufe to read it. The wildefl and mofl improbable conjedures 
 may be advanced with as much certainty as the moll juft and 
 fublime theories, founded on careful and reiterated experiments. 
 We may return again to the old mode of philofophifmg, and make 
 fa6ls bend to fyflems, inflcad of eflablifhing fyflems upon fads. 
 The grand and confiflent theory of Newton, will be placed upon 
 the fame footing as the wild and eccentric hypothcfes of Dcfcartes. 
 In fhort, if the laws of nature be thus fickle and inconflant ; if it 
 
 can 
 
$6o 0/ Syjkms of Equalkj, Wallace, Condorcet. book iit. 
 
 can be affirmed, and be believed, that they will change, when for 
 ages and ages they have appeared immutable, the human mind will 
 no longer have any incitements to inquiry, but muft remain fixed in 
 ina(5live torpor, or amufe itfelf only in bewildering dreams, and 
 extravagant fancies. 
 
 The conftancy of the laws of nature, and of effects and caufes, is 
 the foundation of all human knowledge ; and, if without any pre- 
 vious obfervable fymptoms or indications of a change, we can infer 
 -that a change will take place, we may as well make any affertion 
 whatever, and think it as unreafonable to be contradicted, in affirm- 
 ing that the moon will come in contacfl with the earth to-morrow, 
 as in faying, that the fun will rife at its appointed time. 
 
 With regard to the duration of human life, there does not appear 
 to have exifted, from the earlieft ages of the world, to the prefent 
 moment, the fmalleft permanent fymptom, or indication, of increaf- 
 ing prolongation. The obfervable eiFedls of climate, habit, .diet, 
 and other caufes, on length of life, have furnifhed the pretext fox 
 aiTcrting its indefinite extenfion ; and the fandy foundation on which 
 the argument refls, is, that becaufe the limit of human life is unde- 
 fined ; becaufe you cannot mark its precife term, and fay fo far 
 exa<Stly Ihall it go, and no further; that therefore its extent may 
 increafe for ever, and be properly termed, indefinite or unlimited. 
 But the fallacy and abfurdity of this argument will fufficiently 
 appear fjrom a flight examination of what M. Condorcet calls the 
 organic perfG<ftibility, or degeneration, of the race of plants and ani- 
 mals, which, he fays, may be regarded as one of the general laws of 
 nature. 
 
 I am told, that it is a maxim among the improvers of cattle^ that 
 jou may breed to any degree of nicety you pleafe ; and they found 
 this maxim upon another, which is, that ibme of the offspring will 
 pofi^efs the defirable qualities of the parents in a greater degree. In 
 the famous Leicefterfhire breed of flieep, the objcdl is to procure 
 jthem with fmall heads and fmall legs. Proceeding upon thefe breed- 
 ing 
 
CHAP. I. Of SyJ^ems of Equality. Wallace. Condor eel. 361 
 
 ing maxims, it is evident, that we might go on till the heads and 
 legs were evanefcent quantities; but this is fo palpable an abfurdity, 
 that we may be quite fure that the premifes are not juft, and that 
 there really is a limit, though we cannot fee it, or fay exactly where 
 it is. In this cafe, the point of the greateft degree of improvement, 
 or the fmalleftfize of the head and legs, maybe faid to be undefined; 
 but this is very different from unlimited, or from indefinite, in 
 M. Condorcet's acceptation of the term. Though I may not be able, 
 in the prefent inflance, to mark the limit, at which further improve- 
 ment will flop, I can very eafily mention a point at which it will not 
 arrive. I fliould not fcruple to affert, that were the breeding to 
 continue for ever, the heads and legs of thefe fhecp would never be 
 fo fjnall as the head and less of a rat. 
 
 It cannot be true, therefore, that among animals, fomc of the 
 offspring will poffefs the defirable qualities of the parents in a greater 
 degree ; or that animals are indefinitely perfecfliblc. 
 
 The progrefs of a wild plant, to a beautiful garden flower, is per- 
 haps more marked and flriking, than any thing that takes place 
 among animals ; yet even here, it would be the height of abfurdity 
 to affert, that the progrefs w^as unlimited or indefinite. One of tho 
 mofl obvious features of the improvement is the increafe of fize. The 
 flowxr has grown gradually larger by cultivation. If the progrefs 
 wxre really unlimited, it might be increafed ad infinitum ; but this 
 is fo grofs an abfurdity, that we may be quite fure, that among 
 plants, as well as among animals, there is ^ limit to improvement, 
 though we do not exa<6lly know where it is. It is probable that the 
 gardeners who contend for flower prizes have often applied flronger 
 drefTing without fuccefs. At the fame time, it would be highly pre- 
 fumptuous in any man to fay, that he had feen the finefl carnation 
 or anemone that could ever be made to grow. He might however 
 affert without the fmallefl chance of being contradi(5led by a future 
 fad;, that no carnation or anemone could ever by cultivation be 
 increafed to the fize of a large cabbage j and yet there are aflignable 
 
 3 A quantities 
 
^62 Of Syjlcms ofEquaUiy. TFaflace, Condor cet, book iii, 
 
 quantities greater than a cabbage. No man can fay that he has 
 fcen the hirgeft car of wheat, or the largeft oak that could ever 
 grow ; but he might cafily, and with perfedl certainty, name a point 
 of magnitude, at which they would not arrive. In all thefe cafcs 
 therefore, a careful diftinftion fliould be made, between an unlimited 
 progrefs, and a progrcfs where the limit is merely undefined. 
 
 It will be faid, perhaps, that the reafon why plants and animals 
 cannot incrcafc indefinitely in fizc, is, that they would fall by their 
 own weight. I anfwer, how do we know this but from experience ? 
 from experience of the degree of ftrength with which thefe bodies 
 are formed. I know that a carnation, long before it reached the 
 fize of a cabbage, would not be fupportcd by its ftalk ; but I only 
 know this from my experience of the weaknefs, and want of tenacity 
 in the materials of a carnation flalk. There are many fubflances in 
 nature, of the fame fize, that would fupport as large a head as ai 
 cabbage* 
 
 The rcafpns of the mortality of plants are at prefent perfc(5tly 
 unknown to us. No man can fay why fuch a plant is annual, ano- 
 ther biennial, and another endures for ages. The whole affair in all 
 thefe cafes, in plants, animals, and in the human race,, is an affair 
 of experience ; and I only conclude that man is mortal, becaufe the 
 invariable experience of all ages has proved the mortality of thofe 
 materials of which his vifible body is made. 
 
 ** What can we reafon but from what we know.'* 
 
 Sound philofophy will not authorize me to alter this opinion of the 
 mortality of man on earth, till it can be clearly proved, that the 
 human race has made, and is making, a decided progrefs towards an 
 illimitable extent of life. And the chief reafon why I adduced the 
 two particular inftances from animals and plants, was, to expofe, and 
 illuflrate, if I could, the fallacy of that argument, which infers an 
 unlimited progrefs, merely becaufe fome partial improvement has 
 
 taken 
 6 
 
CHAP. I. Of Syjlems of Equality, Wallace. Condor cet. 3^3 
 
 taken place, and that the limit of this improvement cannot be pre- 
 cifely afcertained. 
 
 The capacity of improvement in plants and animals, to a certain 
 degree, no perfon can poflibly doubt. A clear and decided progrefs 
 has already been made ; and yet, I think it appears, that it would be 
 highly abfurd to fay, that this progrefs has no limits. In human life, 
 though there are great variations from different caufes, it may be 
 doubted, whether, ilnce the world began, any organic improvement 
 whatever of the human frame can be clearly afcertained. The foun- 
 dations, therefore, on which the arguments for the organic perfedi- 
 bility of man reft, are unufually weak, and can only be conlidcred as 
 mere conje<3:urcs. It does not, however, by any means, feem impof- 
 fible, that by an attention to breed, a certain degree of improvement, 
 {imilar to that among animals, might take place among men. 
 Whether intelledl could be communicated may be a matter of 
 doubt : but fize, ftrength, beauty, complexion, and perhaps even 
 longevity, arc in a degree tranfmiflible. The error does not feem to 
 lie, in fuppofmg a fmall degree of improvement poflible, but in not 
 difcriminating between a fmall improvement, the limit of which is 
 undefined, and an improvement really unlimited. As the human 
 race, however, could not be improved in this way, without con- 
 demning all the bad fpecimens to celibacy, it is not probable, that an 
 attention to breed Ihould ever become general ; indeed, I know of 
 no w^ell-direfted attempts of the kind, except in the ancient family 
 of the BickerftafFs, who are faid to have been very fuccefsful in 
 whitening the fkins, and increafing the height of their race by pru- 
 dent marriages, particularly by that very judicious crofs with Maud 
 the milk -maid, by which fome capital defects in the conftitutions of 
 the family were corre<fted. 
 
 It will not be neceffary, I think, in order more completely to (hew 
 the improbability of any approach in man towards immortality on 
 earth, to urge the very great additional weight that an increafe in 
 ikit duration of life would give to the argument of population. 
 
 3 A 3 M. Con- 
 
364 Of Syftems of EqtmVity. Wallace. Condorcef. book in, 
 
 M. Condorcet's book may be confidered, not only as a fketch of 
 the opinions of a celebrated individual, but of many of the literary 
 men in France, at the beginning of the revolution. As fuch, though 
 merely a ilcetch, rt feems worthy of attention. 
 
 Many, I doubt not, will think that the attempting gravely to 
 controvert fo abfurd a paradox, as the immortality of man on earth, 
 or indeed, even the perfedibility of man and fociety, is a wafte of 
 time and words ; and that fuch unfounded conjed:ures are beft 
 anfwered by negledl. T profefe, however, to be of a different opinion. 
 When paradoxes of this kind are advanced by ingenious and able 
 men, negled: has no tenden-cy to convince them of their miftakes. 
 Priding therafelves on what they conceive to be a mark of the reach 
 and fize of their own undcrftandings, of the extent and comprehen- 
 fivenefs of their views ; they will look upon this ncgle<^ merely as an 
 indication of poverty, and narrownefs, in the mental exertions of 
 their contemporaries ; and only think, that the world is not yet pre- 
 pared to receive their fublime truths. 
 
 On the contrary, a candid inveftigation of thefe fubjed:s, accom- 
 panied with a perfect readinefs to adopt any theory, warranted by 
 found philofophy, may have a tendency to convirrce them, that, in 
 forming improbable and unfounded hypothefes, fo far from enlargmg 
 the bounds of human fciencc, they are contracfling it; fo far from 
 promoting the improvement of the human mind, they are obftrud:- 
 ing it : they are throwing us back again almofl into the infancy of 
 knowledge ; and weakening the foundations of that mode of philo- 
 fophifm^, under the aufpices af which, fcience has of late made fuch 
 rapid advances. The late rage for wide and unreftrained fpeculation, 
 feems to have been a kind of mental intoxication, ariiing, perhaps, 
 from the great and unexpected difcoverics which had been made m 
 various branches of fcience. To men, elate and giddy with fuch 
 fucceffes, every thing appeared to be within the grafp of human 
 powers ; and, under this illufion, they confounded fubje(3;s where 
 I no 
 
CHAP. I. Of Syjlems of Equality, Wallace, Qondorcet. ^6^ 
 
 no real progrefs could be proved, with thofe, where the progrefs had 
 been marked, certain, and acknowledged. Could they be perfuaded 
 to fober themfelves with a little fevere and chaftized thinking, they 
 would fee, that the caufe of truth, and of found philofophy, cannot 
 but fufFer, by fubftituting wild flights and unfupported aflertions, for 
 patient inveiligation, and well authenticated proofs. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 3^^ ) 
 
 CHAP. ir. 
 
 Of Syjiems of Equality, Godwin* 
 
 In reading Mr. Godwin's ingenious work on political juftice, it is 
 impoflible not to be ftruck with the fpirit and energy of his ftyle, 
 the force and preciiion of fome of his reafonings, the ardent tone of 
 his thoughts, and particularly with that impreffive earneftnefs of 
 manner, which gives an air of truth to the whole. At the fanme 
 time it muft be confeffed, that he has not proceeded in his inquiries 
 with the caution that found philofophy requires. His concluiions 
 are often unwarranted by his premifes. He fails fometimes in 
 removing objections which he himfelf brings forward. He relies too 
 much on general and abftra<5l propolltions which will not admit of 
 application. And his conjed;ures certainly far outftrip the modefty 
 of nature. 
 
 The fyftem of equality which Mr. Godwin propofes, is, on a firft 
 view, the moft beautiful and engaging of any that has yet appeared. 
 An amelioration of fociety to be produced merely by reafon and con- 
 vidlion, gives more promife of permanence, than any change efFe<3:ed, 
 and maintained by force. The unlimited exercife of private judge- 
 ment, is a do<5lrine grand and captivating, and has a vaft fuperiority 
 over thofe iyftems, where every individual is in a manner the Have 
 of the publick. The fubftitution of benevolence, as the mafterfpring 
 and moving principle of fociety, inftead of felf-love, appears, at firft 
 fight, to be a confummation devoutly to be wilhed. In fliort, it is 
 impoffible to contemplate the whole of this fair piClure without 
 emotions of delight and admiration, accompanied with an ardent 
 
 longing 
 
GHAP. II. OfSyJfems ofEqtmlt/y, Godwin, ^Qy 
 
 longing for the period of its accomplifliment. But alas ! that moment 
 can never arrive. The whole is little better than a dream a phan- 
 tom of the imagination. Thefe " gorgeous palaces" of happinefs 
 and immortality, thefe " folemn temples" of truth and virtue, will 
 diflblve, " like the bafelefs fabric of a vilion," when w^e awaken to 
 real life, and contemplate the genuine Situation of man on earth. 
 
 Mr. Godwin, at the concluiion of the third chapter of his eighth 
 book, fpeaking of population, fays, " There is a principle in human 
 '* fociety, by which population is perpetually kept down to the level 
 " of the means of fubfiftence. Thus, among the wandering tribes 
 " of America and Afia, wx never find, through the lapfe of ages, that 
 ** population has fo increafed as to render neceflary the cultivation 
 *' of the earth *." This principle, which Mr. Godwin thus mentions 
 as fome myfterious and occult caufe, and which he does not attempt 
 to invefligate, has appeared to be the grinding law of neceflity 
 mifery, and the fear of milery. 
 
 The great error under which Mr. Godwin labours, throughout his 
 whole work, is, the attributing of almoft all the vices and mifery that 
 prevail in civil fociety to human inftitutions. Political regulations> 
 and the eftablifhed adminiftration of property, are, with him, the 
 fruitful fources of all evil, the hotbeds of all the crimes that degrade 
 mankind. Were this really a true ftate of the cafe, it would not 
 feem an abfolutely hopelefs tafk, to remove evil completely from the 
 world ; and reafon ieems to be the proper and adequate inilrument, 
 for effedling fo great a purpofe. But the truth is, that, though 
 human inftitutions appear to be the obvious and obtrufive caufes of 
 much mifchief to mankind, they are, in reality, light and fuperficial, 
 in comparifon with thofe deeper- feated caufes of evil which refult 
 from the laws of nature. 
 
 In a chapter on the benefits attendant upon a fyftem of equality, 
 Mr. Godwin fays, '* The fpirit of oppreffion, the fpirit of fervility, 
 
 p. 460. 8vo. ad edit, 
 
 '* and 
 
368 Of Syjlems of Equality. Godwin, bookiii. 
 
 *' and the fpirit of fraud, thefe are the immediate growth of the 
 " eftabUflied adminiftration of property. They are alike hoftile to 
 *' intellectual improvement. The other vices of envy, malice, and 
 " revenge, are their infuperable companions. In a ftate of fociety 
 " where men lived in the midft of plenty, and where all fhared 
 " alike the bounties of nature, thefe fentiments would inevitably 
 " expire. The narrow principle of felfifhnefs would vanifli. No 
 " man being obliged to guard his little ftore, or provide with anxiety 
 " and pain for his reftlefs wants, each w^ould lofe his individual 
 " exiflence in the thought of the general good. No man would be 
 " an enemy to his neighbours, for they would have no fubjecft of 
 " contention ; and of confequence philanthropy would refume the 
 " empire which reafon afligns her. Mind would be delivered from 
 *' her perpetual anxiety about corporal fupport, and free to expa- 
 " tiate in the field of thought which is congenial to her. Each 
 " would affift the inquiries of all "." 
 
 This would indeed be a happy ftate. But that it is merely an 
 imaginary picture, with fcarcely a feature near the truth, the reader, 
 I am afraid, is already too well convinced. 
 
 Man cannot llvx in the midfl of plenty. All cannot fhare alike 
 the bounties of nature. Were there no eftabliflied adminiftration of 
 property, every man would be obliged to guard with force his little 
 ftore. Selfifhnefs would be triumphant. The fubje<^s of contention 
 would be perpetual. Every individual would be under a conftant 
 anxiety about corporal fupport, and not a fmgle intellel would be 
 left free to expatiate in the field of thought. 
 
 How little Mr. Godwin has turned his attention to the real flate 
 of human fociety, will fufficiently appear from the manner in w^hich 
 he endeavours to remove the difficulty of an overcharged population. 
 He fays, *' The obvious anfwer to this objection is, that to reafon 
 *' thus, is to forefee difficulties at a great diftance. Three-fourths of 
 
 * Political Juftice, b. viii. c. iii. p. 4581 
 
 " the 
 
CHAP. II. Of SyJIems of Eqtialtty. Godwht. ^6g 
 
 " the habitable globe is now uncultivated. The parts already culti- 
 " vated are capable of immeafurable improvement. Myriads ofcen- 
 " turies of ftill increafmg population may pafs away, and the earth 
 " be ftlll found fufficient for the fubfillience of its inhabitants \" 
 
 I have already pointed out the error of fuppofing that no diftrefs 
 or difficulty would arife from a redundant population, before the 
 earth abfolutely refufed to produce any more. But let us imagine, 
 for a moment, Mr. Godwin's fyflem of equality realized in its utmoft 
 extent, and fee how foon this difficulty might be expelled to prefs, 
 under fo perfect a form of fociety. A theory that will not admit of 
 application cannot poffibly be juft. 
 
 Let us fuppofe all the caufes of vice and mifery in this ifland 
 removed. War and contention ceafe. Unwholefome trades and 
 manu factories do not exift. Crowds no longer colledl together in 
 great and peflilent cities, forpurpofes of court intrigue, of commerce, 
 and vicious gratification. Simple, healthy, and rational amufements, 
 take place of drinking, gaming, and debauchery. There are no towns 
 fufficiently large, to have any prejudicial effecfts on the human con- 
 ftitution. The greater part of the happy inhabitants of this terreftrial 
 paradife live in hamlets and farm houfes, fcattered over the face of 
 the country. All men are equal. The labours of luxury are at an 
 end ; and the neceiTary labours of agriculture are fliared amicably 
 among all. The number of perfons and the produce of the ifland 
 we fuppofe to be the fame as at prefent. The fpirit of benevolence 
 guided by impartial juftice, will divide this produce among all the 
 members of fociety according to their wants. Though it would be 
 impoffible that they fliould all have animal food every day, yet vege- 
 table food, with meat occafionally, would fatlsfy the defires of a 
 frugal people, and would be fufficient to preferve them in health, 
 flrength, and fpirits. 
 
 Mr. Godwin confiders marriage as a fraud, and a monopoly ^, Let 
 
 Polit. Juftice, b. viii, c, ix, p. 510. ^ Id. b. viii. c. viii. p.498. etfeq. 
 
 3 B us 
 
^^o Of Syjlems of Equality, Godwin, Bookiii. 
 
 us fuppoic the commerce of the fexes eflabhfhed upon principles of 
 the moft perfedl freedom. Mr. Godwin does not think himfelf, that 
 this freedom would lead to a promifcuous intercourfe ; and in this, 
 I perfed:Iy agree with him. The love of variety is a vicious, corrupt, 
 and unnatural tafte, and could not prevail, in any great degree, in a 
 fimple and virtuous ftate of fociety. Each man would probably feleft 
 for himfelf a partner, to whom he would adhere, as long as that 
 adherence continued to be the choice of both parties. It would be 
 of little confequence, according to Mr. Grodwin, how many children 
 a woman had, or to whom they belonged. Provifions and alTiftance 
 would fpontaneoufly flow from the quarter in which they abounded, 
 to the quarter in which they were deficient*. And every man, 
 according to his capacity, would be ready to furnifh inftru6lion to 
 the rifing generation. 
 
 I cannot conceive a form of fociety fo favourable, upon the whole, 
 to population. The irremediablenefs of marriage, as it is at prefent 
 conftituted, undoubtedly deters many from entering into this ftate. 
 An unfliackled intercourfe, on the contrary, would be a moft power- 
 ful incitement to early attachments : and as we are flippoftng no 
 anxiety about the future fupport of children to exift, I do not con- 
 ceive that there would be one woman in a hundred, of twenty- three 
 years of age, without a family. 
 
 With thefe extraordinary encouragements to population, and 
 every caufe of depopulation, as we have fuppofed, removed, the 
 numbers would neceflarily increafe fafter than in any fociety that 
 has ev^er yet been known. I have before mentioned, that the inha- 
 bitants of the back fettlements of America appear to double their 
 numbers in fifteen years. England is certainly a more healthy country 
 than the back fettlements of America ; and as we have luppofed 
 every houfe in the ifland to be airy and wholefome, and the encou- 
 ragements to have a family, greater even than in America, no pro- 
 
 * Political Juftice, b. viii. c, viii. p. 504, 
 
 bablc 
 
e H A p . 1 1 . Of Syjletns of Equality. Godvc in, 371 
 
 bable reafon can be affigned, why the population fliould not double 
 itfelf, in lefs, if poffible, than fifteen years. But to be quite fure that 
 we do not go beyond the truth, we will only fuppofe the period of 
 doubling to be twenty-five years ; a ratio of increafe which is well 
 known to have taken place throughout all the northern flates of 
 America. 
 
 There can be little doubt, that the equalization of property which 
 we have fuppofed, added to the circumftanceof the labour of the whole 
 community being directed chiefly to agriculture, would tend greatly 
 to augment the produce of the country. But to anfwer the demands 
 of a population increafing fo rapidly, Mr. Godwin's calculation of half 
 an hour a day would certainly not be iufficient. It is probable, that 
 the half of every man's time mufi: be employed for this purpofe. Yet 
 with fuch, or much greater exertions, a perlbn who is acquainted 
 with the nature of the foil in this country, and who refled:s on the 
 fertility of the lands already in cultivation, and the barrennefs of 
 thofe that are not cultivated, will be very much difpofcd to doubt, 
 whether the whole average produce could poffibly be doubled in 
 twenty-five years from the prefent period. The only chance of 
 fiiccefs would be from the ploughing up moft of the grazing coun- 
 tries, and putting an end almoft entirely to animal food. Yet this 
 fcheme would probably defeat itfelf. The ibil of England will not 
 pT*oduce much without dreffing ; and cattle feem to be neceflary to 
 make that fpecies of manure which beft fuits the land. 
 
 Difficult, however, as it might be, to double the average produce 
 of the ifland in twenty-five years, let us fiippofe it efFecSed. At the 
 expiration of the firft period, therefore, the food, though almoft 
 entirely vegetable, would be fufficient to fupport in health the 
 doubled population oi 2,2, millions. 
 
 During the next period, where will the food be found to fatisfy 
 the importunate demands of the increafing numbers ? Where is the 
 frelh land to turn up ? Where is the dreffing neceflary to improve 
 that which is already in cultivation ? There is no perfon with the 
 
 3 B :? fmalleft 
 
372 Of Svflems of 'Eq:iiality , Godvotn, book hi. 
 
 fmallcfl knowledge of land, but would fay, that it was impoiriblc 
 that the average produce of the country could be increafed during 
 the fecond twenty-five years, by a quantity equal to what it at prefcnt 
 yields. Yet w^e will fuppofe this increafe, however improbable, to 
 take place. The exuberant ftrength of the argument allows ofalmofl 
 any conceffion. Even with this concellion, however, there would be 
 eleven millions at the expiration of the fecond term unprovided for. 
 A quantity equal to the frugal fupport of 2>i millions would be to 
 be divided among 44 millions. 
 
 Alas! what becomes of the picture, where men lived in the 
 midft of plenty, where no man w^as obliged to provide with anxiety 
 and pain for his reftlefs wants ; where the narrow principle of felfifh- 
 nefs did not exift ; where the mind was delivered from her perpetual 
 anxiety about corporeal fupport, and free to expatiate in the field of 
 thought which is congenial to her. This beautiful fabrick of the 
 imagination vanifhes at the fevere touch of truth. The fpirit of 
 benevolence, cherilhed and invigorated by plenty, is reprelTed by the 
 chilling breath of want. The hateful paffions that had vaniflied 
 reappear. The mighty law of felf-prefervation expels all the fofter, 
 and more exalted emotions of the foul. The temptations to evil 
 are too ftrong for human nature to refifl. The corn is plucked before 
 it is ripe, or fecreted in unfair proportions; and the whole black 
 train of vices that belong to falfchood are immediately generated. 
 Provifions no longer flow in for the fupport of a mother with a large 
 family. The children are fickly from infufficient food. The rofy 
 flufh of health gives place to the pallid check, and hollow eye of 
 mifery. Benevolence, yet lingering in a few bofoms, makes fbme 
 faint expiring ftruggles, till at length felf-love refumes his wonted 
 empire, and lords it triumphant over the world. 
 
 No human inftitutions here exifted, to the perverfenefs of which 
 Mr. Godwin afcribes the original fin of the worft men '. No op- 
 
 ' Polit. Juftice, b. viii. c. iii. p. 340. 
 
 pofition 
 
CHAP. II. OfSyJiems of Equality. Godwin, ^y^ 
 
 pofition had been produced by them between publick and private 
 good. No monopoly had been created of thofe advantages which 
 reafon direds to be left in common. No man had been goaded to 
 the breach of order by unjuft laws. Benevolence had eftablifhed her 
 reign in all hearts. And yet in fo fhort a period as fifty years, 
 violence, oppreffion, falfehood, mifery, every hateful vice, and every 
 form of diflrefs, which degrade and fadden the prefent ftate of 
 fbciety, feem to have been generated by the moft imperious cir- 
 cumilances, by laws inherent in the nature of man, and abfolutely 
 independent of all human regulations. 
 
 If we be not yet too well convinced of the reality of this melan- 
 choly picture, let us but look for a moment into the next period of 
 twenty-five years, and we Ihall fee 44 millions of human beings 
 without the means of fupport : and at the conclufion of the firft 
 century, the population would be 176 millions, and the food only 
 fufficient for 55 millions, leaving 121 millions unprovided for. In 
 thefe ages, want, indeed, would be triumphant, and rapine and 
 murder muft reign at large : and yet all this time we are fuppofing 
 the produce of the earth abfolutely unlimited, and the yearly increafe 
 greater than the boldeft fpeculator can imagine. 
 
 This is undoubtedly a very different view of the difficulty arifing 
 from the principle of population, from that which Mr. Godwin 
 gives, when he fays, " Myriads of centuries of flill increaflng 
 " population may pafs away, and the earth be flill found fufficient 
 " for the fubfiflence of its inhabitants." 
 
 I am fufficiently aware, that the redundant millions, which I 
 have mentioned, could never have exifled. It is a perfedly jufl: 
 obfervation of Mr. Godwin, that, " there is a principle in human 
 " fociety by which population is perpetually kept down to the 
 " level of the means of fubfiflence." The fole queftion is, what is 
 this principle ? Is it fome obfcure and occult caufe l Is it fome 
 myfterious interference of heaven, which at a certain period flrikes the 
 men with impotence, and the women with barrennefs ? Or is it a 
 
 caufe, 
 
374 Of Syjlems of Equality, Godwin, book iii. 
 
 caufe, open to our refearches, within our view ; a caufe, which 
 has conftantly been obferved to operate, though with varied force, in 
 every ftate in which man has been placed. Is it not mifery, and the 
 fear of mifery, the neceflary and inevitable refults of the laws of 
 nature, which human inftitutions, fo far from aggravating, have 
 tended confiderably to mitigate, though they can never remove. 
 
 It may be curious to obferve, in the cafe that we have been 
 fuppofmg, how fome of the principal laws which at prefent govern 
 civilized fociety, would be fucceflively diAated by the moft impe- 
 rious neceffity. As man, according to Mr. Godwin, is the creature 
 of the impreffions to which he is fubjed, the goadings of want could 
 not continue long, before fome violations of publick or private ftock 
 would neceffarily take place. As thefe violations increafed in number 
 and extent, the more active and comprehenfive intellects of the 
 fociety would foon perceive, that, while population was faft increafing, 
 the yearly produce of the country would fhortly begin to diminifli. 
 The urgency of the cafe would fuggeft the neceffity of fome imme- 
 diate meafures being taken for the general fafety. Some kind of 
 convention would then be called, and the dangerous fituation of the 
 country ftated in the ftrongeft terms. It would be obferved, that 
 while they lived in the midfl of plenty, it was of little confequencc 
 who laboured the leaft, or who pofTefTed the leaft, as every man 
 was perfeAly willing and ready to fupply the wants of his neighbour. 
 But, that the queftion was no longer, whether one man fhould give to 
 another, that which he did not ufe himfelf ; but whether he fhould give 
 to his neighbour the food which was abfolutely neceflary to his own 
 cxiftence. It would be reprefented, that the number of thofe which 
 were in want, very greatly exceeded the number and means of 
 thofe who fhould fupply them ; that thefe preffing wants, which, 
 from the ftate of the produce of the country, could not all be 
 gratified, had occafioned fome flagrant violations of juftice ; that 
 thefe violations had already checked the increafe of food, and would. 
 If they were not by fome means or other prevented, throw the whole 
 community into confufion; that imperious neceffity feemed to 
 
 dilate. 
 
CHAP. II. OfSyJiems of Equality, Godwin. ^y^ 
 
 di(flate, that a yearly increafe of produce fliould, if poflible, be 
 obtained at all events ; that, in order to cfre(fl this firft great and 
 indifpenfable purpofe, it would be advifeable to make a more com- 
 plete divifion of land, and to fecure every man's property againft 
 violation, by the moil powerful fan<5lions. 
 
 It might be urged, perhaps, by fome objectors, that, as the fertility 
 of the land increafed, and various accidents occurred, the fhares of 
 fome men might be much more than fufficient for their fupport; 
 and that, when the reign of felf-love was once eftablifhed, they 
 would not diftribute their furplus produce without fome compen- 
 fation in return. It would be obferved, in anfwer, that this was 
 an inconvenience greatly to be lamented ; but that it was an evil, 
 which would bear no comparifon to the black train of diftrelTes 
 which would inevitably be occafioned by the infecurity of property ; 
 that the quantity of food which one man could confume, was 
 neceflarily limited by the narrow capacity of the human flomach ; 
 that it was not certainly probable that he fliould throw away the 
 reft; and if he exchanged his furplus produce for the labour of others, 
 this would be better than that thefe others fliould abfolutely ftarve. 
 
 It feems highly probable, therefore, that an adminiftration of pro- 
 perty, not very different from that which prevails in civilized ftates 
 at prefent, would be eftabliflied, as the beft, though inadequate, 
 remedy, for the evils which were prefling on the fociety. 
 
 The next fubjecfl which would come under difcuflion, intimately 
 connected with the preceding, is, the commerce of the fexes. It 
 would be urged by thofe who had turned their attention to the true 
 caufe of the difficulties under which the community laboured, that 
 while every man felt fecure that all his children would be well 
 provided for by general benevolence, the powers of the earth would 
 be abfolutely inadequate to produce food for the population, which 
 would inevitably enfue; that, even if the whole attention and 
 labour of the fociety were direded to this fole point, and if, by the 
 mofl: perfect fecurity of property, and every other encouragement 
 
 7 that 
 
^^S Of Siftems of Equality. Godwin. book in. 
 
 that could be thought of, the greateft poffible increafe of produce 
 were yearly obtained ; yet ftill, the increafe of food would by no 
 means keep pace with the much more rapid increafe of population ; 
 that fome check to population, therefore, was imperioufly called for ; 
 that the moll natural and obvious check feemed to be, to make 
 every man provide for his own children; that this would operate in 
 fome refped: as a meafure and a guide in the increafe of population, 
 as it might be expe<fled that no man would bring beings into the 
 w^orld, for whom he could not find the means of fupport ; that, 
 where this, notwithftanding, was the cafe, it feemed neceffary, for 
 the example of others, that the difgrace and inconvenience attending 
 fuch a conduct, fhould fall upon that individual, who had thus incon- 
 fiderately plunged himfelf and his innocent children into want and 
 mifery. 
 
 The inftitution of marriage, or at lead of fome exprefs or implied 
 obligation on every man to fupport his own children, feems to be 
 the natural refult of thefe reafonings, in a community under the 
 difficulties that we have fuppofed. 
 
 The view of thefe difficulties, prefents us with a very natural 
 reafon why the difgrace which attends a breach of chaftity, fhould 
 be greater in a woman than in a man. It could not be expecfled that 
 women fliould have refources fufficient to fupport their own children. 
 When, therefore, a woman had lived with a man, who had entered 
 into no compad: to maintain her children; and aware of the incon- 
 veniences that he might bring upon himfelf, had deferted her, 
 thefe children muft neceffarily fall upon the focicty for fupport, or 
 ftarve. And to prevent the frequent recurrence of fuch an incon- 
 venience, as it would be highly unjuft to punifii fo natural a fault 
 by perfonal reflraint or infliction, the men might agree to punifti 
 it with difgrace. The offence is, befides, more obvious and confpi- 
 cuous in the woman, and lefs liable to any miflake. The father of 
 a child may not always be known; but the fame uncertainty cannot 
 cafily exifl: with regard to the mother. Where the evidence of the 
 
 offence 
 
CHAP. II. OfSyJlemsofEquaUiy, Godwin, ^77 
 
 offence was moil complete, and the inconvenience to the fociety, at 
 the fame time, the greateft ; there, it was agreed, that the largeft 
 Ihare of blame ihould fall. The obligation on every man to fupport 
 his children, the fociety would enforce by pofitive laws ; and the 
 greater degree of inconvenience or labour to which a family would 
 neceffarily fubjedl him, added to fome portion of difgrace, which 
 every human being muft incur, who leads another into unhappinefs, 
 might be confidered as a fufficient punifhment for the man. 
 
 That a woman fhould, at prefent, be almoft driven from fociety, 
 for an offence which men commit nearly with impunity, fcems to 
 be, undoubtedly, a breach of natural juflice. But the origin of the 
 cuftom, as the mofl obvious and effcdual method of preventing the 
 frequent recurrence of a ferious inconvenience to a community, 
 appears to be natural, though not perhaps, perfectly juflifiable. This 
 origin, however, is now lofl: in the new train of ideas, that the 
 cuflom has fince generated. What at firfl might be dictated by flatc 
 neceflity, is now fuppdrtcd by female delicacy; and operates with 
 the greatcft force on that part of the fociety, where, if the original 
 intention of the cuftom were preferved, there is the leaft real 
 occafion for it. 
 
 When thefe two fundamental laws of fociety, the fecurity of 
 property, and the inftitution of marriage, were once eftablifhed, 
 inequality of conditions muft neceffarily follow. Thofe who were 
 born, after the divifion of property, would come into a world already 
 poffeffed. If their parents, from having too large a family, were unable 
 to give them fufficient for their fupport, what could they do in a 
 world where every thing was appropriated. We have feen the fatal 
 effeds that would refult to fociety^ if every man had a valid claim 
 to an equal Ihare of the produce of the earth. The members of a 
 family which was grown too large for the original divifion of land 
 appropriated to it, could not then demand a part of the furplus 
 produce of others as a debt of juftice. It has appeared, that, from 
 the inevitable laws of human nature, fome human beings will be 
 
 3 C cxpofcd 
 
^yS Of Syjf ems of Equality, Godwin, book iii. 
 
 expofed to want. Thefe are the unhappy perfons who in the great 
 lottery of life have drawn a blank. The number of thele perfons 
 would foon exceed the ability of the furplus produce to fupply; 
 Moral merit is a very difficult criterion, except in extreme cafes. 
 The owners of furplus produce would, in general, feek fome more 
 obvious mark of diftindiion ; and it feems to be both natural and 
 juft, that, except upon particular occafions, their choice fhould 
 fall upon thofe, who were able, and profeffed themfelves willing, 
 to exert their ftrength in procuring a further furplus produce, 
 which would at once benefit the community, and enable the 
 proprietors to afford afTiflance to greater numbers. All who were 
 in want of food, would be urged by imperious necefTity to offer their 
 labour in exchange for this article, fo abfolutely neceffary to exiflence. 
 The fund appropriated to the maintenance of labour, would be the 
 aggregate quantity of food pofTeiTed by the owners of land beyond 
 their own confumption. When the demands upon this fund were 
 great and numerous, it would naturally be divided into very fmall 
 Ihares. Labour would be ill paid. Men would offer to work for a 
 bare fubfiflence ; and the rearing of families would be checked by 
 ficknefs and mifery. On the contrary, when this fund was 
 increafing faft; when it was great in proportion to the number 
 of claimants, it would be divided in much larger fhares. No man 
 would exchange his labour without receiving an ample quantity 
 of food in return. Labourers would live in eale and comfort, and 
 would confequently be able to rear a numerous and vigorous 
 offspring. 
 
 On the flate of this fund, the happinefs, or the degree of mifery, 
 prevailing among the lower claffes of people, in every known ftate, 
 at prefent chiefly depends ; and on this happinefs, or degree of 
 mifery, depends principally the increafe, ftationarinefs, or decreafe, 
 of population. 
 
 And thus, it appears, that a fociety conflituted according to the 
 
 mofl beautiful form that imagination can conceive, with benevolence 
 
 7 for 
 
CHAP. II. OfSyJiems of Equality. Godwin. gyg 
 
 for its moving principle, iriftead of felf-love, and with every evil 
 difpofition in all its members corrected by reafon, not force, v^^ould, 
 from the inevitable laws of nature, and not from any original 
 depravity of man, or of human inflitutions, degenerate, in a very 
 fhort period, into a fociety, conftrudted upon a plan, not effentially 
 different from that which prevails in every known ftate at prefent ; 
 a fociety, divided into a clafs of proprietors and a clafs of labourers, 
 and with felf-love for the mainfpring of the great machine. 
 
 In the fuppofition which I have made, I have undoubtedly taken 
 the increafe of population fmaller, and the increafe of produce 
 greater, than they really would be. No reafon can be afligncd 
 why, under the circumftances fuppofed, population fhould not 
 increafe fafter than in any known inftance. If, then, we were to 
 take the period of doubling at fifteen years, inftead of twenty-five 
 years, and refledt upon the labour neceflary to double the produce in 
 fo fliort a time, even if we allow it poffible ; we may venture to 
 pronounce with certainty, that, if Mr. Godwin's fyftem of fociety 
 were eflablilhed in its utmoft perfection, inftead of myriads of 
 of centuries, not thirty years could elapfe, before its utter deflrudlion 
 from the fimple principle of population. 
 
 I have taken no notice of emigration in this place, for obvious 
 reafons. If fuch focieties.were inftituted in other parts of Europe, 
 thefe countries would be under the fame difficulties, with regard to 
 population, and could admit no frelli members into their bofbms. 
 If this beautiful fociety were confined to this iiland, it mufl have 
 degenerated ftrangely from its original purity, and adminifi:er but a 
 very fmall portion of the happinefs it propofed, before any of its 
 members would voluntarily confent to leave it, and live under fijch 
 governments as at prefent cxift in Europe, or fubmit to the extreme 
 hardlhips of firft fettlers in new regions. 
 
 SC Z CHAP. 
 
( 3^0 ) 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Ohfervatlons on the Reply of Mr. Godwht, 
 
 JVIr. Godwin, in a late publication, has replied to thofe parts of 
 the EiTay on the Principle of Population, which he thinks bear the 
 hardeft on his fyftem. A few remarks on this reply will be 
 fufficient. 
 
 In a note to an early part of his pamphlet, he obferves, that the 
 main attack of the eflay, is not direded againft the principles of his 
 work, but its conclu{ion\ It may be true, indeed, that, as Mr. 
 Godwin had dedicated one particular chapter towards the conclufion 
 of his work, to the confideration of the objections to his fyftem, 
 from the principle of population, this particular chapter is moft 
 frequently alluded to : but certainly, if the great principle of the 
 eflay be admitted, it afFeds his whole work, and effentially alters the 
 foundations of political juftice. A great part of Mr. Godwin's book 
 confifts of an abufe of human inftirutions, as producflive of all, or 
 moft of, the evils which affli<ft fociety. The acknowledgment of a 
 new and totally unconfidered caufe of mifery, would evidently alter 
 the ftate of thefe arguments, and make it abfolutely neceflary that 
 they Ihould be either newly modified, or entirely rejeded. 
 
 In the firft book of Political Juftice, chap. iii. entitled, " The 
 " Spirit of Political Inftitutions," Mr. Godwin obferves, that " Two 
 ** of the greateft abufcs relative to the interior policy of nations 
 
 Reply to the attacks of Dr. Parr, Mr. Mackintofh, the author of an Effay on Po- 
 pulation, and others, p. lo. 
 
 * which 
 
CHAP, III. Oh/ervations on the Reply of Mr. Godwin, 381 
 
 ** which at thi time prevail in the world, confifl in the irregular 
 " transfer of property, either firft, by violence, or fecondly, by fraud/* 
 And he goes on to fiy, that if there exifted no defire in individuals 
 to poflefs themfelves of the fubftance of others, and if every man 
 could, with perfed: facility, obtain the neceflaries of life, civil fociety 
 might become what poetry has feigned of the golden age. Let us 
 inquire, he fays, into the principles to which thefe evils are indebted 
 for exiftence. After acknowledging the truth of the principal 
 argument in the eflay on population, I do not think that he could 
 flop in this inquiry at mere human inftitutions. Many other parts 
 of his work would be affc<fted by this confideration in a iimilar 
 manner. 
 
 As Mr. Godwin feems difpofed to underftand, and candidly to admit 
 the truth of, the principal argument in the eflky, I feel the more 
 mortified, that he Ihould think it a fair inference from my pofitions, 
 that the political fuperintendents of a community are bound to 
 exercife a paternal vigilance and care over the two great means of 
 advantage and fafety to mankind, mifery and vice; and that no evil 
 is more to be dreaded than that we fhould have too little of them in 
 the world, to confine the principle of population within its proper 
 fphere *. I am at a lofs to conceive what clafs of evils Mr. Godwin 
 imagines is yet behind, which thefe falutary checks are to prevent. 
 For my own part, I know of no ftronger or more general terms 
 than vice and mifery; and the fole queftion is, refpeding a greater 
 or lefs degree of them. The only reafon why I objed. to Mr. 
 Godwin's fyflem, is, my full convidion that an attempt to execute 
 it, would very greatly increafe the quantity of vice and mifery in 
 fociety. If Mr. Godwin will undo this convidion, and prove to me, 
 though it be only in theory, provided that theory be confiftent, and 
 founded on a knowledge of human nature, that his lyftem will 
 
 Reply, &c. p. 60. 
 
 really 
 
383 Vhfervatlom on the Reply of Mr, GoJw'm, book iii. 
 
 really tend to drive vice and mifery from the earth, lie may depend 
 upon having me one of its fleadieft and warmeft advocates. 
 
 Mr. Godvs^in obfcrves, that he Ihould naturally be difpofed to 
 pronounce that man ftrangely indifferent to fchemes of extraordinary 
 improvement in fociety, w^ho made it a conclufive argument againft 
 them, that, when they were realized, they might peradventure be of 
 no permanence and duration. And yet, what is morality, individual 
 or political, according to Mr. Godwin's own definition of it, but a 
 calculation of confequences ? Is the phyfician the patron of pain, 
 who advifes his patient to bear a prefent evil, rather than betake 
 himfelf to a remedy, which, though it might give momentary relief, 
 would afterwards greatly aggravate all the fymptoms ? Is the 
 rrjoralift to be called an enemy to pleafure, becaufe he recommends 
 to a young manjuft entering into life, not to ruin his health and 
 patrimony in a few years, by an excefs of prefent gratifications, but 
 to economize his enjoyments, that he may fpread them over a 
 longer period? Of Mr. Godwin's fyftem, according to the prefent 
 arguments by which it is fupported, it is not enough to fay, 
 peradventure it will be of no permanence; but we can pronounce 
 wath certainty that it will be of no permanence : and under fuch cir- 
 cumftances an attempt to execute it would unqueilionably be a great 
 political immorality. 
 
 Mr. Godwin obferves, that after recovering from the firft impreffion 
 made by the Effay on Population, the firft thing that is apt to ftrike 
 every refle<5ting mind, is, that the excefs of power in the principle 
 of population over the principle of fubfiftence, has never, in any 
 paft inftance, in any quarter, or age, of the world, produced thofe 
 great and aftoniihing effedls, that total breaking-up of all the 
 ftrudlures and maxims of fociety, which the efi^ay lead us to expe<^ 
 from it in certain cafes in future *. * This is undoubtedly true ; and 
 the reafon is, that, in no paft inftance, nor in any quarter, or age, of 
 
 Reply, p. 70. 
 
 the 
 
CHAP. III. Ohfervattons on the Reply of Mr. Godwfff: 383 
 
 the world, has an attempt been made to eftablifli fuch a fyftem as 
 Mr. Godwin's, and without an attempt of this nature, none of thefe 
 great efFeds will follow. The convulfions of the focid fyftem, 
 defcribed in the lafl chapter, appeared by a kind of irrefiftible neceffity, 
 to terminate in the eftablifliment of the laws of property and mar- 
 riage ; but in countries, where thefe laws are already eftablifhed, as 
 they are in all the common conflitutions offociety, with which we are 
 acquainted, the operation of the principle of population will always 
 be filent and gradual, and not different to what we daily fee in our 
 own country. Other perfons, befides Mr. Godwin, have imagined, 
 that I looked to certain periods in future, when population would 
 exceed the means of fubfiftence in a much greater degree than at 
 prefent, and that the evils arifmg from the principle of population 
 were rather in contemplation, than in exiftence ; but this is a total 
 mifconception of the argument *. Poverty, and not abfolute famine, 
 is the fpecifick efFed: of the principle of population, as I have 
 before endeavoured to (hew. Many countries are now fufFering all 
 the evils that can ever be expeded to flow from this principle, and 
 even, if we were arrived at the abfolute limit to all further increafe 
 of produce, a point, which we Ihall certainly never reach, I Ihould 
 by no means exped: that thefe evils would be in any marked manner 
 aggravated. The increafe of produce in moft European countries is 
 fo very flow, compared with what would be required to fupport 
 an unreftrided increafe of people, that the checks which are 
 conftantly in adion to reprefs the population to the level of a 
 produce increafmg fo flowly, would have very little more to do 
 in. wearing it down to a produce abfolutely ftationary. 
 
 But Mr. Godwin fays, that if he looks into the paft hiftory of the 
 world, he does not fee that increafmg population has been controlled 
 and confined by vice and mifery alone. In this obfervation I cannot 
 agree with him. I will thank Mr. Godwin to name to me any check, 
 
 * In other parts of his Reply, Mr. Godwin does not fall into this error. 
 which 
 
384 Ohfervattons on the Reply of Mr. Godwin. book 11 1. 
 
 which in pad ages has contributed to keep down the population to 
 the level of the means of fubfiflence, that does not fairlj come under 
 fome form of vice or mifery ; except indeed the check of moral 
 reftraint, which I have mentioned in the courfe of this work ; and 
 which, to fay the truth, whatever hopes we may entertain of its 
 prevalence in future, has undoubtedly in paft ages operated with 
 very inconfiderable force. 
 
 I do not think that I fhould find it difficult to juftify myfelf in the 
 eyes of my readers from the imputation of being the patron of vice 
 and mifery; but I am not clear, that Mr. Godwin would find fuch 
 a juftification fo eafy. For though he has pofitively declared that 
 he does not " regard them with complacency ;" and " hopes that it 
 '* may not be confidered as a tafte abfolutely fmgular in him that he 
 " fhould entertain no vehement partialities for vice and mifery *;'* 
 yet he has certainly cxpofed himfelf to the fufpicion of having this 
 iingular tafte, by fuggefting the organization of a very large portion 
 of them for the benefit of fociety in general. On this fubjecfl I 
 need only obferve, that I have always ranked the two checks ^ which 
 he firft mentions, among the worfi: forms of vice and mifery. 
 
 " Reply, p- 7<5. 
 '' Mr. Godwin does not acknowledge the juftice of Hume's obfervation refpciSting 
 infanticide ; and yet the extreme population and poverty in China, where this cuflom 
 prevails, tends ftrongly to confirm the obfervation. It is ftill, however, true, as Mr. 
 Godwin obferves, that the expedient is, in its own nature, adequate to the end for which 
 it was cited, (p. 66.) ', but, to make it fo in fadl, it muft be done by the magiftrate, and 
 not left to the parents. The almoft invariable tendency of this cuftom to increafe 
 population, when it depends entirely on the parents, fhews the extreme pain which they 
 muft feel, in making fuch a facrificc, even when the diftrefs arifing from exceffive 
 poverty may be fuppofed to have deadened in great meafure their fenfibility. What 
 muft this pain be then, upon the fuppofition of the interference of a magiftrate or of 
 a pofitive law, to make parents deftroy a child, which they feel the defire, and think 
 they poflefs the power, of fupporting? The permiflion of infanticide is bad enough, 
 and cannot but have a bad efFe6l on the moral fenfibility of a nation ; but, I cannot 
 conceive any thing much more deteftable, or ftiocking to the feelings, than any dire6l 
 regulation of this kind, although fandtioned by the names of Plato and Ariftotle. 
 
 k In 
 
CHAP. II. Ob/ervations on the Reply of Mr. Godwin. 385 
 
 In one part of his Reply, Mr. Godwin makes a fuppofition refpedt- 
 ing the number of children that might be allowed to each prolifick 
 marriage ; but as he has not entered into the detail of the mode 
 by which a greater number might be prevented, I fhall not notice 
 it further, than merely to obferve, that although he profefTes 
 to acknowledge the geometrical and arithmetical ratios of popu- 
 lation and food, yet in this place he appears to think that, pradically 
 applied, thefe diiFerent ratios of increafe, are not of a nature to 
 make the evil refulting from them urgent, or alarmingly to confine 
 the natural progrefs of population ". This obfervation feems to 
 contradid: his former acknowledgment. 
 
 The laft check which Mr. Godwin mentions, and which, I am 
 perfuaded, is the only one which he would ferioufly recommend, is, 
 " that fentiment, whether virtue, prudence, or pride, which con- 
 " tinually reftrains the univerfality and frequent repetition of the 
 " marriage contrad: ^." On this fentiment, which I have already 
 noticed under the nnme of moral reflraint, and of the more com- 
 prehenfive title, the preventive check, it will appear, that in the 
 fequel of this work I fliall lay confiderable flrefs. Of this check 
 therefore itfelf, I entirely approve; but I do not think that Mr, 
 Godwin's fyftem of political juftice is by any means favourable to its 
 prevalence. The tendency to early marriages is fo ftrong that we 
 want every poflible help that we can get to counterad: it ; and a 
 lyftem which in any way whatever tends to weaken the foundation 
 of private property, and to leflen in any degree the full advantage 
 and fuperiority which each individual may derive from his prudence, 
 muH remove the only counterading weight to the paffion of love, 
 that can be depended upon for any effential effed. Mr. Godwin 
 acknowledges that in his fyftem, " the ill confequences of a 
 *' numerous family will not come fo coarfely home to each man's 
 " individual intereft as they do at prefent^" But I am forry to 
 
 * Reply, p. 70. " Id. p. 73. *= Id. p. J\. 
 
 3 D % 
 
^85 Chfervattons on the Reply of Mr. Godwin. boor hi.. 
 
 fay that, from what we know hitherto of the human character, 
 we can have no rational hopes of fuccefs, without this coarfe 
 appUcation to individual interefly which Mr. Godwin rejed;s. If 
 the whole effed: were to depend merely on a fenfe of duty, con- 
 fidering the powerful antagonift that is to be contended with, 
 in the prefent cafe, I confefs that I fhould abfolutely defpair. At 
 the fame time, I am ftrongly of opinion that a fenfe of duty, 
 fuperadded to a fenfe of intercft, would by no means be without 
 its efFe<5t. There are many noble and difmterefted fpirits, who, 
 though aware of the inconveniences which they may bring upon 
 themfelves by the indulgence of an early and virtuous paiTion, feel a 
 kind of repugnance to liften to the di(flates of mere worldl}' prudence, 
 and a pride in rejecting thefe low confiderations. There is a kind 
 of romantick gallantry in facrificing all for love, naturally fafcinating 
 to a young mind ; and, to fay the truth, if all is to be facrificed, I do 
 not know, in what better caufe it can be dane. But if a ftrong 
 fenfe of duty could, in thefe inftances, be added to prudential 
 fuggeftions, the whole queftion might wear a different colour. In 
 delaying the gratification of pafTion, from a fenfe of duty, the mofl 
 difmterefled fpirit, the mofl dehcate honour, might be fatisiied. The 
 romantick pride might take a different direction, and the didlates of 
 worldly prudence might be followed with the cheerful confcioufnefs 
 of making a virtuous facrifice. 
 
 If we were to remove or weaken the motive of interefl, which 
 would be the cafe in Mr. Godwin's fyflem, I fear we ihould have 
 but a weak fubflitute in a fenfe of duty. But if to the prefent 
 beneficial effed:s, known to refult from a fenfe of intereft, we could 
 fuperadd a fenfe of duty, which is the objed: of the latter part of 
 this work, it does not feem abfolutely hopelefs that fome partial 
 improvement in fbciety Ihould refult from it 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 38; ) 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Of Emigration. 
 
 Although the refource of emigration feems to be excluded from 
 fuch a fociety as Mr. Godwin has imagined ; yet in that partial 
 degree of improvement which alone can rationally be expected, it 
 may fairly enter into our confideration. And as it is not probable, 
 that human induftry ihould begin to receive its beft direction, 
 throughout all the nations of the earth at the fame time, it may be 
 faid, that in the cafe of a redundant population in the more culti- 
 vated parts of the world, the natural and obvious remedy that pre- 
 fents itfelf, is, emigration to thofe parts that are uncultivated. As 
 thefe parts are of great extent, and very thinly peopled, this refource 
 might appear, on a firft view of the fubjedl, an adequate remedy, or 
 at leaft of a nature to remove the evil to a diftant period : but, when 
 we advert to experience, and to the adlual flate of the uncivilized 
 parts of the globe, inftead of any thing like an adequate remedy, it 
 will appear but a very weak palliative. 
 
 In the accounts which we have of the peopling of new countries, 
 the dangers, difficulties, and hardfhips, that the firft fettlers have had 
 to ftruggle with, appear to be even greater, than we can well ima- 
 gine that they could be expofed to, in their parent ftate. The endea- 
 vour to avoid that degree of unhappinefs ariflng from the difficulty 
 of fupporting a family, might long have left the new world of Ame- 
 rica unpeopled by Europeans, if thofe more powerful paffions, the 
 thirft of gain, the fpirit of adventure, and religious enthufiafm, had 
 
 3 D 3 not 
 
388 Of Emigration. book hi. 
 
 not direfted and animated the entcrprize. Thefe paflions enabled 
 the firft adventurers to triumph over every obftacle ; but in many 
 inftances in a way to make humanity Ihudder, and to defeat the true 
 end of emigration. Whatever may be the charadler of the Spanifh 
 inhabitants of Mexico and Peru at the prcfent moment, v^^e cannot 
 read the accounts of the firft conquefts of thefe countries, without 
 feehng ftrongly, that the race deftroyed, was, in moral worth, as well 
 as members, highly fuperior to the race of their deftroyers. 
 
 The parts of America fettled by the Englifh, from being thinly 
 peopled, were better adapted to the eftablifhment of new colonies ; 
 yet even here, the moft formidable difficulties prefented themfelves. 
 In the fettlement of Virginia, begun by Sir Walter Raleigh, and efta- 
 blifhed by Lord Delaware, three attempts completely failed. Nearly 
 half of the firft colony was deftroyed by the favages, and the reft 
 confumed and worn down by fatigue and famine, deferted the 
 country, and returned home in defpair. The fecond colony was cut 
 off to a man, in a manner unknown ; but they were fuppofed to be 
 deftroyed by the Indians. The third experienced the fame difmal 
 fate ; and the remains of the fourth, after it had been reduced by 
 famine and difeafe, in the courfe of fix months from 500 to 60 per- 
 ibns, were returning in a familliing and defperate condition to Eng- 
 land, when they were met in the mouth of the Chefapeak bay, by 
 I^rd Delaware, with a fquadron loaded with provifions, and every 
 thing for their relief and defence*. 
 
 The firft puritan fettlers in New England were few in number. 
 They landed in a bad feafon, and they were only ftipported by their 
 private funds. The winter was premature, and terribly cold ; the 
 country was covered with wood, and afforded very little for the 
 refrefliment of perfons, fickly with fiich a voyage, or for the fufte- 
 nance of an infant people. Nearly half of them periflied by the 
 fcurvy, by want, and the feverity of the climate ; but they who ftir- 
 
 * Burke's America, vol. ii. p. 219. Robertfon, b. Ix. p. 83. 86. 
 
 vived 
 
CHAP. IV. Of Emigration, 389 
 
 vived were not difpirited by their hardfliips ; but, fupported by their 
 energy of charafter, and the fatisfadion of finding themfelves out of 
 the reach of the fpiritual arm, reduced this favage country, by 
 degrees, to yield them a comfortable fubfiftence ^. 
 
 Even the plantation of Barbadoes, which increafed afterwards with 
 fuch extraordinary rapidity, had at firft to contend with a country 
 utterly defolate, an extreme ivant of provifions, a difficulty in clear- 
 ing the ground unufiially great, from the uncommon fize and hard- 
 nefs of the trees, a moft difheartening fcantinefs and poverty in their 
 firft crops, and a flow and precarious fupply of provifions from 
 England ^ 
 
 The attempt of the French, in 1663, to form at once a powerful 
 colony in Guiana, was attended with the moft difaftrous confequences. 
 Twelve thoufand men were landed in the rainy feafon, and placed 
 under tents and miferable flieds. In this fituation, inactive, weary 
 of exiftence, and in want of all neceflaries, expofed to contagious 
 diftempers, which are always occafioned by bad provifions, and to 
 all the irregularities which idlenefs produces among the lower clafTes 
 of fociety, almoft the whole of them ended their lives in all the 
 horrors of defpair. The attempt was completely abortive. Two 
 thoufand men, whofe robuft conflitutions had enabled them to refift 
 the inclemency of the climate, and the miferies to which they had 
 been expofed, were brought back to France ; and the ^35,000,000 of 
 livres which had been expended in the expedition were totally lofl "". 
 
 In the laft fettlement at Port Jackfon, in New Holland, a melan- 
 choly and affecting pid:ure is drawn by Collins, of the extreme hard- 
 fhips which, for fome years, the infant colony had to flruggle with, 
 before the produce was equal to its fupport. Thefe diflreffes were 
 undoubtedly aggravated by the character of the fettlcrs ; but thofe 
 which were caufed by the unhcalthinefs of a newly-cleared country, 
 the failure of firll crops, and the uncertainty of fupplies from fa 
 
 " Burke's America, vol. ii. p. 144. ^ Id. p. 85. 
 
 ' Raynal, Hifl. des Indes, torn. vii. liv. xiii. p. 43. 10 vols 8vo, 1795- 
 
 3 diflant 
 
ggo Of Emfgmiwn. b o ok 1 1 r , 
 
 diftant a mother country, were of themfelves fufficiently diflieart- 
 ening, to place in a ftrong point of view, the neceflity of great 
 rcfourccs, as well as unconquerable perfeverance, in the colonization 
 of favage countries. 
 
 The eftablifhmcnt of colonics, in the more thinly peopled regions 
 of Europe and Afia would evidently require ftill greater refources. 
 From the power, and warlike character, of the inhabitants of thefe 
 countries, a confiderable military force would be neceflary to prevent 
 their utter and immediate deftruftion. Even the frontier provinces 
 of the mofl powerful ftates, are defended with confiderable difficulty 
 from fuch reftlefs neighbours; and the peaceful labours of the culti- 
 vator, are continually interrupted by their predatory incurfions. The 
 late Emprefs Catharine of Ruflia found it neceflary to protedl, by 
 regular fortrefles, the colonies which flie had eftabliflied in the diftridls 
 near the Wolga ; and the calamities which her fubjedls fuffered by 
 the incurfions of the Crim Tartars furnilhed a pretext, and perhaps 
 a juft one, for taking pofTeffion of the whole of the Crimea, and 
 expelling the greateft part of thefe turbulent neighbours, and redu- 
 cing the reft to a more tranquil mode of life. 
 
 The difficulties attending a firft eftablifhment, from foil, climate, 
 and the want of proper conveniences, are of courfe nearly the fame 
 in thefe regions as in America. Mr. Eton, in his account of the 
 Turkifh Empire, fays, that 75,000 Chriftians were obliged by Ruffia 
 to emigrate from the Crimea, and fent to inhabit the country aban- 
 doned by the Nogai Tartars ; but the winter coming on before the 
 houfes built for them were ready, a great part of them had no other 
 fhelter from the cold, than what was affi^rded them by holes dug in 
 the ground, covered with w^hat they could procure, and the greateft 
 part of them periftied. Only feven thoufand remained a few years 
 afterwards. Another colony from Italy to the banks of the Boryfthenes, 
 had, he fays, no better fate, owing to the bad management of thofe 
 who were commiffioned to provide for them. 
 
 It is needlcfs to add to thefe inftances, as the accounts given of the 
 
 I difficulties 
 
CHAf. IV. Of 'Emigration, 2f9t 
 
 difficulties experienced in new fettlements are all nearly fimilar. It 
 has been juftly obf^rved, by a correfpondent of Dr. Franklin, that 
 one of the reafons why we have feen fo many fruitlefs attempts to 
 fettle colonies at an immcnfe publick and private expence, by feveral 
 of the powers of Europe, is, that the moral and mechanical habits 
 adapted to the mother country are frequently not fo, to the new- 
 fettled one, and to external events, many of w hich are unforefeen ; 
 and that it is to be remarked, that none of the Englifh colonies 
 became any way confidcrable, till the neceffary manners were born 
 and grew up in the country. Pallas particularly notices the want of 
 proper habits in the colonies, eftablifhed by Ruffia, as one of the 
 caufes why they did not increafefo faft as might have been expecfled. 
 
 In addition to this, it may be obferved, that the firft eftablifhment 
 of a new colony, generally prefents an inftance of a country, peopled 
 confiderably beyond its ad;ual produce ; and the natural confequencc 
 feems to be, that this population, if not amply fupplied by the 
 mother country, fhould, at the beginning, be diminiilied to the level 
 of the firft fcanty produ6tions, and not begin permanently to increafe 
 till the remaining numbers had fo far cultivated the foil, as to make 
 it yield a quantity of food, more than fufficient for their own fupport; 
 and which confequently they could divide with a family. The fre- 
 quent failures in the eftablifhment of new colonies tend ftrongly to 
 fliow the order of precedence between food and population. 
 
 It muft be acknowledged then, that the clafs of people on whom 
 the diftrefs arifmg from a too rapidly increafnig population would 
 principally fall, could not poffibly begin a new colony in a diflant 
 country. From the nature of their fituation, they muil ncceflarily 
 be deficient in thofe refources, which alone could enfure fuccefs : 
 and unlefs they could find leaders among the higher clailes, urged 
 by the fplrit of avarice or enterprize ; or of religious or political dif- 
 content; or were furniflied with means and fupport by government; 
 whatever degree of mifery they might fuffer in their own country, 
 from the fcarcity of fubfiilence, they would be abfolntely unable to 
 
 take 
 
595 - Of Emigration, book iit. 
 
 take pofTefTion of any of thofe uncultivated regions, of which there is 
 yet fuch an extent on the earth. 
 
 When new colonies have been once fecurely eftabliflied, the diffi- 
 culty of emigration is, indeed, very coniiderably diminifhcd ; yet,, 
 even then, fome refources are neceflary to provide vcflels for the 
 voyage, and fupport and affiftance till the emigrants can fettle 
 themfelves, and find employment in their adopted country. How 
 far it is incumbent upon a government to furnilh thefe refources, 
 may be a queftion ; but whatever be its duty in this particular, per- 
 haps it is too much to exped:, that except where any particular colo- 
 nial advantiiges are propofed, emigration fhould be aftively affifted. 
 
 The neceflary refources for tranfport and maintenance, are, how- 
 ever, frequently furniflied by individuals, or private companies. For 
 many years before the American war, and for fome few flnce, the 
 facilities of emigration to this new world, and the probable advan- 
 tages in view, were unufually great ; and it muft be coniidered 
 undoubtedly as a very happy circumftance for any country, to have 
 fo comfortable an afylum for its redundant population. But I would 
 aik, whethei*, even during thefe periods, the diftrefs among the com- 
 mon people in this country was little or nothing, and whether every 
 man felt fecure before he ventured on marriage, that however large 
 his family might be, he fhould find no difficulty in fupporting it 
 without parifli afTiftance ? The anfwer, I fear, could not be in the 
 affirmative. 
 
 It will be faid, that when an opportunity of advantageous emigra- 
 tion is offered, it is the fault of the people themfelves, if, inflead of 
 accepting it, they prefer a life of celibacy, or extreme poverty in their 
 own country. Is it then a fault for a man to feel an attachment to 
 his native foil, to love the parents that nurtured him, his kindred, 
 his friends, and the companions of his early years ? or is it no evil 
 that he fuffers, bccaufe he confents to bear it, rather than fnap thefe 
 cords which nature has wound in clofe and intricate folds round the 
 human heart ? The great plan of providence feems to require, indeed, 
 
 that 
 
CHAP. IV. Of Emigration, gg^ 
 
 that thefe ties fhould fometimes be broken ; but the feparation does 
 not, on that account, give lefs pain ; and, though the general good 
 may be promoted by it, it does not ceafe to be an individual evil. 
 Befldes, doubts and uncertainty muft ever attend all diflant emigra- 
 tions, particularly in the apprehenfions of the lower clafTes of people. 
 They cannot feel quite fecure, that the reprefentations made to them 
 of the high price of labour, or the cheapnefs of land, are accurately 
 true. They are placing themfelves in the power of the perfons who 
 are to furnifh them with the means of tranfport and maintenance^ 
 who may perhaps have an interefl in deceiving them ; and the fea 
 which they are to pafs, appears to them like the feparation of death 
 from all their former connexions, and in a manner to preclude the 
 poffibility of return in cafe of failure, as they cannot expe<5l the offer 
 of the fame means to bring them back. We cannot be furprifed 
 then, that, except where a fpirit of enterprife is added to the uneafi- 
 nefs of poverty, the confideration of thefe circumflances, Ihould 
 frequently, 
 
 ** Make them rather bear the ills tliey fufFer, 
 " Than fly to others which they know not of.'*" 
 
 If a traS: of rich land as large as this ifland were fuddenly annexed 
 to it, and fold in fmall lots, or let out in fmall farms, the cafe would 
 be very different, and the amelioration of the ftate of the common 
 people would be fudden and ftriking ; though the rich would be con- 
 tinually complaining of the high price of labour, the pride of the 
 lower claffes, and the difficulty of getting work done. Thefe, i 
 underiland, are not unfrequent complaints among the men of pro- 
 perty in America. 
 
 Every refource, however, from emigration, if ufed effedlually, as 
 this would be, muft be of fhort duration. There is fcarcely a ftate 
 in Europe, except perhaps Ruffia, the inhabitants of which do not 
 often endeavour to better their condition by removing to other 
 countries. As thefe ftates therefore have nearly all rather a redun- 
 . 3 E dant^ 
 
394 Of Emigration, bookiii. 
 
 dant, than deficient population, in proportion to their produce, they 
 cannot be fuppofed to afford any effectual refources of emigration to 
 each other. Let us fuppofe, for a moment, that in this more enlight- 
 ened part of the globe, the internal economy of each ftate were fo 
 admirably regulated, that no checks exifted to population, and the 
 different governments provided every facility for emigration. Taking 
 the population of Europe, excluding Ruffia, at a hundred millions, 
 and alio w^ing a greater increafe of produce than is probable, or even 
 poffible, in the mother countries, the redundancy of parent flock in 
 a flngle century, would be eleven hundred millions, which, added to 
 the natural increafe of the colonies, during the fame time, would be 
 more than double what has been fuppofed to be the prefent popu- 
 lation of the whole earth. 
 
 Can we imagine, that in the uncultivated parts of Afia, Africa, or 
 America, the greatefl exertions, and the befl directed endeavours, 
 could in fo fhort a period, prepare a quantity of land, fufficient for 
 the fupport of fuch a population. If any fanguine perfon fhould feel 
 a doubt upon the fubjecl, let him only add 55 or 50 years more, and 
 every doubt mufl be crufhed in overwhelming conviction. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that the reafon why the refource of emi- 
 gration has fo long continued to be held out as a remedy to redundant 
 population, is, becaufe, from the natural unwillingnefs of people to 
 defert their native country, and the difficulty of clearing and cultivat- 
 ing frefh foil, it never is, nor can be, adequately adopted. If this 
 remedy were indeed really effecflual, and had power fo far to relieve 
 the diforders of vice and mifery in old flates, as to place them in the 
 condition of the mofl profperous new colonies, we fhould foon fee 
 the phial exhaufled, and when the diforders returned with increafed 
 virulence, every hope from that quarter would be for ever clofed. 
 
 It is clear, therefore, that with any view of making room for an 
 unreflri6led increafe of population, emigration is perfecflly inadequate; 
 but as a partial and temporary expedient, and with a^^,view to the 
 more general cultivation of the earth, and the wider fpread oi civili- 
 zation. 
 
CHAP. IV. Of Emigration, ^g^ 
 
 zation, it feems to be both ufeful and proper ; and if it cannot be 
 proved that governments are bound actively to encourage it, it is not 
 only ftrikingly unjuft, but in the higheft degree impolitlck, in them to 
 prevent it. There are no fears fo totally ill-grounded, as the fears of 
 depopulation from emigration. The vis inertia of people in general, 
 and their attachment to their homes, are qualities fo ftrong, and 
 general, that wx may reft aflured that they will not emigrate, unlefs, 
 from political difcontents, or extreme poverty, they are in fuch a 
 ftate, as w^ill make it as much for the advantage of their country as 
 of themfel vesthat they Ihould go out of it. The complaints of high 
 wages in confequence of emigrations are, of all others, the moft un- 
 reafonable, and ought the leaft to be attended to. If the wages of 
 labour in any country be fuch, as to enable the lower clafles of 
 people to live with tolerable comfort, vv^e may be quite certain, that 
 they will not emigrate ; and if they be not fuch, it is cruelty and 
 injuftice to detain them. 
 
 SE^ CHAP. 
 
( 396 ) 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Of the 'Engltjh Poor Laws, 
 
 1 o remedy the frequent diftreiTes of the poor, laws to enforce their 
 reUef have been inftituted ; and in the eftablifhment of a general 
 fyflem of this kind, England has particularly diftinguiflied herfelf. 
 But it is to be feared, that though it may have alleviated a little 
 the intenfity of individual misfortune, it has fpread the evil over a 
 much larger furfacc. 
 
 It is a fubje<5l often ftarted in converfation, and mentioned alvi^ays 
 as a matter of great furprife, that, notw^ithftanding the immenfe fum 
 which is annually colle<5led for the poor in this country, there is ftill fb 
 much diflrefs among them. Some think that the money muft be em- 
 bezzled for private ufe ; others, that the churchwardens and overfeers 
 confume the greateftpart of it in feafting. All agree, that fomehow 
 or other, it muft be very ill managed. In fhort, the fadl, that, even 
 before the late fcarcities, three millions were collected annually for 
 the poor, and yet that their diftrefles were not removed, is the fubjetfl 
 of continual aftonifliment. But a man who looks a little below the 
 furface of things, would be much more aftonifhcd, if the fa6l were 
 otherwife than it is obferved to be ; or even if a collection univer- 
 fally of eighteen fhillings in the pound, inftead of four, were mate- 
 rially to alter it. 
 
 Suppofe, that by a fubfcription of the rich, the eighteen-pence, or 
 
 two fhillings, which men earn now, were made up five fhillings, it 
 
 might be imagined, perhaps, that they would then be able to live 
 
 I comfortably. 
 
CHAP. V. Of the Engfipi Poor Laws. 397 
 
 comfortably, and have a piece of meat every day for their dinner. 
 But this would be a very falfe conclufion. The transfer of three 
 additional fhillings a day to each labourer would not increafe the 
 quantity of meat in the country. Therj^jipiLa_prefent enough for 
 all to have a moderate fhare. What would then be the confequencc? 
 The competition among the buyers in the market of meat, would 
 rapidly raife the price from eight pence or nine pence, to two or three 
 fhillings in the pound, and the commodity would not be d'nided 
 among many more than it is at prefent. When an article is fcarcc, 
 and cannot be diftributed to all, he that can Ihcw the moft valid 
 patent, that is, he that offers the mofl money, becomes the poil'cflbr. 
 If we can fuppofe the competition among the buyers of meat, to con- 
 tinue long enough for a greater number of cattle to be reared 
 annually, this could only be done at the expence of the corn, which 
 would be a very difadvantageous exchange ; for it is well known, 
 that the country could not then fupport the fame population ; and 
 when fubfiftence is fcarce in proportion to the number of people, it is 
 of little confequence, whether the loweft members of the fociety 
 poffefs two fliillings or five. They muft, at all events, be reduced to 
 live upon the hardeft fare, and in the fmalleft quantity. 
 
 It might be faid, perhaps, that the increafed number o( purchafcrs 
 In every article would give a fpur to productive induftry, and that 
 the whole produce of the ifland would be increafed. But the fpur 
 that thefe fancied riches would give to population, would more than 
 counterbalance it ; and the increafed produce would be to be divided 
 among a more than proportionably increafed number of people. 
 
 A coUedlion from the rich, of eighteen fhillings in the pound, 
 -even if diflributcd in the mofh judicious manner, would have an 
 cfFed: fimilar to that refulting from the fuppofitlon which I have juft 
 made ; and no pofTiblc facrifices of the rich, particularly in money, 
 could, for any time, prevent the recurrence of diflrcfs among the 
 lower members of fociety, who ever they were. Great changes might 
 indeed be made. The rich might become poor, and fome of the 
 
 poor 
 
^g8 Of the Englipi Poor Laws, book in, 
 
 poor rich ; but, while the prefent proportion between population and 
 food continues, a part of fociety muft neceflarily find it difficult to 
 fupport a family, and this difficulty will naturally fall on the leaft 
 fortunate members. 
 
 It may at firft appear ftrange, but I beljeve it is true, that I cannot 
 by means of money, raife the condition of a poor man, and enable 
 , him to live much better than he did before, without proportionably 
 depreffing others in the fame clafs. If I retrench the quantity of 
 food confumed in my houfe, and give him what I have cut off, I 
 then benefit him without depreffing any but myfelf and family, who 
 perhaps may be well able to bear it. If I turn up a piece of uncul- 
 ]*y .. ^/ tivated land, and pfivehim the produce, I then benefit both him and 
 all the members of fociety, becaufe what he before confumed is 
 thrown into the common flock, and, probably, fome of the new pro- 
 duce with it. But if I only give him money, fuppofing the produce of 
 the country to remain the fame, I give him a title to a larger ffiare of 
 that produce than formerly, which ffiare he cannot receive without 
 diminiffiing the ffiares of others. It is evident, that this effed: in 
 individual inftances muft be fo fmall as to be totally imperceptible; 
 but ftill it muft exift, as many other effects do, which, like fome of 
 the infects that people the air, elude our grofler perceptions. 
 
 Suppofmg the quantity of food in any country, to remain the fame 
 for many years together, it is evident, that this food muft be divided 
 according to the value of eac^ man's patent, or the fum of money 
 which he can afford to fpend in this commodity fo univerfally in 
 requeft. It is a dcmonftrative truth, therefore, that the patents of 
 one fet of men could not be increafed in value, without diminiffiing 
 the value of the patents of fome other fet of men. If the rich were 
 to fubfcribe, and give five ffiillings a day to five hundred thoufand 
 men, without retrenching their own tables, no doubt can exift that 
 as thefe men would live more at their eafe, and confume a greater 
 quantity of provifions, there would be lefs food remaining to divide 
 among the reft; and confequently, each man's patent would be 
 
 diminiffied 
 
CHAP. V. Of the Englijh Poor Laws, ^gg 
 
 diminilhed in value, or the fame number of pieces of filver would 
 purchafe a fmaller quantity of fubfiftence, and the price of provifions 
 would univerfally rife. 
 
 Thefe general reafonings have been flrikingly confirmed during the 
 late fcarcities. The fuppolition which I have made of a collection 
 from the rich of eighteen fhillings in the pound, has been nearly 
 realized ; and the efFedl has been fuch as might have been expe6led. 
 If the fame diftribution had been made, when no fcarcity exifled, a 
 confiderable advance in the price of provifions would have been a 
 necefifary confequence ; but following as it did a fcarcity, its effedt 
 mufi: have been doubly powerful. No perfon, I believe, will venture 
 to doubt, that, if we were to give three additional fhillings a day 
 to every labouring man in the kingdom, as I before fuppofed, in 
 order that he might have meat for his dinner, the price of meat 
 would rife in the moft rapid and unexampled manner. But furely, 
 in a deficiency of corn, which renders it impoffible for every man to 
 have his ufual fhare, if we ftill continue to furnifh each perfon with 
 the means of purchafmg the fame quantity as before, the efFe<9: muft 
 be in every refpedl fimilar. 
 
 It feems in great meafure to have efcaped obfervation, that the 
 price ofvcorn in a fcarcity, will depend much more upon the obfti-^ 
 nacy with which the fame degree of confumption is perfevered in, 
 than on the degree of the adlual deficiency. A deficiency of one 
 half of a crop, if the people could immediately confent to confume 
 only one half of what they did before, would produce little or no 
 effed; on the price of corn. A deficiency of one twelfth, if exactly 
 the fame confumption were to continue for ten or eleven months, 
 might raife the price of corn to almoft any height. The more is 
 given in pariih affiftancs, the more power is furniihed of perfevering 
 in the fame confumption, and of courfe the higher will the price 
 rife before the necefiTary diminution of confumption is efFeded. 
 
 It has been afierted by fome people that high prices do not dimi- 
 
 nifli confumption. If this were really true, we Ihould fee the price 
 
 7 of 
 
400 Of the 'EngVtJh Poor Laws, BooKiiir 
 
 of a bufhel of corn at a hundred pounds or more, in every deficiency, 
 which could not be fully and completely remedied by importation. 
 But the fad: is, that high prices do ultimately diminifh confumption; 
 but, on account of the riches of the country, the unwillingnefs of 
 the people to refort to fubftitutes, and the immenfe fums, which 
 are diftributed by parilhes, this objed cannot be attained till the 
 prices become cxceffive, and force even the middle claffes of fociety, 
 or at leaft thofe immediately above the poor, to fave in the article 
 of bread from the a(5lual inability of purchafmg it in the ufual 
 quantity. The poor who were affifled by their parifhes had no^ 
 reafon whatever to complain of the high price of grain ; becaufe it 
 was the exceflivenefs of this price, and this alone, which, by 
 enforcing fuch a faving, left a greater quantity of corn, for the 
 confumption of the lowefl claffes, which corn, the parifli allowances 
 enabled them to command. The greatefl fufferers in the fcarcity 
 were undoubtedly the claffes immediately above the poor ; and thefe 
 were in the mofl marked manner deprefled by the exceflive bounties 
 given to thofe below them. Almofl all poverty is relative ; and I 
 much doubt, whether thefe people would have been rendered {o 
 poor, if a fum equal to half of thefe bounties had been taken directly 
 out of their pockets, as they were, by that new diflribution of the 
 money of the fociety which actually took place *. This diflribution- 
 
 * Suppofing. the lower clafles to earn on an average ten fliillings a week, and the 
 clafTesjuft above them, twenty, it is not to be doubted, that, in a fcarcity, thefe latter 
 would be more ftraightened in their power of commanding tl^e necefiaries of life, by a 
 donation of ten (hillings a week to thofe below tliem, than by the fubtralion of five 
 Ihillings a week from their own earnings. In the one cafe, they would be all reduced 
 to a level; the price of provifions would rife in an extraordinary manner from the 
 greatnefs of the competition ; and all would be flraightened for fubfiflence. In the other 
 cafe, the clafles above the poor would ftill maintain a confiderable part of their relative 
 fuperiority ; the price of provifions would by no means rife in the fame degree ; and their 
 remaining fifteen {hillings would purchafe much more than their twenty fhillings in the 
 former cafe. 
 
 hy 
 
CHAP. V. Of the EngUJh Poor Laws. 401 
 
 hy giving to the poorer clalTes a command of food, fo much greater 
 than their degree of fkill and induftry entitled them to, in the adual 
 circumftances of the country, diminiflied, exadly in the fame pro- 
 portion, that command over the neceffaries of Hte, which the claiTes 
 above them, by their fuperior fkill and indullry, would naturally 
 poffefs ; and it may be a queilion, whether the degree of affiftance 
 which the poor received, and which prevented them from rcforting 
 to the ufe of thofe fubftitutes, which, in every other country, on 
 fuch occafions, the great law of necefiity teaches, was not more than 
 overbalanced by the feverity of the prefTure on fo large a body of 
 people from the extreme high prices, and the permanent evil which 
 muft refult from forcing fo many perfons on the parifti, who before 
 thought themfelves almoft out of the reach of want. 
 
 If we were to double the fortunes of all thofe who poflefs above a 
 hundred a year, the efFed; on the price of grain would be flow and 
 inconfiderable ; but if we were to double the price of labour through- 
 out the kingdom, the efFeA, in raifmg the price of grain, would be 
 rapid and great. The general principles on this fubjedl will not 
 admit of difpute ; and that in the particular cafe which we have been 
 confidering, the bounties to the poor were of a magnitude to operate 
 very powerfully in this manner, will fufficiently appear, if we recoiled:, 
 that, before the late fcarcities, the fum coUeded for the poor was eili- 
 mated at three millions, and that during the year 1801 it was faid 
 to be ten millions. An additional {twcn millions ading at the bottom 
 of the fcale % and employed exclufively in the purchafe of provifions, 
 joined to a confiderable advance in the price of wages in many parts 
 of the kingdom, and increafed by a prodigious fum expended ia 
 
 * See a finall pamphlet publifhed In November i8oo^ entitled, Jn invejligation of the 
 caufe of the prefent high price of provi/ions . This pamphlet was miftaken by fome for an 
 inquiry into the caufe of the fcarcity, and as fuch, it would naturally appear to be incom- 
 plete, adverting, as it does, principally to a fingle caufe. But the fole odje6l of the pam^ 
 phlet was, to give the principal reafon for the extreme high price of proviilons, in propor- 
 lion to the degree of the fcarcity, admitting the deficiency of one fourth, as dated in the 
 Duke of Portland's letter, which, lam much inclined to think, was very near the truth. 
 
 3 F voluntary 
 
402 Of the EngUfli Poor Laws, book hi, 
 
 Toluntary charity, muft have had a moft powerful effedl in raifing the 
 price of the necefTaries of hfe, if any rehance can be placed on the 
 cleareft general principles, confirmed as much as poffible by appear- 
 ances. A man with a family, has received, to my knowledge, four- 
 teen fhillings a week from the parifli. His common earnings were 
 ten fhillings a week, and his weekly revenue, therefore, twenty-four. 
 Before the fcarcity, he had been in the habit of purchafmg a bufhel 
 of flour a week with eight fhillings perhaps, and confequently had 
 two fhillings out of his ten, to fpare for other necefTaries. During the 
 fcarcity, he was enabled to purchafe the fame quantity at nearly 
 three times the price. He paid twenty-two fhillings for his bufhel 
 of flour, and had, as before, two fhillings remaining for other wants. 
 Such inflances could not poflibly have been univerfal, without raifmg 
 the price of wheat very much higher than it really was during any 
 part of the dearth. But fimilar inflances were by no means infre- 
 quent, and the fyflem itfelf, of meafuring the relief given by the price 
 of grain, was general. 
 
 If the circulation of the country had confifled entirely of fpecie, 
 -which could not have been immediately increafed, it would have 
 l)een impoflible to give fuch an additional fum as feven millions to 
 the poor, without embarrafling, to a great degree, the operations 
 of commerce. On the commencement, therefore, of this exten- 
 sive relief, which would neceffarily occafion a proportionate expen- 
 diture in provifions throughout all the ranks of fociety, a great 
 demand would be felt for an increafed circulating medium. The 
 nature of the medium then principally in ufe, was fuch, that it 
 could be created immediately on demand. From the accounts of 
 the bank of England, as laid before Parliament, it appeared that no 
 very great additional ifTues of paper took place from this quarter. 
 The three millions and a half added to its former average iffues, were 
 not probably much above what was fufficient to fupply the quantity 
 of fpecie that had been withdrawn from the circulation. If this 
 iiippofition be true, and the fmall quantity of gold which made its 
 
 appearance 
 
CHAP. v.. Of the EngJi/h Poor Laws. 403: 
 
 appearance at that time, furniihes the ftrongeft reafon for believing 
 that as much as this mufl have been been w^ithdrawn, it would 
 follow, that the part of the circulation originating in the bank of 
 England, though changed in its nature, had not been increafed in 
 its quantity ; and with regard to the efFe<fl of the circulating medium 
 on the price of all commodities, it cannot be doubted that it would 
 be precifely the fame, whether it were made up principally of guineas,, 
 or of pound notes and fhillings, which would pafs current for guineas^ 
 
 The demand, therefore, for an increafed circulating medium was- 
 kft to be fupplied by the country banks, and it could not be expecfled 
 that they Ihould hefitate in taking advantage of fo profitable an. 
 opportunity. The paper iflues of a country bank are, as I conceive, 
 meailired by the quantity of its notes which will remaia in circula- 
 tion ; and this quantity is again meafured, fuppofing a confidence to> 
 be eftablilhed, by the fum of what is wanted to carry on all the 
 money tranfadions of the neighbourhood. From the high price of 
 provifions, all thefe tranfad:ions became more expenfive. In the 
 fmgle article of the weekly payment of labourers' wages, including 
 the parifh allowances, it is evident, that a very great addition to the 
 circulating medium of the neighbourhood would be wanted *. Had 
 the country banks attempted to ifiue the fame quantity of paper 
 without fuch a particular demand for it, they would quickly have 
 been admoniflied of their error by its rapid and preffing return upon 
 them ; but at this time, it was wanted, for immediate and daily ufe,- 
 and was therefore eagerly abfbrbed into the circulation. 
 
 It may even admit of a queftion, whether, under fimilar circum-- 
 
 * A rife of wages, or of parifli allowances, amounting to any particular fum, wouldv 
 occafion a much greater demand for the current circulating medium, than an increafe of 
 commercial tranfaflions to the fame amount ; becaufe, in the firft cafe, it is the common, 
 carrency alone which can 1^ ufed ; in the latter, much is done by the bills of exchange, 
 &c. ; in the firft alfo, much nwney is a^ually wanted, in proportion to the amount of 
 ^8 increafed payments ; in the latter,. a little will go a great way. 
 
 2 F 3. ilances^ 
 
\ 
 
 404 Of the EngJt/h Poor Laws., book hi. 
 
 fiances, the country banks would not have iflued nearly the fame 
 quantity of paper, if the bank of England had not been reftricled 
 from payment in fpecie. Before this event, the iffues of the country 
 banks in paper were regulated by the quantity that the circulation 
 would take up, and after, as well as before, they were obliged to 
 pay the notes which returned upon them in bank of England circu- 
 lation. The difference in the two cafes, would arife principally 
 from the pernicious cuftom, adopted fmce the reftricftion of the bank, 
 of iffuing one and two pound notes, and from the little preference 
 that many people might feel, if they could not get gold, between 
 country bank paper, and bank of England paper. 
 
 The very great iifue of country bank paper during the years 1600 
 and 1 80 1 was evidently, therefore, in its origin rather a confequence 
 than a caufe of the high price of provifions ; but being once abforbed 
 into this circulation, it muft neceffarily affe6l the price of all commo- 
 ditx^'^and throw very great obftacles in "the way of returning cheap- 
 nSfS"^'*" TMs is the great mifchief of the fy^em. During the fcarcity 
 itlejf, it is not to be doubted, that the increafed circulation, by pre- 
 venting the embarraffments which commerce and fpeculation muft 
 otherwife have felt, enabled the country to continue all the branches 
 of its trade with lefs interruption, and to import a much greater 
 quantity of grain, than it could have done otherwife; but to over- 
 balance thefe temporary advantages, a lafting evil might be entailed 
 upon the community, and the prices of a time of fcarcity might 
 become permanent, from the difficulty of re-abforbing this increafed 
 circulation. 
 
 In this refpecfl, however, it is much better that the great iflue of 
 paper ihould have come from the country banks, than from the 
 
 ' It does, not appear to me that Mr. Thornton in his valuable publication on paper 
 credit, has taken fufficient notice of the effels of the great paper iffues of the countrjr 
 banks, in raifing the price of commodities, and producing an unfavourable ftate of 
 exchange v^rith foreigners. 
 
 bank 
 
CHAP. V. Of the 'Englijh Poor Laws. 405 
 
 bank of England. During the reftridion of payment in fpecie, there 
 is no poffibility of forcing the bank to retake its notes, when too 
 abundant ; but with regard to the country banks, as foon as their 
 notes are not w^anted in the circulation, they will be returned ; and 
 if the bank of England notes be not increafed, which they probably 
 will not be, the whole circulating medium will thus be diminiflied. 
 
 We may confider ourfelves as peculiarly fortunate that the two 
 years of fcarcity were fucceeded by two events the beil: calculated to 
 reftore plenty and cheapnefs an abundant harveft, and a peace ; 
 which, together, produced a general convicflion of plenty, in the 
 minds both of buyers and fellers ; and, by rendering the firft flow to 
 purchafe, and the others eager to fell, occaiioned a glut in the 
 market, and a confequent rapid fall of price, which has enabled 
 parilbes to take off their allowances to the poor, and thus to prevent 
 a return of high prices when the alarm among the fellers was over. 
 
 If the two years of fcarcity had been fucceeded merely by years of 
 average crops, I amftrongly difpofedto believe, that as no' glut would 
 have taken place in the market, the price of grain would have fallen 
 only in an inconliderable degree, the parilh allowances could not 
 have been refumed, the increafed quantity of paper would ftill have 
 been wanted, and the prices of all commodities might by degrees 
 have been regulated, permanently, according to the increafed circu- 
 lating medium. 
 
 If inflead of giving the temporary affiftance of parifh allowances, 
 which might be w^thdraw^n on the firft fall of price, we had raifed 
 univerfally the wages of labour, it is evident, that the obftaclcs to a 
 diminution of the circulation, and to returning cheapnefs, would 
 have been ftill further increafed ; and the high price of labour would 
 have become permanent, without any advantage whatever to the 
 labourer. 
 
 There is no one that more ardently defires to fee a real advance in 
 the price of labour than myfelf ; but the attempt to effed: this objecft 
 by forcibly raifmg the nominal price, which was prad:ifed to a certain 
 
 3 degree, 
 
4o6 Of the Englt/h Poor Laws, boqk irr, 
 
 degree, and recommended almoft unlverfally during the late fcarcities^ 
 every thinking man muft reprobate as puerile and inefFecSual. 
 
 The price of labour, when left to find its natural level, is a moit 
 important political barometer, exprelling the relation between the 
 fupply of provifions, and the demand for them ; between the quantity 
 to be confumed, and the number of confumers ; and taken on the 
 average, independently of accidental circumftances, it further 
 exprefles, clearly, the wants of the fociety refpedting population ; 
 that is, whatever may be the number of children to a marriage 
 neceflary to maintain exacflly the prefent population, the price of 
 labour will be juft fufficient to fupport this number, or be above 
 it, or below it, according to the ftate of the real funds for the 
 maintenance of labour, whether ftationary, progreffive, or retrograde. 
 Inftead, however, of confidering it in this light, we confider it as 
 Something which we may raife or deprefs at pleafure, fomething 
 which depends principally upon his majefty's juftices of the peace. 
 When an advance in the price of provifions already exprefles 
 that the demand is too great for the fupply, in order to put the 
 labourer in the fame condition as before, we raife the price of labour, 
 that is, we increafe the demand, and are then much furprifed 
 that the price of provifions continues riflng. In this, we ad: much 
 in the fame manner, as if, when the quickfllver in the common 
 weather-glafs flood ^tjlormy, we. were to raife it by fome forcible 
 preflTure to fettled fair, and then be greatly aftonilhed that it con- 
 tinued raining. 
 
 Dr. Smith has clearly Ihewn, that the natural tendency of a 
 year pf fcarcity, is, either to throw a number of labourers out of 
 cmjiloyment, or to oblige them to work for lefs than they did before, 
 from the inability of maflers to employ the fame number at the 
 fame price. The raifmg of the price of wages tends necefl"arily to 
 throw more out of employment, and completely to prevent the 
 good effects which, he fays, fometinres arife from a year of moderate 
 fcarcity, that of making the lower clafles of people do more work,. 
 
 and 
 
CHAP. V. Of the "EngViJh Poor Laws, 407 
 
 ^nd become more careful and induftrious. The number of fervants 
 out of place, and of manufadurers wanting employment during the 
 late fcarcities, were melancholy proofs of the truth of thefe reafon- 
 ings. If a general rife in the wages of labour had taken place 
 proportioned to the price of proviflons, none but farmers and a few 
 gentlemen could have afforded to employ the fame number of 
 workmen as before. Additional crowds of fervants and manufacturers 
 would have been turned off; and thofe who were thus thrown out 
 of employment, would, of courfe, have no other refuge than the 
 parifh. In the natural order of things, a fcarcity muft tend to 
 lower, inftead of to raile, the price of labour. 
 
 After the publication, and general circulation of fuch a work as 
 Dr. Smith's, I confefs, that it appears to me ftrange, that fo many 
 men who would yet afpire to be thought political economifts, 
 ihould ftill think, that it is in the power of the juftices of the peace, 
 or even of the omnipotence of parliament, to alter by ?ijiat the whole 
 circumftances of the country ; and when the demand for proviflons 
 is greater than the fupply, by publifliing a particular edid, to 
 make the fupply at once equal to, or greater, than the demand. 
 Many men who would flirink at the propofal of a maximum, would 
 propofe themfelves, that the price of labour fhould be proportioned 
 to the price of proviflons, and do not feem to be aware, that the two 
 propofals are very nearly of the fame nature, and that both tend 
 -dire(5lly to famine. It matters not, whether we enable the labourer 
 to purchafe the fame quantity of proviflons which he did before, by 
 fixing their price, or by raifmg in proportion the price of labour. 
 The only advantage on the fide of raifingthe price of labour, is, that 
 the rife in the price of proviflons which neceffarily follows it, 
 -encourages importation : but putting importation out of the queflion, 
 which might poffibly be prevented by war, or other circumflances, 
 a univerfal rife of wages in proportion to the price of proviflons, 
 aided by adequate parifh allowances to thofe who were thrown out 
 of work, would, by preventing any kind of faving, in the fame manner 
 
 as 
 
4o8 Of the Englt/h Poor Laws. book iii. 
 
 as a maximum, caufe the whole crop to be coniumed in nine 
 months, which ought to have lafted twelve, and thus produce a 
 famine. 
 
 As the inefficacy of poor laws, and of attempts forcibly to raifc 
 the price of labour, are moft confpicuous in a fcarcity, I have thought 
 myfelf juftified in confidering them under this view ; and as thefe 
 caufes of increafed price received great additional force during the 
 late fcarcity from the increafe of the circulating medium, I truft 
 that the few obfervations which I have made on this fubjedl, will be 
 confidered as an allowable digreffion. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 4^9 ) 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 SubjeSi of Poor Laws continued. 
 
 Independently of any confiderations refpe(ftmg a year of deficient 
 crops, it is evident, that an increafe of population, without a 
 proportional increafe of food, muft lower the value of each man's 
 earnings. The food muft ncceflarily be diftributcd in fmaller 
 quantities, and confequently, a day's labour will purchafe a fmaller 
 quantity of provifions. An increafe in the price of provifions will 
 arife, either from an increafe of population fafter than the means of 
 fubfiftence, or from a different diftribution of the money of the 
 fociety. The food of a country which has been long peopled, if it 
 be increaiing, increafes flowly and regularly, and cannot be made to 
 anfwer any fudden demands ; but variations in the diftribution of the 
 the money of the fociety, are not unfrequently occurring, and are 
 undoubtedly among the caufes which occaiion the continual vari^ 
 ations in the prices of provifions. 
 
 The poor laws of England tend to deprefs the general condition 
 of the poor in thefe two ways. Their firft obvious tendency is to 
 increafe population without increafmg the food for its fupport. A 
 poor man may marry with little or no profpeA of being able to 
 fupport a family without parifh afTiftance. They may be faid, 
 therefore, to create the poor which they maintain ; and as the pro- 
 vifions of the country muft, in confequence of the increafed popu- 
 lation, be diftributed to every man in fmaller proportions, it is 
 evident, that the labour of thofe who arc not fupported by parifh 
 
 3 G , afTiftance^ 
 
4IO ' Suhje^ of Poor Laws conitnued, book iii, 
 
 affiftance, will purchafe a fmaller quantity of proviflons than before^ 
 and confequently more of them muil be driven to apply for 
 affiftance. 
 
 Secondly, the quantity of provifions confumed in workhoufes,. 
 -upon a part of the fociety, that cannot in general be confidered as 
 the moft valuable part, diminifhes the fliares that would otherwife 
 belong to more induftrious and more worthy members, and thus 
 in the fame manner, forces more to become dependent.) If the 
 poor in the workhoufes were to live better than they do now, this 
 new diftribution of the money of the fociety, would tend more 
 confpicuouily to deprefs the condition of thofe out of the workhoufes 
 by occafionlng an advance in the price of provifions. 
 
 Fortunately for England, a fpirit of independence ftill remains 
 among the peafantry. The poor laws are ftrongly calculated to- 
 eradicate this fpirit. They have fucceeded in part ; but had they 
 fucceeded as completely as might have been expeded, their 
 pernicious tendency would not have been fo long concealed. 
 
 Hard as it may appear in individual inftances, dependent poverty 
 ought to be held difgraceful. Such a ftimulus feems to be abfolutely^ 
 neceflary to promote the happinefs of the great mafs of mankind ;; 
 and every general attempt to weaken this ftimulus, however bene- 
 volent its apparent intention, will always defeat its own purpofe. If 
 men be induced to marry from the mere profped: of parifti provifion, 
 they are not only unjuftly tempted to bring unhappinefs and 
 dependence upon themfelves and children, but they are tempted,, 
 without knowing it, to injure all in the fame clafs with themfelves. 
 
 The parifti laws of England appear to have contributed to raife- 
 the price of provifions, and to lower the real price of labour. They 
 have therefore contributed to impoverifli that clafs of people whofe 
 only poffeflion is their labour. It is alfo difficult to fuppofe, that 
 they have not powerfully contributed to generate that carelefT- 
 nefs and want of frugality obfervable among the poor, fo contrary to 
 ihe difpofition generally to be remarked among petty tradcfmen and 
 3 fmall 
 
CHAP. VI. SuhjeSi of Poor Laws continued. 411 
 
 fmall farmers. The labouring poor, to ufe a vulgar expreffion, feem 
 always to live from hand to mouth. Their prefent wants employ 
 their whole attention ; and they feldom think of the future. Even 
 when they have an opportunity of faving, they feldom exercife it ; 
 but all that they earn beyond their prefent neceffities, goes, generally 
 fpeaking, to the alehoufe. The poor laws may, therefore, be faid 
 to diminiih both the power, and the will, to fave, among the com- 
 mon people, and thus to weaken one ot the flrongefl incentives to 
 fobriety and induftry, and confequently to happinefs. 
 
 It is a general complaint among mailer manufacturers that high 
 wages ruin all their workmen; but it is difficult to conceive that 
 thefe men w^ould not fave a part of their high wages for the future 
 fupport of their families, inftead of fpending it in drunkennefs and 
 diffipation, if they did not rely on parifh affiftancc for fupport in 
 cafe of accidents. And that the poor employed in manufadurcs 
 consider this affiftance as a reafon why they may fpend all the 
 wages which they earn, and enjoy themfelves while they can, appears 
 to be evident, from the number of families that, upon the failure of 
 any great manufadlory, immediately fall upon the parifli; when, 
 perhaps, the wages earned in this manufadiory while it flouriflied, 
 were fufficicntly above the price of common country labour, to have 
 allowed them to fave enough for their fupport, till they could find 
 fome other channel for their induftry. 
 
 A man who might not be deterred from going to the alehoufe, 
 from the confideration that, on his death, or fickneis, he fliould leave 
 his wife and family upon the parifh, might yet hefitate in thus 
 diffipating his earnings, if he were aflured that, in either of thefe 
 cafes, his family mufl fiarve, or be left to the fupport of cafual 
 bounty. 
 
 The mafs of happinefs among the common people cannot but be 
 diminifhed, when one of the ftrongeft checks to idlenefe and 
 diffipation is thus removed ; and/ pofitivc inflitutions, which render 
 
 ^ G ^ dependent 
 
412 SuhjeS^f of Poor haws continued, book iir, 
 
 dependent poverty fo general, weaken that difgrace, which for the 
 beft and moft humane reafons ought to be attached to it. 
 
 Tho poor laws of England were undoubtedly inftituted for the 
 moft benevolent purpofe ; but it is evident, that they have failed in 
 attaining it. They certainly mitigate fome cafes of fevere diftrefs, 
 which might otherwifc occur, though the ftate of the poor who 
 are fupported by parishes, confidered in all its circumftances, is 
 very miferable. But one of the principal objedions to the iyftem, 
 is, that for the affiftance which fome of the poor receive, in itfelf 
 almoft a doubtful bleiling, the whole clafs of the common people 
 of England is fubjedled to a fet of grating, inconvenient, and 
 tyrannical laws, totally inconfiftent with the genuine fpirit of th 
 conftitution. The whole bufmefs of fettlements, even in its prefent 
 amended ftate, is contradictory to all ideas of freedom. The parifti 
 perfecution of men whofe families are likely to become chargeable-, 
 and of poor women who are near lying-in, is a moft difgraceful and 
 difgufting tyranny. And the obftrudlions continually occafioned in 
 the market of labour by thefe laws, have a conftant tendency to 
 add to the difficulties of thofe who are ftruggling to fupport 
 themfelves without afliftance. 
 
 Thefe evils attendant on the poor laws feem to be irremediable. 
 If affiftance be to be diftributed to a certain clafs of people, a power 
 muft be lodged fomewhere of difcriminating the proper objeds, and 
 of managing the concerns of the inftitutions that are neceflary ; but 
 any great interference with the aftairs of other people, i^ a Ipecies 
 of tyranny ; and, in the common courfe of things, the exercife of 
 this power may be expe<5led to become grating to thofe who are 
 driven to afk for fupport. The tyranny of juftices, churchwardens, 
 and overfeers, is a common complaint among the poor; but the 
 fault does not lie fo much in thefe perfons, who, probably, before 
 they were in power, were not worfe than other people, but in the 
 nature of all fuch inftitutions. 
 
 It 
 
CHAP. VI. Suhje^ of Poor Laws continued. 413 
 
 It will fcarcely admit of a doubt, that if the poor laws had never 
 exifted in this country, though there might have been a few more 
 inftances of very fevere diftrefs, the aggregate mafs of happinefs 
 among the common people would have been much greater than it 
 is at prefent. 
 
 The radical defed: of all fyflems of the kind, is, that of tendiiu^ 
 to increafe population, without increafing the means for its fupport, 
 and, by thus depreffing the condition of thofe that are not relieved 
 by parifhes, to create more poor. If, indeed, we examine fome of 
 our ftatutes, flridly, with reference to the principle of population, 
 we Ihall find that they attempt an abfolute impoffibility ; and we 
 cannot be furprifed therefore, that they Ihould conftantly fail in the 
 attainment of their objecfl. 
 
 The famous 43d of Elizabeth, which has been ib often referred to, 
 and admired, enads, that the overfeers of the poor, " Ihall take 
 ** order from time to time, by and with the confent of two or more 
 " juflices, for fetting to work the children of all fuch whofe parents 
 ** lliall not, by the faid perfons, be thought able to keep and main- 
 ** tain their children; and alfo fuch perfons married or unmarried, 
 *' as, having no means to maintain them, ufe no ordinary and daily 
 " trade of life to get their living by. And alfo to raife, weekly or 
 *' otherwife, by taxation of every inhabitant, and every occupier of 
 " lands in the faid parilh, (in fuch competent fums as they Ihall 
 " think fit,) a convenient flock of flax, hemp, wool, thread, iron, 
 " and other ncceflary ware and fluff, to fet the poor to work." 
 
 What is this but faying, that the funds for the maintenance of 
 labour in this country may be increafed at will, and without limit, 
 by a Jiat of government, or an affeffment of the overfeers. Stridly 
 fpeaking, this claufe is as arrogant and as abfurd, as if it had ehad:ed 
 that two ears of wheat fhould in future grow, where one only had 
 grown before. Canute, when he commanded the waves not to wet 
 his princely foot, did not, in reality, affume a greater power over 
 the laws of nature. No directions are given to the overfeers how to 
 X increafe 
 
414 Suhjedi of Poor Laws coni'mtied, book 11 1, 
 
 jncreafe the funds for the maintenance of labour ; the neceflity of 
 induflry, economy, and enUghtened exertion, in the management of 
 agricultural and commercial capital is not infifled on, for this 
 purpofe ; but it is expected, that a miraculous increafe of thefe 
 funds fhould immediately follow an edid; of the government, ufed 
 at the dlfcretion of fome ignorant parifti officers. 
 
 If this claufe were really, and honajide, put in execution, and 
 the fhame attending the receiving of parifh affiftance worn off, every 
 labouring man might marry as early as he pleafed, under the certain 
 profped: of having all his children properly provided for ; and as, 
 according to the luppofition, there would be no check to population 
 from the confequences of poverty after marriage, the increafe of 
 people would be rapid beyond example in old ftates. After what 
 has been faid in the former parts of this work, it is fubmitted to the 
 reader, whether the utmoft exertions of the moil enlightened 
 government could, in this cafe, make the food keep pace with the 
 population, much lefs a mere arbitrary edid, the tendency of which 
 is certainly rather to diminlfli than to increafe the funds for the 
 maintenance of -produdivc labour. 
 
 In the adlual circumftances of every country, the principle of 
 population feems to be always ready to exert nearly its full force ; 
 but, within the limit of poffibility, there is nothing perhaps more 
 improbable, or more out of the power of any government to effecfl, 
 than the diredion o{ the induftry of its fubjeds in fuch a manner, 
 as to produce the greateft quantity of human fuftenance that the 
 earth could bear. It evidently could not be done without the moft 
 complete violation of the law of property, from which every thing 
 that is valuable to man has hitherto arifen. Such is the difpofitlon to 
 marry, particularly in very young people, that, if the difficulties of 
 providing for a family were entirely removed, very few would remain 
 fmgle at twenty-two. But what ftatefman, or rational government, 
 could propofe, that, all animal food Ihould be prohibited, that no 
 lioxfes Ihould be ufed for bufiacfs or pleafure, that all the people 
 
 fliould 
 
CHAP. VI. SuhjeSf of Poor haws coittlnued. 41^; 
 
 Ihould live upon potatoes, and that the whole induftry of the 
 nation fhould be exerted in the produdion of them, except what 
 was neceflary for the mere necefTaries of clothing and houfes. Could 
 fuch a revolution be efFecSed, would it be deiirable; particularly,, 
 as in a few years, notwithftanding all thefe exertions, want, with 
 lefs refource than ever, would inevitably recur. 
 
 After a country has once ceafed to be in the peculiar situation oft 
 a new colony, we fhall always find, that, in the at^lual ftate of its 
 cultivation, or in that ftate, which may rationally be expelled from 
 the moft enlightened government, the increafe of its food can never 
 allow, for any length of time, an unreftri^led increafe of population ; 
 and therefore, the due execution of the claufe in the 39th o 
 Elizabeth, as a permanent law, is a phyfrcal impoflibility. 
 
 It will be faid, perhaps, that the fa6t contradid:s the theory, and' 
 that the claufe in queflion has remained in force, and has been, 
 executed during the laft two hundred years. In anfwer to this, t 
 fhould fay without hefitation, that it has not really been executed ; 
 and that it is merely owing to its incomplete execution, that it 
 remains on our ftatute book at prefent. 
 
 The fcanty relief granted to peribns in diftrefs, the capricious and- 
 infulting manner in which it is fometimes diftributed by the over- 
 feers, and the natural and becoming pride not yet quite extin<5t 
 among the peafantry of England, have deterred the more thinking 
 and virtuous part of them, from venturing on marriage, without 
 fome better profped: of maintaining their families, than mere parifh 
 ailiflance. The defire of bettering our condition and' the fear of 
 making it worfe, like the vis medicatrlx natura in phyficks, is the 
 vts medkatrix reipuhllca in politicks, and is continually counter- 
 adling the diforders arising from narrow human inftitutions. In 
 fpite of the prejudices in favour of population, and the direft 
 encouragements to marriage from the poor laws, it operates as a 
 preventive check to increafe ; and happy for. this country is it that 
 it does {q 
 
 Thofer 
 
41^ SubjeSi of Poor haws continued, bookiii. 
 
 Thofe who are not deterred for a time from marriage, by con- 
 fiderations of this nature, are either relieved very fcantily at their 
 GViVi homes, v^here they fuffer all the confequences arifmg from 
 fqualid poverty; or they are crowded together in clofe and unwhole- 
 fome workhoufes, where a great mortality almoft univerfally takes 
 place, particularly among the young children. The dreadful account 
 given by Jonas Hanway of the treatment of parifli children in London, 
 is too well known to need a comment ; and it appears from Mr. 
 Howlett, and other writers, that in fome parts of the country they 
 arc not very much better off. A great part of the redundant 
 population occafioned by the poor laws, is thus taken off by the 
 operation of the laws themfelves, or at leaft by their ill execution. 
 The remaining part which furvives, by caufmg the funds for the 
 maintenance of labour to be divided among a greater number than 
 can be properly maintained by them, and by turning a coniiderablc 
 Ihare from the fupport of the diligent and careful workman, to the 
 fupport of the idle and the negligent, depreffes the condition of all 
 thofe who are out of the workhoufes, forces more every year into 
 them, and has ultimately produced the enormous evil which we all 
 fo juftly deplore, that of the great and unnatural proportion of the 
 people which is now become dependent upon charity. 
 
 If this be a juft reprefentation of the manner in which the claufe 
 in queflion has been executed, and of the effects which it has 
 produced, it mud be allowed that we have pradifed an unpardonable 
 deceit upon the poor, and have promifed what we have been very 
 far from performing. It may be aflerted, without danger of exagge- 
 ration, that the poor law^s have deftroyed many more lives than 
 they have preferved. 
 
 The attempts to employ the poor on any great fcale in manu- 
 fad;ures have almoft invariably failed, and the ftock and materials 
 have been wafted. In thofe few parifhes which, by better manage- 
 ment, or larger funds, have been enabled to perfevere in this fyftem, 
 the effecfl of thefe new manufadures in the market, muft have been, 
 to throw out of employment many independent workmen who were 
 
 before 
 
CHAP. VI. Suhje6l of the Poor Laws continued, 417 
 
 before engaged In fabrications of a fimilar nature. This efFe6l has 
 been placed in a ftrong point of view by Daniel de Foe, in an addrefs 
 to parliament, entitled, Giving alms no chanty. Speaking of the 
 employment of parifh children in manufactures, he fays. For every 
 fkein of worfted thefe poor children fpin, there muft be a (kein the 
 lefs fpun by fome poor family that fpun it before ; and for every piece 
 of bays fo made in London, there muft be a piece the lefs made at 
 Colchefter, or fomewrhere elfe ". Sir F. M. Eden, on the fame 
 fubjedl, obferves, that whether mops and brooms are made by parifli 
 children, or by private workmen, no more can be fold than the 
 publick is in want of''. 
 
 It will be faid, perhaps, that the fame reafoning might be applied 
 to any new capital brought into competition in a particular trade 
 or manufadlure, which can rarely be done without injuring, in fome 
 degree, thofe that were engaged in it before. But there is a material 
 difference in the two cafes. In this, the competition is perfed:ly 
 fair, and what every man, on entering into bufmefs, muft lay his 
 account to. He may reft fecure that he fhall not be fupplanted, 
 unlefs his competitor poiTefs fuperior fkill and induftry. In the 
 other caft, the competition is fupported by a great bounty, by which 
 means, notwithftanding very inferior fkill and induftry, on the part 
 of his competitors, the independent workman may be underfold, and 
 
 * See extracts from Daniel de Foe, in Sir F. M. Eden's valuable work on the poor, 
 vol. i. p. 261. 
 
 ^ Sir F. Eden fpenking of the fuppofed right of the poor to befupplied with employ- 
 ment while able to work, and with a maintenance when incapacitated from labour, very 
 juftly remarks, " It may, however, be doubted, whether any right, the gratification of 
 * whicli fcems to be impraflicable, can be faid to exift,'* vol. i. p. 447. No man has 
 collefted fo many materials for forming a judgment on the effecSls of the poor laws as 
 Sir F. Eden, and the refult he thus expreffes. *' Upon the whole, therefore, there feems 
 *' to be jufl: grounds for concluding that the fum of good to be expelled from a com- 
 ** pulfory maintenance of the poor, will be far outbalanced by the fum of evil which 
 ** it will inevitably create," vol. i. p. 467. I am happy to have the fandion of fo 
 pra6licsJ an inquirer to my opinion of the poor Jaws. 
 
 3 H unjuftly 
 
4 1 8 SuhjeSi of the Poor Laws conihiued, B o o K i ii, 
 
 unjuftly excluded from the market. He himfelf, perhaps, is made 
 to contribute to this competition againft his own earnings, and the 
 funds for the maintenance of labour are thus turned, from the 
 fupport of a trade which yields a proper profit, to one which cannot 
 maintain itfelf without a bounty. It fhould be obferved, in general, 
 that when a fund for the maintenance of labour is raifed by aflefT- 
 ment, the greateft part of it is not a new capital brought into trade, 
 but an old one, which before was much more profitably employed, 
 turned into a new channel. The farmer pays to the poor's rates, for 
 the encouragement of a bad and unprofitable manufadure, what he 
 would have employed on his land with infinitely more advantage 
 to his country. In the one cafe, the funds for the maintenance of 
 labour, are daily diminifhed ; in the other, daily increafed. And this 
 obvious tendency of aflefiments for the employment of the poor, to 
 decreafe the real funds for the maintenance of labour in any country, 
 aggravates the abfurdity of fuppofmg that it is in the power of a 
 government to find employment for all its fubjed:s, however faft 
 they may increafe. 
 
 It is not intended that thefe reafonings fhould be applied againft 
 every mode of employing the poor on a limited fcale, and with 
 fuch reftri(5lions, as might not encourage, at the fame time, their 
 increafe. I would never wilh to pufh general principles too far, 
 though I think that they ought always to be kept in view. In 
 particular cafes, the individual good to be obtained may be fb great, 
 and the general evil fo flight, that the former may clearly overbalance 
 the latter. 
 
 The intention is merely to fhew, that the poor laws, as a general 
 fyftem, are founded on a grofs error ; and that the common decla- 
 mation on the fubje^l of the poor, which we fee fo often in print, 
 and hear continually in converfation, namely, that the market price 
 of labour ought always to be fufficient decently to fupport a family, 
 and that employment ought to be found for all thofe who are 
 w illing to work, is in efFed to fay, that the funds for the mainte- 
 nance 
 
CHAP. VI, SuhJeSl of the Poor Laws eontmued. 419 
 
 nance of labour, in this country, are not only infinite, but might be 
 made to increafe with fuch rapidity, that, fuppofing us to have at 
 prefcntfix millions of labourers, including their families, we might have 
 g6 millions in another century ; or if thefe funds had been properly 
 managed fmce the beginning of the reign of Edward I. fuppofmg that 
 there were then only two millions of labourers, we might now have 
 pofTeffed above four million millions of labourers, or about four thou- 
 fand times as many labourers as it has been calculated that there are 
 people now on the face of the earth.. 
 
 3 H i3 CHAP. 
 
( 420 ) 
 
 CHAP. VIL 
 
 Of increajing Wealth as it affeSis the Condition of the Poor. 
 
 1 HE profefTed obje(5l of Dr. Smith's Inquiry, is, the nature and 
 caufes of the wealth of nations. There is another, however, perhaps 
 ftill more interefting, which he occafionallj mixes with it, the caufes 
 which afFedl the happinefs and comfort of the lower orders of 
 fociety, which is the moft numerous clafs in every nation. I am 
 fufficiently aware of the near connexion of thefe two fubjed:s, and 
 that, generally fpeaking, the caufes w^hich contribute to increafe 
 the wealth of a ftate, tend alfo to increafe the happinefs of the 
 lower clafTes of the people. But perhaps Dr. Smith has confidered 
 thefe two inquiries, as ftill more nearly conneAed than they really 
 are ; at leaft, he has not flopped to take notice of thofe inflances, 
 where the wealth of a fociety may increafe, according to his 
 definition of wealth, without having any tendency to increafe the 
 comforts of the labouring part of it. 
 
 I do not mean to enter into any philofophical difcuflion of what 
 conftitutes the proper happinefs of man, but fhall merely confider 
 two univerfally acknowledged ingredients, the command of the 
 neceflaries and comforts of life, and the pofTeffion of health. 
 
 The comforts of the labouring poor muil: neceffarily depend upon 
 the funds deftined for the maintenance of labour; and will generally 
 be in proportion to the rapidity of their increafe. The demand for 
 labour, which fuch increafe occafions, will of courfe raife the value 
 of labour; and till the additional number of hands required are 
 
 reared. 
 
CHAP. VII. Of mcreajhig Wealih as tt affeSis, ^c. ^zv 
 
 reared, the increafed funds will be diftrlbutcd to the fame number 
 of perfons as before, and therefore, every labourer will live compa- 
 ratively at his eafe. // The error of Dr. Smith lies in rcprefenting 
 every increafe of the revenue or Hock of a fociety, as an increafe of 
 thefe funds. Such furplus ftock or revenue, will indeed always be 
 confidered by the individual poiTeffmg it, as an additional fund 
 from which he may maintain more labour: but it will not be a 
 real and effed;ual fund for the maintenance of an additional number 
 of labourers, unlefs the whole, or at leail a great part of it, be . 
 convertible into a proportional quantity of provifions; and it will 
 not be fo convertible where the increafe has arifen merely from the 
 produce of labour, and not from the produce of land. // A diftindlion 
 will in this cafe occur between the number of hands which the fbock 
 of the fociety could employ, and the number which its territory 
 can maintain. 
 
 Dr. Smith defines the wealth of a ftate to be, the|annual produce 
 of its land and labour.j This definition evidently includes manu- 
 factured produce, as well as the produce of the land. Now, fup- 
 pofmg a nation, for a courfe of years, to add what it faved from its 
 yearly revenue to its manufadluring capital folely, and not to its 
 capital employed upon land, it is evident that it might grow richer 
 according to the above definition, without a power of fupporting a 
 greater number of labourers, and therefore, without any increafe in 
 the real funds for the maintenance of labour. There would, 
 notwithftanding, be a demand for labour, from the power that each 
 manufacturer would poflefs, or at leaft think he polTeffed, of 
 extending his old flock in trade, or of fettingup frefli works. This 
 demand, would of courfe raife the price of labour ; but if the yearly 
 ftock of provifions in the country were not incrcafing, this rife 
 would foon turn out to be merely nominal, as the price of provifions 
 muft neceifarily rife with it. The demand for manufacfluring 
 labourers might, indeed, entice many from agriculture, and thus 
 tend to diminifti the annual produce of the land ; but we will 
 
 fuppofe 
 
4^3 OflncreaJtJtg Wealth as It affeBs book iir. 
 
 fuppofe any effects of this kind to be compenfated by improvements 
 in the inftruments, or mode, of agriculture, and the quantity of 
 provifions therefore to remain the fame. Improvements in manu- 
 facturing machinery vs^buld of courfe take place ; and this circum- 
 fiance, added to the greater number of hands employed in manu- 
 fadiures, would augment confiderably the annual produce of the 
 labour of the country. The wealth, therefore, of the country would 
 be increafmg annually, according to the definition, and might not 
 be increafing very flowly. 
 
 The queftlon is, how far, wealth, increafmg in this way, has a 
 tendency to better the condition of the labouring poor. It is a felf- 
 evident proportion that any general advance in the price of labour, 
 the ftock of provifions remaining the fame, can only be a nominal 
 advance, as it muft ihortly be followed by a proportional rife in 
 provifions. The increafe in the price of labour which we have 
 fuppofed, would have no permanent effedl therefore in giving to the 
 labouring poor a greater command over the ncceflarics of life. \vi. 
 this refpeCt, they would be nearly in the fame fiiate as before. In 
 fomc other refpe<^s, they would be in a worlc ftate. A greater 
 proportion of them would be employed in manufa^ures, and fewer 
 confequently in agriculture. And this exchange of profeffions wiil 
 be allowed, I think, by all to be very unfavourable, in refpe<5l of 
 health, one eflential ingredient of happinefs, and alfo with regard to 
 the greater uncertainty of manufacturing labour,, arifing from the 
 capricious tafte of man, the accidents of war, and other caufes, which 
 occafionally produce very fevere diftrefs among the lower clafi!es of 
 fociety. On the fiate of the poor employed in manufaftories, with 
 refped: to health and other clrcumftances which affed: their happi* 
 nefs, I will beg leave to quote a pafiTage from Dr. Aikin's defcription: 
 of the country round Manchefiier. 
 
 '* The invention and improvements of machines to iborten labour,. 
 *' have had a furprlfing influence to extend our trade, and alfo to- 
 
 cali 
 
CHAP. VII. the Condition of the Poor, 423 
 
 *' call in hands from all parts, efpecially children for the cotton 
 *' mills. It is the wife plan of Providence, that in this life there 
 *' ihall be no good without its attendant inconvenience. There are 
 '* many which are too obvious in thefe cotton mills and fimilar 
 " factories, which counterad: that increafe of population ufually 
 *' confequent on the improved facility of labour. In thefe, children 
 " of very tender age are employed, many of them colle<fled from 
 " the workhoufes in London and Weflminfter, and tranfported in 
 " crowds, as apprentices to mafters refident many hundred miles 
 " diftant, where they ferve unknown, unprotedled, and forgotten by 
 " thofe to whofecare, nature, or the laws, had coniigned them. Thefe 
 ** children are ufually too long confined to work in clofe rooms, 
 *' often during the whole night. The air they breath from the 
 ** oil, &c. employed in the machinery, and other circumftances, is 
 " injurious; little attention is paid to their cleanlinefs; and frequent 
 " changes from a warm and denfe, to a cold and thin atmofphere, 
 *' are predifpofmg caufes to ficknefs and difability, and particularly 
 " to the epidemick fever which is fo generally to be met with in 
 " thefe facSiorics. It is alfo much to be queftioned, if fociety does 
 " not receive detriment, from the manner in which children are 
 ** thus employed during their early years. They are not generally 
 " ftrong to labour, or capable of purfuing any other branch of 
 " buiinefs when the term of their apprenticefhip expires. The 
 *' females are wholly uninftrucfled in fowing, knitting, and other 
 ** domeftick affairs, requifite to make them notable, and frugal 
 ** wives and mothers. This is a very great misfortune to them and 
 " the publick, as is fadly proved by a comparifon of the families of 
 ** labourers in hufbandry, and thofe of manufacturers in general. 
 ** In the former we meet with neatnefs, cleanlinefs and comfort ; 
 ** in the latter, with filth, rags, and poverty, although their wages 
 *^ may be nearly double to thofe of the hufbandman. It muft be 
 *' added that the want of early religious inilrudion and example, 
 
 " and 
 
434 Of htcrsafing Wealth as It dffedis book iir, 
 
 " and the numerous and indifcriminate aflbciatlon in thefe buildings, 
 " are very unfavourable to their future condud: in life ^. 
 
 In addition to the evils mentioned in this paffage, we all know 
 how fubjed: particular manufacflures are to fail, from the caprice of 
 tafte, or the accident of war. The weavers of Spitalfields were 
 pkmged into the moft fevere diftrefs by the fafhion of muflins inftead 
 of filks ; and numbers of the workmen in Sheffield and Birming- 
 ham were, for a time, thrown out of employment, from the adoption 
 of fhoe-ftrings and covered buttons, inftead of buckles and metal 
 buttons. Our manufacflures, taken in the mafs, have increafed with 
 great rapidity, but, in particular places, they have failed, and the 
 pariflies, where this has happened, are invariably loaded with a crowd 
 of poor, in the moft diftrefted and miferable condition. In the work 
 of Dr. Aikin juft alluded to, it appears that the regifter for the 
 collegiate church at Manchefter, from Chriftmas i yg^ to Chriftmas 
 1794, ftated a decreafe of 168 marriages, 538 chriftenings, and 250 
 burials. And in the parifli of Rochdale, in the neighbourhood, a 
 ftill more melancholy redud.ion, in proportion to the number of 
 people, took place. In 1792, the births were 746, the burials 646, 
 and the marriages 339. In 1794, the births were 2,7 Si the burials 
 671, and the marriages 199. The caufe of this fudden check to 
 population, was the commencement of the war, and the failure of 
 commercial credit, which occurred about this time ; and fuch a 
 check could not have taken place, in fo fudden a manner, without 
 being occafioned by the moft fevere diftrefs. 
 
 Under fuch circumftances of fituation, uiilefs the increafe of the 
 riches of a country from manufadures, give the lower clafTes of the 
 fociety, on an average, a decidedly greater command over the 
 
 * P. 2ig. Endeavours have been made. Dr. Aikin fays, to remedy thefe evils, and 
 in fome fadtories they have been attended with fuccefs. An al of parliament has of 
 late alfo paffed on this fubjed^, from which it is hoped, that much good will refult. 
 
 3 neccftaries 
 
CHAP. VII. the Condition of the Poor. 435 
 
 necefTaries and conveniehcies of life, it will not appear that their 
 condition is improved. 
 
 It will be laid, perhaps, that the advance in the price of provifions 
 will immediately turn fome additional capital into the channel of 
 agriculture, and thus occafion a much greater produce. But from 
 experience, it appears, that this is an effect which takes place very 
 flowly, particularly when, as in the prefent inftance, an advance in 
 the price of labour had preceded the advance in the price of 
 provifions, and would therefore tend to impede the good effects 
 upon agriculture, which the increafed value of the produce of 
 land might otherwife have occafioned. 
 
 It may alfo be faid, that the additional capital of the nation 
 w^ould enable it to import provifions, fufficient for the maintenance 
 of thofe whom its {lock could employ. A fmall country, with a 
 large navy, and great accommodations for inland carriage, may 
 indeed import and diftribute an effectual quantity of provifions: 
 but in large landed nations, if they may be fo called, an importation 
 adequate at all times to the demand, is fcarcely pofTible. It feems 
 in great meafure to have efcaped attention, that a nation, which, 
 from its extent of territory and population, muft necefTarily 
 fupport the greater part of its people on the produce of its 
 own foil; but which yet, on average years, draws a fmall portion 
 of its corn from abroad, is in a much more precarious fituation 
 with regard to the conftancy of its fupplies, than fuch ftates 
 as draw almoft the whole of their proviiions from other coun- 
 tries. The demands of Holland and Hamburgh may be known 
 with confiderable accuracy by thofe who fupply them. If they 
 increafc, they increafe gradually, and are not fubjedl, from year to 
 year, to any great and fudden variations. But it is otherwife with 
 fuch a country as England. Suppofmg it, in average years, to want 
 about four hundred thouJfand quarters of wheat. Such a demand 
 will of courfe be very eafily fupplied. But a year of deficient crops 
 occurs, and the demand is fuddenly two millions of quarters, li 
 
 3 I the 
 
4^5 Of tncnqjing Wealth as it affeSis book m, 
 
 the demand had been, on an average, two millions, it might perhaps 
 have been adequately fupplied, from the extended agriculture of thofe 
 countries which are in the habit of exporting corn : but we cannot 
 exped; that it can eafily be anfwered thus fuddenly ; and indeed, 
 we know from experience, that an unufual demand of this nature, 
 in a nation capable of paying for it, cannot exift, without raifing 
 the price of wheat very confiderably in all the ports of Europe. 
 Hamburgh, Holland, and the ports of the Baltic, felt very fenfibly 
 the high prices of England during the late fcarcity; and I have been 
 informed from very good authority, that the price of bread in New 
 York was little inferior to the higheft price in London. 
 
 A nation, poflefled of a large territory, is unavoidably fubjed: to 
 this uncertainty in its means of fubfiftence, when the commercial 
 part of its population is either equal to, or has increafed beyond, the 
 furplus produce of its cultivators. No referve being, in thefe cafes, 
 left in exportation, the full effeA of every deficiency from unfa- 
 vourable feafons mufl necefTarily be felt ; and though the riches of 
 fuch a country may enable it, for a certain period, to continue raifing 
 the nominal price of wages, fo as to give the lower claiTes of the 
 fociety a power of purchafing imported corn at a high price ; yet, as 
 a fudden demand can very feldom be fully anfwered, the competition 
 in the market will invariably raife the price of provifions, in full 
 proportion to the advance in the price of labour ; the lower clafles 
 will be but little relieved ; and the dearth will operate feverely 
 throughout all the ranks of fociety. 
 
 According to the natural order of things, years of fcarcity muft 
 occafionally recur, in all landed nations. They ought always 
 therefore to enter into our confideration ; and the profperity of any 
 country may juftly be confidered as precarious, in which the funds 
 for the maintenance of labour are liable to great and fudden fiudu- 
 ations, from every unfavourable variation in the feafons. 
 
 But putting, for the prefent, years of fcarcity out of the queflion; 
 
 when the commercial population of any country increafes fo much 
 
 * y beyond 
 
CHAP. VII. the Cond'ttlon of the Poof, ^^j 
 
 beyond the furplus produce of the cultivators, that the demand for 
 imported com is not eafily fuppUed, and the price rifes in proportion 
 to the price of wages, no further increafe of riches will have any 
 tendency to give the labourer a greater command over the necefTaries 
 of life. In the progrefs of wealth, this will naturally take place; 
 either from the largenefs of the fupply wanted; the increafed 
 diftance from which it is brought, and confequently the increafed 
 expence of importation ; the greater confumption of it in the countries 
 in which it is ufually purchafed ; or w^hat muft unavoidably happen, 
 the neceffity of a greater diftance of inland carriage, in thefe coun- 
 tries. Such a nation, by increafmg induftry, and increafmg ingenuity 
 in the improvement of machinery, may ftill go on incrcafing the 
 yearly quantity of its manufactured produce ; but its funds for the 
 maintenance of labour, and confequently its population, will be 
 perfe6lly ftationary. This point is the natural limit to the population 
 of all commercial ftates *. 
 
 That every increafe of the ftock or revenue of a nation cannot 
 be confidered as an increafe of the real funds for the maintenance 
 of labour, and therefore, cannot have the fame good efFe6l upon 
 the condition of the poor, will appear in a ftrong light, if the 
 argument be applied to China. 
 
 Dr. Smith obferves, that China has probably long been as rich 
 as the nature of her laws and inftitutions will admit ; but that, with 
 other laws and inftitutions, and if foreign commerce were held in 
 honour, fhe might ftill be much richer. The queftion is, would 
 fuch an increafe of wealth, be an increafe of the real funds for the 
 maintenance of labour, and confequently tend to place the lower 
 claifes of people in China in a ftate of greater plenty ? 
 
 If trade and foreign commerce were held in great honour in China, 
 it is evident, that, from the great number of labourers, and the 
 cheapnefs of labour, Ihe might work up manufd<ftures for foreign 
 fale to an immenfe amount. It is equally evident, that, from the 
 
 Sir James Steuart's Political QEconomy, vol. i. b. i. c. xviii, p. 119. 
 
 3 I ^ great 
 
4^8 Of 'mcreqfing Wealth as it affe^is book i it, 
 
 great bulk of provifions, and the amazing extent of her inland 
 territory, fhe could not in return import fuch a quantity, as would 
 be any fenfible addition to the annual flock of fubfiftence in the 
 country. Her immenfe amount of manufad:ures, therefore, Ihe 
 would exchange chiefly for luxuries collected from all parts of the 
 world. At prefent it appears, tlrat no lal5bur whatever is fpared in 
 the produ(ftion of food. The country is rather overpeopled in 
 proportion to what its ftock can employ, and labour is therefore ^ 
 abundant, that no pains are taken to abridge it. The confequence. 
 of this is probably the greateft production of food that the foil can 
 pofTibly afford ; for it will be generally obferved, that proeefTes for 
 abridging labour, though they may enable a farmer to bring a certain- 
 quantity of grain cheaper to market, tend rather to diminifli than 
 rncreafe the whole produce. An immenfe capital could not be 
 employed in China in preparing manufa^ures for foreign trade,, 
 without taking off fo many labourers from agriculture, as to alter 
 this flate of things, and, in fome degree, to diminifh the produce of 
 the country. The demand for manufad:uring labourers would 
 naturally raife the price of labour ; but as the quantity of fubliflence 
 would not be increafed, the price of provifions would keep pace 
 w4th it, or even more than keep pace with it, if the quantity of 
 provifions were really decreafmg. The country would, however, be 
 evidently advancing in wxalth; the exchangeable value of the annual? 
 produce of its land and labour would be annually augmented ; yet 
 the real funds for the maintenance of labour would be ftationary, or 
 even declining ; and confcquently the increafing wealth of the natiori 
 would tend rather to deprefs than to raife the condition of the poor % 
 
 * The con Jition of the poor in China is, indeeJ, very miftrable at prefent ; but this 
 is not owing to their want of foreign commerce, but to their extreme tendency tO' 
 marriage and increafe ; and if this tendency were to continue the fame, the only way ia 
 which the introdution of a greater number of manufalurers could poflibly make the 
 lower clafles of people richer, would be, by increafing the mortality amongft them, which 
 is certainly not a very dellrable mode of g^rowing rich. 
 
 With 
 
CHAP. vn. the Condition of the Poor, 429 
 
 With regard to the command over the neceflaries of life, they would 
 be in the fame, or rather worfe flate, than before ; and a great part 
 of them would have exchanged the healthy labours of agriculture for 
 the unhealthy occupations of manufacturing induftry. 
 
 The argument, perhaps, appears clearer when applied to China, 
 becaufe it is generally allowed, that its weakh has been long 
 ftationary, and its foil cultivated nearly to the utmofb. With regard 
 to any other country, it might always be a matter of difpute, at 
 which of the two periods compared, wealth was increaling the 
 fafteft, as it is upon the rapidity of the increafe of wealth, at any 
 particular period, that. Dr. bmith fays, the condition of the poor 
 depends. Jt is evident,, howxver, that two nations might increafe 
 exadlly with the fame rapidity in the exchangeable value of the 
 annual produce of their land and labour; yet, if one had applied itfelf 
 chiefly to agriculture, and the other chiefly to commerce,, the funds 
 for the maintenance of labour, and confequcntly the effedl of the 
 increafe of wealth in each nation, would be extremely different. 
 In that, which had applied itfelf chiefly to agriculture, the poor 
 would live in greater plenty, and population would rapidly increafe. 
 In that, which had applied itfelf chiefly to commerce, the poor, 
 would be comparatively but little benefited, and confequently,j 
 population would either be flationary, or increafe very flowly. 
 
 CHFAP. 
 
( 430 ) 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Of the Defifittlons of Wealth, Agricultural and Commercial Syfiems. 
 
 A QUESTION feems naturally to arife here, whether the exchange- 
 able \alue of the annual produce of the land and labour, is the pro- 
 per definition of the wealth of a country, or whether merely the 
 produce of land, according to the French Economifts, may not be a 
 more corre<5l definition. Certain it is, that every increafe of wealth, 
 according to this definition, will be an increafe of the funds for the 
 maintenance of labour, and confequently will always tend to amelio- 
 rate the condition of the labouring poor, and increafe population ; 
 though an increafe of wealth, according to Dr. Smith's definition, 
 will by no means invariably have the fame tendency. And yet it 
 may not follow, from this confideration, that Dr. Smith's defini- 
 tion is falfe. 
 
 The Economifts confider all labour employed in manufa<flures as 
 unproduftive ; and in endeavouring to difprove this pofition. Dr. 
 Smith has been accufed of arguing obfcurely and inconclufively. 
 He appears to me, however, only incorredl in applying his own 
 definition to try the reafoning, by which the Economifts fupport 
 theirs ; when, in fad:, the queftion was, refped;ing the truth or falfe- 
 hood of the definitions themfelves ; and, of courfe, one could not be 
 applied as a teft to the other. Nothing can be more clear than that 
 manufad:ures increafe the wealth of a ftate according to Dr. Smith's 
 definition ; and it is equally clear, that they do not increafe it, accord- 
 ing to the definition of the Economifts. The queftion of the pro- 
 dudlivenefs or unprodudivenefs of manufadlures, is allowed by the 
 
 Economifts 
 
C H A P . V 1 1 1 . Agrtciiltiiral and Commercial Syjiems, 43 1 
 
 Economics to be a queftion refpeding net produce ; and the deter- 
 mination of this queftion either way, would not afFedl Dr. Smith's 
 definition, which includes produce of every kind, whether net, or 
 otherwife. And in the fame manner, the proof of a net produce 
 arifing to individuals from manufaftures, would not really invalidate 
 the definition of the Economifts, though they have laid themfelves 
 open to objections from this quarter, by the manner in which they 
 have defended their pofition. 
 
 They fay, that labour employed upon land is produdllve, becaufe the 
 produce, over and above completely paying the labourer and the farmer, 
 afifords a clear rent to the landlord ; and that the labour employed 
 upon a piece of lace is unproductive, becaufe it merely replaces the 
 provifions that the workman had confumed while making it, and 
 the ftock of his employer, without affording any clear rent whatever. 
 But fuppofmg the value of the wrought lace to be fuch, as that 
 befides paying in the moft complete manner, the workman and his 
 employer, it could afford a clear rent to a third perfon, the ftate of 
 the cafe would not really be altered. Though, according to this 
 mode of reafoning, the man employed in the manufadlure of lace, 
 would, upon the prefent fuppofition, appear to be a produdiive 
 labourer ; yet, according to their definition of the wealth of a ftate, 
 he ought not to be confidered in that light. He will have added 
 nothing to the produce of the land. He has confumed a portion of 
 this produce, and has left a piece of lace in return ; and though he 
 may fell this piece of lace for three times the quantity of provifions 
 which he confumed while he was making it, and thus be a very 
 productive labourer with regard to himfelf; yet he has added 
 nothing by his labour to the effential wealth of the ftate. 
 
 Suppofe, that two hundred thoufand men, who are now employed 
 in producing manufacflures, that only tend to gratify the vanity of a 
 few rich people, were to be employed on fome barren uncultivated 
 land, and to produce only half of the quantity of food that they 
 
 themfelve* 
 
433 Of ihe DefinttiOJis of JVealtli. book iii, 
 
 themfclves confumed, they might flill be confidercd, In feme refpcAs, 
 as more productive labourers than they were before. In their former 
 employment, they confumed a certain portion of the food of the 
 country, and left in return fome filks and laces. In their latter em- 
 ployment, they confumed the fame quantity of food, and left in. 
 return, provifion for a hundred thoufand men. There can be little 
 doubt which of the two legacies would be the moft really beneficial 
 to the country, and which, according to the definition of the Econo- 
 mifls, would add the mofl to the wealth of the flate. 
 
 A capital employed upon land may be unprodudlive to the individual 
 that employs it, and yet be produ6live to the fociety. A capital employed 
 in trade, on the contrary, may be highly produ^ive to the indi- 
 vidual, and yet be almofl totally unprodudlive to the fociety. Jt is 
 indeed impoffible to fee the great fortunes that arc made in com- 
 merce, and, at the fame time, the liberality with which fo manv 
 merchants live, and yet agree in the ftatement of the Economifls, 
 that manufa<5lurers can only grow rich by depriving themfelves of 
 the funds deflined for their fupport. In many branches of trade the 
 profits are fb great, as would allow of a clear rent to a third perfon ; 
 but as there is no third perfon in the cafe, and all the profits centre 
 in the merchant or maflcr manufacturer, he feems to have a fair 
 chance of growing rich w^ithout much privation, and wx conie- 
 quently fee large fortunes acquired in trade by perfons who have not 
 been remarked for their parfimony. 
 
 Thefe fortunes, however, by which individuals are greatly enriched, 
 do not enrich proportionaMy the whole fociety, and, in fome re^e<9:s, 
 have even a contrary tendency. The home trade of confumption is 
 by far the mofl important trade of every nation. Putting then, for 
 a moment, foreign trade out of the queftion, the man who, by an 
 ingenious manufadure, obtains a double portion out of the old ftock 
 of provifions, will certainly not be fo ufeful to the flate, as the man, 
 v/ho, Jby his labour^ adds a fingle ihare to the former ftock. And 
 3 this 
 
c H A p . V 1 1 1 . Agrkuliiiral and Commercial Syftems. 43 3 
 
 this view of the fubjed:, ilicws that manufaiflures are effentially 
 different from the produce of the land, and ' that the queftion 
 refpecfting their produdivenefs, or unprodu6tivencfs, by no means 
 depends entirely upon the largenefs of the profits upon them, or 
 upon their yielding or not yielding a clear rent. If the Econo- 
 mics would allow, which, from the manner in which they exprefs 
 themfclves, they might be fometimes fuppofed to do, that tha 
 value yielded by manufadurers was of the fame nature as the pro- 
 duce of the land, though it were allowed to be only accurately equal 
 to the value of their confumption, they certainly could not maintain 
 the pofition that land is the only fource of wealth. A marriage which 
 produces two children, though it contain in itfelf no principle q{ 
 increafc, yet it adds to the fum of the adual population, which would 
 have been lefs by two perfons, if the marriage had been really barren. 
 But 'the fad is, that though the language oi the Economics has fairly 
 warranted this illuftration, which Dr. Smith gives ; yet the illuf- 
 tration itfelf is incorred. In the cafe of the marriage, the two chil- 
 dren arc really a new produdion, a completely new creation. But 
 manufadures, flridly fpeaking, are no new produdion, no new crea- 
 tion, but merely a modification of an old one, and when fold muft 
 be paid for out of a revenue already in exlftence, and confequently 
 the gain of the feller is the lofs of the buyer. A revenue is trans- 
 ferred, but not created. 
 
 If, in afferting the produdivenefs, of the labour employed upon 
 land, we look only to the clear monied rent yielded to a certain num- 
 ber of proprietors, we undoubtedly confider the fubjed in a very 
 contraded point of view. The quantity of the furplus produce of the 
 cultivators is, indeed, mcafured by this clear rent ; but its real value 
 confifts in its capability of fupporting a certain number of people, or 
 millions of people, according to its extent, all exempted from the 
 labour of procuring their own food, and who may, therefore, either live 
 without manual exertions, or employ themfclves in modifying the 
 
 q K raw 
 
434 Q/ ^^^^ De/jiiUlons of Wealth, BOOK ill. 
 
 raw produce of nature into the forms beil fuited to the gratificatioa 
 of man. 
 
 A net monled revenue, arifmg from manufadures, of the fame 
 extent, and to the fame number of individuals, would by no means 
 be accompanied by the fame circumftances. It would throw the 
 country in which it exifled into an abfolute dependence upon the 
 furplus produce of others ; and if this foreign revenue could not be 
 obtained, the clear monied rent, which we have fuppofed, would be 
 abfolutely of no value to the nation. 
 
 As manufadlures are not a new production, but the modification 
 of an old one, the moil natural and obvious way of eftimating them, 
 is by the labour which this modification cofts. At the fame time, 
 it may be doubted, whether we can fay pofitively, that the price of 
 this labour, added to the price of the raw material, is exactly their 
 real value. The ultimate value of every thing, according to the 
 general reafoning of the Economifts, confifts in being propre a la 
 jou'ijance. In this view, fome manufactures are of very high value v 
 and in general, they may be faid to be worth to the purchafer what 
 that purchafer will confent to give. In the a(5tual ftate of things, from 
 monopolies, from fuperior machinery, or other caufes, they are gene- 
 rally fold a price above what the Economifts confider as their real 
 worth ; and with regard to a mere monied revenue to an individual', 
 there is no apparent difference, between a manufacture which yields very 
 large profits, and a piece of land which is farmed by the proprietor^. 
 
 Land, in an enlarged view of the fubjeCt, is incontrovertibly the 
 fole fource of all riches ; but when we take individuals or particular 
 
 * I do not mean to fay that the Economifts do not fully comprehend tlvetrue diftindlon 
 between the labour employed upon land, and the labour employed in manufactures, and 
 really underftand the value of the furplus produce of the cultivators, as totally diftindV 
 from the net monied revenue which it yields; but it appears to me that they have expofed 
 themfelves to be mifunderftood, in their reafonings refpe6ting the produdlivenefs of land, 
 and the unprodudlivenefs of manufadlures, by dwelling too much on the circumflance of 
 a net rent to individuals. In an enlarged fenfe, it is certainly true, that land is the only 
 fource of net rent. 
 
 nations 
 
CHAP. VIII, Agricultural and Commercial Syjlems. 435 
 
 nations into our view, the flate of the qucftion is altered, as both 
 nations and" individuals may be enriched by a transfer of revenue, 
 without the creation of a new one. 
 
 There are none of the definitions of the wealth of a {late that arc 
 not liable to fome objections. If we take the grofs produce of the 
 land, it is evident that the funds for the maintenance of labour, the 
 population, and the wealth, may increafe very rapidly, while the 
 nation is apparently poor, and has very little difpofeable revenue. If 
 we take Dr. Smith's definition, wealth may increafe as has before 
 been fhewn, without tending to increafe the funds for the main- 
 tenance of labour and the population. If we take the clear furplus 
 produce of the land, according to moil: of the Economifts ; in this 
 cafe, the funds for the maintenance of labour and the population may 
 increafe, without an increafe of wealth, as in the inftancc of the cul- 
 tivation of new lands, which will pay a profit but not a rent ; and, 
 "Sice verfa, wealth may increafe, without increafmg the funds for the 
 maintenance of labour, and the population, as in the inftance of 
 improvements in agricultural inftruments, and in the mode of agri- 
 culture, which may make the land yield the fame produce, with 
 fewer perfons employed upon it ; and confequently the difpofeable 
 wealth, or revenue, would be incrcafcd, without a power of fupport- 
 ing a greater number of people. 
 
 The objections, however, to the two lafi: definitions do not prove 
 that they are incorrect ; but merely that an increafe of wealth, 
 though generally, is not necefiarily and invariably accompanied by 
 an increafe of the funds for the maintenance of labour; and confe- 
 quently, by the power of fupporting a greater number of people, or 
 of enabling the former number to live in greater plenty and hap- 
 pincfs. 
 
 Whichever of thcfc two definitions is adopted, as the bcit criterion 
 of the wealth, power, and profperity of a ftatc, the great pofition ot 
 the Economifts will always remain true, that the furplus produce of 
 the cultivators is the great fund which ultimately pays all thofe who 
 
 3 K :2 arc 
 
436 ' Of tiie Definitions of JVealth. book iii, 
 
 are not employed upon the land. Throughout the whole world, the 
 number of manufac^lurers, of proprietors, and of perfons engaged in 
 the various civil and military profeffions, mull be exactly propor- 
 tioned to this furplus produce, and cannot in the nature of things- 
 increafe beyond it. If the earth had been fo niggardly of her pro- 
 duce as to oblige all her inhabitants to labour for it, no manufacturers 
 or idle perfons could ever have exifted. But her firil intercourfe 
 with man was a voluntary prefent ; not very large indeed, but fuffi- 
 cient as a fund for his fubfiftence, till by the proper excrcife of his 
 faculties he could procure a greater. In proportion as the labour and 
 ingenuity of man, exercifed upon the land, have increafed this furplus^ 
 produce, leiflire has been given to a greater number of perfons to. 
 employ themfelves in all the inventions which embelUfh civilized 
 life. And though, in its turn, the defire to profit by thcfe inventions, 
 has greatly contributed to Simulate the cultivators to increafe their 
 furplus produce ; yet the order of precedence is clearly the furplus 
 produce; becaufe the funds for the fubfiftence of the manufacluref 
 muft be advanced to him, before he can complete his work : and if 
 we were to imagine that we could command this furplus produce^ 
 whenever we willed it, by forcing manufa(5lures, we fliould be quickly 
 admonifhed of our grofs error, by the inadequate fupport which the 
 workman would receive, in fpite of any rife that might take place ine 
 his nominal wages. 
 
 According to the fyftem of the Economifts, manufactures are aa 
 objeCl on which revenue is fpent, and not any part of the revenue 
 itfelf \ But though from this defcription of manufaClures,. and the 
 
 epithet 
 
 " Even upon this fyftem, there is one point of view, in which manufaftures appear 
 greatly to add to the riches of a ilate. The ufe of a revenue, according to the Economics,, 
 is to be fpent ; and a great part of it will of courfe be fpent iji manufactures. But if by the 
 judicious employment of maryufa6luring capital, thefe commodities grovir confiderably 
 cheaper, the furplus produce becomes proportionably of fo much greater value, and the 
 real revenue of the nation is virtually increafed. There is no light, perhaps, in which- 
 
 we 
 
c H A p . V ii r . Agricultural and Commcrdal Svflems. 437 
 
 epithet fterlle fometlmes applied to them, they feem rather to be 
 degraded by the terms of the Economifls, it is a ver^r great error to 
 fuppofe that their fyftem is really -unfavourable to them. On the 
 contrary, T am difpofed to believe, that it is the only fyftem by which 
 commerce and manufactures can prevail to a very great extent, 
 without bringing with them, at the fame time, the feeds of 
 their own ruin. Before the late revolution in Holland, the high 
 price of the neceflaries of life had deftroyed many of its manu- 
 fadlures*. Monopolies are always fubjedl to be broken; and even 
 the advantage of capital and maehineiy, which may yield extraordi?- 
 nary profits for a time, is liable to be greatly leflened by the compe- 
 tition of other nations. In the hiftory of the worlds the nations-, 
 whofe wealth has been derived principally from manufad:ures and 
 commerce, have been perfe(ftly ephemeral beings, compared with 
 thofe, the bafis of whofe wealth has been agriculture. It is in the 
 nature of things, that a fkate which fubfifts upon a revenue furnifhed 
 by other countries, muft be infinitely more expofed to all the acci- 
 dents of time and chance, than one which produces its own. 
 
 No error is more frequent, than that of milliaking effects for 
 caufcs. We are fo blinded by the flicwincfs of commerce and 
 manufa6lures, as to believe that they are almofl the fole caufe of the 
 wealth, power, and profperity of England. But perhaps, they may 
 be morejuflly confidered as the confequences, than the caufe of 
 this wealth. According to the definition of the Economifts, whicli 
 confiders only the produce of land, England is the richeft country 
 in Europe in proportion to her fize. Her fyftem of agriculture is 
 beyond comparifon better, and confequently her furplus produce is 
 more conllderable, France is very greatly fuperior to England ia 
 
 we can view manufnfturcs, where they appear to be fo productive as in this ; and if it 
 tlo not completely j,uftify Dr. Smith in calling manufadluring labour procluctlye in the 
 flrid I'enfe of that term; it fully warrants all the pains he has taken in explaining the 
 iuiture and efFedts of commercial capital, and of the divifion of manufacturing labour. 
 
 ' Snuth's Wealth of Nations, vol. iil. b. v. c.ii. p. 392. 
 
 ^ extent 
 
438 Of the DeJintUons of Wealth. boqk in, 
 
 extent of territory and population ; but when the furplus produce, 
 or difpofeable revenue of the two nations are compared, the fuperiority 
 of France almoft vaniflies. And it i? this great furplus produce in Eng- 
 land, arifing from her agriculture, which enables her to fupport fuch a 
 vail body of manufactures, fuch formidable fleets and armies, fuch a 
 crowd of perfons engaged in the liberal profeffions, and a proportion 
 of the fociety living on money rents, very far beyond what has ever 
 been known in any other country of the world. According to the 
 returns lately made of the population of England and Wales, it 
 appears that the number of perfons employed in agriculture, is con- 
 fiderably lefs than a fifth part of the whole. There is reafon to 
 believe that the claflifications in thefe returns are incorreft ; but 
 making very great allowances for errors of this nature, it can fcarcely 
 admit of a doubt, that the number of perfons employed in agricul- 
 ture is very unufually fmall in proportion to the adlual produce. Of 
 late years indeed, the part of the fociety, not connedled with agri- 
 culture, has unfortunately increafed beyond this produce ; but the 
 average importation of corn, as yet, bears but a fmall proportion to 
 that which is grown in the country, and confequently the power 
 which England pofTcires of fupporting fo vaft a body of idle con- 
 fumers muft be attributed principally to the greatnefs of her furplus 
 produce. 
 
 It will be faid that it was her commerce and manufactures which 
 encouraged her cultivators to obtain this great furplus produce, and 
 therefore indiredlly, if not diredlly, created it. That commerce and 
 manufadiures produce this effedl in a certain degree, is true ; but 
 that they fometimes produce a contrary effect, and generally fo, when 
 carried to exccfs, is equally true. Undoubtedly agriculture cannot 
 flourifli without a vent for its commodities, either at home or abroad; 
 but when this want has been adequately fupplied, the interefts of 
 agriculture demand nothing more. When too great a part of a 
 nation is engaged in commerce and manufadures, it is a clear proof, 
 I that, 
 
CHAP. vin. Agrkultural and Commercial Syjlems, 43^ 
 
 that, either from undue encouragement, or from other particular 
 caufes, a capital is employed in this way to much greater advantage 
 than on land ; and under fuch circumftances, it is impoffible, that 
 the land Ihould not be robbed of much of the capital which would 
 naturally have fallen to its fhare. Dr. Smith juftly obferves, that the 
 navigation ad, and the monopoly of the colony trade, neceflarily 
 forced into a particular and not very advantageous channel, a greater 
 proportion of the capital of Great Britain than would otherwife have 
 gone to it ; and by thus taking capital from other employments, and 
 at the fame time univerfally raifmg the rate of Britifh mercantile 
 profit, difcouraged the improvement of the land ^. If the improve- 
 ment of land, he goes on to fay, affords a greater capital than what 
 can be drawn from an equal capital in any mercantile employment, 
 the land will draw capital from mercantile employments. If the 
 profit be lefs, mercantile employments will draw capital from the 
 improvement of land. The monopoly, therefore, by raifing the rate 
 of Britifh mercantile profit, and thus difcouraging agricultural im- 
 provement, has necefTarily retarded the natural increafe of a great 
 original fource of revenue, the rent of land "'. 
 
 The Eafl and Wcfl Indies, are indeed fo great an object, and afford 
 employment with high profits, to fo great a capital, that it is impoi^ 
 fible that they fhould not draw capital from other employments, and 
 particularly from the cultivation of the foil, the profits upon whieh^ 
 in general, are unfortunately very fmall. 
 
 All corporations, patents, and excluflve privileges of every klnd^ 
 which abound fo much in the mercantile fyflem, have in proportion 
 to their extent the fame efFe(51:. And the experience of the lafl 
 twenty years fecms to warrant us in concluding, that the high price 
 of provifions arlfing from the abundance of commercial wealth, 
 accompanied, as it has been, by very great variations, and by a great 
 rife, in the price of labour, does not operate as an encouragement to 
 
 f Wealth of Nations, vol. ii. b.. iv. c. vii. p-. 435, * Id* p. 43/5; 
 
 agriculture. 
 
44G> Of the Definilions of Wealth . B o o K 1 1 1 . 
 
 agriculture, fufficlent to make it keep pace with the rapid ftrides of 
 commerce. 
 
 It will be faid, perhaps, that land is always improved by the redun- 
 dancy of commercial capital. But this cfFed: is late and flow, and 
 in the nature oi things cannot take place till this capital is really 
 redundant, which it never is, while the intereft of money and the 
 profits of mercantile flock are high. We cannot look forwards to 
 any confiderable effed: of this kind till the intereft of money fmks to 
 3 per cent. When men can get 5^ or 6 per cent, for their money, 
 without any trouble, they will hardly venture a capital upon land, 
 where, including rifks, and the profits upon their own labour and 
 attendance, they may not get much more. Wars and loans, as far 
 as internal circumftances are concerned, impede but little the pro- 
 grefs of thofe branches of commerce where the profits of ftock are 
 high ; but afFccfl very confiderably the increafe of that more efl'ential 
 and permanent fburce of wealth, the improvement of the land. It 
 is in this point, I am inclined to believe, that the national debt of 
 England has been moft injurious to her. By abforbing the redun- 
 dancy of commercial capital, and keeping up the rate of intereft, it 
 has prevented this capital from overflowing upon the foil. And a 
 large mortgage ^ has thus been eftabliflied on the lands of England, 
 
 the 
 
 * One of the principal errors of the French Econoniifts appears to be on the fubje6t of 
 taxntion. Admitting, as I fliall be difpofed to do, that the furplus produce of the land 
 is the fund which pays every thing befides the food of the cuhivators ; yet it feems to be 
 a miftake to fuppofe, that the owners of land are the fole proprietors of this furplus pro- 
 duce. It appears to me, that every man who has realized a capital in money, on which he 
 can live without labour, has virtually a mortgage on the land for a certain portion of the 
 furplus produce. This mortgage may not indeed be fo well fecured, as thofe which 
 ufually bear this title, or as the money rent of the land-owner ; but while the power of 
 obtaining this monied intereft remains, its effect, or command over the furplus produce, 
 is exadlly the fame. The landholders, therefore, are not the fole proprietors of furplus pro- 
 duce ; and their joint proprietors, thofe who live upon the intereft of money, certainly pay 
 a general lax in the fame manner as the landholders, and cannot throw it off from their 
 ihoulders, hke thofe who live upon the profits of ftock,' or the wages of labour. Pradi- 
 
 cally, 
 
c H A p . VI 1 1 . AgrliMltural and Commercial Syjlems, 44 1 
 
 the intereft of which is drawn from the payment of produdivc labour, 
 and dedicated to the fupport of idle confumers. 
 
 cally, indeed, it cannot be doubted that even the profits of ftock and the wages of labour, 
 particularly of profeflionallabour, pay fome taxes on neceffaries, and many on luxuries, 
 for a very confiderable time. The real furplus produce of this country, or all the pro- 
 duce not a6lually confumed by the cultivators, Is a verv different thing, and fhould 
 carefully be dillinguiihed from the fum of the net rents of the landlords. This fum, it 
 is fuppofed, does not much exceed a fifth part of the grofs produce. The remaining four 
 fifths, is certainly not confumed by the labourers and horfes employed in agriculture; 
 but a very confiderable portion of it is paid by the farmer, in taxes, in the inflruraents of 
 agriculture, and in the manufadlures ufed in his own family, and in the families of his 
 labourers. It is in this manner that a kind of mortgage is ultimately eftablifhed on the 
 land, by taxes,"^and the progrefs of commercial wealth ; and in this fenfe, all taxes certainly 
 fall upon the land. Before the exiftence of national debts, and the accumulation of 
 monied capitals, the fimple territorial impofl would be the fairefl: and mofl eligible of all 
 taxes ; but when ihefe mortgages alluded to have been a6lually eftabliflied, and the interefl 
 of them cannot be changed with every new tax, which in many inltances is the cafe, 
 particularly with regard to government annuitants, the mortgagee will really and bona fide 
 pay a part of the taxes on confumption ; and though thefe taxes may flill fall wholly on 
 the land, they will not fall wholly on the landholders. It leems a little hard, therefore, 
 in taxing furplus produce to make the landlords pay for what they do not receive. At 
 the fame time, it muft be confeffed, that, independently of thefe confiderations, which 
 makes a land tax partial, it is the befl of all taxes, as it is the only one which does not 
 tend to raife the price of commodities. Taxes on confumption, by which alone monied 
 revenues can be reached, without an income tax, neceffarily raife all prices to a degree 
 greatly injurious to the country. A land tax, or tax upon net rent, has little or no efFedt 
 in difcouraging the improvement of land, as many have fuppofed. It is only a tithe, or 
 a tax, in proportion to the grofs produce, which does this. No man in his fenfes will be 
 deterred from getting a clear profit of 20I. inflead of 10 1. becaufe he is always to pay a 
 fourth or fifth of his clear gains ; but when he is to pay a tax in proportion to his grofs 
 produce, which, in the cafe of capital laid out in improvements, is fcarcely ever accom- 
 panied with a proportional increafe of his clear gains, it is a very different thing, and muft 
 necefTarily impede, in a great degree, the progrefs of cultivation. I am aflonifhed that fo 
 obvious and eafy a commutation for tithes, as a land tax on improved rents, has not been 
 adopted. Such a tax would be paid by the fame perfons as before, only in a better form ; 
 and the change would not be felt, except in the advantage that would acciue to all the 
 parties concerned, the landlord, the tenant, and the clergyman. Tithes undoubtedly 
 operate as a high bounty on paflure, and a great difcouragement to tillage, which in the 
 prcfent peculiar ciicumflances of the country is a very great difadvantage. 
 
 ;?L It 
 
442 Of the Definlt'mts of TVealth, BooRiii. 
 
 It muft be allowed, therefore, upon the whole, that our commerce 
 has not done much for our agriculture ; but that our agriculture has 
 done a great deal for our commerce ; and that the improved fyftem 
 of cultivation which has taken place, in fpite of confiderable difcou- 
 ragemcnts, creates yearly a furplus produce, which enables the country, 
 with but little afliftance, to fupport fo vail; a body of people engaged 
 in purfuits unconneded with the land. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 443 ) 
 
 CHAP. IX 
 
 Different EffeSis of the Agricultural and Commercial Sy/iems. 
 
 About the middle of the laft century, we were genuinely, and in 
 the ftri<fl fenfe of the Economifts, an agricultural nation. Our com- 
 merce and manufactures were, however, then in a very refped;able 
 and thriving ftate ; and if they had continued to bear the fame rela- 
 tive proportion to our agriculture, they would evidently have gone 
 on increafing confiderably, with the improving cultivation of the 
 country. There is no apparent limit to the quantity of manufactures 
 which might in time be fupported in this way. The increafing 
 wealth of a country in fuch a ftate, feems to be out of the reach of 
 all common accidents. There is no difcoverable germ of decay in 
 the iyftem ; and in theory, there is no rcafbn to fay, that it might 
 not go on increafmg in wealth and profperity for thoufands of years. 
 We have now, however, ftepped out of the agricultural fyftem, 
 into a ftate, in which the commercial fyftem clearly predominates ; 
 and there is but too much reafon to fear, that even our commerce 
 and manufadures will ultimately feel the difadvantage of the change. 
 It has been already obferved, that we are exadly in that fituation, in 
 which a country feels moft fully the efFed of thofe common years of 
 deficient crops, which, in the natural courfe of things, are to be 
 expected. The competition of increafing commercial wealth, ope- 
 rating upon a fupply of corn not increafmg in the fame proportion, 
 muft at all times greatly tend to rajfe the price of labour ; but 
 when fcarce years are taken into the confidcration, its effecft in this 
 
 3 L 2 way, 
 
444 Different Effedis of the eookiii. 
 
 way mufl ultimately be prodigious. We know how extremely dif- 
 ficult it is in England to lower the wages of labour, after they have 
 once been raifed. During the late fcarcities, the price of labour has 
 been continually rifing not to fall again ; the rents of land have 
 been every where advancing not to fall again ; and of courfe, the 
 price of produce muft rife not to fall again ; as, independently of a 
 particular competition from fcarcity, or the vvant of competition 
 from plenty, its price is neceffarily regulated by the wages of labour, 
 and the rent of land. We have no reafon whatever for fuppofing 
 that we Ihall be exempt in future from fuch fcarcities as we have of 
 late experienced. On the contrary, upon our prefent fyftem, they 
 feem to be unavoidable. And if we go on, as we have done lately, 
 the price of labour and of proviiions muft foon increafe in a manner 
 out of all proportion to their price in the reft of Europe ; and it is 
 impoflible that this ftiould not ultimately check all our dealings with 
 foreign powers, and give a fatal blow to our commerce and manu- 
 fa^ures. The eiFedl of capital, fkill, machinery, and eftablifliments, 
 in their full vigour, is great ; fo great, indeed, that it is difficult to 
 guefs at its limit ; but ftill it is not infinite, and without doubt has 
 this limit. The principal ftates of Europe, except this fortunate 
 ifland, have of late fuffered fo much by the actual prefence of war, 
 that their commerce and manufactures have been nearly deftroyed, 
 and we may be faid in a manner to have the monopoly- of the trade 
 of Europe. All monopolies yield high profits, and at prefent, there- 
 fore, the trade can be carried on to advantage, in Ipite of the high 
 price of labour. But when the other nations of Europe ftiall have 
 had time to recover themfelves, and gradually to become our com- 
 petitors, it would be rafli to affirm, that, with the prices of provifions 
 and of labour ftill going on increafing, from what they are at prefent, 
 we Ihall be able to ftand the competition. Dr. Smith fays, that, in 
 his time, merchants frequently complained of the high price of Britifh 
 labour as the caufe of their manufadlures being underfold in foreign 
 
 markets. 
 
C H A p . I r . Agricultural and Commerctal Syjiems. 445 
 
 markets'. If fuch complaints were in any degree founded at that 
 time, how" will they be aggravated twenty years hence! And have we 
 not fomc reafon to fear that our prefent great commercial profperity 
 is temporary, and belongs a little to that worft feature of the com- 
 mercial fyftem, the riling by the depreffion of others. 
 
 When a country, in average years, grows more corn than it con- 
 fumes, and is in the habit of exporting a part of it, its price, and 
 the price of labour as depending on it, can never rife in any very 
 extraordinary degree above the common price in other commercial 
 countries ; and under fuch circumftances, England would have 
 nothing to fear from the fulleft, and mofl open competition. The 
 increasing profperity of other countries, would only open to her a 
 more extenfive market for her commodities, and give additional 
 Spirit to all her commercial tranfad:ions. 
 
 The high price of corn and of rude produce in general, as far as 
 it is occafioned by the freed competition among the nations of 
 Europe, is a very great advantage, and is the beft poffible encourage- 
 ment to agriculture ; but when occafioned merely by the competi- 
 tion of monied wealth at home, its effecft is totally different. In the 
 one cafe, a great encouragement is given to production in general, 
 and the more is produced, the better. In the other cafe, the pro- 
 duce is necefTarily confined to the home confumption. The culti- 
 vators are juflly afraid of growing too much corn, as a confiderable 
 lofs will be fuftained upon that part of it which is fold abroad ; and 
 a glut in the home market will univerfally make the price fall below 
 the fair and proper recompence to the grower. It is impoflible that 
 a country, under fuch circumflances, Ihould not be fubjedt to great 
 and frequent variations in the price of corn, and occafionally to fevere 
 fcarcities. 
 
 If we were to endeavour to lower the price of labour by encou* 
 raging the importation of foreign corn, we fhould probably aggra- 
 
 * Wealth of Nations, vol. ii. b. iv. c. vii. p. 413. 
 
 vate 
 
44^ Different 'Effedis of the book iii, 
 
 vate the evil tenfold. Experience warrants us in faying, that, from 
 political fears, or other caufes, the fall in the price of labour would 
 be uncertain ; but the ruin of our agriculture would be certain. The 
 Britilh grower of corn could not, in his own markets, ftand the com- 
 petition of the foreign grower, in average years. We fhould be daily 
 thrown more and more into a dependence upon other countries for 
 our fupport. Arable lands of a moderate quality would not pay the 
 expence of cultivation. Rich foils alone would yield a rent. Round 
 all our towns, the appearances would be the fame as ufual ; but in 
 the interior of the country, half of the lands would be neglected, and 
 almoft univerfally, where it was pra(5licable, pafture would take place 
 of tillage. How dreadfully precarious would our commerce and 
 manufad;ures, and even our very exiftence be, under fuch circum- 
 flances ! It could hardly be expected that a century fliould elapie 
 without feeing our population repreffcd within the limits of our 
 fcanty cultivation ; and fuffering the fame melancholy reverfe, as the 
 once flourifhing population of Spain. 
 
 Nothing perhaps will ihew more clearly the abfurdity of that arti- 
 ficial fyftem, which prompts a country, with a large territory of its 
 own, to depend upon others for its food, than the fuppofition of the 
 fame fyftem being purfued by many other flates. \i France, Ger- 
 many, and Pruflia, were to become manufad:uring nations, and to 
 confider agriculture as a fecondary concern, how would their w^ants, 
 in the indifpenfable article of food, be fupplied. The increafmg 
 demand for corn, would tend certainly to encourage the growth of it 
 in Ruffia and America ; but we know that in thefe countries, 
 at prefent, particularly in America, the natural progrefs of 
 population is not very greatly checked; and that, as their towns 
 and manufactories increafe, the demand for their own corn will 
 of courfe increafe with them. The Ruffian nobleman, whofe 
 revenue depends upon the number of his boors, will hardly be per- 
 fuadcd to check their increafe, in order to accommodate other 
 nations; and the independent cultivator of America will furely feed 
 
 his 
 
CHAP. IX. Agricultural and Commercial Syjlems, 447 
 
 his own family and fervants, and probably fupply the home market, 
 before he begins to export. But allowing that at firft, and for fome 
 time, the increafmg demands of thefe manufa(5luring countries might 
 be adequately fupplied ; yet this could not in the nature of things 
 laft long. The manufacturers, from the decay of agriculture in their 
 own countries, would annually want more ; and Ruffia and America, 
 from their rapidly increaiing population, and the gradual eftablifli- 
 ment of manufactures at home, would annually be able to fpare lefs. 
 From thefe caufes and the neceffity of drawing a part of fuch vaft 
 iupplies of corn from a much greater diftance inland, and loaded 
 perhaps with the expence of land carriage, the price would ultimately 
 rife {o extravagantly .high, that the poor manufa<5lurers would be 
 totally unable to pay it, and want and famine would convince them 
 too late of the precarious and iubordinate nature of their wealth. 
 They would learn by painful experience, that, though agriculture 
 may flourilh confiderably, and give plenty and happinefs to great 
 numbers, without many manufadures ; yet, that manufadlures can- 
 not llir a fmgle ftep, without their agricultural pay-mafters, either 
 at home or abroad ; and that therefore it is the height of folly and 
 imprudence, to have thefe pay-mafters at a great diftance, with dif- 
 ferent interefts, and their payn^ents precarious, inftead of at home, 
 with the fame interefts, and their payments always ready and certain. 
 Nothing can be fo hateful to a liberal min-d, as the idea of being 
 placed in a Situation in which the growing profperity of your neigh- 
 bours will be the fignal of your own approaching ruin. Yet this 
 would be the fituation of the principal countries of Europe, if they 
 depended chiefly upon Ruffia and America, or any other nations for 
 their corn. A fyftem, which, like the prefent commercial iyftem 
 of England, throws a country into this ftate, without any phyfical 
 neceffity for it, cannot be founded on the genuine principles of the 
 wealth of nations. 
 
 It feems almoft impoffible, that a country pofleiTed of a confiderable 
 
 territory, Ihould have its means of flibfiflence well aflured, without 
 
 J growing 
 
4-1 8 Differ mt Effe5is of the bookiii. 
 
 growing at home more corn than it confumes. Nor can it be exempt 
 from thofe great and fudden variations of price, which produce fuch 
 fevere diftrefs throughout fo large a part of the community, and 
 are often attended with great and lafting difadvantages; unlefs this 
 fuperfluity of produce bear fome confiderable proportion to the 
 common deficiencies of unfavourable years. It has been almofl 
 univerfally acknowledged that there is no branch of trade, more 
 profitable to a country, even in a commercial point of view, than ihe 
 fale of rude produce. In general, its value bears a much greater 
 proportion to the expence incurred in procuring it, than that of any 
 other commodity whatever, and the national profit on its fale is in 
 confequence greater. This is often noticed by Dr. Smith; but in 
 combating the arguments of the Economifts, he feems for a moment 
 to forget it, and to Ipeak of the fuperior advantage of exporting 
 manufactures. 
 
 He obferves, that a trading and manufacturing country exports 
 what can fubfifi: and accommodate but very few, and imports the 
 fubfiftence and accommodation of a great number. The other, 
 exports the fubfiftence and accommodation of a great number, and 
 imports that of a very few only. The inhabitants of the one muft 
 always enjoy a much greater quantity of fubfiftence, than what their 
 own lands in the actual ftate of their cultivation could afford. The 
 inhabitants of the other muft always enjoy a much fmaller quantity *. 
 
 In this pafifage he does not feem to argue with his ufual accuracy. 
 Though the manufacfluring nation may export a commodity which, 
 in its acflual iliape, can only ftibfift and accommodate a very few; 
 yet it muft be recolledlcd, that, in order to prepare this commodity 
 for exportation, a confiderable part of the revenue of the country 
 had been employed in fubfifting and accommodating a great number 
 of workmen. And with regard to the fubfiftence and accommo- 
 dation which the other nation exports, whether it be of a great or a 
 
 * Wealth of Nations, vol. iii. b. iv. c, ix. p. 27. 
 
 3 fmall 
 
^HAP. IX. Agricultural and Commercial Syjlems. 449 
 
 fmall number, it is certainly no more than fufficient to replace the 
 fubfiftence that had been confumed in the manufaAuring nation, 
 together with the profits of the mafter, manufadurer and merchant, 
 which, probably, are not fo great as the profits of the farmer and the 
 merchant in the agricultural nation. And though it may be true, 
 that the inhabitants of the manufadluring nation enjoy a greater 
 quantity of fubfiftence than, what their own lands, in the actual ftate 
 of their cultivation, could afford; yet an inference in favour of the 
 pianufacfluring fyftem by no means follows, becaufe the adoption of 
 the one, or the other lyftem, will make the greateft difference in 
 their ad:ual flate of cultivation. If, during the courfe of a century^ 
 two landed nations were to purfue thefe two different fyftems, that 
 is, if one of them were regularly to export manufadlures, and 
 import fubfiflence; and the other to export fubfiffence, and import 
 manufa<5lures, there would be no comparifbn at the end of the 
 period, between the ftate of cultivation in the two countries ; and 
 no doubt could rationally be entertained that the country which 
 exported its raw produce, would be able to fubfift and accommodate 
 a much greater population than the other. 
 
 In the ordinary courfe of things, the exportation of raw produce 
 is fufficiently profitable to the individuals concerned in it. But with 
 regard to national profit, it poffeffes two peculiar and eminent 
 advantages above any other kind of export. In the firft place, raw 
 produce, and more particularly corn, pays from its own funds the 
 expences of procuring it, and the whole of what is fold is a clear 
 national profit. If I fet up a new manufadure, the perfons 
 employed in it muft be fupported out of the funds of fubfiftencc 
 already exifting in the country, the value of which muft be deducted 
 from the price for which the commodity is fold, before we can 
 cftimate the clear national profit ; and of courfe, this profit can only 
 be the profit of the mafter manufadurer and the exporting merchant. 
 But if I cultivate frelh land, or employ more men in the improve- 
 ment of what was before cultivated, I increafe the general funds of 
 
 3 M fubfiftencc 
 
4^0 Different Effe5ls of the book iii. 
 
 fubfiftence In the country. With a part of this mcreafe I fupport 
 all the additional perfons employed, and the whole of the remainder 
 which is exported and fold, is a clear national gain ; befides the 
 advantage to the country, of fupporting an additional population 
 equal to the additional number of perfons fo employed, without the 
 flightefl tendency to diminilh the plenty of the reft. 
 
 Secondly, it is impoflible always to be fecure of having enough, 
 if we have not, in general, too much; and the habitual exportation 
 of corn, feems to be the only pradicable mode of laying by a ftore of 
 fufficient magnitude to anfwer the emergencies, that are to be 
 cxpe<fted. The evil of fcarcity is fo dreadful, that any branch of 
 commerce, the tendency of which is to prevent it, cannot but be 
 confidered, in a national point of view, as pre-eminently beneficial. 
 
 Thefe two advantages, a4ded to that which muft neceflarily 
 accrue to manutafturcs from the fteady and comparatively low 
 price of provifions and of labour, arc fo ftriking, that it muft be a 
 point of the firft confequence to the permanent profperity of any 
 country, to be able to carry on the export trade of com, as one 
 conilderable branch of its commercial tranfa<5lions. 
 
 But how to give this ability, how to turn a nation from the habit 
 of importing corn, to the habit of exporting it, is the great diffi- 
 culty. It has been generally acknowledged, and is frequently 
 noticed by Dr. Smith, that the policy of modern Europe has led it 
 to encourage the induftry of the towns more than the induftry of 
 the country, or, in other words, trade more than agriculture. In 
 this policy, England has certainly not been behind the reft of Europe; 
 perhaps, indeed, except in one inftance *, h may be faid that Ihc 
 has been the foremoft. If things had been left to take their natural 
 courfe, there is no reafon to think that the commercial part of the 
 fociety would have increafed beyond the furplus produce of the 
 cultivators ; but the high profits of commerce from monopolies, and 
 
 The bounty on the exportation f corn. 
 
 Other 
 
CHAP. IX. Agrtcultural and Commercial Syjlemr. 451 
 
 other peculiar encouragement, have altered this natural courfc of 
 things ; and the body politick is in an artificial, and in fome degree, 
 difeafed ftate, with one of its principal members out of proportion 
 to the reft. Almoft all medicine is in itfelf bad ; and one of the 
 great evils of illnefs is, the neceffity of taking it. No perfon can 
 well be more averfe to medicine in the animal economy, or a fyftem 
 of expedients in political economy, than myfelf; but in the prefent 
 ftate of the country, fomething of the kind may be neceflary to 
 prevent greater evils. It is a matter of very little comparative 
 importance, whether we are fully fupplied with broadcloth, linens, 
 and muflins, or even with tea, fugar, and coffee; and no rational 
 politician therefore, would think of propofing a bounty upon fuch 
 commodities. But it is certainly a matter of the very higheft im- 
 portance, whether we are fully fupplied with food; and if a 
 bounty would produce fuch a fupply, the moft liberal political 
 economift might be juftified in propofmg it ; confidering food as 
 a commodity diftindl from all others, and pre-eminently valuable. 
 
 3 M :2 CHAP. 
 
KL .^--f-^ ( 453 ) 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Of Bounties on the Exportation of Com, 
 
 It is acknowledged by Dr. Smith, that the encouragement given to 
 the induftry of the towns has turned more capital into that channel 
 than would otherwife have gone to it; and if this be true, it follows 
 that the land mufl have had lefs than its natural fhare; and under 
 luch a difcouragement, we cannot reafonably expe<5l that agriculture 
 ihould be able to keep pace with manufactures. The corn laws, as 
 they were eftabliihed in 1688 and 1700, did not do more than place 
 them upon an equality. 
 
 The regulations refpedling importation and exportation adopted 
 in thefe corn laws, feemed to have the effed; of giving that encou- 
 ragement to agriculture, which it fo much wanted, and the apparent 
 Tefiilt was gradually to produce a growth of corn in the country, 
 confiderably above the wants of the adlual population, and confe- 
 quently to lower greatly the prices of it, and give a fteadinefs to 
 thefe prices that had never been experienced before. 
 
 During the feventeenth century, and indeed the whole period 
 of our hiftory previous to it, the prices of wheat were fubjed: to 
 great fluduations, and the average price was very high. For fifty 
 years before the year 1700, the average price of wheat per quarter 
 was 3I. lid. and before 1650 it was 61. 8s. lod*. From the 
 time of the completion of the corn laws in 1700 and 1706, the 
 
 * Dlrom's Inquiry into the Corn Laws, Appendix, No, I. 
 
 prices 
 
CHAP. X. Of Bounties on the Exportation of Corn* 453 
 
 prices became extraordinarily fleady ; and the average price for forty 
 years previous to the year i75^> invk fo low as il. i6s, per quarter. 
 This w^as the period of our greateft exportations. In the year 1757, 
 the law^s were fufpendcd, and in the year 1773, they were totally 
 altered. The exports of corn have fince been regularly decreafing, 
 and the imports increafmg. The average price of wheat for the 
 forty years ending in 1800, was 2,1, 9s. 5d; and for the laft five 
 years of this period, 3I. 6s. 6^, During this laft term, the balance 
 of the imports of all forts of grain is eftimated at ^^938,357 ", and 
 the dreadful fiu6luations of price which have occurred of late years, 
 we are but too well acquainted with. 
 
 It is at all times dangerous to be hafty in drawing general inferences 
 from partial experience ; but, in the prefent inftance, the period that 
 has been confidered is of fo confiderable an extent, and the changes 
 from fluduating and high prices, to fteady and low prices, with a 
 return to fluctuating and high prices again, correfpond fo accurately 
 with the eftabliihment and full vigour of the corn laws, and with 
 their fubfequent alterations and inefficacy, that it was certainly 
 rather a bold aflertion in Dr. Smith to fay, that the fall in the price 
 of corn muft have happened in fpite of the bounty, and could not 
 poiTibly have happened in confequence of it ''. We have a right to 
 exped: that he Ihould defend a pofition, ib contrary to all apparent 
 experience, by the moft powerful arguments. As in the pre- 
 fent ftate of this country, the fubjed; feems to be of the higheft 
 importance, it will be worth while to examine the validity of thefe 
 arguments. 
 
 He obferves, that both in years of plenty and in years of fcarcity,, 
 the bounty neceiTarily tends to raife the money price of corn fome*^ 
 what higher than It otherwife would be in the home market ", 
 
 * Andcrfon's Inveftrigatlon of the Circumftances which led to Scarcity, table, p. ^Oi 
 } Wealth of Nations^ vol. ii.. b.iv, c, v, p. 264. f Id. p. 265. 
 
 That 
 
454 Of Bounties on the Exportation of Corn, BOOKTtr*. 
 
 That It docs fo, in years of plenty is undoubtedly true ; but that 
 it does fo in years of fcarcity, appears to me as undoubtedly faiie. 
 The only argument by which Dr. Smith fupports this latter pofition, 
 is, by faying, that the exportation prevents the plenty of one 
 year from relieving the fcarcity of another. But this is certainly a 
 very infufficient reafbn. The fcarce year may not immediately 
 follow^ the moft plentiful year ; and it is totally contrary to the habits 
 and practice of farmers, to fave the fuperfluity of fix or feven years 
 for a contingency of this kind. Great practical inconveniences 
 generally attend the keeping of fo large a referved ftore. Difficulties 
 often occur from a w^ant of proper accommodations for it. It is at 
 all times liable to damage from vermin, and other caufes. When 
 very large, it is apt to be viewed with a jealous and grudging eye 
 ' by the common people. And in general the farmer may either 
 not be able to remain {o long without his returns; or may not be 
 willing to employ fo confiderable a capital in a way, in which the 
 returns muft neceflarily be difliant and precarious. On the whole, 
 therefore, we cannot reafonably expert, that, upon this plan, the 
 referved ftore Ihould in any degree be equal to that, which in a 
 icarce jear would be kept at home, in a country which was in the 
 habit of conftant exportation to a confiderable amount; and wc 
 know that even a very little difference in the degree of deficiency, 
 will often make a very great difference in the price. 
 
 Dr. Smith then proceeds to flate, very jufHy, that the defenders of 
 the corn laws do not infifl fo much upon the price of corn in the 
 adlual flate of tillage, as upon their tendejicy to improve this a(5lual 
 {late, by opening a more extenfivc foreign market to the corn of 
 the farmer, and fecuring to him a better price than be could other- 
 wife cxped; for his commodity : which double encouragement they 
 imagine muft, in a long period of years, occafion fuch an increafe 
 in the produdion of corneas may lower its price in the home market 
 
 much 
 
CHAP. X. Of Bounties on the Exportation of Corn, 45^ 
 
 much more than the bounty can raife it, in the flate of tillage then 
 ad:ually exifting*. 
 
 In anfwer to this, he obferves, that whatever cxtenfion of the 
 foreign market can be occafioned by the (bounty, mufl, in every 
 particular year, be altogether at the expence of the home market, as 
 every bufhel of corn, vs^hich is exported by means of the bounty, 
 and w^hich would not have been exported without the bounty,, would 
 have remained in the home market to increafe the confumption, and 
 to lower the price of that commodity. 
 
 In this obfervation he appears to- me a little to mifufe the term 
 market, Becaufe, by felling a commodity below its natural price, 
 it is poiTible to get rid of a greater quantity of it, in any particular 
 market, than would have gone off othcrwife, it cannot juftly be faid 
 that, by this procefs, fuch a market is proportionally extended* 
 Though the removal of the two taxes mentioned by Dr. Smith, as 
 paid on account of the bounty, would certainly rather increafe the 
 power of the lower clafles to purchafe ; yet in each particular year 
 the confumption muft be ultimately limited by the population; and 
 the increafe of confumption from the removal of thefe taxes, might 
 by no means be fufficient to take ofF the whole fuperfluity of the 
 farmers, without lowering the general price of Gorn,^ as to deprive 
 them of their fair recompence. 
 
 Suppofe, that the cultivators in England had a million quarters of 
 wheat, beyond what would fupply the country, at a price, for which 
 they muft fell their whole crop, or lofe their fair profits. And 
 iuppofe, at the fame time, that, frora^ th-e high price of land, the 
 great taxes on confumption, and the confequent high price of labour, 
 the Britifli farmer cannot grow corn at the average price in Europe^ 
 which is always true when a bounty upon exportation is rendered 
 ncceflary. Under thefe circumftances if the cultivators endeavoured 
 to force the additional million of quarters on the home market, it is 
 
 !! Wealth of Nations, vol, iK biiv. c. v. ^-2i$<^ 
 
 pcrfcdly 
 
AB^ Of Bounties on the Exportation of Corn. book iii. 
 
 perfeftly clear, that not only the price of this additional million, 
 but the price of their whole crop, would fall very confiderably ; and, 
 without a bounty, it could not anfwer to the farmer to export, till 
 the prices in the home market had fallen below the average price in 
 Europe, which we fuppofed to be lower, than what would properly 
 pay to the Britifli farmer the expences of cultivation. The pur- 
 chafers in the home market would undoubtedly live for this year in 
 great plenty. They might eat as much bread as they pleafed them- 
 felves, and perhaps even feed their hogs and their horfes on wheat 
 corn; but the farmers in the mean time would be ruined, and 
 would dread, as the greatefl: of all evils, the growing of too much 
 corn. Finding, therefore, that tillage would not anfwer to them> 
 they would of courfe negle6l the plough, and gradually lay more of 
 their land into pafture, till the return of fcarcity, or at leaft the 
 total removal of the fuperfluity, had again raifed the prices to fuch 
 a height as would make it anfwer to them to grow corn, provided 
 that they never overftocked the home market. An individual farmer 
 cannot know the quantity of corn that is fown by his brother farmers 
 in other counties. The ftate of the future fupply, in proportion to 
 the future demand, remains in a great mcafure concealed till the 
 harveft ; and the cheapnefs or dearnefs of the current year can alone 
 regulate the condud: of the farmer in the management of his land 
 for the following year. Under fuch circumftances, great variations 
 in the, fupply of corn, and confcquently in its price, muft necciTarily 
 Dccur. 
 
 There cannot be a greater difcouragement to the production of 
 any commodity in a large quantity, than the fear of overftocking the 
 jnarket with it". Nor can there be a greater encouragement to fuch 
 
 I am fufficiently aware that, in common years, the farmer is apt to proceed in a 
 tegular routine of crops, without much attention to prices ; but we cannot doubt for a 
 moment, that this routine will yield to extreme cafes. No man in his fenfes will long 
 ^o on with any fpecies of cuUivattoa by which he lofes. ' 
 
 7. * P'' 
 
CHAP. X. Of Bounties on the "Exportation of Corn. 4^7 
 
 a produdion, than the certainty of finding an effedual market (oi 
 any quantity, however great, that can be obtained. It is obvious, 
 that in the cafe vs^hlch we have fuppofed, nothing but a bounty upon 
 corn can extend the effectual market for it to the Britifli farmer. 
 
 Dr. Smith goes on to fay, that if the two taxes paid by the people 
 on account of the bounty, namely, the one to the government to 
 pay this bounty, and the other paid in the advanced price of the com- 
 modity, in the^adual ftate of the crop, do not raife the price of 
 labour, and thus return upon the farmer ; they muft reduce the 
 ability of the labouring poor to bring up their children, and, by 
 thus reftraining the population and induftry of the country, muft 
 tend to ftunt and reftrain the gradual extenfion of the home market, 
 and thereby, in the long run, rather to diminilh than to augment the 
 w^hole market and confumption of corn *. 
 
 I think it has been Ihewn, and indeed it will fcarcely admit of a 
 doubt, that the fyftem of exportation arifing from the bounty, has 
 an evident tendency in years of fcarcity to increafc the fupplies of 
 corn, or to prevent their being fo much dlmlnlfhed as they other- 
 wife would be, which comes to the fame thing. Confequently, the 
 labouring poor will be able to live better, and the population will be 
 lefs checked in thefe particular years, than they would have been 
 without the fyftem of exportation ariiing from the bounty. But if 
 the effed: of the bounty, in this view of the fubje<fl, be only to 
 reprefs a little the population in years of plenty, while it encourages 
 it comparatively in years of fcarcity, its effed: is evidently to regulate 
 the population more equally according to that quantity of fubfiftence, 
 which can permanently, and without occafional defalcations, be 
 fupplled. And this efFed:, I have no hefitation in faying, is one of 
 the greateft advantages which can poflibly occur to a fociety, and 
 contributes more to the happinefs of the labouring poor, than can 
 cafily be conceived by thofe who have not deeply confidered the 
 
 * Wealth of Nations, vol. ii. b. iv. c. v. p. aS/. 
 
 3 N fubjed. 
 
45^ Of Bounties on the Exportation of Corn^ . book iir, 
 
 fiibjeft. In the whole compafs of human events, I doubt if there be 
 a more fruitful fource of mifery, or one more invariably productive 
 of difaftrous confequences, than a fudden ftart of population from 
 two or three years of plenty, which muft neceflarily be repreffed on 
 the firft return of fcarcity, or even of average crops. With the 
 prefent high price of labour, and the exifting habits of the poor, in 
 this country, I fhould confider it as a great misfortune, if from 
 the late alarms refpe<5ling fcarcity, and the unuflial quantity of 
 corn fown in confequence of them, the price of wheat, for the next 
 two years, were to fall to ten or twelve pounds the load. It is not 
 to be doubted, that in this cafe a more than ufual number of 
 marriages would take place among the common people. The mouths 
 would be rapidly increafmg ; but as this price of corn, with the 
 prefent advanced rents of land, accumulated taxes on confumption, 
 and high price of labour, would certainly not repay the farmer, the 
 fupplies would be rapidly decreafing, and the confequences are but 
 too obvious. 
 
 The moft plaufible argument that Dr. Smith adduces againft the 
 corn laws, is, that, as the money price of corn regulates that of all 
 other home-made commodities, the advantage to the proprietor from 
 the increafcd money price is merely apparent, and not real ; fmce 
 what he gains in his fales, he muft lofe in his purchafes *. 
 
 This pofition, " however, is not true, without many limitations ^ 
 The money price of corn, in a particular country, is undoubtedly by 
 far the moft powerful ingredient in regulating the price of labour, 
 and of all other commodities; but it is not the fole ingredient. 
 Many parts of the raw produce of land, though affeded by the 
 price of corn, do not, by any means, rife and fall exacflly in pro- 
 
 * Wealth of Nations, vol. ii. b. iv. c. v. p. 269. 
 
 ^ In the Phyfiocratie, by Dupont de Nemours, it is propofed as a problem in poli- 
 tical economy, to determine, whether an advance in the money price of corn is a real 
 or only nominal advantage : and the queftion is refolved, I think juilly, on the fide of 
 tlie reality of the advantage. Tom. ii. 
 
 portion 
 
CHAP. X. Of Bounties on the Exportation of Corn, 45;^ 
 
 portion to this price. When great improvements in manufaduring 
 machinery have taken place in any country, the part of the expence 
 arifmg from the wages of labour will bear a comparatively fmall 
 proportion to the whole value of the wrought commodity, and 
 confequently, the price of it, though affedled by the price of corn, 
 will not be affeAed proportionally. When great and numerous 
 taxes on confumption exift in any country, thofe who live by the 
 wages of labour muft always receive wherewithal to pay them, at 
 leail all thofe upon neceflTaries, fuch as foap, candles, leather, fait, 
 &c. A fall in the price of corn, therefore, though it would dccreafe 
 that part of the wages of labour which refolves itfelf into food, 
 evidently, would not decreafe the whole in the fame proportion. 
 And befides thefe, and other limitations that might be named, the 
 experienced difficulty of lowering wages when once they have been 
 raifed, fhould be taken into confideration before the pofition can be 
 practically applied. 
 
 During the firft half of the eighteenth century, the price of corn 
 gradually fell, and that, in a very confiderable degree; but it does 
 not appear that the price of labour fell in confequence of it. If this 
 ^ffed: therefore did not take place in the courfe of fifty years, we 
 could hardly expe6l that it would in feven or eight. And if with 
 the view of lowering the price of labour, the farmers were to pulh 
 their fupcrfluity on the home market, the difappointment of this 
 view would clearly difable them from growing the fame quantity of 
 corn in future : and under fuch circumftances, it is obvious, that a 
 bounty alone could encourage them to continue the fame growth of 
 corn, and that this bounty is a great pofitive advantage to them, 
 and far from b^ing merely apparent, as Dr. Smith endeavours to 
 prove. 
 
 Even fuppofmg, that either by glutting the home market with 
 Britifh corn, or by the importation of foreign corn, duty free, we 
 could fucceed in lowering the wages of labour, the expences of the 
 Britifh farmer in raifmg corn and bringing it to market, would not 
 
 3 N ^ be 
 
460 Of Bounties on the Exportation of Corn, book uu 
 
 be lowered in proportion. One of the principal ingredients in the 
 price of Britifh corn, is the high rent of land ; another, the numerous 
 taxes on confumption which the farmer pays in his inftruments of 
 agriculture, his horfes, his windows, and the neceflary expcnces of 
 his eftablilhment. While thefe ingredients of price remained the 
 fame, a fall in the wages of labour could not proportionally affedl 
 the price at which Britifh corn could be brought to market \- and 
 the Britifh farmer would labour under a very confiderable difadvan- 
 tage in a competition with the farmers of America and the fhores of 
 the Baltic, where thefe two ingredients of price are comparatively 
 trifling. 
 
 When Dr. Smith fays, that the nature of things has ftamped 
 upon corn a real value, which cannot be altered by merely altering 
 the money price ; and that no bounty upon exportation, no mono- 
 poly of the home market, can raife that value; nor the freeft com- 
 petition lower it**; it is evident, that he changes the queftion from 
 the profits of the growers of corn in any particular country, to the 
 phyfical and abfolute value of corn in itfelf. Nothing can be more 
 obvious than that the competition of farmers who pay few or no 
 taxes, and little comparative rent for their land, muft lower the 
 profits of thofe who labour under thefe difadvantages, and other 
 things being equal, muft ultimately juftle them out of the market. 
 And it is alfo obvious, that the bounty to thofe who labour under 
 thefe difadvantagcs, muft tend to raife their profits and give them a 
 fairer chance of ftanding the competition with the others. But all 
 this while, undoubtedly, the phyfical value of corn remains juft the 
 fame, untouched either by competition, or bounty. I certainly do 
 not mean to fay, that the bounty alters the phyfical value of corn, 
 
 The immenfe tax paid in this country for the fupport of the poor, forms undoubtedly, 
 another powerful ingredient in the price of Britifli corn; but I have not mentioned it in 
 the text, becaufe itwoald alwnys diminifli immediately with the price of corn, which 
 the other two ingredients would not. 
 
 * Wealth of Nations, vol. ii. b. iv. c. v. p. 278. 
 
 and 
 
CHAP. X. Of Bounties on the Exportation of Corn, 4^1 
 
 and makes a bufhel of it fupport a greater number of labourers 
 for a day, than it did before : but I certainly do mean to fay, that 
 the bounty to the Britilh cultivator does, in the adual ilate of things, 
 really increafe his profits on this commodity; and by thusmakins; the 
 growth of corn anfwer to him, encourages him to fow more than 
 he otherwife would do, and enables him in confequencc to employ 
 more bufliels of corn in the maintenance of a greater number of 
 labourers. For, even fuppofmg that the part of the price of labour 
 which depends directly upon corn, were to rife and fall exad:ly with 
 the variations in the price of this commodity, it is demonftrably 
 evident, that the other two principal ingredients in the price 
 remaining the fame, every rife in the money price of corn would 
 be a poiitive gain to the growler or proprietor, and CYcry fait 
 a pofitive lofs. And wxre we to go ftill further, and fuppofe 
 that the rent of land would vary in the fame way, which might be 
 the cale in the long run ; yet ftill the money taxes on confumption 
 remaining unaltered, the effect of a rife or fall in the money price 
 of com, would be to benefit or injure the grower or proprietor 
 though in a lefs degree than before. But in applying a theory to 
 prad:ice, all circumftances fliould certainly be taken into conii der- 
 ation ; and in judging of the practical efFed:s of the corn laws, or 
 the oppofite fyftem, of importation duty free, not only,, as was before 
 obferved, the difficulty of lowering the price of labour lliould be 
 attended to, but alfo the length of time which it would require ta 
 lower the rents of land, and the probable ruin of agriculture before 
 thefe two objects could be effe^ed. 
 
 If Dr. Smith's theory be juft, and if it be impoflible in the 
 nature of things to encourage the growth of corn by bounties, or 
 any other human inftitutions, then it follows clearly, that every 
 rich country muft ceafe to grow corn, as foon as the price of labour, 
 the rents of land, and the taxes on confumption, rife fo high as to. 
 exceed the advantages of fuperior jOkill and a home market. As we 
 cannot force people to raife a commodity which will not pay them,. 
 this point evidently forms an. impafiable limit to the agriculture of 
 
 all 
 
4^2 Of Boimths 071 the 'Exportation of Corn. book in, 
 
 all modern countries which have a free intercourfe with others; and, 
 from this period, they muft daily grow more and more dependent 
 upon their lefs rich neighbours for their fubfiftence. 
 
 But if the reafons that have been adduced againft this theory be 
 judged vaUd, then it will appear, that though agriculture be not 
 altogether fo manageable as manufadlures, yet that it is ftill capable 
 of being encouraged and protected by human inftitutions. And that 
 confequently a fyftem of laws refpe<5ting bounties upon exportation, 
 and duties upon importation, framed according to the circum- 
 ll-ances of a particular country, with reference to the expence of 
 iDringing corn to market at home, and the average price of foreign 
 corn, may make the produ(5lion of this commodity anfwer to the 
 farmers of fiich a country, however high may be, the taxes on con- 
 fumption, the rent of land, and the price of labour. 
 
 And if it be admitted, that the cultivation of corn is fufceptible of 
 teing encouraged by a bounty like other commodities, it will fcarcely 
 fail to follow, that the greater plenty, occafioned by this encourage- 
 ment, will in the long run lower the price. 
 
 After all the circumftances which have been before mentioned as 
 affc6ling price, have had their due weight, another caufe muft enter 
 into our confideration capable of producing the greateft variations, 
 and in its immediate effecls more powerful than all the reft com- 
 l)ined. This is, the proportion of the fupply to the demand. A 
 degree of plenty, indeed, which forces farmers to fell their corn 
 IdcIow prime coft, evidently cannot laft long ; but the eftefts of 
 fcarcity are often permanent. The pradlical difficulty of lowering 
 wages has before been noticed, but the fame difficulty by no means 
 exifts with regard to raifing them. Two or three years of high price 
 from accidental caufes are generally fufficient to do this ; and when 
 they are followed, as they generally are, by a rife in the rents of land, 
 the extreme difficulty of a return to the former ftate of cheapnefs is 
 obvious. Though it be allowed, therefore, that the growing of 
 more corn, in average years, than is wanted for home confumption, 
 
 in 
 
CHAP. X.. Of Bounties on the "Export at ton of Conu 463 
 
 in confequence of a bounty upon exportation, cannot permanently 
 fink the price below what will fairly pay the Britiili farmer ; yet if 
 it prevent that continual, and often permanent rife, occafioned by. 
 every flight deficiency of fupply or increafe of demand % its effecfl 
 will clearly be, to keep the average price of corn lower than it other- 
 wife would be. When a habit of confiderable exportation prevails- 
 in confequence of a bounty, a flight increafe of demand, or deficiency 
 of fupply, will produce fcarcely any perceptible effed: in the price of 
 corn in the home market. This price can never exceed the average 
 price in the ports of the commercial world, with the addition of the 
 bounty, whatever that may be ; and this addition will be abfolutely 
 nothing, compared with the increafe of price which arifes from the 
 flightell deficiency of fupply; a deficiency which the fyflem of 
 importation in a large, rich, and populous country, fuch as Great 
 Britain, will always render probable, not only in the home market,. 
 but in all the ports of the commercial world, as we have lately 
 experienced to our cofl. 
 
 And if the ultimate tendency of the bounty be clearly to lower the 
 average price of corn in the home market, all Dr. Smith's jufl rea- 
 fonings refpedting the difad vantage of the cheapnefs of filver in any^ 
 particular country, or the dearnefs of all other commodities, return 
 upon himfelf, and are applicable in. favour of the corn laws, not 
 againft them. 
 
 We are now indeed feeling the difa<ivantage of the cheapnefs of 
 filver in this country, and in a few years, when our commercial com- 
 petitors have recovered from their late depreflion, fhall probably feel 
 it much more than we do at prefent ; but it certainly is not owing ta 
 a fyflem of exporting corn in confequence of the corn laws; but,, 
 apparently, to our having altered thefe corn laws in fuch a manner 
 as to make them fail in producing the effed: of exportation. 
 
 * An occafional increafe of demand for the fupply of government ftores, produces, in 
 the prefent ftate of things, a great efFe<St upon the price of corn, but under a fyllem of 
 exportation, it would not be felt. 
 
 That 
 
4^4 Of Bounties onthe Exportation of Corn. book in. 
 
 That we can readily, and with perfe<fl facihty, turn ourfelves from 
 an importing, to an exporting nation, in the article of corn, I would 
 by no means pretend to fay ; but both theory, and the experience of 
 the firft half of the laft century, warrant us in concluding it pra<5li- 
 cable ; and we cannot but allow that it is worth the experiment, as 
 the continuance of our national greatnefs, and commercial profperity, 
 feera abfolutely to depend upon it. If we proceed in our prefent 
 courfe, let us but for a moment refle<5l on the probable confequences. 
 There cannot be a doubt, that, in the courfe of a few years, we fhall 
 draw from America, and the nations bordering on the Baltic, as 
 much as two millions quarters of wheat, befides other corn, the fup- 
 port of above two millions of people. If, under thefe circumftances, 
 any commercial difcuflion, or other difpute, were to arife with thefc 
 nations, with what a weight of power they would negotiate ! Not 
 the whole Britifli navy could offer a more convincing argument than 
 the fmiple threat of Ihutting all their ports. I am not unaware, 
 that, in general, you may fecurely depend upon people's not adling 
 diredly contrary to their intereft. But this confi deration, all power- 
 ful as it Is, will fometimes yield voluntarily to national indignation, 
 and is fometimes forced to yield to the refcntment of a fovereign. 
 It is of fufficient weight in pracftice, when applied to manufadlures ; 
 bccaufc a delay in their fale is not of fuch immediate confequence, 
 and from their fmaller bulk, they are eafily fmuggled. But in the 
 cafe of corn, a delay of three or four months may produce the moft 
 complicated mifcry ; and from the great bulk of corn, it will gene- 
 rally be in the power of a fovereign to execute almoft completely 
 his refentful purpofe. Small commercial ftates which depend nearly 
 for the whole of their fupplies on foreign powers, will always have 
 many friends. They are not of fufficient confequence to excite any 
 general indignation againft them, and if they cannot be fupplied 
 from one quarter, they will from another. But this is by no means 
 the cafe with fuch a country as Great Britain, whofe commercial 
 ambition is peculiarly calculated to excite a general jealoufy, and in 
 
 3 faa 
 
HAP. X. Of Bounties on the 'Exportation of Corn, 46 c;" 
 
 fad has excited it, to a very great degree. If our commerce continue 
 increafing for a few years, and our commercial population with it, 
 we fhall be laid fo bare to the fhafts of fortune, that nothing but a 
 miracle can fave us from being ftruck. The periodical return of 
 liich feafons of dearth, as thofe which we have of late experienced, I 
 confider as abfolutely certain, upon our prefent importing fyftem : 
 but, excluding from the queftion, at prefent, the dreadful diftrefs 
 that they occaiion, which however no man of humanity can long 
 banifh from his mind, I would afk, is it politick, merely with a view 
 to our national greatnefs, to render ourfelves thus dependent upon 
 others for our iupport, and put it in the power of a combination 
 againft us, to diminifh our population two millions ? 
 
 To reftore our independence, and build our national greatnefs and 
 commercial profperity on the fure foundation of agriculture ; it is 
 evidently not fufficient, to propofe premiums for tillage, to cultivate 
 this or that wafte, or even to pafs a general inclofure bill, though 
 thefe may be all good as far as they go. If the increafe of the com- 
 mercial population keep pace w^ith thefe efforts, we fhall only be 
 where we were before, with regard to the neceffity of importation. 
 The object required, is to alter the relative proportion between the 
 commercial and the agricultural population of the country, whidi 
 can only be done by fome fyftem, which will permanently raife the 
 profits of agriculture, encourage cultivators to employ more labour 
 in the growing of corn, and completely fccure them from all appre- 
 henfions of overftocking the market. I fee no other way, at prefent, 
 of effecting this objed:, but by a fyftem of corn laws adapted to the 
 peculiar circumftances of the country, and the ftate of foreign mar- 
 kets. All fyftems of peculiar reftraints and encouragements are 
 undoubtedly difagreeable, and the neceflity of reforting to them may 
 juftly be lamented. But the objeftion which Dr. Smith brings 
 againft bounties in general, that, of forcing fome part of the induftry 
 of the country into a channel lefs advantageous than that in which 
 it would run of its own accord % does not apply in the prefent 
 
 * Wealth of Nations, vol. ii. b. iv. c. v. p. 278. 
 
 3 O inftance, 
 
466 Of Bounties on the Exportation of Com. book hi. 
 
 inftance, on account of the pre-eminent qualities of the produds of 
 agriculture, and the dreadful confequences that attend the flighteft 
 failure of them. The nature of things has, indeed, ftampcd upon 
 corn a peculiar value ^ ; and this remark, made by Dr. Smith for 
 another purpofe, may fairly be applied to juftify the exception of this 
 commodity from the objections againft bounties in general. If, 
 throughout the commercial world, every kind of trade were per- 
 fectly free, one fhould undoubtedly feel the greateft reluclance in 
 propofmg any interruption to fuch a fyftem of general liberty ; and 
 indeed, under fuch circumftances, agriculture would not need pecu- 
 liar encouragements. But under the prefent univerfal prevalence of 
 the commercial fyftem, with all its different expedients of encou- 
 ragement and reftraint, it is folly to except from our attention the 
 great manufaAure of corn which fupports all the reft. The high 
 duties paid on the importation of foreign manufa^ures, are fo dired: 
 an encouragement to the manufacturing part of the fociety, that 
 nothing but fome encouragement of the fame kind, operating with the 
 fame force, can place the manufacturer? and cultivators of this 
 country on a fair footing. Any fyftem of encouragement, therefore, 
 which might be found neceffary for the commerce of grain, would 
 evidently be owing to the prior encouragements which had been 
 given to manufa(5tures. We confider the woollen manufadlure of 
 England as of the firft importance, and proteCl and encourage it with 
 peculiar care ; but can any thinking man compare its influence on 
 the ftrength and profperity of the ftate, with the manufacture of 
 corn, the fcarcity or failure of which, will involve in it the failure 
 of the favourite manufacture itfelf. If all be free, I have nothing ta 
 fay ; but if we proteCt and encourage, it fcems to be folly not to 
 encourage that production, which of all others is the moft important 
 
 and valuable^. 
 
 Let 
 
 Wealth of Nations, vol. ii. b. iv. c. v. p. 278. 
 *" Though I have dwelt much on the importance of raifing a quantity of corn in the- 
 country beyond the demands of the home confumption, yet I do not mean to recommend 
 
 that 
 
CHAP. X. Of Bounties on the 'Exportation of Corn. 467 
 
 Let it not, however, be imagined, that the moft enlightened fvftcnx 
 of agriculture, though it will undoubtedly be able to produce food 
 
 beyond 
 
 that general fyftem of ploughing, which takes place in mofl parts of France, and defeats 
 its own purpofe. A large flock of cattle is not only neceflary as a very valuable part of 
 the food of the country, and as contributing very greatly to the comforts of a confiderablc 
 portion of its population ; but it is alfo neceflary in the prcducStion of corn itfelf. A 
 large furplus produce, in proportion to the number of perfons employed, can never be 
 obtained without a great ftock of cattle. At the fame time, it does not follow, that we 
 ihould throw all the land that is fit for it into pafture. It is an obfervation of Arthur 
 Young, and I (liould think a juft one, that the firft and moft obvious improvement in 
 ag'iculture, is to make the fallows of a country fupport the additional cattle and fliecp 
 wanted in it. (Travels in France, vol. i. p. 361.) I am by no means fanguine, however, 
 as to the pradlicability of converting England again into an exporting country, while the 
 demands for the produ61s of pafture are daily increaftng, from the increafing riches 
 of the commercial part of the nation. But ftiould this be really confidered as impra6li- 
 cable, it feems to point out to us, one of the great caufes of the decay of nations. We 
 have always heard, that ftates and empires have their periods of declcnfion ; and we learn 
 from hiftory, that the different nations of the earth have flouriflied in a kind of fucceffion ; 
 and that poor countries liave been continually riftng on the ruins of their richer neigh- 
 bours. Upon the commercial fyftem, this kind of fucceflion fcems to be in the natutal 
 and neceflary courfe of things, independently of the effeiSls of war. If from the increafing 
 riches of the commeicial part of any nation and the confequently increafing demands 
 for tlie products of pafture, more lands were daily laid down to grafs, and more corn 
 impoited from other countries, the unavoidable confequence fcems to be, that the increaf- 
 ing profperity of thefe countries, which their exportations of corn would contribute to 
 accelerate, muft ultimately deftroy the population and power of the countries which had 
 foftered them. The ancients always attributed this natural weaknefs and old age of ftates 
 to luxury. But the moderns, who have generally confidered luxury as a principal encou- 
 ragement to commerce and manufa6lures, and confequently a powerful inftrument of 
 profperity, have, with great appearance of reafon, been unwilling toconfider it as a caufe 
 of decline. But allowing with the moderns, all the advantages of luxury, and when it 
 falls ftiort of alual vice, they are certainly great ; there feems to be a point, beyond which 
 it muft neceflarily become prejudicial to a ftate, and bring with it the feeds of weaknels 
 and decay. This point is, when it is puftied fo far, as to trench on the funds neceflary 
 for its fupport, and to become an impediment infteadof an encouragement to agriculture. 
 I fliould be much mifunderftood, if, from any thing that I have faid in the four laft chap- 
 ters, I ft:iould be confidered as not fufficiently aware of the advantages derived from commerce 
 and manufa<f^ures. 1 look upon them as the moft diftinguiflaing charafleriftics of civili- 
 
 3 O 2 zation. 
 
468 Of Bounties on the Exportation of Grain. book irr. 
 
 beyond the demands of the aftual population, can ever be made to- 
 keep pace with an unchecked population. The errors that have- 
 
 arifen 
 
 zation, the moll obvious and (Iriking marks of the improvement of fociety, and calculated 
 to enlarge our enjoyments, and add to the fum of human happinefs. No great furplus 
 produce of agriculture could exifl without them, and if it did exift, it would be compa- 
 ratively of very little value. But flill they are rather the ornaments and embellifliments 
 of the political flru6lure than its foundations. While thefe foundations are perfe6tly 
 fecure, we cannot be too folicitous to make all the apartments convenient and elegant i 
 but if there be the flightcll reafon to fear that the foundations them felves may give way^ 
 it feems to be folly to continue dire(5ling our principal attention to the lefs eflential parts. 
 The moft determined friend of commerce and manufa<Stures muft allow, that the perfons 
 employed in them cannot exift without the food to fupport them ; and I cannot perfuade 
 myfelf to believe that they can be fufficiently fecure of this food, if they depend for it 
 principally on other countries. There has never yet been an inftance in hiftory, of a 
 large nation continuing, with undiminifhed vigour, to fupport four or five millions of its 
 people on imported corn ; nor do 1 believe that there ever will be fuch an inftance in 
 future. England is, undoubtedly, from her infular fituation, and commanding navy, the 
 moft likely to form an exception to this rule ; but confidering the fubjeft as a general 
 queftion in political economy, thefe advantages muft evidently be looked upon as peculiar and 
 incidental ; and what might be applicable to England, would not be fo to other countries. 
 In fpite, however, of the peculiar advantages of England, it appears to me clear that if flie 
 continue yearly to increafe her importations of corn, fhe cannot ultimately efcape that 
 decline which fcenis to be the natural and neceffary confequence of exceffive commercial 
 wealth ; and the growing profperity of thofe countries which fupply her with corn, muft, 
 jn the end, diminifti her population, her riches, and her power. I am not now fpeaking 
 of the next twenty or thirty years, but of the next two or three hundred. And though we 
 are little in the habit of looking fo far forvvards, yet it may bequeftioned, whether we have 
 a right knowingly to adopt afyftem which muft neceffarily terminate in the vveakncfs and 
 decline of our pofterity. But whether we make any pradlical apphcation of fuch a difcuflion 
 or not, it is curious to contemplate the caufesof thofe reverfes in the fates of empires, which 
 fo frequently changed the face of the world in paft times, and may be expected to produce 
 fimilar, though perhaps not fuch violent, changes in future. War was, undoubtedly, in. 
 ancient times, the principal eaufe of thefe changes; but it frequently only finiflied a work 
 which excefs of luxury and the negle6l of agriculture had begun. With regard to our- 
 felves, we fliould recolledl that it is only within the laft twenty or thirty years, that we 
 have become an importing nation. In fo fliort a period, it could hardly be expe6led, that 
 the evils of the fyftem fliould be perceptible. We have, however, already felt fome of its 
 inconveniences j. and if we perfevere in it, its evil coufequcnces may by no means -be a 
 
 matter 
 
CHAP. X. Of Bounties on the Exportation of Corn, 469 
 
 arifen from the conftant appearance of a full fupply, produced by the 
 agricultural fyftem, and the fource of fome other prejudices on the 
 fubjed: of population, will be noticed in the following chapter^ 
 
 matter of remote fpeculatien. It has been before obferved, that, if from the beginning 
 every kind of trade had been left to find its own level, agriculture vi'ould probably never 
 have w^anted any particular fupport ; but when once this general and deflrable liberty 
 has been infringed, it feems to be clearly our intereft to attend principally to thofe parts of 
 the political fl:ru6lure, which in the a<9:ual cifcumftances of the country appear to be com- 
 paratively the weakeft ; and, upon this principle, we fhould be juftified in giving particu- 
 lar encouragement to manufa6lures in fuch countries as Poland, and the fouthern parts 
 of Siberia, and the fame kind of encouragement to agriculture, in England, 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 470 ) 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 Of the principal Sources of the prevailing 'Errors on the Suhje6i of 
 
 Population. 
 
 It has been observed, that many countries at the period of their 
 greateft degree of populoufnefs, have Hved in thegreateft plenty, and 
 have been able to export corn ; but at other periods, when their 
 population was very low, have lived in continual poverty and want, 
 and have been obliged to import corn. Egypt, Paleftine, Rome, 
 Sicily, and Spain, are cited as particular exemplifications of this fa(^ : 
 and it has been inferred, that an increafe of population in any ftate, 
 not cultivated to the utmoft, will tend rather to augment than 
 diminifh the relative plenty of the whole fociety ; and that, as Lord 
 Kaimes obferves, a country cannot eafily become too populous for 
 agriculture ; becaufe agriculture has the fignal property of pro- 
 ducing food in proportion to the number ofconfumers^ 
 
 The general fa<fts from which thefe inferences are drawn, there is 
 no reafon to doubt ; but the inferences by no means follow from the 
 premifes. It is the nature of agriculture, particularly when well 
 conducted, to produce fupport for a confiderable number above that 
 which it employs ; and confequently if thefe members of the fociety, 
 or as Sir James Steuart calls them, the free hands, do not increafe, fo 
 as to reach the limit of the number which can be fupported by the 
 Surplus produce, the whole population of the country may continue 
 for ages increafing with the improving ftate of agriculture, and yet 
 
 Sketches of the Hiflory of Man, b. i. Ikctch i. p. io5, 107. 8vo. 1788. 
 
 3 always 
 
CHAP. XI. Of the principal Sources y^c. 471 
 
 always be able to export corn. But this increafe, after a certain 
 period, will be very different from the natural, and unrcftri<5led, 
 increafe of population ; it will merely follow the flow augmentation of 
 produce from the gradual improvement of agriculture \ and popula- 
 tion will ilill be checked by the difficulty of procuring fubfiftence, 
 ]t is veryjuftly obferved by Sir James Steuart, that the population of 
 England in the middle of the laft century when the exports of corn 
 were confiderable, was ftill checked for want of food *. The precife 
 meafure of the population in a country thus circumftanced, will not,, 
 indeed, be the quantity of food, becaufe part of it is exported, but 
 the quantity of employment. The ftate of this employment, how- 
 ever, will necelTarily regulate the wages of labour, on which depends 
 the power of the lower claffes of people to procure food ; and accord- 
 ing as the employment in the country is increafmg, whether ilowly^ 
 or rapidly, thefe wages will be fuch, as either to check, or to encou- 
 rage, early marriages, fuch, as to enable a labourer to fupport, only 
 two or three, or as many as five or fix, children. 
 
 The quantity of employment in any country will not of courfe vary 
 from year to year, in the fame manner as the quantity of produce 
 muft neceffarily do, from the variation of the feafons ; and confe- 
 quently the check froin want of employment will be much more 
 Iteady in its operation, and be much more favourable to the lower 
 claiTes of people, than the check from the immediate want of food. 
 The firft will be the preventive check ; the fecond the pofitive check. 
 When the demand for labour is either ftationary, or increafmg very^ 
 flowly, people, not feeing any employment open by which they can 
 fupport a family, or the wages of common labour being inadequate 
 to this purpofe, will of courfe be deterred from marrying. But if a 
 demand for labour continue increaiing with fome rapidity, although 
 the fupplyoffood be uncertain, on account of variable feafons, and a 
 dependence on other countries^ the population will evidently go on, 
 
 Polit. Econ. vol. i. b, i. c. xv. p. 100. 
 
 till 
 
47^ ^f the principal Sources of the book iii. 
 
 till it is pofitively checked by famine, or the difeafes ariiing from 
 fcvere want. 
 
 Scarcity and extreme poverty, therefore, may, or may not, accom- 
 pany an increafmg population, according to circumftances. But they 
 - muft neceflarily accompany a permanently declining population; 
 becaufe there never has been, nor probably ever will be, any other 
 caufe than want of food, which makes the population of a country 
 permanently decline. In the numerous inftances of depopulation 
 which occur in hiftory, the caufes of it may always be traced to the 
 want of induftry, or the ill dire^lion of that induftry, arifmg from 
 violence, bad government, ignorance, &c. which firft occafions a 
 want of food, and of courfe depopulation follows. When Rome 
 adopted the cuftom of importing all her corn, and laying all Italy 
 into pafture, fhe foon declined in population. The caufes of the 
 depopulation of Egypt and Turkey have already been alluded to; and, 
 in the cafe of Spain, it was certainly not the numerical lofs of 
 >people, occafioned by the expuliion of the Moors ; but the induftry 
 end capital thus expelled, which permanently injured her populatioru 
 When a country has been depopulated by violent caufes, if a bad 
 government, with its ufual concomitant, infecurity of property, 
 enfue, which has generally been the cafe in all thofe countries which 
 are now lefs peopled than formerly ; neither the food nor the popu- 
 lation can recover themfelves, and the inhabitants will probably live 
 in fevere want. But when an accidental depopulation takes place, - 
 in a country which was before populous and induftrious, and in the 
 habit of exporting corn, if the remaining inhabitants be left at liberty 
 to exert, and do exert, their indufiiry in the fame direcflion as before, 
 it is a ftrange idea to entertain, that they would then be unable to 
 fupply them.felves with corn in the fame plenty; particularly, as the 
 diminillied numbers would, of courfe, cultivate principally the more 
 fertile parts of their territory, and not be obliged, as in their more 
 populous flate, to apply to ungrateful foils. Countries in this fitua- 
 tion would evidently have the fame chance of -recovering their for- 
 mer 
 
CHAP. xr. prevailing Errors ofi thefuhjeS} of Population. 475 
 
 mer number, as they had originally of reaching this number ; and 
 indeed if abfolute populoufnefs were neceflary to relative plenty, 
 asfome agriculturifts have fuppofed% it would be impoffible for new 
 colonies to increafe with the fame rapidity as old ftates. 
 
 The prejudices on the fubjed; of population, bear a verv ilrikinp- 
 refemblance to the old prejudices about fpecie, and wx know how 
 ilowly, and with what difficulty, thefe laft have yielded to jufter 
 conceptions. Politicians obferving, that ftates which w^ere power- 
 ful and profperous, w^ere almoft invariably populous, have mif- 
 taken an efFed; for a caufe, and concluded that their population was 
 the caufe of their profperity, inftead of their profperity being the 
 caufe of their population, as the old political economics concluded, 
 that the abundance of fpecie was the caufe of national wealth, inftead 
 of the efte6l of it. The annual produce of the land and labour, in 
 
 * Among others, I allude more particularly to Mr. Anderfon, who, in a Calm Invejl't- 
 gallon of the Circumjlances ivh'ich have led lo the prcfent Scarcity of Grain in Britain^ (pub- 
 lifhed in 1801,) has laboured, with extraordinary earneftnefs, and I believe with the befl 
 intentions poffible, to imprefs this curious truth on the minds of his countrymen. The 
 particular pofition which he attempts to prove is, that an increafe of population in any fate 
 whofc fields have not been made to attain their highcft poffble degree of produilivenefs, {a thing 
 that probably has never yet been fe en on this globe,) will neccffarily have its means of fubfifience 
 rather augmented, than diminifjed, by that augmentation of its population ; and the reverfc* 
 The propofition is, to be fure, exprefled rather obfcurely ; but, from the context, his mean- 
 ing evidently is, that every increafe of population tends to increafe relative plenty, and 
 vice verfa. He concludes his proofs by obferving, that, if the fadls which he has thus 
 brought forward and connefted, do not ferve to remove the fears of thofe who doubt the 
 poffibility of this country producing abundance to fuflain its increafmg population, were 
 it to augment in a ratio greatly more progreffive than it has yet done, he fhould doubt, 
 whether they could be convinced of it, were one even to rife from the dead to tell them 
 fo. Mr. A. is, perhaps, juftified in this doubt, from the known incredulity of the age, 
 'which might caufe people to remain unconvinced in both cafes. I agree with Mr. A. 
 however, entirely, refpedting the importance ofdiredlinga greater part of the national 
 induftry to agriculture ; but from the circumftance of its being pofTible for a country with 
 a certain diretSlion of its induftry, always to export corn, although it may be very populous, 
 he has been led into the ftrange error of fuppofing, that an agricultural country could 
 fuppoTt an unchecked population. 
 
 3 P both 
 
474 0/" ' ^^^ pnnctpal Sources of the bookiii. 
 
 both thefe inftances, became, in confequence, a fccondary confidera- 
 tion, and its increafe, it was conceived, would naturally follow the 
 increafe of fpecie in the one cafe, or of population in the other. 
 The folly of endeavouring, by forcible means, to increafe the quan- 
 tity of fpecie in any country, and the abfolute impoffibiUty of accu- 
 mulating it beyond a certain level by any human laws that can be 
 devifed, are now fully eftablifhed, and have been completely exem- 
 plified in the inftances of Spain and Portugal ; but the illufion llill 
 remains refpe6ling population ; and under this impreffion, almoft 
 every political treatife has abounded in propofals to encourage popu- 
 lation, with little or no comparative reference to the means of its. 
 fupport. Yet, furely, the folly of endeavouring to increafe the 
 quantity of fpecie in any country without an increafe of the com- 
 modities which it is to circulate, is not greater, than that of endea- 
 vouring to increafe the number of people, without an increafe of the 
 food which is to maintain them ; and it will be found, that the level 
 above which no human laws can raife the population of a country, 
 is a limit more fixed and impaflable, than the limit to the accumu- 
 lation of fpecie. However improbable, in fad:, it is poilible to con- 
 ceive, that means might be invented of retaining a quantity of 
 ipecie in a ftate, greatly beyond w^hatwas demanded by the produce 
 of its land and labour ; but when, by great encouragements, popula- 
 tion has been raifed to fuch a height, that this produce is meted out 
 to each individual in the fmalleft portions that can fupport life, no 
 ftretch of ingenuity can even conceive the poffibility of going 
 further. 
 
 It has appeared, I think, clearly, in the review of different focieties 
 given in the former part of this work, that thofe countries, the inha- 
 bitants of which were funk in the moft barbarous ignorance, or 
 opprefled by the moft cruel tyranny, however low they might be in 
 adual population, were very populous in proportion to their means 
 of fubfiflence ; and upon the flighteft failure of the feafbns generally 
 {iifFered the fcverities of want. Ignorance and defpotifm feem to 
 
 have 
 
CHAP. XI. prevatllng Errors on the fuhjedl of Population, 47^ 
 
 have no tendency to deftroy the paflion which prompts to increafe ; 
 but they efFe(flually deftroy the checks to it from reafon and fore- 
 fight. The improvident barbarian who thinks only of his prefent 
 wants, or the miferable peafant, who, from his poUtical fituation, feels 
 little fecurity of reaping what he has fown, will feldom be deterred 
 from gratifying his paffions by the profpe<^ of inconveniences which 
 cannot be expecfled to prefs on him under three or four years. But 
 though this want of forefight, which is foftered by ignorance and 
 defpotifm, tend thus rather to encourage the procreation of chil- 
 dren, it is abfolutely fatal to the induftry which is to fupport them. 
 Induftry cannot exift without forefight and fecurity. The indo- 
 lence of the favage is well known ; and the poor Egyptian or 
 Abyflinian farmer, without capital, who rents land, which is let out 
 yearly to the higheft bidder, and who is conftantly fubjecfl to the 
 demands of his tyrannical mailers, to the cafual plunder of an 
 enemy, and, not unfrequently, to the violation of his miferable con- 
 trail, can have no heart to be induilrious, and if he had, could not 
 exercife that induftry with fuccefs. Even poverty itfelf, which 
 appears to be the great fpur to induftry, when it has once pafted 
 certain limits, almoft ceafes to operate. The indigence which is 
 hopelefs, deftroy s all vigorous exertion, and confines the efforts to 
 what is fufficient for bare exlftence. It is the hope of bettering our 
 condition, and the fear of want, rather than want itfelf, that is the 
 beft ftimulus to induftry, and its moft conftant and bcft directed 
 efforts will almoft invariably be found among a clafs of people 
 above the clafs of the wretchedly poor. 
 
 The effect: of ignorance and oppreffion will therefore always be to 
 deftroy the fprings of induftry, and confequently todiminifli the 
 annual produce of the land and labour in any country; and this 
 diminution will inevitably be followed by a decrcafe of the popula- 
 tion, in fpite of the birth of any number of children whatever, annu- 
 ally. The defire of immediate gratification, and the removal of the 
 reftralnts to it from prudence, may perhaps, in fuch countries, 
 
 3 P i? prompt 
 
^y6 Of the principal Sources of the book in. 
 
 prompt univerfally to early marriages ; but when thefe habits have 
 once reduced the people to the loweft polTible ftate of poverty, they 
 can evidently have no further efted: upon the population. Their 
 x)nly efFe6l muft be on the degree of mortality ; and there is no 
 doubt, that, if we could obtain accurate bills of mortality in thofe 
 fouthern countries, where very few women remain unmarried, and 
 all marry young, the proportion of the annual deaths would be i in 
 17, 18, or 20, inftead of i in 34, 36, or 40, as in European ftates, 
 where the preventive check operates. 
 / That an increafe of population, when it follows in its natural order,, 
 is both a pofitive good in itfelf, and abfolutely necelTary to a further 
 increafe in the annual produce of the land and labour of any country, 
 I fhould be the laft to deny. The only queftion is, what is the 
 natural order of its progrefs ? In this point, Sir James Steuart, who 
 has in general explained this fubjed: fo w^ell, appears to me to have 
 fallen into an error. He determines that multiplication is the effi- 
 cient caufe of agricvilture, and not agriculture of multiplication ^. But 
 though it may be allovs'ed that the increafe of people beyond what 
 could eafily fubfift on the natural fruits of the earth, firft pyompted 
 man to till the ground ; and that the view of maintaining a family, 
 or of obtaining lome valuable confideration in exchange for the pro- 
 du(5ls of agriculture, ftill operates as the principal ftimulus to cultivation ;. 
 yet it is clear, that thefe produds in their adual fhate, muil be beyond 
 the loweft wants of the exifting population, before any permanent 
 increafe can poflibly be fupported. And we know that multiplica- 
 tion has in numberlefs inftances taken plice, which has produced na 
 cfFe^l upon agriculture, and has merely been followed by an increafe 
 of difeafes ; but perhaps there is no inftance, where a permanent 
 increafe of agriculture, has not effeded a permanent increafe of 
 population, fomewhere or other. Confcquently, agriculture may with 
 more propriety be termed the efficient caufe of population, than popu* 
 
 * Polit. Econ. vol. i. l>. i. c. xviu. p. 1 14. 
 
 2 tion 
 
CHAP. XI. prevailhtg Errors on the fuhje^i of Population. j^yy 
 
 tion of agriculture % though they certainly re-acfl upon each other^ 
 and are mutually necelTary to each other's fupport. This indeed 
 feems to be the hinge on which the fubjeA turns, and all the 
 prejudices refpedling population have, perhaps, arifen from, a miftakc 
 about the order of precedence. 
 
 The author of L'Ami des Homines^ in a chapter on the effed:s of 
 a decay of agriculture upon population, acknowledges that he had 
 fallen into a fundamental error in confidering population as the fource 
 of revenue ; and that he was afterwards fully convinced that revenue 
 was the fource of population ^. From a want of attention to this 
 moft important diftindion,. ftatefmen, in purfuit of the defireable 
 object of population, have been led to encourage early marriages,. 
 to reward the fathers of families, and to difgrace celibacy; but this, 
 as the fame author juftly obferves, is to drefs and water, a piece of 
 land without fowing it, and yet to expedl a crop;. 
 
 Among the other prejudices which have prevailed on the fubjeA 
 of population, it has been generally thought, that, while there is- 
 either wafte among the rich, or land remaining uncultivated in any 
 country, the complaints for want of food cannot be juftly founded,, 
 or, at leaft, that the prefTure of diftrefs upon the poor is to be; 
 attributed to the ill-condu6l; of the higher claffes of fociety, and the 
 bad management of the land. The real efFed;, however, of thefc 
 two cir.cumftances, is merely to, narrow the limit of the adlual. popu- 
 lation; but they have little or no influence on what may be calledr 
 the average preflure of diftrefs on. the poorer members of fociety.. 
 If our anceftors had been fo frugal and induftrious, and had trans- 
 mitted fuch habits to their pofterity, that nothing fuperfluous was 
 now confumed by the higher claiTes, no horfes wereufcd for pleafurc,, 
 
 " Sir James Steuart explains liimfelf afterwards, by faying ihat he means- principally 
 
 tjie multiplication of thofe perfons who have, fome valuable confideration to give for the 
 
 products of agriculture ; but this is evidently not mere increafe of population, and fuch. 
 
 an explanation feems to admit the ineorre6lnefs of the general piopofition. 
 
 *> Tom. viii. p. 84. r2mo. 9 vols. 1762, 
 
 and^ 
 
478 Of the principal Sources of the bookiii. 
 
 and no land was left uncultivated, a ftriking difference would appear 
 in the flateof theadlual population; but probably none whatever, in the 
 {late of the lower clafles of people, with refpecSl to the price of labour, 
 and the facility of fupporting a family. The wafte among the rich, 
 and the horfes kept for pleafure, have indeed a little the efFecft of 
 the confumption of grain in diftilleries, noticed before with regard 
 to China. On the fuppofition that the food confumed in this manner 
 may be withdrawn on the occafion of a fcarcity, and be applied to 
 the relief of the poor, they operate, certainly, as far as they go, like 
 granaries which are only opened at the time that they are moft 
 -wanted, and muft therefore tend rather to benefit than to injure the 
 lower clafles of fociety. 
 
 With regard to uncultivated land, it is evident, that its efFed: upon 
 the poor is neither to injure, nor to benefit them* The fudden cul- 
 tivation of it, will indeed tend to improve their condition for a time, 
 and the negled. of lands before cultivated, will certainly make 
 their fituation worfe for a certain period ; but when no changes of 
 this kind are going forward, the efi^ed: of uncultivated land on the 
 lower clafles, operates merely like the pofiTeffion of a fmaller 
 territory. It is, indeed, a point of very great importance to the 
 poor, whether a country be in the habit of exporting or importing 
 corn ; but this point is not necefi^arily connected with the complete 
 or incomplete cultivation of the whole territory, but depends upon 
 the proportion of the furplus produce, to thofe who are fupportcd 
 by it ; and, in fa(5l, this proportion is generally the greateft, in 
 countries which have not yet completed the cultivation of all their 
 territory. If every inch of land in this country were well cultivated, 
 there would be no reafon to exped:, merely from this circumftance, 
 that we fhould be able to export corn. Our power in this refped 
 would depend entirely on the proportion of the furplus produce to 
 the commercial population; and this, of courfe, would in its turn 
 depend on the diredion of capital to agriculture, or commerce. 
 
 It is not probable that any country with a large territory ihould 
 
 ever 
 
CHAP. XI. prevaiUng Errors on tJiefuhjeM of Population* A-79 
 
 ever be completely cultivated; and I am inclined to think, that we 
 often draw very inconfiderate conclufions againfl the induftry and 
 government of ftates from the appearance of uncultivated lands in 
 them. It feems to be the clear and exprefs duty of every govern- 
 ment, to remove all obftacles, and give every facility, to the inclo- 
 fure and cultivation of land; but when this has been done, the reft 
 muft be left to the operation of individual intereft ; and, upon this 
 principle, it cannot be expecled that any new land fhould be 
 brought into cultivation, the manure and the 1 hour neceflary for 
 which, might be employed to greater advantage on the improvement 
 of Lnd already in cultivation ; and this is a cafe which will very 
 frequently occur. In countries poflefled of a large territory, there 
 will always be a great quantity of land of a m.iddling quality, which 
 requires conftant dreffing to prevent it from growing worfe ; but 
 which would admit of very great improvement, if a greater quantity 
 of manure and labour could be employed upon it. The great 
 obftacle to the amelioration of land is the difficulty, the ex- 
 pence, and, fometimes, the impoffibility, of procuring a fufficient 
 quantity of dreffing. As this inftrument of improvement, there- 
 fore, is in practice limited, whatever it may be in theory, the 
 queftion will always be, how it may be moft profitably employed ; 
 and in any inftance where a certain quantity of dreffing and labour 
 employed to bring new land into cultivation, would have yielded 
 a permanently greater produce if employed upon old land, both the 
 individual and the nation are lofers. Upon this principle it is not 
 uncommon for farmers in fome fituations, never to drefs their 
 pooreft land, but to get from it merely a fcanty crop every three or 
 four years, and to employ the whole of their manure, which they 
 practically feel is limited, on thoie parts of their farms, where it will 
 produce a greater proportional efFeft. 
 
 The cafe will be different, of courfe, in a fmall territor}* with a 
 
 great population, fupported on funds not derived from their own 
 
 foil. In this cafe there will be little or no choice of land, and a 
 
 1 com- 
 
4^0 Of the principal Sources of the B o o k 1 1 r . 
 
 cx)mparative iuperabundance of manure ; and under fuch circum- 
 ftances the pooreft foils may be brought under cultivation. But for 
 this purpofe, it is not mere popvilation that is wanted, but a popu- 
 lation which can obtain the produce of other countries, while it is 
 gradually improving its own ; otherwife, it would be immediately 
 reduced in proportion to the limited produce of this fmall and 
 barren territory ; and the amelioration of the land might perhaps 
 never take place; or if it did, it would take place very flowly indeed, 
 and the population would always be exadlly meafurcd by this tardy 
 rate, and could not poffibly increafe beyond it. 
 
 This fubjed: is illuftrated in the cultivation of the Campine in Bra- 
 bant, which, according to the Abbe Mann % confifted originally of 
 the moft barren and arid fand. Many attempts were made by 
 private individuals to bring it under cultivation, but withput fuccefs; 
 which prove that, as a farming project, and confidered as a fole 
 dependence, the cultivation of it would not anfwxr. Some religious 
 houfes, however, at laft fettled there, and being fupported by other 
 funds, and improving the land merely as a fecondary objed:, they, by 
 degrees, in the courfe of fome centuries, brought nearly the whole 
 under cultivation, letting it out to farmers as foon as it was fuffi- 
 . ciently improved. 
 
 There is no fpot, however barren, which might not be made 
 rich this way, or by the concentrated population of a manufacturing 
 town ; but this is no proof whatever that with refped: to population 
 and food, population has the precedence, becaufe this concentrated 
 population could not poffibly exift, without the preceding existence 
 of an adequate quantity of food in the furplus produce of fome other 
 diftria. 
 
 In a country like Brabant or Holland, where territory is the 
 principal want, and not manure, fuch a diilrid: as the Campine is 
 
 * Menioiron the Agriculture of the Netherlands, publifhed in vol.i. of Communi- 
 calions to the Board of Agriculture, p. 225. 
 
 defcribed 
 
CHAP, XI. prevatlhig Errors on thefuhjeSf of Population. 481 
 
 dcfcribcd to be, may perhaps be cultivated with advantage. But m 
 countries, poilcfled of a large territory, and with a confiderable 
 quantity of land of a middling quality, the attempt to cultivate 
 fuch a fpot, would be a palpable mifdiredion and walle, bolh of 
 individual and national refources. 
 
 The French have already found their error in bringing under 
 cultivation too great a quantity of poor land. They are now fenfible 
 that they have employed in this way a portion of labour and 
 dreffing, which would have produced a permanently better efFed^ 
 if it had been applied to the further improvement of better land. 
 Even in China, which is fb fully cultivated and fo fully peopled, 
 barren heaths have been noticed in fome diflridis ; which prove, that, 
 diftrefl'ed as the people appear to be for fubiiftence, it does not 
 anfwer to them to employ any of their mariure on fuch ipots. 
 Thefe remarks will be ftill further confirmed, if we recolleft, that 
 in the cultivation of a large furfacc of bad land, there muft neceflarily 
 be a very great wafte of feed corn. ^ 
 
 We Ihould not, therefore, be too ready to make inferences againft 
 the internal economy of a country, from the appearance of uncul- 
 tivated heaths, without other evidence. But the fad: is, that as 
 no country has ever reached, or probably ever will reach, its higheft 
 poffible achme of produce, it appears always, as if the want of in- 
 duflry, or the ill-diredlion of that induffcry, was the adual limit to a 
 further increafe of produce and population, and not the abfolute 
 refufal of nature to yield any more ; but a man who. is locked up in 
 a room, may be fairly faid to be confined by the walls of it, though 
 he may never touch them ; and with regard to the principle of 
 population, it is never the queftion, whether a country will produce 
 any more^ but whether it may be made to produce a fufficiency to 
 keep pace with an unchecked increafe of people. In China, the 
 queftion is not, whether a certain additional quantity of rice might 
 be raifed by improved culture, but whether fuch an addition could 
 be expcded during the next twenty-five years, as would be fufficient 
 
 3 a to 
 
48-5 Of the principal Sources oftheprei 'ailing Errors, &c. b o o k 1 1 1 . 
 
 to fupport an additional three hundred millions of people. And in 
 this country, it is not the queftion, whether by cultivating all our 
 commons, we could raife confiderably more corn than at prefent ; 
 but whether we could raife fufficient for a population of twenty 
 millions in the next twenty-five years, and forty millions, in the 
 next fifty years. 
 
 The allowing of the produce of the earth to be abfolntely unlimited, 
 fcarcely removes the weight of a hair from the argument, which 
 depends entirely upon the differently increafmg ratios of population 
 and food: and all that the moft enlightened governments, and the 
 moft perfevering and befl guided efforts of induflry can do, \s to 
 make the neceffary checks to population operate more equably, and 
 in a direction to produce the leaft evil ; but to remove them, is a 
 tafk abfolutcly hopelefs. 
 
 BOOK 
 
ESSAY, &c. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 OF OUR FUTURE PROSPECTS RESPECTING THE REMOVAL OR 
 : MITIGATION OF THE EVILS ARISING FROM THE PRINCIPLE 
 OF POPULATION. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Of moral re/lra'mti mid the foundations of our obligation to praSiife 
 
 this virtue. 
 
 As it appears, that in the a<^ual ftate of every fociety which has 
 come within our review, the natural progrels of population has been 
 conftantly and powerfully checked; and as it feems evident, that 
 no improved form of government, no plans of emigration, no bene- 
 volent inftitutions, and no degree or dired:ion of national induftry, 
 can prevent the continued action of a great check to increafe in fome 
 form or other ; it follows, that we muft fubmit to it as an inevit- 
 able liiw of nature ; and the only inquiry that remains, is, how it 
 may take place with the leaft poffiWe prejudice to the virtue and 
 happinefs of human fociety. The various checks to population 
 which have been obferved to prevail in the fame and different 
 countries, feem all to be refolvable into moral reflraint, vice, and 
 mifery; and if our choice be confined to thefe three, we cannot long 
 hefitate in our decifion refpe<5ling which it would be moft eligible to 
 encourage, 
 
 3 Q 2 In 
 
484 Of moral reftrahitj and the foimdailons of our book it. 
 
 In the former edition of this ciTay, I obferved, that, as from the 
 laws of nature it appeared, that fome check to population muft 
 e^ift, it was better that this check fhould arife from a forefight of 
 the difficulties attending a fam-ily, and the fear of dependent poverty, 
 than from the ad:ual prefence of want and iicknefs. This idea 
 will admit of being purfucd further, and I am inclined to think, 
 that, from the prevailing opinions refpe<5ling population, which 
 undoubtedly originated in barbarous ages, and have been continued 
 and circulated by that part of every community, which may be 
 fuppofed to be interefted in their fupport, we have been prevented 
 from attending to the clear di<5lates of reafon and nature on this 
 fubjed. I 
 
 Natural and moral evil feem to be the inftruments employed by 
 the Deity in admonifhing us to avoid any mode of condudl, which 
 is not fuited to our being, and will confequently injure our happinefs. 
 If we be intemperate in eating and drinking, we are difordered ; if 
 we indulge the tranfports of anger, we feldom fail to commit acfts 
 of which we afterwards repent ; if we multiply too faft, we die 
 miferably of poverty and contagious difeafes. The laws of nature in 
 all thefe cafes are Umilar and uniform. They indicate to us, that 
 we have followed thefe impulfes too far, fo as to trench upon fome 
 other law which equally demands attention. The uncafinefs we 
 feel from repletion, the injuries that we inflict on ourfelves or others 
 in anger, and the inconveniencies we fufFer on the approach of 
 poverty, are all admonitions to us to regulate thefe impulfes better; 
 and if we heed not this admonition, we juftly incur the penalty of 
 our difobedience, and our fuffcrings operate as a warning to others. 
 
 From the inattention of mankind hitherto, to the confequences of 
 increafmg too faft, it muft be prefumed, that thefe confequences are 
 not fo immediately and powerfully connected with the condu(5l 
 which leads to them, as in the other inftances ; but the delayed 
 knowledge of any particular cfFecfls does not alter their nature, nor 
 pur obligation to regulate our condu<^ accordingly, as foon as we 
 
 are 
 
CHAP. I. ohltgatlon to praSilfe this virtue, 485 
 
 are fatisfied of what this conduct ought to be. In many other 
 inftances it has not been till after long and painful experience, that 
 the condud moft favourable to the happinefs of man has been forced 
 upon his attention. The kind of food, and the mode of preparing 
 it, beft fuited to the purpofes of nutrition and the gratification of 
 the palate ; the treatment and remedies of different diforders ; the bad 
 effeds on the human frame, of low and marfhy fituations; the 
 invention of the moft convenient and comfortable clothing; the 
 ConftruAion of good houfes ; and all the advantages and extended 
 enjoyments which diftinguilli civilized life ; were not pointed out to 
 the attention of man at once ; but were the flow and late refult of 
 experience, and of the admonitions received by repeated failures. 
 
 Difeafes have been generally confidered as the inevitable inflidlions 
 of Providence; but, perhaps, a great part of them may more juftly be 
 confidered as indications that we have offended againft ibme of the 
 laws of nature. The plague at Conftantinople, and in other towns 
 of the Eaft, is a conftant admonition of this kind to the inhabitants. 
 The human conftitution cannot fupport fuch a ftate of filth and 
 torpor; and as dirt, fqualid poverty, and indolence, are in the hie;hefl 
 degree imfavourable to happinefs and virtue, it feems a benevolent 
 difpenfation, that fuch a ftate fliould by the laws of nature produce 
 difeafe and death, as a beacon to others to avoid fplitting on the 
 jfamc rock. 
 
 The prevalence of the plague in London till the year i655, ope- 
 rated in a proper manner on the condu<ft of our anceftors ; and the 
 removal of nuifances, the conftruiftion of drains> the widening of 
 the ftreets, and the giving more room and air to their houfes, had 
 the effecft of eradicating completely this dreadful diforder, and of 
 adding greatly to the health and happinefs of the inhabitants. 
 
 In the hiftory of every epidemick it has almoft invariably been 
 bferved, that the lower clafTes of people, whofe food was poor and 
 infufficient, and who lived crowded together, in fmall and dirty 
 houfes> were the prijicipal vidims. In what other manner can 
 
 nature 
 
486 Of moral reflrahitt and the foundations of our boor i v; 
 
 nature point out to us, that if we increafe too faft for the means of 
 fubilftence, fo as to render it neceflary for a confiderable part of the 
 fociety to live in this miferable manner, we have offended againft 
 one of her laws. This law fhe has declared exa<5lly in the fame 
 manner, as fhe declares that intemperance in eating and drinking will 
 be followed by ill health ; and that, however grateful it may be to 
 us at the moment to indulge thefc paffions to excefs, this indulgence 
 will ultimately produce unhappinefs. It is as much a law of nature 
 that repletion is bad for the human frame, as that eating and drinking; 
 unattended with this confequence, is good for it. 
 
 An implicit obedience to the impulfes of our natural paffions 
 
 would lead us into the wildeft and moft fatal extravagancies ; and 
 
 yet we have the ftrongcfl: reafons for believing that all thefe paffions 
 
 are fo neceffary to our being, that they could not be generally 
 
 weakened or diminiffied, without injuring our happinefs. The moft 
 
 powerful and univcrfal of all our defires is the defire of food, 
 
 and of thofe things, fuch as clothing, houfes, &c. which are 
 
 immediately neceffary to relieve us from the pains of hunger and 
 
 cold. It is acknowledged by all, that thefc defires put in motion 
 
 the greateft part of that a^ivity from which fprlng the multiplied 
 
 improvements and advantages of civilized life; and that the purfuit 
 
 of thefe objects and the gratification of thefe defires form the 
 
 principal happinefs of the larger half of mankind, civilized or 
 
 uncivilized, and are indifpenfably necefTary to the more refined 
 
 enjoyments of the other half. We are all confcious, of the inefli- 
 
 mable benefits that we derive from thefe defires when dired;ed in a 
 
 certain manner; but we are equally confcious, of the evils refulting 
 
 from them when not diredled in this manner ; fo much fo, that 
 
 fociety has taken upon itfelf to punifli mofh feverely, what it confiders 
 
 as an irregular gratification of them. And yet the defires in both 
 
 cafes are equally natural, and, abflracftedlyconfidered, equally virtuous: 
 
 The act of the hungry man who fatisfies his appetite by taking a 
 
 ioaf from the Ihelf of another, is in no refped to be diflinguifhed 
 
 from 
 
CHAP. I. ohJigatlon to pra6iife this virtue. 487 
 
 from the a(5l of him who does the fame thing with a loaf of his 
 own, but by its confequences. From the confidcration of thefe 
 confequences, we feel the moft perfect convidion, that if people 
 were not prevented from gratifying their natural defires with the 
 loaves in the pofTeflion of others, that the number of loaves would 
 univerfally diminifh. This experience is the foundation of the 
 laws relating to property, and of the diftin^lions of virtue and vice, 
 in the gratification of deilres, otherwife perfecflly the fame. 
 
 If the pleafure arifmg from the gratification of thefe propenfitiea 
 were univerfally diminifhed in vividnefs, violations of property 
 would become lefs frequent ; but this advantage would be greatly 
 overbalanced by the narrowing of the fources of enjoyment. The 
 diminution in the quantity of all thofe produdions, which contribute 
 to human gratification, wotdd be much greater, in proportion, than 
 the diminution of thefts ; and the lofs of general happincfs on th^ 
 one fide, would be beyond comparifon greater, than the gain to 
 happinefs on the other. When we contemplate the conflant and 
 fevere toils of the greatefl part of mankind, it is impoffible not to 
 be forcibly imprefTed with the reflection, that the fources of human 
 happinefs would be mofl cruelly diminifhed, if the profped: of a 
 good meal, a warm houfe, and a comfortable fireflde in ths 
 evening, were not incitements fufHciently vivid, to give interelk 
 and cheerfulnefs to the labours and privations of the day. 
 
 After the defire of food, the mofl powerful and general of our 
 dcfires, is, the pafl^ion between the fexes, taken in an enlarged fenfe; 
 Of the happirtefs fpread over human life by this paflion, very few 
 are unconfcious. Virtuous love, exalted by friendfhip, feems to be 
 that fort of mixture of fenfual and intellediual enjoyment, particularly 
 fuited to the nature of man, and moft powerfully calculated to 
 awaken the fympathies of the foul, and produce the mofl exquifitc 
 gratifications. Perhaps there is fcarcely a man who has once expe- 
 rienced the genuine delight of virtuous love, however great his 
 intelledual pleafures may have been, that does not look back to 
 
 the 
 
488 Of moral rejirahit, and the foundations of our book iv. 
 
 the period, as the funny fpot, in his whole life, where his imagi- 
 nation loves moft to bailc, which he recolle^ls and contemplates 
 with the fondeft regret, and which he would mofi: wifli to live 
 over again. 
 
 It has been faid by Mr. Godwin, in order to lliew the evident 
 inferiority of the plcafures of fenfe, " Strip the commerce of the 
 */ fexcs of all its attendant circumftances, and it would be generally 
 ** defpifed." He might as well fay to a man who admired trees, 
 ftrip them of their fpreading branches, and lovely foliage, and what 
 beauty can you fee in a bare pole? But it was the tree with the 
 branches and foliage, and not w ithout them, that excited admiration. 
 It is " the ijmmetry of perfon, the vivacity, the voluptuous foftnefs 
 *' of temper, the affc<5lionate kindnefs of feeling, the imagination 
 " and the wit-*" of a woman, which excite the paffion of love, and 
 not the mere diflind:ion of her being a female. 
 
 It is a very great miftake to fuppofe, that the paflion between the 
 fcxes, only operates and influences human condu6l, when the imme- 
 diate gratification of it is in contemplation. The formation and 
 flcady purfuit of fome particular plan of life, has been juftly con- 
 fidercd as one of the moft permanent fourccs of happinefs ; but I 
 am inclined to believe, that there are not many of thefe plans formed, 
 that are not connedied, in a confiderable degree, wdth the profped. 
 of the gratification of this paffion, and with the fupport of children 
 arifing from it. The evening meal, the warm houfe, and the com- 
 fortable firefide, would lofe half of their intereft, if we were to exclude 
 the idea of fome obje<^ of afFediion with whom they were to be 
 fhared. 
 
 We have alio great rcafon to believe, that the paffion between the 
 iexcs has the moft powerful tendency to foften and meliorate the 
 human charai^cr, and keep it more alive to all the kindlier emotions 
 of benevolence and pity. Obfervations on favage life have generally 
 tended to prove^ that nations in which this paffion appeared to be 
 Icfs vivid, wer ^iftinguifhcd by a ferocious and malignant fpirit; 
 * Political Juftice, vol. i. b, i. c. v. p. 72. 8vo, 
 
 7 and 
 
CHAf. I. ohllgatton to praSltfe this virtue. 489 
 
 and particularly by tyranny and cruelty to the fex. If, indeed, this 
 bond of conjugal affedion were confiderably weakened, it feems 
 probable, either that the man would make ufe of his fuperior phyfical 
 ftrength, and turn his wife into a Have, as among the generality of 
 favages ; or at beft, that every little inequality of temper which muft 
 neceflarily occur between two perfons, would produce a total 
 alienation of alFecfiion ; and this could hardly take place, without a 
 diminution of parental fondnefs and care, which would have the 
 moil fatal efFed: on the happinefs of fociety. 
 
 It may be further remarked, that obfcrvatlons on the human 
 charadcr in different countries, warrant us in the conclufion, that 
 the paffion is ftronger, and its general efFeds in producing gentlenefs, 
 kindnefs, and fuavity of manners, much more powerful, where 
 obftacles are thrown in the way of very early and univerfal grati- 
 fication. In fome of the fouthern countries where every impulfc 
 may be almoft immediately indulged, the paffion finks into mere 
 anj.maLdefir5, is foon weakened and almoft extinguiftied by excefs; 
 and its influence on the charader is extremely confined. But in 
 European countries, where, though the women are not fecluded, yet 
 manners have impofed confiderable reftraints on this gratification, the 
 paffion not only rifes in force, but in the univerfality and beneficial 
 tendency of its effeds, and has often the moft influence in the 
 formation and improvement of die charader, where it is the leafl 
 gratified, 
 
 Confidering then the paffion between the fexes in all its bearings ' 
 and relations, and including the endearing engagement of parent 
 and child refulting from it, few will be difpofcd to deny that it is 
 one of the principal ingredients of human happinefs. Yet expe- 
 rience teaches us that much evil flows from the irregular gratification 
 of it; and though the evil be of little weight in the fcaie, when 
 compared with the good ; yet its abfolute quantity cannot b 
 inconfiderable, on account of the ftrength and univerfality of the 
 paffion. It is evident, however, from the general conduct of all 
 
 3 R governments 
 
490 Of moral rejlrahit, and the foundations of our book it. 
 
 governments in their diftribution of punilliments, that the evil 
 refulting from this caufe is not fo great, and fo immediately dangerous 
 to fociety, as the irregular gratification of the defire of property; 
 but placing this evil in the moft formidable point of view, wc 
 fhould evidently purchafe a diminution of it at a very dear price, 
 by the extin<5lion or diminution of the paffion which caufes it ; a 
 change, which would probably convert human life, either into a cold 
 and cheerlefs blank, or a fcene of favage and mercilefs ferocity, 
 
 A careful attention to the remote as well as immediate efFe<5ls 
 of all the human paffions, and all the general laws of nature, leads us 
 ftrongly to the conclufion, that, under the prefent conftitution of 
 things, few or none of them would admit of being greatly dimi- 
 niihed, without narrowing the fources of good, more powerfully than 
 the fources of evil. And the reafon feems to be obvious. They are, 
 (in fad, the materials of all our pleafures, as well as of all our pains ; 
 of all our happinefs, as well as of all our mifery ; of all our virtues, as 
 well as of all our vices./It muft therefore be regulation and dired:ion 
 that are wanted, not diminution or extind:ion. 
 
 It is juftly obferved by Dr. Paley, that, " Human paffions are 
 " either ncceffary to human welfare, or capable of being made, and 
 ** in a great majority of inftances in fadl made, conducive to its 
 ** happinefs. Thefe paffions are ftrong and general; and perhaps 
 " would not anfwer their purpofe, unlcfs they were fo. But ftrength 
 '* and generality, when it is expedient that particular circumftances 
 " ihould be refpeded, become, if left to themfelves> excefs and 
 " mifdire<ftion. From which excefs and mifdiredion, the vices of 
 '* mankind (the caufes no doubt of much mifery) appear to fpring. 
 " This account, while it fliews us the principle of vice, Ihews us 
 *' at the fame time, the province of reafon and felf-government^'* 
 / Our virtue, therefore, as reafonable beings, evidently confifts in 
 educing, from the general materials which the Creator has placed 
 
 * Natural Theology, c. xxvi, p. 547. 
 
 under 
 
CHAP. I. ohligat ton to pra&i/e this virtue 4pr 
 
 under our guidance, the greateft fum of human happinefs; and as 
 all our natural impulfes are abftradedly confidered good, and only 
 to be diftinguifhed by their confcquences, a ftridt attention to thefe 
 confequenccs, and the regulation of our condud: conformably to 
 them, muft be confidered as our principal duty. ^ 
 
 The fecundity of the human fpecies is, in fome re{pe<fls, a diftincl 
 confideration from the paflTion between the fexes, as it evidently 
 depends more upon the power of women in bearing children, than 
 upon the ftrength or weaknefs of this paffion. It is, however, 
 a law, exactly funilar in its great features to all the other laws 
 of nature. It is ftrong and general, and apparently would not admit 
 of any very coniiderable diminution, without being inadequate 
 to its objed:; the evils arifing from it are incidental to thele 
 neceflary qualities of ftrength and generality ; and thele evils arc 
 capable of being very greatly mitigated, and rendered comparatively 
 light by human energy and virtue. We cannot but conceive, th^t 
 it is an objed: of the Creator, that the earth Ihould be replenilhed, 
 at leaft to a coniiderable degree ; and it appears to me clear, that 
 this could not be efFeifled, without a tendency in population to 
 increafe fafter than food ; and as with the prefent law of increafe, 
 the peopling of the earth does not proceed wcry rapidly, we have 
 undoubtedly fome reafon to believe, that this law is not too power- 
 ful for its apparent obje<5l. The defire of the means of fubfiftence 
 would be comparatively confined in its effedls, and would fail of 
 producing that general a<5livity fo neceffary to the improvement 
 of the human faculties, were it not for the ftrong and univerfal 
 c^rt of population, to increafe with greater rapidity than its 
 fupplies. If thefe two tendencies were exad;ly balanced, I do 
 not fee what motive there would be, fufficiently ftrong, to over- 
 come the acknowledged indolence of man, and make him proceed 
 in the cultivation of the foil. The population of any large 
 territory, however fertile, would be as likely to flop at five hundred, 
 or five thoufand, as at five millions, or fifty millions. Such a 
 balance therefore, would clearly defeat one great purpofe of creation ; 
 
 3 R ^ and 
 
493 Of moral reftraintf and the foundations of our bookiv, 
 
 and if the queflion be merely a queftion of degree, a queflion of 
 a little more, or a little lefs, ftrength, we may fairly diftruft our 
 competence to judge of the precife quantity neceifary to anfwer the 
 objed:, with the fmalleft fum of incidental evil. In the prefent 
 ftate of things we appear to have under our guidance a great power, 
 capable of peopling a defert region in a fmall number of years; and 
 yet, under other circumftances, capable of being confined, by human 
 energy and virtue, to any limits, liowever narrow, at the expence 
 of a fmall comparative quantity of evil. The analogy of all the 
 other laws of nature would be completely violated, if in this inftancc 
 alpne, there were no provifion for accidental failures, no refources 
 againft the vices of mankind, or the partial mifchiefs refulting from 
 other general laws. To effeft the apparent obje<fl without any 
 attendant evil, it is evident, that a perpetual change in the law of 
 increafe would be neceflary, varying with the varying circumftances 
 of each country. But inftead of this, it is not only more confonant 
 to the analogy of the other parts of nature, but we have reafon to 
 think, that it is more conducive to the formation and improvement 
 of the human mind, that the law Ihould be uniform, and the evils, 
 incidental to it under certain circumftances, be left to be mitigated 
 or removed by man himfelf. His duties in this cafe vary with his 
 fituation ; and he is thus kept more alive to the conlequences of his 
 a<ftions, and his faculties have evidently greater play and opportunity 
 of improvement, than if the evil were removed by a perpetual change 
 of the law, according to circumftances. 
 
 Even if from paffions too eafily fubdued, or the facility of illicit 
 intercourfe, a ftate of celibacy were a matter of indifference, and 
 not a ftate of fome privation, the end of nature in the peopling of 
 the earth would be apparently liable to be defeated. It is of the very 
 utmoft importance to the happinefs of mankind, that they ftiould not 
 increafe too faft ; but it does not appear that the objed; to be accom- 
 pliflied, would admit of any very confiderable diminution in the 
 dcfire of marriage. It is clearly the duty of each individual not to 
 
 marry 
 
CHAP. I, ohltgatlon to pra^tfe this virtue^ 4pj 
 
 marry till he has a profpe^l of fupporting his children ; but it is at 
 the fame time to be wifhed, that he fhould retain undiminiihed 
 his defire of marriage, in order that he may exert himfelf to realize 
 this profpecfl, and be flimulated to make provifion for the fupport of 
 greater numbers. 
 
 It is evidently therefore, regulation and dire<flion that is required 
 with regard to the principle of population, not diminution or 
 alteration. And if moral reftraint be the only virtuous mode of 
 avoiding the incidental evils arifmg from this principle, our ob* 
 ligation to pracftife it will evidently reft exadly upon the fame 
 foundation, as our obligation to pracftife any of the other virtues^ 
 the foundation of utility. 
 
 Whatever indulgence we mray be di^ofed to allow to occa^onaj' 
 failures in the difcharge of a duty, of acknowledged difficulty;, yet, 
 of the ftrid. line of duty, during the period of celibacy, whatever 
 that may be, we cannot doubt. And, with regard to the neceflity 
 of this celibacy in countries that have been long peopled, or our 
 obligation not to marry till we have a fair profpecft of being able ta 
 fupport our children, it will appear to deferve the attention of the 
 moralift, if it can be proved, that an attention to this obligation is 
 of more efFel in the prevention of mifery, than all the other virtues^ 
 combined; and that if, in violation of this duty, it were the general 
 cuftom to follow the firft impulfe of nature, and marry at the age 
 of puberty, the univerfal prevalence of every known virtue in the^ 
 greateft conceivable degree, would fail of refcuing fociety from the 
 moft wretched and defperate ftate of w^ant, and all the difeafes and 
 famines which ufually accompany it. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 494 ) 
 
 C H A P. II. " 
 
 Of the Effe5is whlcJi would refult to Society from the general praSilce of 
 
 this virtue. 
 
 v)n of the principal reafons, which has prevented an aiTent to the 
 doctrine of the conftant tendency of population to increafe beyond 
 the means of fubfiftence, is, a great unwillingnefs to beheve, that the 
 Deity would, by the laws of nature, bring beings into exiftence, which, 
 by the laws of nature, could not be fupported in that exiftence. But 
 if, in addition to that general activity and direction of our induftry 
 put in motion by thefe laws, we further confider, that the inci** 
 dental evils ariiing from them, are conftantly direcfling our attention 
 to the proper check to population, moral reftraint ; and if it appear, 
 that by a ftri6l obedience to thofe duties which are pointed out to 
 us by the light of nature and reafon, and are confirmed and 
 fandlioned by revelation, thefe evils may be avoided, the objection 
 will, I truft, be removed, and all apparent imputation on the good- 
 nefs of the Deity be done away. 
 
 The heathen moralifts never reprefented happinels as attainable 
 on earth, but through the medium of virtue; and among their 
 virtues, prudence ranked in the firft clafs, and by fomc , was even 
 confidered as including every other. The chriftian religion places 
 our prefent as well as future happinefs in the exerciie of thofe 
 virtues which tend to fit us for a ftate of fuperlor enjoyment ; and 
 the fubjedlion of the paffions to the guidance of rcafbn, which, if 
 jiot the whole, is a principal branch of prudence, is in confequencc 
 0joft: particularly inculcated. 
 
 If. 
 
cIlAP. II. OftJie EffeSfs which would refult to Society y ^c. 495 
 
 If, for the fake of illuftration, we might be permitted to draw a; 
 pidlure of fociety, in which, each individual endeavoured to attain- 
 happinefs by the ftrid fulfilment of thofe duties which the moft 
 enlightened oi the antient philofophers deduced from the laws of 
 nature, and which have been dired:ly taught, and received fuch. 
 powerful fandlions in the moral code of Chriftianity, it would prefcnt 
 a very different fcene from that which we now contemplate. 
 Every acH; which was prompted by the defire of immediate gratifi-- 
 cation, but which threatened an ultimate overbalance of pain, wouldi 
 be confidered as a breach of duty ; and, confequently, no man whofe 
 earnings were only fufficient to maintain two children, would put 
 himfelf in a fituation in which he might have to maintain four or 
 five, however he might be prompted to it by the paffion of love^ 
 This prudential reftraint, if it were generally adopted, by narrowing 
 the fupply of labour in the market, would, in the natural courfe o^ 
 things, foon raife its price. The period of delayed gratification would 
 be paiTcd in faving the earnings which were above the wants of a. 
 fmgle man, and in acquiring habits of fobriety, induftry, and economy, 
 which would enable him, in a few years, to enter into the matri- 
 monial Gontraft without fear of its confequences. The operation of 
 the preventive check in this way, by conftantly keeping the popu- 
 lation within the limits of the food, though conftantly following its 
 incre^fe, would give a real value to tlie rife of wages, and the 
 fums faved by labourers before marriage, very diffefient from thoie 
 forced advances in the price of labour, or arbitrary parochial do- 
 nations, which, in proportion to their magnitude and extenfivenefs^ 
 muft of neceffity be followed by a proportional advance in the price 
 of provifions. As the wages of labour would thus be fufficient to 
 maintain with decency a large family, and as every married couple 
 would fet out with a fum for contingencies, all fqualid poverty 
 would be removed from fociety, or, at leafl, be confined to a very 
 few, who had fallen into misfortunes againfl which, no prudence 
 ojf forefight .could provide, 
 
 Tlie 
 
49^ Of the EffeSis which would refult to Society book i v. 
 
 The interval between the age of puberty, and the period at which 
 each individual might venture on marriage, muft, according to the 
 fuppofition, be paiTed in flrid: chaftity ; becaufe the law of chaftity 
 cannot be violated without producing evil. The efFedl of any thing 
 like a promifcuous intercourfe, which prevents the birth of children, 
 is evidently to weaken the beft afFed:ions of the heart, and, in a very, 
 marked manner, to degrade the female character . And any other 
 intercourfe, would, without improper arts, bring as many children 
 into the fociety as marriage, with a much greater probability of their 
 becoming a burden to it. 
 
 Thefe confiderations fhew% that the virtue of chaftity is not, as 
 fbme have fuppofed, a forced produce of artificial fociety ; but that it 
 has the moll real and folid foundation in nature and reafon ; being 
 apparently the only virtuous mean of avoiding the vice and mifery 
 "which refult from the principle of population. 
 
 In fuch a fociety as w^e have been fuppofmg, it might be neceiTary 
 for both fexes to pafs many of the early years of life in the iinglc 
 ftate; and if this wxre general, there would certainly be room 
 for a much greater number to marry afterwards, fo that fewer, upon 
 the whole, would be condemned to pafs their lives in celibacy. If the 
 cuftom of not marrying early prevailed generally, and if violations of 
 chaftity were equally difhonourable in both fexes, a more familiar and 
 friendly intercourfe between them might take place without danger. 
 Two young people might converfe together intimately, without its 
 being immediately fuppofed, that they either intended marriage or in- 
 trigue ; and a much better opportunity would thus be given to both 
 fexes of finding out kindred difpofitions, and of forming thofe ftrong 
 and lafting attachments, without which, the married ftate is generally 
 more produd:ive of mifery than of happinefs. The earlier years of 
 life would not be fpent without love, though without the full grati- 
 '^fication of it. The paflion, inftead of being extinguifhed, as it now 
 too frequently is by early fenfuality, would only be repreflcd for a 
 t>me^ that it might afterwards burn with a brighter, purer, and 
 
 ileadier 
 
CHAP. II. from the general praSike of this virtue. 497 
 
 fteadier flame; and the happinefs of the married ftate, inftead of an 
 opportunity of immediate indulgence, would be looked forward to, 
 as the prize of induftry and virtue, and the reward of a genuine and 
 conftant attachment *. ^ 
 
 The paffion of love is a powerful ftimulus in the formation of 
 character, and often prompts to the moft noble and generous exer- 
 tions ; but this is only when the affedlions are centered in one obje6l ; 
 and generally, when full gratification is delayed by difficulties **. The 
 heart is perhaps never fo much difpofed to virtuous condud;, and 
 certainly at no time is the virtue of chaftity fo little difficult to men, 
 as when under the influence of fiach a paffion. L^ate marriages 
 taking place in this way, would be very different from thofe of the 
 fame name at prefent, where the union is too frequently prompted 
 folely by interefled views, and the parties meet, not unfrequently, 
 with cxhaufled conftitutions, and generally with exhauflcd aiFedions. 
 The late marriages at prefent, are indeed principally confined to the 
 men ; and there are few, however advanced in life they may be, who, 
 
 * Dr. Currie, in his interefling obfervatlons on the chara6ler and condition of the Scotch 
 Peafantry, which he has prefixed to his life of Burns, remarks, with a juft knowledge of 
 human nature, that " in appreciating the happinefs and virtue of a community, there is 
 ** perhaps no fingle criterion on which fo much dependence may be placed, as the llate 
 * of the intercourfe between thefexes. Where this difplays ardour of attachment, accom- 
 ** panied by purity of condufl, the charadler and the influence of women rife, our imper- 
 ** fe6l nature mounts in the fcale of moral excellence; and, from the fource of this fingle 
 *' affedtion, a ftream of felicity defcends, which branches into a thoufand rivulets, that 
 " enrich and adorn the field of life. Where the attachment between the fexes finks into 
 *' an appetite, the heritage of our fpecies is comparatively poor, and man approaches to 
 " the condition of the brutes that peri(h." Vol. i. p. 18. 
 
 ^ Dr. Currie obferves, that the Scottiih peafant, in the courfe of his paffion, often exerts 
 a fplrit of adventure, of which a Spanilh cavalier need not be afliamed. Burns' Works, 
 vol.i. p. 16. it is not to be doubted, that this kind of romantic paffion, which. Dr. C. 
 lays, characterizes the attachments of the humbled: of the people of Scotland, and which 
 has been gre itly fortered by the elevation of mind given to them by a fuperior education, 
 has had a moft powerful and moft beneficial influence on the national charader. 
 
 3S if 
 
498 Of the Effect s which would refult to Society book i v. 
 
 if they determine to marry, do not fix their choice on a very young 
 wife. A young woman, without fortune, when fhe has paffed her 
 twenty-fifth year, begins to fear, and with reafon, that flie may lead 
 a life of celibacy ; and with a heart capable of forming a ftrong 
 attachment, feels, as each year creeps on, h er hopes of finding a n 
 obje<5l on wKirWo refl- her afFec^inns_gradu ally dimini fhinp[, and the 
 ulieafmefs of her fituation aggravated by the filly and unjuft preju- 
 dices of the world. If the general age of marriage among women 
 were later, the period of youth and hope would be prolonged, and 
 fewer would be ultimately difappointed. 
 
 That a change of this kind would be a moft decided advantage to 
 the more virtuous half of fociety, we cannot for a moment doubt. 
 However impatiently the privation might be bornebythe men, it would 
 be fupported by the women readily and cheerfully ; and if they could 
 look forwards with juft confidence to marriage at twenty-eight or 
 thirty, I fully believe, that if the matter were left to their free choice^ 
 they would clearly prefer waiting till this period, to the being involved 
 in all the cares of a large family at twenty-five. The moft eligible 
 age of marriage, however, could not be fixed ; but muft depend on 
 circumftances and fituation, and muft be determined entirely by 
 experience. There is no period of human life at which nature more 
 ftrongly prompts to an union of the fexes, than from feventeen or 
 eighteen, to twenty. In every fociety above that ftate of deprefiion 
 which almoft excludes reafon and forefight, thefe early tendencies 
 muft necefifarily be reftrained ; and if, in the acftual ftate of things,^ 
 fuch a reftraint on the impulfes of nature be found unavoidable, at 
 what time can we be confiftently releafed from it, but at that period, 
 whatever it may be, when in the exifting circumftances of the fbci^ 
 ety a fair profpeA prefents itfelf of maintaining a family. 
 
 The difficulty of moral reftraint, will perhaps be objeAed to this 
 dod:rine. To him who does not acknowledge the authority of the 
 Chriftian religion, I have only to fay, that, after the moft careful 
 
 invcfti- 
 
i' 
 
 I 
 
 CHAP. II. from the general praBke of this virtue. 499 
 
 inveftigation, this virtue appears to be abfolutely neceflary, in order to 
 avoid certain evils which would otherwife rcfult from the general 
 laws of nature. According to his own principles, it is his duty to 
 purfue the greateft good confiftcnt with thefe laws ; and not to fail 
 in this important end, and produce an overbalance of mifery, by a 
 partial obedience to fome of the di(n:ates of nature while he neglec^ts 
 others. The path of virtue, though it be the only path which leads 
 to permanent happinefs, has always been rcprefented by the heathen 
 moralifts, as of difficult afcent. 
 
 To the Chriftian I would fay, that the fcriptures moft clearly and 
 precifely point it out to us as our duty, to rcftrain our paffions within 
 the bounds ofrcafon; and it is a palpable difobedience of this law, to 
 indulge our defires in fuch a manner, as reafon tells us, will unavoid- 
 ably end in mifery. The Chriflian cannot confider the difficulty of 
 moral reftraint as any argument againft its being his duty ; fmcc in 
 almoft every page of the facrcd writings, man is defcribcd as encom- 
 paflcd on all fides by temptations, which it is extremely difficult to 
 refift ; and though no duties are enjoined, which do not contribute 
 to his happinefs on earth as well as in a future ftatc, yet an undevi- 
 ating obedience is never rcprefented as an eafy tafk. 
 
 There is in general fo ftrong a tendency to love in early youth, 
 that it is extremely difficult, at this period, to diftinguiffi a genuine, 
 from a tranfient paffion. If the earlier years of life were pafTed by 
 both fexes in moral reftraint, from the greater facility that this would 
 give to the meeting of kindred difpofitions, it might even admit of 
 a doubt whether more happy marriages would not take place, and 
 confequently more pleafure from the paffion of love, than in a flate 
 fuch as that of America, the circumftances of "which would allow of 
 a very early union of the fexes. But if we compare the intercourfc 
 of the fexes in fuch a focicty as I have been fuppofing, with that 
 which now exifts in Europe, taken under all its circumdanccs, it 
 may fafely be aiferted, that, independently of the load of mifery 
 which would be removed by the prevalence of moral reftraint, the 
 
 3 S :? {mux 
 
500 Of the EffeSis which would refult to Society book i v. 
 
 fum of pleafurable fenfations from the paffion of love would be 
 increafed in a very great degree. 
 
 If we could fuppofe fuch a fyftem general, the acceffion of happi- 
 nefs to focietj in its internal economy, would fcarcely be greater 
 than in its external relations. It might fairly be expedled that war, 
 that great peft of the human race, would, under fuch circumftances, 
 foon ccafe to extend its ravages fo widely, and fo frequently, as it 
 does at prefent, and might ultimately perhaps ceafe entirely. 
 
 One of its firfi: caufes, and moft powerful impulfes, was undoubt- 
 edly an infufficiency of room and food; and, greatly as the circum- 
 ftances of mankind have changed fuice it firft began, the fame caufe 
 ftill continues to operate, and to produce, though in a fmaller degree, 
 the fame efFe<5ls. The ambition of princes would want inftruments 
 of dcftruilion, if the diftreffes of the lower clafles of people did not 
 drive them under their ftandards. A recruiting ferjeant always prays 
 for a bad harveft, and a want of employment, or, in other words, a 
 redundant population. 
 
 In the earlier ages of the world, when war was the great bufinefs 
 of mankind, and the drains of population from this caufe were, 
 beyond comparifon, greater than in modern times, the legiilators and 
 flatefmen of each country, adverting principally to the means of 
 offence and defence, encouraged an increafe of people in every pofli- 
 ble way, fixed a ftigma on barrennefs and celibacy, and honoured 
 marriage. The popular religious followed thefe prevailing opinions. 
 In many countries, the prolifick power of nature was the objedf of 
 folemn worfhip. In the religion of Mahomet, which was eftablifhed 
 by the fword, and the promulgation of which, in confequence, could 
 not be unaccompanied "by an extraordinary .deftruftion of its followers, 
 the procreation of children to glorify the Creator, was laid down as 
 one of the principal duties of man ; and he who had the moil: 
 numerous offspring, was eonfidered as having beft anfvvered the end 
 of his creation. The prevalence of fuch moral fcntiments had natu- 
 rally a great effed in encouraging marriage ;- and the rapid procrea- 
 tion 
 
CHAP. II. from the general pradiice of this virtue. 501 
 
 tion which followed, was partly the efFe<5l and partly the caufe of 
 inceflant war. The vacancies occafioned by former defolations 
 made room for the rearing of frefli fupplies ; and the overflowing 
 rapidity, with which thefe fupplies followed, conftantly furniflied 
 frcfh incitements and frefh inftruments for renewed hoftilities. 
 Under the influence of fuch moral fentiments, it is diflicult to con- 
 ceive how the fury of inceflant war fliould ever abate. 
 
 It is a pleafmg confirmation of the truth and divinity of the Chrif^ 
 tian religion, and of its being adapted to a more improved fl:ate of 
 human fociety, that it places our duties refpe(5ting marriage, and the 
 procreation of children, in a diflerent light from that in which they- 
 were before beheld. 
 
 Without entering minutely into the fubjeA, which would evi- 
 dently lead too far, I think it will be admitted, that if we apply the 
 fpirit of St. Paul's declarations refpe^ling marriage, to the prefcnt 
 ftate of fociety, and the known confl:itution of our nature, the natu- 
 ral inference fcems to be, that when marriage does not interfere 
 with higher duties, it is right ; when it does, it is wrong. Accord- 
 ing to the genuine principles of moral fcience, " The method of 
 " coming at the will of God from the light of nature is to inquire 
 " into the tendency of the adlion to promote or diminifli the general 
 '* happinefs*." There are perhaps few adlions that tend fo diredily 
 to diminifli the general happinefs, as to marry without the means of 
 fupporting children. He who commits this aft, therefore, clearly 
 offends againfl: the will of God ; and having become a burden on the 
 fociety in which he lives, and plunged himfelf and family into a 
 fltuation, in which virtuous habits are prcierved with more difficulty 
 than in any other, he appears to have violated his duty to his neigh- 
 bours and to himfelf, and th-us to have lifl:ened tathe voice of paflion 
 in oppofition to his higher obligations. 
 
 In a fociety, fuch as I have fuppofed, all the members of which 
 
 * Paley's Moral Philofophy, vol, i. b. ii. civ. p. 65. ' 
 
 endeavour 
 
502 Of the ^ffe^s which would refult to Society book iv, 
 
 endeavour to attain happinefs by obedience to the moral code, 
 derived from the light of nature, and enforced by flrong fan<flions in 
 revealed religion, it is evident that no fuch marriages could take 
 place ; and the prevention of a redundant population, in this way, 
 would remove one of the principal caufes, and certainly the principal 
 means of offenfive war ; and at the fame time tend powerfully to 
 eradicate thofe two fatal political diforders, internal tyranny and 
 internal tumult, which mutually produce each other. 
 
 Weak in ofFenfive war, in a war of defence, fuch a fociety would 
 be ftrong as a rock of adamant. Where every family pofTeflcd the 
 neceffaries of life in plenty, and a decent portion of its comforts and 
 conveniences, there could not exift that hope of change, or at bed 
 that melancholy and difheartening indifference to it, which fomc- 
 times prompts the lower clafles of people to fay, '' let what will 
 *' come, we cannot be worfe off than we are now." Every heart 
 and hand would be united to repel an invader, when each indivi- 
 dual felt the value of the folid advantages which he enjoyed, and a 
 profpedl of change prefcnted only a profpet): of being deprived of 
 them. 
 
 As it appears, therefore, that it is in the power of each individual 
 to avoid all the evil confequences to himf^lf and fociety refulting 
 from the principle of population, by the practice of a virtue clearly 
 didated to him by the light of nature, and exprefsly enjoined in 
 revealed religion ; and as we have reafon to think that the exercife 
 of this virtue to a certain degree, would rather tend to increafe than 
 diminlfli individual happinefs; we can have no reafon to impeach the 
 jufticc of the Deity, becaufe his general laws make this virtue neccf- 
 fary, and punifli our offences againft it by the evils attendant upon 
 vice, and the pains that accompany the various forms of prerhaturc 
 death. A really virtuous fociety, fuch as I have fuppofed, would 
 avoid thefc evils. It is the apparent objedl of the Creator to deter 
 us from vice by the pains which accompany it, and to lead us to 
 
 3 virtue 
 
CHAP. II. Jrom the general pra^ke of this Virtue, 503 
 
 Tirtue by the happinefs that it produces. This objedl appears to 
 our conceptions to be worthy of a benevolent Creator. The laws 
 of nature refpe6llng population, tend to promote this objed. No 
 imputation, therefore, on the benevolence of the Deity, can be 
 founded on thefe laws, which is not equally applicable ta any of the 
 evils neceflarily incidental to an imperfcdl ftate of exiflence. 
 
 -CHA*. 
 
( S<=>4 ) 
 
 V- 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 -. . "* 
 
 Of the ojily ejfeBual mode of mproving the condition of the Poor, 
 
 JriE who publifhes a moral code, or fyftem of duties, however 
 firmly he may be convinced of the flrong obligation on each indi- 
 vidual ftrid:ly to conform to it, has never the folly to imagine that it 
 will be univerfally or even generally prad:ifed. But this is no valid 
 objediion againft the publication of the code. If it were, the fame 
 objed;ion would always have applied ; we fhould be totally without 
 general rules ; and to the vices of mankind arifmg from temptation, 
 would be added a much longer lift, than we have at prefent, of vices 
 from ignorance. 
 
 Judging merely from the light of nature, if we feel convinced of the 
 mifery arifmg from a redundant population, on the one hand, and of the 
 evils and unhappinefs, particularly to the female fex, arifmg from pro- 
 mifcuous intercourfe, on the other, I do not fee how it is poffible for 
 any perfon, who acknowledges the principle of utility as the great foun- 
 dation of morals, to efcape theconclufion that moral reftraint, till we are 
 in a condition to fupport a family, is the ftridl line of duty; and when 
 revelation is taken into the quelHon, this duty undoubtedly receives 
 very powerful confirmation. At the fame time, I believe that few 
 of my readers can be lefs fanguine in their expectations of any great 
 change in the general condud of men on this fubjed: than I am ; and 
 the chief reafon, why, in the lafi: chapter, I allow^ed myfelf to fuppofe 
 the univerfal prevalence of this virtue, was, that I rriight endeavour 
 to remove any imputation on the goodnefs of the Deity, by fliewing 
 
 that 
 
CHAP. III. Of the only effeBual mode, ^c, 505 
 
 that the evils arlfing from the principle of population were exa(5tly 
 of the fame nature as the generaUty of other evils which excite 
 fewer complaints, that they were ijncreafed by human ignorance and 
 indolence, and diminifhed by human knowledge and virtue; and on 
 the fuppofition, that each individual ftridly fulfilled his duty, would 
 be almoft totally removed ; and this, without any general diminution 
 of thofe fources of pleafure, arifnig from the regulated indulgence o 
 the paflions, which have been juftly confidered as the principal 
 ingredients of human happinefs. 
 
 If it will anfvvcr any purpofe of illuftration, I fee no harm in draw- 
 ing the pidure of a fociety in which each individual is fuppofed 
 ftridly to fulfil his duties ; nor does a writer appear to be juftly 
 liable to the imputation of being vrfionary, unlefs he make fuch uni- 
 verfal or general obedience necefTary to the practical utiHty of his 
 iyftem, and to that degree of moderate and partial improvement, 
 which is all that can rationally be expelled from the moft complete 
 knowledge of our duties. 
 
 But in this refpeA, there is an efTential difference between that 
 improved flate of fociety which I have fuppofed in the lafl chapter, 
 and moil of the other fpeculations on this fubje(5l. The improvement 
 there fuppofed, if "we ever fliould make approaches towards it, is to 
 be efFed:ed in the way in which we have been in the habit of feeinor 
 all the greatefl improvements eifedled, by a direcft appHcation to the 
 interefl and happinefs of each individual. It is not required of us to 
 ad: from motives, to which we are unaccuftomed ; to purfue a general' 
 good, which we may not diftin^lly comprehend, or the effedl of 
 which may be weakened by diflance and diffufion. The happinefs 
 of the whole is to be the refult of the happinefs of individuals, and 
 to begin firfl with them. No co-operation is required. Every flep 
 tells. He who performs his duty faithfully will reap the full fruits 
 of it, whatever may be the number of others who fail. This duty 
 is exprefs, and intelligible to the humblefl capacity. It is merely 
 that he is not to bring beings into the world for whom he cannot 
 
 ^T find 
 
^o6 Of the only effcBiial mode of book iv, 
 
 find the means of fupport,. When once this fubje^l is cleared from 
 the obfcurity thrown over it by parochial laws and private benevo- 
 lence, every man muft feel the ftrongeft convi6lion of fuch an obli- 
 gation. If he cannot fupport his children, they muft ftarve ; and if 
 he marry in the face of a fair probability that he Ihall not be able 
 to fupport his children, he is guilty of all the evils which he thus. 
 brings upon himfelf, his wife, and his offspring. It is clearly his 
 intereft, and will tend greatly to promote his happinefs, to defer 
 marrying, till, by induftry and economy, he is in a capacity to fup- 
 port the children that he may reafonably exped: from his marriage ; 
 and as he cannot in the mean time gratify his paffions, without vio- 
 lating anexprefs command of God, and running a great rifk of injur- 
 ing himfelf, or fome of his fellow creatures, confiderations of his own 
 intereft and happinefs will didate to him the ftrong obligation to 
 moral reftraint. 
 
 However powerful may be the impulfes of paffton, they are gene- 
 rally in fome degree modified by reafon. And it does not feem 
 entirely viiionary to fuppofe, that if the true and permanent caufc 
 of poverty were clearly explained, and forcibly brought home to each 
 man's bofom, it would have fome, and perhaps not an inconfiderable, 
 influence on his condu<fl ; at leaft, the experiment has never yet 
 been fliirly tried. Almoft every thing that has been hitherto done 
 for the poor, has tended, as if with folicitous care, to throw a veil 
 of obfcurity over this fubjc(5l, and to hide from them the true caufe 
 of their poverty. When the wages of labour are hardly fufficient to 
 maintain two children, a man marries and has five or fix. He of 
 courfc finds himfelf miferably diftreffed. He accufes the infufficiency 
 of the price of labour to maintain a family. He accufes his parifli 
 for their tardy and fparing fulfilment of their obligation to affift him. 
 He accufes the avarice of the rich, who fuffer him to want what they 
 can fo well fpare. He accufes the partial and unjuft inftitutions of 
 focicty, which have awarded him an inadequate fhare of the produce 
 of the earth. He accufes perhaps th-e difpenfations of Providence, 
 
 which 
 
CHAP. III. Improving the condition of the Poof, ^oy 
 
 which have affigned to him a place in fociety fo befet with urw.voidablc 
 diftrefs and dependance. In fearching for objeds of accufation^ he 
 never adverts to the quarter from which all his misfortunes originate. 
 The laft perfon that he would think of accufmg ishimfelf, on whom, 
 in faft,. the whole of the blame lies, except in as far as he has been 
 deceived by the higher clafles of fociety. He may perhaps wifli that 
 he had not married, becaufe he now feels the inconveniences of it ; 
 but it never enters into his head that he can have done any thing 
 wrong. He has always been told that to raifc up fubjedls for his 
 king and country rs a very meritorious a(5l. He has done this aft, 
 and yet is fuifering for it. He naturally thinks that he is fuffering 
 for righteoufnefs fake ; and it cannot but ftrike him as moil extremely 
 "unjuft and cruel in his king and country, to allow him thus to fuffer, 
 in return, for giving them what they are continually declaring that, 
 they particularly want. 
 
 Till thefe erroneous ideas have been corrected, and the language of 
 nature and reafon has been generally heard on the fubjedl of popula- 
 tion, inftead of the language of error and prejudice, it cannot be faid' 
 that any fair experiment has been made with the underflandings of 
 the common people ;. and we cannot juftly accufe them of improvi*- 
 dence and want of induilry, till they a6l as they do now, after it has 
 been brought home to their comprehenflons, that they are themfelves 
 the caufe of their own poverty ; that the means of redrcfs are in- 
 their own hands, and in the hands of no other perfons whatever ;. 
 that the fociety in which they live, and the government which pre- 
 fides over it, are- totally without power in this refpeft ; and however 
 ardently they may defire to relieve them, and whatever attempts 
 they may make to do fo, they arc really and truly unable to execute 
 what they benevolently wilh, but unjuftly promife ; that when the 
 wages of labour will not maintain a family, it is an incontrovertible 
 fign that their king and country do not want more fubjefts, or at 
 Icaft that they cannot fupport them ; that if they marry in this cafe,, 
 fo far from fulfilling a. duty to fociety, they are throwing a ufelefs 
 
 3 T Z- burden 
 
^o8 Of the only effedual mode of book iv. 
 
 burden on it, at the fame time that they are plunging themfelves 
 into diftrefs ; and that they are acting directly contrary to the will 
 of God, and bringing down upon themfelves various difeafes, which 
 might all, or in a great part, have been avoided, if they had attended 
 to the repeated admonitions which he gives, by the general laws of 
 nature, to every being capable of reafon. 
 
 Dr. Paley, in his Moral Philofophy, obferves, that " in countries 
 ^' in which fubfiflence is become fcarce, it behoves the ftate to 
 " watch over the publick morals with increafed folicitude; for 
 " nothing but the inftind: of nature, under the reftraint of chaftity, 
 " will induce men to undertake the labour, or confent to the facri- 
 '* fice of perfonal liberty and indulgence, which the fupport of a 
 " family in fuch circumftances requires *." That it is always the 
 duty of a ftate to ufe every exertion, likely to be effectual, in 
 difcouraging vice and promoting virtue, and that no temporary cir- 
 cumftances ought to caufe any relaxation in thefe exertions, is cer- 
 tainly true. The means therefore propofed, are always good ; but 
 the particular end in view, in this cafe, appears to be abfolutely cri- 
 minal. We wiih to force people into marriage, when, from the 
 acknowledged fcarcity of fubfiftence, they will have little chance of 
 being able to fupport their children. We might as well force people 
 into the water who are unable to fwim. In both cafes we rafhly 
 tempt Providence. Nor have we more reafon to believe, that a 
 miracle will be worked to fave us from the mifery and mortality 
 refulting from our conducfl, in the one cafe, than in the other. 
 
 The objc6l of thofe who really wifli to better the condition of the 
 lower clafTes of fociety, muft be, to raife the relative proportion 
 between the price of labour and . the price of provifions ; fo as to 
 enable the labourer to command a larger fliare of the neceflaries and 
 comforts of life. We have hitherto principally attempted to attain 
 this end, by encouraging the married poor, and confequently increaf- 
 
 f Vpl. ii. c. xi, p. 352. 
 
 ing 
 
CHAP. III. mprovhig the condJi'ion of the Poor, ^ ^ogi 
 
 ing the number of labourers, and overftocking the market with a 
 commodity, which we ftill fay that we wilh to be dear. It would 
 feem to have required no great fpirit of divination to foretell the certain 
 failure of fuch a plan of proceeding. There is nothing however, 
 like experience. It has been tried in many different countries, and 
 for many hundred years, and the fuccefs has always been anfwerable 
 to the nature of the fcheme. It is really time now to try fomething 
 elfe. 
 
 When it was found, that oxygene, or pure vital air, would not 
 cure confumptions, as was exped:ed, but rather aggravated their 
 lymptoms ; a trial was made of an air of the mofl oppofite kind. 
 I wifli we had acfled with the fame philofophical fpirit in our 
 attempts to cure the difeafe of poverty ; and having found that the 
 pouring in of frefh fupplies of labour, only tended to aggravate the 
 lymptoms, had tried what would be the effed: of withholding a little 
 thefe fupplies. 
 
 . In all old and fully-peopled ftates, it is from this method, and 
 this alone, that we can rationally expecft any effential and permanent 
 amelioration in the condition of the lower claffes of people. 
 
 In an endeavour to raife the proportion of the quantity of pro- 
 vifions to the number of confumers, in any country, our attention 
 would naturally be firft directed to the increafmg of the abfolute 
 quantity of pro vifions; but finding that as fail as we did this, the 
 number oi confumers more than kept pace with it, and that, with 
 all our exertions, we were ftill as far as ever behind, we iliould be 
 convinced that our efforts, directed only in this way, would never 
 fucceed. It would appear to be fetting the tortoife to catch the 
 hare. Finding, therefore, that, from the laws of nature, we could 
 not proportion the food to the population, our next attempt fliould 
 naturally be to proportion the population to the food. If we can 
 perfuade the hare to go to flecp, the tortoife may have fome 
 chance of overtaking her. 
 
 We are not, however, to relax our efforts in increafing the 
 
 quantity 
 
5 to Oftlieonlytffedltialmode^^c. book i v. 
 
 quantity of provisions ; but to combine another effort with it, that 
 of keeping the population, when once it has been overtaken, at 
 fuch a diftance behind, as to effedl the relative proportion which we 
 defire ; and thus unite the two grand defiderata, a great adual popu- 
 lation, and a ftate of fociety in which fqualid poverty and depend- 
 ence are comparatively but little known ; two objedls which are far 
 from being incompatible. 
 
 If we be really ferious in what appears to be the objedl of fucb 
 general refearch, the mode of effentially and permanently bettering^ 
 the condition of the poor, we muft explain to them the true nature 
 of their fituation, and fhow them, that the w^ithholdlng of the 
 fupplies of labour is the only poffible way of really raifnig its price ; 
 and that they themfelves being the poll'eflbrs of this commodity 
 have alone the power to do this. 
 
 I cannot but confider this mode of diminifhing poverty, as fa 
 perfed;ly clear in theory, and fo invariably confirmed by the analogy 
 ? of every other commodity that is brought to market, that nothing 
 hut its being fliewn to be calculated to produce "greater evils tharii 
 it propofes to remedy, can juftify us in not making the attempt to 
 put it into execution. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 5^i ) 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 OhjeSilons to this mode confidered. 
 
 One objedlon, which perhaps will be made to this plan, is that, 
 from which alone it derives its value a market rather underftocked 
 with labour. This muft undoubtedly take place in a certain degree; 
 but by no means in fuch a degree as to afFe6l the wealth and 
 profperity of the country. The way in which we are going on at 
 prefent, and the enormous increafe in the price of provifions, which 
 fcems to threaten us, will tend much more efFed:ually to enable 
 foreigners to underfell us in the markets of Europe, than the plan 
 now propofed. If the population of this country were better pro- 
 portioned to its food, the nominal price of labour might be lower 
 than it is now, and yet be fufficient to maintain a wife and fix 
 children. But putting this fubjc6l of a market underftocked with 
 labour, in the moft unfavourable point of view, if the rich will not 
 fubmit to a flight inconvenience neceflarily attendant on the attain- 
 ment of what they profefs to defire, they cannot really be in earneft 
 in their profeffions. Their benevolence to the poor, muft be either 
 childifli play, or hypocrily ; it muft be either to amufe themfelves, 
 or to pacify the minds of the common people w^ith a mere fhew of 
 attention to their wants. To wifh to better the condition of the 
 poor, by enabling them to command a greater quantity of the necef- 
 faries and comforts of life, and then to complain of high wages, is 
 the a6l of a filly boy who gives away his cake and then cries for it. 
 A market overftockcd with labour, and an ample remuneration toT 
 3 each 
 
 
$12 Ohje^/ions to this mode^ conjidered, book it. 
 
 each labourer, are objects perfedly incompatible with each other. 
 In the annals of the world they never exifted together; and to* 
 couple them, even in imagination, betrays a grofs ignorance of the 
 fimpleft principles of political economy. 
 
 A fecond objediion that may be made to this plan is, the dimi- 
 nution of population that it would caufe. It is to be confidered^ 
 however, that this diminution is merely relative; and when once 
 this relative diminution had been effecfled, by keeping the population: 
 ftationary, while the fupply of food had increafed, it might then 
 ftart afrefh, and continue increaling for ages, with the increafe of 
 food, maintaining always the fame rektive proportion to it. I can- 
 eafily conceive, that this country with a proper direction of the 
 national induftry, might, in the courfe of fome centuries, contain 
 two or three times its prefent population, and yet, every man in the 
 kingdom be much better {td and clothed than he is at prefent. While 
 the fprings of induftry continue in vigour, and a fufficient part of 
 that induftry is directed to agriculture, we need be under no appre- 
 henfions of a deficient population; and nothing^ perhaps would tend 
 fo ftrongly to excite a fpirit of induftry and economy among thjC 
 poor, as a thorough knowledge that their happinefs muft always de- 
 pend principally upon themfelvcs; and that if they obey their paffions 
 in oppofition to their reafon, or be not induflrious and frugal while 
 they are fmgle men, to fave a fum for the common contingencies 
 of the married ftate, they muft exped: to fufFer the natural evils 
 which Providence has prepared for thofe who difobey its repeated 
 admonitions. 
 
 A third obje(5lion which may be flarted to this plan, and the only 
 one which appears to me to have any kind of plaufibility, is, that, 
 by endeavouring to urge the duty of moral reftraint on the poor, we 
 may increafe the quantity of vice relating to the fex. 
 
 I Ihould be moft extremely forry to fay any thing which could 
 either directly or remotely be conftrued unfavourably to the caufe of . 
 Tirtue: but I certainly cannot think that the vices which relate to 
 I the 
 
CHAP. IV, Ohje^loiis to this mode conjtdered, 513 
 
 the fex, are the only vices which are to be confidered in a moral 
 queftion ; or that they are even the greateft and moft degrading to 
 the human character. They can rarely or never be committed 
 without producing unhappinefs fomewhere or other, and therefore 
 ought always to be ftrongly reprobated ; but there are other vices, 
 the effects of which are ftill more pernicious ; and there are other 
 iituations, which lead more certainly to moral offences than the 
 refraining from marriage. Powerful as may be the temptations to a 
 breach of chaftity, I am inclined to think that they are impotent, in 
 comparifon of the temptations arifmg from continued dillrefs. A 
 large clafs of women, and many men, I have no doubt, pafs a con- 
 fiderable part of their lives in moral reftraint; but I believe there 
 will be found very few, who pafs through the ordeal of fqualid and 
 hopelefs poverty, or even of long continued embarrafled circumflances, 
 without a confiderable moral degradation of character. 
 
 In the higher and middle claffes of fociety, it is a melancholy and 
 diftreffing fight to obferve, not unfrequently, a man of a noble and 
 ingenuous difpofition, once feelingly alive to a fenfe of honour and 
 integrity, gradually fmking under the prelTure of circumflances, 
 making his excufes at firll, with a blufli of confcious lliame, afraid 
 of feeing the faces of his friends from whom he may have borrowed 
 money, reduced to the meaneft tricks and fubterfuges, to delay or 
 avoid the payment of his juft debts; till ultimately grown familar 
 with falfehood, and at enmity with the world, he lofes all the 
 grace and dignity of man. 
 
 To the gen^eral prevalence of indigence, and the extraordinary 
 encouragements which we afford in this country to a total want of 
 forefight and prudence among the common people % is to be attri- 
 buted 
 
 * Mt. Colquhoun, Speaking of ihe poor laws, obferves, that, " in fpite of all the 
 * ingenious arguments which have been ufci in favour of a fyftem, admitted to be 
 ** wifely conceived in its origin, the efFe<Sts it has produced inconteftably prove, that, with 
 rcfpedl to the mafs-ofthe poor, there is fomething radically wrong in the execution. 
 
 3 U *' If 
 
^14 ChjeBJons to this mode confidered, kook iv. 
 
 buted the principal part of thofe continual depredations on pro- 
 perty, and other more atrocious crimes, which drive us to the 
 painful refource of fuch a number of executions ^. According to 
 Mr. Colquhoun, above twenty thoufand miferable individuals of 
 various clafles, rife up every morning, without knowing how, or by 
 what means, they are to be fupported during the paffing day ; or 
 where, in many inftances, they are to lodge on the fucceeding 
 night ^.' It is by thefe unhappy perfons that the principal depre- 
 dations on the public are committed; and, fuppofmg but few of 
 them to be married and driven to thefe acls, from the neceffity of 
 fupporting their children; yet flill it will not ceafe to be true, that 
 the too great frequency of marriage among the pooreft clafles, is 
 one of the principal caufes of the temptations to thefe crimes. A 
 conilderable part of thefe unhappy wretches will probably be found 
 to be the offspring of fuch marriages, educated in workhouies, wherg 
 every vice is propagated, or bred up at home in filth and rags, and 
 with an utter ignorance of every moral obligation ^ A ftill greater 
 part, perhaps, confifts of perfons, who, being unable for fome time to 
 get employment, owing to the full fupply of labour, have been 
 urged to thefe extremities by their temporary wants, and having 
 thus loft their charadlers, are reje<5ted, even when their labour may 
 be wanted, by the well-founded caution of civil fociety ^. 
 
 When 
 
 *' If it were not fo, it is impoffible that there could exift in the metropolis fuch an 
 ' inconceivable portion of human mifery ainidft examples of munificence and bene- 
 " volence unparallelled in any age or country." Police of Metropolis, c. xiii. p. 359. 
 
 In the efFe6ts of the poor laws, I fully agree with Mr. Colquhoun ; but I cannot 
 agree with him in admitting that the fyftem was well conceived in its origin. I attribute 
 flill more evil to the original ill conception, than to the fubfequent ill execution. 
 
 ^ Mr. Colquhoun obferves, that, "Indigence, in the prefent llate of fociety, maybe 
 ' confidered as a principal caufe of the increafe of crimes." Police of Metropolis, c. xiii. 
 p. 353. ^ Id. c. xi. p. 313. ' Ibid. andc. xii. p. 355, 370, 
 
 ^ Police of the Metropolis, c. xiii. p, 353. et feq. in fo large a town as LondoB, 
 whlcl^muft neceflarily encourage a prodigious influx of ftrangers from the country, there 
 
 Hiuft 
 
CHA-p. IV. OhjcSlions lo this mode coTiJidered. 515 
 
 When indigence does not produce overt ads of vice, it palfies 
 every virtue. Under the continued temptations to a breach of 
 chaftity, occafional failures may take place, and the moral fcnfibility, 
 in other refpedis, not be very ftrikingly impaired ; but the con- 
 tinued temptations vs^hich befet hopelefs poverty, and the ftrong fenfe 
 of injuftice that generally accompanies it from an ignorance of its 
 true caufe, tend fo powerfully to four the difpofition, to harden the 
 heart, and deaden the moral fenfc, that, generally fpeaking, virtue 
 takes her flight clear away from the tainted fpot, and does not 
 often return. 
 
 Even with refpedl to the vices which relate to the fex, marriage 
 has been found to -be by no means a complete remedy. Among the 
 
 muft be always a great many perfons out of work ; and it Is poffible that fome publick 
 inftitution for the relief of the cafual poor, upon a plan fimilar to that propofed by Mr. 
 Colquhoun, (c. xiii. p. 371.) might, under very judicious management, produce more 
 good than evil. But, for this purpofc, it would be abfolutely neceflary, that if 
 work were provided by the inftitution, the fum that a man could earn by it, fhould be 
 lefs than the worfl paid common labour; otherwife the claimants would rapidly increafe, 
 and the funds would foon he inadequate to their objc61:. In the inftitution at Ham- 
 burgh, which appears to have been the moft fuccefsful of any yet eftabliflied, the nature 
 of the work was fuch, that, though paid above the ufual price, a perfon could not eaflly 
 earn by it, more than eighteen pence a week. It was the determined principle of the ma- 
 nagers of the inftitution to reduce the fupport which, they gave, lower than what any in- 
 fluftrious man or woman in fuch circumftances could earn. (Account of the management 
 of the poor in Hamburgh, by C. Voght, p. 18.) And it is to this principle that they 
 attribute thei^ fuccefs. it Ihould be obferved, however, that neither the inftitution at Ham- 
 burgh, nor that planned by Count Rumford in Bavaria, has fubfifted long enough for us to 
 be able to pronounce on their permanent good eff'cdls. It will not; admit of a doubt that 
 inftitutions for tlie relief of the poor, on their firft eftabliftiment, remove a great quantity 
 of diftrefs. 1 he only queftion is, whether, as fucceeding generations arife, the increaftng 
 funds neceflary for their fupport, and the increaftng numbers that become dependent, 
 are not greater evils, than that, which was to be remedied ; and whether the country 
 will not ultimately be left with as much mendicity as before, befides all the poverty and 
 dependence accumulated in the publick inftitutions. This feems to be nearly the cafe in 
 England at prefent. I do not believe that we fhould have more beggars, if we had no 
 poor laws. 
 
 3 U ^ higher 
 
5i6 OhjeSiions to thh mode coiijidered, book i v. 
 
 higher clafles, our Dodors Commons, and the lives that many- 
 married men are known to lead, fufficiently prove this ; and the 
 fame kind of vice, though not fo much heard of among the lovv^er 
 clafTes of people, owing to their indifference and want of delicacy 
 on thefe fubjeds, is probably not very much Icfs frequent. 
 
 Add to this, that fqualid poverty, particularly when joined with 
 idlenels, is a flate the moft unfavourable to chaftity that can 
 well be conceived. The pailion is as ftrong, or nearly fo, as in 
 other fituations, and every reftraint on it, from perfonal refpedt, 
 or a fenfe of morality, is generally removed. There is a degree of 
 fqualid poverty, in which, if a girl was brought up, I fhould fay^ 
 that her being really modeft at twenty was an abfolute miraclc^^ 
 Thofe perfons muft have extraordinary minds indeed, and fuch 
 as are not ufually formed under fimilar circumftances, who can 
 continue to refpe6t themfelves, when no other perfon whatever 
 refpedis them. If the children thus brought up were even to marry 
 at twenty, it is probable that they would have paffed fome years 
 in vicious habits, before that period. 
 
 If after all, however, thefe arguments Ihould appear infufficient; 
 if we reprobate the idea of endeavouring to encourage the virtues of 
 moral reftraint and prudence among the poor, from a fear of producing 
 vice ; and if we think that to facilitate marriage by all poflible 
 means is a point of the firfl confequence to the morality and 
 happinefs of the people; let us ad: confiftently, and, before we 
 proceed, endeavour to make ourfelves acquainted with the mode by 
 which alone we can effe6l our objed. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 5^7 ) 
 
 C H A P. V. 
 
 Of the CDufequenees ofpurfulng the oppojite mode. 
 
 It is an evident truth, that whatever is the rate of increafe in the 
 means of fubfiftence, the increafe of population muft be Hmited by 
 it, at leaft after the food has once been divided into the fmallefl 
 fhares that will fupport life. All the children born, beyond what 
 wooild be required to keep up the population to this level, muft 
 neceffarily perilb, unkfs room be made for them by the deaths of 
 grown perfons. It has appeared, indeed, clearly in the courfe of 
 this work, that in all old ftates^ the marriages and births depend 
 principally upon the deaths, and that there is no encouragement tO' 
 early unions fo powerful as a great mortality. To a6l confiflently,. 
 therefore, we Ihould facilitate, inftead of foolifhly and vainly endea- 
 vouring to impede, the operations of nature, in producing this- 
 mortality ; and if we dread the too frequent vifitation of the horrid 
 form of famine, we fhould feduloufly encourage the other forms of 
 deftrudion which we compel nature to ufe. Inftead of recom- 
 mending cleanlinefs to the poor, we fhould encourage contrary 
 habits. In our towns, we ibould make the ftreets narrower, crowd; 
 more people into the houfes, and court the return of the plague. 
 In the country, we fhould build our villages near flagnant pools,, 
 and particularly encourage fcttlements in all marftiy and unwhole- 
 fome fituations% But above all, we fhould reprobate fpecific 
 
 remedies 
 
 ^ Necker, fpeaking of the proportion of the births in France, makes ufe of a new and 
 inftrudlive expreflion on this fubjeft, though he hardly feems to be fufficiently aware of 
 
 it 
 
 /^ 
 
51 8 Of the confequences ofpurfu'mg the oppojite mode. book i v. 
 
 remedies for ravaging difeafes, and thofe benevolent, but much 
 miflaken men, -who have thought they vs^ere doing a fervlce to 
 mankind by projecfting fchemes for the total extirpation of particular 
 diforders. If by thefe, and fmiilar means, the annual mortality were 
 increafed from i in ^6 or 40, to i in 18 or 2,0, w^e might, probably, 
 every one of us marry at the age of puberty, and yet few be 
 abfolutely ftarved. 
 
 If however, vfz all marry at this age, and yet ftill continue our 
 exertions to impede the operations of nature, we may reft aflured 
 tliat all our efforts will be vain. Nature will not, nor cannot be 
 defeated in her purpofes. The neceffary mortality muft come, in 
 fome form or other ; and the extirpation of one difeafe will only be 
 the fignal for the birth of another, perhaps more fatal. We cannot 
 lower the waters of mifery by preffing them down in different places 
 which muft neceffarily make them rife fomewhere elfe : the only 
 way in 'svhich we can hope to effe(5l our purpofe is by drawing 
 them off. To this courfe nature is conftantly dired:lng our attention 
 by the chaftlfements which await a contrary conduct. Thefe chaftlfe- 
 ments are more or lefs fevere, in proportion to the degree in which 
 her admonitions produce their intended effed:. In this country, at 
 prefent, thefe admonitions "are by no means entirely negled:cd. The 
 preventive check to population prevails to a confiderable degree, and 
 her chaftlfements are, in confequencc, moderate : but if we were all 
 to marry at the age of puberty, they would be fevere indeed. Po- 
 litical evils would probably be added to phyfical. A people goaded 
 by conftant diftrefs, and vifited by frequent returns of famine, could 
 
 it himfelf He fays *' Le nombre des naifiances eft a celui des habitans de un a vingt* 
 *' troiset vingt-qiiatre Buns le Weux roT^traries par la nature^ ou par des clrconjiances morales: 
 " ce mcme rapport dans la plus grande partie de la France, eft de un a 25, 25 J, & 26." 
 Adminift. des Finances, lorn. i. c. ix. p. 254. i;mo. It would appear, therefore, that 
 we had nothing more to do, than to fettle people in marftiy fituations, and opprefs them 
 by a bad government, in order to attain what politicians have hitherto confulered as fo 
 defireable a great proportion of marriages, and a great proportion of births. 
 
 3 not 
 
CHAP. V. Of the confequences ofpurfuing the oppojite mode. 519 
 
 not be kept down but by a cruel defpotifm. We ihould approach 
 to the ftate of the people in Egypt or Abyffinia ; and I would afk, 
 whether, in that cafe, it is probable that we fhould be more virtuous ? 
 
 Phyficians have long remarked the great changes which take 
 place in difeafes; and that, while fome appear to yield to the efforts 
 of human care and Ikill, others feem to become, in proportion, more 
 malignant and fatal. Dr. William Heberden publiihed not long 
 fmce, fome valuable obfcrvations on this fubje6t deduced from the 
 London bills of mortality. In his preface, fpeaking of thefe bills, he 
 fays, " the gradual changes they exhibit in particular difeafes cor- 
 " refpond to the alterations which in time are known to take place,. 
 " in the channels through which the great ftream of mortality is 
 ** conftantly flowing ^" In the body of his work afterwards, 
 ipeaking of fome particular difeafes, he obfcrves with that candour 
 which always diftinguifhes true fcience: " It is not cafy to give a 
 " fatisfad:ory reafon for all the changes which may be obferved to 
 ** take place in the hiftory of difeafes. Nor is it any difgrace to 
 *' phyficians, if their caufes are often fo gradual in their operation, 
 ** or fo fubtle, as to elude inveftigation ''." 
 
 I hope I fhall not be accufed of prefumption, in venturing to 
 fuggeft, that, under certain circumftances, fuch changes mufl take 
 place; and perhaps without any alteration in thofe proximate caufes 
 which are ufually looked to on thefe occafions. If this fhould appear 
 to be true, it will not feem extraordinary that the moft fkilful and 
 fcientific phyficians, wh'ofe bulinefs it is principally to inveftigate 
 proximate caufes, fliould fometimes fearch for thefe caufes in vain. 
 
 In a country which keeps its population at a certain ftandard, if 
 the average number of marriages and births be given, it is evident, 
 that the average number of deaths will alfo be given ; and, to ufb 
 Dr. Heberden's metaphor, the channels through which the great 
 
 Obfervat'iGns on the Increafe and Decicafe of different Difeafes. Preface, pi v. 
 4to. 1801. ^ Id. p. 43 
 
 ftream 
 
5^0 Of the confequences of purfiung the oppofte mode, book iv. 
 
 flream of mortality is conftantly flowing, will always convey off a 
 given quantity. Now if we flop up any of thefe channels, it is 
 mofl perfectly clear, that the flream of mortality mufl run with 
 greater force through fome of the other channels ; that is, if wc 
 eradicate fome difeafes, others will become proportionally more fatal. 
 In this cafe the only diflinguifhable caufe is the damming up a necef- 
 fary outlet of mortality *. Nature, in the attainment of her great 
 purpofes, feems always to feize upon the weakefl part. If this part be 
 made flrong by human fkill, fhe feizes upon the next weakefl part, 
 and fo on in fuccefRon; not like a capricious deity, with an intention 
 to fport with our fufferings, and conflantly to defeat our labours ; but 
 like a kind though fometimes fevere inflrudlor, with the intention of 
 teaching us to make all parts flrong, and to chace vice and mifery 
 from the earth. In avoiding one fault we are too apt to run into 
 ibme other ; but we always find nature faithful to her great objeft, 
 at every falfe flep we commit, Teady to admonifh us of our errors, 
 by the inflLclion of fome phyfical or moral evil. If the prevalence 
 of the preventive check to population, in a fufficient degree, were to 
 remove many of thofe difeafes which now afflict us, yet be ac- 
 <x>mpanied by a confiderable increafe of the vice of promifcuous 
 intercourfe; it is probable that the diforders and unhappinefs, the 
 phyfical and moral evils arifing from this vice, would increafe 
 in flrength and degree, and, admonifhing us feverely of our error, 
 would point to the only line of condud; approved by nature, 
 reafon, and religion, abflinence from marriage till we can fupport 
 our children, and chaflity till that period arrives. 
 
 In the cafe juii flated, in which the population and the 
 ?number of marriages are fuppofcd to be fixed, the neceffity of 
 a change in the mortality of fome difeafes, from the diminution 
 .or extinction of others, is capable of mathematical demonflration. 
 Tlie only obfcurity which can poffibly involve this fubje<5l, arifes 
 
 * The way in which it operates is probably by iacreaiiiig poverty, ia confequence of a 
 fupply of labour too rapid for the demand, 
 
 7 . from 
 
CHAP. V. Of the confequences of purfulng the oppofte mode^ 551 
 
 from taking into confideration the effed: that might be produced 
 by a diminution^of mortality, in increafmg the population, or in 
 decreafmg the number of maoriages. That the removal of any of the 
 particular caufes of mortality can have no further effed: upon popu- 
 lation, than the means of fubfiflence will allow; and that it has little 
 or no influence on thefe means of fubfiflence, is a fad:, of which, I 
 hope, the reader is already convinced. Of its operation in tending to 
 prevent marriage, by diminilhing the demand for frefli fupplies of 
 children, I have no doubt ; and there is reafon to think that it had 
 this effed, in no inconfiderable degree, on the extindion of the plague, 
 which had fo long and io dreadfully ravaged this country. Dr. 
 Heberden draws a flriking pidure of the favourable change obferved 
 in the health of the people of England fince this period ; and juftly 
 attributes it to the improvements which have gradually taken place, 
 not only in London, but in all great towns ; and in the manner of 
 living throughout the kingdom, particularly with refped to cleanli- 
 nefs and ventilation \ But thefe caufes would not have been adequate 
 to the effed: obferved, if they had not been accompanied by an 
 increafe of the preventive check ; and, probably, the fpirit of clean- 
 linefs, and better mode of living, which then began to prevail, by 
 fpreading more generally a decent and ufeful pride, principally 
 contributed to this increafe. The diminution in the number of 
 marriages, however, was not fufficient to make up for the great 
 decreafe of mortality, from the extindion of the plague, and the 
 (Iriking redu<ftion of the deaths in the dyfentcry ^, While thefe, 
 and fome other diforders, became almoft ' evanefcent, confumption, 
 palfy, apoplexy, gout, lunacy, and thefmall-pox, became more mortal''. 
 The widening of thefe drains was neceflary to carry off the popu- 
 lation which ftill remained redundant, notwithftanding the increafed 
 operation of the preventive check, and the part whieh was annually 
 difpofed of, and enabled to exift, by the increafe of agriculture. 
 
 Obferv. on Inc. and Dec of Difeafes, p. 35. ^ Id. p. 34. 
 
 ' Id. p. 36. et feq. 
 
 q X Dx. 
 
^SZ Of the confeqtiences of purfu'ing the oppojite mode; BoaKiiis.. 
 
 Dr. Haygarth, in the fketch of his benevolent plan for the exter- 
 mination of the cafual fmall-pox, draws a frightful pid:ure of the 
 mortality which has been occafioned by this diftemper; attributes to 
 it the flow progrefs of population ; and makes fome curious calcu- 
 lations on the favourable eifedls which would be produced^ in this 
 refped:, by its extermination ^. His conclufions, howeveri t fear, 
 would not follow from his premifes. I am far from doubting that 
 millions and millions of human beings have been deftroyed by the 
 iirrall-pox. But were its devaftationsj as Dr. Haygarth fuppofes, many 
 thoufand degrees greater than the plague ^ L fliould ftill doubti, 
 whether the average population of the earth had been diminiflied by 
 them a fmgle unit. The fmall-pox is certainly one of the channels, 
 and a very broad one, which nature has opened for the laft thoufand 
 years, to keep down th^e population to the level of the means cf 
 fubfiftenee; but had this been clofed, others would have become 
 wider, or new ones would have been formed. In antient times the 
 mortality from war and the plague, was incomparably gr<:ater than in 
 modern. On the gradual diminution of this ftream of mortality, 
 the generation, and almoft univerfal prevalence, of the fmall-pox is 
 a great and flriking inftance, of one of thofe changes in the channels 
 of mortality, which ought to awaken our attention, and animate us 
 to patient and perfevering inveftigation. For my own part, I feel 
 not the flighted: doubt, that, if the iatrodu(5lion. of the cow-pox 
 Ihould extirpate the fmall-pox, and yet the number of marriages 
 continue the fame, we fhall find a very perceptible difference in the 
 increafed mortality of fome other difeafes. Nothing could prevent 
 this efFedl, but a fudden ftart in our agriculture ; and fhould this 
 take place, whick I fear we have not much reafon to exped:, it 
 will not be owing to the number of children faved from death by 
 the cow-pox inoculation, but to the alarms occafioned among the 
 people of property by the late fcarci ties, and to tlie increafed gains of 
 
 Vol. i. part ii. fedt. v. and vi. *> Id. f. viTi. p. 164. 
 
 farmers, 
 
CHAP. v. Of the con/equences ofpiirfuhg the oppojtte mode^ 5^3 
 
 farmers, which have been fo abfurdly reprobated. I am ftrongly, 
 however, indined to believe, that the number of marriages will 
 not, in this cafe, remain the fame ; but that the gradual light 
 which may be expected to be thrown, on this interefting topic of 
 human inquiry, will teach us how to make the extindion of a mortal 
 diforder, a real bleffing to us, a real improvement in the general 
 health and happinefs of the fociety. 
 
 If, on contemplating the increafe of vice which might contin- 
 gently follow an attempt to inculcate the duty of moral reftraint, and 
 the increafe of mifcry that muft neceflarily follow the attempts to 
 encourage marriage and population, we come to the conclufion, 
 not to interfere in any refpe6l, but to leave every man to his own 
 free choice, and refponfible only to God for the evil which he does, 
 in either way; this is all I contend for; I would on no account do 
 more ; but I contend that at prefent we arc very far from doing 
 this. 
 
 Among the lower clafles, where the point is of the greateft Im- 
 portance, the poor laws afford a direct, conftant, and fyftematical 
 encouragement to marriag<;, by removing from each individual that 
 heavy refponfibillty, which he would incur by the laws of nature, 
 for bringing beings into the world which he could not fupport. 
 Our private benevolence has the lame direction as the poor laws, and 
 almoft invariably tends to facilitate the rearing of families, and to 
 equalize, as much poffible, the circumftances of married and fingle 
 men. 
 
 Among the higher dafles of people, the fuperior diftin<5lions which 
 married women receive, and the marked inattentions to which 
 fmgle women of advanced age are expofed, enable many men, 
 who are neither agreeable in mind or perfon, and are befides 
 in the wane of life, to choofe a partner among the young and fair 
 inftcad of being confined, as nature feems to didlate, to perfons of 
 nearly their own age and accomplifliments. It is fcarccly to be 
 doubted, that the fear of being an old maid, and of that filly and 
 
 3 X ;5 unjuft 
 
^2J. Of the confequences ofpiirfuhig the oppojtte mode, book it. 
 
 unjuft ridicule, which folly fometimes attaches to this name, drivel 
 many women into the marriage union, with men whom they 
 diflike, or, at beft, to whom they are perfedly indifferent. Such, 
 marriages muft to every delicate mind appear little better than legal 
 proftitutions ; and they often burden the earth with unnecefTury 
 children, without compenfating for it by any acceffion of happinefs 
 and virtue to the parties themfelves. 
 
 Throughout all the ranks of fociety, the prevailing opinions refpeA- 
 ing the duty and obligation of marriage, cannot but have a very 
 powerful influence. The man who thinks that in going out of the 
 world without leaving reprefentatives behind him, he fhall have 
 failed in an important duty to fociety, will be difpofed to force^ 
 rather than to reprefs, his inclinations on this fubjeft; and when 
 his reafon reprefents to him the difficulties attending a family^ 
 he will endeavour not to attend to thefe fuggeftions, will flill 
 determine to venture, and will hope that, in the difcharge of 
 what he conceives to be his duty, he fliall not be deferted by 
 Providence. 
 
 In a civilized country, fuch as England, where a tafte for the 
 decencies and comforts of life prevail among a very large clafs of 
 people, it is not pofTible that the encouragements to marriage from 
 pofitive inflitutions and prevailing opinions, Ihould entirely obfcure 
 the light of nature and reafon vOn this fubjed: ; but flill they con- 
 tribute to make it comparatively weak and indiflind.. And till this 
 obfcurity is entirely removed, and the poor are undeceived with 
 refped: to the principal caufe of their pafl poverty, and taught to 
 know that their future happinefs or mifery mufl depend chiefly 
 upon themfelves, it cannot be faid, that, with regard to the great 
 queflion of marriage, or celibacy, we leave every man to his own 
 free and fair choice. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( s^s ) 
 
 C H A p. VI. 
 
 Effe6i of the knowledge of the principal caufe of poverty on Civil Liberty, 
 
 It may appear, perhaps, that a dcxftrlne, which attributes the great- 
 eft part of the fufferings of the lower clafles of fbciety exclufively to 
 themfelves, is unfavourable to the caufe of liberty ; as affording a 
 tempting opportunity to governments of oppreffing their fubjedls at 
 pleafure,. and laying the whole blame on the laws of nature and the 
 imprudence of tbs poor. We are not, however, to truft to firft 
 appearances ; and I am ftrongly difpofed to believe, that thofe who* 
 will be at the pains to confider this fubjed: deeply, wiil be convinced, 
 that nothing would fo powerfully contribute to the advancement of 
 rational freedom, as a thorough knowledge generally circulated, of 
 the principal caufe of poverty ; and that the ignorance of this caufe, 
 and the natural confequcnces of this ignorance, form, at prefent, one 
 of the chief obftackb to its progrefs. 
 
 The prciTure of diftrefs on the lower clafles of people, with the 
 habit of attributing this diftrefs to their rulers, appears to me to be 
 the rock of defence, the caftle, the guardian fpirit, ofdefpotifm. It 
 affords to the tyrant the fatal and unanfwerable plea of neceflity. It 
 is the reafon that every free government tends conftantly to its 
 deftrudlion ; and that its appointed guardians become daily lefs 
 jealous of the encroachments of power. It is the reafon that fo 
 many noble efforts in the caufe of freedom have failed, and that 
 almoft every revolution, after long and painful facrifices, has termi- 
 nated in a military defpotifm. While any diffatisficd man of talents 
 
^2^ Tffeul of the htowkifge of the book iv, 
 
 has power to perfuade the lower clafTes of people, that all their 
 poverty and diflrefs arife folely from the iniquity of the government, 
 though perhaps the greateft part of what they fuffer is totally uncon- 
 ne6led with this caufe, it is evident that the feeds of frefli difcontents, 
 and frefh revolutions, are continually fowing. When an cflablifhed 
 government has been deftroyed, finding that their poverty is not 
 removed, their refentment naturally falls upon the fucceflbrs to 
 power ; and when thefe have been immolated without producing the 
 defired effed:, other facrifices are called for, and fo on without end. 
 Are we to be ^urprifed, that, under fuch circumftances, the majority 
 of well-difpofed people, finding that a government, with proper 
 refi:ri<5lions, was unable to fupport itfelf againfi: the revolutionary 
 fpirit, and weary and exhaufled with perpetual change, to which they 
 coujd fee no end, fhould give up the flruggle in defpair, and throw 
 themfelves into the arms of the firll: power which could afford them 
 protection agalnfi: the horrors of anarchy. 
 
 A mob, which is generally the growth of a redundant population, 
 goaded by refentment for real fufferings, but totally ignorant of the 
 quarter from which they originate, is, of all monfters, the mofi: fatal 
 to freedom. It fofters a prevailing tyranny, and engenders one 
 where it was not ; and though, in its dreadful fits of refentment, it 
 appears occafionally to devour its unfightly offspring; yet no fooner 
 is the horrid deed committed, than, however unwilling it may be to 
 propagate fuch a breed, it immediately groans with the pangs of a 
 new birth. 
 
 Of the tendency of mobs to produce tyranny, we may not be long 
 without an example in this country. As a friend to freedom, and aii 
 enemy to large {landing armies, it is with extreme relu<5lance that I 
 am compelled to acknowledge, that, had it not been for the organized 
 force in the country, the diftrelTes of the people during the late 
 fcarcities, encouraged by the extreme ignorance and folly of many 
 among the higher claffes, might have driven them to commit the 
 inwft dreadful outrages, and ultimately to involve the country in all 
 
 the 
 
CHAP. VI. principal ca7ife of- poverty on CivU Liberty, ^zj 
 
 the horrors of famine. Should fuch periods often recur, a recurrence 
 which we have too much reafon ta apprehend from the prefent ftate 
 of the country, the prorpe<5l which opens to our view is melancholy 
 in the extreme. The EngUlli eonftitution will be feen haflening 
 with rapid ftrides to the Euthanafia foretold by Hume; unlefs 
 its progrefs be interrupted by fome popular commotion ; and this 
 alternative prefents a pic^ture ftill more appalling to the imagination. 
 If political difcontents were blended with the cries of hunger, and a 
 revolution were to take place by the inftrumentality of a mob, cla- 
 mouring for want of food, the consequences would be unceafing 
 change, and unceafing carnage,, the bloody career of which, nothing 
 but the eftablilliment of fome complete defpotifm could arreft. 
 
 We can fcarcely believe that the appointed guardians of Britifli- 
 liberty fhould quietly have acquiefced in thofe gradual encroach- 
 ments of power, which have taken place of late years, but from tha 
 apprehenfion of thefe flill more dreadful evils. Great as has been 
 the influence of corruption, I cannot yet think fo meanly of the 
 country gentlemen of England, as to believe that they would thus 
 have given up a part of their birthright of liberty, if they had not 
 been ad:uated by a real and genuine fear, tliat it was then in. greater 
 danger from the people, than, from the crovv^n. They appeared to 
 iurrender themfelves to g.ovemment on condition of being protend 
 firom the mob ;. but they never would have made this melancholy 
 Mid dilheartening furrender, if fuch a mob had not exifted either ia 
 reality or in imagination. That the fears on this fubjed: were art- 
 fully exaggerated, and increafed beyond the limits of juft apprehea- 
 ijion, is undeniable ;, but I think it is alfo undeniable, that the frequent: 
 declamation which was heard againft the unjuft inftitutlons of fociety, 
 and the delufive arguments on equality which were cir-culated among 
 the lower clail'es, gaye us jufl reafon to fuppofe, that if the vox populi 
 had been allowed to fpeak, it would have, appeared to be the voidr 
 of error and abfurdity, inftead oi t\\Q, vox Dei. 
 
 To. fay that our conduct is not. to be regulated by circumilances, 
 
 i& 
 
5^8 "Effe Si of the knowledge of the book iv, 
 
 is to betray an ignorance of the moft folld and incontrovertible prin- 
 ciples of morality. Though the admiffion of this principle may 
 fometimes afford a cloke to changes of opinion that do not refult from 
 the pureft motives ; yet the admiffion of a contrary principle would 
 be produd:ive of infinitely worfe confequences. The phrafe of exift- 
 ihg circumftances has, I believe, not unfrequently created a fmile in 
 the Englifh Houfe of Commons ; but the fmile Ihould have been 
 referved for the application of the phrafe, and not have been excited 
 by the phrafe itfelf. A very frequent repetition of it, has indeed, of 
 itfelf, rather a fufpicious air ; audits application lliould always be 
 watched with the moft jealous and anxious attention ; but no man 
 ought to be judged in limine for faying, that exifting circumftances 
 had obliged him to alter his opinions and condu<51:. The country 
 gentlemen were perhaps too eafily convinced that exifting circum- 
 ftances called upon them to give up fome of the moft valuable 
 privileges of Englifhmen ; but, as far as they were really convinced 
 of this obligation, they aded confiftently with the cleareft rule of 
 morality. 
 
 The degree of power to be given to the civil government, and the 
 meafure of our fubmiftion to it, muft be determined by general expe- 
 diency ; and in judging of this expediency, every circumftance is to 
 be taken into confidcration ; particularly, the ftate of publick opinion, 
 and the degree of ignorance and delufion prevailing among the com- 
 mon people. The patriot, who might be called upon by the love 
 of his country, to join with heart and hand in a rifing of the people 
 for fome fpecifick attainable objeft or reform, if he knew that they 
 were enlightened refpeding their own fituation, and would ftop ftiort 
 when they had attained their demand ; would be called upon by the 
 fame motive, to fubmit to very great oppreftion, rather than give the 
 flighteft countenance to a popular tumult, the members of which, at 
 leaft the greater number of them, were perfuaded, that the deftruc- 
 tion of the Parliament, the Lord Mayor, and the monopolizers, would 
 make bread cheap, and that a revolution would enable them all to 
 
 fupport 
 
CHAP. VI. prhictpal caufe of poverty on Civil Ltherty. ^zg 
 
 fupport their families. In this cafe, it is more the ignorance and 
 delufion of the lower clafTes of people that occafions the oppreffion, 
 than the adlual difpofition of the government to tyranny. 
 
 That there is, however, in all power a conftant tendency to 
 encroach is an incontrovertible truth, and cannot be too ftrongly 
 inculcated. The checks which are neccflary to fecure the liberty of 
 the fubjedl, will always, in fome degree, embarrafs and delay the 
 operations of the executive government. The members of this govern- 
 ment feeling thefe inconveniences, while they are exerting them- 
 felves, as they conceive, in the fervice of their country, and confcious, 
 perhaps, of no ill intention towards the people, will naturally be dif- 
 pofed, on every occafion, to demand the fufpenfion or abolition of 
 thefe checks ; but if once the convenience of minifters be put into 
 competition with the liberties of the people, and we get into a habit 
 of relying on fair aflurances, and perfonal character, inftead of exa- 
 mining, with the moil fcrupulous and jealous care, the merits of each 
 particular cafe, there is an end of Britifh freedom. If we once admit 
 the principle that the government muft know better with regard to 
 the quantity of power which it wants, than we can poflibly do with 
 our limited means of information, and that therefore it is our 
 duty to furrender up our private judgments, we may juft as well, 
 at the fame time, furrender up the whole of our eonftitution. 
 Government is a quarter in which liberty is not, nor cannot be, very 
 faithfully preferved. If we are wanting to ourfelves, and inattentive 
 to our greaf interefls in this refped., it is the height of folly and 
 unreafonablenefs, to expecft that government will attend to them for 
 us. Should the Britifh conftitution ultimately lapfe into a defpotifm, 
 as has been prophefied, I fiiall think that the country gentlemen of 
 England will have readily much more to anfwerfor than the minifters. 
 
 To do the country gentlemen juftlce, however, I Ihould readily 
 acknowledge, that, in the partial dcfertion of their pofts as 
 guardians i&f Brit.ifli freedom, which lias already taken place, they 
 ha^c been aduated more by fear than treachery. And the principal 
 
 3 Y vmibn. 
 
^jo ^ff^^ of the knowledge of the book ir, 
 
 the principal reafon of this fear was, I conceive, the ignorance and 
 delufions of the common people, and the profpediive horrors which 
 were contemplated, if, in fnch a ftate of mind, thej fhould, by any 
 revolutionary movement, obtain an afcendant. 
 
 The circulation of Paine' s Rights of Man, it is fuppofed, has done 
 great mifchief among the lower and middling claffes of people in this 
 country. This is probably true ; but not becaufe man is without 
 rights, or that thefe rights ought not to be known ; but becaufe 
 Mr. Paine has fallen into fome fundamental errors refpeding the 
 principles of government, and in many important points has fliewn 
 himfelf totally unacquainted with the ftrudure of fociety, and the 
 different moral effects to be expe^ed from the phyfical difference 
 between this country and America. Mobs, of the fame defcription 
 as thofe collections of people known by this name in Europe, could 
 not exift in America. The number of people without property, is, 
 there, from the phyfical ftate of the country, comparatively fmall ; 
 and therefore the civil power which is to proted: property, cannot 
 require the fame degree of ftrength. Mr. Paine veryjuftly obferves, 
 that whatever the apparent caufe of any riots may be, the real one 
 is always want of happinefs ; but when he goes on to fay, it Ihews 
 that fomething is wrong in the lyftem of government, that injures 
 the felicity by which fociety is to be preferved, he falls into the com- 
 mon error of attributing all want of happinefs to government. It is 
 evident, that this want of happinefs might have exifted, and from 
 ignorance might have been the principal caufe of the riots, and yet 
 be almoft wholly unconned:ed with any of the proceedings of 
 government. The redundant population of an old ftate furnifhes 
 materials of unhappinefs, unknown to fuch a ftate as that of Ame- 
 rica; and if an attempt were to be made to remedy this unhappinefs, 
 by diftributing the produce of the taxes to the poorer claffes of 
 fociety, according to the plan propofed by Mr. Paine, the evil would 
 be aggravated a hundred fold, and,^in a very fhort time, no fum that 
 . a. . the 
 
CHAP. vr. prhicipal caufe of poverty on Qtvtl hiberty, J;3t 
 
 the fociety could poffibly raife, would be adequate to the propofed 
 objedl. 
 
 Nothing would fo effedually counterad: the mlfchiefs occafioned 
 by Mr. Paine's Rights of Man, as a general knowledge of the real 
 rights of man. What thefe rights are, it is not my bufinefs at prefent 
 to explain ; but there is one right, which man has generally been 
 thought to polTefs, which I am confident he neither does, nor can, 
 poffefs, a right to fubfiftence when his labour will not fairly purchafe 
 it. Our laws indeed fay, that he has this right, and bind the Ibciety 
 to furnifh employment and food to thofe who cannot get them in 
 the regular market ; but in fo doing, they attempt to reverfe the 
 laws of nature ; and it is, in confequence, to be expected, not only 
 that they fhould fail in their objedl, but that the poor who were 
 intended to be benefited, fhould fuffer moft cruelly from this inhu- 
 man deceit w^hich is prad:ifed upon them. y 
 - A man who is born into a world already pofieffed, if he cannot 
 get fubfiftence from his parents on whom he has a juft demand, and 
 if the fociety do not want his labour, has no claim of right to the 
 fmallefi: portion of food, and, in fad, has no bufinefs to be where he 
 is. At nature's mighty feaft there is no vacant cover for him. She 
 tells him to be gone, and will quickly execute her own orders, if he' 
 do not work upon the compaffion of fome of her guefts. If thefe 
 ^uefts get up and make room for him, other intruders immediately 
 appear demanding the fame favour. The report of a provifion for all 
 that come, fills the hall with numerous claimants. The order and 
 harmony of the feaft is diflurbed, the plenty that before reigned is 
 <::hanged into fcarcity; and the happinefs of the guefls is deftroyed 
 by the fpediicle of mifefy and dependence in every part of the hall, 
 and by the clamorous importunity of thofe, who are juflly enraged 
 at not finding the provifion which they had been taught to expecfl. 
 The guefls learn too late their error, in counteracting thofe flrid: orders 
 to all intruders, iflued by the great miftrefs of the feaft, who, wifliing 
 that all her guefts lliould have plenty, and knowing that fhe could 
 
 3 Y J? not 
 
^^Z tlff^^ of the knowledge of the book iv, 
 
 not provide for unlimited numbers, humanely refufcd to admit frelh 
 comers when her table was already full. 
 
 The Abbe Raynal has faid,> that " Avant toutes les loix fociales 
 " I'homme avoit le droit de fubfifter\" He might with juft as 
 much propriety have faid, that, before the inftitution of focial laws, 
 every man had a right to live a hundred years. Undoubtedly he had 
 then, and has ftill, a good right to live a hundred years, nay, a thou- 
 fand, if he can, without interfering with the right of others to live \ 
 but the affair, in both cafes, is principally an affair of power, not of 
 right. Social laws very greatly increafe this power, by enabhng a 
 much greater num^ber to fubfift, than cauld fubfiff without them, and 
 ioy far very greatly enlarge le droit defubjifler ; but neither before nor 
 after the inftitution of focial laws, could an unlimited number fub- 
 fift ; and before, as well as fmce, he who ceafed to have the power, 
 ceafed to have the right. 
 
 If the great truths on thefe fubjedb were more generally circulated^ 
 and the lower claffes of people could be convinced, that, by the laws 
 of nature, independently of any particular inftitutions, except the 
 great one of property which is abfolutely neceffary in order to attain 
 any confiderable produce, no perfon has any claim of right on fociety 
 for fubfiftence, if his labour will not purchafe it, the greateft part of 
 the mifchievous declamation on the unjuft inftitutions of fociety 
 would fall powerlefs to the ground. The poor are by no means 
 inclined to be vifionary. Their diftreffes are always real, though 
 they are not attributed to the real caufes. If thefe real cauies were 
 properly explained to them, and they were taught to know how 
 fmall a part of their prefent diftrels was attributable to government, 
 and how great a part to caufes totally unc^nnedled with it, difcon- 
 tent and irritation among the lower clafles of people would fhew 
 themfelves much lefs frequently than at prefent ; and when they 
 did fhew themfelves, would be much lefs to be dreaded. The efforts 
 
 * Rayna!, Hift. des Indes, vol. x. f. x. p. 322. 8vo.. 
 
 of 
 
CHAP. VI, pnncTpal caufe of poverty on Civil Liberty, 553 
 
 of turbulent and dlfcontented men in the middle clafles ofibciety, 
 might fafely be difregarded, if the poor were fo far enlightened 
 refpeding the real nature of their fituation, as to be aware, that by- 
 aiding them in their fchemes of renovation, they would probably be ^i^/^^ ^. 
 promoting the ambitious views of others, without, in any refpecft, /Ir^^it^ /' 
 benefiting themfelves. And the country gentlemen, and men oi^^^^'^ 
 property in England, might fecurely return to a wholefome jealouly 
 of the encroachments of power ; and, inftead of daily facrificing the 
 liberties of the fubjed:, on the altar of publick fafcty, might, without 
 any juft apprehenfion from the people, not only tread back all their 
 late fleps, but firmly infift upon thofe gradual reforms, which the 
 lapfe of time, and the ftorms of circumftances, have rendered necef^ 
 fary, to prevent the gradual deftruclion of the Britifh conftitution. 
 
 All improvements in government muft: necefiarily originate with 
 perfons of fome education, and thefe will of courfe be found among 
 the people of property. Whatever may be faid of a few, it is impof- 
 fible to fuppofe that the great mafs of the people of property Ihould 
 be really interefted in the abufes of government. They merely fub- 
 mit to them, from the fear, that an endeavour to remove them, 
 might be productive of greater evils. Could we but take away this 
 fear, reform and improvement would proceed with as much facility, 
 as the removal of nuifances, or the paving and lighting the ftreets. 
 In human life we are continually called upon, to fubmit to a lefi"er 
 evil, in order to avoid a greater; and it is the part of a wife man to 
 do this readily and cheerfully ; but no wife man will fubmit to any 
 evil, if he can get rid of it, without danger. Remove all apprehen- 
 fion from the tyranny or folly of the people, and the tyranny of 
 government could not ftand a moment. It would then appear in its 
 proper deformity, without palliation, without pretext, without pro- 
 teftor. Naturally feeble in itfelf, when it was once ftripped naked, 
 and deprived of the fupport of publick opinion, and of the great plea 
 of neceiTity, it would fall without a ftruggle. Its few interefted 
 defenders would hide their heads abaihed ; and would be alhamed 
 
^34 "Bffe^i of the knowledge of the 'BooRiv. 
 
 any longer to advocate a caufe for which no human ingenuity could 
 invent a plaulible argument. 
 
 The moft fuccelstul fupporters of tyranny are without doubt thofe 
 general declaimers, who attribute the diftrefles of the poor, and 
 almoft all the evils to which fociety is iubject, to human inftitutions 
 and the iniquity of governments. The falfity of thefe accufations, 
 and the dreadful confequences that would refuk from their being 
 generally admitted and acted upon, make it abfolutely neceflary that 
 they ihould at all events be refifted ; not only on account of the 
 immediate revolutionary horrors to be expeded from a'movement of 
 the people ading under fuch impreffions, a confideration which muft 
 at all times have very great weight ; but on account of the extreme 
 probability that fuch a revolution would terminate in a much worfe 
 defpotifm, than that which it had deftroyed. On thefe grounds^ a 
 genuine friend. of freedom, a zealous advocate for the real rights of 
 man, might be found among the defenders of a confiderable degree 
 of tyranny. A caufe. bad in itfelf, might be fupported by the good 
 and the virtuous, merely becaufe that which was oppofed to it was 
 much worfe; and at the moment ^ was abfolutely neceflary to make 
 a choice between the two. Whatever therefore may be the intention 
 of thofe indifcriminate and wholefale accufations againft govern- 
 ments, their real effed; undoubtedly is, to add a weight of talents 
 and principles to the prevailing power which it never would have 
 received otherwife. 
 
 It is a truth, which I truft has been fufficiently proved in the 
 courfe of this work, that, under a government conftruded upon the 
 bed and pureft principles, and executed by men of the higheft 
 talents and integrity, the mod fqualid poverty and wretchednefs 
 might univcrfally prevail from the principle of population alone. 
 And as this caufe of unhappinefs has hitherto been fb little under- 
 ilood, that the efforts of fociety have always tended rather to aggra- 
 vate than to lefTen it, we have the ftro ngeft reafons for fuppofing, 
 that, in all the governments with which we are acquainted, a very 
 
 great 
 
CHAP, VI, prmctpal caufe of poverty on Chil Liberty, 535 
 
 great part of the mifery to be obferved among the lower claffes of 
 the people, arifes from this caufe. 
 
 The inference, therefore, which Mr. Paine and others have drawn 
 ao-ainft governments from the unhappinefs of the people, is palpably 
 unfair ; and before we give a fan^lion to fiich accufations, it is a 
 debt we owe to truth and juftice, to afcertain how much of this 
 unhappinefs arifes from the principle of population, and how much 
 is fairly to be attributed to government. When this diftindlion has 
 been properly made, and all the vague, indefinite, and falfe accufations 
 removed, government would remain, as it ought to be, clearly refpon- 
 fible for the reft. A tenfold weight would be immediately given to 
 the caufe of the people, and every man of principle would join in 
 aflerting and enforcing, if neceffary, their rights. 
 
 I may be deceived ; but I confefs that if I were called to name the- 
 caufe, which, in my conception, had more than any other contri- 
 buted to the very flow progrefs of freedom, fo diflieartening to every 
 liberal mind, 1 fliould fay that it was the confufion that had exifted, 
 refpeding the caufes of the unhappinefs and difcontents which pre- 
 vail in fociety ; and the advantage which governments had been 
 able to take, and indeed had been compelled to take, of this, confu- 
 fion, to confirm and ftrengthen their power. I cannot help think- 
 ing, therefore, that a knowledge generally circulated, that the prin- 
 cipal caufe of want and unhappinefs is unconne(5led with govern- 
 ment, and totally beyond its power to remove ; and that it depends 
 upon the conduct of the poor themfelves ; would, inftead of giving 
 any advantage to governments, give a great additional weight to the 
 popular fide of the queftion, by removing the dangers with which, 
 from ignorance, it is at prefent accompanied ; and thus tend, in a 
 Tcry powerful manner, to promote the caufe of rational freedom. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 53^ ) 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Plan of the gradual ahoUtlon of the Poor Laws propofed. 
 
 If the principles in the preceding chapters Ihould ftand the teft of 
 examination, and we Ihould ever feel the obligation of endeavouring 
 to a<5l upon them, the next inquiry would be, in what way we ought 
 prad:ically to proceed. The firft grand obflacle which prefents itfelf 
 in this country, is the fyftem of the poor laws, which has been 
 juftly ftated to be an evil, in comparifon of which, the national debt, 
 with all its magnitude of terror, is of little moment *. The extraor- 
 dinary rapidity with which the poors rates have increafed of late 
 years, prefents us, indeed, with the profpe<5l of a monftrous defor- 
 mity in fociety, which, if it did not really exifl to a great degree at 
 prefent, and were not daily advancing in growth, w^ould be confidered 
 as perfectly incredible. It prefents us with the profpedl of a great 
 nation, flourifhing in arts, and arms, and commerce, and with a 
 government, which has generally been allowed to be the befl, which 
 has hitherto ftood the tefh of experience, in any country, and yet the 
 larger half of the people reduced to the condition of paupers ^ 
 
 Greatly as we may be fhocked at fuch a profped:, and ardently as 
 we may wilh to remove it, the evil is now fo deeply feated, and the 
 
 * Reports of the Society for bettering the condition of the poor, vol. ill, p. 21. 
 
 * It has been faid, that, during the late fcarcities, half of the population of the country 
 received relief. If the poors rates continue increafing as rapidly as they have done on 
 the average of the laft ten years, how melancholy are our future profpefts? The fyftem 
 of the pcor laws has been juftly ftated by the Fiench to be la plaic politiqne de r Jugletcrre 
 la plus divorante, (Comitc dc Mendicitc-. ) 
 
 relief 
 
C H A p . V 1 1 . Plan of a gradual aholitton, ^c. 53 y 
 
 relief given by the poor laws fo widely extended, that no man of 
 humanity could venture to propofe their immediate abolition. To 
 mitigate their efFed:s, however, and flop their future increafe, to 
 which, if left to continue upon their prefent plan, we can fee no 
 probable termination, it has been propofed to fix the whole fum to 
 be raifed, at its prefent rate, or any other that might be determined 
 upon ; and to make a law that on no account this fum fhould be 
 exceeded. The objection to this plan is, that a very large fum 
 would be ftill to be raifed, and a great number of people to be fup- 
 portcd ; the confequence of which would be, that the poor would 
 not be eafily able to diftinguiih the alteration that had been made. 
 Each individual would think that he had as good a right to be fup- 
 ported when he was in want, as any other perfon ; and thofe who 
 unfortunately chanced to be in diftrefs when the fixed fum had been 
 coUedled, would think themfelves particularly ill ufed on being 
 excluded from all affiftance, while fo many others were enjoying this 
 advantage. - If the fum collected, were divided among all that were 
 in w^ant, however their numbers might increafe ; though fuch a 
 plan would be perfectly fair, with regard to thofe who became 
 dependent, after the fum had been fixed, it would undoubtedly be 
 rather hard upon thofe, who had been in the habit of receiving a 
 more liberal fupply, and had done nothing to juflify its being taken 
 from them. 
 
 I have refle<fled much on the fubje6l of the poor law^s, and hope, 
 therefore, that I fhall be excufed, in venturing to fuggeft a mode of 
 their gradual abolition, to which, I confefs, that at prefent I can fee 
 no material objed:ion. Of this, indeed, I feel nearly convinced, that, 
 Ihould we ever become fufficiently fenfible of the wide-fpreading 
 tyranny, dependence, indolence, and unhappinefs, which they create, 
 as ferioully to make an effort to abolilh them, we fliall be compelled 
 to adopt the principle, if not the plan, which I Ihall mention. It 
 feems impoffible to get rid of fo extenfive a fyftem of fupport, con- 
 {iftently with humanity, without applying ourfelves dired:ly to its 
 
 3 Z vital 
 
53^ Plan of a gradual aboTttton . ]6gok.iv. 
 
 vital principle, and endeavouring to countera<H: that deeply- feated 
 caufe, which occafions the rapid growth of all fuch eftablifhments, 
 and invariably renders them inadequate to their objcd:. 
 
 To this end, I fhould propofe a regulation to be made, declaring, that 
 no child born from any marriage, taking place after the expiration of 
 a year from the date of the law ; and no illegitimate child born two 
 years from the fame date, ihould ever be entitled to parilh affiftance. 
 And to give a more general knowledge of this law, and to enforce it 
 more ftrongly on the minds of the lower claiTes of people, the clergy- 
 man of each parifli Ihould, previoufly to the folemnization of a mar- 
 riage, read a Ihort addrefs to the parties, ftating the ftrong obligation 
 on every man to fupport his own children; the impropriety, and even 
 immorality, of marrying without a fair profped: of being able to do 
 this ; the evils which had refulted to the poor themfelves, from the 
 attempt which had been made to aflift, by publick inftitutions, in 
 a duty which ought to be exclusively appropriated to parents; and the 
 abfolute neceflity which had at length appeared, of abandoning all 
 fuch inftitutions, on account of their producing efFe<fts totally oppo- 
 fite to thofe which were intended. 
 
 This would operate as a fair, diflinc^, and precife notice, which 
 no man could well miftake ; and, without prelling hard on any par- 
 ticular individuals, would at once throw off the rifmg generation 
 from that miferable and helplefs dependence upon the government 
 and the rich, the moral as well as phyfical confequences of which are 
 almoft incalculable. When the poor are in the habit of conftantly 
 looking to thefe fources, for all the good or evil they enjoy or fuffer,. 
 their minds muft almoft neceflarily be under a continual ftate of 
 irritation againft the higher clafles of ibciety, whenever they feel 
 diftrefled from the prefTure of circumftances. 
 
 I have often heard great furprife expreffed that the poor in this 
 
 country Ihould be with fuch difficulty perfuaded to take to any 
 
 fiibftitutes during a period of fcarcity ; but I confefs, that this fa<ft 
 
 never furprifed me in the kail. The poor are told that the parilh 
 
 I is 
 
CHAP. VII. of the Poor Lavos propofed. 539 
 
 is obliged to provide for them. This, they naturally conceive, is a 
 rich fource of fupply ; and w^hen they are offered any kind of food 
 to which they are not accuftomed, they confider it as a breach of 
 obligation in the parifli, and as proceeding, not from the hard law 
 of neceflity from which there is no appeal ; but from the injuftice and 
 hardheartednefs of the higher claiTes of fbciety, againft which they 
 would wifh to appeal to the right of the ftrongeft. The language 
 which they generally make ufe of upon thefe occafions, is, " See 
 '* what fluff they want to make us eat, I wonder how they would 
 ** like it thefnfehes, I fliould like to fee fome of them do a day's 
 ** work upon it.'* The words they and them generally refer to the 
 Parliament, the Lord Mayor, the Juftices, the Parifh, and in general 
 to all the higher clafles of fociety. Both the irritation of mind and 
 the helpleflhefs in expedients, during the preffure of want, ariie in 
 this inftance from the wretched iyftem of governing too much. 
 When the poor were once taught, by the abolition of the poor laws, 
 and a proper knowledge of their real fituation, to depend more 
 upon themfelves, we might reft fecure, that they would be fniitful 
 enough in refburces, and that the evils which were abfolutely 
 irremediable, they would bear with the fortitude of men, and the 
 refignation of Chriftians. 
 
 After the publick notice which I have propofed had been given, 
 and the fyftem of poor laws had ceafed with regard to the rifing 
 generation, if any man chofe to marry, without a profped: of being 
 able to fupport a family, he fliould have the moft perfe<^ liberty fo 
 to do. Though to marry, in this cafe, is in my opinion clearly an 
 immoral adt, yet it is not one, which fociety can juftly take upon 
 itfelf to prevent or punilh ; becaufe the punifliment provided for it 
 by the laws of nature, falls dire<ftly and moft feverely upon the 
 individual who commits the aft, and, through him, only more 
 remotely and feebly on the fociety. When nature will govern and 
 punifh for us, it is a very miferable ambition, to wifli to fnatch the 
 rod from her hands, and draw upon ourfelves the odium of 
 
 ^Z z executioner. 
 
540 Plan of a gradual ahoUlhn BooKir. 
 
 executioner. To thej)unifliment, therefore, of nature he fhould be 
 left, the punifhment of feverc want. He has erred in the face of 
 a moft clear and precife warning, and can have no jufi; reafon to 
 complain of any perfon but himfelf, when he feels the confequences 
 of his error. All parifh affiflance Ihould be moft rigidly denied 
 liim: and if the hand of private charity be ftretched forth in his 
 relief, the interefts of humanity imperioufly require that it Ihould 
 be adminiftered very fparingly. He fhould be taught to know that 
 the law^s of nature, which are the laws of God, had doomed him and 
 his family to ftarve for difobeying their repeated admonitions ; that 
 he had no claim of right on fociety for the fmalleft portion of food, 
 beyond that which his labour would fairly purchafe ; and that, if be 
 and his family were faved from fuffering the utmoft extremities of 
 hunger, he would owe it to the pity of fome kind benefactor, to 
 whom, therefore, he ought to be bound by the ftrongeft ties of 
 gratitude. 
 
 If this fyftem were purfued, we need be under no apprehensions 
 whatever, that the number of perfons in extreme want would be 
 beyond the power and the will of the benevolent to fupply. The 
 fphere for the exercife of private charity would, I am confident, be 
 lefs than it is prefent ; and the only difficulty would be, to reftrain 
 the hand of benevolence from affifting thofe in diftrefs in fo liberal 
 a manner as to encourage indolence and want of forefight in others. 
 
 With regard to illegitimate children, after the proper notice had 
 been given, they fhould on no account whatever be allowed to have 
 any claim to parifli affiftance. If the parents defert their child, 
 they ought to be made anfwerable for the crime. The infant is, 
 comparatively fpeaking, of no value to the fociety, as others will 
 immediately fupply its place. Its principal value is on account of 
 its being the object of one of the moft delightful pailions in human 
 nature parental afFe(5lion. But if this value be difregarded, by 
 thofe who are alone in a capacity to feel it, the fociety cannot be 
 called upon to put itfelf in their place ; and has no further bufmefs 
 
 in 
 
CHAP. vil. 6f the Poor Laws propofed, 541 
 
 in its prote(5lion, than in the cafe of its rtlurder or intentional ill- 
 treatment to follow the general rules in punifhing fuch crimes; which 
 rules, for the interefts of morality, it is bound to purfue, whether the 
 obie6l, in the particular inftance, be of value to the ftate or not. 
 
 At prefent the child is taken under the protec^lion of the parifh % 
 and generally dies, at leaft in London, within the firft year. The 
 lofs to the fociety, if it be one, is the fame ; but the crime is diluted 
 by the number of people concerned, and the death paiTes as a 
 vifitation of Providence, inftead of being confidered as the neceifary 
 confequejice of the conduct of its parents, for which they ought to 
 be held refponfible to God and to fociety. 
 
 The defertion of both parents, however, is not {o common as 
 the defertion of one. When a fervant or labouring man has an 
 illegitimate child, his running away is perfedly a matter of courfe ; 
 and it is by no means uncommon for a man with a wife and large 
 family to withdraw into a diftant county, and leave them to the 
 parifli; indeed, I once heard a hard-working good fort of man 
 propofe to do this, as the beft mode of providing for a wife and fix 
 children''. If the fimple fa6l of thefe frequent defertlons were 
 related in fome countries, a ftrange inference would be drawn againft 
 the Englilh charadler ; but the wonder would ceafe when our publick 
 inftitutions were explained. 
 
 By the laws of nature, a child is confided direAly and exclufively 
 to the proted:ion of its parents. By the laws of nature, the mother 
 of a child is confided almoft as ftrongly and exclufively to the m?n 
 who is the father of it. If thefe ties were fuffered to remain in the 
 
 I fully agree with Sir F. M. Eden, in thinking that the confiant publick fupport 
 which deferted children receive, is the caufe of their very great numbers in the two moft 
 opulent countries of Europe, France and England. State of the Poor, vol. i. p 339. 
 
 ^ *' That many of the poorer clafles of the community avail themfelves of the libe- 
 * rality of the law, and leave their wives and children on the parifli, the reader will 
 ** find abundant proof in the fubfequent part of this work." SirF. M. Eden on the 
 State of the Poor, vol. i, p. 339, 
 
 ildte 
 
54^ Plan t)f a gradual ahoVttmt book it. 
 
 ftate in wKlcli natiire has left them, and the man were convinced, 
 that the woman and the child depended folely upon him for fupport, 
 I fcarcely believe that there are ten men breathing fo atrocious as 
 to defert them. But our laws, in oppoiltion to the laws of nature, 
 iay, that if the parents forfake their child, other perfons will under- 
 take to fupport it ; or, if the man forfake the woman, Ihe fhall ftill 
 meet with proteiftion elfe where ; that is, we take all poffible pains 
 to weaken and render null the ties of nature, and then fay, that 
 men are unnatural. But the fad: is, that the fociety itfelf, in its 
 body politick, is the unnatural charadier, for framing laws that thus 
 countera(5l the laws of nature, and give premiums to the violation 
 of the beft and moll honourable feelings of the human heart. 
 
 It is a common thing, in moft parifhcs, when the father of an 
 illegitimate child can be feized, to endeavour to frighten him into 
 marriage by the terrors of a jail ; but fuch a proceeding cannot 
 furely be too ftrongly reprobated. In the firft place, it b a moft 
 Ihallow policy in the pariih officers ; for, if they fucceed, the efFedl, 
 upon the prefent fyftem, will generally be, the having three or four 
 children to provide for, inftead of one. And, in the next place, it is 
 difficult to conceive a more grofs and fcandalous profanation of a 
 religious ceremony. Thofe who believe that the charadler of the 
 woman is falved by fuch a forced engagement, or that the moral 
 worth of the man is enhanced by affirming a lie before God, have, 
 I confefs, very different ideas of delicacy and morality, from thofe 
 which I have been taught to confider as juft. If a man deceive a 
 woman into a connexion with him under a promife of marriage, he has 
 undoubtedly been guilty of a moft atrocious ad: ; and there are few 
 crimes which merit a more fevere punifhment: but the laft that I 
 Ihould choofe is that which will oblige him to affirm another 
 falfehood, which will probably render the woman that he is to be 
 joined to miferable, and will burden the fociety with a family of 
 paupers. 
 
 The obligation on every man to fupport his children, whether 
 
 legitimate 
 
C n A p. V I r. of ilie Poor Laws propofed, 545 
 
 legitimate or illegitimate, is fo clear and ftrong, that it would be 
 juft to arm fociety with any power to enforce it, which would be 
 likely to anfwer the purpofe. But I am inclined to believe, that 
 no exercife of the civil power, however rigorous, would be half fo 
 efFeAual, as a knowledge generally circulated, that children were in 
 future to depend folely for fupport upon their parents, and would 
 perhaps ftarve if they were deferted. 
 
 It may appear to be hard, that a mother and her children, who 
 had been guilty of no particular crime themfelves, ihould fuffer for 
 the ill-condu<ft of the father; but this is one of the invariable law^ 
 of nature; and knowing this, we fliould think twice upon the 
 fubje<^, and be very fure of the ground on which we go, before we 
 '^xc{nmQ JyJiemaikaUy to counteraA it. 
 
 I have often heard the goodnefs of the Deity impeached on 
 account of that part of the decalogue, in which he declares, that 
 fee will vifit the fms of the father upon the children; but the 
 objection has not perhaps been fufficiently coniidered. Without 
 a moft complete and fundamental change in the whole conilitution 
 of human nature; without making man an angel, or at leaft fome- 
 thing totally different from what he is atprefent; it feems abfolutely 
 neceflary that fuch a law Ihould prevail. Would it not require a 
 perpetual miracle, which is, perhaps, a contradid:ion in terms, to 
 prevent children from being afFedled in their moral and civil con- 
 dition by the condudl of their parents ? What man is there that 
 has been brought up by his parents, who is not, at the prefent 
 moment, enjoying fomething from their virtues, or fuffering fome- 
 thing from their vices; who, in his moral charadler, has not been 
 elevated, in fbme degree, by their prudence, their juflice, their 
 benevolence, their temperance, or deprefled by the contraries; who, in 
 his civil condition, has not been raifed by their reputation, their fore- 
 fight, their induftry, their good fortune; or lowered by their want of 
 charader, their imprudence, their indolence, and their adverfity? And 
 how much does a knowledge of this tranfmiffion of bieffings contribute 
 
 to 
 
544 Plan of a gradual ahoUtton B o o k i v . 
 
 to excite and invigorate virtuous exertion ? Proceeding upon this 
 certainty, how^ ardent and incefTant are the efforts of parents to give 
 their children a good education, and to provide for their future Htu- 
 ation in the world. If a man could negledl or defert his vsrife and 
 children, without their fuffering any injury, how many individuals 
 there are, who, not being very fond of their wives, or being tired 
 of the fhackles of matrimony, would withdraw from houfehold 
 cares and difficulties, and refume their liberty and independence as 
 fingle men. But the confideration that children may fuffer for the 
 faults of their parents has a ftrong hold even upon vice, and many 
 who are in fuch a ftate of mind, as to difregard the confequences 
 of their habitual courfe of life, as far as relates to themfelves, 
 are yet greatly anxious that their children Ihould not fuffer from their 
 vices and follies. In the moral government of the world, it feems 
 evidently ncceflary, that the fms of the fathers Ihould be vifited upon 
 the children ; and if in our overweening vanity we imagine that we 
 can govern a private fociety better by endeavouring fyftematkally to 
 counteract this law, I am inclined to believe that we Ihall find 
 ourfelves very greatly miftaken. 
 
 If the plan, which I have propofed, were adopted, the poors rates 
 in a few years would begin very rapidly to decreafe, and in no great 
 length of time would be completely extinguifhed ; and yet, as far as 
 it appears to me at prefent> no individual would be either deceived 
 or injured, and confequently no perfon could have ajufl right to 
 complain. 
 
 The abolition of the poor laws, however, is not of itfelf fufficient; 
 and the obvious anfwer to thofe who lay too much ftrefs upon this 
 fyftem, is, to defire them to look at the ftate of the poor in fome 
 other countries, where fuch laws do not prevail, and to compare it 
 with their condition in England. But this comparifon, it muft 
 be acknowledged, is in many refped:s unfair; and would by no 
 means decide the queftion of the utility, or inutility, of fuch a fyftem. 
 E^ngland poiTclfes very great natural and political advantages, in 
 
 which 
 
CHAI. VII. of the Foot Laws propofed, 54^ 
 
 which, perhaps, the countries that we lliould, in this cafe, conipare 
 with her, would be found to be palpably deficient. The nature of 
 her foil and climate is fuch, that thofe almoft univerfal failures in 
 the crops of grain, which are known in fome countries, never occur 
 in England. Her infular fituation and extended commerce are 
 peculiarly favourable for importation. Her numerous manufa6lures 
 employ all the hands that are not engaged in agriculture, and afford 
 the means of a regular diftribution of the annual produce of the 
 land and labour to the whole of her inhabitants. But above all, 
 throughout a very large clafs of the people, a decided tafte for the 
 conveniencies and comforts of life, a ftrong defire of bettering their 
 condition, that mafter-fpring of publick profperity, and, in confc- 
 quence, a moil laudable fpirit of induftry and forefight, are obfcrvcd 
 to prevail. Thefe difpofitions, fo contrary to the hopelcfs indolence 
 remarked in defpotick countries, are probably generated, in great 
 meafure, by the conftitution of the Englifli government, and the 
 excellence of its laws, -which fecure to every individual the produce 
 of his induftry. When, therefore, on a comparifon with other 
 countries, England appears to have the advantage in the ftate of her 
 poor, the fuperiority is entirely to be attributed to thefe favourable 
 circumftances, and not to the poor laws. A woman with one bad 
 feature may greatly excel in beauty fome other who may have 
 this individual feature tolerably good ; but it w^ould be rather ftrange, 
 to affert, in confequence, that the fuperior beauty of the former was 
 occafioned by this particular deformity. The poor laws have 
 conftantly tended, in the moft powerful manner, to counterad the 
 natural and acquired advantages of this country. Fortunately, thefe 
 advantages have been fo confiderable, that, though greatly weakened, 
 they could not be entirely overcome ; and to thefe advantages, and 
 thefe alone, it is owing, that England has been able to bear up fo 
 long againft this pernicious fyftem. I am fo ffrongly of this opinion, 
 that I do not think that any other country in the world, except 
 
 4 A perhaps 
 
^4^ Plan of a gradual dboUtion book i v. 
 
 perhaps Holland before the revolution, could have a6led upon it fo 
 completely, for the fame period of time, without utter ruin. 
 
 It has been propofed by fome, to eftablilli poor lavs^s in Ireland ; 
 but, from the wretched and degraded ftate of the common people, 
 and the total want of that decent pride, which in England prevents 
 fo many from having recourfe to parifli affiflance, there is little 
 reafon to doubt, that, on the eftablilliment of fuch laws, the whole 
 of the landed property would very foon be abforbed, or the fyftem 
 be given up in defpair. 
 
 In Sweden, from the dearths which are not unfrequent, owing 
 to the general failure of crops in an unpropitious climate, and the 
 impoffibility of great importations in a poor country, an attempt to 
 eftablifli a lyftem of parochial relief fuch as that in England, if it 
 were not fpeedily abandoned from the phyfical impoffibility of 
 executing it, would level the property of the kingdom from one 
 end to the other, and convulfe the focial fyftem in fuch a manner, 
 as abfolutely to prevent it from recovering its former ilate on the 
 return of plenty. 
 
 Even in France, with all her advantages of fituation and climate, 
 the tendency to population is fo great, and the want of foreiight 
 among the lower clalTes of the people fo confpicuous, that if poor 
 laws were eftablifhed, the landed property would foon fmk under 
 the burden, and the wretchednefs of the people at the fame time be 
 increafed. On thefe confiderations the committee de Mendkite, at 
 the beginning of the revolution, very properly and judicioufly rejed;ed 
 the eftabliftiment of fuch a fyftem which had been propofed. 
 
 The exception of Holland, if it were an exception, would arife 
 from very particular circumftances her extenfive foreign trade, and 
 her numerous colonial emigrations, compared with the fmallnefs of 
 her territory ; and the extreme unhealthinefs of a great part of the 
 country, which occafions a much greater average mortality than 
 is common in other ftates. Thefe, I conceive, wxre the unobfcrved 
 
 3 caufes 
 
CHAP. vit. of the Poor Laws propofed, ^^y 
 
 caufes which principally contributed to render Holland fo famous 
 for the management of her poor, and able to employ and fupport 
 all who applied for relief. 
 
 No part of Germany is fufficiently rich to fupport an extenilvc 
 iyftem of parochial relief; but I am inclined to think, that, from 
 the abfence of it, the lower claiTes of the people in fome parts of 
 Germany, are in a better Situation than thofe of the fame clafs in 
 England. In Switzerland, for the fame reafon, their condition, 
 before the late troubles, was perhaps univerfally fuperior. And in 
 a journey through the dutchies of Holftein and Slefwick belonging to 
 Denmark, the houfes of the lower clafles of people appeared to me 
 to be neater and better, and, in general, there were fewer indications 
 of poverty and wretchednefs among them, than among the fame 
 ranks in this country. 
 
 Even in Norway, notwithftanding the difadvantage of a fevere 
 and uncertain climate, from the little that I faw in a few weeks 
 refidence in the country, and the information that I could collect 
 from others, I am inclined to think, that the poor were, on the 
 average, better off than in England. Their houfes and clothing 
 were fuperior, and, though they had no white bread, they had much 
 more meat, filh, and milk, than our labourers ; and I particularly 
 remarked, that the farmers' boys were much ftouter and healthier 
 looking lads than thofe of the fame defcription in England. This 
 degree of happinefs, fuperior to what could be expected from the 
 foil and climate, arifes almoft exclufively from the degree in which 
 the preventive check to population operates ; and the eftablifliment 
 of a lyftcm of poor laws which would deftroy this check, would at 
 once fink the lower clafles of the people into a ftate of the moft 
 miferable poverty and wretchednefs; w^ould diminifli their induftry, 
 and confequently the produce of the land and labour of the country ; 
 would weaken the refources of ingenuity in times of fcarcity ; and 
 ultimately involve the country in all the horrors of continual 
 famines. 
 
 4 A :? If, 
 
^4^ Pl^n of a general abolition, ^c. book iv. 
 
 If, as in Ireland, and in Spain, and many of the fouthern 
 countries, the people be in fo degraded a flate, as to propagate their 
 fpecies like brutes, totally regardlefs of confequences, it matters 
 little, whether they have poor laws or not. Mifery in all its various 
 forms muft be the predominant check to their increafe. Poor laws, 
 indeed, will always tend to aggravate the evil, by diminifhing the 
 general refources of the country, and, in fuch a ftate of things, could 
 exift only for a very fhort time ; but with, or without them, no 
 ftretch of human ingenuity and exertion could refcue the people from 
 the mofl extreme poverty and wretchednefs. 
 
 CHAP, 
 
( 549 ) 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Of the modes of corredfing the prevatUng opinions on the fuhje^l of 
 
 Population. 
 
 It is not enough to abollfh all the pofitive inftitutions which en- 
 courage population ; but we muft endeavour, at the fame time, to 
 corred; the prevailing opinions, which have the fame, or perhaps even 
 a more powerful, efFed:. This muft neceifarily be a work of time ; 
 and can only be done, by circulating jufter notions on thefe fubjedls, 
 in writings and converfation ; and by endeavouring to imprefs as 
 ftrongly as poffible on the publick mind, that it is not the duty of 
 man fimply to propagate his fpecies, but to propagate virtue and 
 happinefs ; and that, if he has nat a tolerably fair profpedl of doing 
 this, he is by no means called upon to leave defcendants. 
 
 The merits of the childlefs, and ofthofe who have brought up large 
 families, ihould be compared without prejudice, and their different 
 influence on the general happinefs of focicty juflly appreciated. 
 
 ' The matron who has reared a family of ten or twelve children, 
 and whofe fons, perhaps, may be fighting the battles of their 
 country, is apt to think that fociety owes her much; and this 
 imaginary debt, fociety is, in general, fully inclined to acknow- 
 ledge. But if ths._ fubjecfl be fairly confidered, and the rcfpc<flg4 
 matron weighed in the fcales of iuHice asrainfl the nc2:lc6lcd 
 old rnaid, ic is poffible that the matron might kick the bcam,*^. 
 She will appear rather in the characler of a monopolill:, than 
 of a great benefactor to the (late. If llie had not married and 
 
 had 
 
550 Of the modes of horredlmg the prevailing bookiv. 
 
 had fo many children, other members of the foclety might have enjoyed 
 this fatisfadlion ; and there is no particular reafon for fuppofmg that 
 her fons would fight better for their country than the fons of 
 other women. She has therefore rather fubtra6ted from, than added 
 to, the happinefs of the other parts of focicty. The old maid, on 
 the contrary, has exalted others by depreffing herfelf. Her felf- 
 denial has made room for another marriage, without any additional 
 diftrcfs ; and fhe has not, like the generality of men, in avoiding 
 one error, fallen into its oppofite. She has really and truly contri- 
 buted more to the happinefs of the reft of the fociety arifing from 
 the pleafures of marriage, than if ihe had entered in this union 
 herfelf, and had befidcs portioned twenty maidens with a hundred 
 pounds each ; whofe particular happinefs would have been balanced, 
 either by an increafe in the general difficulties of rearing children 
 and getting employment, or by the neceffity of celibacy in twenty 
 other maidens fomewhere elfe. Like the truly benevolent man in 
 an irremediable fcarcity, fhe has diminifhed her own confumption, 
 inftead of railing up a few particular people, by preffing down the 
 reft. On a fair comparifon, therefore, ftie feems to have a better 
 founded claim to the gratitude of fociety than the matron. Whether 
 we could always completely fympathize with the motives of her 
 conduct, has not much to do with the queftion. The particular 
 motive which influenced the matron to marry, was certainly not 
 the good of her country. To refufe a proper tribute of refped: 
 to the old maid, becaufe fhe was not direcflly influenced in her 
 conduA by the defire of conferring on fociety a certain benefit, which, 
 though it muft undoubtedly exift, muft ncceftarily be fo diflufed 
 as to be invifible to her, is in the higheft degree impolitick and 
 unjuft. It is expecting a ftrain of virtue beyond humanity. If we 
 never reward any perfons with our approbation, but thofe who are 
 excliifively influenced by motives of general benevolence, this power- 
 ful encouragement to good adlions will not be very often called 
 into exercife. 
 , There 
 
CHAP. VIII. Opinions on thefuhjedi of Population. 551 
 
 There are very fevsr women who might not have married in fome 
 way or other. The old maid, who has either never formed an attach- 
 ment, or has been difappointed in the objed; of it, has, under the cir- 
 cumftances in which fhe has been placed, condudcd herfelf with the 
 moffc perfed: propriety ; and has adcd a much more virtuous and 
 honourable part in fociety, than thofe women who marry without a 
 proper degree of love, or at leafi: of efteem, for their hufbands; a 
 Ipecies of immorality which is not reprobated as it deferves. 
 
 If, in comparifons of this kind, we fhould be compelled to acknow- 
 ledge that, in confidering the general tendency of population to increafe 
 beyond the means of fubfiftence, the condudl of the old maid had 
 contributejd more to this happinefs of the fociety than that of the 
 matron; it will furely appear, not only unjuft, but ftrikingly impo- 
 litick, not to proportion our tribute of honour and eftimation more 
 fairly according to their refpedive merits. Though we fliould not 
 go fo far as to reward fmgle women with particular diftindions ; 
 yet the plaineft principles of equity and policy require, that the 
 refpcd; which they might claim from their perfonal charader, fliould, 
 in no way whatever, be impeded by their particular fituation ; and that, 
 with regard to rank, precedence, and the ceremonial attentions of 
 fociety, they fliould be completely on a level with married women. 
 
 It is fl:ill however true, that the life of a married perfon with a 
 family, is of more confequence to fociety than that of a Angle perfon; 
 becaufe, when there is a family of children already born, it is of the 
 utmofl: importance, that they fliould be well taken care off, and 
 well educated ; and of this there is very feldom fo fair a probability 
 when they have loft their parents. Our objed: fliould be merely to 
 corred; the prevailing opinions with regard to the duty of marriage ; 
 and, without pofitively difcouraging it, to prevent any perfons from 
 being attracted, or driven into this ftate by the refped and honour 
 which await the married dame, and the negled and inconveniences^ 
 attendant on the fmgle woman. 
 
 It is perfedly abfurd. as well as unjuft, that a giddy girl of fixteen 
 
 fliould^ 
 
SS^ Qf^^^ anodes of correBtng the prevallhig book iv. 
 
 fhould, bccaufe fhe is married, be confidered by the forms of fo- 
 ciety as the protector of women of thirty, fhould come firfl: into the 
 room, fliould be affigned the higheft place at table, and be the pro- 
 minent figure to whom the attentions of the company are more parti- 
 cularly addrcfl'ed. Thofe who believe that thefe diflindlions, added to 
 the very long confinement of fmgle women to the parental roof, and 
 their being compelled, on all occafions, to occupy the back ground of 
 the pidure, have not an influence in impelling many young women 
 into the married flate againft their natural inclinations, and without 
 a proper degree of regard for their intended hufbands, do not, as I 
 conceive, reafon with much knowledge of human nature. And till 
 thefc cufloms are changed, as far as circumflances will admit, and 
 the refped: and liberty which women enjoy, arc made to depend 
 more upon perfonal charad;er and propriety of conduct, than upon 
 their fituation as married or fmgle ; it mufl be acknowledged, that 
 among the higher ranks of life we encourage marriage by confiderable 
 premiums. 
 
 It is not, however, among the higher ranks of fociety, that we 
 have moft reafon to apprehend the too great frequency of marriage. 
 Though the circulation of jufler notions on this fubjed; might, even 
 in this part of the community, do much good, and prevent many 
 unhappy marriages ; yet, whether we make particular exertions for 
 this purpofe, or not-, we may refl affured, that the degree of proper 
 pride, and fpirit of independence, almofl invariably conne<5led with 
 education and a certain rank in life, will fecure the operation of the 
 preventive check to a confiderable extent. All that the fociety can 
 reafonably require of its members is, that they fhould not have 
 families without being able to fupport them. This may be fairly 
 enjoined as a folemn duty. Every reflraint beyond this, though 
 in many points of view highly defirable, mufl be confidered as a 
 matter of choice and tafle; but, from what we already know of 
 the habits which prevail among the higher ranks of life, we have 
 
 reafon 
 
CHAP. VIII. cpinions on tliefiihjeSi of population, ^^^ 
 
 reafon to think, that Httle more is wanted to attain the obje<^ required 
 than to award a greater degree of refpedl and of perfonal liberty to 
 iingle women, and to remove the diftincftions in favour of married 
 women, fo as to place them exactly upon a level ; a change which, 
 independently of any particular purpofe in view, the plaincfh prin- 
 ciples of equity feem to demand. 
 
 If, among the higher clafTes of fociety, the obje(5l of fccuring the 
 operation of the preventive check to population to a fuflicient degree, 
 appear to be attainable without much difficulty ; the obvious mode of 
 proceeding with the lower clafles of fociety, where the point is of the 
 principal importance, is, to endeavour to infufe into them a portion 
 of that knowledge and forefight, which fo much facilitates the attain- 
 ment of this object in the educated part of the community. 
 
 The faireft chance of accomplilliing this end, would probably be 
 by the eftablifliment of a fyftem of parochial education upon a plan 
 Similar to that propofed by Dr. Smith*. In addition to the ufual 
 fubjecfls of inftru(5lion, and thofe which he has mentioned, I fhould 
 be difpofed to lay confiderable ftrefs on the frequent explanation of 
 the real flate of the lower clafles of fociety, as affected by the prin- 
 ciple of population, and their confequent dependence on themfelves, 
 for the chief part of their happinefs, or mifery. If, in the courfe of 
 time, a few of the fimpleft principles of political economy could be 
 added to thefe inftrudlions, the benefit to fociety would be almoft 
 incalculable^. In fome converfations with labouring men, during 
 
 the 
 
 * Wealth of Nations, vo!. iii. b. v. c. i. p. 187. 
 
 * Dr. Smith propofes that the elementary parts of geometry and mechanics fhould he 
 taught in thefe parifh fchools ; and I cannot help thinking that the common principles 
 by which markets are regulated might be made fufficlently clear, to he of confiderable 
 ufe. It is certainly a fubjc6l, that, as it interefts the lower clafles of people nearly, would 
 be likely to attra6l their attention. At the fame time, it muft be confefled, that it is 
 impoffible to be in any degree fanguine on this point, recoIle<Sting how very 
 ignorant in general the educated part of the community is of thefe principles. If, 
 however, political economy cannot be taught to the common people, I really think that 
 t ought to form a branch of a uniyerfity education. Scotlary] has fet us an example in 
 
 4 B . xhif 
 
554 Of the modes of correditng the preva'tUng book i v. 
 
 the late fcarcities, I confefs that I was to the laft degree dlflieartened, 
 at obferving their inveterate prejudices on the fubje<ft of grain ; and I 
 felt very flrongly the almofl abfolute incompatibility of a government 
 really free, with fuch a degree of ignorance. The delufions are of 
 fuch a nature, that, if adled upon, they muft, at all events, be 
 reprefled by force ; and it is extremely difficult to give fuch a power 
 to the government as will be fufficient at all times for this purpofe, 
 without the rifk of its being employed improperly, and endangering 
 the liberty of the fubjed. And this reflecSlion cannot but be difheart- 
 ening to every friend to freedom. 
 
 We have lavifhed immenfe fums on the poor, which we have 
 every reafon to think have conftantly tended to aggravate their 
 mifery. But in their education, and in the circulation of thofe 
 important political truths that moft nearly concern them, which are 
 perhaps the only means in our power of really railing their condition, 
 and of making them happier men and more peaceable fubje(5ls, we 
 have been miferably deficient. It is furely a great national difgrace, 
 that the education of the lower clafles of people in England ihould 
 be left merely to a few funday fchools, fupported by a fubfcription 
 from individuals, who of courfe can give to the courfe of inftrudtion 
 in them, any kind of bias which they pleafe. And even the improve- 
 
 this refpe6l, which we ought not to be fo flow to imitate. It Is of tlie very utmoft 
 importance, that the gentlemen of the country, and particularly the clergy, fhould not, 
 from ignorance, aggravate the evils of fcarcity every time that it unfortunately occurs. 
 During the late dearths, half of the gentlemen and clergymen in the kingdom richly 
 deferved to have been profecuted for fedition. After inflaming the minds of the common 
 people againft the farmers and corn-dealers, by the manner in which they talked of them, 
 or preached about them, it was but a feeble antidote to the polfon which they had infufed, 
 coldly to obferve, that however the poor might be opprefied or cheated, it was their duty 
 to keep the peace. It was little better than Anthony's repeated declaration, that the 
 confpirators were all honourable men ; which did not fave either their houfcs or their 
 pcrfons from the attacks of the mob. Political economy is perhaps the only fcience of 
 which it may be faid, that the Ignorance of it is not merely a deprivation of good, but 
 produces great pofitive evil, 
 
 ment 
 
CHAP. VIII. Opinions on thefuhjeSi of popnlatton. ^^^ 
 
 ment of funday fchools, for objedionable as they are in fome points 
 of view, and imperfed; in all, I cannot but confider them as an 
 improvement, is of very late date. 
 
 The arguments which have been urged againft inftruding the , 
 people, appear to me to be not only illiberal, but to the laft degree 
 feeble ; and they ought, on the contrary, to be extremely forcible, 
 and to be fupported by the moft obvious and ftriking neceffity, to 
 warrant us in withholding the means of railing the condition of the 
 lower clafles of people, when they are in our power. Thofe who 
 will not liften to any anfwer to thefe arguments drawn from theory, 
 cannot, I think, refufe the teftimony of experience ; and I would 
 afk, whether the advantage of fuperior inflrudion which the lower 
 claiTes of people in Scotland are known to poflcfs, has appeared to 
 have any tendency towards creating a fpirit of tumult and difcontent 
 amongft them. And yet from the natural inferiority of its foil and 
 climate, the preflure of want is more conftant, and the dearths are 
 not only more frequent, but more dreadful than in England. In 
 the cafe of Scotland, the knowledge circulated among the common 
 people, though not fufficient efTentially to better their condition by 
 increafmg, in an adequate degree, their habits of prudence and fore- 
 fight ; has yet the efFedl of making them bear with patience the evils 
 which they fuffer, from being aware of the folly and ineffieacy of 
 turbulence. The quiet and peaceable habits of the inftructed Scotch 
 peafant, compared with the turbulent difpofition of the ignorant 
 Iriihman, ought not to be without efFed upon every impartial 
 reafoner. 
 
 The principal argument that I have heard advanced againft a 
 lyftem of national education in England, is, that the common people 
 would be put in a capacity to read fuch works as thofe of Paine, and 
 that the confequences would probably be fatal to government. But, 
 onthisfubjed, 1 agree moft cordially with Dr. Smith ^ in thinking, 
 
 * Wealth o Nations, vol.iii. b. v. c. i. p. 19^. 
 
 4B3 that 
 
35^ Of the modes of corre&lng the prevatUng book iv, 
 
 that an inftruded and well-informed people, would be much k"fe 
 likely to be led away by inflammatory writings, and would be much 
 better able to detedl the falfe declamation of interefted and ambitious 
 demagogues, than an ignorant people. One or two readers in a 
 parifh are fufficient to circulate any quantity of fedition ; and if tbefe 
 be gained to the democratic fide, they will probably have th-e power 
 of doing much more mifchief, by felefting the paffagcs befl fuited^ 
 to their hearers, and choofmg the moments when their oratory is 
 likely to have the moft effe<5t ; than if each individual in the pariflx 
 had been in a capacity to read and judge of the whole work him- 
 felf ; and, at the fame time, to read and judge of the oppofmg argu- 
 ments, which we may fuppofe would alfo reach him. 
 
 But in addition to this, a double weight would undoubtedly be 
 added to the obfervation of Dr. Smith, if thefe fchools were made 
 the means of inftru<5ling the people in the real nature of their fitua- 
 tion; if they were taught, what is really true, that, without an 
 increafe of their own induftry and prudence, no change of govern- 
 ment could eflentially better their condition ; that though they 
 might get rid of fome particular grievance, yet that, in the great 
 point of fupporting their families, they would be but little, or per- 
 haps not at all benefited ; that a revolution would not alter in their 
 favour the proportion of the fupply of labour to the demand, or the 
 quantity of food to the number of the confumers ; and that, if the 
 fupply of labour were greater than the demand, and the demand for 
 food greater than the fupply, they might fufFer the utmoft feverity 
 of want, under the freed, the moft perfect, and beft executed 
 governmfent that the human imagination could conceive. 
 
 A knowledge of thefe truths, fb obvioufly tends to promote peace 
 and quietnefs, to weaken the effeft of inflammatory writings, and to 
 prevent all unreafonable and ill-dired:ed oppofition to the confl:i- 
 tuted authorities, that thofe, who would ftill objed; to the inflirudion 
 of the people, may fairly be fufpe<^ed of a wilh to encourage their 
 
 ignorance> 
 
CHAP. VIII. optntom on tliefuh]e6l of population, 5^7 
 
 ignorance, as a pretext for tyranny, and an opportunity of increafing 
 the power and the influence of the executive government. 
 
 Befides correcting the prevailing opinions refpe6ling marriage, and 
 explaining the real fituation of the lower clafles of fociety, as depend- 
 ing almoft entirely upon themfelves for their happinefs or mifery ; 
 the parochial fchools would, by early inftrudlion and the judicious 
 diflribution of rewards, have the faireft chance of training up the 
 rifing generation in habits of fobriety, induftry, independence, and 
 prudence, and in a proper difcharge of their religious duties; which 
 "would raife them from their prefent degraded ftate, and approximate 
 them, in fome degree, to the middle clafles of fociety, whofe habits, 
 generally fpeaking, are certainly fuperior. 
 
 In moft countries, among the lower claiTes of people, there 
 appears to be fomething like a ftandard of wretchednefs, a point 
 below which, they will not continue to marry and propagate their 
 ipecies. This ftandard is different in different countries, and is 
 formed by various concurring circumftances of foil, climate, govern- 
 ment, degree of knowledge, and civilization, &c. The principal 
 circumftances which contribute to raife it, are, liberty, fecurity of 
 property, the fpread of knowledge, and a tafte for the conveniences 
 and the comforts of life. Thofe which contribute principally to 
 lower it are defpotifm and ignorance. 
 
 In an attempt to better the condition of the lower clafTes of fociety, 
 our object fbould be to raife this ftarldard as high as poflible, by cul- 
 tivating a fpirit of independence, a decent pride, and atafle for clean- 
 linefs and comfort among the poor. Thefe habits would be beft 
 inculcated by a fyftem of general education and, when flrongly 
 fixed, would be the mofl powerful means of preventing their mar- 
 rying with the profpedl of being obliged to forfeit fuch advantages; 
 and would confequently raife them nearer to the middle claffes of 
 fociety. 
 
 CHAP, 
 
( 558 ) 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Of the dtre6lton of our charity. 
 
 An important and interefting inquiry yet remains, relating to the 
 mode, by which we could dired: our private charity, fo as not to 
 interfere with the great obje<5t in view, of ameliorating the condition 
 of the lower clafles of people, by preventing the population from 
 preffing too hard againft the limits of the means of fubfiftence. 
 
 The emotion which prompts us to relieve our fellow- creatures in 
 diftrefs, is like all our other natural paffions, general, and in fome 
 degree indifcriminate and blind. Our feelings of compaflion may be 
 worked up to a higher pitch by a well- wrought fcene in a play, or a 
 fi(5litious tale in a novel, than by almoft any events in real life ; and 
 if, among ten petitioners, we were to liften only to the firfl impulfes 
 of our feelings, without making further inquiries, we fhould undoubt- 
 edly give our afliftance to the beft aftor of the party. It is evident, 
 therefore, that the impulfe of benevolence, like the impulfes of love, 
 of anger, of ambition, of eating and drinking, or any other of our 
 natural propenfities, muft be regulated by experience, and frequently 
 brought to the teft of utility, or it will defeat its intended purpofe. 
 
 The apparent objed: of the paffion between the fexes is, the con- 
 tinuation of the fpecies, and the formation of fuch an intimate union 
 of views and interefts between two perfons, as will beft promote 
 their happinefs, and at the fame time fecure the proper degree of 
 attention to the helplefsnefs of infancy and the education of the 
 rifmg generation ; but if every man were to obey at all times the 
 
 impulfes 
 
CHAP. IX. Of the dh-eSfton of our charity^ ^^g 
 
 impulfes of nature in the gratification of this paffion, without regard 
 to confequences, the principal part of the important objeds would 
 not be attained, and even the continuation of the fpecies might be 
 defeated by a promifcuous intercourfe. 
 
 The apparent end of the impulfe of benevolence, is to draw the 
 whole human race together, but more particularly that part of it 
 which is of our own nation and kindred, in the bonds of brotherly 
 love ; and by giving men an intereft in the happinefs and mifcry of 
 their fellow creatures, to prompt them, as they have power, to miti- 
 gate fome of the partial evils arifing from general laws, and thus to 
 increafe the fum of human happinefs ; but if our benevolence be 
 indifcriminate, and the degree of apparent diftrefs be made the fole 
 meafure of our liberality, it is evident, that it will be exercifed 
 almoft exclufively upon common beggars, while modcft unobtrufive 
 merit, ftruggllng with unavoidable difficulties, yet ftill maintaining 
 fome flight appearances of decency and cleanlinefs, will be totally 
 negledled. We fliall raife the worthlefs above the worthy ; we 
 fhall encourage indolence and check induftry; and, in. the moft 
 marked manner, fubtrad: from the fum of human happinefs. 
 
 Our experience has, indeed, informed us, that the impulle of 
 benevolence is not fo flrong as the paffion between the fexes, and 
 that, generally fpeaking, there is much lefs danger to be apprehended 
 from the indulgence of the former than of the latter ; but, independ- 
 ently of this experience, and of the moral codes founded upon it, a 
 youth of eighteen would be as completely juftified in indulging the 
 fexual paffion with every objedl capable of exciting it, as in following 
 indifcriminately every impulfe of his benevolence. They are both 
 natural paffions which are excited by their appropriate objects, and' 
 to the gratification of which, we are prompted by the pleafurable 
 fenfations which accompany them. As animals, or till we know 
 their confequences, our only bufinefs is to follow thefe dictates of 
 nature ; but, as reafonable beings, we are under the ftrongefi^ obliga- 
 tions to attend to their confequences ; and if they be evil to our*- 
 3 :^lves 
 
^6o Of the dtreBion of our chartty . Booiciv, 
 
 felvcs or others, we may juftly confider it as an indication that fuch a 
 mode of indulging thefe paffions is not fuited to our ftate, or con- 
 formable to the will of God. As moral agents, therefore, it is clearly 
 our duty to reftrain their indulgence in thefe particular directions ; 
 and by thus carefully examining the confequences of our natural 
 paffions, and frequently bringing them to the teft of utility, gradually 
 to acquire a habit of gratifying them, only in that way, which, being 
 unattended with evil, will clearly add to the fum of human happi- 
 nefs, and fulfil the apparent purpofe of the Creator. 
 
 Though utility, therefore, can never be the immediate excitement 
 to the gratification of any paffion, it is the teft by which alone we 
 can know, whether it ought, or ought not, to be indulged ; and is, 
 therefore, the fureft foundation of all morality which can be collected 
 from the light of nature. All the moral codes which have incul- 
 cated the fubjeClion of the paffions to reafon, have been, as I con- 
 ceive, really built upon this foundation, whether the promulgators of 
 them were aware of it or not. 
 
 I remind the reader of thefe truths, in order to apply them to the 
 habitual direction of our charity; and, if we keep the criterion of 
 utility conftantly in view, we may find ample room for the exercife 
 of our benevolence, without interfering with the great purpofe which 
 we have to accomplifh. 
 
 One of the moft valuable parts of charity, is its effedl upon the 
 giver. It is more bleffed to give than to receive. Suppofing it to 
 be allowed, that the exercife of our benevolence in acfts of charity is 
 not, upon the whole, really beneficial to the poor, yet we could never 
 fan(5lion any endeavour to extinguifh an impulfe, the proper gratifica- 
 tion of which has fo evident a tendency to purify and exalt the 
 human mind. But it is particularly fatisfaiflory and pleafing to find, 
 that the mode of exercifing our charity, which, when brought to the 
 teft of utility, will appear to be moft beneficial to the poor, is pre- 
 cifely that,^which will have the beft and moft improving effed on 
 the mind of the donor. 
 
 The 
 
c H A p . 1 3t . Of the dlredimi of our- charity, <fi\. 
 
 The quality of charity like that of mercy, 
 
 " is not flrained ; 
 * It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
 ** Upon the earth beneath." 
 
 The immenfe fums diftrlbuted to the poor, In this country, by the 
 parochial laws, are improperly called charity. They want its moft 
 diftinguiihing attribute; and, as it might be expected, from an attempt 
 to force that which lofes its eflence the moment that it ceafes to be 
 voluntary, their efFed: upon thofe from whom they are collected are 
 as prejudicial, as on thofe to whom they are diftributed. On the 
 fide of the receivers of this mifcalled charity, inftead of real relief, we 
 find accumulated dlflrefs and more extended poverty ; on the fide of 
 the givers, inftead of pleafurable fenfations, unceafmg difcontent and 
 irritation. 
 
 In the great charitable inftitutions fupported by voluntary contri- 
 butions, many of which are certainly of a prejudicial tendency, the 
 fubfcriptions, I am inclined to fear, are fometimes given grudgingly, 
 and rather becaufe they are exped:ed by the world from certain fta- 
 tions, and certain fortunes, than becaufe they are prompted by 
 motives of genuine benevolence ; and as the greater part of the fub- 
 fcribers do not intereft themfelves in the management of the funds, 
 or in the fate of the particular objc6ts relieved, it is not to be expelled 
 that this kind of charity fhould have any ftrikingly beneficial influence 
 on the minds of the majority whocxercifc it. 
 
 Even in the relief of common beggars, we fliall find that we are 
 more frequently influenced by the dcfirc of getting rid of the impor- 
 tunities of a dlfgufting objedl, than by the pleafure of relieving it. 
 We wilh that it had not fallen in our way, rather than rejoice in the 
 opportunity given us of aftifting a fellow-creature. We feel a painful 
 emotion at the fight of fo much apparent mifery ; but the pittance we 
 give does not relieve it. We know that it is totally inadequate to 
 produce any cffential efFecl. We know, befides, that we fliall be 
 
 4 C addrcfTcd 
 
^6z Oft lie dire lI toil of our cliartty, book iv, 
 
 addreiTed in the fame manner at the corner of the next ftreet ; and 
 we know that we are hable to the grofleft impoftures. We hurry, 
 therefore, fometimcs by them, and fhut our ears to their importu- 
 nate demands. We give no more than we can help giving without 
 , doing actual violence to our feelings. Our charity is in fome degree 
 forced, and, like forced charity, it leaves no fatisfacSory impreflion on 
 the mind, and cannot, therefore, have any very beneficial and improv- 
 ing effed: on the heart and affections. 
 
 But it is far otherwife with that voluntary and a(?live charity, 
 which makes itfelf acquainted with the objects which it relieves ; 
 which feems to feel, and to be proud of, the bond which unites the 
 rich with the poor ; which enters into their houfes ; informs itfelf not 
 only of their wants, but of their habits and difpofitions ; checks the 
 hopes of clamorous and obtrufive poverty, with no other recommen- 
 dation but rags ; and encourages with adequate relief the filent and 
 retiring fufferer, labouring under unmerited difficulties. This mode 
 of exercifmg our charity prcfents a very different pidlure from that of 
 any other ; and its contrafl with the common mode of parifh relief, 
 cannot be better defcribed than in the words of Mr. Townfend, in 
 the conclufion of his admirable differtation on the Poor Laws : 
 " Nothing in nature can be more difgufting than a parilh pay-table, 
 *' attendant upon which, in the fame objeAsof mifery, are too often 
 *' found combined, fnuff, gin, rags, vermin, infolence, and abufive 
 " language ; nor in nature, can any thing be more beautiful than 
 " the mild complacency of benevolence haftening to the humble 
 '* cottage to relieve the wants of induftry and virtue, to feed the 
 *^ hungry, to clothe the naked, and to foothe the fbrrows of the 
 " widow with her tender orphans ; nothing can be more pleafing, 
 *' unlefs it be their fparkling eyes, their burfting tears, and their 
 " uplifted hands, the artlefs expreffions of unfeigned gratitude for 
 " unexpeCled favours. Such fcenes will frequently occur whenever 
 *' men fhall have power to difpofe of their own property." 
 
 I conceive it to be almoft impofUble, that any perfon could be 
 
 much 
 
HAP. IX. Of the dire Si ion of our charity, 553 
 
 much engaged in fuch fcenes without daily making advances in 
 virtue. No exercife of our affections can have a more evident 
 tendency to purify and exalt the human mind. It is almofl 
 exclufively this fpecies of charity that bleffeth him that gives; and, 
 in a general view, it is almoft exclufively this fpecies of charity 
 which blefleth him that takes; at leaf}; it may be afferted, that 
 there is no other mode of exercifnig our charity, in which large fums 
 can be diftributed without a greater chance of producing evil than 
 good. 
 
 The difcretionary power of giving or withholding relief, which 
 is, to a certain extent, vefted in parifli officers and juftices, is of a 
 very different nature, and will have a very different effed;, from 
 the difcrimination which may be exercifed by voluntary charity. 
 Every man in this country, under certain clrcumftances, is entitled 
 by law to parifh affiftance; and unlefs his difqualifi cation be clearly 
 proved, has a right to complain if it be withheld. The inquiries 
 neceffary to fettle this point, and alfo the extent of the relief to 
 be granted, too often produce evaflon and lying on the part of the 
 petitioner, and afford an opening to partiality and oppreffion in the 
 overfeer. If the propofed relief be given, it is of courfe received 
 with unthankfulnefs ; and if it be denied, the party generally thinks 
 himfelf fevcrely aggrieved, and feels refentment and indignation at 
 his treatment. 
 
 In the diftribution of voluntary charity, nothing of this kind can 
 take place. The perfon who receives it, is made the proper fubje(5t 
 of the pleafurable fenfation of gratitude ; and tllofe who do. not 
 receive it, cannot poflibly conceive themfelves, in the flighteft degree, 
 injured. Every man has a right to do what he will with his own; 
 and cannot, in juftice, be called upon to render a reafon why he 
 gives in the one cafe, and abftains from it in the other. This kind 
 of defpotic power, effential to voluntary charity, gives the greateft 
 facility to the feleftion of worthy objed;s of relief, without being 
 accompanied by any ill confequenccs ; and has further a moll 
 
 beneficial 
 
^64 Of the dlredlion of our chanty, book iv.* 
 
 beneficial effeA from the degree of uncertainty which muft necef- 
 farily be attached to it. It is, in the hlghefl degree, important to 
 the general happlnefs of the poor, that no man fliould look to . 
 charity, as a fund on which he may confidently depend. He fliould 
 be taught that his own exertions, his own induflry and forefight, 
 were his onlyjufl ground of dependence; that if thefe failed, alfifl- 
 ance in his diilrefl'cs could only be the fubjed: of rational hope ; and 
 that even the foundation of this hope muffc be in his own good 
 condud:, and the confcioufnefs that he had not involved himfclf 
 in thefe difficulties by his indolence or imprudence. 
 
 That, in the diflribution of our charity, we are under a flrong 
 moral obligation to inculcate this lefTon on the poor, by a proper 
 difcrimination, is a truth, of which I cannot feel a doubt. If all 
 could be completely relieved, and poverty banifhed from the country, 
 even at the expence of three-fourths of the fortunes of the rich, I, 
 would be the laft to fay a fingle fyllable againfl: relieving all, and 
 making the degree of diftrefs alone the meafure of our bounty. But 
 as experience has proved, I believe without a fingle exception, that 
 poverty and mifery have always increafed in proportion to the 
 quantity of indifcrimlnate charity ; are we not bound to infer, 
 reafonlng as we ufually do from the laws of nature, that it is an 
 intimation, that fuch a mode of diflribution is not the proper office 
 of benevolence. 
 
 The laws of nature fay, with St. Paul, *' If a man will not work,. 
 " neither fliall he eat." They alfo fay, that he is not raflily to trufl 
 to Providence. They appear indeed to be conflant and uniform 
 for the exprefs purpofe of telling him what he is to trufl to, and 
 that if he marry, without being able to fupport a family, he muft 
 expcdl fevere want. Thefe Intimations appear from the conflitution 
 of human nature to be abfolutely necefTary, and to have a flrikingly 
 beneficial tendency. If in the diredlion either of our publick or our 
 private charity, we fay, that though a man will not work, yet he fhall 
 eat ; and though he marry, without being able to fupport a family, 
 
 yet 
 
HAP. rx. Of the dheSiion ofonr chanty, ^6^ 
 
 yet his family (hall be fupported ; it is evident that we do not- 
 merely endeavour to mitigate fome of the partial evils arlfing from 
 general law^s, but regularly and fyftematically to counterad the 
 obvioully beneficial effecfls of thefe general laws themfelves. And 
 we cannot eafily conceive, that the Deity fhould implant any paffion 
 in the human breaft for fuch a purpofe. 
 
 In the great courfe of human events, the befl- founded expe(51ations 
 will fometimes be difappointed ; and induftry, prudence, and virtue, 
 not only fiiil of their juft reward, but be involved in unmerited' 
 calamities. Thofe who are thus fuffering in fpitc of the beft- 
 dlre<fled endeavours to avoid it, and from caufes which they could 
 not be expe(5led to forefec, are the genuine objects of charity. In 
 relieving thefe, we exercife the appropriate office of benevolence,, 
 that of mitigating fome of the partial evils arifing from general laws ; 
 and In this diredion of our charity, therefore, we need not apprehend 
 any ill confequences. Such objeds ought to be relieved according 
 to our means liberally and adequately, even though the worthlefs were 
 ilarvlng. 
 
 When Indeed, this firft claim on our benevolence was fatlsfied^ 
 we might then turn our attention to the idle and improvident: but 
 the interefts of human happinefs moil: clearly require, that the relief 
 which we afford them lliould be very fcanty. We may perhaps, 
 take upon ourfelves, with great caution, to mitigate, in fome 
 degree, the puniiliments which they are fuffering from the laws of 
 nature ; but on no account to remove them entirely. They arc 
 dcfervedly at the bottom, in the fcale of foclety ; and, if we raifc 
 them from this fituation, we not only palpably defeat the end of 
 benevolence, but commit a moft glaring injuillce to thofe who- 
 are above them. They fliould on no account be enabled to com- 
 mand lb much of the neceffaries of life, as can be obtained by the 
 worft-paid common labour. The browneft bread, with the coarfeft 
 and fcantleft apparel, is the utmofl which they fliould have the 
 means of purchafmg. 
 
^66 Of ^ he dire^wn of our charity. book i v. 
 
 It is evident that thefe reafonings do not apply to thofe cafes of 
 urgent diftrefs arifing from difaftrous accidents, unconne(5led with 
 habits of indolence and improvidence. If a man break a leg or an 
 arm, we are not to flop to inquire into his moral chara6ler before 
 we lend him our affiftance ; but in this cafe we arc perfe^lly con- 
 fiftent, and the touchftone of utility completely juftifies our condud;. 
 By affording the moft indifcriminate affiftancc in this way, we are 
 in little danger of encouraging people to break their arras and legs, 
 According to the touchftone of utility, the high approbation which 
 Chrift gave to the condud; of the good Samaritan, who followed 
 the immediate impulfe of his benevolence in relieving a ftranser, 
 in the urgent diftrefs of an accident, does not, in the fmalleft degree, 
 contradid: the expreilions of St. Paul, " If a man will not work, 
 " neither lliall he eat." 
 
 We are not, however, in any cafe, to lofe a prefent opportunity i 
 of doing good, from the mere fuppofition that we may poffibly meet 
 with a worthier objed:. In all doubtful cafes, it may {afely be laid 
 down as our duty, to follow the natural impulfe of our benevolence; 
 but when, in fulfilling our obligation as reafonable beings, to attend 
 to the confequences of our adlions, we have, from our own expe- 
 rience and that of others, drawn the conclufion, that the exercife 
 of our benevolence in one mode is prejudicial, and in another is 
 beneficial, in its effedls, we are certainly bound, as moral agents, to 
 check our natural propenfities in the one direction, and to encourage 
 them, and acquire the habits of exercifmg them, in the other. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 56; ) 
 
 C H A p. X. 
 
 6/* the errors in different plans which have been propofed, to improve 
 
 the condition of the Poor. 
 
 In the diftribution of our charity, or in any efforts which we may 
 make to better the condition of the lower claffes of fociety, there 
 is another point relating to the main argument of this work, to 
 which we muft be particularly attentive. We muft on no account 
 do any thing, which tends diredly to encourage marriage ; or to 
 remove, in any regular and fyftematic manner, that inequality of 
 circumftances, which ought always to exift between the fmgle man 
 and the man with a family. The writers who have beft underftood 
 the principle of population, appear to me all to have fallen into 
 very important errors on this point. 
 
 Sir James Steuart, who is fully aware of what he calls vicious 
 procreation, and of the mifery that attends a redundant population, 
 recommends, notwithftanding, the general eftablifhment of found- 
 ling hofpitals ; the taking of children, under certain circumftances, 
 from their parents, and fupporting them at the expence of the ftate ; 
 and particularly laments the inequality of condition between the 
 married and fmgle man, fo ill-proportioned to their refpecftive wants*. 
 He forgets, in thefe inftances, that if, without the encouragement 
 to multiplication, of foundling hofpitals, or of publick fupport for 
 the children of fome married perfons; and under the difcouragement 
 
 * Political CEconomy, vol. i. U i. c. xii. 
 
 of 
 
568 Cftlie errors In different plans which have heen book i v. 
 
 of great pecuniary dlfadvantages on the fide of the married man, 
 population be ftill redundant ; which is evinced by the inability of 
 the poor to maintain nil their children ; it is a clear proof, that the 
 funds deflined for the maintenance of labour cannot properly fupport 
 a greater population; and that, if further encouragements to m.ulti- 
 plication be given, and difcouragements removed, the refult muft be, 
 an increafe, fomevvhere or other, of that vicious procreation which 
 he fo juftly reprobates. 
 
 Mr. Townfend, who, in his diflertation on the Poor Laws, has 
 treated this fubje^l with great fkill and perfpicuity, appears to me 
 to conclude with a propofal, which violates the principles on which 
 he had reafoned fo well. He wifhes to make the benefit clubs, or 
 friendly focieties, which are now voluntarily eflabli(hed in many 
 parilhes, compulfory and univerfal; and propofes, as a regulation, 
 that an unmarried man fliould pay a fourth part of his wages, and a 
 married man with four children, not more than a thirtieth part *. 
 
 I muft firft remark, that the moment thefe fubfcriptions are made 
 compulfory, they will neceffarily operate exactly like a dired: tax 
 upon labour, which, as Dr. Smith juftly ftates, will always be paid, 
 and in a more expensive manner, by the confumer. The landed 
 intereft, therefore, would receive no relief from this plan, but would 
 pay the fame fum as at prefent, only in the advanced price of labour 
 and of commodities, inftead of in the parifli rates. A compulfory 
 fubfcrlption of this kind, would have almoft all the ill efFeds of the 
 prefent fyftem of relief, and, though altered in name, would ftill 
 poiTefs the elTentlal fpirit of the poor laws. 
 
 Dean Tucker, in fome remarks on a plan of the fame kind, 
 propofed by Mr. Pew, obferved, that, after much talk and refledion 
 on the fubjed, he had come to the conclufion, that they muft be 
 voluntary affociations, and not compulfory aftemblies. A voluntary 
 fubfcrlption is like a tax upon a luxury, and does not neceftarily 
 raife the price of labour. 
 
 * DiiTertation on the Poor Laws, p. 89. 2d edit. 1787. 
 
 3 I' 
 
CHAP. X. propofed, 1o Improve the condition oftJuPoor. 569 
 
 It Ihould be recolle<5led alfo, that in a voluntary afTociation of a 
 fmall extent, over which each individual member can exercife a 
 fuperintendence, it is highly probable, that the original agreements 
 will all be ftridlly fulfilled, or if they be not, every man may, at 
 leaft, have the redrefs of withdrawing himfelf from the club. But 
 in an univerfal compulfory fubfcription, which mufl necelTarily 
 become a national concern, there would be no fecurity whatever for 
 the fulfilment of the original agreements ; and when the funds- 
 failed, which they certainly would do, when all the idle and difio- 
 lute were included, inftead of fome of the moft induftrious and 
 provident, as at prefent, a larger fubfcription would probably be 
 demanded, and no man would have the right to refufe it. The 
 evil would thus go on increafing as the poor rates do now. If, 
 indeed, the aflfiftance given were always fpecific, and on no account 
 to be increafed, as in the prefent voluntary aiTociations, thi^s would 
 certainly be a ftriking advantage; but the fame advantage might be 
 completely attained by a fimilar diftribution of the fums colleded 
 by the parifli rates. On the whole, therefore, it appears to me, that, 
 if the friendly focieties were made univerfal and compulfory, it would 
 be merely a different mode of coUeding parifli rates ; and any par- 
 ticular mode of diftribution, might be as well adopted upon one 
 i}'ftem as upon the other. 
 
 With regard to the propofal of making fmgle men pay a fourth 
 part of their earnings weekly, and married men with families only 
 a thirtieth part, it would evidently operate as a heavy fine upon 
 bachelors, and a high bounty upon children; and is therefore 
 diredly advcrfe to the general fpirit in which Mr. Townfend's 
 excellent difiertation is written. Before he introduces this propofal, 
 he lays it down as a general principle, that no iyftem for the relief 
 of the poor can be good, which does not regulate population by the 
 demand for labour ^ ; but this propofal clearly tends to encourage 
 population without any reference to the demand for labour, and 
 
 ^ P. 84. 
 
 4 D puniflies 
 
S7^ Qf^^^ ^rors In different plans wJilch have been book i v.. 
 
 puniflies a young man for his prudence in refraining from marriage 
 at a time, perhaps, when this demand is fo fmall, that the wages 
 of labour are totally inadequate to the fuppart of a family. I fhould 
 be averfe to any compulfory fyftem whatever for the poor ; but, 
 certainly, if fmgle men were compelled to pay a contribution for 
 the future contingencies of the married ftate, they ought, in juftice, 
 to receive a benefit, proportioned to the period of their privation ; 
 and the man who had contributed a fourth of his earnings for merely 
 one year, ought not to be put upon a level with him who has con- 
 tributed this proportion for ten years. 
 
 Arthur Young, in moft of his works, appears clearly to underftand 
 the principle of population, and is fully aware of the evils which 
 muft neceflarily refult from an increafe of people beyond the demand 
 of labour, and the means of comfortable fubiiftence. In his tour 
 through France, he has particularly laboured this paint, and ihewn 
 mofl forcibly the mifery, which refults, in that country, from the 
 cxcefs of population occasioned by the too great divifion of property. 
 Such an increafe, he j uftly calls, merely a multiplication of wretched- 
 nefs. " Couples marry and procreate on the idea, not the reality, 
 " of a maintenance; they increafe beyond the demand of towns and 
 " manufaftures ; and the confcquence is, diflrefs, and numbers 
 " dying of difeafes arifmg from infufficient nourifhment \" 
 
 In another place he quotes a very fcnfible paiTage from the report 
 of the committee of mendicity, which, alluding to the evils of over- 
 population, concludes thus, " II faudroit enfin neccffairement que 
 " le prix de travail baifiat par la plus grand concurrence dc travail- 
 " leurs, d'ou refulteroit un indigence complette pour ceux qui no 
 ** trouverolent pas de travail, et une fubfiftence incomplette pour 
 " ceux memes aux quels il ne feroit pas refufe," And in remarking 
 pon this pailage, he obferves, ** France itfelf affords an irrefragable 
 *' proof of the truth of thcfe fentiments ; for, I am clearly of opinion, 
 
 * Travels in France, vol. i. c. xii. p. 408* 
 
 *' from 
 
CHAP. X. propofed, ie Improve the condition of the Poor. 5^1 
 
 *' from the obfervations I made in every province of the kingdom, 
 "** that her population is fo much beyond the proportion of her 
 
 V induftry and labour, that ihc would be much more powerful and 
 " infinitely more flourifhing, if flie had five or fix millions lefs of 
 ** inhabitants. From her too great population, ihe prefents, in 
 ** every quarter, fuch fpedlacles of wretchednefs, as are abfolutely 
 ** inconfiftent with that degree of national felicity, which he was 
 *' capable of attaining, even under the old government. A traveller, 
 *f much lefs attentive than I was to obje<5ls of this kind, muft fee 
 *' at every turn moft unequivocal figns of diftreis. That thefc 
 ** fhould exift, no one can wonder, who confiders the price of 
 " labour and of provifions, and the mlfery into which a fmall rife 
 ** in the price of wheat throws the lower clafl'es '." 
 
 " If you would fee," he fays, " a diftrid: with as little diftrefs 
 ** in it as is confiflent with the political iyftem of the old govern- 
 *' ment of France, you mull afiiiredly go where there are no little 
 ** properties at all. You muft vifit the great farms in Beauce, 
 '* Picardy, part of Normandy, and Artois, and there you will 
 '* find no more population than what is regularly employed and 
 ** regularly paid ; and if in fuch dilbids, you fhould, contrary to 
 
 V this rule, meet with much diftrefs, it is twenty to one, but that 
 ** it is in a pariih which has fome commons, which tempt the 
 ** poor to have cattle to have property and in confequence mifery. 
 ** When you are engaged in this political tour, finifti it by feeing 
 " England, and I will fhew you a fet of peafants well clothed, 
 " well nouriflied, tolerably drunken from fuperfluity, well lodged, 
 * and at their eafe ; and yet, amongfl them, not one in a thoufand 
 " has either land or cattle^." A little further on, alluding to 
 encouragements td marriage, he fays of France ; " the predominant 
 ** evil of the kingdom is the having fo great a population, that fhe 
 ** can neither employ nor feed it; why then encourage marriage } 
 
 * Travels in France, vol. i. c. xvii. p. 469. * Id. p. 471. 
 
 4 D i? " would 
 
57^ Of the errors hi different plans which have heen book iv, 
 
 " would you breed more people, becaufe you have more already 
 " than you know what to do with ? you have fo great a competition 
 " for food, that your people are ftarving or in mifery; and you 
 " would encourage the production of more to encreafe that com- 
 *' petition. It may almoft be queftioncd whether the contrary 
 " policy ought not to be embraced? whether difficulties fhould not 
 " be laid on the marriage of thofe who cannot make it appear that 
 " they have the profpeCt of maintaining the children that fliall be 
 " the fruit of it ? But why encourage marriages which are fure to 
 ** take place in all iituations in which they ought to take place? 
 " There is no inftance to be found of plenty of regular employment 
 " being firft eftablifhed where marriages have not followed in a 
 *' proportionate degree. The policy therefore, at beft, is ufelefs, 
 ** and may be pernicious." 
 
 After having once fo clearly underftood the principle of population 
 as to exprefs thefe and many other fentiments on the fubje6t, equally 
 juft and important, it is not a little furprifmg to find Mr. Young irt 
 a pamphlet, intitled. The Que/iion of Scarcity plainly flatedy anct 
 Remedies confdered, {puhliflced in 1800), obfervdng, that ** the means 
 *' which would of all others perhaps tend moll furely to prevent 
 ** future fcarcities fo oppreffive to the poor as the prefent, would be 
 " to fecure to every country labourer in the kingdom, that has three 
 ** children and upwards, half an acre of land for potatoes, and 
 " grafs enough to feed one or two cows^ ->- -> * '' If each had 
 *' his ample potatoe ground and a cow, the price of wheat would be 
 " of little more confequence to them, than it is to their brethren in 
 " Ireland." 
 
 " Every one admits the fyftem to be good, but the queflion. is, 
 ** how to enforce it." 
 
 I was by no means aware, that the excellence of the fyftem had 
 been fo generally admitted. For mylelf I ftrongly protell againfb 
 being included in the general term of every one, as I fhould confider 
 
 ' P. 77- 
 
 the 
 
CHAP. X. propofed, to mprove the condition of the Poor* 573 
 
 the adoption of this fyftem, as the moft cruel and fatal blow to the 
 happinefs of the lower clafles of people m this country, that they 
 had ever received, 
 
 Mr. Young, however, goes on to fay, that, " The magnitude of 
 *' the objedl fliould make us difregard any difficulties, but fuch as- 
 " are infuperable : none fuch would probably occur if fomething 
 ** like the following means were reforted to : 
 
 *' I. Where there are common paftures, to give to a labouring 
 *' man having children, a right to demand an allotment pro- 
 
 " portioned to the family, to be fet out by the parifli officers, &c. 
 ***** and a cow bought. Such labourer to have both for life,. 
 " paying 40s. a year till the price of the cow, &c. was reimburfed* 
 '* at his death to go to the labourer having the moft numerous- 
 ** family, for life, paying fhillings a week to the widow of his 
 
 ** prcdeccffor. 
 
 ** II. Labourers thus demanding allotments by reafon of their 
 " families to have land affigned, and cows bought, till the proportion 
 '* fo allotted amounts to one of the extent of the common, 
 
 " III. In parifhes where there are no commons, and the quality 
 ** of the land adequate, every cottager having children, to 
 
 " whofe cottage there is not within a given time land fufficient for 
 ** a cow, and half an acre of potatoes, affigned at a fair average 
 ** rent, fubjed to appeal to the feffions, to have a right to demand 
 ffiillings per week of the pariffi for every child, till fuch 
 
 " land be affigned ; leaving to landlords and tenants the means of 
 " doing it. Cows to be found by the pariffi, under aa annual 
 ^* reimburfement ''.'^' 
 
 " The great objedl is, by means of milk and potatoes^ to take the 
 " mafs of the country poor from the confumption of wheat, and to 
 " give them fubftitutes equally wholefome and nouriffiing, and aa 
 <* independent of fcarcities, natural and artificial-^ as- the providence 
 " of the Almighty will adn\it''.'* 
 
 P. 78. P. 7Q* 
 
 Would 
 
574 Of ilie errors ht (Ufferent plans which have leen book iv. 
 
 Would not this plan operate, in the moft diredl manner, as an 
 encouragement to marriage and bounty on children, which Mr. 
 Young has with fo much juflice reprobated in his travels in France ? 
 and does he ferioufly think that it would be an eligible thing, to 
 feed the mafs of the people in this country on milk and potatoes, 
 and make them as independent of the price of corn, and of the 
 demand for labour, as their brethren in Ireland ? 
 
 The ipecifick caufe of the poverty and mifery of the lower clafTcs 
 of people in France and Ireland, is, that, from the extreme fubdi- 
 viflon of property in the one country, and the facility of obtaining 
 a potatoe ground in the other, a population is brought into 
 exigence, which is not demanded by the quantity of capital and 
 employment in the country; and the confequence of which muft, 
 therefore, neceiTarily be, as is very juftly exprefled in the report of the 
 committee of mendicity before mentioned, to lower in general the 
 price of labour by too great competition; from which muft refult 
 complete indigence to thofe who cannot find employment, and an 
 incomplete fubfiftence even to thofe who can. 
 
 The obvious tendency of Mr. Young's plan, is, by encouraging 
 marriage and furnifliing a cheap food, independent of the price of 
 corn, and, of courfe, of the demand for labour, to place the lower 
 clafTes of pcopie exaAly in this fituation. 
 
 . It may perhaps be faid, that our poor laws, at prelent, regularly 
 encourage marriage and children, by diftributing relief in proportion 
 to the fize of families ; and that this plan, which is propofed as a 
 fubflitute, would merely do the fame thing in a lefs objedlionablc 
 manner. But furely, in endeavouring to get rid of the evil of the 
 poor laws, we ought not to retain their moft pernicious quality : 
 and Mr. Young muft know, as well as I do, that the principal 
 reafon why poor laws have invariably been found ineffe<5lual in the 
 relief of the poor, is, that they tend to encourage a population which 
 is not regulated by the demand for labour. Mr. Young himfelf, 
 indeed, exprefsly takes notice of this effecfl in England, and obferves, 
 
 that 
 
CHAP. x propofed, to Improve the condition of the Poor. . 575 
 
 that notwithftanding the unrivalled profperity of her manufadures, 
 ** population is fometianes too adive, as we fee clearly by the 
 " dangerous increafe of poor's rates in country villages ^" 
 
 But the fa(ft is, that Mr. Young's plan would be mcomparably 
 more powerful in encouraging a population beyond the demand for 
 labour, than our prefent poor laws. A laudable repugnance to the 
 receiving of parifh relief, arifing^ partly from a fpirit of indepen- 
 dence not yet extind, and partly, from the difagreeable mode in 
 "which the relief is given, undoubtedly deters many from marrying 
 with a certainty of falling on the parifh ; and the proportion of 
 marriages to the whole population, which has before been noticed,, 
 clearly proves that the poor laws, though they have undoubtedly a. 
 confiderable influence in this refpeft, do not encourage marriage fo 
 much as might be expecfled from theory. But the cafe would be 
 very different, if, when a labourer had an early marriage in con- 
 templation, the terrific forms of workhoufes and parifh officers, 
 which might diflurb his refolution, were to be exchanged for the 
 fafcinating vifions of land and cows. If the love of property, as 
 Mr. Young has repeatedly faid, will make a man do much, it would 
 be rather flrange if it would not make him marry ; an adtion to 
 which, it appears from experience, that he is by no means 
 difmclined. 
 
 The population which would be thus called into being, would be 
 fupported by the extended cultivation of potatoes, and would of 
 courfe go on without any reference to the demand for labour. In 
 the prefent flate of things, notwithflanding the flourifhing condition 
 of our manufacHiures, and the numerous checks to our population, 
 there is no pra<ftical problem fo difficult as to find employment for 
 the poor; but this difficulty would evidently be aggravated a hun^ 
 dred fold, under the circumflances here fuppofed. 
 
 In Ireland, or-in any other country, where the common food is 
 
 Travels in France, vol. i. c. xvil. p. 470. 
 
 3 potatoes. 
 
r;y6 Of the errors in different plans wJiich have leen feoOK IT. 
 
 potatoes, and every man who wiflics to marn' may obtain a piece of 
 ground, fufficient, when planted with this root, to fupport a family, 
 prizes may be given till the treafury is exhaufted, for effays on the 
 beft means of employing the poor ; but till fome flop to the progrefs 
 of population, naturally ariiing from this ftate of things^ take place, 
 the objed: in view is really a phyfical impoffibility'^. 
 
 Mr. Young has intimated, that if the people were fed upon milk 
 and potatoes, they would be more independent of fcarcities than at 
 prefent ; but why this fliould be the cafe I really cannot comprehend. 
 Undoubtedly, people who live upon potatoes will not be much affefted 
 by a fcarcity of wheat ; but is there any contradiction in the fuppofi- 
 tion of a failure in the crops of potatoes ? I believe it is generally 
 understood, that they are more hable to fufFer damage during the 
 winter than grain. From the much greater quantity of food, yielded 
 by a given piece of land, when planted with potatoes, than under any 
 other kind of cultivation, it would naturally happen, that, for fome 
 time after the introduction of this root, as the general food of the 
 lower clafTes of people, a greater quantity would be grown than was 
 demanded, and they would live in plenty. Mr. Young, in his travels 
 through France, obferves, that, " In diftridls which contain immenfe 
 *' quantities of wafte land of a certain degree of fertility, as in the 
 " roots of the Pyrenees, belonging to communities ready to fell them, 
 ^' economy and industry, animated with the views of fettling and 
 '^ marrying, flourifh greatly ; in fuch neighbourhoods fomething 
 /* like an American increafe takes place, and, if the land be cheap, 
 *' little dillrefs is found. But as procreation goes on rapidly under 
 ** fuch circumftances, the leaft check to fubfiftence is attended with 
 
 * Dr, Crumpe's prize eflay on the beft means of finding employment for the people, is 
 an excellent treatife, and contains much valuable information ; but, till the capital of the 
 country is better proportioned to its population, it is perfedlly chimerical to expe6l fuccefs 
 in any projedt of the kind. I am alfo ftrongly difpofed to believe that th'e indolent and 
 turbulent habits of the lower Irifli can never be corre6led, while the potatoe fyftem enables 
 them to increafe fo much beyond the regular demand for labour. 
 
 " great 
 
CHAP. X. propofed, to improve the condition of the Poor. ^yy 
 
 '' great mifery ; as wailes becoming dearer, or the beft portions being 
 ^* fold, or difficulties arifing in the acquifition; all which circum- 
 " ilances I met with in thofe mountains. The moment that any 
 *' impediment happens the diftrefs of fuch people will be propor- 
 " tioned to the adiivity and vigour which had animated popvilation\'* 
 
 This dcfcription will apply exadlly to what would take place in 
 this country, on the diftribution of fmall portions of land to the com- 
 mon people, and the introduction of potatoes as their general food. 
 For a time, the change might appear beneficial, and, of courfe, the 
 idea of property would make it, at firft, highly acceptable to the-^ 
 poor ; but as Mr. Young, in another place, fays, " You prefently 
 *' arrive at the limit, beyond w^hich, the earth, cultivate it as you 
 " pleafe, will feed no more mouths ; yet thofe fimple manners which 
 '" inlligate to marriage ftill continue ; what then is the confequence 
 " but the moft dreadful mifery imaginable^.'*" 
 
 When the commons were all divided and difficulties began to 
 occur in procuring potatoe grounds, the habit of early marriages 
 which had been introduced, would occafion the moft complicated 
 diftrefs ; and when, from the increafmg population, and diminifhing 
 fburces of fubfiftence, the average growth of potatoes was not more 
 than the average confumption, a fcarcity of potatoes would be, in 
 every refpe6l, as probable, as a fcarcity of wheat at prefent, and 
 when it did arrive, it would be, beyond all comparifon, more 
 dreadful. 
 
 When the common people of a country live principally upon the 
 deareft grain, as they do in England on wheat, they have great 
 refources in a fcarcity; and barley, oats, rice, cheap foups, and 
 potatoes, all prefent themfelves as lefs expenfive, yet, at the fame 
 time, wholcfome means of nourifliment; but when their habitual 
 food is the lowefh in this fcale, they appear to be abfolutely without 
 refource, except in the bark of trees, like the poor Swedes ; and a 
 
 ' Travels in Fraace, voU i. c. xvil. p. 409. * Ibid. 
 
 4 E great 
 
57^ 0///^^ errors in dljfereni plans vclilch have been book ir. 
 
 great portion of them muft necefTarily be rtarved. Wheaten bread, 
 roaft beef, and turbot, which might not fail at the fame time, are 
 indeed, in themfelves, unexceptionable fubftitutes for potatoes, and 
 would probably be accepted as fuch, without murmuring by the 
 common people; but the misfortune is, that a large population 
 which had been habitually fupported by milk and potatoes, would 
 find it difficult to obtain thefe fubftitutes in fufficient quantities, 
 even if the whole benevolence of the kingdom were called into 
 adlion for the purpofe. 
 
 The wages of labour will always be regulated by the proportion 
 of the fupply to the demand. And as, upon the potatoe fyftem, a 
 fupply more than adequate to the demand would very foon take 
 place, and this fupply might be continued at a very cheap rate, on 
 account of the cheapnefs of the food which would furnilh it, the 
 common price of labour would foon be regulated principally by 
 the price of potatoes, inftead of the price of wheat, as at prefent ; 
 and the rags and wretched cabins of Ireland would follow of cour/e. 
 
 When the demand for labour occafionally exceeds the fupply, and 
 wages are regulated by the price of the dcarcft grain, they will 
 generally be fuch as to yield fbmething befidcs mere food, and the 
 common people may be able to obtain decent houfes and decent 
 clothing. ]f the contrail between the ftatc of the French and Englifli 
 labourers which Mr. Young has drawn, be in any degree near the 
 truth, the advantage on the fide of England has been occafioned, 
 precifely and exclufively, by thefe two circumflances; and if, by the 
 adoption of milk and potatoes as the general food of the common 
 people, thefe circumftances were totally altered, fo as to make the 
 fupply of labour conftantly in a great exccfs above the demand 
 for it, and regulate wages by the price of the cheapeft food, the 
 advantage would be immediately loft, and no efforts of benevolence 
 could prevent the moft general and abjedl poverty. 
 
 Upon the fame principle, it would by no means be eligible 
 that the cheap foups of Count Rumford ihould be adopted as the 
 
 1 general 
 
CHAP. X. propofed, to Improve the condition of the Poor, 5^9 
 
 general food of the common people. They are excellent inventions 
 for publick inftitutions, and as occafional refources; but if they were 
 once univerfally adopted by the poor, it would be impoffible to 
 prevent the price of labour from being regulated by them ; and the 
 labourer, though at firft he might have more to fpare for other 
 expences, befides food, would ultimately have much lefs to fpare 
 than before. 
 
 The defirable thing, with a view to the happinefs of the common 
 people, feems to be, that their habitual food Ihould be dear, and 
 their wages regulated by it; but that, in a fcarcity, or other occa- 
 fional diftrefs, the cheaper food fhould be readily and cheerfully 
 adopted*. With a view of rendering this tranfition eaiier, and at 
 the fame time of making a ufeful diftinftion between thcfe who 
 are dependent on parifh relief, and thofe who are not, I fliould 
 think that one plan which Mr, Young propofes, would be extremely 
 eligible. This is " to pafs an adl prohibiting relief, fo far as fub- 
 " fiftence is concerned, in any other manner than by potatoes, rice, 
 *' and foup, not merely as a meafure of the moment, but perma- 
 " nently ''." I do not think that this plan would neceflarily intro- 
 duce thefe articles as the common food of the lower claiTes; and 
 if it merely made the tranfition to them in periods of diftrefs eaiier, 
 and, at the fame time, drew a more marked line than at prefent, 
 between dependence and independence, it would have a very beneficial 
 cfFed. 
 
 As it is acknowledged that the introdu(5lion of milk and potatoes, 
 or of cheap foups, as the general food of the lower clafTcs of people, 
 
 It is certainly to be wifhed, that every cottage in England fhould have a garden to 
 it, well flocked with vegetables. A little variety of food is in every point of view higlily 
 ufefuJ. Potatoes are undoubtedly a mod valuable fubfidiary, though I fliould be very 
 forry ever to fee them the principal dependence of our labourers. 
 
 *> Queftion of Scarcity, &c. p. 80. This might be done, at Icafl, with regard to 
 vvorkhoufes. In afiiding the poor at their own homes, it might be fubjetft to fome 
 pra6lical difficulties, 
 
 4 E 5 would 
 
5^0= Of the errors hi different phfis which have teen book iv, 
 
 would lower the price of labour, perhaps fome cold politician might 
 propofe to adopt the fyftem, with a view of underfelling foreigners 
 in the markets of Europe. I fhould not envy the feelings which 
 could fuggeft fuch a propofal. I really cannot conceive any thing 
 much more deteftable than the idea of knowingly condemning 
 the labourers of this country to the rags and wretched cabins 
 of Ireland, for the purpofe of felling a few more broadcloths and 
 calicoes ^. The wealth and power of nations are, after all, only 
 defirable as they contribute to happinefs. In this point of view, I 
 fhould be very far from undervaluing them, confidering them, in 
 general, as abfblutely neeeflary means to attain the end; but if any 
 
 * In this obfervatlon I have not the lead idea of alluding to Mr. Young, who, I 
 firmly believe, ardently wishes to ameliorate the condition of the lower claffes of people, 
 though I do not think that his plan would efFe6t the obje6l in view. He either did not 
 fee thofe confequences which I apprehend from it; or he has a better opinion of the 
 happinefs of the common people in Ireland, than I have. In his Irifh tour he feemed 
 much ftruck wirh the plenty of potatoes which they pofTefled, and the abfence of all 
 apprehenfion of want. Had he travelled in j 800 and 1801, his imprefiions would by- 
 all accounts have been very different. From the facility which has hitherto prevailed ia 
 Ireland of procuring polatoe grounds, fcarcities have certainly been rare, and all the 
 efFels of the fyllem have not yet been felt, though certainly enough to make it appe*^ 
 very far from defirable. 
 
 Mr. Young has fince purfued his i<dea more in detail, in a pamphlet, entitled. An 
 Inquiry into the Propriety of applying Wajies to the better Maintenance and Support of the Poor^ 
 But the impreffion on my mind is ftill the fame ; and it appears to me calculated to 
 afUmilate the condition of the labourers of this country to that of the lower claffes of 
 the Iriih. Mr. Young feems, in a moft unaccountable manner, to have forgotten all 
 his general principles on this fubjedt. He has treated the queftion of a provifion for 
 the poor, as if it was merely, How to provide in the cheapeft and beft manner for a 
 given number o( people ? If this had been the fole queftion, it would never have takeri' 
 fo many hundred years to refolve. But the real queftion is. How to provide for thofe 
 who are in want, in fuch a manner,, as to prevent a continual accumulation of theii* 
 numbers? and it will readily occur to the reader, that a plan of giving them land and 
 cows cannot promife much fuccefs in this refpefl. If, after all the commons had been 
 divided, the poor laws were ftill to continue in force, no good reafon can be afligned, 
 why the rates Ihould not in a few years be as high as they are at prefent, independently 
 of all that had been expended in.the purchafe of land and ftock. 
 
 particular 
 
CHAP. X. propo/ed, to Improve the conStmi of the Poor. . 58" I 
 
 particular cafe fliould occur, in which they appeared to be in direct 
 oppofition to each other, we cannot rationally doub* which ought 
 to be poftponed. 
 
 Fortunately, however, even on the narroweft political principles, 
 the adoption. of fuch a fyftem would not anfwer. It has always 
 been obferved, that thofe who work chiefly on their own property,, 
 work very indolently and unwillingly when employed for others; 
 and it muil neceflarily happen, when, from the general adoption of 
 a very cheap food, the population of a country increafes confiderahly 
 beyond the demand for labour, that habits of idlenefs and turbulence 
 will be generated, moft peculiarly unfavourable to a flourilhing 
 ftate of manufa<ftures. In fpite of the cheapnefs of labour in Ireland, 
 there are few manufactures which can be prepared in that country 
 for foreign fale fo cheap as in England : and this is evidently owing 
 to the want of thofe induftrious habits which can only be produced 
 by regular employment. 
 
 CHA'PI 
 
( 5&3 ) 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 Of the necejjity of general principles on this fibjeSi . 
 
 It has been obferved by Hume, that of all fclences, there is noi|ic, 
 where firfl appearances are more deceitful than in politicks '. The 
 remark is undoubtedly very juft, and is moft peculiarly applicable to 
 that department of the fcience, which relates to the modes of 
 improving the condition of the lower clafTes of fociety. 
 
 We are continually hearing declamations againfl theory and 
 theorifls, by men who pride themfelves upon the diftindion of 
 being practical. It muft be acknowledged that bad theories are 
 very bad things, and the authors of them ufelefs, and fometimes 
 pernicious members of fociety. But thefe advocates of pra(n:ice do 
 not feem to be aware, that they themfelves very often come under 
 this defcription, and that a great part of them may be clafled among 
 the moft mifchievous theorifts of their time. When a man faith- 
 fully relates any fad:s which have come within the fcope of his own 
 bfervation, however confined it may have been, he undoubtedly 
 adds to the fum of general knowledge, and confers a benefit on 
 fociety. But when, from this confined experience, from the 
 management of his own little farm, or the details of the workhouie 
 in his neighbourhood, he draws a general inference, as is very 
 frequently the cafe, he then at once eredls himfelf into a theorift ; 
 and is the more dangerous ; becaufe experience being the only juft 
 
 f Effay xi. vol. 1. p. 431. 8yo, 
 
 foundation 
 
CHAP. XI. Of the necejjiiy of general principles on thhftihje5l. 583 
 
 foundation for theory, people are often caught merely by the found 
 of the word, and do not {lop to make the diftin<ftion between that 
 partial experience which, on fuch fubjeds, is no foundation what- 
 ever for ajuft theory, and that general experience, on which alone 
 a juft theory can be founded. 
 
 There are, perhaps, few fubjcd:s, on which human ingenuity has 
 been more exerted, than in the endeavour to ameliorate the con- 
 dition of the poor ; and there is certainly no fubje(ft in which it has 
 io completely failed. The queftion between the theorift who calls 
 himfelf pradical, and the genuine theorift, is, whether this fliould 
 prompt us to look into all the holes and corners of workhoufes, and 
 content ourfelves with mulcling the parifli officers for their wafte of 
 cheefe parings and candle ends, and with diftributing more foups 
 and potatoes; or to recur to general principles, which fliew us at 
 once the caufe of the failure, and prove that the fyilem has been 
 from the beginning radically erroneous. There is no fubje6l to 
 which general principles -have been fo feldom applied ; and yet, 
 in the whole compafs of human know^ledge, I doubt if there be 
 one, in which it is fo dangerous to lofe fight of them ; becaufe the 
 partial and immediate cfFc61s of a particular mode of giving affift- 
 ance are fo often diredlly oppofite to the general and permanent 
 effeas. 
 
 It has been obferved in particular diftrifts, where cottagers are 
 pofl'effed of fmall pieces of land, and are in the habit of keeping 
 cows, that, during the late fcarcities, fome of them were able to 
 fupport themfelves without parifa affiftance, and others with com- 
 paratively little *. 
 
 According to the partial view in which this jfubje<5l has been 
 always contemplated, a general inference has been drawn from fuch 
 inftances, that, if we could place all our labourers in a fmiilar 
 fituation, they would all be equally comfortable, and equally inde- 
 
 * See an Inquiry into the State of Cottagers in the Counties of Lincoln and Rutbnd 
 by Robert Gourl ay. Annals of Agriculture, vol, xxxvii. p. 514. 
 
 % pendent 
 
584 Of the necefjity of general principles on thtsfiihjedl. book i v. 
 
 pendent of the parilli. This is an inference, however, that by no 
 means follows. The advantage w^hich cottagers, who at prefent 
 keep cows, enjoy, arifcs in a great meafure from its being peculiar; 
 and would be dcllroycd if it were made general. 
 
 A farmer or gentleman living in a grazing country has, we will 
 fuppofe, a certain number of cottages on his farm. Being a liberal 
 man, and liking to fee all the people about him comfortable, he 
 may join a piece of land to his cottages fufficient to keep one or 
 two cows, and give, befides, high wages. His labourers will of 
 courfe live in plenty, and be able to rear up large families ; but a 
 grazing farm requires few hands ; and though the mafter may choole 
 to pay thofe that he employs well, he will not probably wifti to 
 have more labourers on his farm than his work requires. He does 
 not therefore build more houfes; and the children of the labourers 
 whom he employs muft evidently emigrate and fettle in other 
 countries. While fuch a iyftem continues peculiar to certain 
 families, or certain diftri6i:s, no great inconveniencies arife from it 
 to the community in general ; and it cannot be doubted, that the 
 individual labourers employed on thefe farms are in an enviable 
 iituation, and fuch as we might naturally wifh was the lot of all 
 our labourers. But it is perfcdly clear, that fuch a iyftem could 
 not, in the nature of things, pofTefs the fame advantages, if it 
 w^re made general ; becaufe there would then be no countries to 
 which the children could emigrate with any profpe6l of finding 
 w.ork. Population would evidently increafe beyond the demand of 
 towns and manufadlories, and univerfal poverty mufl neceiTarily 
 enfue. 
 
 It Ihould be obferved alfo, that one of the reafons, why the labourers 
 who at prefent keep cows, are fo comfortable, is, that they are able to 
 make a confiderable profit of the milk which they do not ufe them- 
 felves; an advantage which would evidently be very much diminifhed 
 if the fyftem were univerfal. And though they were certainly able 
 to flruggle through the late fcarcities with lefs affiflance than their 
 
 neighbours, 
 
CHAP. XI. Of the neceffity of general prlnctpks on thhfuhjeSf. 585 
 
 neighbours, as might naturally be expected, from their having other 
 refources befides the article which in thofe individual years was 
 fcarce; yet if the fyftem were univerfal, there can be no reafon 
 affigned, why they would not be fubjed to fufFer as much from a 
 fcarcity of grafs and a mortality among cows, as our common 
 labourers do now from a fcarcity of wheat. We Ihould be extremely 
 cautious therefore of trufting to fuch appearances, and of drawing a 
 general inference from this kind of partial experience. 
 
 The main principle on which the fociety for increafmg the com- 
 forts, and bettering the condition of the poor, profeflcs to pro- 
 ceed, is excellent. To give effe(5l to that mafterfpring of indullry, 
 the defire of bettering our condition ^, is the true mode of impro^**- 
 ing the ftate of the lower clafles ; and we may fafely agree with Mr. 
 Bernard, in one of his able prefaces, that whatever encourages 
 and promotes habits of induftry, prudence, forefight, virtue, and 
 cleanlinefs, among the poor, is beneficial to them and to the country; 
 and whatever removes or diminillies the incitements to any of 
 thcfe qualities, is detrimental to the flate, and pernicious to the indi- 
 
 vidual ^. 
 
 . Mr. Bernard, indeed, himfelf, feems in general to be fully aware 
 of the difficulties which the fociety has to contend with in the 
 accomplilliment of its objedl. But ftill it appears to be in fome 
 danger of falling into the error before alluded to, of drawing general 
 inferences from infufficient experience. Without adverting to the 
 plans, refpedling cheaper foods and parilli fliops, recommended by 
 individuals, the beneficial effects of which depend entirely upon their 
 being peculiar to certain families or certain parifhes, and would be 
 loft if they were general, by lowering the wages of labour ; I fhall 
 only notice one obfervatlon of a more comprehenfive nature, which 
 occurs in the preface to the fecond volume of the Reports. It is 
 there remarked, that the experience of the fociety feemed to 
 
 Preface to vol. ii. of the Reports. ^ Preface -to voLiii. of the Keporft. 
 
 4 F warrant 
 
586 Of the necejpty of general principles on thlsfuhjeSi. book iv, 
 
 warrant the conclufion, that the beft mode of reUeving the poor, 
 was, by affiftmg them at their own homes, and placing out their 
 children as foon as pofTible in different employments, apprentice- 
 fliips, &c. I really believe that this is the beft, and it is certainly 
 the moil agreeable mode, in which occafional and difcriminate 
 affiftance can be given. But it is evident, that it muft be done 
 with caution, and cannot be adopted as a general principle, and 
 made the foundation of univerfal practice. It is open exactly to the 
 fame objedion as the cow fyftcm in pafture countries which has 
 juft been noticed, and that part of the ad of the 43d of Elizabeth 
 which dire^ls the overfeers to employ and provide for the children 
 of the poor. A particular parifh, where all the children, as foon 
 as they were of a proper age, were taken from their parents, and 
 placed out in proper fituations, might be very comfortable; but if 
 the fyftem were general, and the poor faw that all their children 
 would be thus provided for, every employment would prefently be 
 overftocked with hands, and the confequence need not be again 
 repeated. 
 
 Nothing can be more clear, than that it is within the power of 
 mioney, and of the exertions of the rich, adequately to relieve a 
 particular family, a particular parifli, and even a particular diftriA. 
 But it will be equally clear, if we refled: a moment on the fubjed:, ' 
 that it is totally out of their power to relieve the whole country in 
 the fame way ; at leaft, without providing a regular vent for the 
 overflowing numbers in emigration, or without the prevalence of a 
 particular virtue among the poor, which the diftribution of this 
 affiftance tends obvioufly to difcourage. 
 
 Even induftry itfelf, is, in this refped, not very different from 
 money. A man who poffeffes a certain portion of it, above what is 
 ufually poffeffed by his neighbours, will, in the aclual ffate of things, 
 be almoft fure of a competent livelihood ; but if all his neighbours 
 were to become at once as induftrious as himfelf, the abfolute 
 portion of induftry which he before poffeffed would no longer be a 
 
 fccurity 
 
c H A p . XI. Of the necejjity of general principles on thisfiibje5i. 587 
 
 fecurity againft want. Hume fell into a very great error, when he 
 aflerted that " almoft all the moral, as well as natural evils of 
 *' human life, arife from idlenefs ;" and for the cure of thefe ills, 
 required only that the whole fpecies Ihould poiTefs naturally an 
 equal diligence, with that which many individuals are able to attain 
 by habit and reflection ^ It is evident that this given degree of 
 induftry poflefled by the whole fpecies, if not combined with 
 another virtue of which he takes no notice, w^ould totally fail of 
 ^efcuing fociety from want and mifery, and would fcarcely remove 
 a fmgle moral or phyfical evil, of all thofe to which he alludes. 
 
 I am aware of an objection, which will, with great appearance 
 of juftice, be urged againft the general tenour of thefe reafonings. 
 It will be faid, that to argue thus, is at once to object to every 
 mode of affixing the poor, as it is impoffible, in the nature of things, 
 to affift people individually, without altering their relative fituation 
 in fociety, and proportionally depreiling others ; and that as thofe 
 who have families, are the perfons naturally mod fubjed: to dif- 
 trefs, and as wx are certainly not called upon to afiift thofe who do 
 not want our aid, we mull neceflarily, if we a6l at all, relieve thofe 
 who have children, and thus encourage marriage and population. 
 
 I have already obferved, however, and I here repeat it again, that 
 the general principles on thefe fubjedls ought not to be pufhed too 
 far, though they fliould always be kept in view; and that many 
 cafes may occur, in which the good refulting from the relief of the 
 prefent diftrefs, may more than overbalance the evil to be appre- 
 hended from the remote confequence. 
 
 All relief in inftances of diftrefs, not arifing from idle and 
 improvident habits, clearly comes under this defcription; and in 
 general it may be obferved, that it is only that kind of i) ftcmatic 
 and certain relief, on which the poor can confidently depend, what- 
 ever may be their condud:, that violates general principles, in fuch 
 
 * Dialogues on Natural Religion, Part xi. p. 312. 
 
 4 F ^ a manner. 
 
588 Of the necejjtty of general prmctpJes on thlsfiihjedi. book. rv 
 
 a manner, as to make it clear that the general confequence is worfe 
 than the particular evil. 
 
 Independently of this dlfcriminate and occafional affiftance, the 
 beneficial effects of which I have fully allowed in a preceding 
 chapter, I have before endeavoured to fhew, that much might be 
 expedied from a better and more general fyflem of education. Every 
 thing that can be done in this way, has indeed a very peculiar 
 value; becaufe education is one of thofe advantages, which not only 
 all may fliare without interfering with each other, but the raifing 
 of one perfon may ad:ually contribute to the raifing of others. If, 
 for inftance, a man by education acquires that decent kind of pride, 
 and thofe jufter habits of thinking, which will prevent him from 
 burdening fociety with a family of children, which he cannot 
 fupport, his conduct, as far as an individual inftance can go, tends 
 evidently to improve the condition of his fellow labourers; and 
 a contrary condud; from ignorance, would tend as evidently to 
 deprefs it. 
 
 I cannot help thinking alfo, that fomethlng might be done 
 towards bettering the fituation of the poor, by a general improve- 
 ment of their cottages; if care were taken, at the fame time, not 
 to make them fo large, as to allow of two families fettling in them ; 
 and not to increafe their number fafter than the demand for labour 
 required. Perhaps one of the moft falutary, and leaft pernicious 
 checks, to the frequency of early marriages in this country, is the 
 difficulty of procuring a cottage, and the laudable habits which 
 prompt a labourer rather to defer his marriage fome years, in the 
 expectation of a vacancy, than to content hlmfelf with a wretched 
 mud cabin, like thofe in Ireland ^. 
 
 Even 
 
 Perhaps, however, this is not often left to his choice, on account of tlie fear which 
 every pariih has of increafing its poor. There are many ways by which our poor laws 
 operate in couatera6lJng their firft obvious tendency to increafe population, and this is 
 
 3 one 
 
CHAP. XI. Oftlie necej]ity of general prhidphs on thhfiihjedi. ^89 
 
 Even the cow ^ftem, upon a more confined plan, might not be 
 open to objedion. With any view of making it a fubilitute for 
 the Poor Laws, and of giving labourers a right to demand land and 
 cows in proportion to their families; or of taking the common 
 people from the confumption of wheat, and feeding them on milk 
 and potatoes ; it appears to me, I confefs, truly prepoilierous: but 
 if it were fo ordered as merely to provide a comfortable fituation for 
 the better and more induftrious clafs of labourers, and to fupply, at 
 the fame time, a very important want among the poor in general, 
 that of milk for their children, I think that it would be extremely 
 beneficial, and might be made a very powerful incitement to habits 
 of induftry, economy, and prudence. With this view, however, it 
 is evident, that only a certain portion of the labourers in each 
 parifli could be embraced in the plan ; that good conducl, and not 
 mere diilrefs, fhould have the moil valid claim to preference ; that 
 too much attention fliould not be paid to the number of children ; 
 and that, univerfally, thofe who had faved money enough for the 
 purchafe of a cow, fhould be preferred, to thofe who required to be 
 furniflied with one by the parilh ''. 
 
 To facilitate the faving of fmall fums of money for this purpofe, 
 and encourage young labourers to economize their earnings with a 
 view to a provifion for marriage; it might be extremely ufeful to 
 have country banks, where the fmalleft fums would be received, 
 and a fair intereft paid for them. At prefent, the few labourers who 
 fave a little money, are often greatly at a lofs to know what to do 
 
 one of them. I have little doubt that it Is aimofl: exclufively owing- to thefe counter- 
 adling caufes, tliat we have been able to perfevcre in this fyflem fo long, and that the 
 condition of the poor has not been fo much injured by it as might Ikjvc been expeded. 
 
 "" The a6l of Elizabeth which prohibited the building of cottages, unlefs four acres of 
 land were annexed to them, is probably impradlicable in a manufacturing country like 
 England; but upon this principle, certainly the greateft part of the poor might pofTeft 
 land ; becaufe the difficulty of procuring fuch cottages would always operate as a power- 
 ful check to their increafc. The effedl of fuch a plan would be very different from 
 that of Mr. Young's. 
 
 with 
 
^go fi1ie necejjtiy of general prhidples on thh fuhje5f. book it. 
 
 with it ; and under fuch circumftances we cannot be much fur- 
 prifed that it fliould fometimes be ill employed, and laft but a fhort 
 time. It w^ould probably be effential to the fuccefs of any plan 
 of this kind, that the labourer fliould be able to draw out his money 
 whenever he wanted it, and have the moft perfed: liberty of dif- 
 pofnig of it in every refpeA as he pleafed. Though we may regret, 
 that money fo hardly earned fliould fometimes be fpent to little 
 purpofe; yet it feems to be a, cafe in which we have no right to 
 interfere; nor if we had, would it, in a general view, be ad- 
 vantageous ; becaufe the knowledge of poiTeffing this liberty would 
 be of more ufe in encouraging the pradice of faving, than any 
 reftri(5lion of it, in preventing the mifufe of money fo faved. 
 
 One fliould undoubtedly be extremely unwilling, not to make as 
 much ufe as poffible of that known (limulus to induftry and 
 economy, the dcfire of, and the attachment to, property : but it 
 Ihould be recoUeded, that the good efFeds of this flimulus, 
 fhow themfelves principally, when this property is to be procured, 
 or preferved, by perfonal exertions ; and that they are by no means fo 
 general, under other circumftances. If any idle man with a family 
 could demand, and obtain, a cow and fome land, I fliould expedl to 
 fee both very often negleded. 
 
 It has been obferved, that thofe cottagers who keep cows, are 
 more indufl:rious and more regular in their condud than thofe who 
 do not. This is probably true, and what might naturally be 
 expefced ; but the inference that the way to make all people in- 
 duftrious, is to give them cows, may by no means be quite fo 
 certain. Mofl: of thofe who keep cows at prefent have purchafed 
 them with the fruits of their own induflry. It is therefore more 
 juft to fay, that their indufl:ry has given them a cow, than that a 
 cow has giv^en them their indufl:ry ; though I would by no means 
 be underflood to imply, that the fudden poiTeffion of property never 
 generates induflirious habits. 
 
 . The practical good efFedls which have been already experienced, 
 
 from 
 
CHAP. XI. Of the necejpty of general principles on this fuhjeSi. 591 
 
 from cottagers keeping cows % arife in fad from the iyftem being 
 nearly fuch as the confined plan which I have mentioned. In the 
 diftrid:s where cottagers of this defcription moft abound, they do 
 not bear a very large proportion to - the population of the whole 
 parifli: they confift in general of the better fort of labourers, who 
 have been able to purchafe their own cows ; and the peculiar com- 
 forts of their fituation arife, more from the relative, than the 
 pofitive advantages which they poflefs. 
 
 From obferving, therefore, their induftry and comforts, we fliould 
 be very cautious of inferring that v/e could give the fame induftrv 
 and comforts to all the lower clafles of people, by giving them the 
 fame pofleffions. There is nothing that has given rife to fuch a 
 cloud of errors, as a confufion between relative and pofitive, and 
 between caufe and efFed:. 
 
 It may be faid, however, that any plan of generally improving the 
 cottages of* the poor, or of enabling more of them to keep -cows, 
 would evidently give them the power of rearing a greater number of 
 children, and, by thus encouraging population, violate the principles 
 which I have endeavoured to eftablifh. But if I have been 
 fuccefsful in making the reader comprehend the principal bent of 
 this work, he will be aware, that the precife reafon why I think 
 that more children ought not to be born than the country can 
 fupport, is, that the greatefi: pofTible number of thofe that are born 
 may be fupported. We cannot, in the nature of things, affifl; the 
 poor, in any way, without enabling them to rear up to manhood a 
 greater number of their children. But this is, of all other things, 
 the mofi: defirable, both with regard to individuals and the publick. 
 Every lofs , of a child from the confequences of poverty, mufi: evi- 
 dently be preceded and accompanied by great mifery to individuals; 
 and, in a publick view, every child that dies under ten years of ago, 
 is a lofs to the nation of all that had been expended in its fubfift- 
 
 * Inquiry into the State of Cottagers in the Counties of Lincoln and Rutland, by 
 Robert Gourlay. Annals of Agriculture, vol. xxxvii. p. 514. 
 
 ttCC 
 
592 Cf the neceffiiy of general prtnctpies on thtsjuhje^. cook it. 
 
 cnce till that period. Confequently, in every point of view, a de- 
 creafe of mortality, at all ages, is w^hat we ought to aim at. Wc 
 cannot, however, effe<5l this obje(5l, without firft crowding the 
 population in fome degree by making more children grow up to 
 manhood; but we fhall do no harm in this refpeft, if, at the fame 
 time, we can imprefs thcfe children with the idea that to poflefs 
 the fame advantages as their parents, they muft defer marriage till 
 they have a fair profped; of being able to maintain a family. And 
 it muft be candidly confefled that, if we cannot do this, all our 
 former efforts will have been thrown away. - It is not in the nature 
 of things that any permanent and general improvement in the 
 condition of the poor can be effected, without an increafe in the 
 preventive check: and unlefs this take place, either with, or without 
 vour efforts, every thing that is done for the poor muft be temporary 
 and partial : a diminution of mortality at prcfcnt, will be balanced 
 by an increafed mortality in future ; and the improvement of their 
 condition in one place, will proportionally dcprefs it in another. 
 This is a truth fo important, and fo little underftood, that it can 
 fcarcely be too often infiftcd on. The generality of charitable people 
 and of the encouragers of marriage, are not in the fmalleft degree 
 aware of the real effedls of what they do. 
 
 Dr. Paley, in a chapter on population, provifion, &c. in his Moral 
 Philofophy, obferves, that the condition moft favourable to the 
 population of a country, and, at the fame time, to its general 
 happinefs, is, " that of a laborious frugal people miniftering to the 
 " demands of an opulent, luxurious nation^." Such a form ot 
 
 ' Vol. ii. c. xi. p. 359- From a paflage in Dr. Paley's late work on Natural 
 Theology, I am inclined to think, that fubfequent refledlion has induced him to 
 modify fome of his former ideas on the fubje6l of population. He has ftated n^oft juflly, 
 (chap. XXV. p. 539.) that mankind will in every country breed up to a certain point of 
 dillrefs. If tiiis be allowed, that country will evidently be the happieft, where the degree 
 ofdiftrefs at this point is the leaf!:, and confequently, if the fpread of luxury, by produ- 
 cing the check fooner, tend to diminifli this degree of diflreG, it is certainly defirable. 
 
 Ibciety 
 
CHAP. XI. Of the mcefjtiy of general pnnc'iples on tJusfuhjetf. 593 
 
 fociety has not, it muft be confelled, an inviting afpedl. Nothing 
 but the convidiion of its being abfolutelj ncceflary, could reconcile 
 us to the idea of ten millions of people condemned to inceflant toil, 
 and to the privation of every thing but abfolute neceifaries, in order 
 to minlitcr to the exceffive luxuries of the other million. But the 
 faft'is, that fuch a form of fociety is by no means necefTary. It is 
 by no means neceflary, that the rich lliould be exceffively luxurious, 
 in order to fupport the manufa6lures of a country, or that the poor 
 fliould be deprived of all luxuries, in order to make them fufficiently 
 numerous. The beft, and in every point of view the moft advan- 
 tageous, manufadlures in this country, are thofe which are confumed 
 by the great body of the people. The manufactures which arc 
 confined exclufively to the rich, are not only trivial on account of 
 the comparative fmallnefs of their quantity ; but are further liable 
 to the great difad vantage of producing much oecafional mifery amon^ 
 thofe employed in them, from changes of falhion. It is the ipread 
 of luxury, therefore, among the mafs of the people, and not an excefs 
 of it in a few, that feemsto be moft advantageous, both with 
 regard to national wealth and national happinefs ; and what Dr. 
 Paley confiders as the true evil and proper danger of luxury, I fliould 
 be difpofed to confider as its true good, and peculiar advantage. If, 
 indeed, it be allowed that in every ibciety, not in the ftate of a new 
 colony, fome powerful check to population muft prevail; and if it 
 be obferved, that a tafte for the comforts and conveniencies of life 
 will prevent people from marrying under the certainty of being 
 deprived of thcfe advantages ; it muft be allowed that we can hardly 
 cxpe(5l to nd any check to marriage fo little prejudicial to the 
 happinefs and virtue of fociety as the general prevalence of fuch a 
 tafte -, and confequently that the fpread of luxury ^ in this fenfe of 
 
 the 
 
 In a note to the tenth cliapter of the Jafl: book, I have mentioned the point at which, 
 alone, it \% probable that luxury becomes really prejiidkial to a country. But this point 
 
 4 G does 
 
S94 Of the neceffity of general pnnctpJes on this fjihje^, bookiv. 
 
 the term, is particularly defirable ; and one of the bed means of ralfing 
 that {landard of wretchednefs, alluded to in the eighth chapter of this 
 book. 
 
 It has been generally found that the middle parts of fociety are 
 nioft favourable to virtuous and induftrious habits, and to the growth 
 of all kinds of talents. But it is evident, that all cannot be in the 
 middle. Superior and inferior parts are, in the nature of things, 
 abfolutely neccflary ; and not only neccflary, but ftrikingly beneficial. 
 If no man could hope to rife, or fear to fall in fociety ; if induflry 
 did not bring w^ith it its reward, and indolence its punifhment ; we 
 could not expecfl to fee that animated activity in bettering our condition, 
 which now forms the mafter-fpring of publick profperity. But in con- 
 templating the different ftates of Europe, we obferve a very confidcr- 
 able difference in the relative proportions of the fuperior, the middle, 
 and the inferior parts ; and from the effect of thefe differences, it 
 feems probable, that our beft grounded expedlations of an increafe 
 in the happinefs of the mafs of human fociety, are founded in the 
 profpecB: of an increafe in the relative proportions of the middle parts. 
 And if the lower claffes of people had acquired the habit of propor- 
 tioning the fupplies of labour to a ftatlonary, or even decrcafmg 
 demand, without an increafe of mifery and mortality, as at prefent ^ 
 we^fhii^t even venture to indulge a hope, that at fome future 
 period, the proceffes for abridging human labour, the progrefs of 
 which has of late years been fo rapid, might ultimately fupply all 
 the wants of the moft wealthy fociety with lefs perfonal labour than 
 at prefent ; and if they did not diminifli the feverity of indi- 
 vidual exertion, might, at leaf!:, diminlfli the number of thofe 
 employed in fevere toll. If the loweft claffes of fociety were thus 
 diminifhcd, and the middle claffes increafed, each labourer might 
 indulge a more rational hope of riflng by diligence and exertion into 
 
 docs not depend upon the fpread of luxury, as diminifliing the frequency of marriage 
 among the poor, but upon the proportion which thofe employed in preparing or pro- 
 curing luxuries, bears to the funds which are to fupport them 
 
 a better 
 
GHAP. xi. Of the necejjhy of general primlptes m tJusfuhje^, 595 
 
 a better ftation; the rewards of induftry and virtue would be in- 
 creafed in number; human fociety would appear to confift of fewer 
 blanks and more prizes ; and the fum of focial happinefs would be 
 evidently augmented. 
 
 To indulge, however, in any diftant views of this kind, unaccom- 
 panied by the evils ufually attendant on a flationary, or decreafnig 
 demand for labour, we muft fuppofe the general prevalence of fuch 
 prudential habits among the poor, as would prevent them from 
 marrying, when the a(5lual price of labour, joined to what they 
 might have faved in their iingle ftate, would not give them the 
 profpedl of being able to fupport a wife and fix children without 
 affiflance. And, in every point of view, fuch a degree of prudential 
 reftraint would be extremely beneficial ; and would produce a very 
 {Iriking amelioration in the condition of the lower claflcs of people. ^ 
 
 It may be faid, perhaps, that even this degree of prudence might not 
 always avail, as when a man marries he cannot tell what number of 
 children he fliall have, and many have more than lix. This is cer- 
 tainly true ; and in this cafe I do not think that any evil would 
 refult from making a certain allowance to every child above this" 
 number ; not with a view of rewarding a man tor his large family, 
 but merely, of relieving him from a fpecies of diflrefs, which it would 
 be unrcafonablc in us to expe^l that he fliould calculate upon. And 
 with this view, the relief fliould be merely fuch, as to place him 
 exactly in the fame iituation as if he had had fix children. 
 Montefquieu difapproves of an cdid; of Lewis the fourteenth, which 
 gave certain pcnfions to thofe who had ten and twelve children, as 
 being of no ufe in encouraging population **. For the very reafbn 
 that he difapproves of it, I fhould think that fome law of the kind 
 might be adopted without danger, and might relieve particular 
 individuals from a very prefTmg and unlooked-for dlflrefs, without 
 operating in any refpecS as an encoura.gement to marriage. 
 
 * E^r'vt des Loix, liv, xxlii. c. xxvii. 
 
 4 G i? U 
 
$9^ Of the necej/tty of general principles on this fuhje^. book i v. 
 
 If at feme future period, any approach fhould be made toward* 
 the more general prevalence of prudential habits with refpec^ to 
 marriage among the poor, from which alone any permanent and 
 general improvement of their condition can arife ; I do not think 
 that the narroweft politician need be alarmed at it, from the fear of 
 its occafioning fuch an advance in the price of labour as will enable 
 our commercial competitors to underfell us in foreign marliets. 
 There are four circumftances that might be expe<5led to accompany 
 it, which would probably either prevent, or fully counterbalance^ 
 any efFed of this kind. Thefe are, ift. The more equable and 
 lower price of provifions, from the demand being lefs frequently 
 above the fupply. 2dly, The removal of that heavy burden on 
 agriculture, and that great addition to the prefent wages of labour, 
 the poors rates. 3.dly, The national faving of a great part of that fum ,^ 
 "which is expended without return, in the fupport of thofe children 
 who die prematurely, from the confcquences of poverty. And, laflly^ 
 The more general prevalence of economical and induftrious habits> 
 particularly among unmarried men, which would prevent that indo- 
 lence,, drunkennefs, and walie of labour, which at prefent are toa 
 frequently a confequcnce of high wages.. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( 59/ ) 
 
 c H A P. xrr. 
 
 Of cur rational expedlatiam reJ^eSitng the future 'improvement of Society^ 
 
 In t^ing a general and concluding view of our rational expectations 
 refpecfling the mitigation of the evils arifing from the principle of 
 population, it may be obferved, that though the increafe of popular 
 tion in a geometrical ratio be incontrovertible, and the period of 
 doubling, when unchecked^ has been uniformly ftated in. tliis work, 
 rather below than above the truth ; yet there are ibme natural 
 confequences of the progrefs of fbciety and civilization, which 
 neceifarily reprcfs its full effects. There are, more particularly, great 
 towns and manufadiures, in which we can fcarcely hope, and; 
 certainly not expcd:, to fee any very material change. It is undoubt-^ 
 cdly our duty, and in every point of view highly defirable, to make 
 towns and manufacturing employments as little injurious as pofliblc 
 to the duration of human life ; but, after all our efforts, it is pro- 
 bable that they will always remain lefs healthy than country fitu- 
 ations and country employments ; and confequently, operating as 
 pofitive checks, will diminifh in forae degree the neceffity of the 
 preventive check.. 
 
 In every old flate it is obfcrved, that a confiderable number of 
 grown-up people, remain for a time unmarried. The diity of 
 pradlifmg the common and acknowledged rules of morality during, 
 this period, has never been controverted in theory, however it may- 
 have been oppofed in pracflice. This branch of the duty of moral 
 reflraint has fcarcely been touched by the rcafbnings of this work.. 
 
 It 
 
^9'8 Of mir rational expcdi at tojts refpecf tug book i v. 
 
 It rcfts on the fame foundation as before, neither ftronger nor 
 "weaker. And knowing how incompletely this duty has hitherto 
 been fulfilled, it would certainly be vifionary to exped: any very 
 material change for the better, in future. 
 
 The part which has been affc6led by the reafonings of this work 
 is not, therefore, that which relates to our condu6l during the 
 period of celibacy, but to the duty of extending this period till we 
 have a profpedl of being able to maintain our children. And it is 
 by no means vifionary to indulge a hope of fome favourable change 
 in this re(pe<ft ; becaufe it is found by experience, that the prevalence 
 of this kind of prudential reftraint is extremely different in different 
 countries, and in the fame countries at different periods. 
 
 It cannot be doubted, that throughout Europe in general, and 
 moft particularly in the northern flates, a decided change has taken 
 place in the operation of this prudential reflraint, fuice the preva- 
 lence of thofe warlike and enterprifnig habits which deftroyed 
 fo many people. In later times, the gradual diminution, and almoft: 
 total extinction, of the plagues which fo frequently vifited Europe in 
 the ie\x:ntcenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, pro- 
 duced a change of the fame kind. And in this country it is not to be 
 doubted that the proportion of marriages has become fmallcr, fince 
 the improvement of our towns, the lefs frequent returns of epide- 
 micks, and the adoption of habits of greater cleanlinefs. During 
 the late fcarcities, it appears that the number of marriages dimi- 
 niflied ; and the fame motives w hich prevented many people from 
 marrying during fuch a period, would operate precifely in the fame 
 way, if, in future, the additional number of children reared to 
 manhood from the introdu<5lion of the cow-pox, were to be fuch, 
 as to crowd all employments, lower the price of labour, and make 
 it more difficult to fupport a family. 
 
 Univcrfally, the priidice of mankind on the fubjed; of marriage 
 
 has been much fupcrior to their theories ; and however frequent 
 
 may have been the declamations on the duty of entering into this 
 
 7 flate, 
 
CHAP. XII, tJie future improvement of Society, 599- 
 
 ftatc, and the adv^antage of early unions to prevent vicC; each indi- 
 vidual has practically found it neceilary to confider of the means of 
 fupporting a family, before he ventijUj^ to take fo important a ftep. 
 JN^ That great vis medtcairix reiptMcaj^Q defire of bettering our condi- 
 tion, and the fear of making it worfe, has been conftantly in aftion,, 
 and has been conftantly dired;ing people into the right road in fpite 
 of all the declamations which tended to lead them alide. Owing to- 
 this powerful fpring of health in every ftate, which is nothing more 
 than an inference from the general courfe of the laws of nature, irre- 
 iiftibly forced on each man's attention, the prudential check to mar- 
 riage has increafed in Europe ; and it cannot be unreafonable to con- 
 clude, that it will {till make further advances. If this take place, 
 without any marked and decided increafe of a vicious intercourfe 
 with the fex, the happinefs of fociety will evidently be promoted by- 
 it ; and with regard to the danger of fuch increafe, it is confolatory 
 to remark, that thofe countries in Europe where marriages are the 
 leaft frequen/, arc by no means particularly diftinguiflied by vices of 
 this kind./ It has appeared that Norw^ay, Switzerland, England, and 
 Scotland', are above all the reft in the prevalence of the preventive 
 check ; and though I do not mean to infift particularly on the vir- 
 tuous habits of thefe countries, yet I think that no perfon would 
 felc6l them as the countries moft marked for profligacy of manners. 
 Indeed, from the little that I know of the continent, I fliould have 
 been inclined to feled: them a& moft diftinguifhcd for contrary habits, 
 and as rather above than below their neighbours in the chaftity of 
 their women, and confequently in the virtuous habits of their men. 
 Experience therefore feems to tea-ck us> that it is poiTiblc for moral \ 
 and phyflcal caufcs to countera<5l the effects that might at firft be 
 expected from an increafe of the preventive check ; but allowing all ' 
 the weight to thcfe effects which is in any degree probable, it' may 
 be fafely aflerted, that the diminution of the vices arising from indi- 
 gence, would fnlly counterbalance them ; and that all the advan- 
 tages of diminilhed mortality, and fuperior comforts, which would 
 
 certainly 
 
'6oo Of our rational expeSfations refpe cling book i v. 
 
 certainly refult from an increafe of the preventive check, may be 
 placed entirely on the fide of the gains to the caufc of happinefs and 
 virtue. 
 
 It is Icfs the obje(fl of the prefent work to propofe new plans of 
 improving fociety, than to inculcate the neccffity of refting con- 
 tented with that mode of improvement, which is dilated by the 
 courfe of nature, and of not obftruding the advances which would 
 other wife be made in this way. 
 
 It would be undoubtedly highly advantageous, that all our pofitlvc 
 inflitutions, and the whole tenour of our condud: to the poor, Ihould 
 be fuch as adively to co-operate with that lefTon of prudence incul- 
 cated by the common courfe of human events; and if wx take upon 
 Gurfelves, fometimes, to mitigate the natural punifliments of impru- 
 dence, that we fliould balance it by increafmg the rewards of an 
 oppofite condud:. But much would be done, if merely the infti- 
 tutions which diredly tend to encourage marriage wxre gradually 
 changed, and we ceafed to circulate opinions, and inculcate dodrines, 
 which pofitivcly counterad the IciTons of nature. 
 
 The limited good which it is fometimes in our power to efFcd, is 
 often loft by attempting too much, and by making the adoption of 
 fbmc particular plan efl'entially ncceffary even to a partial degree of 
 iiicccfs. In the pradical application of the rcafonings of this w^ork, I 
 hope that I have avoided this error. I wilh to prefs on the recol- 
 ledion of the reader, that, though I may have given fome new views 
 of old fads, and may have indulged in the contemplation of a confi- 
 derable degree of pej/ihle improvement, that I might not abfolutely 
 fhut out that prime cheerer hope ; yet in my expcdations of probable 
 improvement, and in fuggefting the means of accomplilhing it, I have 
 been very cautious. The gradual abolition of the poor laws has 
 already often been propofcd, in confequence of the pradical evils 
 which have been found to flow from them, and the danger of their 
 becornmg a weight abfolutely intolerable on the landed property of 
 die kingdom. The eftabliflimcnt of a more extenfive fyftem of 
 
 national 
 
c H A p . X 1 1 . the future Improvement of Society, 60 1 
 
 national education, has neither the advantage of novelty with fome, 
 nor its difadvantage with others, to recommend it. The practical 
 good effects of education have long been experienced in Scotland ; 
 and almoft every perfon who has been placed in a fituation to judge, 
 has given his teftimony, that ed^^atiiua appears to have a confiderablc 
 effed: in the prevention of crimes ^, and the promotion of induflry, 
 morality, and regular condud. Yet thefe are the only plans which 
 have been offered ; and though the adoption of them in the modes 
 fuggefted, would very powerfully contribute to forward the objcd: of 
 this work, and better the condition of the poor ; yet if nothing be 
 done in this way, I ihall not abfolutely defpair of fome partial good 
 effects from the general tenour of the reafoning. 
 
 If the principles which I have endeavoured to eflablilli be falfe, I 
 moft fmcerely hope to fee them completely refuted ; but if they be 
 true, thefubjedl is fo important, and interefts the queftion of human 
 happinefs fo nearly, that it is impoffible that they fhould not in time 
 be more fully known, and more generally circulated, whether any 
 part-icular efforts be made for the purpofc or not. 
 
 Among the higher and middle claffcs of fociety, the effect of 
 this knowledge would, 1 hope, be to dired; without relaxing their 
 efforts in bettering the condition of the poor; to lliflw them what 
 they can, and what they cannot do ; and that, although much may 
 be done by advice and infi:ru(5lion, by encouraging habits of prudence 
 and cleanlinefs, by occafional and difcriminate charity, and by any 
 mode of bettering the prefcnt condition of the poor, which is followed 
 by an increafe of the preventive check ; yet that, without this laft 
 cffed:, all the former efforts would be futile; and that, in any old and 
 well-peopled ffate, to affifl the poor in fuch a manner as to enable 
 
 * Mr.Howard found fewer prlfoners in Switzerland and Scotland, than in other coun- 
 tries, which he attrilmted to a more regular education among the lower clafies of the 
 Swifs and the Scotch. During tlie number of years which the late Mr. Fielding 
 prcfided at Bow-ftreet, only fix Scotchmen were brought before him. He ufed to (ay 
 tha*t of the perfons committed the greater part were Irifli. Preface to vol, iii. of the 
 Reports of the Society for bettering the condition of the poor, p. 32. 
 
 4 H them 
 
6o2 Of our ratlojial expeSiat'tons refpe&htg book iv, 
 
 them to marry as early as they pleafe, and rear up large families, is 
 a phyfical impoffibility. This knowledge, by tending to prevent the 
 rich from deftroying the good effects of their own exertions, and 
 wafting their efforts in a direction where fuccefs is unattainable, 
 would confine their attention to the proper objects, and thus enable 
 them to do more good. 
 
 Among the poor themfelves, its effedls would be ftill more import- 
 ant. That the principal and moft permanent caufe of poverty, has 
 little or no relation to forms of government, or the unequal divifion 
 of property ; and that, as the rich do not in reality poffefs the power 
 of finding employment and maintenance for the poor, the poor can- 
 not, in the nature of things, poffefs the right to demand them, are 
 important truths flowing from the principle of population, which, 
 when properly explained, would by no means be above the moft 
 ordinary comprehenfions. And it is evident, that every man in the 
 lower claffes of fociety, who became acquainted with thefe truths, 
 would be difpofed to bear the diftreffes in which he might be 
 involved with more patience ; would feel lefs dlfcontent and irrita- 
 tion at the government and the higher claffes of fociety, on account 
 of his poverty ; would be on all occafions lefs difpofed to infubordi- 
 nation and turbulence ; and if he received affiftance, either from 
 any publick inftitution, or from the hand of private charity, he would 
 receive it with more thankfulnefs, and morejuftly appreciate its 
 value. 
 
 If thefe truths were by degrees more generally known, which in 
 the courfe of time does not feem to be improbable, from the natural 
 effedls of the mutual interchange of opinions, the lower claffes of 
 people, as a body, would become more peaceable and orderly ; would 
 be lefs inclined to tumultuous proceedings in feafons of fcarcity, and 
 would at all times be lefs influenced by inflammatory and feditious 
 publications, from knowing how little the price of labour, and the 
 means of fupporting a family, depend upon a revolution. The mere 
 knowledge of thefe truths, even if they did not operate fufliciently 
 to produce any marked change in the prudential habits of the poor, 
 
 3 with 
 
CHAP. XII. the future improvement of Society, 603 
 
 with regard to marriage, would ftill have a moft beneficial effedl on 
 their condu6l in a political light ; and undoubtedly one of the 'moft 
 valuable of thefe effects would be, the power that would refult to the 
 higher and middle clalTes of fociety of gradually improving govern- 
 ments*, without the apprehenfion of thofe revolutionary excefles, the 
 fear of which, at prefent, threatens to deprive Europe even of that 
 degree of liberty, which fhe had before experienced to be pradlicable, 
 and the falutary effe6ls of which flie had long enjoyed. 
 
 From a review of the ftate of fociety in former periods, compared 
 with the prefent, I fliould certainly fay, that the evils refulting from 
 the principle of population have rather diminifhed, than increafed, 
 even under the difadvantage of an almoft total ignorance of their 
 real caufe. Andjf w e can ^ indul ge the hope that this i gnora nce wdl 
 be gradually diflipated, it does not fee m ui|i;eafonable t o expe6l, that 
 they will be ftill further diminifhed. The increafe of abfolutc popu-. 
 lation which will of courfe take place, will evidently tend but little 
 to weaken this expediation, as every thing depends upon the rela- 
 tive proportions between population and food, and not on the abfo- 
 lute number of people. In the former part of this work, it appeared, 
 that the countries which pofTefled the feweil people, often fuffered 
 the mofl from the effects of the principle of population ; and it can. 
 fcarcely be doubted, that taking Europe throughout, fewer famines, 
 and fewer difeafes arifmg from want, have prevailed in the laft cen- 
 tury, than in thofe which preceded it. 
 
 On the whole, therefore, though our future profpcdls refpedling 
 the mitigation of the evils arifmg from the principle of population, 
 may not be fo bright as we could wifh,'yet they are far from being 
 
 I cannot believe that the removal of all unjuft grounds of difcontent againftconftituted 
 authorities would render the people torpid and indifferent to advantages which are really 
 attainable. The bleflings of civil liberty are fo great, that they furely cannot need the aid 
 ffalfe colouring to make them defireable. I ihould be forry to think that the lower 
 claffes of people could never be animated to aflert their rights but by means of fuch illu- 
 fory promifes, as will generally make the remedy of refiftance much worfe than the 
 4iieafe that it was intended to cure. 
 
 4 H 5 entirely 
 
6o4 Of our rational expe&atmis refpe6iingf ^c, book it. 
 
 entirely difheartenlng, and by no means preclude that gradual and 
 progreffive improvement in human fociety, which, before the late wild 
 fpeculations on the fubjedl, was the object of rational expeftation. 
 To the laws of property and marriage, and to the apparently narrow 
 principle of felf-love, which prompts each individual to exert himfelf 
 in bettering his condition, we are indebted for all the nobleft exer- 
 tions of human genius, for every thing that diftinguillies the civi- 
 lized from the favage ftate. A ftrid; inquiry into the principle of 
 population leads us ftrongly to the conclufion, that w^e ihall never 
 be able to throw down the ladder by which we have rifen to this 
 eminence; but it by no means proves that we may not rife higher by 
 the fame means. The ftrufture of fociety, in its great features, will 
 probably always remain unchanged. We have every reafon to 
 believe, that it wnll always coniift of a clafs of proprietors, and aclals 
 of labourers ; but the condition of each, and the proportion which 
 they bear to each other, may be ib altered as greatly to improve the 
 harmony and beauty of the whole. It would, indeed, be a melan- 
 choly reflediion, that, while the view^s of phyfical fcience are daily 
 enlarging, fo as fcarcely to be bounded by the moft diftant horizon, 
 the fcience of moral and political philofophy fliould be confined 
 within fuch narrow limits, or at beft be fo feeble in its influence, as 
 to be unable to counterad: the increafnig obftacles to human happi- 
 nefs arifing from the progrefs of population. But however formi- 
 dable thefe obftacles may have appeared in fome parts of this work, 
 it is hoped that the general refult of the inquiry is fuch, as not to 
 make us give up the caufe of the improvement of human fociety in 
 dcfpair. The partial good which feems to be attainable, is worthy 
 of all our exertions ; is fufficient to dired: our efforts and animate our 
 profpeds. And although we cannot exped that the virtue and hap- 
 pinefs of mankind will keep pace with the brilliant career of phyfical 
 difcovery, yet if wx are not wanting to ourfelves, we may confidently 
 indulge the hope, that, to no unimportant extent, they will be 
 influenced by its progrefs, and will partake in its fuccefs. 
 
 INDEX, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A 
 
 Abnakis, their mode of warfare, 34. 
 
 Abyfilnia, log. 
 
 Africa, checks to population in, 102. 
 
 ...... two kinds of wars in, 102. 
 
 Agricuhural and commercial fyrtems com- 
 pared, 430. their different effeils, 443. 
 
 Agriculture, its effedls on population, 38, 
 168, 193. 
 
 attention paid to it in China, 
 
 147. 
 
 remarks on, 452, 466 note, 
 
 472, 479- 
 America, northern ftates of, their increafe of 
 
 population, 4, 259, 337. 
 
 firft fettlers there, 388. 
 
 Indians of, checks to population 
 
 among them, 24. 
 Andaman iflands, their inhabitants very low 
 
 in the fcale of human beings, 17. 
 Animals, have a tendency to increafe beyond 
 
 the nourishment prepared for them, 2. 
 
 checks to their increafe, 3. 
 
 , not indefinitely perfecSlibie, 360. 
 
 Ariftotle, his fcheme for preferving the 
 
 balance of population, 167. 
 Afia, paftoral tribes of, 85. 
 .... northern parts of, 1 1 7, 
 Augfburg, proportion of marriages in, 244. 
 
 B 
 
 Bank of England, its fmall notes, 404. 
 
 Banks, country, 403. 
 
 Bedovveens, 87, 91, 348. 
 
 Beggars, 561. 
 
 Benefit clubs, bad confcquence of their being 
 
 compulfory, 5^8. 
 Benevolence, requires regulation, 558. 
 Berlin, proportion of marriages in, 245. 
 
 Births, a bad ted of population, 254, 274.. 
 
 a fmall proportion of them a good 
 
 fign, 314. 
 
 great proportion of, to deaths, 346. 
 
 Bounties on exportation of corn, 452. 
 
 Brandenburgh, proportion of marriages in, 
 244, 245. Births and deaths in, 258. 
 
 Britain, poffibie ratio of its increafe of pro- 
 duce, 6. 
 
 formerly a prey to northern Inva- 
 ders, 80. 
 
 its produce diftributed in more libe- 
 ral fliares than formerly, 349. 
 
 C 
 
 Campine in Brabant, 480. 
 
 Canadians, 40. 
 
 Cannibalifm, its probable origin, 35. 
 
 prevails in feveral countries, zB-, 
 
 Celibacy and matrimony confidered with 
 refpecSk to women, 549. 
 
 Charity, of the direcSlion of, 558, 588^ 
 
 Chaftity, 496. 
 
 China, 145, 348,427. 
 
 Chiriguanes, 37. 
 
 Cimbri, their irruption, 68. 
 
 Circumftances ought to govern condodl, 527. 
 
 Civilization particularly benefits the cona- 
 tion of women, 27. 
 
 compared with the favage flate> 
 
 62. 
 
 Clevcs, proportion of marriages in, 244, 
 
 Colonies, their rapid increafe, 336. 
 
 remarks on, 388. 
 
 Commercial ftates, natural limit to the po- 
 pulation of, 427. 
 
 and agricultural fyftems com- 
 pared, 430. Their different effedls, 443. 
 
 Community 
 
6o6 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Coaimu-nity of goods, forcible argument 
 
 againft it, 6i, note. 
 Condorcet, remarks on his fyftem, 354. 
 Conduct, ought to be governed by circuin- 
 
 flances, 528. 
 Corn, diftilling fpirits from it has a tendency 
 
 to prevent famine, 160. 
 
 of bounties on the exportation of, 452. 
 
 , . . . ere6l of the Enghfli laws refpe6ting, 
 
 452- 
 . , . . confequences of importing, 45.4, 473. 
 Cottages, 588. 
 
 Cows kept by cottagers, 5715, 589. 
 Cow-pox, eftefts of its introdu6lion, 522. 
 
 D 
 
 Dantzic, proportion of marriages in, 244. 
 JDifeafes common and fatal among favages, 
 
 22, 30, 31. Among people in low ftages 
 
 of civilization, 109. 
 ...... epidemic, 252, 340, 485. 
 
 arife from improper condudV, 485. 
 
 Diflilieries, their efFe(^s, 160. 
 
 E 
 Eareeoie focieties, 52, 60. 
 Earth, how overfpread with men, 6^. 
 Eafter Ifland, 60. 
 Economifts, 430. 
 Eden, Sir F. M. 417. 
 Education of the poor, 553, 588, 6or. 
 
 Egypt, 113' 472- 
 
 Emigration confidered, 387. 
 
 England, check's to population in, 300,346, 
 
 , its poor laws a bad fyftem, 302, 
 
 330, 396, 409. Plan for gradually abo- 
 lifhing them, 536. 
 
 . ...... wealthy, and why, 437. 
 
 , bad efFe<^ of its national debt, 440. 
 
 once an agricultural nation, 443. 
 
 its corn laws, 452. 
 
 fliould become more of an agricul- 
 tural nation, 464. 
 
 danger to its conftitution, 526. 
 
 more than half its people will foon 
 
 become paupers, 536. 
 
 Epidemics, their effedls on tables of mor- 
 tality, 252. 
 
 ........ their intervals, 341. 
 
 affected by badnefs of food, and 
 
 crowded dwellings, 342, 485, 
 
 Equality, fyflems of, 353, 356. 
 
 Europe not fully peopled, 6. 
 
 ...... checks to population among the ai- 
 
 ciciit inhabitants of the north of, 65. In 
 the modern ftates of, 183, 
 
 Evil, natural and moral, inftruments of di- 
 vine admonition, 484. 
 
 .... increafed by ignorance and indolence, 
 505-. 
 
 .... dimmifhed by knowledge and virtue^ 
 505. 
 
 Famine, traces of, foon obliterated, 340. 
 
 its frequency of recurrence, 341. 
 
 preceded by plentiful years, 343. 
 
 Fi filing does not afford a conftant fupply of 
 food, 42. 
 
 Florida, favages of, 39. 
 
 Food of certain favages, 18, 19, 39, 43, 62, 
 
 . . . . its effe6ls on difeafcs, 342. 
 
 Formofa, fmgular culliom in, 60, 
 
 Foundling hofpitals, injurious to a flate, 
 205, 219. In Ruflia, 216. Unfavour- 
 able to population, 219. 
 
 France, checks to population in, 285, 346. 
 
 its population not diminiflied by the 
 
 revolution, 285. 
 
 its internal flate in the year eight, 
 
 296, note. 
 
 Friendly Iflands, 58. 
 
 G 
 
 Galla, To5. 
 
 Germans, ancient, caufes of their rapid in- 
 creafe, 77. 
 
 Glory, how acquired among favages, 36. 
 
 Godwin, his fyftem,366. 
 
 obfervations on his reply, 380. 
 
 Goths, 69, 72. 
 
 Government, confequences of its interfer- 
 ence, 208. 
 
 jealoufy of it neceffary, 529. 
 
 improvements of it mufl ori- 
 ginate with men of education, 533. 
 
 Greeks, ancient, 162. 
 
 Gunpowder, benefit of the invention, Bo, 
 note. 
 
 Hal- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Soy 
 
 H 
 
 Halberftadt, proportion of marriages In, 244. 
 
 Halle, proportion of marriages in, 243. 
 
 Happinefsof fociety,how to be attained, 505. 
 
 Holland, marriages in, 241. 
 
 ....... its advantages in the management 
 
 of its poor, 546. 
 
 Horfes for plcafure not injurious to the 
 poor, 478. 
 
 Hudfon's Bay Indians, their hardfhips, 39. 
 
 Huns, 72. 
 
 Hunters, tribes of, cannot be numerous, 24. 
 
 ....... fometimes fuffer feverely by fa- 
 mine, 41. 
 
 Indigence, highly unfavourable to morals, 
 
 513- 
 Indoftan, 133, 348. 
 
 Induftry, chief rtimulus to, 475. 
 
 Infanticide, 51, 60, 90, note, 141, 142, 156, 
 
 164, 384, note. 
 Ireland, 334., 58c, note, 581. 
 Iroquois, their phrafe for making v\rar, 34. 
 Iflands, Angular inftitutions to retard the 
 
 progrefs of population fuppofed to have 
 
 originated in, 46. 
 
 Japan, 161. 
 
 K 
 
 Kalmucks, q6. 
 
 Kamptfchatka, 117. 
 
 Kirgificns, 95 
 
 Knowledge, general difFufion of, 553, 555, 
 
 601. 
 
 L 
 Labour, difference between its nominal and 
 
 real price, i 5. 
 demand for, requifite to encourage 
 
 population, 120. 
 price of, muft be high for population 
 
 to increafe rapidly, 125. 
 
 effects of raifmg its price, 396. 
 
 fcarcity tends to lower its price, 407. 
 
 Leipfic, proportion of marriages in, 244. 
 Liberty, civil, effect of the knowledge of 
 
 the principal caufe of poverty on, 525, 
 
 602. 
 
 Liberty, jealous care of, neccfTary, 529. 
 
 Lima, 337. 
 
 London, effe6ts of the plague in, 485. 
 
 Longevity, not common among favages, 31. 
 
 Luxury, 4*^7, note, 592. 
 
 Lying-in hofpitals, 205. 
 
 Ai 
 Magdeburgh, proportion of marriages in, 
 
 244- 
 Mahometan Tartars lefs peaceable than the 
 
 heathen, 90. 
 Man, checks to his increafe, 3. 
 .... fyftem of his perfectibility, 358. 
 .... taught, though llowly, by natural and 
 
 moral evil, 484. 
 .... has only a conditional right to fubfift- 
 
 ence, 531. 
 Manufactures, 421, 444, 592. 
 Marianne Iflands, 60. 
 Marriage, fmgular cuftoms refpe6ting, 20, 
 
 53, 60, 142. 
 pofitive laws to encourage, 174, 
 
 246. 
 Marriages, on the fruitfulnefs of, 224, 260. 
 
 proportionate to deaths, 240. 
 
 Maximum, its confequences, 407. 
 Menu, ordinances of, 133. 
 Mexico, 337. 
 Moguls, 85. 
 
 horrid propofal of theirs, 85. 
 
 Moral reftraint, and the foundations of our 
 
 obligation to pra6tife it, 483. 
 efFe6ts of its general practice,, 
 
 494. 
 Morals, indigence highly unfavourable to, 
 
 513- 
 Mortahty, tables of, 231, 238, 253. 
 remarks on, 183, 196, 210, 
 
 225, 240, 248. 
 , effe6ts of epidemics on, 252. 
 
 N. 
 National debt, 440. 
 
 Nations, caufe of their declenfion, 467, note, 
 Negroes, 102. 
 
 New Holland, its inhabitants, 18. 
 New Zealanders, cannibals, 35. 
 
 ., .their hoflilities, 47. 
 
 Nootka Sound, 32, 42. 
 
 Nootka 
 
* 
 
 6o8 
 
 I N D E X. 
 
 Nootka Sound, people there cannibals, 35. 
 
 Norway, 81, 243. 
 
 checks to population in, 183. 
 
 Ofliacks, 118. 
 Otalieite, 50. 
 
 o 
 
 Paine's Rights of Man, 530. Works, 555. 
 
 Paper currency, 404. 
 
 Paris, proportion of marriages in, 245. 
 
 Paffions, 486. 
 
 Paftoral nations, 66, 91. 
 
 modern, 85. 
 
 Perfia, 131. 
 
 Plague, 485. 
 
 Plants, their improvement limited, 351. 
 
 Plato, his fcheme for preferving the balance 
 
 of population, 165. 
 Political economy, a neceflary branch of 
 
 education, 553. 
 Politicks, firft appearances particularly de- 
 ceitful in, 582. 
 Polygamy, unfavourable to population, 130. 
 Pomerania, births and marriages in, 259. 
 Poor, lawsrefpe6ling, in England, 396, 409. 
 . . . how their condition is affe61:ed by in- 
 creafmg wealth, 420. 
 
 . . . only effetual mode of bettering their 
 condition, 504. 
 
 . . , objections to this mode confidered, 511. 
 . . . inftitutions for their benefit commonly 
 relieve much d.ftrefs at firft, but are in- 
 jurious in their ultimate effects, 515, note. 
 . . . plan for the gradual abolition of the 
 laws refpedting, 536. 
 
 . . . pnrochial fchools for them propofed, 
 553, 588, 601. 
 . . . errours in different plans for nnproving 
 their condition, 567. 
 . . . neceffity of general principles on tlie 
 fubjeft, 582. 
 Poor-rates injurious, 302, 3^9. 
 
 remarks on them, 536. 
 
 Population, checked by the difficulty of ac- 
 quiring food, 3, 336. 
 
 ratio of its increafe compared 
 
 with thatof footl, 3. 
 
 ....... general checks to it, 9, 335, 350. 
 
 preventive checks to, 9. 
 
 Population, pofitive checks to, 11. 
 
 alternation of checks and encou- 
 ragements to it, 12. 
 
 propofitions refpeting it, 16. 
 
 checks to, in the lowed Ibge of 
 
 fociety, 17. 
 
 among the American 
 
 Indians, 24. 
 
 increafed by agriculture, 38. 
 
 ......... checks to, in the South-fea 
 
 iflands, 46. 
 
 fingular inftitutions to retard it 
 
 originated in iflands, 46. 
 
 checks to, among the ancient 
 
 inhabitants of the north of Europe, 65. 
 
 among modern paftor&l 
 
 nations, 85. 
 
 in Africa, 102. 
 
 in Siberia, 1 1 7. 
 
 demand for labour rcquifite to, 
 
 120. 
 
 to increafe it rapidly the price of 
 
 labour mull be high, 125. 
 
 checks to, in the Turkifh domi- 
 nions and Perfia, 126. 
 
 in Indoftan and Ti- 
 bet, 133. 
 
 reprefllng It a publick objecSl ia 
 
 Tibet, 142. 
 
 checks to, in China and Japan, 
 
 145- 
 
 , amongthe Greeks, 162, 
 
 Plato's fcheme for preferving its 
 
 balance, 165. 
 
 , Ariftotle's, 157. 
 
 checks to, among the Romans, 
 
 171. 
 
 in modern Europe, 183. 
 
 , in. Norway, 1 83 . 
 
 common miftake on the fubjedl, 
 
 194. 
 
 checks to, in Sweden, 196. 
 
 in Ruffia, 210. 
 
 in the middle parts of 
 
 Europe, 240. 
 
 in Switzerland, 267. 
 
 in France, 285. 
 
 in England, 300. 
 
 in Scotland and Ire- 
 land, 321. 
 
 Population 
 
I N D 
 
 Population promoted by the abundance of 
 
 food, 336. 
 little afFe6ted by war, famine, 
 
 or peftilence, 340. 
 the moft powerful check to, in 
 
 modern Europe, 351. 
 fyftems or expedients afFe6lingthe 
 
 evils arifin'g from the principle of, 353. 
 of commercial ftates, natural 
 
 limit to, 427. 
 , fources of the prevailing errors 
 
 on the fubje(3;, 470. 
 our future profpedts refpeling 
 
 the removal or mitigation of evils arifrng 
 
 from the principle of, 483. 
 modes of correding the prevail- 
 ing opinions on the fubjedt, 549. 
 neceffity of general principles 
 
 on, 582. 
 Poverty, its principal caufe, 506. 
 etFedl of the knowledge of its caufe 
 
 on civil liberty, 525. 
 Power, has always a tendency to encroach, 
 
 529- 
 Pra<9:ical politicians, 58I. 
 
 Privileges, exclufive, 439. 
 
 Proftitution, its calamitous eflFed^s, 10. 
 
 Provifion, remarks on the price of, 399, 409. 
 
 Prudence, a principal virtue of heathen mo- 
 
 ralifts, 494. 
 
 an eminent Chriftian virtue, 494. 
 
 Pruffia, tables of mortality in, 253. 
 
 a 
 
 Quito, 337. 
 
 Riots, 528, 530. 
 
 Roman empire, its fall, 68, 47J. 
 
 Romans, antient, 162. 
 
 checks to population among them, 
 
 Rome, proportion of marriages in, 245. 
 Ruflia, checks to population in, 210. 
 its population rapidly increafmg, 243. 
 
 S 
 Samoj'edes, 119. 
 Sandwich Iflands, 58. 
 Savages, checks to population among them, 
 
 ,.,.,,, cuftoms of, 20, 28. 
 
 EX. 609 
 
 Savages, peculiar hardships of women among, 
 20, 26. 
 
 not longlived, 31. 
 
 difeafes common and fatal among 
 
 them, 22, 30, 31. 
 
 their cannibalifm, 35. 
 
 notions of glory, 36. 
 
 the only advantage they poflfefs, 62, 
 
 Scandinavians, 80. 
 Scarcity, remarks on the late, 399. 
 Schools for the poor, 553, 588, 601. 
 Scotland, checks to population in, 321, 
 
 its population redundant, 349. 
 
 Scottirti peafantry, 497, note. 
 
 Scythians, 66, 85. 
 
 Sexual paffion, 487, 497, note. 
 
 Shangalla, 106, iii. 
 
 Shepherds, nations of. See paftoral nations. 
 
 Siberia, checks to population in, 117. 
 
 Sinclair, Sir John, his ftatiftical account of 
 
 Scotland, 13, note. 
 Slavery, unfavourable to population, 176. 
 Small-pox, no argument againft the popu- 
 
 loufnefs of modern nations, 178. 
 
 remarks on, 343. 
 
 Society, general dedudlions from the view of, 
 
 336. 
 , rational expe6l:ations refpe(5ling its 
 
 future improvement, 597. 
 South-fea Iflands, checks to population in, ^6. 
 Spain, caufe of its low population, 472. 
 Sparta, 168. 
 Spartan difcipline, 6^. 
 Specie, its abundance a confequence, not a 
 
 caufe, of national wealth, 473. 
 Statiftics, fcience of, 13. 
 Steuart, Sir James, his political economy, 15, 
 
 note. Error of, 567. 
 Sunday fchools, 554. 
 Sweden, checks to population in, 196. 
 Switzerland, checks to population in, 267. 
 
 T 
 
 Tartars, 85. 
 
 Taxntion, 440, note. 
 
 Terra del Fuego, its inhabitants the lowefl in 
 
 the fcale of human beings, 1 7. 
 Theories, 582. 
 Tiber, 141. 
 Tithes, 440, note 
 .,,.,, eafy commutation for them, ib. 
 
 4 1 Townfend, 
 
^10 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Townfend, hi diflertation on the Poor Laws, 
 
 568. 
 Turkey, caufe of its low population, 126. 
 Tyranny, fource andfuppoit of it, 525. 
 
 U 
 
 Ufbecks, 88. 
 
 Utility, fureft foundation of morals, 560. 
 
 V 
 Van Diemen's land, its inhabitants very 
 
 low in the fcale of human beings, 17. 
 Vice, what, 1 1, note, 486. 
 Virtue and Vice, dill:in<^ion between, 487. 
 
 W 
 
 Wallace, his fyftem, 353. 
 
 War, deftru (Stive among favages, 3 j. 
 
 War, little affedls population, 340. 
 
 caufes of, and checks to it, 500, 
 
 Wafte lands, 478. 
 
 Wealth, its increafe, as it afFeSts the con- 
 dition of the poor, 420. 
 
 of a country, what, 430. 
 
 Women, their peculiar hardftiips in the fa- 
 vage Hate, 20, 26. 
 
 Y 
 
 Young, A., his plan for improving the con- 
 dition of the poor, 573. 
 
 Z 
 
 Zoroaftcr, what he deemed meritorious ads^ 
 
 131. 
 
 THB ENDS. 
 
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