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THE TRUE LAW OF POPULATION. 
 
LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY G, PUlUCIi, 310, STRAND. 
 
• TRUE LA W 
 
 OF 
 
 P P U L A.T I ON 
 
 SHEWN TO BE CONNECTED WITH THE 
 
 FOOD OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 By THOMAS DOUBLEDAY, Esq., 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 THE ITALIAN WIFE — BABINGTON DIOCLESIAN— CAIUS 
 
 MARIUS NORTHERN LIGHTS, &C. &C. 
 
 . \ 6 K /^ -^T^^t " Old Families last not three oaks." 
 OF T^'^. ^ , ^ 
 
 ....,...--- - .-r-\/ 1 S>iR Thomas Browne. 
 
 UNlvfc." >;iTY 
 
 LONDON : 
 5IMPKIN, MARSHALL, & Co., Stationeus'-iiall-couet. 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 Of the following work, the author may jusstly 
 athriii, that perhaps no treatise, embodying a 
 theory of a novel, and, at first sight, somewhat 
 singular nature, was ever begun with fewer pre- 
 judices or preconceived notions relative to it, on 
 the part of the writer. It was indeed purely by 
 accident that the author was brought upon the 
 train of thought, which being pursued in all its 
 ramifications, resLdted in the present work. lie 
 by no means intends, of course, to assert that 
 he had not at one time or other examined the 
 various theories that have been put forth on the 
 puzzUng subject of Population, nor to deny that 
 a 
 
 99452 
 
Yl PREFACE. 
 
 he may have been bewildered by some, and 
 staggered by others. Still, for many years, this 
 subject and the various views of it by various 
 writers, had been put aside as it were by him, as 
 matters with regard to which he was neither 
 prepared to record an assent or dissent : nor was 
 his scepticism lessened by the following admo- 
 nition. Happening, many years ago, in th'^ 
 presence of a late relative, long since deceased, 
 remarkable both for tlie sagacity and extended 
 benevolence of his general views on philosophical 
 subjects, to draw some of those starthng, though 
 not illogical, conclusions which seemed to flow 
 from theoiies then recently broached as to this 
 subject, and much in vogue at the time, the 
 reply w^as this: — "Depend upon it, my dear 
 nephew, that you and I may safely decline to 
 yield an implicit assent, though we may not on 
 the instant be able to refute them, to views, from 
 which consccpiences such as you have drawn, 
 legitimatelydow. Though I may not live to see it, 
 nor you, a time will vet come when this mvsterv 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 will be unveiled; and when, a perhaps now myste- 
 rious, but, beyond doubt, a beneficent law will 
 be discovered, regulatinii' this matter, in accord- 
 ance with all the rest that we see of God's moral 
 government of the world:" This judgment, de- 
 livered with a solemnity and earnestness rather 
 unusual with the speaker, made a deep im- 
 pression, and from that time forward, and for 
 many years after, the author regarded the question 
 of population as one of those insoluble problems 
 which are put in his way to humble the intellec- 
 tual pride of man, but at the same time to 
 stimulate his inquiry into the laws of his own 
 nature and of the creation around him, with a 
 humble reliance that, as heretofore, everything 
 which shall be unfolded will only show forth, 
 more and more, the wisdom and benevolence of 
 the great Architect of all things. 
 
 Chance, the author of these sheets has already 
 said, led him to stumble upon the chain of 
 reasoning, which, with its results, he now ven- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 tares to lay before the Public. It may on that 
 account probably be nioixj easy to be believed 
 by his readers, that, entering upon his researches 
 without any preconcerted opinions or views as 
 to the shape which they were to take, or the 
 goal at which they were to arrive, he followed 
 the clue of evidence with the sole wish of 
 arriving, if possible, at the truth, unembarrassed 
 by any accompanying considerations as to the 
 bearings of that truth when discovered ; being 
 well convinced, where they are the bearings of 
 truth, they must be good. In the course of 
 this inquiry, however, be it begun under what 
 circumstances it might, it has certainly been 
 impossible for an inquirer not to perceive, from 
 time to time, that the positions necessarily 
 arrived at, sometimes as necessarily involved 
 considerations connected with the general policy 
 bf nations, and the acts of Governments. This 
 could not be avoided, because this is involved in 
 the nature of the subject itself. When, however, 
 the author has deemed it proper to draw collateral 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 conclusions, as requisite to the i'uli and complete 
 elucidation of his subject, he has adhered to 
 the rule of only deducing sucli general con- 
 clusions as were plainly requisite for that 
 purpose. Even of such conclusions he has 
 drawn as few as possible, partly from the 
 conviction that to load a general argument with 
 minute collateral inference is ill-judged, in the 
 reasoner who does so ; and partly from a wish to 
 keep his essay clear of those party conclusions, 
 or poUtical feelings, which, often as they have 
 assisted to mar philosophical discussion, have 
 never yet advanced it one single step. 
 
 Although, however, he disclaims any regard 
 foreign to that for the truth, which ought to ac- 
 tuate all writers, as mingling itself with his 
 pursuit of the truth as to this question, the 
 author yet is not disposed to deny that he felt 
 both strengthened and encouraged in this course 
 by the discovery that, as he proceeded step by 
 step, the facts, as they unfolded themselves, 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 accorded with his general convictions of the 
 benevolence of the Deity, and the wonderful 
 providence by which, under the agency of an 
 unseen law, unrecognised and unthought of, the 
 happiness of mankind is often regulated and 
 achieved upon a scale of moral government, 
 of which the human eye can only see portions, 
 and which the human intellect can only compre- 
 hend in part. It has, indeed, ever been his creed 
 that the philosophy, which is in admitted accord- 
 ance with that benevolence which is the first 
 attribute of that great Being, whose ways, how- 
 ever, are of necessity often inscrutable by His 
 creatures, has at all events the weight of apriori 
 recommendation in its favour — for although 
 that which may, to imperfect observers, seem 
 to militate against God's providence may be 
 true, that which accords with it must, as 
 far as such accordance is concerned ; and it 
 must ever be the case with paradoxes which 
 seem exceptions to the laws of Providence, that 
 thev involve in themselves a contradiction 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 which, on the first showing-, destroys tlieir own 
 existence; because, upon the postulate ot the good- 
 ness of God, all reasoning, moral or physical, 
 is ultimately and proximately iounded, nor can 
 such exist in connection with its denial. 
 
 The concluding Chapter of this volume will 
 be found to treat of a class of subjects, as 
 to which the writer is avowedly unlearned. 
 The considerations there detailed were rather 
 forced upon than sought by him ; and being 
 so, he did not deem there was either impro- 
 priety or arrogance in describing views which 
 may very possibly turn out to be erroneous and 
 fanciful, provided they were uncontradicted by 
 the writings of those versed in such know- 
 ledge, and quaUtied to speak with authority on 
 questions of physiology. As far as the author 
 can ascertain, he has not, in entertaining the 
 peculiar notions there detailed, run counter to 
 any fact laid down and admitted by j)hysi()lo- 
 gists or nosologists ; and, therefore, neither 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 coming, nor desirous to come in collision with 
 any one, he may be readily pardoned for having, 
 perhaps rashly, taken up views which, if they 
 are unfounded, are at all events innocuous, 
 inasmuch as, if not scientific in themselves, 
 they do not seem to interfere with the science 
 of others. If they do not help the author's 
 argument, he trusts they may not hurt it, being 
 in themselves perfectly extrinsic ; and if true, 
 only calculated to account for facts which have 
 been already demonstrated. 
 
 Having commenced this work in a sph'it of 
 calm and candid inquiry, the author has judged 
 it proper, if not necessary, to keep his style 
 somewhat in accordance with his subject matter, 
 and to write plainly, upon a dry, though im- 
 portant question. He is an inquirer, and not 
 a partisan ; and therefore, haj^pily, as he deems 
 it, excused from attempting either to recom- 
 mend his theme by elo(|uence or the artifices 
 of rhetoric, or to adorn it by the extraneous 
 
PREFACE. XUl 
 
 ornaments of figurative or florid composition. He 
 trusts the judicious reader will not permit this to 
 operate to his disadvantage, but the contrary ; 
 and whilst treating a subject like this now 
 under discussion, he cannot but think that he 
 who would judge of his hook from the ornaments 
 of style it might or may not contain, is 
 adopting a criterion little less strange, on such 
 an occasion, than that of Heliogabalus, who is 
 said to have formed his opinion of the City of 
 Rome from the great quantity of cobwebs that 
 were found in it. 
 
 In fine, this book is not addressed to any 
 persons professing any particular set of opinions, 
 philosophical, religious, or political ; but to the 
 thinking, the candid, and the good of all sects, 
 persuasions, and parties, whosoever and where- 
 soever they may be. In their hands the writer 
 respectfully leaves it, assured that whatever the 
 judgment of the Public may be as to its matter 
 and argiunent, his motives will be respected and 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 his attempt nnblamed, even by those by whom 
 its failure, if a faihue it be. may not be lamented. 
 
 It may be proper, in conclusion, to add, 
 that the present volume has in part owed its 
 existence to the attention which an outline of 
 the theory now attempted to be established, 
 given in Blackwood's Magazine for March 1837, 
 under the title of "A Letter to the Right 
 Honourable Lord Brougham," excited at the 
 time of its publication. The author can only 
 hope that the call which was at that time made 
 for bis more mature opinions upon the subject, 
 in an enlarged form, may not remain unechoed 
 now that the call is responded to by him ; 
 and that the attention which was awarded 
 to the sketch of 1837, may not be refused 
 to the volume of 1 84 1 . 
 
 Newc((9tle-vpon-Tijnp, March 9 fit, 1641. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A few introductory Statements and Reflections . .1 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 The Law of Increase and Decrease in the Vegetable and 
 
 Animal Kingdom? . . , g 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 The Law of Increase and Decrease of the race of Mankind 1 9 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Law of Increase and Decrease, as amongst limited 
 
 bodies of Men, exemplified . . _ 3j 
 
 CHAPTER v. 
 
 The Law of Increase and Decrease as exemplified amon-'^t 
 
 ^-^^'''''' \ G9 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Minor proofs, not included in the foregoing Chapters . i 33 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Argument from the Solution of some Historical Diffi- 
 culties 144 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Argument from the Revenue 181 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Argument from the recent Decrease of the quantity of 
 
 Animal Food consumed in England , . .187 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Argument from the cuiTent opinions of Mankind in past 
 
 time 201 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Consideration of the Internal Evidence for this Theory . 241 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Some additional collateral Considerations, and Addenda . 268 
 
THE 
 
 TRUE LAW OF POPULATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A FEW INTRODUCTORY STATEMENTS AND REFLECTIONS. 
 
 The Law of Population is undoubtedly one of 
 the most important questions that can be sub- 
 mitted to human reason. On a cursory or 
 superficial view, it may seem to be the contrary 
 of this. Whilst so much of the earth remains 
 uncultivated and untouched by the hand of man, 
 and whilst that which is so touched is so imj)er- 
 fectly dealt with, it may appear rather a curious 
 than a natural anxiety to sum uj) the actual or 
 probable numbers of mankind, and still more so 
 
2 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 to anticipate evils from a superfliix of population. 
 To the near and patient inquirer, however, ap- 
 pearances are diiferent. 
 
 If it he true that the inhabitants of any country 
 or of all countries tend perpetually by their in- 
 crease to outstrip their means of subsistence, the 
 evil consequences of such a state of things must, 
 at all times and continually, be felt with more 
 or .less« .of" severity ; it is of no avail to say that 
 the earth can or will, if properly cultivated, afford 
 ample subsistence for all that have ever yet lived 
 upon its surface. It has not been so cultivated; 
 the increase of food, so far from having been 
 pushed up to those limits which some writers have, 
 and perhaps not improperly, assigned as the 
 highest possible, has in most countries been little 
 better than stationary. The question is, there- 
 fore, has the tendency of living beings rapidly 
 to increase been existing through all this fore- 
 gone period, unchecked by anything but the mere 
 want of corresponding subsistence for those who 
 should be born ? If it has, then, as it appears to 
 the author, a constant state of suffering, more or 
 less mitigated by various national circumstances, 
 must have existed in all times past, or nearly so. 
 If it has not (as the author of this volume affums 
 it has not), the onus is to show what other 
 
OF POPULATION. 3 
 
 PRINCIPLE has operated to check population from 
 time to time, to prove the existence of such a 
 principle, and to point out the times, the places, 
 and the mode of its operation. To estahlish and 
 explain this principle is the ohject of the follow- 
 ing sheets. The immense importance of the 
 subject may, it is hoped, excuse and help to 
 overcome the dryness of some of the details ; 
 nor will the candid reader on a topic at once 
 so mysterious, and hitherto unexplained, suffer 
 himself to 1x3 startled or turned aside by the 
 apparent strangeness of the first enunciations of 
 views on this subject, (as the author conceives) 
 nearly altogether new, and of facts certainly 
 brought together and laid before the public in 
 their present form for the first time. 
 
 It can hardly be expected of any one writing 
 of matters so abstruse, that he should extract 
 from them other entertainment than such sub- 
 jects are in themselves calculated to produce. 
 He can only, as a matter of prudent adventure, 
 attempt to place the different points in as clear 
 a light as possible, and with as little waste as 
 may be, of the time and patience of his readers : 
 elucidating where he can, all that is naturally 
 involved or dark, and curtailing where he can, 
 all that is naturally diffuse or voluminous. 
 b2 
 
4 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 It is not necessaiy, nor would it indeed expe- 
 dite the purposes of clear arrangement or lucid 
 reasoning, to state in this part of the present 
 work the accidental causes which led the author 
 to the following inquiry ; suffice it at present to 
 say, these causes were the result of another 
 inquiry, so far collaterally bearing upon the sub- 
 ject now under discussion, as to throw a sudden 
 light upon its fundamental principles, including 
 as it did, a portion of the proofs of the reality of 
 those principles ; nor was the author dissatisfied, 
 but quite the contrary, with tlie manner in which 
 he was thus accidentally led to the road which he 
 has followed. In matters of reasoning, it is 
 upon the whole better to discover a track acci- 
 dentally than after search for it ; because in the 
 former case the imagination is in abeyance, and 
 unconcerned in the result. 
 
 When men eagerly seek for a theory, they are 
 too prone to hope they have found the true one, 
 and it is needless to say that we are too ready to 
 believe that which we earnestly wish. A dis- 
 covery by accident, on the other hand, comes 
 recommended only by itself; as no credit is 
 sought for sagacity, and no reward for ingenuity 
 expected, fancy, at all events, is not moved to 
 interfere. The pleasure which alone is due to 
 
OF FOPULATION. 5 
 
 the discovery of triitli, is not so liable to be c;iven 
 to that self-love which deceives us into the idea 
 that such discovery is ours as matter of merit, 
 because it has come unsought, and ol" course 
 unanticipated ; such was the case with the con- 
 templation of natural facts which led the author 
 to attempt this exhibition of them, and being so, 
 he trusts the remark is neither irrelevant nor 
 useless. 
 
 In order to come in the clearest and fairest 
 manner to the subject of this essay, the author 
 deems the following to be the most advisable 
 course. To state, first, in the tersest and at 
 the same time, most lucid manner he can, the 
 law by wdiich he supposes population to be 
 governed awd regulated ; next, to prove the 
 existence and operation of this law from such 
 facts as he has collected, which in his opinion 
 tend to demonstrate either or both of these 
 points. The great general law then, which, 
 as it seems, really regulates the increase or 
 decrease both of vegetable and of animal life, 
 is this, that whenever a species or genus is endan- 
 gered, a corresponding efibrt is invariably made 
 by nature for its preservation and continuance, 
 by an increase of fecundity or fertihty ; and that 
 this especially takes place whenever such danger 
 
b THE TRUE LAW 
 
 arises from a diminution of proper nourishment 
 or food, so that consequently the state of deple- 
 tion, or the deplethoric state, is favourable to 
 fertility, and that on the other hand, the plethoric 
 state, or state of repletion, is unfavourable to 
 fertility, in the ratio of the intensity of each 
 state, and this probably throughout nature uni- 
 versally, in the vegetable as well as the animal 
 world ; further, that as applied to mankind this 
 law produces the following consequences, and 
 acts thus : — 
 
 There is in all societies a constant increase 
 going on amongst that portion of it which is the 
 worst supplied with food ; in short, amongst the 
 poorest. 
 
 Amongst those in the state of affluence, and 
 well supplied with food and luxuries, a constant 
 decrease goes on. Amongst |those who form the 
 mean or medium between these two opposite 
 states ; that is to say, amongst those who are 
 tolerably well supphed with good food, and not 
 overworked, nor yet idle, population is sta- 
 tionary. Hence it follows that it is upon the 
 numerical proportion, which these three states 
 bear to each other in any society that increase or 
 decrease upon the whole depends. 
 
 In a nation where the affluence is sufficient to 
 
or POPULATION'. 
 
 balance, by tbe decrease which it causes ainonjist 
 the rich, the increase arisini;- from the poor, 
 population will be stationary. In a nation 
 highly and generally affluent and luxurious, 
 population w'ill decrease and decay. In poor 
 and ill-fed communities, population will increase 
 in the ratio of the poverty, and the consequent 
 deterioration and diminution of the food of a 
 large portion of the members of such com- 
 munities. This is the real and great law^ of 
 human population, and to show that it unques- 
 tionably is so, must be the aim of the fol- 
 lowing pages. 
 
 In bringing forward the great variety of i'acts 
 bearing upon this inqjortant inquiry, the author 
 will begin with those exhibited by the vegetable 
 kingdom ; he wall next proceed to the animal 
 creation, wdierein the same principle is more 
 distinctly developed, ending with the human 
 world, the numbers composing which he will 
 prove to ebb and liow as one or other of tlie 
 different states he has described more or less 
 prevails ; offering, in conclusion, such general 
 reflections as are necessary conqiletely to eluci- 
 date his scheme, and to show not only its 
 wonderful agreement with tlie state of the workl, 
 as it is known to exist and to have existed, but 
 
8 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 its admirable unison with the wisdom and good- 
 ness of that divine Providence which " saw all 
 that it had made," and saw that all was "very 
 good," until marred by the wickedness, the folly, 
 the error, or the ignorance of man. 
 
 li 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE LAW OF INCREASE AND DECREASE IN THE VEGE- 
 TABLE AND ANIMAL KINGDOMS. 
 
 Turning now to the vegetable kingdom, the 
 author would point to the acknowledged existence 
 of this principle in the theory and i)ractice of all 
 Horticulturists, Gardeners, and others engaged 
 in the raising trees, shrubs, flowers, and vege- 
 tables. It is a fact, admitted by all gardeners as 
 well as botanists, that if a tree, plant, or flower, 
 be placed in mould, either naturally or artificially 
 made too rich for it, a plethoric state is produced, 
 and fruitfulness ceases. In trees, the effect of 
 strong manures and over-rich soils is that they 
 run to surperfiuous wood, blossom irregularly, 
 and chiefly at the extremities of the outer 
 branches, and almost or entirely cease to bear 
 fruit. 
 
10 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 With Howering shrubs and llowers the efliect is, 
 first, that the flower becomes doable, and loses its 
 power of producing seed ; next, it ceases almost 
 even to flower. If the application of the 
 stimulus of manure is carried still further, flowers 
 and plants become diseased in the extreme, and 
 speedily die ; thus, by this wise provision of Pro- 
 vidence, the transmission of disease (the certain 
 consequence of the highly plethoric state, 
 whether in plants, animals, or in mankind,) is 
 guarded against, and the species shielded from 
 danger on the side of plenty. In order to 
 remedy this state w^hen accidentally produced, 
 Gardeners and Florists are accustomed, by various 
 devices, to produce the opposite or deplethoric 
 state ; this they familiarly denominate " giving a 
 check." In other words, they put the species 
 in danger in order to produce a correspondingly 
 determined effort of nature to ensure its perpetua- 
 tion, and the end is invariably attained. Thus, in 
 order to make fruit trees bear plentifully, Gar- 
 deners delay or impede the rising of the sap by 
 cutting rings in the bark round the tree. This to 
 the tree is the production of a state of depletion, 
 and the abundance of fruit is the effort of nature 
 to counteract the danger. The fig, when grown in 
 this climate, is particularly liable to drop its fruit 
 
OF POPULATION. 1 1 
 
 when lialf" matured. This, Cardcneis now tind, 
 can he prevented hy prunhig the tree so severely 
 as to give it a check ; or, if £::rown in a pot, hy 
 cutting a few inches from its roots all round so 
 as to produce the same effect. The result is, that 
 the tree retains, and carefully matures its fruit. 
 
 In like manner, when a gardener wishes to 
 save seed from a gourd or cucumber, he does 
 not give the plant an extra quantity of manure 
 or warmth. He does just the contrary : he sub- 
 jects it to some hardship and takes the fruit that 
 is least fine looking, foreknowing that it will he 
 filled with seed, whilst the finest fruit are nearly 
 destitute. Upon the same principle, it is a known 
 fact, that after severe and long winters the har- 
 vests are correspondingly rapid and abundant. 
 Vines bear most luxuriantly after being severely 
 tried by frost ; and grass springs in the same 
 extraordinary manner. After the long and try- 
 ing winter of 183G-7, when the snow lay upon 
 the ground in the northern counties until June, 
 the spring of grass was so wonderful as to cause 
 several minute expcnments by various j)crsons. 
 The result was, that in a single night of twelve 
 hours the blade of grass was ascertained fre- 
 quently to have advanced full three-{piarters of 
 
12 . THE TRUE LAW 
 
 an inch ; and wheat and other grain progressed 
 in a similar manner. 
 
 Aware of this beautiful law of preservation, the 
 Florist, when he wishes to ensure the luxuriant 
 flowering of a greenhouse or hothouse shrub or 
 plant, exposes it for a time to the cold. The 
 danger caused by the temperature, too low for 
 the nature of the species of plant, is followed 
 invariably by an effort of nature for its safety, 
 and it flowers luxuriantly ; and if a seed-bearing 
 plant, bears seed accordingly. 
 
 There is another curious moditication of this 
 law exhibited by the vegetable creation, and this 
 is, that immediately before the death, or the sudden 
 cessation of fruitfulness of a tree or shrub, it is 
 observed generally to bear abundantly. This is 
 remarkably the case with the pear and apple 
 when the roots touch the harsh cold blue clay, 
 or any other soil inimical to the health of the 
 tree. It is a last effort to preserve and per- 
 petuate the species, and is the effect of that 
 state of depletion through which the tree passes 
 to sterility and death. 
 
 The singularly close analogy which these facts 
 bear to that which can be proved, and indeed 
 is well known to take place with the human 
 
OF POPULATION. 13 
 
 female, when fed on insufficient food, or when 
 married too near to the usual ])eriod of cessation 
 of fertility, will he more fully adverted to in the 
 proper place. In the meantime, what can he 
 more pleasing than to contemplate this heautiful 
 provision of the Governor of all things, hy whicli 
 fruitfulness is increased when the danger arises 
 from insufficient nourishment for the plant or 
 vegetahle, and, on the other hand, decreased 
 when the peril springs from a surplusage oi" 
 what is needful. Thus carefully is the species 
 guarded from extinction hy want on one hand, 
 and hy implanted disease and vitiated and irregu- 
 lar vegetation on the other — a two-fold distri- 
 bution of extremes, with a medium of average 
 and moderate fruitfulness between them ; that 
 happy mean being disturbed onh^ for a time 
 to ensure as far as possible a return to it. 
 
 Turning our attention now to the animal crea- 
 tion, this law will be found to be still more 
 distinctly developed, as well as more generally 
 observed and acted upon. 
 
 The practical evidence of the farmer, the 
 grazier, and the breeder of horses, is here cor- 
 roborated by, and, in its turn, he]|)s to ]U'ove, 
 the theories of the Physiologist and Natural 
 Historian ; whilst, with the human animal, these 
 
14 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 theories are again demonstrated, both by the 
 theories and practice of the Physician and 
 Pathologist. 
 
 There cannot be a doubt that, with the animal 
 creation — including in that term birds and 
 quadrupeds (of the habits of fish we know little 
 or nothing) — fecundity is totally checked by 
 the plethoric state, when induced, and increased, 
 and rendered doubly certain, by the existence 
 of the deplethoric or lean state; whilst a mode- 
 rated prolificness is the effect of the state be- 
 tween the two. This is more or less the case 
 even with the most prolific animals. The rabbit 
 and the swine are extraordinary in this respect; 
 yet every schoolboy knows that the doe, or 
 female rabbit, and every farmer and breeder 
 knows that the sow will not conceive if fed to 
 a certain height of fatness ; and that the number 
 of the progeny is generally in the ratio of the 
 leanness of the animal. All cattle breeders know 
 the same law to be especially true in the cases 
 of the mare, the cow, and the ewe, with which 
 leanness is indispensable to conception ; and 
 upon their knowledge of this truth they inva- 
 riably act. In the mare this is sometimes 
 evinced in an extraordinary degree. A friend 
 of the author, who, being of the medical })ro- 
 
OF POPULATION. 15 
 
 fession, is peculiarly observant of all cases of this 
 nature, has assured him that he has known a 
 liighly-bred blood mare, which, for a length of 
 time, appeared to be incurably barren, and from 
 which the owner was naturally very desirous to 
 obtain a breed, rendered fertile, and ultimately 
 the dam of a numerous progeny, by being put 
 literally to the plough and cart, fed sparingly, 
 and worked down to a state of extreme leanness 
 and temporary exhaustion, by this unusual em- 
 ployment. 
 
 In the sheep, however, this principle of in- 
 crease or decrease is most nicely developed. It 
 is invariably found that, if over-fed, sterility is the 
 consequence. On the other hand, in accordance 
 with the leanness of the animal, a produce ol' 
 one, two, or three lambs takes place. Upon 
 their knowledge of this fact the improvers of tlie 
 breed of this animal are accustomed to act. In 
 order to afibrd the best chance of a perfect 
 animal, it is believed that a produce of one lamb 
 at a birth is desirable ; and this the breeders 
 of sheep contrive to secure by apportioning the 
 food of the ewe to such a nicety, that, avoiding 
 sterility on one hand, and a double or trij)lc birth 
 on the other, a single lamb is almost invariably 
 the offspring of the animal so limited. Of the 
 
16 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 effect of "condition" upon the fertility of ani- 
 mals, this seems to be one of the strongest of all 
 possible proofs. 
 
 The conflicts that take place amongst all wild 
 grazing animals at the time of rutting or breeding 
 are no doubt intended for the same end — to 
 lower their condition to the prolific point. 
 
 Upon birds the same state of plethora produces 
 similar defertilising effects. This is well known 
 to be the case with domestic poultry, of which 
 the little familiar French fable of *' Une Femme 
 et sa Poule" is an amusing evidence. The good 
 dame, desirous of an increased supply of eggs, 
 crams the poor pullet with double rations of 
 grain. The hen, as well she may, becomes enor- 
 mously fat ffort grossej, and the consequence is, 
 that not another egg will she lay. With other 
 domesticated fowls, similar causes are known 
 to produce similar effects. Tame pigeons will 
 not increase if pampered with an unlimited quan- 
 tity of food ; and to stop the produce of the 
 pigeon-house it is equally effectual to cram them 
 with victuals, or to deny it altogether ; in which 
 latter case, inexpert in the ai't of catering or 
 feeding, they are compelled to wander so long 
 and far in search of it, and are altogether so 
 ignorant of their duty, that they cannot supply 
 
OF POPULATION. 1/ 
 
 tlieir young- ones ; in tlie Ibi-niei- tlicy liavx" none 
 to supply. 
 
 Upon tlie wliole, there can hardly he a iloulit 
 that, as far as tlie vegetahle creation and tlic 
 lo\Yei' animals are concerned, the rule is palpahle 
 and invariahle that ov^er-manuring and over- 
 feeding check increase ; whilst, on the other hand, 
 a limited or deficient nutriment stimulates and 
 adds to it. In support of the truth of this law 
 we have the united testimony of the cultivators 
 of the ground, of all grades and descriptions, 
 and of the numerous persons who make it the 
 business of their lives to superintend the breeding 
 of animals. The facts supported by these testi- 
 monies do not appear in books, nor are much 
 regarded, save by those whose livelihood depends 
 upon their knowledge of them. They are, 
 however, confirmed to be truths by a series 
 of experience, suflicient to establish anything 
 capable of being demonstrated by evidence. 
 That they have not been thought to be of that 
 value which they really are, is not extraordinary. 
 The persons cognizant of them never dreamed 
 of reasoning further, not having the slightest 
 idea of the existence of any controversy upon 
 which such facts might be supposed to 
 be capable of throwing light. The long state 
 c 
 
18 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 of abeyance as matter of reasoning, and as part 
 of the foundations upon which conclusions more 
 important were to be built, in which they have 
 been held, does not however detract from their 
 value. Many estimable things have been tossed 
 about as rubbish for centuries, before their real 
 bearings were discovered ; and such has been the 
 fate of these — no uncommon fate. 
 
OF POrULATIOX. 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE LAW OF INCREASE AND DEC REASE OF THE RACE 
 OF MANKIND. 
 
 That the law of Increase or Decrease as above 
 described, is that v.liicli acts throus',hout the 
 vegetable creation, as well as the world of inierior 
 animals, up to man, as the regulator of the num- 
 bers of the different species, the author thinks he 
 has shown abundant reasons for supposing. This 
 supposition, however, is not meant by any means 
 to shut out, nor does it at all necessarily shut out 
 the truth of that assertion which affirms that to 
 different species of animals or i)lants different 
 capabilities of increase are assigned by Nature. 
 The quantity of seed borne by one ])lant differs 
 naturally from that boinc by another, under the 
 most favourable circumstances. 'J'be ])ower of 
 increase in some kinds of fish is calculated to be 
 c 2 
 
20 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 far beyond tliat of any other animal or vegetable 
 production of Nature. Birds and beasts of 
 prey seem especially also to be more strictly 
 limited by Nature in their powers of increasing 
 their numbers, than those which feed, either in 
 jiart or altogether, upon vegetables ; for which 
 more than one probable reason shall be assigned 
 in the proper place. All that is meant is, that, be 
 the range of the natural power to increase in any 
 species what it may, the jAethoric state invariably 
 checks it, and the deplethoric state invariably 
 developes it ; and that this happens in the exact 
 ratio of the intensity and completeness of each 
 state, until each state be carried so far as to 
 bring about the actual death of the animal or 
 plant itself. 
 
 This law, then, being the reg-ulator of the 
 numbers of all living or semi-living creatures, up 
 to man himself, we now come to the great ques- 
 tion of all, viz. : — whether this analogy is con- 
 tinued ; and whether the race of mankind is 
 subject to the same law of fertility with the rest 
 of that creation at the head of which he seems 
 to stand? The author is well aware of one 
 objection, plausible indeed, but the reverse of 
 solid, which will here be urged against him, and it 
 may as well be stated at once, and disposed of. 
 
OF POPULATION. 21 
 
 "What folly is it (will the ohjeclor exclaim) 
 to place animals acting on instinct merely, and 
 destitute of mind, properly so called, upon a 
 level with rational man, or to imagine there can 
 he any such analogy as this hetween creatures so 
 totally dissimilar, and so far removed from each 
 other?" " Reason (it will he said) was given to 
 man for the very purpose of checking and control- 
 ling his propensities and passions ; and yet this is 
 to he set at nothing— thrown out of the (pies- 
 lion— a merely gross and animal check substi- 
 tuted for that of the 'mens divinior ;^ and men 
 and w^omen are to be fattened into sterility, or 
 starved into fruitfulness, like the stock upon a 
 farm !" 
 
 Now, in reply to this, it is to be observed, 
 that it is not here denied that reason was given 
 to mankind as a "check" and "control" upon 
 their passions, amongst other things. There is 
 not the slightest intention to deny this directly 
 or indirectly, provided the proper and obvious 
 meaning of the term "check" be adhered to. 
 What, then, is the meaning of this verb-active 
 "to check" or to "control?" It is the })Ower 
 to withstand an impulse—to hold it in a modified 
 dominion — to regulate its direction and extent 
 of course, as contradistinguished from the power 
 
22 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 to eradicate, to destroy, or totally to keep down 
 or neutralize. This is the meaning of " check" or 
 " control ;" and doubtless men's reason may, and 
 does, in all cases, more or less, exercise this 
 power over their passions. No man, however 
 hungry, satisiies his soul at another's board, save 
 by invitation ; no man, however thirsty, ever 
 drinks at another's spring without leave given. 
 But this is the regulation, not the extinction of 
 passions co-existent with human nature itself. 
 
 That the intercourse between the sexes must, 
 in all civilized states of society, be regulated and 
 bound down in various ways, is indisputable and 
 undisputed. But still this is regulation, and 
 not extinction. To be the husband of one wife 
 is a precept salutary in itself; and which, in a 
 state of imperfect civilization, is violated more in 
 appearance than reality. It is a precept which 
 religion teaches, nature encourages, and conmion 
 sense ratilies. To modify further would be to ex- 
 tinguish, not to regulate ; and against this Natm e 
 rises at once in arms, and has decreed that such 
 attempts shall be as vain in effect as they are 
 foolish in imagination. 
 
 There is every reason to believe that, by a 
 special provision of natiue, all attempts to limit 
 the number of children, by delaying to middle- 
 
OF POPULATION. 23 
 
 life the period of inania;j;e, are vain and futile ; 
 inasmuch as the rapidity of conception, at all 
 events, amongst those classes whose maimer of 
 living presents no bar to fertility, may be shown 
 to increase in the pro})ortion of the lalcncs.s of 
 the lime when marriage has taken place. 
 
 This shall be proved in the course of this 
 essay ; in the meantime, the author trusts that 
 he has drawn a distinction which no I'eader can 
 fail to recognise : viz., that regulation is one thing, 
 extinction, or total denial, another; that reason 
 is competent to the lirst, but eschews the second, 
 as a task not to be achieved, and an attempt at 
 domination, against which Nature must ever 
 revolt, and which no sophistry, however subtle, 
 can render for a moment i)alatable to the com- 
 monest, as well as best I'eelings of mankind. 
 Having thus cleared the ground of these mattcis 
 of objection, such as they are, it now remains 
 to go at once into the important part of this 
 treatise, into the i)ith and marrow of this " great 
 argument," and to show that the law of i»opula- 
 tion here described applies itself also to mankind, 
 and regulates the numbers of human, as it does 
 that of other created beings. 
 
 The best method, as it appear.^ to the author, 
 to effect this, in a manner the most clear and 
 
24 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 distinct, will be, tirst, to give those general, but 
 striking instances of the existence of this law, 
 which are to be observed in the general history of 
 mankind, ancient and modern. Next, to demon- 
 strate it by reference to limited bodies of men, as 
 to whose exact history and circumstances we have 
 accurate knowledge ; and then to prove that it is 
 borne out by the actual differences in the condi- 
 tion of nations existing at this day, as shown in 
 the best statistical accounts of that condition. 
 
 Thus, we shall first trace those general and 
 striking lights which historical annals chance 
 to afford, and which are the more valuable because 
 they are wholly accidental. 
 
 Next, we shall see these general views accu- 
 rately borne out by more minute accounts of 
 small bodies of men, the requisite minutia? of 
 whose history we have in our power ; and these 
 proofs again we shall find to be remarkably cor- 
 roborated by the actual state of the nations of the 
 world, as at present known — a body of evidence 
 so varied in detail, and so overpoweringly tending 
 ill one direction, as to constitute little short of 
 positive or direct demonstration. 
 
 One of the oldest traditions of facts j bearing 
 evidence of the truth of this Law of Population, 
 is undoubtedly that which attributes a remarkable 
 
OF POPULATION. 25 
 
 fecundity to the " Ictliyophagi," or those nations 
 who hved chiefly upon fish. That this tradition 
 has existed time inn\ieniorial, is quite nndoiihtcd, 
 and upon it is built the mythological Action of 
 Venus being- sprung from the Sea. Strange mix- 
 ture of fancy with truth; to the latter of which, 
 however, Aristotle bears testimony; and which, 
 in point of fact, is admitted, and attempted to 
 be accounted for by political economists of the 
 present day. That a fish-diet is the cause of 
 unusual prolificness no one can doubt, who 
 knows anything of the Highlands and Western 
 Islands of Scotland, where the food of the inha- 
 bitants is, in a great measure, derived from the 
 Sea ; where even the eggs of sea-fowls are not 
 eaten, but made an article of traffic ; and where 
 the only animal food tasted by the poorer natives 
 is an occasional " braxie," or sheep, which has 
 died of the rot ? Amongst these poor people, a 
 family of from ten to twenty children is by no 
 means an uncommon occurrence, but the con- 
 trary ; and instances of females who have borne 
 above twenty children are far from rare. 
 
 To suppose that a fish-diet is pecuharly the 
 cans© of this is absurd; because, in Ireland, where 
 the diet is vegetable chiefly, and that vegetable 
 the hght and watery potato, the same results 
 
26 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 occur. It is notorious that from the Sister Island, 
 as that country is quaintly termed, the great bulk 
 of the cattle and stock of all kinds is exported, 
 either alive or as salted prov^isions. It is notorious 
 that such wheat as there is grown shares the 
 same fate, and that the bulk of the people rarely 
 even taste the luxury of a bit of bacon ; and that 
 their exclusive food is the potato, with such sup- 
 plies of lisli as their seas and lakes aUbrd them. 
 The consequence of this is, that this beautilul 
 grazing country, by nature intended to be pasto- 
 ral, and which like- other pastoral countries would 
 have been thinly peopled had the population 
 been permitted by their landlords to live iq»on 
 the produce of their own green and rich fields, 
 is over-populated to extent only inferior to that 
 to which China and India are so, where also 
 the use of animal food is equally almost un- 
 known, and where emigration is less frequent. 
 It can indeed hardly be doubted that, but for the 
 continual emigration from Ireland and the High- 
 lands of Scotland, which is perpetually going on, 
 the populousness of these countries would, at no 
 remote period, ecjual that of India or even China, 
 overflowing with human beings as this last 
 named immense district has doubtless been for 
 many ages. 
 
OF POPULATION. 27 
 
 It may probably here be objected by many 
 readers that this is all "gratuitous assertion;" 
 that the facts of" the populousness of Ireland, the 
 Scotch Highlands, India, and China, may be in- 
 controvertible. That it may be ecpially undoubted 
 that the food of these countries is vegetable. 
 Still, it will be demanded, where is the proof that 
 this fecundity is the eficct of the poveity and 
 scarcity of the food of the inhabitants? — that 
 the child-murders of China, the famines amongst 
 the millions of India, and Ireland, and the 
 Hebrides, are the ultimate effects of rice anfl 
 potatoes ? 
 
 To this there is a general as well as a ])arti- 
 cular answer; and the general answer should liist 
 be given. That answer is a general apj)eal to 
 the admissions of all medical and physiological 
 authorities of modern, and many of ancient times, 
 that such diet has, in fact, the prolific tendency 
 here ascribed to it ; and a general appeal to existing 
 populations, which are universally found thin in 
 pastoral countries, where the food is animal food 
 chiefly ; denser, where it is mixed partly with 
 vegetable aliment ; denser still, where it is vege- 
 table only, but with plenty ; densest of nil, where 
 it is vegetable, but with scarcity superadded. 
 
 The evidence of medical men is now uiiani- 
 
28 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 mous as to the effect of the plethoric state in 
 checking fecundity in the human female, hoth hy 
 preventing conception and occasioning miscar- 
 riage ; but of the opposite effects produced by a 
 poorer and lower diet, the proofs are commonly 
 known to be perpetual. Dr. Cheyne, and the 
 older dietetic writers all notice these facts ; but 
 the accumulative evidence is now considered by 
 medical persons as irresistible. 
 
 There are numerous instances where the oc- 
 currence of misfortune, and consequent privations, 
 have given families to those who were childless 
 in their prosperity ; and, as elucidating the same 
 law, we may adduce another fact, well known to 
 medical persons, which is the extraordinary ten- 
 dencies to propagation evinced by both sexes 
 when semi-convalescent, after enfeebling and 
 attenuating epidemics, such as fevers, pestilences 
 and plagues ; and the consequent extraordinary 
 rapidity with which population recovers itself in 
 those countries where the plague, the marsh 
 fever, or famines, which cause many of these 
 epidemics, have made havoc. 
 
 A general glance at the map of the world, 
 with a general statistical account, will show 
 results corresponding with this law. Thus, 
 in Russia, where butcher's-mcat is a drug, 
 
OF POPUATION. 29 
 
 and vegetable food a luxury, the luinibers -tt) 
 to the square leauue are tiilhnu-. 
 
 In Poland, France, Italy, and llie l^ow Coun- 
 tries, ^\here the diet is mixed, l)ut plentiful, 
 population is moderately dense. 
 
 In India, in Ireland, and in China, where no 
 animal food almost is eaten, the population is 
 excessively dense, and constant pauperism and 
 periodical famines form decided features in the 
 history of these countries. 
 
 It is not, however, by mere general views like 
 these that this nice and most im])ortant question 
 can be decided ; it must be made minutely and 
 particularly the subject of examination ; it must 
 be shown to be true as regards countries and 
 their population, taking each separately, country 
 by country. 
 
 Where different provinces of the same country 
 differ from each other as to ]iopulation, it must 
 be shown to be in accordance with this law. 
 Where different bodic*? of men in the same com- 
 munity retrograde, arc stationary, or increase in 
 numbers, the same must be proved with regard 
 to such bodies ; for it is only l)y being borne out 
 and ])roved to be true, under ail these various 
 modifications of societv, that the existence of a 
 
30 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 law, which is not only general but invariable, 
 can be satisfactorily proved and demonstrated. 
 To commence this proof shall be the business of 
 the next chapter. 
 
OF POPULATION. 3] 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE LAW OF INCREASE AND DECREASE, AS AMONGST 
 LIMITED BODIES OF MEN, EXEMPLIFIED. 
 
 Looking at bodies of men, one of the most 
 striking facts of all history is the decay to which 
 all systems of nobility, however widely extended 
 these privileges may have been, seem to be sub- 
 jected. " Old families (says that most erudite 
 and curious of all observers. Sir Thomas Browne, 
 in his ' Hydriotaphia') last not three oaks!'' 
 Nothing can be more true. 
 
 Let us take as an instance the IVers and 
 Baronets of Great Britain, and nothing can he 
 more striking than the perjielual decay of a hody 
 of men, who, possessing large estates and 
 privileges of the most enviable nature, have had 
 ai)parently every means as well as every motive 
 to transmit these desirable possessions to lineal 
 
32 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 •heirs. The pride of name, the pride of dominion, 
 the pride of power, all seem to secure the cer- 
 tainty of such transmission ; and yet what has 
 been the reality? This it has been— that the 
 Peerage of England, instead of being old, is re- 
 cent, and the Baronetage, though comparatively 
 of modern origin, equally so. In short, that few, 
 if an)^ of the Norman nobility, and almost as 
 few of the original baronets' families of King 
 James the First, exist at this moment ; and that, 
 but for perpetual creations, both orders must 
 have been all but extinct. The following table 
 shows that the great majority of the House of 
 Peers has been created since the year 1760, that 
 is to say, within eighty years of the present 
 time, and since the commencement of the reign 
 of George the Third, whose accession was in the 
 October of that year ; a period within the 
 memory of many now living : — 
 
 e nvmher of Peers in 1337. 
 
 Number created since 17G0 
 
 Dukes . . 
 
 21 . . 
 
 . . .'i Dukes 
 
 Marquises 
 
 19 . . 
 
 . . 18 Marquises 
 
 Earls . . 
 
 108 . . 
 
 . . 58 Earls 
 
 Viscounts 
 
 17 . . 
 
 . . 13 Viscounts 
 
 Barons . 
 
 185 . . 
 
 . . 153 Barons 
 
 
 3:)0 
 
 24 7 
 
 Scottish Peers 
 
 161 
 
 28i- • 
 
 25 
 
 Irish Peers . 
 
 Total . . 
 
 394 
 
 272 Total since 1700. 
 
OF POPULATION. 33 
 
 Thus it appears that, within the memory of man, 
 272 of the 394 Peers of Paiiianient in I.S3;, 
 have heen created. The decay ol" the ordei- ol 
 Baronets has been, perhaps, still mow rapid and 
 extraordinary. The order itseh' was commenced 
 only in IGll, by King James the First, as a 
 means of raisine; money, ])iincipall\ ioi- the 
 Irish War of that period. 
 
 It w^as su2;2;ested as a clicaj) mode of raising 
 supphes, by the celebrated Lord Bacon, one of 
 wdiose name was in the original Baronetage, and 
 is one of the few of those originally created, 
 whose descendants remain. The sum paid I'oi- 
 this honour was very large, and it is tlieretbre 
 certain that the earlier Baronets were all wealthy 
 men and of great estate. The results are as 
 follows : — 
 
 Since the creation of the order of Ijaronets, in 
 1611, seven hundred and fifty-three Baionetcies 
 have become extinct. In short, the nund)er of 
 extinct Baronets are more, in lofo, than the 
 existing Baronets, up to the year Isli), when the 
 Baronets were six hundred and thirty-fix e only. 
 
 From 1011 to 1819, one hundred and thirty- 
 nine Baronets had been raised to the Peerage, 
 and thus taken out of the list of Baronets. 
 Still, supposing all these Peerages to be now 
 
34 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 existing-, which is not the case, this would only 
 make the whole numher, including those made 
 Peers, seven hundred and seventy-four ; that is 
 to say, the living Baronets and Baronet Peers 
 would, in that case, only exceed the extinct 
 Baronets by twenty-one ! Thus it is evident, that 
 but for perpetual new creations, we should 
 hardly have had a Baronet existing. Of James 
 the First's creation, in a. d. 1611, only thirteen 
 families now remain. Of all he created up to 
 1625, the year of his death, thirty-nine only 
 remain ; a decay certainly extraordinary, and not 
 to be accounted for upon the ordinary ideas of 
 mortality and power of increase amongst man- 
 kind. 
 
 The author is not unaware that in the cases 
 above quoted, there arise out of the nature of 
 the institutions themselves, causes of extinction 
 which do not apply to a population, or to society 
 in general. A single failure of offspring makes a 
 gap in the body, whilst even extra fecundity in 
 another quarter is only allowed to keep up the 
 line. For instance. Lord S., or Sir John S., dies 
 childless: Lord R., or Sir John R., supplies 
 a dozen or fourteen descendants. One would 
 have sufficed to fill the place, and we cannot 
 make use of the surplus to supply other defi- 
 
OF POPULATION. 35 
 
 ciencies. This is clearly cMiough one cause of the 
 extinction of titles, Avhich, where there are many 
 sons, is conferred upon one alone, but which is 
 lost in case of failure of heirs. 13iit this one 
 cause will not account for the rapid and j)er- 
 petual decay of nobility as exhibited, not only in 
 the English Peerage and Baronetage, but amongst 
 the nobility and higher orders of other countries, 
 both ancient and modern, where the cause above 
 alluded to does not exist. 
 
 We have the testimony of Addison (who 
 quotes Amelot) as to the extraordinary decrease 
 of the A^netian nobility, although all the sons 
 are ennobled by birth. Chastellux and lleylin 
 say the same of the French and Netherlandish 
 Noblesse. Mr. Malthus himself, also bears wit- 
 ness to the strange decrease ol' the bourgeoisie, oi- 
 wealthy class of the town of Berne ; although the 
 fact is strongly opposed to his preconceived 
 opinions. Addison's i-emarks, as re])eated in the 
 w^ork of the late Michael Thomas Sadler on this 
 subject, are as follows, " Amelot reckoned in 
 his time 2500 nobles that had voices in the 
 Council ; but at present I am told theie aic not 
 at most 1500, notwithstanding the addition of 
 manv new families since that time. It is rcri/ 
 D 2 
 
Jb THE TRUE LAW 
 
 strange, that with this advantage they are not able 
 to keep up their numbers, considering that the 
 nGhility spreads equally through all the Jjrothers, 
 and that so very f etc are desti'oyed by the wars of 
 the RepubUc." 
 
 Mr. Malthus, at pag-e 278 of his " Essay on 
 Population," gives the following statement as to 
 the town of Berne. "From the year 1583 to 
 16.54, the Sovereign Council admitted into the 
 bourgeoisie 487 families, of which 379 became 
 extinct in the space of two centuries, and in 
 1783, only 108 of them remained! During the 
 hundred years from 1684 to 1784, two hundred 
 and seven Bernoise families became extinct. 
 From 1624 to 1712, the bourgeoisie was given to 
 eighty families ; in 1623, the Sovereign Council 
 united the numbers of one hundred and twelve 
 different families, of which fifty-eight only re- 
 main." From these facts, it is apparent that the 
 law of decrease is not only active amongst those 
 included under the title of nobility, but amongst 
 any class of men, however entitled, to whom the 
 means of full and generous living are not de- 
 nied ; the bourgeoisie of the comparatively poor 
 and republican town of Berne being no more 
 proof against it than the high-blooded nobles of 
 Italv and France. The evidence of Tacitus, 
 
OF POPULATION. 37 
 
 hoAvever, as to tlie certain and wondcrriil activity 
 of this principle of decay, anion L;st tho>;e to 
 whom is allotted the pride of place, is perhap.^ 
 the most extraordinary. Under the Emperor 
 Clandius, it seems to have been necessary, hy an 
 admission of the best families, who were not 
 actually patrician, to renovate this powerful class; 
 and this is the historian's brief but most instruc- 
 tive account of this matter. " Jisdem diebus in 
 numerum Patriciorum adscivit Caesar vetustis- 
 simum quemque e Senatu, aid (|uil)us clari 
 parentes fuerant. Pau'cis jam reliquis fami- 
 liarum (pias Romulus Majorum, et Lucius Brutus 
 jNIinorum Gentium, ad pellaverat : exhaustis etiam 
 quas Dictator Cirsar Lege Cassia, et Princep.s 
 Augustus Lege Sccnia, sublegere." — Annal: lib. xi. 
 cap. XXV. 
 
 " About the same time Claudius ejuolled m 
 the Patrician order such of the ancient senator.^ 
 as stood recommended by their illustriout* birtli 
 and the merit of their ancestors. The line oi 
 those families which were styled by Romulus 
 ' the first class of nobility,' and by Brutus ' the 
 second,' was almost extinct. Even those of more 
 recent date, created in the time of Julius Csesar 
 by the Cassian law, and under Augustus by the 
 
38 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Sceiiiao, were well nigh exhausted." — Murphy's 
 Translation. 
 
 In his translation of this extraordinary account, 
 Murphy has softened the directness of Tacitus. 
 There is nothing in the original to answer to the 
 words '' ivell nigh exhausted" in the last sentence. 
 Tacitus says, in plain terms, that " even the 
 Patrician families created by the Dictator Caesar, 
 and by Augustus, ivere exhausted ;" meaning of 
 course, not extinct ahsoliUely, but exhausted for 
 all the purposes for which they were created into 
 a class. This is an instance of Patrician decay 
 exceeding those of modern times. 
 
 That the nobility of Romulus and Brutus 
 should in Claudius Caesar's time have been worn 
 out, is hardly to be wondered at ; but that the 
 new creations of the Dictator Julius, and his 
 nephew Augustus, should also have perished, is 
 a striking event. Supposing even their numbers 
 comparatively few, it is still a startling fact, that 
 in less than a century few of these families should 
 remain. Yet such is Tacitus' assertion ; for, 
 between the assumption of Dictatorship by Julius 
 Ccesar and this period of the reign of Claudius, 
 ninety-two years only elapsed. 
 
 The instances already quoted will have given 
 
OF I'OrULATJON. 31) 
 
 the reader reaaoii to tliiiik Ihal, iiol oiilvaiuon:;.sl 
 those classes ol" men styled uobiUty, but even 
 amongst classes not ennobled by name, bul 
 enabled by fortune to imitate the full and luxu- 
 rious habits of noblemen, the law of decrease is 
 strongly developed. This law of plethoric de- 
 crease, however, does not stop here. As it de- 
 scends, it certainly mitigates. AVhat was j)higue 
 under the Line and between the Tropics, becomes 
 malignant fever in more temperate climates ; 
 mitigates again into typhus as the cold increases, 
 and disappears altogether beyond the Arctic and 
 Antarctic Circles. Such is precisely the course 
 of the principle of decrease. As men become 
 lower in circumstances it diminishes; lower again, 
 it becomes nothing, untU privation comes, and 
 then the opposite principle immediately ajipears, 
 and goes on growing in intensity, in the ratio of 
 privation and consequent depletion and debihty, 
 in all their varied forms of weakened and atte- 
 nuated constitutions. 
 
 As a proof of the prevalence of this principle 
 of decrease amongst a class of men, lower in 
 society than those already mentioned, but still 
 well able by circumstances to induce the |)letho- 
 ric or non-increasing state of constitution, tlie 
 author will now adduce some facts derived from 
 the archives of a more humble privilcrjcd claa-'i 
 
40 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 of men — the free burgesses of certain rich and 
 exclusive boron gbs. The first example he will 
 take from the ricli and ancient borough, within 
 the precincts of which he is now writing, and of 
 wliose corporate governing body he was recently 
 a member. He will instance the free burgesses 
 of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In doing this it is, in 
 commencement, proper to state that the corpora- 
 tion of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is, and has been 
 for centuries, one of the richest incorporations 
 of this or any other country. Of this wealth 
 its burgesses of all ranks have, more or less, 
 shared the benefits. Up to about the year 1760, 
 the freemen or free biu'gesses enjoyed a complete 
 and close monopoly of the trade of the town of 
 Newcastle. With the exception of a small space 
 called "the Castle-yard, or Garth," which, by a 
 fiction of law, is supposed to be part and parcel 
 of the neighbouring county of Northumberland, 
 in order that the county assizes may be held 
 there, no person, not free of the borough, was 
 permitted to open a shop within its boundaries 
 or liberties. Free artizans also exclusively en- 
 joyed the privilege of being employed, at liberal 
 wages, in all the operative business of this wealthy 
 corporation. There were, and are, well-endowed 
 hospitals for decayed freemen or their widows. 
 They possessed the depasturage of extensive and 
 
OF POPULATION. 41 
 
 fine grazing grounds ot uiany hundreds ot acres. 
 They had a complete niono|ioly of tlie carriage of 
 goods from the quay, which was vested in an 
 incorporate company of " Free Porters," \Yho 
 were paid extravagant rates of carriage. As they 
 enjoyed the exclusive privilege of electing mem- 
 bers of Parliament, they also had a sort of patent 
 for all local government-ofhces, for which 
 members of Parliament reconnnend candidates. 
 There is also an endowment for lending young 
 tradesmen money, on bonded security, to assist 
 their business, the benefits which they enjoyed 
 exclusively ; and lastly, they were constant 
 and welcome guests at all treats, feasts, and 
 entertainments given at a Mansion House, kept 
 always open for such visitors, at an enormous 
 expense. 
 
 Beyond all this, they had beneficial grants of 
 quays for the deposit of ballast, from which both 
 the corporation and the depositors rea]ied hand- 
 some revenues, and the maritime part of their 
 population also derived solid advantages from an 
 endowed establishment called the Trinity House, 
 where an endowed school ibr maritime purposes 
 is provided. There are also other endowed 
 schools for general education, gratis, for the 
 children of free burgesses. 
 
 Surrounded with such advantages, it required 
 
42 THE TRUE LAW^ 
 
 an unusual strain of imprudence indeed to pie- 
 vent a Newcastle free burgess from doing well in 
 worldly matters ; and the body as a consecpience 
 were generally wealthy men in their different 
 stations in society. That these enviable distinc- 
 tions were carefully guarded from competitors 
 need not be doubted. The freedom of the town 
 was never sold, nor ever given, except as an 
 honour to some few distinguished or illustrious 
 strangers. There were only two ways of ac- 
 quiring the franchise, viz., by inheritance or by 
 servitude. Every son of a free burgess ivas free ; 
 but if the father had not paid the necessary fees, 
 and formally assumed the franchise, this barred 
 the son, although the grandfather had been free. 
 The servitude was a bona fide apprenticeship to a 
 freeman of seven years ; and this was most 
 scrupulously insisted upon. 
 
 Under all these favourable circumstances, all 
 the sons of a free burgess being free, it might be 
 expected that they should go on rapidly increasing 
 their numbers. With them the usual bar to 
 marriage, poverty, was out of the question ; and 
 their monopoly of trade directly encouraged an 
 early settlement in life. The contrary, however, 
 has indubitably been the case ; up to the time 
 when they lost their trading monopoly, they seem 
 hardly to have maintained their numbers ; and 
 
OF POPULATION 43 
 
 there is good reason lor siipposiiiL;- llicy miulil 
 even have decreased, had it not been for the aid 
 of those who became free by servitude ; which 
 last seem to have i)robably exceeded in number 
 those who acquired it by inheritance. 
 
 Since the loss of their exclusive privileges as 
 to trade, the increase has been un(|uestionab]y 
 greater ; but the whole history of this body of 
 men exemplifies, in a very extraordinary mamici-, 
 the dilliculty with which a well-fed connnunity 
 maintains its numerical strength. 
 
 The lirst table is a statement of the numbers 
 of claimants of the franchise for live years, dis- 
 tinguishing the claimants by hirih from those 
 by servitude. The latter, it will be seen, still 
 predominate. The next table is the j)olls of all 
 the contested elections from a. d. 1710, in- 
 clusive, up to the passing of the Reform Bill 
 in 1832. This table })roves that the number of 
 freemen at the period q^ the great contest of 
 A. D. 1722 was nearly the same as the number 
 existing at the periods of the subsequent contests, 
 in 1841, 1774, 1777, and 1780. These tables 
 are certainly correct, and were kindly extracted 
 and calculated from the books of the Stewards ol 
 the Incorporated Companies by their excellent 
 Secretary, John Jirovvn, Esq., at the request of 
 the Author. 
 
44 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 TABLE 1. 
 
 CLAIMED THE FREUDOM OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 
 
 Years. 
 
 By Birth. 
 
 By Servitude. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1832 
 1833 
 1834 
 1835 
 1836 
 
 43 Claimed. 
 40 . . 
 47 . . 
 86 . . 
 31 . . 
 
 83 Claimed. 
 57 . . 
 63 . . 
 88 . . 
 59 . . 
 
 
 
 247 
 
 350 
 
 597 Claimants. 
 
 Of this table Mr. Brown remarks—" 311 per- 
 sons only were admitted. 1 do not know the 
 proportion of the parties admitted by birth or 
 servitude, but conclude they are in the same 
 ratio as the claimants." Thus, then, it is pro- 
 bable that the additions to the burgess-roll by 
 servitude have more than kept pace with those by 
 birth. The principal cause of the non-admissions 
 is unwillingness, or else inabihty, to 'pay the 
 fees. These amount to a heavy sum for a young 
 man in narrow circumstances. This obstacle, 
 however, generally disappears before contested 
 elections, when those whose claims are valid 
 become all at once possessed of the means of 
 assuming the franchise, or, as it is called, " taking 
 up their freedom !" 
 
OF POPULATION, 
 
 45 
 
 TABLE IL 
 
 >'UMBKnS OF VOTES POLLED AT THK CONTE«TFD KI.ECTIO> 
 NICWCASTr.E-rPON-TYNE. 
 
 Years. 
 
 
 Votes. 
 
 1710 
 
 Sir William Blackett 
 Mr. Wrightsen . 
 Mr. W. Carr 
 
 ^loi. \ Two days only. 1 700 voters 
 
 609 J i^-^^^'^^^y' 
 
 1715 
 
 Sir William Blackett 
 Mr. Wrightsen . 
 Mr. Clavering 
 
 C391 
 
 5.")0 vNo time given. 
 
 203 J 
 
 1722 
 
 Mr. W. Carr 
 
 Sir William Blackett 
 
 Mr. Wright.^en . 
 
 1234-1 
 
 1158 1 2000 voters probably. 
 831 J 
 
 1727 
 
 Sir William Blaolett 
 Mr. N. Fenwick . 
 Mr. Carr . 
 
 ItSqI Three days. 2000 voters 
 'Si probably. 
 
 1734 
 
 Mr. Walter Blackett 
 Mr. N. Fenwirk . 
 Mr. W . Carr 
 
 13.'i4-l 
 
 1083 lEitfht days. 1795 voters. 
 716j 
 
 1741 
 
 Sir Walter Blackett 
 Mr. N. Fenwick . 
 Mr. Mattliew Ridley- 
 Mr. Will. Carr . 
 
 . 1453] 
 
 . 1231 1 A great contest. Si.v days. 
 
 . 1131 f i:39l voters. 
 
 . (;83j 
 
 1774 
 
 Sir Walter Blackett 
 Sir Matthew Ridley 
 Captain Phipps 
 Mr. Delaval 
 
 , 1432"] 
 
 1411 1 A great contest. 21t;2 
 795 [ voters. 
 C77j 
 
 1777 
 
 Sir John Trevelyan 
 A. R. Stoney Bowes 
 
 ;;^^^} 2231 voters. 
 
 1780 
 
 Sir Matthew Ridley 
 A. R. Stoney Bowes 
 Mr. Uelaval 
 
 1408 
 
 1135 I 2245 voters. 
 
 1085 
 
 1820 
 
 SirMatthewRidley-j .^, 
 Mr. Ellison I '^^^ 
 Hon. Mr. S<'ott J 
 
 iS*"^' A single day. 800 voter^:. 
 
 In 1832, the number of freemen resident within seven miles of New- 
 castle was ltil9 only.— (Mr. Brown's note.) 
 
46 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 From these results it is evident that, although 
 it is certain that the population of Newcastle- 
 upon-Tyne has been steadily, and of late even 
 rapidly increasing, as may be proved by the 
 results of the different enumerations, as well as 
 by the greatly augmented amount of Custom- 
 house receipts; yet the freemen, or free-burgesses, 
 despite the aid of those acquiring freedom by 
 servitude, have not materially helped that in- 
 crease. 
 
 It also singularly coincides with the law of 
 increase here attempted to be demonstrated, that 
 such material increase of numbers as has taken 
 place in the body of free-burgesses, has occurred 
 since the loss of their exclusive trading privileges, 
 and the consequent diminution of the fulness of 
 their means of living, by an influx of active com- 
 petitors. 
 
 The positive conclusions which the author has 
 drawn from the foregoing results, he has not 
 drawn without being well aware that they ai'e 
 liable to certain objections ; inasmuch as, besides 
 probable modes of living, there are other acci- 
 dental circumstances likely to diminish and keep 
 down the number upon the burgess roll, and to 
 affect in other ways the validity of the strong 
 conclusions come to. These objections he cannot 
 
OF roniLATioN. 47 
 
 state better than by (jiiotinu- tlie statement of 
 tbeni made to bnn by one most eminently (|uali- 
 fied to inquire into such evidence, tliat is to sav, 
 the talented Town Clerk of the Borough, John 
 Clayton, Es(j., who was at the kind ])ains to 
 consider and silt much of that ])ortion of the 
 documentary testimony npon which this theory 
 is founded. The following- are Mr. Clayton's 
 remarks as to this portion of the argument : - 
 
 *' Newcastle, Sept. 3, 1837. 
 " The conclusions wdiich you draw from the 
 " past and ])i'esent state of the body of freemen 
 " are open to some observations. 1 believe it to 
 " be quite true, that during* the last century there 
 " was very little increase in the number of that 
 " privileged class. But it must be borne in mind, 
 " that during the same period the freemen were 
 " subjected to the severe check of the loss of 
 " their privilege of exclusive trading, and became 
 " a minority of the inhabitants of the town, in- 
 " stead of being, as they were at the connnence- 
 " ment of the last century, almost its sole 
 " inhabitants. It will be found, 1 think, also, 
 " that the town itself was not nearly so nuich 
 " extended during the whole of last century, as 
 " it has been during thirty-six years of this. 
 
48 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 " In the year 1731, the whole numher of free- 
 " men polled at a contest, which drew toe;ether 
 " the non-resident as well as the resident freemen, 
 " did not exceed eighteen hundred. At present, 
 " (1837) the number of registered freemen, resi- 
 *' dent within seven miles of the borough, exceeds 
 "eighteen hundred; and the non-resident, I 
 " calculate, may be nearly equal in number. 
 " There are also circumstances to be considered 
 " which prevent this class having the full benefit 
 " of the fecundity of the species. In the first 
 " place, females and their descendants do not 
 " assist us in keeping up our number (I speak in 
 " the first person, as one of the body) ; and in 
 " the next place, the rule (correctly stated in 
 " your letter) by which the franchise is lost to 
 " the children if the father omits the ceremony 
 *' of admission, operates A'^ery greatly as a check 
 " to our increase. I will put a case, within my 
 " knowledge, and not an extreme case, which 
 " will show the practical working oi" this rule. 
 " A.B., a freeman, dies, leaving three sons. The 
 " eldest remains in this country and dies, leaving 
 " an only son, whom we retain as a freeman. 
 " The two younger sons do not take up their 
 " freedom at all. One of them goes abroad and 
 " dies, leaving five sons. The other enters the 
 
OF POPULATION. 49 
 
 " army, and finally settles in a distant jiarl of 
 " the country, \\ hei-e he leaves four sons. Thus, 
 " if we had the full benefit of the natural increase 
 " of the species, we should have had ten iVceinen 
 " in the place of A.B., the grandfather. Now, 
 " through the operation of our artificial restric- 
 " tion, we have only one ! According to the 
 " statement supplied to you, which 1 believe to 
 " be correct, our gain by a^jprenticeship is 
 " counterbalanced by the loss we sufler from 
 " inability or disinclination of claimants to take 
 " up the freedom, notwithstanding the generous 
 " aid afforded them by candidates for their suf- 
 " frages at elections." 
 
 The objections which are embodied in these, at 
 first sight striking and apposite comments, seem 
 to the author to admit of satisfactory solution. 
 That the loss of the female line must affect the 
 actual numbers of the class of free burgesses most 
 materially, is evident enough. In short, the pro- 
 bable loss must be nearly one half; inasmuch as 
 in an extended i)opnlation the nund)er of females 
 born nearly equals that of males. But this effect 
 upon actual number has nothing to do with ratio 
 of increase. There is no reason adduced for sup- 
 posing that if the franchise had been conferred 
 
 E 
 
50 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 upon females also, and their descendants, and if 
 such females, by marrying, conferred upon their 
 husbands and families the same advantages and 
 fruits of pi-ivilege and property, which freemen do 
 upon their wives and famihes, that their fecun- 
 dity would have been greater, or at all different, 
 their circumstances of living being supposed to 
 be the same. 
 
 If increase there was, then the ratio would 
 have been the same, though the numbers would 
 have been greater. The start would indeed be 
 made with double the number; but there is 
 nothing to show why the ratio of prolijicness 
 should be increased. That objection which ac- 
 counts for the want of increase, by supposing 
 that the loss caused by omission to take up the 
 franchise counterbalances the gain arising from 
 admissions earned by servitude, is less easy to 
 pariy. That much loss may be and often is so 
 caused, cannot be denied. The answer is, that 
 upon the whole statement this loss is evidently 
 insufficient to account for the whole failure of 
 increase, though it may account for part of it. 
 
 It is shown on ail the statements, that during 
 the early part of the last century the increase 
 was trifling, and that after the loss of the trading 
 monopoly about 17G0,up to the present time, the 
 
OF POPULATION. 51 
 
 increase has been more. Now liad omission of 
 taking up freedom been the clieck, the chrect 
 contrary must have been tlie case, because the 
 means of paying- the fees must have been dimi- 
 nished — first by the lessened means ; next, by the 
 want of contested elections, of which there were 
 none from 1780 up to 1832, save the two days 
 of 1820, and because the motives for emigrating 
 must have increased ; and therefore this check 
 of omission must have been rendered more strin- 
 gent, and of augmented efficacy after 17G0. The 
 event of the admitted increase since 17G0, how- 
 ever, contradicts this ; and it follows that tiiere 
 must have been some otuer cueck removed of 
 more efficacy than the omission to claim; inasmuch 
 as the effect of Its removal has been totally to 
 overcome and neutralize the increased stringency 
 of the other, as is proved by the growth of the 
 burgess population during the last named })eriod. 
 The cause of that effect, the author asserts, was 
 the poverty created by the loss of the exclusive 
 privileges ; the " severe check" to the prosperity 
 having an inverted effect upon the prolificness of 
 the burgesses ; or, in other words, the check to the 
 prolificness of the burgesses ; or, in other words, 
 the check to the accumulation of wealth, being 
 the removal of a check, or rather a positive 
 e2 
 
52 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 stimulus to increased population. In order, 
 liowevei', to put this probable truth in a still 
 clearer and more indisputable point of view, the 
 author will instance the facts as to the increase 
 ol" another body of freemen, obtaining their fran- 
 chise in the same way as those of Newcastle- 
 upon-Tyne, but not possessed of lucrative privi- 
 leges lik'e those of the latter — the burgesses of 
 Berwick-upon-Tweed . 
 
 These facts were obtained through the instru- 
 mentality of the kind friend, whose assistance 
 has been already alluded to, and they may be 
 entirely depended upon. The freedom of the 
 borough of Berwick, it has already been remarked, 
 is obtained upon the same conditions, or as nearly 
 KO as possible, as those upon which depends the 
 franchise of Newcastle, inheritance or servitude. 
 The property and emoluments of the Mayor and 
 Burgesses derived from the incorporation are 
 trifling, however ; and the freemen of Berwick, 
 compared with those of Newcastle, are a compa- 
 ratively poor class of men. 
 
 Here, then, are two bodies of men, selected in 
 the same manner, under the same artificial cir- 
 cumstances, differing only in point of wealth and 
 endowments. Amongst these men the inability 
 to take up the freedom must be as great as 
 
OF rorrr.ATioN- 
 
 53 
 
 amongst tlie Newcastle claimants, liecau-e they 
 are less wealtliy. 
 
 The indiftercnee about it imi-^t l)e L;;reatci-, 
 because it confers no luci-ative privilej^cs, cxce|)t 
 as far as the sale of votes for Members of l^ar- 
 liament may be occasionally lucrative to tiie 
 corrupt voter. The tendency to emii^ratc must 
 also be fully e(|ual to the tendency in the Ibrmer 
 place. Yet what is the result, on a comparison 
 of facts? That the free burgesses of Berwick 
 have increased durinir the last century in a ratio 
 far beyond that of the increase of the Newcastle 
 free biiri^esses, an effect only to be accounted for 
 in the fact of their greater comparative poverty. 
 The results for the last century, and the ratio of 
 claims by birth or servitude, arc as follow :— 
 
 TABLE I. 
 
 M'MBER OF Cf-AlM.VNTb> OF Till; KRANCHISK OF nF,R\VICK-ON 
 
 -TWEEn. 
 
 From 
 1829 
 to 
 1836 
 
 By Birth. 
 123 
 
 Servitude. 
 29 
 
 Admitted by Ticket. 
 
 Total. 
 i:.7 
 
 TABLE H. 
 
 COMPARATIVE NDMBER9 OF FRF.EMEV AFTER A CENTIRY. 
 
 Year. 
 1737 
 
 1837 
 
 No. of Burgesses. 
 
 o83 
 l.UG 
 
 Xo division into rr.-idciit mid niiii-rc.si'ltnf. 
 Of theae 450 were resid'.iit.fififi non-re.-iidpii*. 
 
54 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 TABLE in. 
 
 NUMBERS POLLED IN RECENT ELECTIONS. 
 
 1831 
 1837 
 
 366 polled (before the Reform Bill). 
 393 polled (after the Reform Bill). 
 
 Thus it appears that the freemen of Berwick- 
 upon-Tweed have all but doubled their number 
 in the course of the last hundred years, from 1737 
 to 1837 ; that the tendency to emigrate is greater 
 here than in Newcastle, inasmuch as the non- 
 residents much exceed the residents in 1837 ; 
 and lastly, that during the last six years their 
 numbers must have increased considerably, inas- 
 much as some of the 366 polled in 1831 were 
 probably non-residents ; whereas, all the 393 
 polled in 1837 must have been residents within 
 seven miles. 
 
 If we extend our examination to other corpo- 
 rate bodies in various parts of the kingdom, the 
 same tendency to diminution and decay of the 
 numbers of the privileged classes, seems, more or 
 less, to pervade them all. The various ways in 
 which the franchise descends, or is acquired, of 
 course varies the results ; but the general bearing 
 and tendency are one and the same. Thus, in 
 the City of Durham the freedom is acquired 
 
OF POPULATION. 55 
 
 by apprenticeship, in the same manner as it is 
 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and in J^erwicU-upon- 
 Tweed, but the hercthtaiy descent is more 
 limited. The franchise is enjoyed only by the 
 eldest son of a free burgess of Durham, save and 
 except in the United Com]iany of Grocers and 
 Mercers, where all the sons inherit. This com- 
 pany being composed generally of men with some 
 capital, if the theory now advocated be true, 
 would certainly require some extra aid to keej) 
 their guildry in existence, and this it appears 
 they have required. The result of an inquiry 
 into the numbers of the freemen of Duiham, 
 shoW'S that for some generations a diminution 
 has been for the most part going on, though the 
 admissions by servitude are numerous. The 
 diminution of their numbers has, however, been 
 less than the limitation of the inheritance would 
 have led a hasty incpiirer to expect. When we 
 Hnd, however, as is the case, that the mass of 
 the free burgesses here arc generally nuicli 
 poorer than are those of the boroughs ah'cady 
 alluded to, the apparent anomaly is accounted 
 for. 
 
 In the year 1678, was the first election for 
 Members of Parliament for this city, when cighl 
 hundred and thirtij-cKjIil volcr6 polled. Between 
 
56 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 this time and 17G1, there was probably a small 
 decrease in their number, for though one thousand 
 and fifty persons voted as freemen, yet two 
 himdred and sixty-four of these were created for 
 the occasion, under a bye-law afterwards set 
 aside. This reduces the actual number of free 
 burgesses to seven hundred and eighty-eight, a 
 diminution of the numbers in the election of 
 1678. In the year 1802 (a violent contest), a 
 small increase seems to have existed, as nine 
 hundred and eighty-two are stated to have polled. 
 Since then they have decreased, the number 
 resident within seven miles at this time (1841) 
 being calculated at four hundred and fifty only ; 
 the probable non-residents are about two hundred. 
 What is a very striking fact, is, that the United 
 Mercers and Grocers Company, in which alone 
 ALL THE SONS inherit the franchise, comprises 
 only THIRTEEN individuals, the numbers being 
 kept up by the poorer companies. The average 
 of admissions to the franchise of late years is 
 twenty-nine. Thus, in fifteen years, a number 
 equal to the present total number of resident 
 burgesses has been admitted ; and }'et the num- 
 bers, on the whole, decrease. 
 
 In the borough of Richmond in Yorkshire, 
 the franchise descends, as at Durham, through 
 
OF rori'LATiox. 57 
 
 the eldest son alone. IVuinni could, however, 
 acquire the freedom hy servitude, and (heir 
 apprentices accjuired the franchise. It does not 
 appear, however, distinctly tliat their sons 
 inherited, though prohahly this was the case. 
 In the year 1713, the number of free persons of 
 Richmond was three hundred and jiftij-nine, as 
 was proved by the election of a Mayor at that 
 l)eriod, which was bitterly contested. In 1727, 
 however, the burgesses lost their right of voting 
 for Members of Parliament, which was decided 
 by the House of Conunons to vest only in the 
 owners of certain "burgage houses." Haifa 
 century after this, also, the trade of the town 
 was taken out of the monopoly of the burgesses. 
 From tliis the admissions by servitude declined ; 
 and so rapid was the decay, that in a. d, 1820 
 tlie number of burgesses of Richmond was only 
 ei(jhty ! 
 
 In the city of Carlisle the franchise is inhe- 
 rited by all the sons, and acquired by scr\ itude. 
 The number of the burgesses is, however, not 
 very different from what it was a century ago, 
 notwithstanding constant and numerous achnis- 
 sions by servitude. It is not a jich corpo- 
 ration. To nudtiply examples would be needless, 
 though very ea.-3y. 
 
58 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Various other bodies of men may be referred 
 to as exhibiting results precisely similar to the 
 foregoing, and amongst these may be instanced 
 the Society of " Friends" or " Quakers," as they 
 were at first derisively, though now familiarly 
 called. This sect is believed to be the most 
 opulent, in proportion to its numbers, of all the 
 bodies of dissenters. It keeps its own poor in 
 so admirable a manner, that a destitute, or even 
 apparently poor Quaker is not to be seen any- 
 where. In the points of morality and sobriety, 
 the Society of Friends is perhaps unecjualled by 
 any other religious body ; consequently, the mem- 
 bers of this wealthy and exemplary sect almost 
 universally marry, and marry early. Yet not 
 having been aided in modern times by con- 
 versions to their body from any other divisions 
 of Christians to any great extent, it is believed 
 they have decreased during the last century. 
 They do not, as far as the author's inquiries have 
 gone, possess any means of ascertaining their 
 exact numbers at different periods, but this is 
 their impression ; some may deny or doubt the 
 decrease, but none argue for any known or 
 sensible increase of their numbers within memory. 
 Those who marry out of tlie Society are indeed 
 expelled, at least, until the stranger's partner 
 
OF POPULATION. 59 
 
 conform to the rules of their hody ; but tlie loss 
 from such expulsions, and from expulsions for 
 other reasons, is quite insuflicicnt to account for 
 the non-increase of the sect. Free from intem- 
 perance of any sort, they afi'ord one ol' the most 
 striking proofs of the truth of the rule, that 
 with generous and solid living superHuity of 
 numbers is not to be dreaded. 
 
 Similar results are observed to occur with the 
 Slave Population of the North American United 
 States. It is there observed that the slaves in- 
 crease, whilst the emancipated negioes decrease 
 and gradually decay. The first arc liard-worked 
 and only moderately fed ; the second, destitute of 
 taste for the most common luxuries, or even 
 comforts of European or civihsed life, are en- 
 abled, by a little labour, to indulge to the utter- 
 most in the most vulgar sensualities of our 
 nature, and hence the decay of this class wliicli 
 the American writers describe. 
 
 Having so far elucidated tlic law of decrease in 
 such bodies of men as are possessed of means to 
 continue that mode of living which tends to 
 j)roduce the plethoric .slalo, it will be expected 
 that some illustrations of the opposite tendency, 
 the law of rapid increase, whicii exists amongst 
 communities ill-fed and subjected to those priva- 
 
60 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 tions which superinduce the law of decrease, or 
 deplethoric state, should be given. 
 
 This is a much less easy task. Bodies of men 
 enjoying ample means are necessarily not very 
 extensive, and are, in a manner, insulated and 
 marked out in society. The poor are scattered 
 over the community, and to their circumstances, 
 and to the effects of these circumstances on their 
 fecundity, general references are much more easy 
 than particular instances. Such references have 
 already been given. The Scottish Highlands, and 
 all Ireland, aiford striking proofs of this truth. 
 The numbers of children in maritime villages, 
 where fish is the principal food, have been 
 adverted to by political economists, and at- 
 tempted to be explained upon their principles — 
 the cheapness and plenty of fish being set down 
 for the causes. No people, however, are poorer 
 than the inhabitants of fishing villages, and it 
 would be easy to prove that they have by no 
 means a constant plenty even of the edible in 
 which they deal. It is poverty, and not plenty, 
 that stimulates their growth. The surprise of 
 travellers, who have been accustomed to thinly- 
 peopled countries, such as Russia and most of 
 her tributary pastoral kingdoms, at the swarms 
 of children in all the poorer parts of our cities 
 
OF POPULATION. Gl 
 
 and towns, is another strikinp; j^roof of lliis. 
 Dr. Hamel, who travelled over England at the 
 expense of the Russian Government, but who 
 was, however, a German by birth, stronii;ly ex- 
 j)ressed his astonishment at the difference, for 
 which he could not account. The history of the 
 world, however, is not without insulated instances 
 of the truth of this law of increase. The most 
 extraordinary and striking on record is, perhaps, 
 to be found in the History of the Mutineer 
 Colony, on the desolate island of Pitcairn, in the 
 Pacific Ocean, about fifty years ago. This 
 singular colony arose out of the nuitiny against 
 Captain Bligh, the commander of the Bounty, 
 on what was called the Bread Fruit Tree expedi- 
 tion. The ringleader of the mutineers, Fletcher 
 Christian, seems to have settled u)H)n Pitcairn's 
 Island, after leaving most of his companions at 
 the Island of Otaheite, about the year 1790. 
 The first account of the existence of the colony 
 is afforded by Lieutenant Shillibeer, of the Biiton, 
 who was there about the year Is 11. Christian 
 seems to have landed on the island with nine 
 Europeans, six men of Otaheite, and eleven 
 Otaheitan women. One of the women, Chris- 
 tian's wife, died soon after their arrival, and 
 Christian having appropriated to himself the wile 
 
62 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 of one of the Otaheitans, was shot by him in re- 
 venge, together with two other Enghshmen. 
 This led to the murder of all the Otaheitan 
 males, so that the colony was at once reduced to 
 sixteen adult persons in all, that is to say, six 
 male Europeans and ten Otaheitan females. 
 This number was afterwards lessened to fifteen 
 adults by the fall of one of the men from a cliff. 
 When visited by Shillibeer, they had increased 
 .their numbers to forty-eight, and this was at 
 most only twenty-four years after their reaching 
 the island. During this period, then, they had 
 tripled their population, and subsequent accounts 
 seem to confirm the fact of this rapid increase 
 having continued, it having been ascertained 
 recently that the numbers upon the island had 
 reached the extraordinary height of one hundred 
 and eighty persons. Adams, one of the muti- 
 neers, was still living, at the age of eighty. 
 Thus, in about forty years, or a little more, this 
 extraordinary colony seems to have decupled its 
 population — a rapidity of increase probably hardly 
 paralleled in the annals of the world. Let us 
 now inquire into their mode of living, and in 
 that mode will be found the true solution of this 
 extraordinary fecundity. The Island of Pitcairn, 
 when they landed upon it, seems to have been 
 
OF POPULATION. G3 
 
 almost devoid of tlic means of siistainina; lite, 
 being destitute of trees bearing edible fruit, and 
 of succulent vegetables. " Tbe Bread Fruit and 
 Cocoa-nut trees (says Lieutenant Shillibeer,) were 
 brought with them in the Bounty, and have since 
 been reared with great success." Their agricul- 
 ture he describes as being confined to the culli- 
 vation of the yam, which they had brought to 
 extraorcJinani perfection. Of grain thev were 
 altogether destitute. They had some poultry, 
 and the few goats and pigs on the island were 
 neglected, and running wild in the woods. 
 Beyond the cultivation of the yam, the principal 
 business of these colonists is the pursuit oi fish, 
 with which the coast abounds. It is, however, 
 every way bounded with rocks, so that they are at 
 all times obliged to carry their little boats to the 
 village. Their light clothing was made from the 
 bark of a tree. Here, then, we have a bird's-eye 
 view of a mode of living singulaily adai)ted to 
 fecundity forced upon a limited po})ulation, and 
 its effects. Until their fruit trees grew, which 
 w^ould not be for some years, fish, yams, and the 
 eggs of their few poultry, and of wild birds, nuist 
 have been their sole subsistence. This probably, 
 together with the heat of the climate, was the 
 foundation of the taste for the species of diet 
 
64 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 which has prevailed. There were, it is stated, a 
 few wild rahhits on the island, but they had not 
 domesticated any. 
 
 Thus, then, these islanders afford a proof at how 
 fearful a rate population will increase amongst a 
 people obtaining their food only by constant 
 exertion, that food being nearly altogether fish 
 and vegetables, and the people being destitute en- 
 tirely of grain of any sort, and also of the grape, 
 and consequently ignorant of the pernicious habit 
 of indulging excessively in the use of fermented 
 or distilled liquors. To account for the growth 
 of this colony in any other way, seems to the 
 author to be out of the question. To attribute 
 it to abundant food seems perfectly absurd ; for 
 this is to assert that these poor people, whose ! 
 only subsistence must frequently have been the i 
 yam, and whose only drink is water, or the milk > 
 of the cocoa-nut, lived more luxuriously, or ; 
 better, not only than the free burgesses of New- ; 
 castle J but also than the nobility of Venice and ; 
 England ! or the magnates of Geneva ! To find f 
 anything resembling it, we must resort to com- ' 
 munities living in a manner somewhat similar, s 
 On the coasts of Ireland, and amongst the { 
 Highlanders of Scotland, there can be no doubt , 
 that particular spots might be found where the i 
 
OF poprr.ATiox. b;» 
 
 increase of llie people, und llio nunibi-i' ol' 
 children conijiared to the adults, would show a 
 very high ratio. A ))art of the result at Pit- 
 cairn's Island, however, uius^t he douhtlcs-, 
 attributed to the remote situation and gieat 
 salubrity of the climate and of the place, wliich 
 seems to have given to the inhabitants an innnu- 
 nity from those infectious and epidemic diseases 
 to which the poor of other counti-ies are so pecu- 
 liarly and fatally liable. It must also be remem- 
 bered that the colonists of Pitcairn's Island were 
 never actually thinned by direct famine, as the 
 thickly peopled countries always are ; a truth to 
 w^hich the annals of China, Hindostan, Ireland, 
 and the Scotch Islands bear horrible testimony. 
 Another less well-authenticated instance of in- 
 crease, under somewhat similar circumstances, 
 is to be found in the historical tradition of the 
 Catheran, Sawney, or Donald Bane or Bean, 
 This man is recorded to have lived about the yeai' 
 1600, in the reign of James the Sixth, of Scot- 
 land (our James the First), on the coast of 
 Gallow^ay. Immured, for the sake of conceal- 
 ment, in an immense cavern, this man is suj)- 
 posed to have carried on the trade of freebooter 
 for a series of twenty-five years ; and (if the 
 legends as to his Ufe are to be believed) to have 
 lived, in some part, upon the flesh of his murdered 
 
 F 
 
66 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 victims. That he and his famih' should, atlimes, 
 have been driven by famine to such a resource 
 is not incredible ; but that he should have pre- 
 ferred this mode of sustenance is clearly a feature 
 of the story which the atrocity of the entire 
 circumstances would recommend to popular 
 credulity. The facts seem to be, that, after 
 living- this sort of life for a full quarter of a 
 century, this wretch and his family were cap- 
 tured and put to death at Edinburg-h ; when, 
 it should seem, that the incestuous progeny of 
 the atrocious couple were eight sons and six 
 daughters, who again had produced eighteen 
 grandsons and fourteen grand-daughters, the 
 whole family being forty -eight, or twenty-seven 
 males and twenty-one females ! The data of 
 their numbers, and their general mode of life, 
 are probably quite correct. The results are the 
 same as those of the colony at Pitcairn's Island ; 
 but it is difficult to believe that in tivenfy-fve 
 years one couple could have been the origin of 
 such a multitude. The probability is, that a 
 somewhat longer time than twenty-five years 
 had elapsed before their capture. The result, 
 however, is extraordinary. 
 
 With these examples the author must conclude 
 this chapter. It would not be difficult to add to 
 the number of such exemplifications. Enough, 
 
OF POPULATION. C7 
 
 hoAvever, has probably been (lone lo j)ro\'e, to llie 
 satisfaction of the reader, tlie clear existence of 
 the law of increase and of decrease amongst 
 limited bodies of men, Avhcn under certain cir- 
 cumstances. It- seems evident that where men 
 are living; in a state of ease and plenty, their ten- 
 dency certainly is 710^ to keep up their numbers, 
 but the contrary. Thus we see that the nobility 
 and very wealthy and highly privileg;ed classes of 
 all nations are in a continual state of decay ; 
 that such have been the facts with the En^^lish 
 nobility and the English baronets — that such 
 has been the case with the Venetian nobi- 
 hty ; and again, that such was the case with 
 the ancient Roman nobility. Going a little lower, 
 we see the same rapid decay amongst the rich 
 Swiss bourgeoisie, who are a sort of nobility. 
 Going a little lower than that, we find the same 
 tendency to a failure of the line amongst the 
 wealthy free burgesses of the English boroughs. 
 This, however, is in a mitigated degree ; and 
 in the less wealthy boroughs, we perceive the de- 
 creasing tendency lessening, and almost at a stay. 
 Turning to the other side of the question, and 
 contemplating the few examples attainable of 
 limited bodies of men subjected to privation, we 
 see the tendency to rapid increase most strikingly 
 f2 
 
C8 THE TRUF LAW 
 
 developed. In Pitcairn'^ Island we discover, 
 amongst the colony of Adams and his mutineer 
 companions, proofs of a stride in population far 
 exceeding- the most extravagant ideas of the most 
 extravagant advocates for a reduplicating geo- 
 metrical ratio. But then we find this accompa- 
 nied with the absence of solid food, and with 
 constant toil and exposure ^to the open air, and 
 the vicissitudes of the climate. In the strange 
 story of Donald Bean, the same results are de- 
 veloped, living amidst all the vicissitudes of an 
 outlaw, often in total want of food, and probably 
 never well supplied, the increase of these wretch- 
 ed beings seems to have been extraordinary, and 
 certainly to be accounted for in the same manner 
 as that of Adams' colony. 
 
 It will be the business of the next chapter 
 to apply the same method of inquiry to larger 
 bodies of men ; to try to evolve the same 
 results from the statistics of nations ; and to 
 demonstrate that, if put into a certain state, a 
 whole people may exhibit the same results as a 
 more limited body exhibits, and that depletion 
 and low diet, whether amongst nations or fami- 
 lies, is followed by an overabundant fecundity ; 
 whilst, on the other hand, luxury, solid living, 
 and repletion, are the sure drag and stay to the 
 onward progress of population. 
 
OF POPULATION. fiO 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE LAW OF INXREASE AND DECREASE. AS EXEMPLIFIED 
 AMONGST NATIONS. 
 
 The author would now draw attention to the 
 statistical facts as to such nations of the i;lohe 
 as are at all accurately known, with the view of 
 inquiring how these facts bear out the foregoing 
 theory — they will, lie believes, be found to do so 
 with wonderful accuracy. It will be found, on 
 examination, that such countries as are over- 
 peopled are exclusively aLrricultural, and dependent 
 upon vegetable food. That, on the contrary, the 
 pastoral countries, where animal food and milk 
 are the support of the people, their numbers are 
 alwavs low. In countries where the two modes 
 prevail the population is a medium as to number 
 between the two extremes. The cultivation of 
 the vine and olive, and the use of their rich pro- 
 
70 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 ducts as ordinary articles of diet, will also alwa^^s 
 be found to be connected with a somewhat mode- 
 rate population. Such are the general results 
 wdiich are to be deduced from the following de- 
 tails to w hich the author now proceeds. 
 
 The statistics of the Russian empire, including 
 as it does various races of people living in climates 
 the most different, upon soils the most opposite 
 in quality,, and all under one government, foreign 
 to each other as they are in habits, customs, 
 modes of life and language, afford perhaps the 
 most striking and curious exemplification of the 
 effects upon population caused by different modes 
 of living. The immense area of the Russian 
 empire — that is to say, all its Asiatic, and a large 
 portion of its European dominions — is inhabited 
 by a people the most truly pastoral of any existing 
 in the world. Their wealth is cattle. Their 
 exports are the tallowy hides, and horns. Their 
 food is the flesh. Agriculture, as a means of 
 subsistence, is of no value. Their summer is brief 
 and sudden — it grazes and it fodders their herds 
 of cattle, but beyond this is nothing. Vegetable 
 ahment is a mere fraction in the food of the 
 population — and w^hat bread is in countries less 
 pastoral, beef is to the Russian boor and his 
 scarcely more cultivated master. It is impossible 
 
OF POPULATION. 71 
 
 that the fact should have been otherwise. Wliere 
 the cattle are slaughtered for the sake of the 
 tallow and hides, the Hesh must, as a matter ol 
 course, be the food of the people. It is so plenti- 
 ful as to be almost valueless. In the capital of 
 St. Petersburgh even, excellent beef is always to 
 be had at about the price of an Enghsli penny 
 per lb. Three halfpence per lb. is a rare price to 
 anybody, and under any circumstances ; and yet 
 the herds of cattle which supply the capital are 
 driven from very great distances. Throughout 
 not only the capital towns, but the whole empire, 
 frozen game of all descriptions is plentiful in the 
 extreme ; and the rich and oily flesh of the salmon 
 and the sturgeon, pickled or salted, form an in- 
 gredient of this rich dietary from which also the 
 less delicate oil of the whale and seal are by no 
 means excluded, though not prominently brought 
 forward. The kingdom of Poland, however, and 
 the Russian provinces bordering on Russian 
 Poland, are essentially corn countries, and hence 
 the food of their people is totally and altogether 
 different. Wheat, rye, and barley arc the staple 
 commodities of these countries : they are conse- 
 quently the principal aliment of the inhabitants. 
 Thus the food of the people of Russian Poland, 
 Courland, &c., is the exact opposite of that ol 
 
72 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the other inhabitants of the immense territories 
 of the Czars; and from these opposite States, 
 effects the most opposite have been produced. 
 The consequence has been, that the population 
 of the corn countries, compared with the rest, has 
 been as five to one ! Nor have pohtical circum- 
 stances in the shghtest degree interfered to bring 
 about these results, but the contrary. The serfs 
 being the most valuable part of the stock of an 
 estate, the Russian landlord, so far from wishing 
 to clear his lands, counts up his boors as he does 
 his cattle, by the head, wishing both to increase 
 and multiply ; and it is well known to all who 
 know Russia, that the conscriptions for the army 
 are felt to be more grievous when directed towards 
 the two-legged, rather than the four-legged inha- 
 bitants of" the lordship. Bearing, then, all these 
 circumstances in mind, let us look at the broad 
 facts, as stated in " M. Hassel's Tables of the 
 Population of Russia," as represented by Malte 
 Brun. These tables are beyond a doubt sub- 
 stantially correct. They were compiled and pub- 
 lished under the sanction and supervision of the i 
 Russian Government, and if error there be, the "^ 
 side of paucity of numbers is not that on which 
 the error was likely to be made. In using these 
 tables, it must be premised that the Russian 
 
OF POPULATION, 
 
 squarr mile of M. Ilasscl is equal to ivrniy 
 English square miles, or rather more than iirn 
 English square leagues. 
 
 RUSSIA. 
 
 Grand Divisions. Square miles 
 
 j 
 
 Population, 
 
 Number to a 
 square mile. 
 
 Ri^.-iAN E.MriRF. . . j 367,491 
 
 (divided into 1 
 European Asia .... 72,861 
 Kingdom of Poland . . 2,203 
 Asiatic Russia .... 1 268,331) 
 American Russia . . . ' 24,000 
 
 59,263,700 
 
 44.118,600 
 
 3,541,900 
 
 11,663,200 
 
 50,000 
 
 161 
 
 606 
 1,544 
 43* 
 21 
 
 Here, then; taking the grand divisions alone 
 into view, it results that, in the kingdom of 
 Poland, where corn rather than animal food is 
 the aliment of the people, but at the same time 
 with an abundance of it, the numbers upon a 
 Russian square mile are, uj^on the average, 
 1,544 individuals, or nearly tc7i times the average 
 to the square mile, including the whole empire. 
 If more minute divisions arc taken, similar 
 results are exhibited. In the Ducliy of Cour- 
 land and in Western Russia, for instance, the 
 results are as follow : — These countries border 
 upon Poland, and arc similarly circumstanced, 
 being essentially corn countries, in order to 
 show that this population i*> spread ecpially ovTr 
 
74 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the surface of these countries, and not caused 
 by masses of people collected by local circum- 
 stances into large towns, the population of each 
 government, as stated in the Russian statistical 
 tables, is given. Thus, there is no room for 
 doubt as to the population being the natural 
 population of these countries. 
 
 Division. 
 
 Squai-e miles 
 in each. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Persons to a 
 square mile. 
 
 COURLAND 
 
 509 
 
 581,300 
 
 1,142 
 
 Western Russia . 
 
 7,537 
 
 8,488,900 
 
 1,125 
 
 (including) 
 
 
 
 
 Government ofWilna . . 
 
 1,081 
 
 1,357,400 
 
 1,255 
 
 . . Grodno 
 
 326 
 
 868.100 
 
 1.619 
 
 
 Bivlystock 
 
 158 
 
 224,600 
 
 1,422 
 
 
 Witejisk . 
 
 668 
 
 934,900 
 
 1,398 
 
 
 Mohileu . 
 
 918 
 
 985,400 
 
 1,073 
 
 
 Minsk . . 
 
 1,832 
 
 1,160,100 
 
 633 
 
 
 Volhynia . 
 
 1,394 
 
 1,496,300 
 
 1,072 
 
 
 PodoUa . 
 
 948 
 
 1,462,190 
 
 1,542 
 
 Such are the results of a comparison of the 
 population calculated upon the square Russian 
 mile, as afforded by the corn-growing countries 
 of the Russian empire. With the single excep- 
 tion of the government of IVIinsk, the peopling 
 of each district is somewhere between (1,000) 
 one thousand and (1,600) sixteen hundred to the 
 Russian square mile. If these districts be so 
 compared to the most fertile, pastoral, or cattle- 
 
OF POPULATION 
 
 75 
 
 feeding districts of tiie Muscovite dominion, tlie 
 result will be found to be very striking. In 
 short, it will be found that the regions most 
 fertile in cattle, or, in other words, animal food, 
 are the least so in men. 
 
 Let us take, for example, the kingdoms of 
 Astrakhan and of Kasan. They are amongst 
 the finest pastoral provinces of Russia, and from 
 the last (Kasan) comes a considerable portion of 
 the tallow exported by the Russians. It is of 
 fine quality throughout, though perhaps less 
 skilfully dealt wdth than the tallow^ from the 
 Southern provinces of the empire, properly so 
 called. This is a proof, as far as it goes, that 
 the cattle are not only completely, but slowly fat- 
 tened, and that no exigencies of the population 
 render it necessary to bring them prematurely 
 to market, or to slaughter them when in imper- 
 fect condition. Astrakhan is less ricli. 
 
 Names of divisions. 
 
 Square miles 
 in each. 
 
 Population. 
 
 People to each 
 mile. 
 
 Kingdom of Kasa.v 
 
 (including) 
 Government of Kasan . . 
 
 . . Vialka . . 
 
 . . Perm . . 
 
 . . Simbrisk . 
 
 . . Pensa . . 
 
 11,521 
 
 2,221 
 
 5,996 
 
 1,402 
 
 111 
 
 5,746,250" 
 
 1,028,150 
 1,293,800 
 1,269,900 
 1,119,J00 
 1,035,000 
 
 498 
 
 915 
 582 
 212 
 798 
 1,331 
 
76 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Names of divibions. 
 
 Kingdom or Astrakhan 
 
 (including) 
 Government of Astraklian 
 . . Sawtow . 
 
 . . Orenburgh 
 
 ""r,'';"", po.'"!"-- 
 
 13,823 
 
 3,899 
 4,297 
 5,626 
 
 2,598,700 
 
 222,700 
 1,333,500 
 1,043,500 
 
 People to each 
 mile. 
 
 118 
 
 57 
 310 
 185 
 
 Such are the states of populousness of the 
 districts or kingdoms of Kasan and Astrakhan — 
 two countries both fertile and pastoral in a 
 great degree. 
 
 The most decidedly pastoral districts of the 
 Russian empire are, however, those comprised in 
 the fine region emphatically called Southern 
 Russia. 
 
 Upon these immense and beautiful plains, or 
 undulating tracts, are the countless herds of 
 cattle reared and fed from which is derived the 
 greater portion of the tallow and skins which 
 form the grand articles of export from the Russian 
 empire. From these distant grazing lands a 
 constant driving of herds of cattle goes on, and 
 the expense of this driving fixes principally the 
 value and price of the tallow. Hence, at high 
 prices, it has been found that there is hardly a 
 limit to the possible supply. The cattle are 
 driven so slowly as to be fattened, and kept fat, 
 
OF ropuLATiox. 7';' 
 
 as tliey move on towards the i)lace of >lau-htor, 
 and some ol' the nobles over whose estates tliey 
 pass, derive hirge revenues fioni this source 
 alone. Some years ago Count Orloff received 
 annually 30,000 roubles in tolls oi'this sort iVom 
 a single estate— being upon 120,000 head of 
 cattle at the rate of 25 copeaks per head. The 
 ultimate destination of these herds is the town 
 of Columna, or Kolumna, which is one immense 
 slaughter-shop, the greatest in all Russia. Thence 
 the tallow is brought to the coast for shipment. 
 Let us now look at the population of Southern 
 Russia, and also at the Slobodcs of the Ukraine, 
 ■which also help to produce these countless herds. 
 It is as follows : — 
 
 Xame of District. 
 
 Square Russian 
 milex. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Numbers to a 
 mile. 
 
 Southern Ri'ssia, . . 
 (iiu-luding) 
 
 Government of Ichatiiinoslaw. 
 . . Kersou 
 . . Taurida 
 . . Don Cossarkf 
 
 Slobodcs of Ukraine . 
 
 8772 
 
 1417 
 1200 
 lOiO 
 3011 
 1118 
 
 2,310,000 
 
 820,100 
 459,400 
 340,200 
 309,800 
 914,400 
 
 265 
 
 583 
 380 
 211 
 102 
 817 
 
 Thus, in the most pastoral provinces, where 
 the cattle are the sole produce, and the sole food 
 
78 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 almost of the people, the numbers are lowest. 
 In short, in Southern Russia, the pastoral dis- 
 trict, the population to the square mile is not 
 one-sixth that of the corn country, Poland. 
 
 With this state of population as existing 
 throughout these immense pastoral districts, let 
 us contrast the state of countries equally exten- 
 sive, but pursuing a mode of life precisely 
 opposite to that of the Russian serfs. 
 
 The countries of China, Japan, and Hindostan 
 present perhaps the most striking example of the 
 the effects of a diet, nearly altogether vegetable, 
 upon a people. In the first of these countries 
 the people seem to have spontaneously for ages 
 given the preference to agriculture, and neglected 
 the rearing of animal food, until the density of 
 the population has rendered it no longer practi- 
 cable if a change were contemplated. In Japan 
 the government itself interferes, and compels its 
 people to cultivate vegetable rather than rear 
 animal food. In Hindostan, the Brahminical 
 religion interferes to prevent the shedding of the 
 blood of animals. Hence in China, horned cattle 
 and sheep are almost unknow^n, and in Japan 
 totally so. In British India flesh -meat is only 
 eaten by the European and Mahometan part of 
 
OF POPULATION. / [) 
 
 the population. If we loolc at the statistical 
 details ol' these countries, we shall find a redun- 
 dancy of population to an enormous extent. 
 With regard to the two first mentioned, we are 
 certainly without those minute and highly ac- 
 curate details which we possess as to Russia and 
 some other countries. But enough is known to 
 shew the certainty that such is the truth ; and 
 the accounts of the population of British India 
 fully bear out the more general statements as to 
 the numbers inhabiting the two first mentioned. 
 
 The area of China Proper, is in round num- 
 bers one million two hundred and ninety-eight 
 thousand square miles, or one hundred and forty- 
 five square leagues — as to its precise popu- 
 lation there is certainly some dispute. It was 
 estimated by Father Allerstein in 1 743, and again 
 by Lord Macartney in 1795, upon the testimony 
 of the Chinese authorities. Roth of these esti- 
 mates were sanctioned by men who had intimate 
 or personal knowledge of the country in question ; 
 both, however, have been disputed. Let us first 
 take the estimates themselves, and then examine 
 the grounds of objection : - 
 
80 
 
 THE TRUF. LAW 
 
 POPULATION OF CHINA. 
 
 Provinces. 
 
 Fongtain 
 
 Petchili 
 
 Kiangnan . . . . . 
 
 Kiangsi 
 
 Tchekiang 
 
 Foxikien 
 
 Hooquang 
 
 Shanton 
 
 Honan 
 
 Chansi 
 
 Chinese division Singan 
 
 Kansoo 
 
 Sc-tdiooen .... 
 Koo-ang-Tong . . . 
 Koo-ang-Si .... 
 Yoonan ..... 
 Koeicheoo. . . . . 
 
 AUerstein, 17-J3, 
 
 068,852 
 
 15,222,940 
 
 45,922,439 
 
 11,000,004 
 
 15,429,090 
 
 8,003,671 
 
 10,910,423 
 
 25,180,734 
 
 10,332,507 
 
 9,768,189 
 
 7,287,443 
 
 7,412,014 
 
 2,782,976 
 
 0,782,975 
 
 3,947,414 
 
 2,078,892 
 
 3,402,722 
 
 Marartney, 1795. 
 
 38,000,000 
 
 32,000,000 
 19,000,000 
 21,000,000 
 15,000,000 
 27,000,001) 
 24,000,000 
 25,000,000 
 27,000,000 
 18,000,000 
 12,000,000 
 27,000,000 
 21,000,000 
 10,000,000 
 8,000,000 
 9,000,000 
 
 Total 
 
 198,213,713 
 
 333,000,000 
 
 These estimates are objected to by M. Malte 
 Brun, who seems eager to depreciate the Chinese 
 as a nation. He is one of those writers who 
 seem to be thoroughly possessed with the 
 notion that population is one of the tests of 
 prosperity and industry, and he accordingly taxes 
 his ingenuity to bring together objections to the 
 probability of the accounts of the dense popula- 
 tion of these regions. His objections are, first, 
 that there are something like repetitions of the 
 
 i 
 
OF POPULATION'. 
 
 81 
 
 names of the provinces, as given by Macartney 
 and Allerstein : secondly, that the (Usprojiortion 
 between the two as to numbers is incredible : 
 lastly, that in the time of the Emperor Kienlong, 
 the peasants liable to tribute were only twentv- 
 five millions. It is curious enough that in the 
 table giving the proportion of tax paid by each 
 province, the same names exactly are given a^ 
 those in Macartney and Allerstein's population 
 tables. The result is as follows : — 
 
 Number of Peasants sub- 
 ject to the Tribute. 
 
 Tribute in Wieat in 
 Chinese bushels. 
 
 Tribute of Silver in 
 hand. 
 
 25,165,390 
 
 0,396,286 
 
 28,300,800 
 
 
 Bushel, 12,070 Cubic 
 Inches, French. 
 
 Lana, 709 Dutch A». 
 
 He also gives the ancient statements as 
 to population, which are certainly far below 
 the modern statements. It is to be doubted, 
 however, if these statements included the whole 
 of what is mapped as modern China Proper. 
 The ancient statements are as follow, and they 
 exhibit, if at all accurate, some remarkable fluc- 
 tuations in the rates of fecund it i/. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Census in the First Century 
 A.D. 740, Tang Dynasty . 
 A.D. 1393, Hong Yoo . . 
 A.D. 1491, Hiao Tsoug. . 
 A.D. 1578, Van Lie. . . 
 
 12,233,062 
 8,412,800 
 
 16,052,800 
 9,113,446 
 
 10,621,436 
 
 Mouths. 
 
 59,594,978 
 48,143,600 
 60,545,812 
 53,281,158 
 00,692,856 
 
 The author gives the above, not as bearing 
 much upon the question of the present numbers 
 of the Chinese nation, but as exhibiting remark- 
 able fluctuations of population, resulting alto- 
 gether from a change of fecundity amongst the 
 same peo])le. The first census, on comparison 
 of the mouths to the families, gives not quite j^'y^ 
 to each family. In the year 740 the fecundity 
 has increased to six the average family ; in 1393 
 the population has doubled, but from some cause 
 a decrease takes place in the rate of fecundity, 
 and the average family is under four ; in 1491 
 the people are again decreased nearly a half, but 
 the average family is nearly six persons ; in 1 578 
 the average family is six, and population in- 
 creasing. To what these changes of fecundity 
 ai'e owing, it would now be difficult to trace ; but 
 of the changes having taken place, there seems 
 to be fair evidence. 
 
OF popri.ATio\. 83 
 
 Let us return, however, to the objections ol' 
 M. Malte Brun. It seems clear enough that no 
 faitli in the accuracy of Lord Macartney's ac- 
 count can be entertained, the Mandarins havins; 
 palpably arranged the numbers so as to g;ive 
 333,000,000. But it does not at all follow that 
 the tmth does not lie between this account and 
 that of Father AUerstein in 1 743. So far is the 
 result of the tribute table from weakening 
 Allerstein's account, that it confirms it. It is 
 well known that if those capable of bearing arms 
 in a country be selected, they Avill be found to 
 amount only to about a sixth part of the people, 
 but the persons or peasants liable to pay this tax 
 were clearly only a portion of the adult male 
 po])ulation. If any females were liable they must 
 have been lew in number, there being few unmar- 
 ried females in China ; and of the adult males, all 
 the privileged orders, all the very ])oor, all the 
 soldiery, all the seamen, all the other employes 
 of government, and all those who in any way 
 evaded the tribute, must probably be deducted. 
 If then, as is not unlikely, the persons subject 
 to, and paying this tribute, confined as it was to 
 wheat and silver, were not more than a seventh 
 or eicjhth j)art of the entire comnuuiity, Aller- 
 stein's account is confirmed by the result. From 
 G 2 
 
84 THE TRUF. LAW 
 
 1743, the date of Allerstein's calculation, to 
 1 795, that of Lord Macartney's, is a period of half 
 a century. What improbability is there then, 
 in the supposition that during this period the 
 population of this densely peopled region, as 
 it is known to be, may not have reached 
 250,000,000 or 280,000,000 of persons ? Taking 
 the area at 145,000 square leagues, this would 
 give 1724 persons in the first case, and 1931 in 
 the second case, to each league ; a result the 
 reverse of improbable, when Ireland and some of 
 the poorer European countries are looked at, 
 where the food of the inhabitants is vegetable 
 for the most part, as in China. Throughout the 
 wdiole of the Celestial Empire this is certainly 
 the fact. Rice is the principal aliment, and tea 
 or water the beverage of the people. There are 
 no fermented liquors, and fewer animals of any 
 sort than in any other country, the Japanese 
 Islands perhaps excepted. On the coasts fish is 
 abundant, as weW as in the great rivers, upon 
 which last two millions of people are believed to 
 pass their lives in crafts of various kinds. The 
 w^hole interior is known to be in a high state of 
 cultivation, and early and universal marriages are 
 enjoined by the State. The density of the popu- 
 lation is admitted bv all travellers ; and it has 
 
OF rorrjATION* N.l 
 
 long been known that in (lima, p\ crvthiivj; that 
 that admits ol it is ukuIc available lor (bod, and 
 that rats and other vermin are eagerly eaten 
 by the natives. If to this is added the mortahty 
 and exposure of children, which since Iword 
 Macartney's embassy is undoubted, we liave 
 every reason to believe that his general view of 
 the immense extent of Chinese population accords 
 with truth, though the folly of the Mandarins 
 has thrown discredit upon their statements. 
 Under any view, if China, where there is no 
 animal food, be contrasted with Russia, where 
 there is little else, it is impossible not to he 
 struck with the difference of the two countries in 
 this particular, similar as they are in some other 
 essential points. In the Empire of Japan we 
 find similar causes producing similar effects. In 
 these Islands agriculture, to the total exclusion 
 of pasturage, is enjoined by law, and the con:;e- 
 quence is a total w^ant of animal food, as well as 
 of the animals which might afford it. Thunberg 
 states, that in his time there were proliably more 
 horses in a province of Sweden than in all the 
 Japanese Empire. Of tlie larger cattle tliere are 
 none, and goats and sheep are totally l)anishcd. 
 Cotton and silk supply the place of wool. There 
 are a few swine in the vicinity of Nangasacki, 
 and superstition has saved the lives of a few 
 
86 THE' TRUE LAW 
 
 dogs. Since the expulsion of the missionaries 
 in 1630, the jealousy of the Japanese has ex- 
 cluded the country almost from the knowledge of 
 Europeans. It is quite certain, however, that the 
 aliment of the people is vegetable, and the popula- 
 tion is dense in the extreme for a country so 
 mountainous and the reverse of fertile. Golownin, 
 a Russian naval officer, who with his crew was 
 imprisoned there in 1811, 1812, and 1813, bears 
 general testimony to the immense population of 
 such places as he saw during his detention ; his 
 evidence as to diet is also decisive. The food he 
 partook of was generally rice cooked in different 
 ways, soup composed generally of radishes with 
 wild herbs and seasonings, salted or fresh fish, 
 and fruit. The beverage was water, tea, or a 
 small beer, made by fermenting rice called sagi. 
 He describes the Japanese as accounting not only 
 all sorts of fish, but all marine vegetables, as 
 eatable. The fish on the coasts seem to be very 
 plentiful, and the modes of taking them wonder- 
 fully successful. His detention lasted upwards 
 of two years ; during that time he tasted of three 
 or four fowls, eggs occasionally, and as a treat 
 on his release, of ducks, geese, and game ; but of 
 anything like butcher's meat there was a total 
 absence. The Dutch writers confirm these 
 accounts. They describe the soil as sterile, but 
 
OF POI'ULATIOX. ft? 
 
 cultivated with prodic;iou>^ care even hip;h up 
 the mountains. All accounts concur in describ- 
 ing the population of the habitable parts as dense 
 in the extreme. The capital city, Jeddo, is 
 believed to be the largest in the world, and 
 to contain 1,680,000 inhabitants. The armies 
 maintained by the Keebo, or military dictator, 
 and the federal tributary Princes, are said to 
 amount to 468,000 infantry and 53,000 cavalry, 
 for which purpose alone horses are bred by the 
 jijovernment. They have little or no marine, 
 and now are nearly without foreign trade. The 
 most striking proof, however, of the " prodigious 
 population " of these islands, is to be found m 
 the amount of the revenue. This is stated by 
 Varencies, a well-informed Dutch author, at the 
 enormous sum of iivo Ihoumnd eight hundred and 
 thirty-four Dutch tons of gold, which, valuing 
 the ton at ten thousand pounds, will be upwards 
 of twenty millions sterling. And this (says M. 
 Malte Bmn) is without reckoning the provinces and 
 towns which depend innnediately on tlie Emperor. 
 It is impossible to conceive that sums so 
 enormous should be levied diicclly irom a 
 people destitute of ioreign couuncrcc, and in- 
 habiting a country not exuberantly jich, unless 
 that people were very numerous. The aiea 
 of the empire is estimated to be 266,000 
 
88 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 square miles English, or 29,600 square leagues. 
 MalteBrun, who admits its " prodigious" density, 
 (as is usual with him in speaking of these regions) 
 under-rates the amount of population, which he 
 calls thirty millions. It is believed, however, to 
 be about forty-five miUions, which gives in round • 
 numbers 1,500 persons to the square league; a * 
 wonderful proportion, when it is considered that 
 these islands consist mostly of mountains ; that 
 the soil is comparatively sterile, as compared with 
 continental Asia, and the climate inclement, the 
 highest peaks being covered with snow all the 
 year. 
 
 Many readers will, perhaps, hesitate as to 
 what reliance should be placed upon the fore- 
 going statements, relating as they do to regions 
 as to which our statistical knowledge is con- 
 fessedly very defective, and only general. Nor 
 would such hesitation be improper, were it not 
 luckily the case that ample and complete cor- 
 roboration is at hand in the statistics of regions 
 very similar in the habits of their inhabitants, 
 and as to which our knowledge is perfect and 
 undoubted. The regions in question are the 
 British territories in India, and those of the 
 allies and tributaries of the British Govern- 
 ment, together with the few independent States, 
 forming altogether the immense territory of 
 
OF rOrULATION. S!) 
 
 Hindo=>tan. Ol' the larger portion ol tlic tiaiives 
 of these regions, it is notorious that their reh- 
 gion, which is Bralmiinical, forbids the use of 
 animal food. The lieat of the climate conspires 
 with their superstition to prohibit the resort to 
 animal food. It is accordingly hardly eaten 
 at all, excepting by the European residents, 
 the richer Mahometans, and a few of the degra- 
 ded native castes, who, however, cannot obtain 
 much from the want of means. Rice, of which 
 there are lirentj/scven Indian varieties, is the 
 principal food, in })oint of fact, of all classes, 
 Europeans hardly excepted. Upon it the 
 native inhabitants depend lor subsistence ; and 
 a failure in the rice crop occasions a famine, 
 to which, for extent of suffering, no dearth in 
 European countries can be compared. These 
 famines are not unfrequent, and are thought, 
 at times, to have caused the death of hundreds 
 of thousands of persons. The dift'erent tribes 
 are often in a state of warfare. The Asiatic 
 Cholera, never wholly extinguished, from time 
 to time, destroys its millions, yet all these causes 
 of diminution have not sufficed to keep down 
 the population of these regions, which, in the 
 level and cultivated parts, is wonderfully dense. 
 Of British India, indeed of llindostan, the 
 finest portion is unquestionably the province 
 
90 
 
 THE TRUE LA-\V 
 
 of Bengal. It is situated on the lower part of 
 the course of the great river Ganges, which 
 divides into two parts nearly equal. It is 
 fertile in the extreme, and highly cultivated- 
 The climate, however, is very unhealthy, an 
 insalubrity v^hich is increased by the mode of 
 cultivating rice, which is irrigated from large 
 standing pools of water, artificially embanked by 
 the cultivator. Southern Bengal produces no 
 other edible grain ; but as the country rises 
 towards the north, wheat, barley, and the potato 
 are also grown. The rivers, as well as the coasts, 
 abound in fish. Such is the food of Bengal, and 
 the following table will show its effects on the 
 population ; of its general accuracy there can be 
 no doubt :— 
 
 POPULATION OF THE BENGAL PRESIDENCY FOR 1820. 
 
 Territories, 
 
 British 
 square mile. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Numbers 
 
 to the square 
 
 league. 
 
 Bengal, Bahar, and Benares 
 Additions since 1765 . . 
 Gurwal Kumaoon, and tracts 
 between SuUedge and Jumna 
 
 162,000 
 148,000 
 
 I 18,000 
 
 39,000,000 
 18,000,000 
 
 500,000 
 
 2,166 
 1,094 
 
 250 
 
 Thus we see that in the old and completely 
 cultivated territory of Bengal, where rice and 
 fish are the food of the natives, the population 
 has reached the enormous amount of two thou- 
 
OF POPULATION, 
 
 ni 
 
 sand one hunched and sixi\i-six portions to eaeh 
 British square league, a strong corroboration of 
 the truth of the alleged popiilousness of China, 
 which has been for time immemorial under a 
 similarly high state of cultivation. 
 
 The two other Presidencies oi'^Iadras and Bom- 
 bay are not only much more mountainous, and far 
 less fertile, but are also far less completely cleared 
 and cultivated. The territories of the British 
 tributaries, and those of the allies and the inde- 
 pendent States, are similarly circumstanced. 
 Much of their surface is yet forest, mountain, 
 swamp, and jungle, the habitation of the elephant 
 and the tiger, the buffalo and the rhinoceros : 
 yet even here the population to the square league 
 British is not less, or much less, than one thou- 
 sand on the average, an extraordinary one for 
 a tract where cultivation is almost confined to 
 the banks of the rivers. The following will shew 
 the result : — 
 
 
 
 Territory. 
 
 British square 
 miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Numbers to the 
 square league. 
 
 Madras Presidency . . 
 Bombay Presidency . . 
 Deccan 
 
 15-1,000 
 11,000 
 60,000 
 
 15,000,000 
 2.500.000 
 8,000,000 
 
 P82 
 2,049 
 1,201 
 
 Total 
 
 225,000 
 
 25,500,000 
 
 1,020 
 
92 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 The next table shews the population of some 
 of the territories of the principal tributaries and 
 allies of the British : — 
 
 Terriloiy, 
 
 The Nizam . . . . 
 The Nagpoon Raja . . 
 The King of Oude . . 
 The Giiicowas . . . 
 The Mysore Raja . . 
 The Satanah Raja . 
 Travancou and Cochen 
 Kotah Biondu Bossaul 
 
 British square 
 miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 96,000 
 
 10,000,000 
 
 70,000 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 3.000,000 
 
 18,000 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 27,000 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 14,000 
 
 1,500, 000| 
 
 8,000 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 14.000 
 
 1,500,000 
 
 Number to the 
 square league. 
 
 1,000 nearly. 
 
 390 
 1,363 
 1,000 
 1,000 
 
 937 
 1,100 
 
 937 
 
 Of the independent States, which are only five, 
 the dominions of Scindia and Afghan territory are 
 the most fertile and populous, and they give simi- 
 lar results. Nepaul is the poorest, most rocky, 
 and least populous. Such is the population of those 
 portions of Asia, where climate, soil, religion, and 
 manners have united to force a diet of vegetables 
 only upon the inhabitants. If we turn to Europe, 
 and examine those countries where poverty or 
 any other cause has induced similar modes of 
 living, we shall find the results to be similar. 
 This populousness then does not arise from 
 climate, or any peculiar physical constitution of 
 the people, but from the nature of their food, 
 
OF POPULATION' . 93 
 
 and its restricted quantity ; in short, from poverty 
 of diet in quality or in quantity, or in both. 
 
 Ireland is beyond a question tlie poorest 
 country, as to the destitute state of its poj)ula- 
 tion, of all Europe, perhaps of the whole globe. 
 Of a population of eUjlit millions of persons, it 
 has been ascertained after an inquiry instituted 
 by Parliament, that not less than two millions 
 and a quarter are wandering and houseless 
 mendicants, subsisting upon the charity of their 
 hardly richer bi-ethren. The owners of the land 
 to a great extent spend their incomes in other 
 countries. There is no efficient Poor-law to 
 oppose a check to destitution and starvation. 
 The dignitaries of the Establishment do not 
 reside on their benefices, and spend their tithes 
 in many instances in England altogether, or on 
 the continent '; whilst the Roman Catholic 
 church is too poor to allow its ministers to 
 alleviate by charity the sufferings of the people. 
 In this state of jioverty the mode of living of a 
 people so destitute may be easily conjectured. 
 Dwelling for the most part in mud cabins, without 
 window or chimney, save a hole in the wall or 
 roof, and shivering ovei- a fire of ])eat, they live 
 almost solely on the potatoes which they raise 
 upon their little holdings ; tbcii children par- 
 
94 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 taking, perhaps, of the milk of their cow, if they 
 posse&s one. Of clothing proper for the climate 
 they are as destitute as they are of proper 
 aliment, and the pig of the Irish' peasant is often 
 as well fed, and little less profusely hedded and 
 clothed, than himself. In point of fact, not only 
 all the live stock of every description, but every 
 edible, wiiether in the shape of cured provisions, 
 wheat, barley, peas, beans, butter or lard, is 
 exported from Ireland and consumed, the only 
 exception being the potato. The cottager who 
 tastes bacon four times a year is a lucky man, 
 and a little whisky forms his sole departure from 
 the beverage of nature, water. The money 
 amount of Irish cattle and provisions of all 
 sorts imported into the town of Liverpool alone in 
 the year 1831, was estimated to be as high as 
 £4,497,708. 
 
 In 1832, the returns give £4,444,500 as the 
 value. 
 
 Nor is this state of things without its draw- 
 backs upon the increase, real or apparent, of the 
 Irish population. The poverty of the country 
 and the prevalence of distress, cause a constant 
 emigration of all who can find the means to leave 
 it. Every year numbers ship themselves for the 
 United States, or for the British settlements in 
 
OF POPULATION. 95 
 
 America. Greater numbers still cross the Irish 
 Sea to the West of England and Scotland, and 
 making their way to the Metroi)oli.s and to the 
 great towns, continue there as labourers. Num- 
 bers enter the army, and many the navy. In 
 Ireland itself, constantly recurring scarcities of 
 the potato crop, attended with the malignant 
 fevers which ever accompany dearth, thin for a 
 time whole districts. Civil wars and oppressions 
 have also done much to keep down the numbers 
 of this unfortunate race. From the time of the 
 Reformation, under Henry VI II., to the Protec- 
 torate of Cromwell, Ireland presents a scene of 
 slaughters, rebellions, and bloodshed, under 
 eveiy form. Again, at the Revolution of 1G88, 
 Irish bbod flowed in torrents in behalf of the 
 exiled family. Since that period the Orange 
 Protestant party have held the Roman Catholics 
 under constant persecutions and oj)i)ressions; yet 
 has this miserable population gone on rapidly 
 increasing, and making more and more rapid head 
 against all these numerous apparent causes of 
 diminution and extermination. 
 
 At the close of Elizabeth's reign the Irish 
 people remaining were estimated, probably erio- 
 neously, to be no more than seven hundred 
 thousand in all ! 
 
96 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Sir William Petty conjectures the population, 
 at the close of the wars in 1652, to have been 
 about eight hundred and fifty thousand soids ; 
 which he supposes increased to one million one 
 hundred thousand persons in 1672. Subsequent 
 investigators have arrived at the following con- 
 clusions. They are no doubt founded on different 
 data, and only amount to probable guesses at, or 
 approximations to the truth. They prove that 
 in the space of one hundred and thirty years the 
 population of Ireland has more than quadrupled 
 itself, and that it has increased, as distress and 
 poverty and want of food increased, with an 
 accelerated velocity, as if the pressure caused by 
 its own densitv ureed it forward. 
 
 ESTIMATED POPULATION OF IRELAND AT VARIOUS 
 PERIODS. 
 
 
 
 Persons. 
 
 1695 
 
 by Captain South, at 
 
 . 1,034,102 
 
 1712 
 
 . Thomas Dobbs, Esq. 
 
 . 2,099,094 
 
 1718 
 
 . The same 
 
 . 2,169,048 
 
 1726 
 
 . The same 
 
 . 2,309,106 
 
 1731 
 
 . The Established Clergy 
 
 . 2,010,221 
 
 1754 
 
 . Hearth Money Collectors 
 
 . 2,372,634 
 
 1767 
 
 . The same 
 
 . 2,544,276 
 
 1777 
 
 . The same 
 
 . 2,690,556 
 
 1785 
 
 . The same 
 
 . 2,845,932 
 
 1788 
 
 . Gerv. Parker Eushe, Esq. 
 
 . 4,040,000 
 
 1791 
 
 . Hearth Money Collectors 
 
 . 4,206,612 
 
 1792 
 
 . Rev. Aug. Beaufort 
 
 . 4,088,226 
 
 1805 
 
 . Thomas Newnham, Esq. 
 
 . 5,395,456 
 
 1813 
 
 , Incomplete Parliamentary Census 
 
 . 5,937,856 
 
 1821 
 
 , Parliamentary Census 
 
 . 6,801,827 
 
 1831 
 
 . Parliamentary Census 
 
 . 7.734.3G5 
 
OF POPULATION. !l7 
 
 Of the wliolo number \hm asccrlaiiicd hv the 
 census of l«21, whicli \vas the most careful I v 
 taken, it was found that 1,138,00!) were em- 
 ployed in agriculture; 1 , 1 70,044 in various trades, 
 handicrafts, and manufactures ; and that 5*JS,702 
 were. em])loyed in other avocations, not included 
 in the foregoing, making the total of einploved 
 persons 2,836,815 only. If the rate on increase, 
 as indicated by these returns be taken, the pre- 
 sent population of Ireland cannot be calculated 
 at less than eight millions and a half. Let us 
 now see the propoition of people to the siptare 
 British hayue upon the total area of the country. 
 Ireland is held to consist, by one estimate as 
 ordered by Parliament, of 19,441,944 statute 
 acres, and by another of 20,399,008 statute 
 acres. Its area in square British miles has been 
 calculated at 31,875 square miles ; and i)y Wake- 
 field and Arrowsmith, at 32,201 s(juare mik'S. 
 Thirty-two thousand, in round numbers, is probably 
 near the truth. Reducing this to scpiare leagues, 
 and dividing the })opulation by their number, the 
 result is as nearly as possible, two thousand three 
 hundred and ninefi/-one persons to the s(/uare 
 British lt'a(/ue ; a |)()|)ulati()n r;\alling tlio^r of 
 India andC'liiiia---tho inicultivatid land, \nvj:. and 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 lake being to the cultivated land as I'oUows, in 
 round numbers about six to fourteen. 
 
 Cultivated. 
 
 Mountain and Bog. 
 
 Lakes. 
 
 Total in Statute Acres. 
 
 14,003,473 
 
 .^340,730 
 
 455,399 
 
 20,399,608 
 
 When to this we add the fact, that the cultiva- 
 tion of Ireland, owing to the poverty and ignorance 
 of the inhabitants, is miserably defective, this 
 result is certainly extraordinary. 
 
 We now turn to England herself; and England, 
 perhaps, of all countries of this globe, exhibits 
 phenomena the most puzzling to an inquiry of 
 the nature of that which forms the subject of 
 this treatise. Manifesting as she does all the 
 signs of external wealth and power, these mani- 
 festations are yet accompanied by symptoms 
 indicating a situation the reverse of prosperity ; 
 an increasing and alarming poor's-rate, a growth 
 of crime, and a too rapidly augmenting popula- 
 tion. The question, then, to be solved is this '> 
 does this increasing population, linked as it is 
 with an increase of poor, with augmented poor- 
 rates, and augmented crime, and with other 
 
OF POPULATION'. 90 
 
 evidence of a dcteriorntiim- condition of the 
 labonrinii- classes, prove, in sj)ite ol' tlie conlrai-y 
 indications ol" Avealth anionust otlier classes, the 
 probable truth of tlie theory which lorins the 
 subject of this essay? In the author's opinion it 
 certainly does prove this tiuth. If it does so, it 
 must certainly, however, jirove another collateral 
 or correlative truth ; that is to say, that the i;on- 
 dition of the niaJQrity of the Eii2:lish peo))le 
 has, for a series of years, been dclerloniliny and 
 still continues (o dclcrwriilc. That this is a con- 
 sequence, according to the theory of population 
 here propounded, the author willingly admits, 
 believing it, as he does, to he indubitably true in 
 point of fact. The proofs ol" this truth aj)j)ear to 
 him to be apparent in the following statistical 
 facts: — 1. The increased poor's-rate : 2. The 
 increase of crime : 3. The diminished con- 
 sumption of malt. In his general remarks upon 
 these points he will not, in this division oi" his 
 work, go far back ; he will contrast the sum 
 levied for the pooi- in 1G70 with those levied 
 since that time; but, upon the other points in 
 question, he will merely avail himself of the 
 evidence of the modern time, and content himsell 
 with showing that it sulliciently accounts for the 
 increased population of this countiy throughout 
 11 2 
 
100 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the last half or three quarters of a century. Let 
 us first see what has been the known progress of 
 the population of Great Britain, and then com- 
 pare with its increase that of poor's-rate and 
 crime. As for the diminished consumption of 
 malt, that is a fact of general notoriety, and is 
 known to be certain from the different Excise 
 returns of the duty. The following table shows 
 the progress of the population of England, 
 Wales, and Scotland, separately as well as 
 jointly: — 
 
 SUMMARY OF THE POPULATION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 
 1801. 
 
 1! 
 
 1811. 
 
 
 1821. 
 
 1^ 
 
 1831. 
 
 England 
 Wales . 
 Scotland 
 Army & ' 
 
 Navy 
 
 8,381,434 
 
 541,540 
 
 I, 909,008 
 
 470,598 
 
 145 
 14 
 13 
 
 9,551,888 
 
 011,788 
 
 2,185,088 
 
 010,500 
 
 171 
 17 
 10 
 
 11,201,437 
 
 717,438 
 
 2,093,450 
 
 319,300 
 
 10 
 12 
 
 13,089,338 
 
 805,230 
 
 2,305,807 
 
 277,017 
 
 Total 
 
 10,942,040 
 
 m 
 
 12,989,804 
 
 14 
 
 14,391,031 
 
 15 
 
 10,537,398 
 
 Thus the population of England has, it seems, 
 increased between 1801 and 1831 as 9 is to 14, and 
 that Scotland has nearly kept pace with this. The 
 following are the returns of the amount of poor's- 
 
OF rOPL'LATIOX. 
 
 101 
 
 rate levied in the dirt'cicnt years i:;iven. They are 
 extracted from returns ordered by ParUanient : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Amount of Poor Rate. 
 
 iGr3 
 
 L 810,000 
 
 1698 
 
 819,000 
 
 1700 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 1776 
 
 1,720,316 
 
 1783 1 
 
 Average. 
 
 1784 i. 
 
 2,167,748 
 
 1785 J 
 
 
 1801 
 
 4,800,000 (probath). 
 
 1803 
 
 0,348,204 
 
 1812-13 
 
 3,610,842 
 
 1S20-21 
 
 8,411,893 
 
 1821-22 
 
 7,761,441 
 
 1823-21 
 
 6,898,153 
 
 1830 
 
 8,111,422 
 
 1831 
 
 8,279,217 •. . :. ■ 
 
 The author has been unable to ascertain the 
 amount of rate for 1801, but it was certainly not 
 more than five millions, although the two years 
 preceding had been years of scarcity, amounting 
 almost to famine. The nominal increase of the 
 rates then from 1801 to 1831 may be stated as 
 from 5 to 8, but the real increase is much greater, 
 inasmuch as allowance for the alteration in the 
 value of money brought about by the Currency 
 Bill of 1819, which is generally known by the 
 title of Mr. Peel's Bill. What the exact en- 
 hancement of the value of the currency was 
 
102 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 after 1829, when the Bill was carried into its 
 fullest effect, the author will not here attempt to 
 determine. It is sufficient that it is generally 
 admitted to have been considerable ; and that, 
 upon the lowest computation of the value added 
 to money by the extinction of the Bank-notes 
 under five pounds in 1829, the poor's-rate of 
 1831 must have been more than double that of 
 1801 in reality, though not in name. 
 
 Of the increase of crime the evidence is not 
 less decisive. In 1827 a Committee of the 
 House of Commons appointed to inquire into 
 this subject, not only fully admitted in their 
 Report the fact of this alarming increase, but 
 adduced evidence unquestionable of it. The 
 following table of commitments is extracted from 
 the Appendix of the Report of 1827. It is 
 appalling. 
 
 COMMITMENTS FOR ENGLAND AND WALES FROM 1806 
 TO 1826 INCLUSIVE. 
 
 (Exlractc(lfru)ii Ajipcudia; of Commons Report, 1827. 
 
 1806. 
 
 1810. 
 
 1811. 
 
 1812. 
 
 1813. 
 
 1814. 
 
 ■1,346 
 
 5,UG 
 
 5,337 
 
 6,576 
 
 7,164 
 
 6,390 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 loa 
 
 1815. 
 
 1816. 
 
 181/. 
 
 1818. 
 
 1819. 
 
 1820. 
 
 7,818 
 
 9,091 
 
 13,932 
 
 13,507 
 
 11.251 
 
 13,710 
 
 1821. 
 
 1822. 
 
 1823. 
 
 1821. 
 
 1825. 
 
 1826. 
 
 13,115 
 
 12,211 
 
 12,263 
 
 13,698 
 
 11,137 
 
 10,117 
 
 That this enormous increase — the cominitmciits 
 of 182() almost quadrupling those of 180G— has 
 been caused by distress is evident from the table 
 itself. The first great increase is in 1817, wlicn 
 the revulsions in commerce caused by the end 
 of the war produced excessive manufacturing 
 pressure and difficulty, from which the pojuda- 
 tion generally seem never to have recovered. In 
 1822, when, owing to the preparations for with- 
 drawing the Country Bank paper below notes for 
 five pounds, the prices of provisions were greatly 
 lowered, an amendment in morals seems to have 
 followed. This is again extinguished by the rise 
 in prices and monetary crisis of ls25-(), and 
 since that period, crime in England has gone on 
 increasing year by year. 
 
104 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 The following table is extracted from OfficipJ 
 Returns on this subject up to 1834 : — 
 
 1827. 
 
 1828. 
 
 1829. 
 
 1830. 
 
 17,924 
 
 1G,5G4 
 
 18,675 
 
 18,107 
 
 
 1831. 
 
 1832. 
 
 1833. 
 
 1834. 
 
 19,01/ 
 
 20,829 
 
 20,072 
 
 22,451 
 
 Thus the commitments of 1834 quintuple 
 those of 1806; a growth prodigious, and only 
 to be accounted for by the fact of an increasing 
 pressure upon the loAver classes of this country ; 
 for during this period general education and the 
 building of places of worship have been greatly 
 promoted. 
 
 With respect to the diminished consumption 
 of malt, the almost total disuse of domestic 
 brewing amongst all classes, and the falling off 
 in the malt duties of more than a half during the 
 last three-quarters of a century, are facts so indis- 
 putable as only to need to be stated. That these 
 results, placed in juxta-position with the recent 
 strides of pojnilatioii, are in strict accordance 
 with the theory here propounded, is to the author 
 
OF POPULATION. 105 
 
 sufficiently apparent. Let us now see what the 
 population of Eni2;lan(l is in proportion to its 
 contents in square leagues. It will be found 
 that these results accord with all that Ikls been 
 laid down as probable to vary that proportion 
 cither in one direction or another. It will be 
 found to be less than the proportion in Ireland ; 
 less than in China ; less than in the cultivated 
 parts of Hindostan ; but greater than in most 
 other parts of Europe. 
 
 The area of England approximates to the con- 
 tents of a triangle, the base of which is drawn 
 from South Foreland in Kent to Land's-End in 
 Cornwall. The sides by two lines commencing 
 in these places, and meeting at Berwick- 
 upon-Tweed. Of this figure the base is 340 
 miles : the eastern side 345 miles ; the western 
 side 425 miles. This, however, gives an area 
 below the truth. A more minute calculation 
 has determined that the area of England is 
 37,78-1,400 acres, or 59,053 British square miles. 
 The result is as follows :— 
 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 Area ill inilc-^. 
 
 Pojiulation. 
 
 Persons to a square league. 
 
 59,053 
 
 11,000,000 
 
 2.113 
 
106 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 It is to be observed, however, that the propor- 
 tion of uncultivated land in England is less than 
 in almost any country, and is believed not to 
 exceed ten millions of acres ; and that agriculture 
 is carried to a high pitch of perfection. 
 
 In Scotland, where the greater part of the 
 surface is absolutely barren, and from which 
 a constant emigration goes on, the population is 
 as high as seven hundred persons to the square 
 league — an immense population for a country 
 consisting principally of moor and mountain, 
 and not much below that of the South of France, 
 where all is fertility and beauty, and where the 
 products of the soil grow almost spontaneously. 
 
 We now turn to the European Continent, 
 where we shall find similar causes producing 
 similar results. Looking first at the North of 
 Germany, we shall find the food of the people 
 poor, the country varied and often barren, and 
 the population great. As we approach the 
 richer provinces of Bavaria, and the regions 
 nearer the Rhine, we shall find the population 
 more moderate. When we examine those 
 countries which are eminently rich and fertile, 
 and where the olive forms a portion of the food 
 of the people, as in Italy and France, we shall 
 find the population lowest of all. 
 
or I'OPULATION. 107 
 
 Takini;- Bohemia first olall, wc sec a iVL:;i()n hy 
 no means naturally fertile and poorly eultivatod, 
 often mountainous, and of variable and cold 
 climate. The principal food of the inhabitants 
 consists of barley, oatmeal, |)otatocs, and milk ; 
 even beer not being a general beverage, and for 
 the most part reserved as a luxury for holidays 
 — and what is the population ? The proportion 
 to the German square mile, which is equal to 
 about twelve British square miles, is no less than 
 3,885. 
 
 In Silesia, where the climate is much nulder, the 
 country fertile, and the corn crops greater, but the 
 people poor and j)oorly fed, a similarly heavy popu- 
 lation presents itself; the population to the German- 
 square mile being as high as 4,090. In Austria 
 Proper, the greater part of which is much less fei- 
 tile, the population is of course much below that 
 of the fertile province of Silesia. It is, however, 
 very high, amounting to no less tiian 2,837 per- 
 sons to the German square mile. The pooi", and 
 for the most part, arid and barren kingdom of 
 Prussia, affords results precisely similar. The 
 kingdom is divided into Eastern and Western 
 Prussia, and each of these divisions contains two 
 Governments. The population is as follows : — 
 
108 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 To the German milt' 
 Government of Koninsberg . . . 1,342 
 iovernment of Gumbinncn . . . 1,495 
 
 Western Prussia' 4 ^°'''^'""™'^"*°*'^''""'^ .... 1,875 
 ^^^"^'^°^™^^'** I Government of Man««iwerden , . 1,244 
 
 Eastern Prussia. <^ Z'' 
 
 -1)6,156 
 
 1,539 average. 
 
 A dense population for the most bairen level 
 country in Europe, and not much below that 
 of the fertile and comparatively rich kingdom of 
 Bavaria, the average population of wh'ch is 1,980 
 persons to the German square mile, according 
 to M. Hassel's tables. 
 
 We now arrive at a country, the statistics of 
 which are accurately known, and the results of 
 which statistics strongly confirm the truth of this 
 theory — that is to say, France. Of this, on the 
 whole beautiful and great country, the climate 
 and soil both vary, and we have on one side the 
 rich vineyards, the smiling fields and fertile plains 
 of Languedoc, and on the other the poor soil and 
 harsher climate of Brittany. As soil and climate 
 vary, so in some degree does the living of the 
 people. In the South of France there is nothing 
 but the appearance of ease and wealth. In the 
 North we detect something more like the rags 
 
OF POPULATION. 109 
 
 and wretchedness of Ireland ; though in no part 
 of France is the food of the peojile reduced to 
 potatoes and a total absence of butchers' meat, 
 [n no part of France is the poor peasant debarred 
 tlie use of the oil of the olive, the egg for his 
 Diuelette, the pullet for his pot, and occasionally 
 l)eef or mutton for his soup or bouille. As for 
 ('U'i:s, the quantity produced in France is pro- 
 digious. Of those imported into England, a 
 large portion comes from France; and the import 
 into England has amounted in a year to sixty- 
 nine millions, which at two-pence per dozen duty, 
 yielded £24,048. This was in 183G. Such being 
 the difference between the southern and the less 
 fienial departments of France, the same differences 
 as to density of population which other countries 
 exhibit, are exhibited also here. 
 
 In the poorer Departments the population is 
 considerable. In the rich departments it is low. 
 At these results M. Malte Brun, who is one of 
 those writers who constantly regard a dense and 
 redundant population as evidence of the wealth 
 and industry of the country where it exists, with- 
 out adverting to its causes, is sorely scandali.sed. 
 He rates the inhabitants of the South of France 
 for their dearth of children, which he terms 
 • poverty," though he admits tiiat tlie country is 
 
110 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 rich and fertile beyond description ; and not con- 
 tent with this even, is inclined to blame the 
 Government ; though as to the means by which 
 a Government could cure such an evil as this 
 is, he affords no clue ! His observations are 
 as follow : — 
 
 CMalte Brun, Geography, vol. viii. p. 27 3. J 
 " We have had occasion to observe the mild 
 " climate, the romantic sites, and the remains 
 " of Roman power in the twenty-eight Depart- 
 " ments that form the Southern region of France. 
 " The inhabitants, it has been seen, are favoured 
 " by nature: the different productions are admi- 
 " rably suited for their country: with the excep- 
 " tion of the mountains, the soil is everywhere 
 *' fruitful. But if the population be compared 
 *' with the surface, it will be found that the 
 " results accord ill with the natural advan- 
 " tages of the same vast region, which makes 
 " up more than a third part of the kingdom. 
 " The extent is equal to 9,000 square leagues, 
 ** the population to 8,404,000 individuals; thus, 
 " the number of inhabitants to every square 
 " league does not amount to nine hundred and 
 " thirty -four — a result below the mean number 
 " in the other divisions of the same country. 
 
OF POPULATION. 1 1 1 
 
 " Such facts arc not without their value {tres 
 " veritable— M. Malte Brun) : if the best and most 
 " fruitful part of France is comparatively poor 
 " and ill jieoplcd, it proves how much the numi- 
 ** ficence of Nature may be surpassed by the 
 *' industry and resources of man. Government, 
 '■' too, may derive an important lesson from the 
 " same fact. It may thus be taught to ap]ire- 
 " ciate tlie elements of its wealth and powei-. 
 " Thirteen Departments make up the Western 
 " region ; the population relatively to the sur- 
 " face is greater than the last, for 5,423,000 
 " inhabitants are scattered over a surface of 
 " 4,200 French leagues ; consequently the average 
 " number to every square league exceeds 1,200. 
 " Still the advantages of education are little 
 " known in the Western region : in that jioint 
 " it is almost on a level with the ])rc(eding. 
 " How much, then, might poi)uUition and wealth 
 " be increased if ignorance no longer formed a 
 " barrier to the expansion of industry." 
 
 The truth is, that the really rich Departnu'iits 
 are the least populous, and the poorest most 
 populous— the riches in the one instance kee|)- 
 ing down population, and the poverty in the 
 other instance urging it onwards. Ul us con- 
 
112 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 trast the poorest and the richest provinces of all 
 France, and the result will be strikingly apparent. 
 The poorest of the French jirovinces is unques- 
 tionably Bretagne, or Brittany. It is described 
 by some travellers as reminding them of Ireland. 
 It accordingly presents all the indications of poor 
 living, squalor, rags, miserable habitations, mul- 
 titudes of half-naked children, and numerous 
 mendicants or vagrants. Let us see how Bre- 
 tagne, or Brittany, stands with regard to popu- 
 lation, and we shall find it giving what M. Malte 
 Brun would call " indications of industry and 
 wealth." Strange infatuation ! 
 
 POPULATION OF BRETAGNE, OR BRITTANY. 
 
 Departments. 
 
 Population to the square league. 
 
 1 . Of Fiiiisterre 
 
 2. . Cote du Nord .... 
 
 3. . Le Mortchan 
 
 4. . Isle de Vilaine .... 
 
 5. . Eas de Loire 
 
 1,376 
 1,470 
 1,157 
 1,661 
 1,40J 
 
 Average to the square leagxie 
 
 5 ) 7,069 
 . 1,414 
 
 The richest province perhaps of France is 
 the beautiful province of Languedoc, with its 
 well-known salubrious towns of Montpellier and 
 
OF POPULATION. 113 
 
 Thoiilousc. The climate is the finest prohaMy 
 ill Europe. The soil is excessively fertile, and 
 the vine and the olive vie with each other in 
 exuherance of IVuit and heauty of i2;ro\vlli. Here 
 is everything to sustain, to lengthen, and to 
 cherish life ; everything to aHord plenty, ease, 
 and comfort to the inhahitants of this favoured 
 region. Yet, if we incpiire into the numhers 
 of these inhabitants, we shall find them far he- 
 low^ those of squalid, poor, and comparatively 
 sterile and inclement Brittany. And what is 
 the difference between them ? Wealth alone. 
 The laws, the language, and the people are the 
 same. 
 
 POPULATION OF THE PROVINCE OF L.\NGUEDOC. 
 
 Uepartuieiits. j People to the square league. 
 
 T^ I 
 
 1. Of Ardesche I 1,120 
 
 2. . Aude 794 
 
 3. . Card 1,10:1 
 
 4. . llt-ranlt 1 .02'J 
 
 5. . Upper Claronne . . . . | l,l.j;j 
 
 G. . Upp«'r Loin- I 1,I0J 
 
 7. . Lo;;ere I 521 
 
 H. . Tani i 1,083 
 
 8 ) 7,yOrt 
 
 Average to the ?t|Uire league . . . y88 
 
114 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 The population, then, of the richest, or one 
 of the richest of the French provinces, is not 
 much more than two-thirds of that of the poorest, 
 and thus will it ever be found, whether different 
 countries, or different provinces of the same 
 country, be compared with each other. 
 
 Italy is unquestionably, in fertility as well as 
 chmate, the finest country in Europe. 
 
 But where God has been most beneficent, man 
 has been least so ; and as Italy, in natural advan- 
 tages, is the finest, so, in regard to its govern- 
 ment, it is the most unfortunate of European 
 States— divided and subdivided amongst a variety 
 of petty tyrants, all hating each other, and hated 
 by their own subjects, industry is paralysed, 
 trade almost destroyed, agriculture depressed, 
 and universal languor prevailing throughout an 
 idle and ignorant, or a vitiated and enervated 
 population. Yet such is the natural wealth of 
 the country, that, though afflicted with all these 
 political evils, the Italians cannot, in point of 
 comforts of living, be fairly said to be badly off, 
 or in a state of suffering. There is much ap- 
 parent poverty, much squalidity, but little starva- 
 tion, in the proper sense of the Avord. Its 
 condition is to be deduced clearly iVom its un- 
 fortunate political situation ; and under a good 
 
OF POrULATTOX. \ 15 
 
 and united Goveninicnt. no one doubts that 
 Ita'y nii2:bt be made one ol ibr finest and 
 happiest countries on earth. At present all i^ 
 laziness, superstition, and (IcbaiitherN : a pohtical 
 renovation would chan".c' this inlt) a(tivit\ and 
 consequent wealth. 
 
 It is difficult to say what is the population 
 of Italy as a whole. Lookini;-, however, at the 
 facts, as shown in the dirt'ei-ent States, it is 
 not great, considerini; the immense adxantages 
 of the country, which is a natural L!;arden 
 throughout. It is quite certain that Italv could 
 produce food for many luore inhabitants than 
 are now, or probably e\Tr were, congregated 
 upon her soil. 
 
 The Loml)ar(IA'enetiau kingdom is one of 
 the most i)opulous j)orti()ns of Italy. It contains 
 the great trading mart of \'enice, and umny of 
 the Universities — Milan, Favia, Padua, ..^c. ; and 
 has been, therefore, more liable to increase by 
 immigration than many other provinces. Its 
 people are, however, by no means numerous, 
 when compared with the surface, that surface 
 being of unrivalled fertility, and under a climate 
 the most delicious. 
 
 The following table shows the proportion to 
 the (jc'oyruphical square league, wliich, it must 
 
116 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 be remembered, is about one-seventh larger tban 
 the ordinary square league : — 
 
 LOMBARD-VENETIAN KINGDOM. 
 
 Square geographical leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Persons to the league. 
 
 2,3G8 
 
 2,237,301 
 
 1,840 
 
 This, when the difference of the geographical 
 league is taken, is a population a little above 
 the average of France. This, however, is far 
 above that of most of the other States ; indeed, 
 above that of all the extended States. Lucca, 
 San Marino, and Massa, are little more than 
 toivns, with a small territory, and not States, 
 The next great territory is that of the Church. 
 Its population is shown in the following table : 
 
 STATES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Square geographical leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Persons to the league. 
 
 2,2rj7 
 
 2,590,000 
 
 1,147 
 
 The next great territory is the Duchy of 
 Tuscany. This fine country contains the beau- 
 
OF POPULATION 
 
 117 
 
 tiful cities of Florence and of Pisa, and the 
 port of Leghorn. Its population is as follows :-- 
 
 GREAT DUCHY OF TUSCANY. 
 
 Surface in geographical sq. leagues. 
 
 Population, 
 182(i. 
 
 Persons to each league. 
 
 '' 1,098 
 
 1,275,000 
 
 1,161. 
 
 The dominions of the King of Sardinia, in- 
 cluding Piedmont and the Island of Sardinia, 
 is much more scanty. The two give the fol- 
 
 lowing results : — 
 
 PIEDMONT. 
 
 Area in geographical eq. leagues. 
 
 Population. [ Persons to each league. 
 3,399,600 I 1,260 
 
 ISLAND OF SARDINIA. 
 
 Area in geogra|>lii(al sq. lengues. I'opulalion. Persons to the leaghe. 
 
118 
 
 THE TRUE LAAV 
 
 The island abounds in cattle, some of which 
 only are domesticated, the rest running half wild 
 over the mountainous part of the island. This 
 is the case not only with horned cattle, but with 
 the swine and even with the horses. The cattle 
 upon the whole are supposed to be three times 
 as numerous as the inhabitants. 
 
 The population of the Duchies of Parma and 
 of Modina give similar results : — 
 
 PARMA. 
 
 Area in geographical square leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 To the league. 
 
 288 
 
 440,000 
 
 1,180 
 
 MODENA. 
 
 Area in geographical square leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 To the league. 
 
 260 
 
 350,000 
 
 1,346 
 
 1 
 
 Such is the truth as to the population of the 
 fine and rich countries of t'rance and of Italy, 
 and such is the state of the poptdation in all 
 
OF POPULATION 
 
 110 
 
 countries where the vine and tiie olive abound 
 and where the juice of the i;rape and the rich 
 oil of the olive form a portion of the daily food 
 of the people, together with such animal food as 
 they can procure, or are in the habit of using. 
 Spain and Portugal being mountainous countries, 
 and also countries where grazing is practised in 
 a large proportion, as compared with agriculture, 
 are still more thinly peopled. 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 Area in square French leagues. Population. 
 
 Persons to the league. 
 
 23,867 13,901,000 
 
 580 
 
 PORTUGAL. 
 
 Area in square French leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Persons to the league. 
 
 1,922 
 
 3,2H,000 
 
 G.j3 
 
 In Italy it has been ascertained that the 
 average number of births to a maniage are 
 three only, a low proportion, and below that of 
 almost any other nowiAiy— Southern France, 
 perhaps, excepted. 
 
120 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 We now turn to a country less favoured than 
 the foregoing as to chmate, but fertile in a high 
 degree, and cultivated with great care— Holland 
 and Belgium — as constituting the former king- 
 dom of the Netherlands. Of these countries it 
 may be said, that as Italy is the natural, so they 
 are the artificial, garden of Europe. Destitute of 
 mountains or even hills, they present one vast 
 plain, covered with alternate arable land, and 
 meadow and pasture of inexpressible richness. 
 The vine is cultivated, but the wine made from 
 its fruit is indifferent ; wheaten bread, milk, 
 cheese, and animal food, are the nutriment of 
 the people ; with such a proportion of esculent 
 vegetables as they themselves choose to add. 
 Malt liquor is also in use, as well as the less 
 wholesome distillation from grain, to which the 
 country gives its name. The population of this 
 wealthy country is, as nearly as possible, one 
 person to each hectare of land. This, in English 
 measure, is about two hundred to the square mile, 
 or eighteen hundred to the square British league 
 only ; and this in a tract, every foot of which 
 is under culture. The number of births to a 
 marriage are four upon the average, with a 
 fraction more. Immigration here has done 
 much to swell the population. The great 
 
OF POPULATION. 1 _' 1 
 
 trading- marts of Holland arc lilKd witli -tian 'x r-. 
 In Belgium also foreign .settlcis are numeious, 
 yet such are the results. 
 
 Looking next at tiie coiiiitnes ni the Noitli of 
 Europe, that is to say, at Denmark and Sweden, 
 we lind the same law apparent. Both aie 
 grazing countries more than agricultural, and in 
 both the population is moderate, making pro|)er 
 allowance lor the mountainous tracts which 
 prevail in both. In Sweden, it has been j>roved 
 by the Tables of Mortality that tiie population 
 decreased rather than increased down to the year 
 1 703. Since that time agriculture has been 
 pushed, to the exclusion of grazing cattle, 
 especially in GothlamI, and there the population 
 has increased decidedly since 1 703. 
 
 In Denmark, agriculture is more ])revalent 
 than in Sweden, and less animal food eaten 
 upon the whole; the population, howevcj', is 
 moderate, being nix hundred and aevenlij-seven 
 onhj lo (he square learjue. 
 
 Turning next to the Continent of America, 
 we shall find the same law evidently prevailing. 
 In the J3ra/ils and Mexico, where cattle are a 
 large part of the wealth of the ((jiiiilry, the 
 poi)ulation is thin and scattered. Nor is the 
 rapid increase of the United States any dithcully, 
 
122 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 though much stress has been laid upon it. That 
 it is the result of a constant immigration into 
 that favoured land from all the European coun- 
 tries is sufficiently evident ; and this may be 
 proved by a comparison of the number of 
 marriages and births in those towns where 
 emigrants in great numbers do not resort, when 
 it will be found that the increase is little or 
 nothing. Thus, in Portsmouth, the capital town 
 of New Hampshire, and not a rich town, the 
 returns are as follow :— 
 
 1804 to 1809. 
 
 Marriages. 
 
 381 
 
 Births. Proportion to a Marriage. 
 
 1,702 
 
 4 and a fraction. 
 
 The return for the rich city of Philadelphia 
 shows thus :— 
 
 A.D. 1818. 
 
 Marriages. Births. 
 
 792 
 
 2,221 
 
 Proportion to a Marriage, 
 
 (Less tlian) 3. 
 
 In addition to this, taking from Mr. Barbour's 
 publication the ratio of population for the little 
 parish of Hingham Massachusets, the result is 
 nearly the same. In fifty-four years there were 
 
OF POPULATION. 123 
 
 2,247 births, 1,11,'^ deaths, and ;'>2l niarriages 
 This makes the i^roportion of biilhs less than 
 four to each niarriaj^e, from which must he de- 
 ducted a large portion of tlic deaths. Looking 
 at the results of the general American census 
 both for 1800 and 1810 (before innnigration wiis 
 so extensive), it appears that the number of 
 adults above sixteen years of age was equal to 
 the number of children below that age ; which, 
 as Mr. Godwin observes, "shows no rapid 
 increase by procreation ; as, if so, the children 
 ought to have/ar outnumbered the adults." On 
 the other hand, it is evident enough, surely, and 
 needing little reflection, to see, that in a country 
 where i^iiiy thousand emigrants enter one port 
 alone in a year (New York), the progress of 
 population must, from that cause alone, be 
 rapid indeed ! / 
 
 Upon a review of the whole statistical details 
 of this chapter, the results aj)pear to be so 
 striking that it is diflicult to avoid the conclu- 
 sion, that as the Ibod of a people degenerates 
 from a preponderance of animal nutriment to a 
 vegetable diet, in that ratio the population in- 
 creases and thickens; and that, as this descrip- 
 tion of aliment is still reduced lower, lirst, by the 
 denial of all animal lood ; uext, by the denial oi 
 
124 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the products of the ohve and the vine ; and, 
 lastly, by the change from a wheaten or barley 
 diet to one consisting chiefly of rice, or of the 
 potatoe— in that same ratio will the population 
 still go on increasing and thickening, until it has 
 reached the verge of constant starvation, and is 
 perpetually thinned by periodical famines and 
 epidemic fevers, the certain consequences of this 
 state. Nor does it appear to make any differ- 
 ence whether this mode of living is induced by 
 climate naturally, as is perhaps the case in certain 
 countries, or artificially by superstition, or by 
 the relative position of one part of society to 
 that of another part, as is perhaps the case in 
 other countries. Thus, we see the most dense 
 and redundant population in those immense 
 regions, comprehended under the term China, 
 in Japan, and generally throughout the penin- 
 sula of Hindostan, where the climate has almost 
 forced the natives upon a vegetable diet and 
 upon the cultivation of rice almost solely, and 
 wdiere superstition has completed what the 
 climate probably originated. Next to this in 
 density, however, we find the population of 
 Ireland — whicl) is essentially and naturally a 
 pastoral country, and where, were it not for an 
 artificial and depraved state of society, which 
 
OF POPULATION. 125 
 
 lias gradually compelled the mass of the inhahi- 
 tants to a poor manner of sustenance, not arisuig 
 out of any necessity of soil and climate, the 
 population Avould have been moderate instead of 
 redundant, and wealthy instead of poor. 
 
 Nor, as it seems to the autlior, is there the 
 slightest difficulty in accounting for the growth 
 of the population of the United States of America, 
 if the circumstances of the last sixty years be 
 impartially considered with a view to this question. 
 It is true that, generally speaking, tlie circum- 
 stances in which the inhabitants of the older and 
 more settled portions of these regions are placed 
 do not conduce to rapid increase ; and we have 
 seen accordingly, that, looking at the statistics 
 of such towns as have not been much subjected 
 to the efiects of immigration, the increase has not 
 been great, nor anything beyond what might be 
 exj)ected, under the peculiar views of the pheno- 
 mena ol' ])opulation now brouglit forward. To 
 account for the population of the llepul)lic of the 
 United States, we must look iirst to tlieir imi)orl- 
 ation of Negro slaves, which went on throughout 
 the Southern States during the whole |)eriod of 
 their colonial existence ; next, to the emigration 
 from the Mother Country to the Colonies, which 
 was always in operation to a greater or less extent ; 
 
 / 
 
126 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 and lastly, to the increased emigration which 
 has, during the sixty years of their independence, 
 been flowing into the territories of the Repubhc 
 from almost every country in Europe. In addi- 
 tion to the natural increase of the earlier settlers 
 in Virginia, the Carolinas, and the Southern 
 Planting States, a large coloured population has 
 gradually been created, originating in the com- 
 merce between the convicts and other European 
 races and the Negroes ; and to this source of in- 
 crease the influx of new free English and Irish 
 settlers was constantly adding another and 
 healthier cause of progress in numbers. At 
 the time of the declaration of Independence, it 
 was believed that the Republic contained fully 
 three millions of persons, of all ages. If we 
 calculate the effects of the constant immigration 
 into the States, which has gone on throughout 
 the whole sixty years that have elapsed since the 
 conclusion of the American struggle, we shall 
 find no cause to wonder that the numbers of the 
 Republic have risen to their present amount. 
 Taking the immigration drawn into all the States 
 from all parts of the world in a lump — Enghsh, 
 Irish, Scotch, Germans, Dutch, Mexican Spa- 
 niards, and Frenchmen, not forgetting Jews, we 
 can hardlv exceed in takino; an average of thirtv 
 
OF POPULATION. 127 
 
 thousand persons per annum. This alone is an 
 addition of a million and three quarters, one halt' 
 of whom may be still living-. When, however, it 
 is considered tliat these emis:rants nearly alto- 
 gether consist of youne: i)ersons, adults, of both 
 sexes, and that they may be safely held to be 
 placed under circumstances which would render 
 them both desirous and fully capable of innne- 
 diately and »ather rapidly adding to their numbers, 
 all wonder ceases, for the stimulus to population 
 in such a case is easily seen to be enormous. 
 The persons emigrating are nearly altogether of 
 that class, where fecundity is rendered certain 
 by circumstances — young men and women in the 
 prime of life, in full health, having suffered pro- 
 bably some privations, and generally driven by 
 narrow circumstances, and a hope of bettering 
 their condition, to seek an active life of enter- 
 prise and industry, with scanty means ; but in 
 a bountiful, plentiful, and rich country. In a 
 condition like this, each year of emigration would 
 be felt not only in its mere addition, but in an 
 immediate increase by propagation, stretching 
 probably over the next ten years, or next fifteen 
 years. Repeat this year after year, at the ave- 
 rage rate assumed, or at a rate much below that, 
 and the reduplication will be touuti to be cnor- 
 
128 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 mous. With these observations the author leaves 
 this division of his subject in the hands of his 
 readers. 
 
 Upon the whole of the foregoing consider- 
 ations, as detailed in all the preceding chapters, it 
 can hardly be denied that we have now arrived 
 at the proof of a high probability that the theory 
 of population, which it is the aim of the present 
 treatise to establish, is true. Examining, in the 
 first place, the causes of the increase or decrease 
 of limited bodies of men, of whose peculiar 
 mode of living we have the means of obtaining 
 indubitable general information, it appears to be 
 clearly made out, that, wherever such men are 
 kept in the plethoric state, they cannot Ivcep up 
 their own numbers, much less increase and 
 multiply. On the other liand, it seems equally 
 clear, that, in the instances in which a great 
 increase lias taken place, which, be it observed, 
 are rare, this increase has invariably arisen out 
 of a state of depletion, hardship, or low feeding. 
 This is the state of the evidence as far as it has 
 been practicable to collect it with regard to 
 limited numbers of persons, with the routine of 
 whose lives we have the means of being generally 
 acquainted : in the statistics of nations the same 
 law of Nature is equally and beautifully manifest. 
 
OF POPULATION. 129 
 
 Going through the principal nations oi' the 
 glohe, of which we can he said to possess any- 
 thing like intimate knowledge, we trace the same 
 law through all its varieties as accompanied and 
 caused hy the variations in the mode of living, 
 arising out of the difference of climate, civiliza- 
 tion, and religion. Beginning with those coun- 
 tries in which the pastoral life, and suhsistence 
 hy the feeding of cattle, form the characteristic of 
 the people, we find the population thin in the 
 extreme, as in the grazing ])ortions of the Russian 
 empire, and those other countries where either 
 soil or climate, or the customs of the inhahitants, 
 or all three, discourage agriculture and tillage, 
 and tend to the production of animal food. 
 Passing from these to countries and nations 
 where tillage and the growth of edihle grain are 
 mingled with the hreeding and grazing of cattle, 
 we see a uniform and most marked increase in 
 the population, as measured hy the square league 
 or mile ; hut we still see the population within 
 hounds, and far helow that of those countries in 
 which a food, scanty in itself, and almost wholly 
 vegetahle, prevails. In many of those hotter 
 climates, also, where the effect of the hurning sun 
 upon the herhage is such as naturally to check 
 in a great measure the fattening of sheep or 
 K 
 
130 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 oxen, we discover that the deficiency of rich food 
 is made up, first, h}^ the pecuhar fruits which 
 encourage the breeding of swine and of poultry ; 
 and, secondly, by the rich and oleaginous species 
 of nourishment afforded to the nature of such 
 regions by the fruits themselves which are 
 pecuhar to the climate. Thus, in Spain, in 
 France, in Italy, and in Portugal, though the 
 fattening of oxen and sheep is less easy than in the 
 more temperate climates, yet the immense quan- 
 tities of poultry and of swine, and also the use 
 of the rich and luxurious products of the olive 
 and the vine, make amends for the partial 
 deficiency of animal food. In these countries 
 the produce of domestic fowls, and consequently 
 of eggs, is known to be enormous, as indeed the 
 extraordinary quantity of the latter imported 
 from France and Belgium into this country amply 
 proves ; and if to this we add the constant use 
 of olive oil and of wine as articles of daily diet, 
 we shall easily perceive that, though the fat 
 beeves of more temperate countries are wanting, 
 there is yet no want of rich nutriment to the 
 inhabitants, nor of plenty of means to maintain 
 that plethoric state of the frame which seems 
 necessary to moderate the prolificness of all 
 animals, man not excepted. Carrying round our 
 
i 
 
 OF POPULATION. 131 
 
 gaze from one part of the globe to anotlicr, we 
 at length discover that enormous po]nilation 
 is attendant only upon a nutriment totally 
 vegetable, and of the thinnest and poorest kind, 
 and that not in abundance, but the contrary. 
 We find enormous swarms of mankind covering 
 certain regions : we mark these phenomena in 
 Hindostan, in China, in Japan, and latterly in 
 Ireland; and on inquiry we iind that these 
 people are destitute of the olive and the vine ; 
 and not knowing what the taste of animal food 
 is, subsist for the most part upon the inunctuous 
 fruits, upon fish, and the less farinaceous grain 
 and roots — upon the products of the sea and 
 rivers, upon rice, upon tea, upon the potato, 
 and upon the more acid descriptions of fruit. 
 
 Thus far, then, viewing the effects of diet upon 
 all practicable scales — viewing them as exhibited 
 in the condition of nations as well as of small 
 bodies of men — we perceive the same laws 
 manifesting themselves throughout, in all their 
 various degrees and modifications, shade fol- ' 
 low^ing shade. \Ve see luxury not only forbidding 
 increase, but causing rapid decrease ; we see a 
 more moderate, but still a gi-oss and luxurious 
 mode of subsistence, producing the like effects in 
 a mitigated way. Going further down the scale, 
 K 2 
 
132 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 we find an imperfect supply of nutriment imme- 
 diately followed, and always accompanied, by an 
 increase of fecundity and numbers ; and, wben- 
 ever we see this applied to an entire population, 
 we witness rapid increase, and all the fearful 
 effects of over-population going on together with 
 increasing pressure. 
 
 ki 
 
OF POPULATION. 133 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MINOR PROOFS NOT INCLUDED IN THE FOREGOING 
 CHAPTERS. 
 
 In prosecuting an inquiry like the present, it 
 will always be found that there are minor facts 
 and arguments bearing quite directly upon the 
 question at issue, but which cannot easily be 
 classed under any general head, or so managed 
 as to be made a part of the main stream of the 
 argument. Of some of these, which though they 
 go directly, and, it is hoped, strongly, to prove 
 the truth of the law regulating population here 
 attempted to be established, are yet in their 
 nature insulated and distinct, it is now intended 
 to treat. 
 
 In the first place, it may be remarked, as a 
 proof of the continual care taken by Nature to 
 preserve the species, that, though the prolific 
 state may have apparently ceased for many 
 
134 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 years, yet immediately preceding its real and 
 actual cessation, oftspring, as a last effort, are 
 very frequently produced ; and hence, just as 
 fruit-trees, on the year before they die, com- 
 monly bear a large crop of fruit ; so women, 
 frequently, who have been unprolific for many 
 years, bear a child, many frequently twins, 
 towards their advanced age. Upon this, as a 
 fact familiar to all medical persons and physio- 
 logists, it is needless to insist further. Another 
 striking corroboration of the law here endeavoured 
 to be established, is the fact, that childless 
 couples, who have been accustomed to full and 
 luxurious living, very frequently have children 
 after being reduced in their circumstances, and 
 unable to live as before. Of this undoubted 
 fact every reader almost will, in his or her own 
 experience, be able to point out examples ; and 
 therefore it would be useless to dilate upon it. 
 The constant occurrence of the fact, however, and 
 its causes, may be shown in a different manner — it 
 being a truth quite capable of proof upon an 
 extended scale, that prolificness always is a 
 concomitant of a change in the mode of hving 
 from plenty to the contrary. It was probably 
 from this being the case, that the observation 
 took its rise, which asserts that " more children 
 
OF POPULATION. 135 
 
 are born in winter than in summer !" A 
 singular remark, but not devoid of truth — applied, 
 as it no doubt was, to Catholic countries. The 
 cause is stated by Swift in one of his humorous 
 allusions, as follows: — "We are told (says he) 
 " by a grave author, an eminent French physician, 
 " that fish being a prolific diet, there are more 
 " children born in Roman Catholic countries 
 " about nine months after Lent, than at any 
 " other season." Now, although this is quoted 
 by Swift in one of his ironical Treatises — (" A 
 Modest Proposal to the Publick for preventing 
 the Children of the Poor being a Burthen to their 
 Parents." — vide Swift's Works, vol. ix.) — there 
 is no reason to suppose that fact has not been 
 observed ; and Lent falling always in Spring, the 
 origin of the proverb as to the increase of births 
 in winter is evident enough. The observation 
 of the French physician is, in truth, only a repe- 
 tition of the ancient notion as to a diet on fish 
 being a cause of prolilicness ; which no question 
 it is — not because the diet is fish, but because the 
 diet is jwor. The best proof, however, that 
 seasons of scarcity and seasons of prolihcness are 
 almost synonimous terms, is supplied by the late 
 Michael Thomas Sadler, in his work on Popula- 
 tion. In volume ii. of that work, he has con- 
 
136 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 structed, amidst many others, the following tables, 
 which certainly, if ever anything was demon- 
 strated, demonstrate this beyond a doubt. The 
 wonder is how the acute mind of Mr. Sadler 
 could contemplate these results, without being 
 led by them to discover what is really the law 
 by which population is regulated. His failing to 
 do this, is only one more example of how apt 
 preconceived theories are apt to distort views 
 of evidence, even in the strongest minds. Asa 
 contradiction of the theory of Mr. Mai thus - whose 
 views Mr. Sadler was eager to combat — the 
 results, as stated by him, are conclusive and in- 
 valuable. As a help to his own theory, they are 
 quite nugatory. With the views of this question, 
 now attempted to be estabhshed, they perfectly 
 accord. Mr. Sadler, it will be seen, has taken 
 three separate instances of years of plenty, either 
 following or preceding years of scarcity ; and by 
 taking the births through a certain consequent 
 period after both years, the result is, in all, that 
 the conceptions in the years of dearth exceed 
 those of the plentiful years, although the mar- 
 riages of the years of plenty, are, as might be 
 expected, for the most part, more than those of 
 the years of pressure. In each of the years com- 
 pared, the number of marriages and conceptions, 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 137 
 
 and the prices of wheat are given . the reader 
 \Yill remark how very curiously tlie results 
 correspond. 
 
 In the tirst Table, No. 1 , the year of scarcity 
 precedes that oi" plenty. The marriages of the 
 year of dearth are, very naturally, much fewer 
 than those of the plentiful year, and yet the 
 conceptions are more ; thus shewing that an 
 increase in the means of comfortable and full 
 living, immediately checks population. 
 
 TABLE, No. 1. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Marriages. 
 
 .-«■ 
 
 Conceptions. 
 
 Price of WTieat. 
 
 1796 
 1798 
 
 73,107 
 79,477 
 
 268,08H 
 266,769 
 
 £ s. d. 
 3 17 1 
 2 10 3 
 
 Difference 
 
 + 6,370 
 
 — 1,319 
 
 1 6 10 
 
 In the next Tabic, No. 2, the year of plenty 
 comes first, and is a precursor to that of dearth. 
 In the year of dearth, it will be seen there is a 
 striking diminution in the number of marriages. 
 They fall off by a whole eighth. Despite of this, 
 however, there is great increase of conce[)tions, 
 amounting nearly to a twelfth additional ; thus 
 
138 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 proving that a diminution of the means of Uving 
 comfortably immediately stimulates population. 
 
 TABLE, No. 2. 
 
 Years. Marriages. 
 
 Conceptions. 
 
 Price of Wheat. 
 
 1799 
 1801 
 
 77,537 
 67,228 
 
 254,870 
 273,837 
 
 £ s. d. 
 3 7 6 
 5 18 3 
 
 Difference 
 
 — 10,329 
 
 -1- 18,967 
 
 + 2 10 9 
 
 In the Table, No. 3, the year of comparative 
 plenty again comes first; and in the year of 
 dearth the marriages again diminish^n number, 
 though not in the ratio of the preceding table. 
 The extraordinary part of this table is, however, 
 the proof which it affords, that the conceptions 
 accurately correspond with the prices of food. 
 In this table the lowest price of wheat, sixty-one 
 shillings and tenpence the quarter^ is really a 
 high price. According to this theory, then, the 
 stimulus to population is already in activity; 
 and the conclusion, a priori, is, that an enhanced 
 price ought not to be followed by an effect 
 proportionately as great as would have been, or 
 ought to have been, the case had the advance 
 
OF POPULATION 
 
 139 
 
 of price been from a lower average. This, it will 
 be observed, is completely borne out in the result. 
 The conceptions do increase, notwithstanding 
 the diminution of marriages ; but in a ratio far 
 below that of the former tables, where the 
 starting point is from actual cheapness to dear- 
 ness. The value of this result, as confirming 
 the truth of the views now attempted to be 
 estabUshed, must be evident to everybody. 
 
 TABLE, No. 3. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Marriages. 
 
 Conceptions. 
 
 Price of Wheat. 
 
 1815 
 1817 
 
 99,944 
 88,234 
 
 330,199 
 331,384 
 
 .£' 6. (1. 
 
 3 1 10 
 
 4 10 7 
 
 Difterence 
 
 — 11,710 
 
 + 1,185 
 
 -f 1 8 
 
 
 To the above tables it is hardly necessary to add 
 any further remarks. They strongly prove the 
 pervading description of the law of Nature, that 
 any diminution of means which tends to endan- 
 ger the species is immediately met by an in- 
 creased sexual fertility. It may, however, be 
 proper to observe, that the existence of this 
 beautiful law of Providence is also proved by 
 
140 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the admitted facts of the rapidity with which 
 gaps in a population, caused by plague, or other 
 pestilential visitations, are filled up ; and of the 
 immensely nicreased tendencies to propagation 
 which medical persons testify are always exhi- 
 bited by persons recovering from plague, typhus, 
 and other contagious disorders. 
 
 Suffering the foregoing considerations to rest, 
 as all such considerations must rest, upon the 
 good old rule of " valeant, quantum valere pos- 
 sunt," there is yet another proof to be adduced 
 of the validity of the reasoning which they 
 embody, and this of a nature at variance with 
 all existing theories of population, and the 
 maxims founded upon them. It has very gene- 
 rally and very plausibly been set down as an 
 obvious truth, that "late marriages" are a 
 "check to population;" and if carried far enough, 
 with regard to the im[)ortant point of delay, 
 there can be no doubt that this is not only a 
 truth, but a truism. Provident Nature has, how- 
 ever, done all she could to secure the contmua- 
 tion of the species against this danger ; and sin- 
 gular to relate, but most indubitably true it is, 
 that when marriage is delayed, fertility is in- 
 creased, in the ratio of delay, until the point is 
 passed after which the bearing of children be- 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 141 
 
 comes impossible. In order to prove this extra- 
 ordinary and very instructive fact, the follo^Yinii; 
 table is adduced. It was constructed by Doctor 
 Granville, and ]\Ir. Finlayson, the well-known 
 accountant, and is based upon the particulars 
 of eight hundred and seventy-six cases, which that 
 eminent practitioner attended as " Physician to 
 the Benevolent Lying-in Institution, and West- 
 minster Dispensary." It will be observed that 
 the cases were, in all human probability, those 
 of females in the same station of life ; all pro- 
 bably suckling their own children, and exposed 
 to none of the causes of partial sterility on one 
 hand, or stimulated fertility on the other, to 
 which females in the more artificial stations of 
 life are subjected. 
 
 TABLE. 
 
 SHOWING THE EFFECT THAT THE POSTPONEMENT OF MARRIAGE IX 
 FEMALES HAS UPON THEIU ANNUAL FFCt'NDITV. 
 
 Ages w 
 
 hen 
 
 mar 
 
 ied. 
 
 A 
 
 verage 
 
 of births to the year. 
 
 13 to 10 
 16 .. 20 
 21 .. 24 
 25 .. 28 
 29 .. 32 
 .33 .. 30 
 37 . . 39 
 
 
 
 . . . . 
 
 •450,700 
 ■503,010 
 •520,227 
 •545,103 
 •589.811 
 •770,806 
 M 25,000 
 
142 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 The results in the above table are given in 
 decimals ; but the general results may be de- 
 scribed as follows : — When females marry at, 
 or before twenty years of age, their average off- 
 spring is not quite a child in two years. From 
 twenty to thirty-two, females marrying produce 
 on an average somewhat faster than a child in 
 two years. If married from thirty-three to 
 thirty-six years of age, females will average more 
 than two births in three years ; and from thirty- 
 seven to thirty-nine, about a birth in each eleven 
 months, being rather more than one each year. 
 
 All these results, it may be safely affirmed, 
 tend one way. That is to say, they go directly 
 to confirm the existence of that great natural 
 law which provides that the power of increase 
 shall itself grow with the exigencies of the 
 occasion ; and that, as the continuation of the 
 species may be endangered, in that exact pro- 
 portion the facility and power of continuance 
 shall be enlarged and extended. That this law 
 extends to the human race, as well as being 
 the regulator of the fecundity and produce both 
 of the inferior animals and the vegetable king- 
 dom, seems to be abundantly clear, as far as the 
 proofs derived directly from physiology as well 
 as statistics are concerned. There are, however, 
 
OF POPULATION. 143 
 
 of course, other and more circuitous roads by 
 which we may arrive at other proofs, and to the 
 same conchisions ; and to these the natural 
 course and current of the argument next incline 
 us to turn, 
 
 H 
 
144 THE TRUE LA^V 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ARGUMENT FROM] THE SOLUTION OF SOME HISTO- 
 RICAL DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 In the treatment of a subject lilve tliat under 
 review, in addition to the more direct arguments 
 on which the proofs needed are to rest and be 
 embodied, there are also evidences of an indirect 
 kind, which though perliaps not of themselves 
 conclusive as to the issue, are yet, if joined to 
 other and more simple evidence, strongly corro- 
 borative of the truth which, upon the whole, is 
 sought to be established. If, for instance, we 
 can point out one or more historical facts, 
 undoubted as facts, but of which a satisfactory 
 explanation has never been given ; and if the 
 theory as to po])ulation, and the laws which 
 regulate it, which is now sought to be established, 
 shall afford an easv, natural, and self-evident 
 
OF POPULATION. 145 
 
 explanation of these lioretoforc liistorical puzzles 
 or mysteries, than this solution, so arrived at, 
 though not in itself a direct evidence that the 
 theory itself is true, is yet presumptive evidence 
 that it probably may be true; and if this presump- 
 tive proof is corroborated by direct proof, then 
 is the argument upon the whole strengthened by 
 such coincidences ; the direct and the indirect 
 testimonies mutually confirming each other. 
 That there are more than one historical fact of 
 this inexplicable nature, but which, admitting the 
 theory now treated of to be true, are rendered 
 easily explicable, it is the business of this chapter 
 to show ; and it is hoped that the few preliminary 
 remarks which he has thought it proper to make 
 will avail to show that no improper weight is 
 intended by the author to be laid upon testimony 
 of this kind ; and that this part of the argument, 
 though strictly logical as intended to be applied, 
 is given likewise as a matter of curiosity, as it 
 bears, in the reflex, upon the historical points 
 in question. 
 
 The first point to which the author would 
 advert occurs in the history of his own country. 
 It is that decay in population which was sup})osed 
 to have been in progress from about the year 
 fourteen hundred and eighty-eight, up to a period 
 
14G THE TRUE LAW 
 
 probably ending about sixteen hundred and fifty -, 
 that is to say, from the commencement of 
 Henry the Seventh's reign up to that of Charles 
 the Second. That such a decay was supposed 
 by those living at the time to be going on, is 
 a fact quite unquestionable. It may be proved 
 not only from the writers of the period, but 
 from the Statute Book, where it is not only 
 frequently alluded to, but where it forms the 
 subject of one or more actual and entire 
 statutes. The most remarkable circumstance, 
 however, is, that this decay of population, real 
 or supposed, singular as it may seem in itself, 
 went on in company with increasing luxury for 
 the greater portion of the time, on the part of 
 the whole people, and especially on the part of 
 the labouring people. Nor is there the slightest 
 reason to suppose that during any part of the 
 period, save and except during some years of 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth, anything like 
 want existed, in any extended sense, anywhere 
 in England ; and of this not only the writings 
 of the time, but the Statute Book also, affords 
 proof in abundance. 
 
 Let us now look at the evidence of the first 
 of these facts, that is to say, of the general belief 
 of a decay of the people which prevailed at the 
 
OF POPULATION. 147 
 
 period referred to. That such a belief existed, 
 no man who has looked at tlie Statutes of these 
 remote periods can doubt. Sir Frederick M. 
 Eden, in his " History of tlie state of the Poor," 
 (vol. 1, p. 73,) says, " from 1488, and for a century 
 and a half after this period, depopulation con- 
 tinued to be the theme of the Legislature 1" 
 That this assertion of Sir Frederick Eden is 
 founded on truth and actual facts, a very cursory 
 inspection of the Acts passed during the period 
 he refers to, and during the periods of about half 
 a century before and after, will afford sufficient 
 testimony to the inquirer. The strongest proof 
 of the evident decay in population, as evinced by 
 " the pulling down of houses and towns," is 
 perhaps the Statute of the fourth year of Henry 
 Vn., chapter 19. This act, it will be seen, after 
 asserting and describing the decay of houses all 
 over the country, especially in the agricultural 
 parts, where cbanges in trade do not shift or 
 draw together masses of people, absolutely em- 
 powers the authorities to repair any ruinous 
 house, which shall have twenty or more acres of 
 land attached, out of the rents, without or 
 against the owner's consent, and levies heavy 
 penalties for neglect of the provisions of such 
 statute. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 The following Extract will, in some measure, 
 put the reader in possession of the intent as well 
 as the grounds of this extraordinary Act, which 
 prove incontestibly the rapid decay of popu- 
 lation at the time of its enactment, though the 
 remedies proposed be inapplicable and absurd. 
 The Act itself extends over many folio pages, 
 and is extremely rare. That its great length has 
 been one cause of its exclusion from the ordinary 
 editions of the Statutes is probable ; but it is also 
 quite as likely, that the singular nature of its 
 preamble and enactments must have contributed 
 to its banishment from all modern collections of 
 Acts of Parliament. Under the views we are 
 at this time accustomed to take of the subject of 
 population, the whole seems an inexplicable 
 farra2:o, and more like a hallucination of Leds- 
 lative insanity, than an enactment of sane men. 
 The theory, however, now in course of being 
 proved, aftbrds a key to the whole mystery ; and 
 the causes which no doubt influenced the Legis- 
 ture are at once apparent and certain. 
 
OF POPULATION. 149 
 
 CHAPTER 19th, HENRY 7th— Anno Ql'arto. 
 
 The penally for deearjiuy of Houses of Husbandry, or not layi'iy of 
 convenient Land for the maintenance of the same. 
 
 Item, the King our Soueraigne Lord, having a singular pleasure above 
 all things to avoide such enormities and niischiefes, as be hurtfull and pre- 
 judicial! to the common wcale of this his laud and his subiects of the same, 
 remembreth that, among all other thhigs great inconveniences daily doe 
 increase, by desolation and puUmg downe and wilfull waste of houses and 
 tovrns within this Realme, and laying to pasture lands, which customably 
 have beene used in tillage, whereby idlenesse, which is the ground off, and 
 beginning of all niischiefes, daily doth encrease. 
 
 For where in some towns two hundred persons were occupied and lieued 
 by their lawful! laboui-s, now there arc occupied two or three heardmeu, 
 and the residue fall into idlenesse, the husbandrie which is one of the 
 greatest commodities of tliis Realme, is greatly decayed. Churches destroyed, 
 the service of God withdrawen, the bodies there buried not prayed for, the 
 Patrons and Curates wronged, the defence of this land against our enemies 
 outward, feebled and impaired, to the great displeasure of God, to the 
 subuersion of the pollicie of, and good rule of this land, if remidie be not 
 provided : Wherefore the King our Soueraigne Lord, by the advice of the 
 Lords spiritual! and temporal!, and the commons of this said Parliament 
 assembled, and by authority of the same, hath ordained, enacted, and 
 stablished, that no person, of what estate, degree, or condition that he 
 be, that hath any house or houses, that at any time witliin three years past, 
 liath beene or that now is, or that hereafter shall be lette for fcrme, with 
 XX. (20) acres of land at least, or more, lying in tillage and liusbandrie, 
 tliat the owner or owners of every such house or houses, or land, doe keci)c, 
 sustaine, mamtaine houses and buildings vpon the said ground, and land 
 convenient and necessarie for maintainmg and vpholJing of the said tillage 
 and husbandrie. 
 
 And if any such owners or owner of any such houses, or houses and 
 land, take land and occujiie any such house or houses, and keep in his or 
 their owne hands, that the saidc owner or owners, by the saide authoritie be 
 
150 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 bound in likewise to keepe and maintaine houses vpon the saide ground and 
 land, convenient and neccssarie for the maintaining and vpholding of the 
 saide tillage and husbaudrie. And if any man doe contrary to the pre- 
 misses of any of them, that then it be lawfuU to the King, if any such lands 
 or houses be holden of liira immediately, or to the Lords of the Fees, if 
 if any such lands be holden of them immediately, to receive yeercly halfe 
 the value of the issues and profits of any such lands, whereof the house or 
 houses be not so maintained and sustained. And the same half deale of the 
 issues and profits to have, holde, and keepe to his or their ovvn vse, without 
 anything therefore to be payed or given, till such time as the same house 
 or houses bee sufficiently builded or repaired againe. And that no manner 
 of freehold be in the Kmg, nor any such Lord or Lords, by the taking of 
 any such profits, of or in any such lands in no manner of forme : but ouely 
 the King, and the saide Lord or Lords, have power to take, receive, and 
 have the saide issues and profits, as is above saide, and therefore the King, 
 or the saide Lord or Lords to have power to distrauie for the saide issues 
 and profits, to be had and perceived by them, in forme above sayde, by 
 authoritie of this present Acte. 
 
 This Act is, however, borne most amply out 
 by many others, which demonstrate that the 
 decay which caused all this alarm extended into 
 boroughs and cities, as well as rural villages and 
 townships. Thus the Act of the third year of 
 the next reign (Henry VIIL), chapter 8, recites 
 in the preamble, that " Many, and the most 
 PART, of cities, boroughs, and toivns corporate, 
 be fallen to ruin and decay." That this decay 
 of houses followed a progressive diminution of 
 the population, the statutes of the same period 
 prove. Thus, in another Act of the fourth year 
 of Henry the Seventh, being chapter 16, it is 
 
OF POPULATION. 151 
 
 asserted, that there is "a great decay of people 
 111 the Isle of Wight." This Act was passed 
 ill the year 1488, referred to by Sir Frederick 
 Morton Eden, as the time when the alarm of 
 "depopulation" begins to be evident in the 
 Statute Book. It is a most preposterous mode 
 of argument to endeavour to throw doubts upon 
 the facts, because, up to this period, no one has 
 had any true knowledge of the causes. They 
 will neither admit of denial nor of being ex- 
 plained away. It will not do to say that the 
 population were, by the operations of trade, 
 drawn into the towns ; because we see that the 
 decay was equally evident in the cities, boroughs, 
 and towns, in spite of any tendency of the 
 people to draw to the towns, a tendency which 
 to some extent certainly did exist; and the 
 causes of which shall be pointed out afterwards, 
 existing, as they do, in that same Statute Book 
 which describes the diminution of the numbers 
 of the people. As might be expected from 
 persons legislating in profound ignorance of the 
 real causes of the phenomena, wiiich they could 
 not help seeing, the causes assigned, and the 
 remedies prescribed in these Acts, arc highly 
 absurd. "Monopoly" was the bugbear mostly 
 relied on by the alarmists, and the consolidation 
 
152 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 of farms, and monopolies of live-stock, and dif- 
 ferent trading monopolies, are inveighed against 
 and limited by various Acts, which fix a maxi- 
 mum of the acres, cattle and sheep, apprentices, 
 &c. &c., to be occupied, or owned, or employed, 
 by the individual. These laws were doubtless 
 sufficiently absurd and impracticable ; but they 
 afford proof indubitable of the existence of the state 
 of things which they were intended to remedy. 
 
 Such being the facts as tp the state of the 
 
 population during the period of English history 
 
 referred to, it next remains to be shown that 
 
 this decay of towns and their inhabitants cannot 
 
 be explained upon any hypothesis built upon any 
 
 supposed law of population hitherto attempted 
 
 to be established. Upon such theories as those 
 
 wdiicli depend upon the assertion that exuberance 
 
 of food stimulates population, the extraordinary 
 
 facts alluded to by Sir Frederick Morton Eden 
 
 must be held to be absolutely preternatural ; for, 
 
 during the entire period throughout which they 
 
 manifested themselves, it may be proved beyond 
 
 the possibility of a doubt, that luxury amongst 
 
 the middling, and exuberant plenty amongst the 
 
 very lowest classes, universally prevailed. Of 
 
 this truth there is not only copious, but various 
 
 proof. Not only do the writers of the time 
 
b 
 
 OF POPULATION. 153 
 
 describe, in a way not to be misunderstood, 
 the amazing ease and plenty which then pre- 
 vailed throughout England, but the Statutes of 
 the period teem with testimonies of a siniihu' 
 sort. These statutary proofs arc of more than one 
 sort. First, there are Acts distinctly against 
 luxury of certain sorts ; next, there are Acts 
 to limit the wages of labour and keep down 
 luxuriousness of living amongst the people at 
 large ; and, lastly, there are statutes which, in 
 their preamble, describe the plenty then existing. 
 It is necessary for the purposes of this argument 
 to advert to all these in detail, and in their turn, 
 taking them, as nearly as possible, in the order 
 in which they are now mentioned. First, as to 
 the writers. 
 
 Of the few writers touching upon the subject 
 in question who flourished at the early periods 
 now referred to, the highest in point of authority 
 stands probably Chief Justice Sir John Fortescue. 
 His celebrated treatise, " De Laudibus Legum 
 Angliae," contains evidence the most indubitable 
 of the flourishing state in which England was 
 at the era when it was written. This evidence is 
 the more incontestibly strong, because it is in 
 some degree indirect. Fortescue was not, in- 
 tentionally, writing a statistical statement of the 
 
154 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 wealth and mode of Uving of the English people 
 — quite the contrary. His book is a book of 
 law, and the intention of the learned and vene- 
 rable writer was to exalt the law and consti- 
 tutional Government of England above those 
 of other countries. In order to do this effectu- 
 ally, he compares the well-known state of the 
 English people, at the time of his writing, with 
 that of the people of France, where he then was 
 as guardian to the Prince, the eldest son of 
 Henry VI. (afterwards killed at Tewkesbury,) 
 during the civil wars of Lancaster and York ; 
 and he deduces the wealth and ease of the one, 
 compared with the poverty and wretchedness 
 of the other, from the comparative perfection 
 and imperfection of the laws under which each 
 lived. This part of Chief Justice Fortescue's 
 book is, therefore, an appeal to facts notorious 
 to the world, in corroboration of a legal argu- 
 ment ; and, as such, it becomes the best possible 
 evidence of the state and condition of the English 
 people at the time when its distinguished author 
 wrote. The following passages contain inva- 
 luable testimony of the wealth, independence, 
 ease, and comfort, which existed in England 
 when they were written. Under the head en- 
 titled, *'Why inquests are not made by juries 
 
OF POPULATION. 155 
 
 of twelve men in other realms as well as in 
 England?" Fortescuc thus writes: — 
 
 " Moreover, the same countrie is so filled and 
 ' replenished with landed men, that therein so 
 ' small a thorp cannot be found wherein dwcUetli 
 ' not a Knight or Esquire, or such a householder 
 ' as is there commonly called a Franchelayne, 
 ' enriched with great possessions ; and also other 
 ' freeholders {libere tenentcs) and many yeomen 
 ' (valecti), able for their livehhoods to make a 
 ' jury in form aforementioned ; for there be in 
 ' that land divers yeomen which are able to 
 ' dispend by the year above a hundred pounds 
 ' (sexcenta scuta), (i. e., a hundred pounds of the 
 ' money of Selden's time, 1640 to 1G50, when 
 ' he translated Fortescue ; p'ohahly six times or 
 ' seven times the value of the money of the 
 ' present time.) Wherefore juries, afore-declared, 
 ' are then very oft made, specially in great 
 ' matters, of Knights and Esquires, and others 
 ' whose possessions, in the whole, amountcth 
 ' yearly above the sum of five hundred marks 
 ' {duo millia scutorum). Wherefore it cannot 
 ' be thought that such men can be suborned, or 
 ' that they will be perjured ; not only for that 
 ' they have before their eyes the fear of God, 
 ' but also for that they have a careful regard 
 
156 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 " to the preservation of their honours, and to 
 " the eschewing of reproach or dammage there- 
 " upon ensiieing, and also that their heirs be not 
 " impeached through their infamie. After this 
 " manner, O mighty Prince, are none other 
 " reahiis of the world disposed and inhabited !" — 
 Fortescue de Laudibus, p. 65, chapter 49. 
 
 Under the head of *' the Commodities that 
 proceed of the joint Government Politique and 
 Royal in the Realm of England," he proceeds 
 thus : — 
 
 " Hereby it cometli to passe that the men of 
 " this land are riche, having abundance of gold 
 " and silver, and (all) other things {cunctis 
 " necessariis) for the maintenance of man's life. 
 " They drink no water, unlesse it be so that 
 " some for devotion and upon a zeale of pe- 
 "■ nance do abstain from other drink. They eat 
 " plentifully of all kinds of flesh and fish. They 
 " weare fine woollen cloth in their apparell. 
 " They have also abundance of bed-coverings 
 " in their houses and of all other woollen stufFe, 
 " they have great store of all hustlements fhos- 
 " tilimcntisj and implements of household. They 
 " are plentifully furnished with all instruments 
 " of husbandry, and with all other things that 
 '' are requisite to the accomplishment of a quiet 
 
OF POPULATION. 157 
 
 " and wealthy life accord iiip; to their estates and 
 " degrees." — Fortcscuc de Laudibus, page 85, 
 chapter 30. 
 
 Here we have a descvi])tion of national wealth 
 and comfort unmatchable, as Sir John Fortescue 
 justly says, in any country or age, of which we 
 know anything. He makes it a matter of 
 reproach to the French, that they only eat 
 bacon, and the heads and entrails of oxen and 
 sheep, and that whilst their masters get the 
 pullets, the eggs only are left for them; thus 
 making a hardship of a diet of "eggs and 
 bacon." This famous book was probably written 
 about the year 14G0— certainly not later. From 
 this period up to the battle of Bosworth Field, 
 and the accession of Henry the Seventh, is 
 exactly a period of twenty-five years ; during 
 which the kingdom was at peace at home and 
 abroad until the Earl of Richmond's enterprise, 
 which after one battle made him king. A quarter 
 of a. century of quiet and security must have 
 tended to increase the wealth and luxury which 
 Fortescue so graphically describes ; and yet, at 
 this very time, we find a general alarm of the 
 decay of population and the ruin of towns per- 
 vading the Statue Book, and continuing for a 
 century and a half, until the seizure of the 
 
158 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 possessions of the Church first caused beggary 
 and pauperism in England. 
 
 After Chief Justice FortescuC; the most valu- 
 able testimony as to the state of society in 
 remoter times, is, perhaps, to be found in Fleet- 
 wood's " Chronicon Preciosum," or History of 
 Prices from the earliest known records. Fleet- 
 wood's statements were probably in a great 
 measure compiled from Acts of Parliament, 
 County Rolls and Records, and other similar 
 archives. Be that as it may, his statements, 
 both as to wages and the prices of food and 
 clothing, are generally borne out by the statutes 
 passed by Parliament from time to time to regu- 
 late both the wages and dress of labouring per- 
 sons; and the perusal of the whole must impress 
 the most careless reader with a strong convic- 
 tion of the ease and plenty which must have 
 been felt . throughout all society in these ages. 
 The following table, which is compiled mostly 
 from Fleetwood, but partly from the Statutes, 
 gives a comparative view of the rules of wages 
 and prices of necessaries from a.d. 1400 to 
 A.D. 1G50. The whole indicates a highly pro- 
 sperous state, extending throughout all classes 
 of society. 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 TABLE OF PRICES AND WAGES, 
 
 159 
 
 A.D. 1400. 
 
 
 s. d. 
 
 \Mieat, per quarter « . 
 
 8 
 
 Barley, ditto 
 
 5 4 
 
 Fat sheep 
 
 1 
 
 Ditto . . , . 
 
 lOA 
 
 An ox carcass . 
 
 7 G 
 
 A goose .... 
 
 4 
 
 A lamb .... 
 
 8 
 
 Best beer, per gallon 
 
 li 
 
 Claret ditto 
 
 8 
 
 1450. 
 
 
 W'hesit (plentiful) , per quarter 
 
 5 4 
 
 Finest ditto ditto . 
 
 8 
 
 Oats ditto . 
 
 2 1 
 
 A lean ox . . . 
 
 13 
 
 A veal or calf . 
 
 2 
 
 A goose . . . . 
 
 3 
 
 A lamb . . . . 
 
 1 
 
 Eggs, per hundred . 
 
 5 
 
 Red wine, per gallon . 
 
 1 
 
 1454. 
 
 
 Malt (plenty), per quarter . 
 
 2 8 
 
 Ditto ditto 
 
 1 4 
 
 An ox . , 
 
 12 
 
 Ale, per gallon 
 
 1 
 
 1480. 
 
 
 "Wlieat, per quarter . 
 
 4 4 
 
 Oats, ditto 
 
 2 
 
 1500. 
 
 
 Wheat, per quarter . 
 
 1 4 
 
 Malt, ditto 
 
 2 8 
 
 A cow 
 
 8 
 
 A lamo . 
 
 1 
 
 A pig . 
 
 5 
 
 Eggs, per hundred . 
 
 9 
 
 Wine, ))er gallon 
 
 1 
 
 Ditto, ditto 
 
 8 
 
 Carcass of a neat 
 
 . 10 
 
 A.D. 1400. 
 
 s. 
 
 Threshing grain, per qr, . 
 A master mason's wages, per " 
 
 day . 
 
 Making 100 faggots . 
 
 Reaping grain, per acre . 
 
 Sawing per 100 ft. of deal 1 
 
 A labourer's wages, per day 
 
 }» 
 
 1450. 
 A tiler and mto, per day . 1 
 A mower, with diet, ditto 
 A reaper, with diet, ditto . 
 A tiler, ditto . . .0 
 A man and cart, ditto . 1 
 A master carpenter, ditto . 
 A sawyer, ditto 
 A labourer, per three days 
 A weeder, per day . 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 G 
 
 1 8 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 1 4 
 2 
 
 1500. 
 
 A carpenter, with diet, per 1 q 
 day . . . .J 
 
 
 
 A plumber, ditto, ditto 
 A tiler or joiner, ditto 
 Lesser crafts, without diet, 
 
 per day . . 
 A mower, ditto, ditto 
 A reaper, ditto, ditto 
 A carter, ditto, ditto 
 A woman labourer, ilitto , 
 
 G 
 
160 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 1550. 
 
 Wheat, per quarter . 
 Ditto (scarcity), ditto 
 Barley ditto 
 
 A steer, fat 
 Mutton, per carcass • 
 A :\vedder 
 
 1570. 
 
 Wheat (scarcity), perqr 
 
 1575. 
 
 Wheat, per qr. 
 
 £ s. 
 
 14 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 1 5 
 :} 
 4 
 
 IGOO. 
 Wheat, per quarter . 
 Bailey, ditto 
 A sheep . 
 A goose . 
 Six pigeons 
 
 IGlOto 1G50. 
 
 A fat ox . 
 
 Mutton, per of stone 81b. 
 
 A veal 
 
 A lamb 
 
 Tongues, cui-ed, per doz. 
 
 A chine of beef 
 
 Wheat, per quarter . 
 
 Ditto, ditto 
 
 1585. 
 
 Wheat (scarcity), per qr. 1 4 
 
 A calf or veal . . 7 
 
 Barley, per quarter . 13 
 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 9 10 
 2 
 17 
 G 
 12 
 
 18 
 
 1 14 
 
 2 
 
 1550. 
 
 A mower's statute wages, 
 with diet, per day 
 
 A mower, without diet, do. 
 
 A binder and shearer, witli 
 diet, per day 
 
 A shearer, without diet, do. 
 
 A journeyman tailor, with 
 diet, ditto . 
 
 1570. 
 Labourei-s, without diet, per "1 q 
 day . . . . J 
 
 s. (1. 
 ■0 4 
 
 10 
 ■ 2 
 
 5 
 .0 4 
 
 IGOO. 
 A labourer, per day 
 
 lC10tolG50. 
 
 A master mason, per day . 
 A mason, with diet, ditto . 
 Apprentice masons, ditto . 
 Apprentices, with diet, do. 
 Millwrights, ditto . 
 Plough-wrights, ditto 
 Labourers, ordinary, ditto 
 Journeymen arlizans, ditto 
 Reapers, ditto 
 Women shearers, tUtto 
 Plumbers, ditto 
 Glaziers, dilto 
 Collar-makers, dilto 
 Armourers, ditto 
 Knackers, ditto 
 
 1 G 
 1 
 10 
 
OF POPULATION. IGl 
 
 III reading the above table, it must abvays be 
 remembered that the wages quoted by Fleetwood 
 were regulated lor the most part by statute, and 
 not by supply and demand. The labourers, 
 being few comparatively, would not bind them- 
 selves to work, excepting for ample wages ; 
 and this disposition to force exorbitant wages, 
 as it was called, on the part of the labouring 
 people, was attempted to be put down by 
 statutes, which professed to regulate the rates 
 of hire to be paid to difierent handicrafts. As 
 trade increased, however, it was found that this 
 maximum could not be enforced in the walled 
 towns, and especially at the sea-ports, where 
 there was a growing demand for labourers. 
 Hence there was a constant struggle on the part 
 of the young husbandmen to get to the sea-ports. 
 They crossed the country in bands of a dozen 
 together, carrying quarter-staffs, begging their 
 way, and threatening those who would not give 
 alms; and hence arose the terms " sturdy beg- 
 gar" and " staff-striker" in the old statutes. To 
 sto}) this. Acts were passed to forbid husband- 
 men entering walled towns: they were all, how- 
 ever, evaded, and the foolish attempt foicibly to 
 regulate wages was gradually abandoned. All 
 this, however, goes to prove the great comfort 
 
 iM 
 
1G2 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 with which at this period the common people 
 mi question ably lived. We see an artizan earn- 
 ing in three or four days as much as would buy 
 a sheep, a calf, or a quarter of barley or malt. 
 We see wine and beer the common drink of 
 the people ; and when we come to examine the 
 statutes relative to food and apparel, we shall 
 find that butchers' meat was the ordinary food 
 of all, and that their dress was of the best and 
 costliest description. To these statutes let us 
 now turn. 
 
 The Acts, in which the sort of food upon which 
 the English people lived is most distinctly 
 described, are those which were passed during 
 the reign of Henry the Eighth, against mono- 
 polies of grazing stock and the consolidation of 
 grazing farms ; the mention being incidental, 
 and by the way, adds to the value of the evi- 
 dence, the facts being alluded to as being well 
 known, and indeed perfectly notorious. The 
 cause of the Acts was the great and steady rise 
 in the prices of all sorts of commodities, which 
 took place during this reign, and has gone on 
 down to our own time. The cause of this rise 
 was the discovery of the gold and silver mines 
 of Mexico and Peru, and the constant addition 
 to the quantity of money in circulation that was, 
 
OF POPULATION. 163 
 
 as a consequence, going on. At the time, how- 
 ever, this was not understood. The rise of 
 prices, instead of being attributed to the depre- 
 ciation of the value of money, and its increased 
 quantity, was held to be caused by monopoly, 
 and " forestalling and regrating," as it was 
 termed, and hence Acts were passed to prevent 
 graziers accumulating enormous stocks of cattle 
 and sheep, or holding more than a limited num- 
 ber of acres of grass land. The Acts themselves 
 were futile, but the testimony as to the quality 
 of the food of the people, which they inciden- 
 tally embody, is invaluable. Thus the statute 
 passed in the twenty-fifth year of Henry the 
 Eighth, chap, xiii., has for its object to limit 
 the number of cattle and sheep held by any 
 individual ; but in the preamble, it complains 
 that such has been the rise in the prices of 
 " corn, cattell, wooll, pigs, geese, hens, chickens, 
 and egges," the ordinary articles " in use by all 
 subjects," that (says the Act) " many have not 
 been able to buy them." In like manner, the 
 Act passed in the twenty-fourth year of the same 
 reign, chap, iii., declares " beef, mutton, pork, 
 and veal " to be the food in ordinary '' of the 
 poorer sort." Thus, then, it is past a doubt 
 that, throughout the whole period referred to by 
 M 2 
 
\G [ TITE TRUE LAW 
 
 Sir Frederick Morton Eden, animal food was the 
 common and daily fare of the people ; and when, 
 in addition to the evidence of Chief Justice For- 
 tescue, we look at the laws for regulating the 
 prices of the cloth to be worn by labouring men, 
 we are forced upon the conclusion that, whilst 
 the population was going back, an abundance, 
 bordering on luxury, was reigning and prevalent 
 throughout England. It may be proper to 
 remark also, that both fruit and vegetables, and, 
 to a certain extent, grain, seem to have been, up 
 to a late period, neglected, and hardly to have 
 constituted an article of diet. Butchers' meat, 
 with a little bread, and poultry and eggs, was their 
 food. On fast days, fish must have been the 
 resource ; as it is well known that most of the 
 fruit and vegetables now in use were of com- 
 paratively modern introduction. The English 
 seem to have left it to the Dutch to cultivate 
 the arts of gardening aud planting ; and Holland 
 was the great mart both for trees, garden vege- 
 tables, and flowers, down to a late period of 
 English history. 
 
 The strong testimony of Fortescue as to the 
 costly apparel worn in his time by the English 
 universally, has been already quoted. It is, how- 
 ever, abundantly corroborated by the Statute 
 
I 
 
 OF rorLLATlON. 165 
 
 Book, if corroboration were necessary. From 
 the reign of Edward the Third, to tiial of 
 Ehzabeth, not less than ten distinct statutes for 
 regulating the apparel of servants and labourers 
 were passed ! To all these it would be unneces- 
 sary to recur, but a recapitulation of tlie objects 
 of some of them is both instructive and curious. 
 In the third year of Edward III., chapter iv., 
 is an Act against luxury in apparel. It limits 
 the wearing of furs to persons of a certain rank, 
 and in certain offices. In the thirty-seventli year 
 of the same king's reign, was passed another 
 long Act, of many distinct sections or chapters, 
 regulating dress from that of the gentleman 
 down to that of the day-labourer. In year iii. 
 of Edward the Fourth, chapter v., a similar 
 statute was enacted, and in the fifth year of the 
 same reign, chapter xiii., another statute to 
 prohibit gilding, and wearing gold and silver lace, 
 except by certain ranks, and this at a period 
 when gold and silver were twenty times their 
 present value ! That this wonderful amount of 
 wealth and comfort, distributed throughout an 
 entire people, had been of long growth, seems 
 not to be doubtful. The truth seems to be, 
 that the Norman Invaders and their power — 
 like the Tartars, and other Tribes, that from time 
 
166 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 to time overran and subdued China — were swal- 
 lowed up and submerged amidst the greater 
 numbers of the people whom they nominally 
 ruled. Feudalism was, after the lapse of two 
 centuries, only a name, and real independence 
 and wealth seem to have grown, during the lapse 
 of a few reignS; to a height hardly to be sur- 
 passed. As early as the period a.d. 1300 
 complaints of the luxury of the people begin to 
 appear both in the Chronicles and Histories 
 of the time, and in the Statute Book; and as 
 the best proof of the actual wealth and comfort 
 of the people, may be cited the provisions of an 
 Act of Parliament, passed in 1363, that is to say, 
 towards the end of the splendid and prosperous 
 reign of Edward the Third, the greatest of the 
 extraordinary family of the Plantagenets. In 
 this Act, tradesmen and artificers, being master- 
 men, are allowed to wear fine woollen cloth, as 
 high as one shilling and sixpence the yard. 
 Ploughmen, hinds, pig-drivers, and others are 
 limited not to wear cloth of a greater price than 
 one shilling the yard. Now, as in the reign of 
 Edward the Third, it is certain that money was 
 of nearly twenty times its present value, this is 
 equivalent to prohibiting tradesmen and artizans 
 from wearing cloth, if at or about the price of 
 
OF POPULATION. 167 
 
 thirtij shillings the yard, and labourers Ironi 
 wearing it if it cost more than ciijhlccn or Iwcnhj 
 shillings the yard — a prohibition at which both 
 tradesmen and labouring men of the present day 
 would stare ! 
 
 Upon a review of ail these facts, the conclu- 
 sion seems to be undeniable, that a decay or 
 diminution of the population was an observable 
 and admitted fact, from about a.d. 1480, until 
 the expiration of about a century and a half after 
 that time ; that both prior to, and during the 
 whole period, ease, comfort, and plenty were 
 predominant in England ; that the food of the 
 people w^as chiefly animal food ; and that beer, 
 ale, and wine were so plentiful that every man 
 brewed his own beer, and such was the use of 
 French wines, that, according to Froissart, in the 
 reign of Edward III., "a fleet of more than 
 " two hundred English merchantmen was seen 
 " at the single port of Bourdeaux, to import wine 
 " alone :" that fine woollen stuffs, as well as 
 gold and silver lace, and embroidery, were not 
 uncommonly worn ; in short, that the Statutes 
 against luxuiy went hand in hand with those 
 complaining of the decay of towns, and decrease 
 of the people ! And what is still more remarkable, 
 this decay of towns, villages, and mansions of all 
 
16S THE TRUE LAW 
 
 sorts, throughout the country, was gouig on at 
 the very period when architecture, both ecclesi- 
 astical and civil, had attained in England — as 
 witness the noble chapel of Henry the Seventh — 
 the highest pitch of gorgeous magnificence to 
 which it ever rose in these Islands, and from 
 which it was fated speedily, that is to say, in the 
 course of another century, to decline, perhaps, 
 for ever. 
 
 That this extraordinary state of things is 
 easily explicable upon the theory of popula- 
 tion now attempted to be established, is 
 sufficiently apparent ; but the author submits 
 that it must remain a difficulty insuperable 
 under any other hitherto brought before the 
 world. 
 
 The gross and plentiful diet of the period 
 above refered to, as compared with the present 
 mode of living in England, by all ranks, is cer- 
 tainly a curious subject for contemplation. Up 
 to the end of Elizabeth's reign, tea and coffee 
 seem to have been totally unknown even to 
 the households of the Nobility, and sugar an 
 article of great luxury. In the household book 
 of Philip, the third Lord Wharton, of which 
 the entries for one year are preserved in the 
 Archseologia ^Eliana, vol. ii., commencing 
 
OF POPULATION. 169 
 
 with October in the twenty-seventh year ot" the 
 reiiin of Ehzabeth, neither tea nor coHec aje 
 ever mentioned. Sugar, in small quantities, 
 at an enormous price, appears classed amonust 
 the spicery, but so dear that a pound is set 
 down as costing eighteen and nineteen-pencc— 
 about half the jnice of the carcass of a sheep, 
 or mutton, as given in the same page, which 
 are rated at three shilUngs and threepence per 
 sheep, whether with or without the skin does 
 not appear. In point of fact, animal food, 
 with wine or beer, seems to have been the food 
 of the whole people, and eaten at all meals and 
 all times of day — saving on fast days, when 
 rish was used. In Lord Wharton's household 
 book oatmeal is only twice mentioned. The 
 warm drinks, called possets and hot tankards, 
 were spiced compositions of wine or ale, eggs, 
 and seasonings ; and the gruels and frumeties 
 were similarly enriched. Fish seems to have 
 brought very high prices ; and a porpoise, under 
 the title of a " porpus piggc," is rated at two 
 shiUinfja, and a " saltc salmon" at the same 
 rate, an immense price in these days. Poultry 
 and wild-fowl seem also to have sold high, as 
 compared with orchnary meat, a hen being set 
 
170 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 down at fourpence, or six shillings lor eighteen. 
 In short, it is clear that beef, mutton, veal, and 
 pork were the chief and ordinary food of the 
 people, with bread and ale, or wine, or sometimes 
 cider. Culinary vegetables and fruits seem to 
 have been totally neglected; so much was this 
 the case, that Katharine of Aragon, when queen, 
 sent to Flanders for a salad ; and carrots, 
 turnips, parsnips, and celery were imported from 
 Holland ! To show how cheap solid living was, 
 and how easily the rates of wages given enabled 
 the people to procure it, it may be w^orth while 
 to quote the allowance made to the Lady Anne, 
 daughter of King Edward the Third, married to 
 Lord Howard, son of the Earl of Surrey. To 
 keep herself, one gentlewoman, one w^oman, one 
 girl, one gentleman, one yeoman, and three 
 grooms, she was allow^ed one pound eleven 
 shillings per week, this including clothing, 
 wages, &c. ! For the support of seven horses, 
 horse furniture, &c., the allowance was twenty- 
 five pounds ten shillings and fourpence per 
 annum ! This w^as a princess's allowance, and 
 occurred probably about fifty years before Chief 
 Justice Fortescue wrote his book describing the 
 state of England. In twenty-five years after 
 
I 
 
 OF POPULATION. 171 
 
 that, in the midst of all this plenty, the decay of 
 population and towns is the suhject of national 
 alarm ! 
 
 One other truth we learn from the foregoing 
 considerations, and that is, how absurd the idea 
 is, that increase of buildings is necessarily a sure 
 sign of prosperity in a district. It is clear it is 
 often the contrary. As the poorer part of the 
 population becomes more dense, the old buildings 
 are let into small tenements, and it becomes 
 necessary to build other houses for the more 
 wealthy — a consequence not of increased pros- 
 perity, but of an increased poor and needy 
 population. 
 
 Leaving now the history of his own country, 
 in times comparatively modern, the author would 
 direct the reader's attention to the annals of 
 a time much more remote, that is to say, to the 
 earlier period of the decline of the Roman 
 Empire. When we look at the great cause of 
 this decline from its beginning to its end, we see 
 an Empire of enormous power and amazing 
 extent gradually brought to the ground by a 
 long succession of attacks by unknown foreign 
 barbarian tribes, whose course may be described 
 in general terms as tending from the north-east 
 to the south-west. As these attacking tribes 
 
172 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 succeeded each other, they brought with them 
 different names, and different and most vague 
 accounts of their origin and original country. 
 The Cimbri, the Teutones, and Ambrones, were 
 considered to belong to Germany, and in all 
 likelihood properly so considered. Yet it seems 
 to be probable that the battles of the Consul 
 Marius w4th these tribes, w^re only some of the 
 first symptoms of a gradual movement south- 
 westward, passing through Germany and France 
 towards Italy, and precursors of those various 
 incursions which continued by various tribes, 
 under the names of Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, 
 Vandals, Huns, and the more polished and 
 familiar name of Persians, Ottomans, Moors, 
 and Saracens, at last brought the empire of the 
 Cciesars to the dust, and broke up the very form 
 and image into which Roman greatness had 
 moulded Europe, and much of Asia and Africa. 
 On a calm review of this mighty movement, it 
 seems difficult, almost impossible, to believe that 
 a continuity of action, spreading over so many 
 centuries, should have its origin in the mere 
 capricious ambition of many various tribes acci- 
 dentally taking one general direction ; or that, in 
 fact, it originated, properly speaking, in ambition 
 or caprice at all. The love of country and locahty 
 
01- rOPULATION. 173 
 
 is universal. Ambition leads nations lo extend 
 their empires, and inerease their j)OAver and name, 
 but not to leave their seats and migrate to other 
 climates. Caprice never did this, neither did 
 ambition, though both have done strange things. 
 On the contrary, the more we look at the course 
 of the world, as it is known since the latter times 
 of the Roman Commonwealth, down to the 
 extinction of the empire, the more we must feel 
 convinced that some great and pervading cause 
 must have been at the bottom, and constituted 
 the source of this great south-western movement, 
 of which, i)erhaps, the earliest European pulse 
 may have been the first rush of the Gauls u])on 
 the young Republic of Rome, and the last, the 
 sack of Constantinople by Mahomet the Second. 
 The first great stride of this movement was made 
 by the Goths. Of their origin all the accounts 
 ai"e involved in obscurity. Gibbon, upon the 
 authority of Jornandes and others, seems inclined 
 to give some credit to their own almost unin- 
 telligible traditions, which assigned to their nati\e 
 country the Ancient Scandinavia, or the region 
 which is now known as Sweden. This strange 
 account is, however, highly imj)robablc on the 
 face of it; and how a remote country north of 
 the Baltic, to this hour thinly peopled, shoidd 
 
174 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 send forth to overrun Poland and Prussia and the 
 countries bordering on the Danube, a multitude 
 sufficient to alarm the Roman armies stationed 
 in Dacia, and looking on the Danube as a great 
 boundary, those who believe it may describe or 
 account. Upon a calmer view it seems more 
 rational to esteem the tribes known as Goths, 
 Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Vandals, as the ad- 
 vanced guard of that innumerable and unknown 
 horde of nations living in the more northern 
 parts of Asia and the eastern parts of Europe, 
 which, by causes to be explained, were gradually 
 driven westward, and precipitated, in the lapse of 
 centuries, one after the other upon the boundaries 
 of the Roman Empire. That this is the almost 
 certain truth, is evident in what is known of the 
 history of their successors in spoliation and con- 
 quest, the Huns. These barbarians, from their fea- 
 tures as described by all the historians, were clearly 
 Calmucks ; the small eyes, the strange features, 
 and the different bodily formation, clearly refer 
 them to the regions now known as the borders of 
 China and Hindostan. Gibbon places their 
 country to the north of the Cbinese wall, and it 
 is evidently his opinion, that it was not until a 
 long series of conflicts with the enormous and 
 growing multitudes inhabiting what is now termed 
 
OF POPULATION. 175 
 
 China Proper, that they turned their arms west- 
 ward, and following the course of the Goths 
 towards Germany, at last pushed, hy their mo- 
 mentum, their predecessors the Goths over the 
 Danuhe, upon the Dacian provinces of Rome, 
 in the reign of the wealv Emperor Valens, who 
 consented to the passage of his now suppliant 
 barbarian enemies. 
 
 Still the cause of the continued human pressure 
 westward, through so many centuries, seems 
 altogether mysterious and inexplicable upon the 
 ordinary motives that actuate masses of people. 
 To read the latter portion of Roman history as 
 it stands, gives the idea of large masses of 
 barbarians from the north-east being smitten, 
 like the animal called the " lemming," with an 
 indescribable love of movement in a certain 
 direction, and precipitating themselves, in spite 
 of slaughter and defeat, by millions after millions 
 upon the western world. For all this there must 
 have existed some great continuous and per- 
 vading cause ; and this cause is probably to be 
 sought and found in the state and condition 
 of the races of people inhabiting those vast 
 and now thickly-peopled regions, known in 
 modern times as China, Ava, Cochin China, 
 Chinese Tartary, Hindostan, Delhi, and the 
 
176 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 countries west of the Indus, includins; A%ha- 
 nistan, Caubul, Lahore, and the Punjaub, until 
 we come to the frontiers of Persia, and the hilly 
 countries lying towards the Caspian and Euxine. 
 If there is any remote historical truth esta- 
 blished by a mass of evidence that may be called 
 undeniable, it is that the countries above 
 enumerated have been in the state of semi- 
 civilization, in which they now are for a very 
 long, though probably, undefinable period. 
 Without giving much of implicit or unlimited 
 credence to their own chronicles, traditions, and 
 annals, it is yet evident that their state of society 
 bears the general impress of age. Everything 
 we can see and learn tends to establish this. 
 The disposition of the peoi)le themselves, their 
 singularly great, though to us imperfect progiess 
 in literature and the arts ; their histories, their 
 religion, and their monuments, all irresistibly 
 lead to this conclusion ; and it appears to be 
 imjiossible not to believe that the state of society 
 which at present exists amidst the hundreds of 
 millions which swarm over the districts of China 
 and Hindostan, has not so existed, or nearly so, 
 for very many centuries ; and that of most of the 
 arts of life they possess a knowledge long 
 anterior to that of even the oldest countries of 
 
OF POPULATION. 177 
 
 Europe. Hence we are conijielled to tliink tliat 
 the modes of life and manner^! wliieli to this 
 hour are in full force over tliesc thickly-])coj)led 
 regions, must have been of ancient and slow 
 formation ; and though we ma}^ not, with the 
 Chinese, date their empire beyond the time tixed 
 by Christians for the creation of the world, we 
 can hardly deny, that, as a iieople, they are 
 probably the most ancient existing. Here then 
 we see, growing gradually through many and very 
 distant centuries, a system of society which has 
 been proved by the facts to have been so wonder- 
 fully favourable to the growth of an enormous 
 and dense population, that, in the regions 
 enumerated, though their area is but a small 
 fragment of the habitable globe, are probably 
 congregated a full fourth ])art of all mankind. 
 Nay, perhaps, the third ])art would be the more 
 judicious position, if the estimated numbers of 
 mankind are not held to exceed two thousand 
 millions of persons. For, taking the population 
 of the Chinese Empire at about three hundi-ed 
 millions, which is generally believed to be the 
 fact ; Japan, Cochin China, the Burman Knipire, 
 Correa, and the other dependencies of China at 
 seventy millions; the peninsula of Hindostan, 
 from the Indus to the Ganges, at one hundred 
 N 
 
178 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 and sixty millions ; and making allowance for the 
 numei'ous population that lies between the Indus 
 westward, and the Frontiers of Persia, we attain 
 to a multitude of beings hardly to be conceived, 
 though not difficult to be numbered, and 
 probably amounting to nearly one-third part of 
 all the human beings now living upon this globe. 
 Now, in the growth and extension of this 
 enormous population over the regions which they 
 inhabit, but in which they are still as it were 
 cooped up — for a population so dense exists in 
 no other parts of the known world — we see the 
 continuous cause of the gradual and progressive 
 migration of all the more scattered tribes which 
 this vast population must have gradually dis- 
 placed. That the extension of the vast popula- 
 tion of China went on amidst perpetual wars 
 with the Calmuck tribes, who were their neigh- 
 bours, we have light enough from history to 
 show. The same light, however, discovers to us 
 the very natural fact, that the conquerors of 
 China were eventually swallowed up in the 
 jnormous multitudes of the conquered ; and 
 that hence hostilities were useless as any per- 
 manent check to the extension of these myriads 
 throughout such climates as permitted the con- 
 tinuation of their peculiar mode of hfe. Hence 
 
I 
 
 b 
 
 OF POPULATION. 179 
 
 the Huns, after ovcrriinnins; Cliina again and 
 again, ^Ycre at last pushed westward upon tlie 
 Goths, whom they, in tlieir turn, precipitated 
 upon the Roman Empire in the first instance, 
 and then followed. In fact, climate was the 
 only stay to the extension of a jieople, who 
 had neither animal food, nor the olive, nor the 
 vine ; and it was not until China and India ex- 
 tended their dense hordes to colder and more 
 hilly climates — to Tartary, to Thibet, to Nepaul, 
 and towards the Indian Caucasus — that their 
 numbers began to thin, and the limit that we 
 now see as bounding their empire, was esta- 
 blished. What the Huns and Tartars could not 
 do, climate has effected. As soon as the 
 pastoral life was forced upon them, and rice was 
 no longer the staple of subsistence, their numbers 
 ceased to grow, and extended boundaries became 
 no longer a matter of paramount and physical 
 necessity, uncontrollable by the surrounding 
 nations. In the long process of the growth of 
 this immense eastern population we obtain a clue 
 to the cause which must through many centuries 
 have disturbed, and driven from their seats, the 
 tribes that last, forced westward, trod down and 
 eventually subverted the Roman Emi)ire. How 
 long the enormous populations of China and Hin- 
 N 2 
 
180 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 dostan were in attaining their present extra- 
 ordinary extent, it is impossible to say ; their 
 conflicts with the different Calmuck tribes must 
 no doubt have lengthened the term ; but in the 
 growth of these rice-fed millions we have an 
 explanation of historical phenomena, which seem 
 otherwise to be inexplicable, and which have 
 hitherto puzzled all inquirers. 
 
 Upon the whole, the author flatters himself 
 that the solution of the two historical difficulties 
 in question, which is afforded by this theory, are 
 strong collateral proofs of the soundness of the 
 theory itself. They are insoluble upon any other 
 hypothesis that has come under the author's 
 notice, and are of too striking and singular a 
 nature not to have perplexed most readers of 
 history. 
 
OF POPULATION. 181 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 ARGUMENT FROM THE REVENUE. 
 
 If it were true that population hac, a natural 
 tendency to increase equally amongst all classes, 
 unchecked by anything but the inability to pro- 
 cure subsistence, the diseases which arise out ot 
 a deficiency of nutriment, and the abandonment 
 of marriage caused by poverty and the fear of 
 it ; if this were true, then this is only affirming, 
 in another form of words, that the decrease of 
 a people must take place at the bottom of society, 
 and not in the middle or at the top ; for amongst 
 the higher or middle classes there can be neither 
 a want of subsistence, nor such a stringent fear 
 of poverty as to produce general celibacy. From 
 this it should seem of necessity to follow, that, 
 as a people increase in numbers, that increase 
 being from the richer, and not the poorest classes 
 
182 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 of society, the power to contribute taxes must 
 of course go on in nearly the same ratio with 
 that of the increase of the numbers of the people. 
 At all events it follows, upon this supposition, 
 that one must increase with the other. This 
 conclusion ceems unavoidable when it is con- 
 sidered, that though the heads of a family may 
 not make their children as rich as themselves, 
 yet it cannot be supposed that their offspring do 
 not contribute more or less to the taxes of the 
 state. It is impossible to conceive this to be 
 the case in a country like England, where almost 
 all articles of ordinary consumption even are 
 taxed, and where no man can escape indirect taxa- 
 tion, live as he may, not even the miserable Irish 
 serf who exists upon potatoes; in short, if the 
 population of England has increased in all classes, 
 it seems impossible to doubt that taxation must 
 have grown with the power of paying it, inas- 
 much as the consumption of tea, coffee, spirits, 
 soap, tobacco, wine, and beer must, as a matter 
 of course, have in a greater or less degree fol- 
 lowed such an increase. The increased and 
 added numbers amongst the higher and middling 
 ranks must have derived from their parents, in 
 the shape of saved capital, credit, and education, 
 the ability to consume a share of taxed articles ; 
 
OF POPULATION. \R'A 
 
 and therefore this sort of increase, if it really 
 took place in a country, must be followed by an 
 increase of ability to pay taxes, arising out of 
 the added numbers to the wealthier classes. If, 
 on the contrary, a population be increased by 
 addition from the poorer classes alone, then it is 
 evident that this addition may not be followed 
 by any increased power of paying taxes, because 
 the wages of labour may fall in such a proportion 
 that the power to consume taxed articles may 
 not be increased. 
 
 If, therefore, in any country the productive- 
 ness of the revenue is found to be at a stand- 
 still, whilst the numbers of the people are in- 
 creased, it seems inevitably to follow, as a 
 conclusion, that the increase must be altogether 
 amongst the poor ; for had it been equally dif- 
 fused, the power of consuming taxed articles 
 must in some degree, whether more or less, have 
 been also increased, at all events for a time. 
 The reader need hardly be told that this sort of 
 proof, as how and whence population grows and 
 increases, cannot be very visible save and except 
 in countries very highly taxed, because it is the 
 extreme of poverty only that can debar any portion 
 of a people from using some of the comforts and 
 luxuries of life. That the state of the revenue 
 
184 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 of Great Britain, however, at this moment aftbrds 
 this particular description of proof, the author is 
 well convinced ; and it now remains to be shown 
 that such is the case. 
 
 If there is to be any faith placed in tlie returns 
 of the numbers of the population which have 
 from time to time been published and put forth 
 under the sanction of Government, the popula- 
 tion in the year 1811 were twelve millions five 
 hundred and ninety-six thousand, eight hundred 
 and three persons. In 1839 they are estimated 
 at eighteen millions five hundred and twenty-four 
 thousand and thirty-six persons, with a probable 
 increase since that time. Such are asserted to 
 be the ''numbers of the population of Great Britain 
 at these two periods : what was the amount of taxa- 
 tion at each period ? In 1 8 1 1 the gross amount 
 of taxation was sixty-six millions, three hundred 
 and sixty-live thousand, five hundred and thirty- 
 five pounds. In 1839 the gross amount is only 
 fifty-four millions, one hundred thousand four 
 hundred and nine pounds, and of this last sum 
 a small portion is Irish taxes, the exchequers 
 being now blended ; and yet it is notorious that 
 even this lesser amount in money cannot be con- 
 tinued to be paid by the increased millions of 
 population, as in spite of an addition of five per 
 
OF POPULATION. 185 
 
 cent, added to the taxes in 1840, the revenue 
 has abt^olutely decreased and not increased. Tiic 
 anthoi 16 not unaware that as it stands, and upon 
 the face ol it, this is an unfair statement and 
 a lalse comparison, because unquestionably the 
 value of money in the year first named, 1811, 
 was less than in 18o9 and 1840. But even 
 deducting one-tiiird, or thirty-three per cent. Ibi 
 depreciation, the value of the taxes in 1811 still 
 stands at forty-four millions. If, then, twelve 
 millions of people could pay in 1811 forty-four 
 millions of pounds in taxes, eighteen millions 
 ought, if the increase was diffused equally over 
 all classes, to be able to pay, with the same case, 
 sixty-six millions ; but it is i)roved that they can- 
 not, with Ireltuid aiding, pay fifty-four milliono , 
 therefore the increase has been chielly amongst 
 the poor, or this could not have haj)pened; q. c. d. 
 In stating this result, it ought not to be 
 lorgotten that the [)Oor's-rate has been forcibly 
 depressed below the level at which it stood in 
 1811, by a severe and stringent law; and yet 
 the saving arising from this operation of the New 
 Poor Law has not caused an ability to pay taxes 
 at all commensurate with that of 1811, which 
 adds greatly to the force of the reasoning aheady 
 adduced, and to the high probability of the truth 
 
186 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 of the conclusion to which it leads. The great 
 increase of poor-rates which had in 1S33-4, not- 
 withstanding the difference in value of money 
 caused by the Currency Bill of 1819, touched 
 nearly the highest amount at the end of the war 
 in 1815, and which caused " the Poor Law 
 Amendment Bill," is also a strong corroborative 
 testimony of the same truth — that increase of 
 population is ever amongst the poor ; and that, 
 as is the poverty of living, so is the tendency 
 to multiply. 
 
OF roruLATiON. 187 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ARGUMENT FROM THE RECENT DECREASE OF THE 
 QUANTITY OF ANIMAL FOOD CONSUMED IN ENG- 
 LAND. 
 
 Although in preceding portions of this essay 
 the mode of living in the earlier times of England 
 has been described, and proved to be a diet of 
 beef, mutton, veal, and pork or bacon, it is not 
 inexpedient to show that a great alteration for 
 the worse in that diet is at this moment going 
 on in this country, where an increase of the 
 population is yearly taking place to a greater or 
 less extent. We have seen that, when butchers' 
 meat was the grand staple of subsistence the 
 numbers of the people tended to diminish. We 
 shall now see, that whilst the number of inha- 
 bitants are swelling yearly, their use of butchers' 
 meat is receding ; that wine is drank only by 
 the rich ; that even malt-liquor is comparatively 
 
188 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 scarce , and that the consumption ot potatoes 
 has grown rapidly ui modern times. 
 
 To show the actual dinunution of the use of 
 animal food throughout England is no easy 
 matter. There are no returns m existence, 
 probably, which would give the slaughter of 
 cattle annually throughout the country at large , 
 and those for London exhibit a false result, 
 from the increased numbers of people daily, by 
 the operation of artificial causes, located per- 
 manently or temporarily in the metropolis. 
 Steam is increasing the number of visitants by 
 thousands, and their increase, of course, causes 
 an increase of permanent inhabitants ; for inns, 
 taverns, lodging-houses, &c., must be found for 
 these erratic tribes, according to their demand 
 for increased accommodation. Still there is a 
 means of approximating to the facts, generally 
 speaking, as to the national increase or decrease 
 of animal diet. The calculation was made by 
 the author of this treatise in the course of two 
 letters to Lord Althorp, then Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, which were reprinted in " Cobbett's 
 Political Register," 13th of April and 25th of 
 May, 1833. The object of the author was to 
 show the increase of fraud m the Excise duties 
 on soap , but in the course of his proof, it be- 
 
OF POPULATION 189 
 
 came necessary to sliow tliat the amount oi 
 tallow prodnced in England had greatly de- 
 ci'eased, and a decrease of tallow is a decrease 
 of butchers' meat. The mode taken was as 
 follows, and the result, the author has reason 
 to believe, is near the truth. 
 
 Two years were taken between which to insti- 
 tute a comparison ; and on account of some of 
 the documents ior these years being more j)erfect 
 than those of other years, the })eriods of 1815 
 and 1829 were selected. Tlie process of cal- 
 culation is as follows. It was computed by 
 those most conversant in the tallow. trade, that, 
 in the year of 181;"), the produce of tallow from 
 cattle slaughtered in England was from 50,000 
 tons to 53,000 tons in all. This estimate was, 
 however, of tallow in the rough state, before 
 being melted and refined. To get the (juantity 
 of merchantable tallow, a fifth of the whole 
 weight must be deducted as refuse ; and there- 
 ibre the quantity of available tallow produced 
 in Great Britain in 1815 may be safely set down 
 at forty-one thousand tons at least, and certainly 
 at no less a quantity. Now then, it was known 
 that in the year 1815 the tallow produced in 
 England made all the candles manufactured in 
 England, and left a surplus- This was a noto- 
 
190 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 rious fact to all whose interest it was to know it. 
 Almost every chandler in England, after making 
 his year's candles, had a small remanet of tallow ; 
 and this he was in the hahit of selling to the 
 soap-makers, who used it for making hard soap 
 along with imported foreign tallow from Russia 
 or Buenos Ayres. The tallow consumed in the 
 manufacture of candles of all sorts in 1815 was 
 thirty-eight thousand tons only, leaving, as the 
 surplus or remanet, the quantity required to 
 make up the forty-one thousand tons produced. 
 The population, at that period, may be safely 
 estimated at thirteen millions in round numbers 
 at the most. This was the state of things in 
 1815 as to this question. Let us now jump 
 to 1829, a period of fourteen years; and sub- 
 jecting it to the same examination, note down 
 the results. The year 1829 was a year of consi- 
 derable plenty, as far as the seasons, both for 
 tillage and grazing, were concerned ; and it was 
 also a year of comparatively low prices, for, in 
 the April of this year, all bank-notes under five 
 pounds were v>ithdrawn from circulation, and 
 the depression of prices which naturally followed 
 this measure, happened accordingly. Tlie con- 
 sequence was, that the consumption of butchers' 
 meat was, in all probability, above that which 
 
OF POPULATION. 191 
 
 would have taken place under ordinary circum- 
 stances ; and yet it was far from commensurate 
 with the increase of the people, whose numhers 
 had hy this time reached the amount of sixteen 
 millions of persons. Such was the population : 
 the amount of home-produced tallow was great, 
 though not great in proportion, and reached, 
 hy the hest calculations, nearly as far as forty- 
 seven thousand tons of good, merchantahle, 
 available tallow, being an increase of six thousand 
 tons upon the produce of 1815. The demand 
 for candles had, however, after the end of the 
 war, increased in a greater ratio. The manu- 
 factories had, owing to the throwing open of the 
 continental field, been enormously multiplied. 
 The night was made to supply its relays of 
 workmen as well as day ; and hence, though 
 gas was now beginning to be generally used, 
 and also oil lamps of superior manufacture, 
 the necessity for candles had rather outstripped 
 the growth of the people, and the amount of 
 tallow made into candles in 1829 is very large, 
 amounting, as it did in that year, to fifty-two 
 thousand tons of tallow. Thus, then, with an 
 increased demand for labour, but also with an 
 increased pojiulation, the result is, that in 1829 
 the tallow produced in this country was so far 
 
192 THE TRUE l.\W 
 
 from makino; all the candles wanted, and leaving 
 a surplus, that it was actually deficient by the 
 amount of five thousand tons of tallow. Tliis 
 statement admits of being verified to some 
 extent, and this verification was exhibited as 
 follows. 
 
 It has been stated that the surplus home- 
 produced tallow, after the making of all the 
 candles in the kingdom, was sold by the tallow- 
 chandlers and candle-makers to the manufac- 
 turers of hard soap. This was the case up to 
 the end of the war in 1815 ; but after that time 
 the case was gradually reversed, and the makers 
 of tallow candles, instead of having an annual 
 surplus to sell, became, after a few years, buyers 
 of foreign tallow to supply the deficiency, which 
 now began to be felt, of the produce at home. 
 This foreign tallow was, throughout the country, 
 naturally supplied to the candle-makers by the 
 soap-makers, v>dio were always, of necessity, 
 holders of foreign tallow, and who, being dis- 
 persed throughout all the large towns, were at 
 hand to supply it. 
 
 Here then Avas a datum or calculus supplied. 
 The makers of soap cultivated this tallow trade 
 in proportion to their means and ca])ital ; and 
 if; therefore; it was ascertained what ])roportion 
 
OF POPULATION, 193 
 
 of the soap of the kingdom was made in any one 
 large town, the amount of tallow supplied by the 
 soap-makers to the tallow-chandlers might safely 
 be calculated to be in the same ralio, as to the 
 trade in tallow of this sort throughout the 
 country. This calculation was accordingly gone 
 into, and the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
 taken as the criterion. In the year 1829, the 
 hard soap made in Newcastle-upon-Tyne was 
 one-fourteenth of the whole known to be made in 
 the kingdom of Great Britain. The number ol' 
 casks of tallow supplied by the soap-makers to 
 the tallow-chandlers was then accurately ascer- 
 tained ; and they amounted to within a trifle of 
 nine hundred casks of Russian yellow candle 
 tallow. Nine hundred casks multiplied by 
 fourteen gives twelve thousand six hundred 
 casks ; these twelve thousand six hundred casks 
 would as nearly as possible amount to five thou- 
 sand tons of tallow ; and this, curiously enough, 
 agrees exactly with the difference between the 
 weight of candles made, and the home produce 
 of tallow in 1829. It is probable that the 
 greater strictness as to the collection of the 
 Revenue in 1829 would increase the amount of 
 candles made, more than the tenth as compared 
 with the returns of 1815; still, however, it 
 
194 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 cannot be doubted that the calculations on the 
 whole approximate tolerably closely to the actual 
 truth. 
 
 Thus, then, it appears that, if to the excess 
 of three thousand tons, in 1815, be added the 
 deficiency of five thousand tons of tallow, pro- 
 duced at home in 1829, the whole falling off is 
 eight thousand tons of tallow. The proportion 
 that tallow bears to lean in cattle is averaged as 
 one to ten. Here then we have proof of a 
 diminution in one year, 1829, of eighty thousand 
 tons in the consumption of beef alone ; Avhich, 
 at the rate of half a pound per day for the 
 individual, would be a fair supply for a million 
 of persons, or two hundred thousand families. 
 If to this we add the diminution to a corre- 
 sponding extent in the consumption of mutton, 
 the tallow of which does not, in any great degree, 
 enter into the composition of tallow candles, 
 and some diminution even in the use of bacon, 
 we cannot but doubt that the addition of three 
 millions of persons to the population, during 
 the fourteen years intervening between 1815 
 and 1829, was made in company with a vast 
 decrease in the consumption of animal food ; 
 and that, therefore, the probability is, that the 
 increase of people was nearly altogether amongst 
 
OF POPULATION. 195 
 
 the poor, Tlial tliis was certainly the case, 
 there is, however, other corroborating evidence. 
 
 First, we have the rapid increase of the poor's- 
 rates, which, ever since the population was 
 known to be decisively upon the increase, have 
 gone on, in spite of all the efforts of Ministers 
 and Parliaments to narrow the amount of relief, 
 with redoubled strides, and since the accession 
 of George the Third, in 17G0, when their amount 
 was under two millions annually, luue more 
 than tripled themselves ! Again, we have the 
 decreased consumption of malt, which, before 
 the passing of the first Act to impose a tax on 
 it, in the year 1GG2, was used by the people, it 
 is believed, to three times its present extent. 
 Since then the population has gone on growing, 
 and the consumption of the nutritious beverage 
 of malt liquor has gone on diminishing. Even 
 up to the middle of the last century, and later 
 than that, not only most of the persons inhabit- 
 ing, towns, but all the agricultural labourers, 
 brew^ed their own beer. The knowledge of 
 brewing all over England was as universal as is 
 the knowledge of making biead all over the North 
 of England at this hour. Every Northumber- 
 land, Cumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Lanca- 
 shire, and Westmoreland servant could^ not 
 o 2 
 
19G THE TRUE LAW 
 
 only bake but brew ; and the same knowledge 
 of beer-making extended all over England. 
 Such now is the disuse of malt liquor, that this 
 general knowledge is now at an end, and con- 
 fined to a trade. If increased population, with 
 decreased means, goes on, the art of bread-making 
 will soon be similarly lost even in the North, 
 where the cheapness of fuel has hitherto pre- 
 served it. In addition to this proof of decreased 
 solidity of subsistence having marched step by 
 step with the march of population, is the increased 
 cultivation and use of the potato as an article 
 of staple diet. It is confidently stated in agri- 
 cultural reports, and by practical farmers, that 
 the culture of the potato in England itself (leaving 
 out Ireland and Scotland) has quadrupled during 
 the last hundred years. This is asserted as a 
 known and admitted fact in the Mark Lane 
 Express in 1837, and the htoivn consumption 
 of potatoes in London alone, for the preceding 
 year, is afiirmed to be as high as one hundred 
 and eighty-five thousand six hundred and fifty 
 tons weight ! A plain proof that great numbers 
 even of the metropolitan populace must subsist 
 almost entirely upon this miserable root ; for, at 
 the rate of three pounds of potatoes per day, this 
 v>'ould subsist three hundred and fifty thousand 
 
OF POPULATION. 107 
 
 grown persons, which is equal to a full third ot 
 the pojiulation of the metropolis ! The Jaiown 
 consumption must, however, be under the real 
 consumption ; and if this be true of luxurious 
 London, what must be the case in other poorer 
 parts of the country ? Such are the facts , 
 and yet, with these facts, we find, in companion- 
 ship, the fact that English population is steadily 
 upon the increase. 
 
 There is one other observation to be made, 
 which, though it does not apply to England, is 
 yet not out of place here. It is this, that almost 
 the only spot on the inhabited globe where sys- 
 tematic cannibalism has been incontestibly proved 
 to prevail, is all but destitute of animal or even 
 nutritious vegetable food, and when first disco- 
 vered was even more so than it is at this time. 
 This place is New Zealand, which, until a colony 
 was planted there by the English from Australia 
 within the last twenty years, was in this condi- 
 tion. From what is now known, it seems clear 
 that when first rhscovcrcd by Tasman in 16-12, 
 these Islands were nearly destitute of any quad- 
 ruped whatever, and that even of nutritive 
 vegetables their produce was nearly 7iil. Ot 
 indigenous quadrupeds, there were a few of a 
 species of wild dog or fox, some rats, a species 
 
198 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 of bat, and perhaps the alhgator ; but this is still 
 uncertain, and wall probably, from the nature of 
 the streams, not turn out to be the case. The 
 birds principally were wild pigeons, wild ducks, 
 and some parroquets and sea-gulls. In fact, the 
 natives lived chiefly upon the root of a wild fern, 
 and upon fish, which are plentiful on the coasts, 
 until their numbers probably at last induced the 
 hideous practice of subsisting upon each other. 
 That constant wars were followed by feasts on 
 human ilesh, until the custom of eating each 
 other at last became perfectly common and 
 habitual, is now ascertained. This is ascribed 
 by some to superstition ; and superstition may 
 have been a cause or pretext, but it is probable 
 that sheer hunger had nmch to do with the 
 establishment of a taste so utterly revolting and 
 horrible. It may be said that the numbers of 
 this people are not great in comparison with the 
 area of the islands. This is true, but then it 
 must be remembered, they have been kept down 
 by perpetual slaughter, both on a large and small 
 scale ; that they have no great extent of land lit for 
 cultivation ; and that they were, until Cook visited 
 them, destitute of anything worth cultivation. Of 
 the roots and seeds which he left, only the potato 
 and turnip are remaining ; and they are grown 
 
01' POrULATION. 100 
 
 in the rudest way only in scattered plots round 
 the coast. In fact, the interior ol" the whole hnid 
 is lofty Alpine mountains, washed by rapid 
 streams, with snowy sunnnits at the greatest 
 elevations, and the lower valleys and ravines 
 covered with gigantic and inexhaustible timber ; 
 but these regions are totally sohtary and \min- 
 habitcd forests, growing little or nothing for the 
 food of man ; in short, umbrageous deserts. The 
 way in which the natives lived is evident in their 
 few arts ; they were expert in making lines of 
 wild liax, in catching fish, and in cooking them ; 
 and an occasional whale or the seal were great 
 delicacies. They could also snare birds, but 
 their epicurism was in human flesh ; the roasted 
 or baked thigh of a girl of fourteen or fifteen 
 being described by them as the greatest known 
 delicacy, and in terms according exactly with the 
 language of Swift's ironical "proposal for eating 
 the children of the poor in Ireland !" To the 
 author, it appears hardly jjossible to conceive that 
 so shocking a state of life and society could have 
 arisen from anything short of a surplus population 
 totally destitute of food. In the winter, which is 
 stormy in that latitude, vegetables nuist have been 
 scarce, and lish ibr a length of time oltcn unattain- 
 able by a people who had not the art of curing them 
 
200 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 for keeping. That upon such diet, their numbers 
 would soon outstrip their powers of obtaining 
 food, seems to the author sufficiently proved ; 
 and to a people so placed, with neither religion 
 nor morality to plead against it, the palpable and 
 necessary, and only resource, was cannibalism. 
 The " Arreoys" of Otaheite were the step next 
 to this. 
 
 Upon the whole, the author trusts he has 
 made it abundantly apparent, that where a 
 population rapidly increases, it will be found to 
 do so always in company with poverty of living , 
 that the increase will be amongst the poor, and 
 will march at the exact pace of the advance of 
 the hardship and meagreness of living amongst 
 those who so increase. 
 
OF POPULATION. 201 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ARGUMENT FROM THE CURRENT OPINIONS OF MAN- 
 KIND IN PAST TIME. 
 
 If mankind had been in a constant universal 
 and invariable state of increase from the be- 
 ginning, save and except only when and where 
 such increase was violently stopped by starvation 
 or the intense dread of it — by slaughter, whctlier 
 of war or domestic — by pestilence, or by 
 elemental convulsion, this law could hardly 
 have failed to become apparent to mankind in 
 general. It is hardly possible to conceive of 
 such a state of natural arrangement, and at the 
 same time to conceive that this constant and 
 universal increase, or tendency to it, should have 
 remained undiscovered from one age to another , 
 and mankind to have lived under such a striking 
 natural dispensation as this, century after cen- 
 
202 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 tury, for thousands of years, all the time bUiid 
 to and unconscious of it. If, however, we look 
 at the opinions of former times as to this 
 momentous matter, as far as such can be 
 collected from the writings that survive, we shall 
 find the current of opinion setting generally in 
 the contrary direction, and a constant recurrence 
 of traditions amongst the old authors that the 
 world, or particular districts of it, had been 
 much more populous formerly than it was at the 
 period when they v>Tote, or near to that period. 
 The best " bird's-eye view" of the notions and 
 traditions of the Greek and Roman writers as to 
 the population of various countries at diflerent 
 periods is, perhaps, given by David Hume in his 
 elaborate and learned essay " on the Populous- 
 ness of Ancient Nations." In this essay he has 
 collected, with much pains, the opinions of a 
 great number of classic and other authors as to 
 the state of population at various times and 
 places ; and these opinions he examines after 
 his usual acute method. Hume was at all times 
 sufficiently disposed to be sceptical, but here he 
 is perfectly excusa^ble. Being himself destitute 
 of any notion of the law which regulates 
 population, and having apparently no theory, 
 good, bad, or indifierent, as to the question, it 
 
OF POPULATION. 203 
 
 is amusing to sec how completely even Ins 
 sagacious, cool, penetrating, and patiently in- 
 quiring mind is bewildered by the maze of 
 evidence which, when brought together, the ac- 
 counts of" these writers may be proi)erly styled. 
 Hume's inclination is, as usual, to combat the 
 generally received opinion. iVJany of the ex- 
 aggerated statements as to numbers, of which 
 the loose method of estimating nmltitudes, 
 conunon to all times, but most conmion to 
 ancient times, has been sufficiently proliiic, he 
 doubts, and successfully disproves. His grand 
 puzzle, however, seems to lie in the various 
 accounts of periods of depopulation which he 
 adduces from different writers. These occur at 
 the periods, and under the circumstances, when, 
 if the theory now attempted to be established be 
 founded in truth, they might be expected to 
 occur, and of course to be placed by histoi-ians. 
 The periods assigned, however, appear to Hume 
 precisely those when no such phenomena ought 
 to be ex[)ected ; and after (juoting and dis- 
 believing various accounts of the decay of 
 nations, he, at last, fairly confesses his complete 
 bewilderment, and leaves this i)art of tlic ([ues- 
 tion where he found it. In o])posing what he 
 deems exaggerated stories of population, and to 
 
204 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 explain the causes of periods of depopulation, 
 which he is compelled to admit, he relies chiefly 
 on the greater cruelty practised in former ages, 
 the bloodiness of the battles, the massacre of 
 prisoners, the harshness to slaves, and the 
 devastations of conquerors ; and the proneness 
 of early annalists to the exaggeration of all ac- 
 counts hinging upon considerations of number. 
 Such are the general features of this celebrated 
 and elaborate essay : let us now come to par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 In order to prove the prevalence of the opinion 
 that in former times the numbers of mankind 
 were greater than at subsequent periods, it is 
 only requisite to quote the names of the principal 
 authors whom Hume feels himself called upon to 
 combat, in various ways, on the score of their 
 statements as to the population of various nations 
 and places, at various periods of time. Amongst 
 the offenders in this way he enumerates Thucy- 
 dides, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Herodotus, Plato, 
 Theocritus, Polybius, Appian, Herodian, Athen?eus, 
 Demetrius Phalareus, Justin, Dionysius Halicar- 
 nassa^us, Phny the Elder, Plutarch, and Tacitus. 
 Amongst the moderns he only mentions Vossius 
 and Montesquieu ; which last seems, from passages 
 both in his '''Persian Letters" and "Spirit of Laws" 
 
OF POPULATION. 205 
 
 to have held stout opinions upon this subject. In 
 his treatment of tlic exaggerated statements oi 
 these writers as to numbers, Hume is often in- 
 genius, and sometimes in all human probability 
 right. With their testimonies as to the decay 
 and depopulation of different states at different 
 periods, he finds it more difficult to deal. In 
 fact, he is completely puzzled by them ; and as 
 the writers who give them do not attempt to 
 explain them, they stand before the sceptical eye 
 of Hume as a set of unaccountable anomalies and 
 contradictions, incapable of explanation or of 
 reconciliation with any known facts. Let us look 
 at one or two of these passages. 
 
 " The laws, or as some writers call them, the 
 " seditions of the Gracchi, were occasioned by 
 " their observing the increase of slaves all over 
 " Italy, and the diminution of free citizens. 
 " Appian ascribes the increase to the propagation 
 " of the slaves ; Plutarch to the purchasing oi' 
 " barbarians, who were chained and imprisoned 
 " liapliupiaci Ss^ixuflvipix. It is to be presumed 
 " that both causes concurred." — I^ssays, vol. i. 
 p. 387. 
 
 Here is an instance of partial depoi)ulati()n in 
 one class, with perhaps some increa^^e in tlie other 
 class, with which Hume is clearly puzzled. He 
 
206 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 does not attempt to explain it, and the explana- 
 tions wliich he quotes are no explanations at all. 
 The propagation of slaves to ^Yhich Appian 
 (Hist. Rom. lib. i.) refers, of course went on ; but 
 what prevented the provincial free Roman citizens 
 from propagating at the same rate? Plutarch, 
 in his "Lives of the Gracchi," attributes it to the 
 purchase of more slaves. As their wealth in- 
 creased this would probabhr be in accordance with 
 the fact ; but to account for so marked a dispro- 
 portion, and for that disproportion being used as 
 an argument by Caius and Tiberius Gracchus for 
 their " Agrarian laws," for a veiv distribution of 
 lands amongst those who had served, was their 
 object, we are compelled to admit a great and 
 real diminution in the numbers of the Roman 
 citizens, who held the provincial estates under 
 the Republic. The facts, as stated by Appian 
 and Plutarch, agree exactly with the statement 
 made by Tacitus of the complete decay of the old 
 Roman Patrician nobles in the time of Augustus; 
 and upon the theory here insisted on, the whole 
 is natural and probable in the highest degree. 
 These men were the aristocracy of the provinces, 
 and their decay only accords with the history of 
 all aristocracies. Again — 
 
 " Polvbius (Lib. ii.) savs, that the Romans, 
 
OF POPULATION. 207 
 
 " between the first and second Punic Wars, 
 " being threatened with an invasion from the 
 " Gauls, mustered all their own forces and those 
 " of their allies, and found them to amount to 
 " seven hundred thousand men able to bear 
 " arms ; a great number, surely, and which, 
 " when joined to the slaves, is probably not less, 
 " if not rather more, than that extent of coun- 
 " try aftbrds at present. The enumeration, too, 
 " seems to have been made with some exactness ; 
 " and Polybius gives us the detail of the parti- 
 " culars. But might not the nmnber be magni- 
 " fied, in order to encourage the people? Dio- 
 " dorus Siculus makes the same enumeration 
 " amount to near a million. These variations 
 " are susj/icious. He plainly, too, sup])oses that 
 " Italy in his time was not so populous ; another 
 " suspicious circumstance. For who can believe 
 " that the inhabitants of that country Oimiiushed 
 " from the time of the first Punic War to that 
 " of the Triumvirate?" — Essays, vol. i., p. 41,'^ 
 
 Of the foregoing passage, it may be with pei-- 
 fect fairness observed, that Mr. Hinne's eftbrts 
 to throw suspicions on the statements of Polybius 
 and Diodorus, are not very ha])py. Polybius, 
 who was especially a writer of military kitow- 
 ledge, iroes more into the nihuitut' of the muster 
 
208 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 than does Diodorus Siculus. After all, the 
 difference is only between " more than seven 
 hundred thousand" and a "million." As for 
 the charge of exaggeration, it may be brought 
 at any time, against anj^thing, or anybody. 
 Hume's especial bewilderment is apparent, how- 
 ever, in the concluding sentence. " Who can 
 believe," he asks with astonishment, " that the 
 population of that country diminished between 
 the first Punic War and the Triumvirate ?" 
 Now, if this theory of population which we 
 are considering, be true, this is very easy to be 
 believed. The Roman territory, at the time 
 referred to by Diodorus and Polybius, was still 
 narrow. The country that supplied these fight- 
 ing men consisted, as Hume admits, of what 
 now is the Pope's dominions, Tuscany, and a 
 portion of the kingdom of Naples. At the time 
 referred to, the inhabitants • were the whole 
 Roman people and their tributaries, and the 
 population must accordingly have been of that 
 miscellaneous sort which forms the average of 
 a young nation, which has neither acquired great 
 wealth nor great power. Of such a people the 
 poor would be the majority; and if in the Repub- 
 lic there was then little wealth, we may be sure 
 there was no luxury. Here are all the requisites 
 
OF POPULATION. 20*j 
 
 for an increasing and somewhat dense poi)ula- 
 tion. If with this we compai-e the period of the 
 Triumvirate, we shall find the veiy reverse state 
 of things. Rome was then mistress almost of 
 the known world. The wealth drawn into and 
 about the city was enormous ; and the whole 
 regions alluded to belonged, past a doubt, to 
 wealthy Roman citizens of all classes, from the 
 patrician to the provincial free citizen. Here 
 was a state of society precisely calculated to 
 limit a population ; w^ant there could be none, 
 generally speaking, and the chances are, there 
 could hardly be a superfluous man in the whole 
 district, save the household slaves of the land- 
 lords. Thus, then, narrowly looking at the 
 statements of Polybius and Diodorus, and keep- 
 ing in view the law of population now sought 
 to be established, there seems every reason to 
 believe them to be faithfully correct ; and also 
 that the belief of Diodorus Siculus that these 
 districts were more populous then than in his 
 time, is perfectly just, and in strict accordance 
 with the probabilities deducible from known 
 facts. The next passage is still more curious, 
 from the bewilderment of all the writers as to 
 the real causes of the decay or increase ol a 
 people. 
 
210 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 " Were I (says Mr. Hume) to assign a period 
 " when I imagine this part of the world might 
 " possibly contain more inhabitants than at 
 " present, I should pitch upon the age of Trajan 
 " and the Antonines ; the great extent of the 
 " Roman empire being then civilised and culti- 
 " vated, settled almost in a profound peace, both 
 " foreign and domestic, and living under the 
 " same regular police and government. But we 
 " are told (by Montesquieu, I'Esprit de loix, 
 " 54, xxiii., cap. 19) that ail extensive govern- 
 " ments, especially absolute monarchies, are 
 " pernicious to population, and contain a secret 
 " vice and poison which destroy the effect of all 
 " these promising appearances ! To confirm this 
 " there is a passage cited from Plutarch {De 
 " Orac. clefectus), which, being somewhat singu- 
 " lar, we shall here examine it." 
 
 " The author, endeavouring to account for the 
 " silence of many of the oracles, says that it may 
 " be ascribed to the present desolation of the 
 " world, proceeding from former wars and fac- 
 " tions ; which common calamity, he adds, has 
 " fallen heavier upon Greece than on any other 
 " country ; insomuch that the whole could 
 *' Scarcely at present furnish three thousand war- 
 " riors ; a number which, in the time of the 
 
OF POPULATION. 211 
 
 " Median war, was suj^plied by llie single city of 
 " Megara. The gods, therciore, who affect works 
 " of dignity and importance, have suppressed 
 " many of their oracles, and deign not to use so 
 " many interpreters of their will to so diminutive 
 " a people." 
 
 " I must confess that this passage contains so 
 " many difficulties that I know not what to 
 " make of it ! You may observe that Plutarch 
 " assigns for a cause of the decay of mankind, 
 " not the extensive dominion of the Romans, but 
 " the former wars and factions of the several 
 " States, all of which were (juieied by the Roman 
 " arms. Plutarch's reasoning is, therefore, di- 
 " rectly contrary to the inference which is drawn 
 " (by Montesquieu) from the fact he advances." 
 
 Mr. Hume " does not know what to make of 
 this passage," and it must doubtless have ap- 
 peared sufficiently perplexing and contradictory. 
 To the author, it seems to be (upon his own 
 principles) susceptible of a full and complete 
 explanation. Montesquieu, it appears, had ar- 
 rived to full and sufficient knowledge of the fact 
 that extensive and settled governments, and espe- 
 cially monarchies, which tend to encourage 
 luxury, and did not, in ancient times, fiscally 
 op})ress the mass of the people, so as to drive 
 p 2 
 
212 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 them to a poor and famishing manner of sub- 
 sistence, are not favourable to population. This 
 fact the author of *' The Spirit of Laws" had 
 satisfied himself was true ; and therefore he 
 quotes Plutarch for the fact, that the population 
 of Greece had diminished from the period of its 
 conquest by the Romans down to his own time, 
 notwithstanding Plutarch himself attributes the 
 diminution to an opposite reason. That Plutarch 
 should reason differently is not surjDrising, though 
 his reason is a very unreasonable one, even upon 
 his own notions. It is difficult to bring men 
 in general to be convinced that a nation cannot 
 be permanently lessened by devastations through 
 war, so rapidly are the gaps in the population 
 filled up under such circumstances. 
 
 In more modern times we have seen the 
 history of the attempts to extirpate the Irish, 
 and have it recorded how rapidly their numbers 
 were recruited after a few years of res23ite and 
 repose. Plutarch, however, was not aware that 
 a people cannot be extinguished, unless by being, 
 as the Carthaginians were, brought into utter 
 slavery, and lost amid their conquerors ; and 
 having also no conception of the truth which 
 President Montesquieu so confidently and pro- 
 perly enunciates, he had nothing for it but to 
 
OF POPULATION. 213 
 
 attribute the dini'nution of the Greeks to I licit 
 former wars ; which were constant cnoui^li, and 
 cruel enough, and devastating enough ; slipping 
 over the difficulty that, during the long period 
 which elapsed between the Roman Conquest and 
 his own time, that is to say, between the taking 
 of Corinth by the Consul Mummius, and Plu- 
 tarch's time, a period of two hundred and fifty- 
 six years, during which there w^re no devasta- 
 tions, a cure, upon his ouii theory, must have 
 been surely wrought. This appears to the 
 author to be a natural solution of the feelings 
 and views under which both Montesquieu and 
 Plutarch wrote. That the fact was as Montes- 
 quieu states, the author does not doubt. Though 
 the Greeks, after the Roman Conquest, lost their 
 independence, they were not oppressed. The 
 ingenuity and industry of the people were 
 allowed, in peace, to reap their own reward — 
 comfort and affluence, and occasional luxury. 
 Taxation was moderate, and being nearly alto- 
 gether direct, trenched little upon the comJorts 
 of the mass of the inhabitants, and from the 
 poverty and devastations caused by their own 
 unruly passions, they were thenceforward exempt. 
 Montes(iuieu is right, therefore, in attributing 
 the thinner population to the Roman domi- 
 
214 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 nion ; and of the fact itself we cannot doubt, 
 since Plutarch, who was himself a Greek, ex- 
 pressly states it, though he gives the wrong 
 reason for it. Their former numbers may have 
 been exaggerated ; but of the general fact of the 
 decay in their numbers, there seems to be no 
 room for doubt. 
 
 Such were the opinions of the ancients as to 
 the numbers of mankind at different periods. 
 They certainly seem by no means to lean 
 towards the recognition of any overwhelming 
 tendency to constant growth ; but expressly 
 recognise periods for decay and diminution, 
 as well as periods for enlargement and increase. 
 Nor are their statements to be set aside on 
 account of occasional exaggeration, to which 
 all computations as to numbers of people are 
 peculiarly liable. If we come nearer modern 
 times, we shall find the same opinions prevail- 
 ing to more or less extent, as to certain periods, 
 both of this country and others ; and probably 
 not without foundation in truth. 
 
 Of all European countries, this opinion has 
 been most prevalent with regard to Spain. If 
 we are to believe the Roman writers, this fine 
 and romantic country, when at last subdued by 
 the wonderful military genius of Rome and her 
 
r '^■~ 
 OF POPULATION. 215 
 
 sons, was highly populous. Ol" what race llie 
 people were, is not at all clear. They are called 
 by the Latin writers sometimes " Iberi," and 
 sometimes " Hispani ;" but the general opinion 
 is, they were principally of the tribe called 
 " Celts," who, l,eaving Asia at some remote 
 period, as the spreading south-eastern population 
 of that quarter of the globe began gradually to 
 drive the more scattered, less dense, and more 
 Nomadic tribes to the westward, spread them- 
 selves over Spain, then inhabited by the Iberi, 
 Gaul, part of Germany, Belgium, and thence 
 over to Great Britain and Ireland. From this 
 singular race are supposed to be derived the 
 Druidical monuments which exist in these islands; 
 but the striking part of their character seems to 
 have been their restless, untameable nature. 
 Wherever they settled they seem to have been 
 subdivided into small nations or clans, amongst 
 which continued feuds and wars seem to have 
 raged. This character seems to have attached to 
 the Spanish part of them, who are always charac- 
 terized by the Roman v.riters as a wrathful, 
 quarrelsome, and ferocious race. " Impacatos 
 Iberos" is Virgil's epithet for them, and the 
 historians fully corroborate the Poet, jDainting 
 them, one and all, as a bellicose race of savages, 
 
216 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 split into tribes, and making peipetual inroads 
 upon each other's territory, much after the 
 manner of the Highlanders of Scotland and the 
 kings of Ireland, a very few centuries ago. Hume 
 in his essay, as usual, takes this state to be one 
 unfavourable to population ; but we have the 
 direct testimony of history (Cicero de Haruspice, 
 cap. ix.), that at this time the Iberian popula- 
 tion was great. The Carthaginian inroads had 
 not tended to alter the habits of the people ; and 
 it was not until after they were completely sub- 
 dued by the Romans, that their numbers began 
 to decline. Nor is this wonderful, if we admit 
 the truth of the theory here adduced. If, in 
 modern times, we see a year of moderate dearness 
 or scarcity, produce an immediate start in popu- 
 lation (as has been shown in a preceding section), 
 what must be the case when frequent devastations 
 were producing artificial famines, and inducing 
 perpetually recurring hardships amongst all classes 
 of these people ? When Hispania, however, be- 
 came a Roman province, it gradually became a 
 rich country. That it was much cherished by 
 the Romans, is a matter of history. Spain, until 
 the discovery of Mexico and Peru, and the esta- 
 blishment of an intercourse with India, was almost 
 the sole source whence the precious metals 
 
OF POPULATION. 217 
 
 were obtained. Hence wealth flowed in, ho[\\ 
 upon the Roman conquerors and the inliahi- 
 tants. Quiet and civilization went hand in hand 
 with wealth ; and after the spread ol' Christianity, 
 Spain, owing to the romantic beauty of the 
 country, became a favourite retreat for Chris- 
 tians who wished to escape in solitude from the 
 sneers of the world, or perhaps its persecution. 
 It was here that Ausonius addressed his de- 
 precatory epistles to St. Pauhnus, ^Ausonius, 
 EpistolcCy xxiv. xxv.) who had retired to this 
 now quiet, civilized, moderately peopled, but 
 still romantic country : and the sites of otlier 
 hermitages are still pointed out in various parts 
 of Spain and Portugal. About the year a. d. 
 401), in the general disruption of the Western 
 Empire, this line province was overrun l)y the 
 Alanci, and other gothic hordes, who, following 
 the early movement of tlie Celts, at last over- 
 whelmed and trod to pieces the Roman Empire. 
 To this succeeded the invasion and concpiest of 
 liie Moors, until they again were (inally driven 
 out of Spain about a. d. 1312. 
 
 What might have been the population oi 
 Spain at the era of the exi)ulsion of thr Moors 
 it is impossible to say, but it seems tolerably 
 certain that the Spanish people have been since 
 
218 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 that time declining in numbers rather than other- 
 wise. From that time down to the present, 
 this singular and fine people have retained not 
 only their national habits, but their national 
 privileges. Though united nominally in one 
 monarchy, the Basque provinces have retained 
 their language, their rights, and real indepen- 
 dence. They have never paid taxes beyond the 
 established faeros. Even Charles the Fifth, in 
 the plenitude of his power was compelled to 
 respect them, and their example has so far 
 operated, that it has preserved the rest of Spain 
 at all tinies from great Fiscal oppression, which 
 operates beyond all other causes put together to 
 alter the condition of a country long subjected 
 to it. Hence wealth has been upon the whole 
 equably diffused through Spain, especially in the 
 Basque provinces, where nobility has no privi- 
 leges. Thus we see in Spain, as described by 
 Laborde and others, a fine and mountaiiibus 
 country inhabited by a people for the most part 
 leading the pastoral life, and grazing herds of 
 cattle, sheep, goats, and swine, rather than em- 
 ployed in tillage, but caring little for commerce or 
 its products, save at the sea-ports and a few large 
 towns. In such a country, divided for the most 
 part amongst small proprietors, who hand down 
 
OF POPULATION. 219 
 
 their little estates from generation to i,Tncration, 
 the mode oi" living:;, thoui;li rougli and simple, is 
 plentiful and full. The vine sheds its blessings 
 in the shape of the most nutritious wines over 
 the whole region. The sugar of the raisin aids 
 the fatness of the olive in producing a generous 
 aliment for the cultivators of the soil and shep- 
 herds of the flocks and herds, which depasture 
 in rich and endless droves in the rich valleys of 
 this favoured land. Poultry is in abundance, 
 and eggs, cheese, and butter add their nutriment 
 to that derived from the flesh of cattle, sheep, 
 and goats, with which the kingdom everywhere 
 abounds. Travellers who talk of the poverty of 
 Spain mistake roughness for want ; and wonder 
 at finding bad inns amongst a pastoral people who 
 care nothing for travellers. This equably diffused 
 plenty the Spanish Monarchs have never been 
 enabled materially to lessen by exactions ; and the 
 pohtrcal power of Spain, whilst she had ])olitical 
 power, may be ascribed to the vast wealth wiiich 
 for a series of years the government derived Iroin 
 Mexico and Peru. That the influx of this wealth 
 helped to check population still further, is 
 evident in the lact, that Spain is now the least 
 populous country in Europe ; and since the loss 
 of the Indies, the most politically feeble, for with 
 
220 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 that loss the revenue of the Monarch perished ; 
 and Spain, strong in herself, is powerless abroad. 
 Whilst Spain retains the olive and the vine, her 
 rich pastures and endless sheep-walks, her mag- 
 nificent woods, and arable plains, she can never 
 be populous, whilst peaceful and untaxed ; nor to 
 reverse such a state of things will a mere ordinary 
 warfare be sufficient, unless the devastations of 
 the Celts, and the perpetual strategy of the Iberi, 
 arise again to astonish modern times. 
 
 If we turn our attention to our own country, 
 we shall find the same notions of its former 
 populousness existing, and similar reasons for 
 believing them to be not unfounded in fact. 
 It has been supposed by many that, at the period 
 of the Norman Conquest, and during the times 
 anterior to that event, England had more inha- 
 bitants than she possessed some centuries after- 
 wards ; nor are reasons wanting to prove the 
 probabihty of this opinion. If we look into the 
 details of the great battles fought, or armies 
 raised, from the period of the Conquest to the 
 time of Henry the Seventh, so far from finding 
 any superiority in the numbers of the more 
 modern armies, we discover the contrary, though 
 the kingdom was, during the latter period, 
 unquestionably richer, and the means for paying 
 
OF POPULATION. 22 
 
 and maintaining armies easier to l)e had. 1 
 tor instance, we arc to credit hi.story as to events 
 so comparatively recent as the Norman Invasion, 
 it seems undeniable that the armies commaiulcd 
 by King Harold the Second at the battle ol 
 Hastings, and the battle near York, which 
 immediately preceded it, must have been more 
 numerous than any army raised in England 
 from that time down to the conflict at Bos worth 
 Field, which gave the croAvn to Henry the 
 Seventh. In the battle at Stamford Bridire, 
 whicli immediately preceded that of Hastings, 
 Harold is said to have brought not less tlian 
 sixty thousand men to oppose Haifager, the 
 Norwegian Prince ; and Tosti, Earl of Northum- 
 berland, whose army, not much inferior to 
 Harold's, was partly composed of Englishmen. 
 In this bloody encounter, although victorious, 
 the English king's loss must have been severe ; 
 and yet eighteen days after this battle the fatal 
 conflict at Hastings is fought. In this great 
 conflict, it seems certain that the armies engaged 
 were superior in number to those who fought at 
 Stamford Bridge eighteen days before. Wilham, 
 the Norman, had with him eight hiiiKhcd aiul 
 ninety-six shi])s of ail sorts; which, at the rate 
 of eighty soldiers to each transport, gives an 
 
222 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 armament of seventy thousand men. The Eng- 
 lish army, it is certain, though inferior in disci- 
 pline, was superior in numbers, and if the impa- 
 tient Harold would have waited for a few days, it 
 would have been much more so. Though no quar- 
 ter was given by the Normans, the number of 
 English said to be slain is beyond all credibility, 
 they being stated at sixty-seven thousand nine 
 hundred and seventy-four men. It is quite 
 certain, however, from the immediate submis- 
 sion that followed, that the slaughter must have 
 been prodigious ; and it seems difficult to con- 
 ceive that, on the English side, less than one 
 hundred thousand men could have been engaged. 
 If to these we add the numbers that must have 
 been killed, wounded, and disabled, in many 
 ways, at Stamford Bridge, eighteen days before, 
 it makes the amount of Harold's disposable force 
 very large ; and when in addition to this it is 
 reflected .that Tosti's troops were also English- 
 men, we must conclude that not less than one 
 hundred and fifty thousand Englishmen must 
 have been engaged in these two encounters ; an 
 enormous force, and not equalled in any action 
 fought for many centuries afterwards in or by 
 England. 
 
 If there be a period in which beyond all others 
 
or POPULATION. 223 
 
 we should naturally look ior a mii;lity prepara- 
 tion, that period is the date of Edward the 
 Third's Freneh expedition. Tlie nation was then 
 in a state of prosperity and wealth, which has 
 probably never really been exceeded at any i'uture 
 time. As a proof of this, Rapin relates that a 
 private citiz n of London, a wine-merchant, at 
 the close of the war, entertained Edward, the 
 King of Cyprus, and the two kings of France 
 and Scotland, with all their attendants and the 
 whole court, in a most sumptuous manner. To 
 form an idea of what such of royal entertain- 
 ment must necessarily have been we must turn 
 to HoUinshed, who, in his Chronicle, states 
 that, about this period, fifty-six different kinds 
 of foreign wine were drunk in England ! The 
 pay of Edward's army seems to have been upon a 
 scale according with this state of things : he had 
 introduced artiller}', and the pay of some of his 
 gunners is put down at the enormous sum of a 
 shilling per day of the valuable money of that 
 time. The entire number of the army thai 
 sailed with Edward was, however, only thirty- 
 one thousand six hundred arid ninety-four men, 
 exclusive of the nobility, splendidly equipped, 
 no doubt ; but vet a small armament v.lien com- 
 
224 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 pared with those wlio fought at Hastings and 
 Stamford Bridge. 
 
 Later than this was the equally celehrated ex- 
 pedition oi" Henry the Fifth. As to the numbers 
 who attended him there seems to he less cer- 
 tainty. Rapin says fifty thousand men, but this 
 seems to include the sailors of the fleet, ibr 
 Monstrelet makes the fighting men amount to 
 only twenty-six thousand men. It seems clear, 
 however, that the number was not great, if we 
 are to believe the accounts as to the mere 
 handful that fought soon after at Agincourt. 
 The greatest battle after Hastings is however, 
 probably, Towton, in the next reign. In this 
 desperate conflict both sides were Englishmen ; 
 the fate of the kingdom depended upon its issue ; 
 the passions of both parties were roused to the 
 highest pitch ; and it is probable that, as there 
 was ample time, every nerve was strained to 
 bring the greatest possible number into the field. 
 Yet giving all latitude to the accounts, it does 
 not seem that more than one hundred and eight 
 thousand men of all sorts met at Towton, when 
 both the North and South of England were 
 di'ained of all their men-at-arms lor this grand 
 conflict. Here there is no symptom of increased 
 
 r 
 
OF POPULATION. 225 
 
 population, but the contiaiy. All the other 
 Yorkist and Lancastrian battles were Joim:ht with 
 very inlerior numbers, and tlie slaughter seems 
 to have lallen most ujx^n the nobility and 
 gentry, who were probably nujch more hearty 
 in the cause than were the connnonalty, who 
 would understand little, and care less, about the 
 dispute. It is to be remembered too, that these 
 wars were spread over a period of from twelve to 
 fifteen years. 
 
 Though the battle fought at Towton, in 
 Yorkshire, w'as, in point of numbei-, the greatest 
 that was fought by the partizans of the Roses ; 
 yet both this battle, and that near Hexham, as well 
 as at Hedgeley Moor, between Queen Margaret's 
 forces and those of the Yorkists under Neville, 
 Lord Montacute, and some others, of which 
 part of the forces were derived iiom the North, 
 show that, though there is no reason (or sup- 
 posing the population to be more than equal, 
 or indeed quite equal to what it Avas at the 
 period of the Norman Conquest, still that it 
 had not declined in the marked and visible 
 way in which it diminished aftei- the reign of 
 Edw^ard the Fourth, which ended in 1483. We 
 see here considerable forces raised in this part 
 of the country, as far down as 1470. That 
 Q 
 
226 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the population had rapidly decreased after that 
 time, is proved, not only by the Statute Book, 
 but by such enumerations as took place after 
 that period, within one hundred and fifty years. 
 In 1615, it appears in Surtees' History of 
 Durham" (vol. i., Appendix I., page cxxxvii.) 
 that a muster of all males in the county of 
 Durham, between the ages of sixteen and sixty, 
 capable of bearing arms, was made on St. Giles- 
 gate Moor, near the City of Durham, by com- 
 mand of the King, James I. The return is 
 imperfect, the numbers for each parish being 
 given for two of the four Wards only ; that is to 
 say, for those of Easington and Chester. The 
 totals, however, are given for the Wards of 
 Darlington and Stockton ; so that we have the 
 entire amount ; and the whole bears sufficient 
 evidence upon it, that the muster and enumera- 
 tion were made with an approximation to accu- 
 racy. This return would, of course, exclude 
 the Clergy ; but it does not appear that there 
 were any other persons exempt. The document 
 is as follows : — 
 
OF POPULATION. 227 
 
 Appendix XXXlX.—iRaiuJairs MSS.) 
 
 THE NUMBER OF MEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF SIXTEEN AND SIXTY, 
 THAT APPEARED AT THE GENERAL MUSTER, ON ST. GILESGATE 
 MOOR. A.D. ICl'). 
 
 EASINGTON WARD. 
 
 St. Gyles' Parish 84 
 
 St. Nicholas 21G 
 
 Hesleden 66 
 
 Easington 140 
 
 Trimdon ami Kelloe 147 
 
 Aulton 51 
 
 Pittington 83 
 
 Houghton 289 
 
 Bishops-Weremouth 196 
 
 Lumley (part of Chester in Easington Ward) . 80 
 
 Castle Eden 13 
 
 Seham 36 
 
 N. Bailey 54 
 
 S. Bailey 10 
 
 1465 
 CHESTER WARD. 
 
 East Bolden 36 
 
 Monk-Weremouth 87 
 
 Whitburne 63 
 
 Washington 40 
 
 Jarrow 294 
 
 Gateshead 365 
 
 Lamesley . • • • • • • 184 
 
 Ebchester !•> 
 
 Carried forward .... 1084 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 
 
 TH¥ TRUE LAW 
 
 Brought forward 
 
 . 1084 
 
 Ryton 
 
 277 
 
 Medomsley 
 
 j3 
 
 Wliickham 
 
 360 
 
 Lanchester 
 
 138 
 
 Eshe 
 
 20 
 
 St. Margaret's ..... 
 
 187 
 
 St. Oswald's 
 
 119 
 
 Chester and Tanfield .... 
 
 239 
 
 Chapehy (qu. Satley) 
 
 72 
 
 Hunstonwortli .... 
 
 14 
 
 Muggleswick ..... 
 
 42 
 
 Wittoii Gilbert .... 
 
 44 
 
 Kibblesworth 
 
 8 
 
 (TOTAL.) 
 
 Darlington Ward 
 Stockton Ward 
 "Easington Ward 
 Chester Ward 
 
 2657 
 
 2946 
 1223 
 1494 
 2657 
 
 8220 persons. 
 
 Without supposing this document to be accu- 
 rate, for of course there must have been numerous 
 absentees, for various obvious reasons, it cannot 
 still be doubted that it is an approximation to 
 the truth, a second muster, two years after, 
 being nearly the same. Thus then we see, that 
 in the space of about a century and a half, the 
 
 * This disagrees with the particular return. 
 
OF POPULATION. 229 
 
 ■whole of the men capable of bearing arms whicli 
 the county of Durham could furnish, would hardly 
 make a fifth part of those who perished on the 
 side of the Lancastrians at the grand conflict ot 
 Towton, where the forces of Lancaster were 
 drawn from the North. The slaughter of King 
 Henry the Sixth's army at ToAvton, Dr. Lingard, 
 a historian who is not disposed to exaggerate 
 in these points, admits could not be much below 
 thirty-eight thousand men, or nearly fi\'c times 
 the Durham muster of 1615. 
 
 A more decisive testimony of the diminution 
 of the population through the period that inter- 
 venes between the Norman Concjuest and the 
 reign of Elizabeth is, perhaps, the comparison 
 of the ecclesiastical distribution of the country, 
 which has existed since the Reformation, with 
 that wdiich had been made and existed for many 
 centuries before that event. It is well known, 
 that, let the distribution be made when it might, 
 the parishes of England, up to the time of the 
 Reformation, were nmch above thirteen thousand 
 m number. In round numbers they may be 
 stated at fourteen thousand. In each of these 
 was resident a Rector or Vicar, who was not 
 onlv maintained from the tithes, but was ex- 
 
230 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 pected to show hospitality, and also to take care 
 that the poor of his parish, if any, were relieved 
 out of the tithes, of which they were held to 
 be entitled to a share. After paying the poor 
 and the Priest, the remainder went to build 
 or repair the Church, and in part to the Bishop. 
 That the tithes of all parishes were held to be 
 amply sufficient for these purposes, is evident 
 in the Act passed in the fifteenth year of Richard 
 the Second, to compel the Monasteries who held 
 livings to provide better for their Vicars (for thus 
 came Vicars into the Church), and also to pro- 
 vide for the poor. The Statute enacts that " a 
 convenient sum of money be paid and distributed 
 yearly of the fruits and profits of the same 
 Churches, by those that shall have the said 
 Churches in proper use, and by their successors, 
 to the poor parishioners of the said Churches, in 
 aid of their living and sustenance for ever ; and 
 also that the Vicar he well and sufficiently en- 
 dowed.'' This Act, which is still law as far as 
 vicarial tithes are concerned, was, as to the poor, 
 of universal application to all parishes, and 
 proves, as much as document can, that the 
 thirteen thousand and odd parishes existing up 
 to the time of Henry the Eighth, were cultivated, 
 
OF POPULATION. 231 
 
 inhabited parishes; maintaining a Churcli, how- 
 ever small; and a priest, however poor; with 
 some residue for destitute persons. 
 
 When, after the Reformation, the Church was 
 remodelled, was it found necessary, in conse- 
 quence of an exuberance of people, to divide 
 populous parishes into two benetices, as might 
 naturally be expected, if the people had exhibited 
 any increase ? Quite the contrary ! After the 
 Reformation, the number of benefices of all sorts, 
 by moulding two livings into one in many cases, 
 were reduced below the number of eleven thou- 
 sand, and arc at this moment only ten thousand 
 seven hundred and forlij-lico, according to the 
 return of the Government Commissioners, pub- 
 lished "by connnand of his Majesty," in 1835. 
 It is impossible to reconcile the new ecclesiastical 
 distribution or division at the Reformation to 
 common sense, unless upon the supposition that 
 the hypothesis or sui)])osition that the jiopulation 
 had visibly decreased since the old division had 
 obtained full credence. Had the extensive 
 parishes become more populous, the course in- 
 dicated was to divide further, and si)lit the incon- 
 veniently populous into two. J3ut the contrary 
 course was taken. The conchision theiefore is, 
 that a decreased population was apparent ; for tliis 
 
232 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 naturally leads to, and excuses a union of 
 parishes. 
 
 Upon a review of all these circumstances, it is 
 not easy to escape the conviction, that, from the 
 time of the Conquest up to Elizabeth's reign 
 inclusive, the population had not only been 
 stationary, but had at last declined visibly. 
 From the time of the Act of Parliament quoted 
 by Sir Frederick Morton Eden, up to the acces- 
 sion of James the First, in 1603, it seems 
 evident that the decay had been so visible as 
 to cause great alarm, though it had been less 
 palpable before that time. And, under the 
 theory here argued for, this was the natural 
 course of events. The country soon recovered 
 the effects of the Conquest ; the feudal insti- 
 tutions soon fell into desuetude ; and after the 
 extinction of the immediate Norman line, there 
 can be no doubt of the rapid progress of the 
 nation in wealth, power, and freedom. The 
 walled towns and sea-ports, one after another, 
 obtained charters ; Ireland was added to the 
 British dominions ; Wales was subdued ; France 
 wa§ all but added to the Crown of England ; 
 Parliaments were free ; the old and mild com- 
 mon law of England was in full force ; trade 
 grew apace, and the nation, being free from a 
 
OF POPULATION. 233 
 
 foreign invader, and almost lioni a civil bioil 
 lip to the reign ot tlie Sixtli Henry, liad, beyond 
 donbt, arrived at a pitch of generally difliiscd 
 wealth, and even luxury, such as the world had 
 not till then seen, nor perhaps dreamed of". 
 Nor is it probable, on consideration calmly of 
 the matter, that the general prosperity of the 
 people suffered materially by the wars of the 
 Roses. The parties unquestionably fought with 
 great fury, and much blood was shed ; but the 
 country was not devastated, as by a foreign 
 invader. Neither party wished to injure nor 
 exasperate the people, though they wished to 
 put down each other ; hence, until the armies 
 actually met, there was no hostility going on. 
 They did not burn towns, nor lay waste tlie 
 country, they only fought pitched battles in con- 
 venient positions. It is only by depressing for 
 a length of time the social condition o( large 
 masses of people, that ])opuhation is to be, or 
 can be stimulated ; but this can only be done 
 by a long series of hostile devastations, or by a 
 continuous and grinding fiscal tyranny, reducing 
 the mass of a people to live uj^on the lowest 
 amount of sustenance uj)oii which Imniaii life 
 can be sustained. Hence, up to the |)eri()d 
 when the Reformation deprived the few poor 
 
234 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 in England of their «hare of the Church lands 
 and tithes, want was unheard of, and the name 
 of pauper unknown. That this happy state of 
 society was not attended with an increasing 
 population, but the contrary, the author trusts 
 he has now adduced abundant evidence to 
 prove. 
 
 That one of the causes of this happy and 
 prosperous state, resided in the position of the 
 Church at this period is, however, a truth that 
 ought neither to be overlooked nor concealed. 
 The Church was an easy landlord. It was her 
 interest to attach the population to her ; and 
 hence her lands were always let upon long 
 leases of lives, and at rates most moderate. 
 That this acted generally upon the rates of 
 rent cannot be doubted, although the immense 
 rates of profit which all trades then enjoyed 
 also had their share in keeping down the rentals 
 of landed estates within very moderate bounds, 
 compared with those of modern times. Thus 
 the rental of land being moderate, and the popu- 
 lation being moderate, and taxes and rates being 
 almost unknown, the pay of the labourer was 
 ample at the same time that the profits of 
 traders were extraordinary. This is evident in 
 the fact that agricultural labourers, whose statute 
 
OF P0PULAT10i\. 23r) 
 
 wages were from niuch/ lo itpirards of our hundred 
 pounds a year, in the money of this day, made 
 to the sea-ports and walled towns, where hii^her 
 rates were given ! We can only judge of the 
 profits of trade in these times by getting some 
 idea of the numbers that were of one trade, and 
 obtained a livelihood from it. To do this, there 
 are no data remaining of the age of Elizabeth, 
 as far as the author knows ; but, going back 
 even a century, the results are strikingly indica- 
 tive. By the returns of licenses, it appears 
 that in 1736, there were in London, of licensed 
 houses for the sale of liquors, liftecn thousand 
 eight hundred and thirty-nine. In 1835, only 
 five thousand, with nearly three times the popu- 
 lation. In 1785, the licensed soap-makers were 
 nine hundred and seventy-one ; in 1834 only 
 three hundred and two. The soap made in 
 1785 was only thirty-nine millions of pounds 
 weight avoirdupois ; in the year 1835 one hundred 
 and fifty-four millions of pounds weight were 
 charged with, and the duty paid ui)on tbcfu. 
 From this some judgment may be formed what 
 the profits of trade must have been in the foui-- 
 teenth and fifteenth centuries. The better, 
 however, to assist this judgment, the author 
 appends the following statement of the increase 
 
236 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 of the quantity, followed by a constant decrease 
 in the numbers of manufacturers, which shews 
 the rate at which profits have lowered and 
 narrowed ever since 1785 ; and the reader may 
 rest assured that the ratio upwards, is only the 
 inverse of the ratio downwards. 
 
 STATEMENT. 
 
 ''ROM PAGE 10 OF RePOKT XVII. OF ExCISE COMMISSIONERS.) 
 
 Date 
 
 Hard Soap made. 
 
 Soft Soap made. 
 
 Number of 
 Manufacturers. 
 
 1785 
 
 35,012,4121bs. 
 
 3,358,228 
 
 971 
 
 1790 
 
 42,074,309 
 
 3,671,425 
 
 772 
 
 1795 
 
 48,202,786 
 
 3,495,559 
 
 677 
 
 1800 
 
 54,233,311 
 
 3,528,432 
 
 652 
 
 1805 
 
 65,723,869 
 
 4,575,130 
 
 553 
 
 1810 
 
 72,636,296 
 
 6,146,529 
 
 510 
 
 1815 
 
 77,678,063 
 
 6,224,002 
 
 447 
 
 1820 
 
 82,379,891 
 
 7,099,297 
 
 398 
 
 1825 
 
 102,623,165 
 
 8,910,501 
 
 3 5 
 
 1830 
 
 117,321,321 
 
 10,209,519 
 
 309 
 
 1834 
 
 144,344,043 
 
 10,401,281 
 
 302 
 
 
 (The above was co 
 
 npiled from yearly retui 
 
 ns.) 
 
 Another source of the ease and comfort of the 
 people must not be passed over unnoticed ; and 
 this source was comprised in the common lands. 
 Up to the ])eriod of the Revolution of 1688, 
 every township had its common, and every great 
 town or borough its common, proportioned to 
 the size and importance of the place. The use 
 of these lands, it is clear, would fall mainly to 
 
OF POrULATTON. 237 
 
 the share of tlie poorei' inhabitants of llio town- 
 ships and of the horouiih towns ; so tliat here 
 was another safeguard against destitution, of im- 
 mense importance, if contemplated in its magni- 
 tude as a whole. It is im})ossible now to come 
 at any correct account of tlie extent of the com- 
 mon lands as they existed two centuries ago ; 
 but some Avriters have not hesitated to estimate 
 them as high in amount as six millions of acres. 
 This may be, and probably is an over-estimate, 
 but that it is greatly over, the author does not 
 believe. If we take the parishes as they were 
 anterior to the Reformation, and allow three 
 townships to each country parish, this will give 
 a probable result of forty thousand townships, 
 after throwing off two thousand lor the town 
 parishes. If each township had eighty acres ol 
 common on the average, this would be three 
 millions and two hundred thousand acres, exclu- 
 sive of the lands attached in the shape of com- 
 mon and moor to the great towns, the extents 
 of which were unquestionably very great. The 
 work of inclosing these commons under Acts of 
 Parliament, called Inclosure Bills, began in the 
 reign of Queen Anne, when three were i)assed. 
 The numbers increased slowly at fiist. George 
 the First assented to sixteen ; and Georgq the 
 
238 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Second to two hundred and twenty-three. After 
 the accession of George the Third, however, 
 inclosure of commons went on apace ; and in 
 his reign alone, three thousand eight hundred 
 and ninety-seven Inclosure Bills (or thereabouts) 
 were passed — (See Lords' Report, 1814, and 
 other documents) — so that the accounts up 
 to the accession of George the Fourth, stand 
 thus : — 
 
 Bills for Inclosure. 
 
 Queen Anne 3 
 
 George I. 16 
 
 George II 223 
 
 George III 3,897 
 
 4,139 
 
 Considering the numbers that must have 
 passed since, and considering the expenses of 
 local Acts, it seems probable that on the average 
 these bills must have alienated some hundreds 
 of acres for each bill. The former great extent of 
 the common lands, and the aid that the poorer 
 classes must have derived from them, become then 
 very apparent, and go to prove how impossible it 
 was, under all these concurrent circumstances, 
 that there should be anything like pauperism at 
 that time in England ; yet it is only since these 
 
OF POPULATION. 231) 
 
 circumstances have been altered that fears of 
 over-population have succeeded to the terrors of 
 a decay of tliat, the rapid increase of whicli is 
 now so greatly dreaded. 
 
 One more proof of the wealth of the times 
 referred to, the author may adduce. This was 
 the annual fairs, and the great importance 
 attached to them. Every borough had by its 
 charter one or two annual fairs, generally two ; 
 one for cattle — one for merchandise. At these 
 fairs it is known that the people universally not 
 only bought their annual stock of many articles 
 for ready money, but also cattle and swine to kill 
 and salt for winter provision ; a fact which alone 
 shows the ease in which they lived. These fairs 
 exist in part now ; but the persons frequenting 
 them are not the same, nor is the amount of 
 lucrative traffic probably to be compared to that 
 of former times, when all ranks bought and 
 bought largely. Of such importance used these 
 fairs to be, that when the City of Bath had 
 Birton fair granted, the Burgesses of Bris- 
 tol, out of jealousy, established a fair on the 
 same day, and prohibited Bristol wares from 
 going to Birton fair by a bye-law. On the 
 Bathonians, however, petitioning the king (Ed- 
 ward III.), the evil was redressed by the king 
 
240 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 and Council. (Warner's History of Bath, p. 174.) 
 Thus everything seems to concur to prove, at the 
 period referred to, luxury and over-plenty 
 wrought decay in numbers, and that it became at 
 once necessary to pass statutes against luxury, 
 and statutes to repair houses that were falling 
 down for want of inhabitants. 
 
OF POPULATION. 241 
 
 CHAPTER Xi 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS OF THE INTERNAL 1<:\ IDENCE FOR 
 THIS THEORY. 
 
 The aullior of these sheets presumes that he 
 may venture to lay down tlie following rule ; 
 that is to say, that whenever any theory or 
 liypothesis as to natural dispensation or arrange- 
 ment is, or can he shown to he, at ap])ai-en( 
 variance with the hencvolence of the Deity, that 
 variance is strong internal evidence against its 
 truth, upon whatever grounds of proof of oIIrt 
 descriptions such hypothesis may rest ; whilst, 
 on the other hand, it may he with equal fairness 
 assumed, that when any hypothesis or scheme 
 of natural arrangement or dispensation is in ac- 
 cordance with, and illustratixe of, that hencvo- 
 lence which we attribute to the Deity as his 
 personal attribute, then such accordance is, 
 
 K 
 
242 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 quantum valeat, internal evidence of its truth — 
 that is to say, evidence as far as it goes — though 
 requiring the corroboration of other and more 
 direct evidence to amount to proof. Thus, for 
 instance, when the existence of evil is supposed 
 as part of a hypothesis, without sufficient cause 
 in the shape of an ultimate beneficial result, or 
 without an evident necessity to preserve other 
 beneficial results already shown to be existing, 
 then this is indirectly to attribute the gratuitous 
 causation of evil to the Divine Being ; a position 
 at variance with the benevolence at first predi- 
 cated, Vv'hich admits of the existence of evil only 
 because an imperfect state of being cannot admit 
 of a perfect state of happiness, but not of evil, 
 gratuitous, and arising neither from a necessity in 
 nature, nor as a means to a compensating bene- 
 ficial end. 
 
 Having ventured these brief observations, the 
 author will now proceed to show that the hypo- 
 thesis here advocated, is not liable to the objection 
 above stated, but is, on the contrary, entitled 
 to the benefit of such presumption in its favour, 
 as an accordance with the benevolence and 
 wisdom of the Divine Author of the Universe 
 is calculated to afford it, the natural arrange- 
 ment it lays down being, if true and existing in 
 
OF popri.ATiox. 243 
 
 fact, apparently and ]>lainly tending- and intended 
 to promote the happiness ol" mankind, witli the 
 causation of as little of accompanyins; evil as can 
 well be conceived. In order to do this clearlv 
 and effectually, it is only necessary, first, to reca- 
 pitulate the leading points or positions of the 
 theory now attempted to be established ; and 
 then, having done this, to show the results, moral 
 and physical, which flow from the admission of 
 its truth. In the first place tlien, if this theory 
 of increase and decrease be true, it is true that 
 when any species, whether of the vegetable or 
 animal kingdom, is endangered, by a failure or 
 diminution of its natural sustenance, and reduced 
 to the deplethoric state, then, in such case, is an 
 immediate stimulus given to increase, which con- 
 tinues as -long as the state continues. Secoiu/ly, 
 it is also true, that if on the contrary, sucii 
 species shall receive immoderate natural aliment, 
 and be brought into the extreme plethoric state, 
 then, in that case, increase is immediately 
 checked, and decrease takes place, which con- 
 tinues as long as the state is continued. Thirdly, 
 it is also true, that if moderate sufficient 
 aliment, or a moderated plethoric state, is 
 allotted to, and brought upon any species, then 
 mere reproduction will be the result, without 
 
244 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 increase or decrease of existing nnmbers. 
 Fourthly, that ii' equal portions of the same 
 species be put into these different states, in equal 
 degrees, it follows, as a true conclusion, that the 
 decrease of one portion will be compensated by 
 the increase of the other, and numbers remain as 
 they were. Tliese foui' propositions, the author 
 trusts he has in the foregoing- sections of this 
 work given evidence to estabhsh ; and sujiposing 
 the theory which they embody to be true, let us 
 now^ inquire into the different results, natural 
 and moral, which flow from them. 
 
 The first consideration likely to attract the 
 attention of the reader is, as it seems to the 
 writer, that under this law of increase and 
 decrease, a provision is made for the protection 
 of any species that is endangered, which is efii- 
 cient only ivhen it is wanted, and in the precise 
 ratio in which it is wanted. This, upon the face 
 of it, seems surely to be a more wise and provi- 
 dential arrangement, than would be a law under 
 which the tendency to increase is supposed to be 
 always equal. It is so, because such a law as 
 that presupposes an equal protection equally 
 requisite at all times, which is absurd. If we 
 take the evidence ol" facts, and look round us, 
 we shall find that such is not the case. The 
 
OF rOPULATION. _M.') 
 
 course of nature is one of constant chaimc and 
 vicissitude ; and this beini:: so, it follows that 
 whether we look at the vegetable or animal king- 
 dom, there must be times when existing species 
 are more endangered than they arc at other 
 times. In times of deaitli, Hood, and pestilence, 
 species must be more endangered than during 
 genial and healthy periods. This seems unde- 
 niable ; and being so, it follows that any unvary- 
 ing law of increase would be ina[)plicable aur^ 
 absurd ; because it might be barely sufficient for 
 the exigence at one time, and ridiculously super- 
 fluous at another. It is not easy to conceive, 
 that the Creator should so order as to let a 
 species be destroyed for want of a sufficient pro- 
 tective law at one season or time, and at another 
 force on a superfluity of existence, to be destroyed 
 again from want ol sustenance, without the slightest 
 conceivable reason for so doing. In short, the 
 supposition of such a law is to suppose the api)li- 
 cation of an invariable rule to ever-varying 
 circumstances, which is an absurd supposition, 
 and not in accordance either with the wisdom 
 or benevolence of the Deity ; whilst a law that 
 is efficient when wanted, and which is relaxed 
 when not wanted, seems to be in strict accord- 
 ance Avith a providential wisdom and benevolence, 
 
246 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 and equally well calculated for the protection and 
 benefit of created beings, of whatsoever descrip- 
 tion they may be. In short, as it seems to the 
 author, a law such as he has described seems to 
 unite the two desirable attributes of being, not 
 only beautiful as an arrangement, but benignant 
 as an instrument. 
 
 If, looking at the opposite effect of the law of 
 increase and decrease now enforced, we consider 
 the consequences of an arrangement for diminu- 
 tion and check at certain times, as well as for 
 increase at others, we shall find them also to be 
 plainly beneficial, and calculated to attain a de- 
 sirable end. The author nmst admit, and he 
 readily does so, that he is not prepared to state, 
 with regard to the vegetable creation, what the 
 effect of the highly plethoric state is upon the 
 health of a plant. By analogy, however, it may 
 be presumed to be probably injurious ; because if 
 we look at the animal kingdom, as far as we have 
 tolerably precise and minute knowledge, we find 
 the highly plethoric state always injurious to the 
 health of the animal. In the human animal, 
 luxuriousness and over-feeding is generally ad- 
 mitted by physiologists and physicians to be the 
 root of most organic diseases. With regard to 
 domestic animals the same truth is undeniable 
 
OF ropuLATiox. 247 
 
 and easily perceptible ; and if we seldom witness 
 it in animals not domestic, it is because their 
 food is in general probably only apportioned to 
 the labour they must undergo to procure it, and 
 because our opportunities for observation are also 
 few. Reasoning, however, upon what we do 
 know, it is not dithcult to perceive the wisdom 
 of a check to propagation under circumstances 
 of extreme luxuriousness, because by this pro- 
 vision the transmission of organic disease is 
 avoided. Thus, under this arrangement, let the 
 danger come from which side it may, it is 
 guarded against, and the species preserved from 
 the risks of destitution or want of sustenance on 
 one hand, and the perils ol' an unhealthy luxury 
 on the other. Assuming this explanation of the 
 providential benefit of the check here described 
 to be the true explanation, it seems an inference 
 highly probable, that to the vegetable tribes the 
 high stimulus of over sustenance and the eH'ects 
 of repletion are as injurious as to tlie animal. 
 This is ])robable as an inference, because in tlic 
 vegetable kingdom the check to i)rojjagation is 
 as invariably and more rapidly applied when a 
 state of repletion is induced in the plant, than 
 it is to the living animal. Flowers, shrubs, and 
 trees, planted in soils much too rich lor Ihcm, 
 
248 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 almost iiiiinediately suffer, and cease to bear. 
 In the flowers the leaf becomes double, and the 
 organs of reproduction are obliterated or injured. 
 In trees the blobsom is deficient and unfruitful. 
 To suppose so marked an effect as this without 
 a reason for it; is much, the same as to suppose 
 an effect without a cause, or that physical causes 
 are not always accompanied by moral reasons — 
 an idea faulty and untenable in itself, and re- 
 pugnant to the infinite wisdom and prescience of 
 the Creator. 
 
 Such are the beneficial consequences, as to the 
 preservation of created beings of every species, of 
 tlie arrangement here insisted upon ; but if the 
 author were to stop here, he would, as it seems 
 to him, leave untouched a most interesting and 
 extensive branch of this part of his subject, and 
 fall short of the moral purpose which ought to 
 form at least one of the motives to all sorts of 
 literary composition. We have ascertained thus 
 far how beneficially, as to the physical welfare of 
 created existences, this scheme seems to be calcu- 
 lated to work ; but on its tendencies and effects as 
 to the well-being and government of nations, we 
 have not touched. It comes next in order, to in- 
 quire, if this theory be true in fact, how and in what 
 manner its natural consequences may be sup- 
 
oi ropiJ.ATiON. '2\9 
 
 posed to act upon the social condition ol man- 
 kind, and npon the welfare of man as collected 
 into connuunities of individnals, wlio^e conduct 
 separately, has a ceitain action upon the hap- 
 piness of the whole. Let us make this incpiiry. 
 
 If it he true, as the author is well convinced it 
 is, that popidation is cliecked or increased 
 according to varying or opposite circumstances, 
 it follows as a plain conse([uence that a com- 
 nuuiity may suffer in two different ways, or from 
 two op})osite mistakes, as to their social condition. 
 If, for instance, a nation he so circumstanced 
 that its popidation has a general conunand, not 
 only over the necessaries, hut also over the 
 luxuries of life, it may still happen that, whether 
 this command he the fruits of mild and good 
 government, or of great industry, or of j)eculiar 
 position, or a condiination of all or some of 
 these advantages, this ai)i)arently fortunate situa- 
 tion may in the end he unfortunate if these 
 advantages he ahused. Evil may here arise out 
 of a very superfluity of good; lor il" the hulk of 
 a people indulge in luxiuy to an excess, the con- 
 sequence must he, not only an effeminacy of 
 mind and morals, and a decay of the i)ul)hc 
 virtues which arc necessai-y to the existence ol 
 states, hut, in addition to this, an actual physical 
 
250 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 decay and diminution of numerical strength, 
 probably most rapid at the top of society, and 
 extending downward as far as the luxury reaches 
 in the ratio of its extent. Such States soon 
 become the prey of other States, whose situation 
 has not possessed the same tendencies towards 
 national debility, or become the victims of some 
 tyranny within themselves, w^hich, in either case, 
 works a sharp and bitter cure to an insidious 
 disease. Such, beyond a doubt, is the true 
 history of the fall of many States. It was 
 probably the too great luxury which grew up in 
 England under the Dynasty of the Plantagenets, 
 which lulled the English people into their sub- 
 mission to the vices and tyrannies of the Tudors. 
 Thus, if we knew the particulars, in all probability 
 fell the Assyrian Empire ; and by this process 
 most certainly came the ruin of that of Rome. 
 Let us glance rapidly over the circumstances, 
 and we shall soon be convinced of this. During 
 the earlier period of the Republic the same severe 
 simplicity of life pervaded all ranks ; and hence 
 all ranks contributed their share to the strength 
 and growth of the state. The consuls, generals, 
 judges, and priesthood, were generally of the 
 Patricians ; the soldiers, the cultivators, and 
 the skilled in the useful arts and handi- 
 
 I 
 
01 POPULATION. 
 
 251 
 
 crafts, were the liee citizens of Rome and 
 her RepubUc. Tlie gradual inroads of a more 
 luxurious state of society, however, gradually 
 altered this state of affairs, until, even in 
 the time of the Gracchi, the decay of liee 
 Roman citizens in the provinces, and the increase 
 of the lower and slave population, induced the 
 two brothers to struggle for a revival of the 
 ancient Agrarian Laws, and a better allotment 
 of the tributary lands and territories. The 
 degenerate republic was at last subverted, but 
 under the empire, luxury still grew ; and the 
 end was, after many centuries, that the empire, 
 both of the West and East, left to mercenaries for 
 defence, crumbled under the blows of the Coths, 
 Huns, and Ottomans, until there remained not 
 even the shadow of a name. The fall of the 
 luxurious Eastern Empire was characteristic. 
 For years before the final doom, the entire popu- 
 lation almost, of what was called the Eastern 
 Empire, was gathered into a space consisting of the 
 City of Constantinople, and a territory of about 
 seven broad miles round the walls ! They had, 
 when their mercenary soldiers failed tlicm, hought 
 truce after truce, of their Ottoman invaders, 
 until they had nothing left hut the city and its 
 treasures, and themselves, to give. Mahomet 
 
252 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the Second stormed the city, and one day (the 
 29th of May, 1453,) sufficed to tread out the 
 last sparks of the Roman Empire and its once 
 omnipotent people. In this, and in other catas- 
 trophes of a similar kind, we see the origin 
 of the notion of Montesquieu, that absolute 
 monarchies contained in themselves some hid- 
 den and mysterious principle of decay, which was 
 sure in the end, to bring them to destruction. 
 The assertion is correct, though he was ignorant 
 of the steps of the process. He had failed to 
 perceive the manner in which the exuberance of 
 too great an abundance saps a population. It 
 begins, like Tarquin in his garden, by thinning 
 the tallest poppies, and so proceeds downwards 
 through the whole diseased community. But 
 the strength of monarchical and aristocratic 
 governments lies in the upper and middle 
 ranks. In these must reside the spirit of rule, 
 which is to keep the empire together ; and when 
 these decay, the empire itself decays with them, 
 for the military and domestic serfs are nearly, 
 at last, all that is left ; and deprived of their 
 natural leaders they soon become inefficient or 
 dangerous. So rapid was the decline in Rome, 
 that though Julius Ciiesar, to recruit the extinct 
 nobihtv, ennobled a vast number of families, it 
 
OF POPULATION. 253 
 
 was found requisite to repeat the operation hy 
 tlie Emperor Claudius ; and soon after that time, 
 we find Juvenal, in his Sixth Satire, hintinir, 
 and more than hinting, that, were it not for 
 the amours of the Roman ladies with their slaves, 
 and the palming of suppositious children upon 
 their husbands, many of the noblest families 
 would be without an heir ! 
 
 " Nobilis Euiyalum ^Mirmillonriii p\i)riiiKit infans !" 
 
 is one of his hues. It requires two of English 
 to do it justice, 
 
 " How sweetly marked the noble infant shews, 
 Euryalus the Swonler's mouth and nose !" 
 
 Enough, however of this part of the subject. 
 
 If in those portions of tliis theory wliich 
 exlnl)it the ettect of luxury cariied to excess 
 amongst a people, may be discovered a political 
 lesson, by no means to be des])ised, we may 
 derive one fully as important from tho-^c other 
 portions ot it, which go to explain the effects , 
 upon population of the opposite state of general 
 destitution. 
 
 From tbis o])eration of the Law of Poj)ulatioii 
 mav be deduced one grand and salut axiom, 
 
254 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 and that is, that a long-continued depression, 
 down to destitution, of a whole people, will, in 
 the long run, he revenged on itself and those 
 who caused it, hy the superfluous and unma- 
 nageable pauper population which it is sure to 
 generate. From the same facts, also, we may 
 draw another axiom, not less important ; and 
 this other axiom is, that no kind of misgovern- 
 ment is so dangerous and fatal as a fiscal tyranny, 
 Avhether such tyranny consists in the prostration 
 of the poor cultivators before the rapacity of the 
 owners of the soil, or before the united exactions 
 of government and landlord. In either case the 
 fruit is, at last, an overwhelming and starving 
 population, for which society cannot find either 
 room, food, or em])loyment, and who are, there- 
 fore, perpetually urged, by necessity and the pangs 
 of hunger and want, to overset the government 
 which has been the means of creating and 
 placing them in this dreadful situation. It is 
 very clear that this description of oppression is 
 infinitely more fatal and prolific of evil than were 
 any of the ancient tyrannies, dreadful as some 
 of them were. This is because their oppressions 
 fell more upon individuals than upon classes. 
 If a subject grew too rich, they robbed him ; if 
 if he resisted, thev murdered him ; and what 
 
or popuLATinx. 255 
 
 they coveted, tliey took. \]\\t elaborate mis. 
 government requires; civilization as well as elabo- 
 rate good government ; and this point they never 
 reached. Their taxation was direct and simple, 
 not indirect and comj)lex. Hence, however 
 heavy, it fell mostly upon the richer classes, and 
 no extensive masses of men were or could be 
 driven by it into destitution. To do this, the 
 multiform pressure of indirect taxation is neces- 
 sary, which, by laying its ini})osts upon the 
 articles of daily consumption, causes a people to 
 pay imperceptibly some tiscal tribute upon everv 
 morsel, drop, or rag, which they eat, dnnk, and 
 wear, as each article is consumed. 
 
 The system of serfdom and vassalage also, with 
 all its evils, interposed between the serf and the 
 vassal and his lord, by the very act ol' making 
 them an actual property; and the Persian satiap, 
 the Roman patrician, knight, or laiidow iier, as does 
 the Russian nobleman, reckoned his serfs amongst 
 the number of his cattle, and took care of their 
 welfare upon the same principle that he took 
 care of his other live stock. Hence, slaves are 
 fully led, whilst fiee labourers, as they are called, 
 are often starved ; because the mastei- has a 
 property in the first, which he has not in the 
 last. If a man kills his slave, he has anothei- to 
 
256 THE TUUF LAW 
 
 buy, as well as to find him victuals when lie is 
 bought. When a free labourei^ jMoes and dies, 
 the master lias only to offer the same ^Yal>•es, and 
 the place is tilled up. Who would care to lose a 
 horse it" another walked into the stable free of 
 cost, and was ready to serve for the same 
 pasturage (how poor soever) as the last had. 
 Thus, therefore, the very fact of being a distinct 
 property, ameliorated the condition of the serf, 
 and kept down their numbers ; and hence it is, 
 that hateful as feudal tyranny may be called, 
 fiscal tyranny is still worse ; both, ultimately, for 
 those who oppress and those who are oppressed ; 
 inasmuch as the few oppressing thousands must 
 be perpetually in risk from the starving and 
 increasing millions. 
 
 Having gone into the foregoing considerations, 
 as being the most obvious, first ; the author will 
 now turn to another view of some of the 
 conclusions deducible from this theory, which, 
 placing as it does, the moral go^ ernment of God 
 in the world in a new and original light, may be 
 presumed neither to be uninteresting nor unim- 
 portant. If we examine the infinite varieties, 
 shades, and grades of the human chaiacter, we 
 can hardly avoid coming to this conclusion, that 
 there cannot (let theorists and visionaries dream 
 
OF POPULATION. 257 
 
 as tliey will) be possibly such a state as that 
 of equality of conditions throughout a country, or 
 throughout the world. As long as men are 
 endued with various degrees of talent, courage, 
 industry, perseverance, frugality, generosity, 
 foresight, virtue, and prudence, so long, as it 
 seems to the author, nnist their worldly con- 
 ditions vary. The prudent man will save more 
 than the dissolute ; the adventurous man grasp 
 more than the limid ; the persevering man will 
 succeed after the timid has failed ; the Airtuous 
 man will retain what the vicious man will 
 squander; the overreaching knave will rob the 
 simply honest ; the cunning gamester will outwit 
 the wild spendthrift ; the sagacious schemer will 
 outstrip the simple plodder ; and the innate miser 
 will save what the generous and humane give 
 away. Thus, then, inequality of phy.sical con- 
 dition seems a part, and no doubt a necessaiy 
 part, of the scheme of Divine Providence ; for 
 it is impossible to separate inequality of mental 
 gifts from inequality of physical results and con- 
 sequent conditions. Nor is this distribution 
 difficult to be accounted for under the benevolent 
 scheme of a Divine Providence ; when it is con- 
 sidered that the stimulus of bettering our condi- 
 tion may be one of the moti\ es necessary to the 
 s 
 
258 THE TRUE LAM' 
 
 complete exertion of all our faculties, and be as 
 requisite to the action of society as is the spring 
 to the watch, or the oxygen of the blood to the 
 motion of the heart. Still, after giving due 
 weight to all these considerations, it cannot be 
 denied, that, upon the ordinary view taken of 
 this arrangement, there yet remained a ground 
 for cavil and for repining. Still it was asked, 
 why should so large a share of the goods of the 
 earth be given to one class, and denied to those 
 below them? It bore the appearance of an 
 unfair monopoly. Here was a limited class of 
 mankind handing down, as was commonly sup- 
 posed, mimense possessions to their posterity, 
 unless some strange and equally to be deprecated 
 violence interfered to change the transit, and 
 despoil the heir of his wealth. From this ob- 
 jection it is difficult to escape, if the ordinary 
 notion as to the progress of population be once 
 admitted. Under the theory now brought for- 
 ward, however, this objection vanishes, and the 
 most equable distribution possible, under a 
 system in which inequality at all is necessary, 
 is proved to prevail. For if we look at society 
 and its progress, as here described, we find that 
 all increase is from beneath, and all decrease 
 irom above. The holders of wealth cannot 
 
OF POPULATION. 2.')9 
 
 maintain a posterity long to wliich to (lansmit it. 
 Even " old families," as is beaiitirully said by Sir 
 Thomas Browne, "do not last thret' oah !" 
 Hence the descendants of the poor, in an un- 
 broken succession, are continually inherilint;- the 
 possessions of the rich ; and instead ol being 
 entailed upon a class, they in a perpetual routine 
 fall to the lot of those to Avhom a country owes 
 its increase of people — the poor, and the des- 
 cendants of the poor. Thus, though there is 
 individual inequality, there is no other ine(|uality. 
 The offspring of the poor inevitably, in j)rocess 
 of time, become possessed of the accumulations 
 of the rich ; and then, in their turn, yield them, 
 for want of heirs, to the children of those who 
 have not yet become rich ; a distribution so 
 beautifully equitable, in the midst of aj)j)arent 
 inequahty, as to be calculated to excite the 
 deepest admiration of all reflective minds. Whe- 
 ther riches, as some suppose, give ha])piness, 
 or, as others suppose, the reverse, it is clear the 
 happiness or the misery is not the heirloom of 
 a single class, but falls, in turn, to the lot of 
 individuals of all classes ; an equal distribution, 
 and worthy of that Creator who, out of seeming 
 disorder, can ])roduce order, and is always found 
 to do so, when man can scrutinise his ways. 
 s2 
 
260 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 As some further corroborative proof of the truth 
 of this view of the matter, the author may 
 observe, that the estates which have most con- 
 stantly descended in a long, unbroken, and direct 
 line, from father to son or daughter, are supposed 
 to be those small freehold farms, the property 
 of the class known in England as the " yeomen," 
 a class of men just wealthy enough to be happy^ 
 but not to be luxurious nor idle. In Cumber- 
 land and Westmoreland they were once nume- 
 rous ; and some .exist still, which have been for 
 centuries in the hands of one family. In Spain, 
 especially in the Basque Provinces, they are 
 numerous at this hour. Each possesses its 
 substantial, but small, stone antique mansion ; 
 and to see their fertile valleys, studded with these 
 houses, in the midst of beautiful pastures, tilled 
 lands, vineyards, orchards, and groves of olives, 
 is a sight which, to the eye of reason, outvies all 
 the splendour of this w^orld, and reahses, after 
 the Fall, the nearest conception we can form 
 of the Paradise before it. 
 
 The author now concludes. It has been his 
 aim throughout the foregoing sheets, not only to 
 demonstrate what is the nature of the laws which 
 regulate the increase and decrease of population, 
 but also to show that these laws are beautiful in 
 
OF POrULATION. 261 
 
 their arrangement; that thcv are calculated lo 
 promote the happiness of mankind in their action, 
 that any deviation liom the course whicli they 
 indicate to society as being proper to i)e pursued, 
 is immediately or ultimately, but most assuredly, 
 punished in its own after cfl'ects ; and that tlie 
 whole theory of population, as it exists in l'act>, 
 IS worthy of the benevolent wisdom of God, and 
 in perfect accordance with His good providence as 
 displayed in the other parts of our mundane 
 economy. The accidental circumstances which 
 led the writer of these sheets into the course of 
 reasoning which he has attempted to follow out, 
 he has detailed in a concluding chapter, deeming 
 that method upon the whole, and for the reasons 
 assigned, preferable to interweaving any account 
 of them in the foregoing pages. His argument 
 ends here ; and he w^as unwilling to embarrass it 
 with anything extraneous, or of a merely collate- 
 ral and perhaps questionable character. Whether 
 he has succeeded or failed in his present attempt 
 his readers will judge. If he be considered to 
 have failed in his undertaking, he hopes to that 
 failure will not be added the accusation of any- 
 thing of arrogant assumption in his manner ol 
 pursuing it. If, on the other hand, he may, 
 happily, be judged to have succeeded, as he 
 
262 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 would fain flatter himself he has done, he humbly 
 trusts he may be classed amongst those who are 
 held to be not unworthy of the sympathy of 
 their fellows, and may be esteemed to have passed 
 through hfe not undeserving of the respect 
 of mankind. 
 
OF I'OrULATION. 263 
 
 CHAPTER Xll. 
 
 SOME ADDITIONAL COLLATERAL CONSIDERATION,?. 
 AND ADDENDA. 
 
 In writing this concluding cliapter the author 
 
 would, in the first place, wish it to he distinctly 
 
 understood that these paragraphs iorni no part 
 
 of his argument, nor are they intended to (orni 
 
 any part of it. Many of the topics now touched 
 
 upon arc altogether extraneous : others have 
 
 merely a collateral bearing upon the subject in 
 
 question ; and many of them are in themselves, 
 
 as the author is well aware, extremely doubtful 
 
 and questionable. Notwithstanding this, it seemed 
 
 to the writer of these pages, upon the whole, 
 
 useful, and not improper to give some account 
 
 of the accidental circumstances which directed 
 
 his mind to that course of in(|uiry which it 
 
 ultimately followed. These circumstances are in 
 
264 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 themselves not uninteresting, because they are 
 somewhat singular; and though the considera- 
 tions which arise out of some of them may not 
 bear directly upon the question at issue, they 
 yet bear upon it indirectly and collaterally, and, 
 though in themselves doubtful, and only adduced 
 as such in these pages, they are yet curious, and not 
 unworthy, perhaps, of the attention of the physio- 
 logist or general inquirer into nature, of whatever 
 name or description. It is proper to add, how- 
 ever, that in noting down, as he is now about to 
 do, the peculiar circumstances which led him to the 
 present inquiry, and the different views and con- 
 clusions, arrived at with more or less of doubt, 
 which forced themselves upon his mind during 
 its course, the author by no means wishes to 
 assume to himself credit for any general know- 
 ledge of physiology or natural history. Quite 
 the contrary. In truth, his knowledge of this 
 class of subjects of human inquiry is extremely 
 limited, and altogether imperfect ; and he conse- 
 quently deems no other of the ideas that have 
 occurred to him as worthy of preservation, than 
 as notions rather forcing themselves upon, than 
 sought by a mind accidentally engaged in a course 
 of inquiry foreign to its usual pursuits. The 
 particular circumstances which led to the first 
 
OF POPULATION. 265 
 
 conception, and ultimate comjtletioii ot tho forc- 
 soing attempt, were as follows ; — 
 
 Some 5'ears ago, the author of these sheets 
 being (as has been already intimated) attached in 
 some measure to gardening pursuits ; being also 
 early compelled, by the nature of his trade, to 
 have some general knowledge of chemistry, and 
 its more ordinary results ; and having ample 
 opportunities to put his inclinations into prac- 
 tice, amused himself with a few experiments to 
 ascertain, if possible, the substance or substances 
 which constitute the basis or stimulating princi- 
 ple of manures. It always was, and is still his 
 opinion, that our knowledge of manures, and the 
 modes of their appUcation in agriculture and 
 horticulture, is completely in its infancy. He 
 has long considered the knowledge of the moving 
 principle of cultivation; that is to say, the 
 accurate knowledge of the precise substances in 
 which the vegetative stinudus actually resides, 
 to be itself an uncultivated field ; and, this being 
 the case, it was not extraordinary that he should 
 break ground in a quarter, where, as so little 
 had been done, so much might be expected. 
 From a promising soil, where the surface has 
 scarcely been broken, the cultivators, however 
 unskilful, naturally expect good returns; and 
 
266 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 such, probably, was the reasoning, and such 
 were the motives that led to a series of ex~ 
 perimentings, which, if they have produced 
 httle else, have, at all events, produced this 
 book ! 
 
 In pursuance of his course of experiments the 
 author was, of course, led by the nature of his 
 pursuit, to apply various substances which he 
 either knew, or deemed likely, to contain in 
 themselves, in combination, the active principle 
 of manure, to various trees, plants, shrubs, and 
 flowers, and to note the results. During this 
 process, one result became, at last, strongly 
 indicated to his mind ; and this was, that, what- 
 ever might be the principle of manure, or the 
 substance that contained it, an overdose of it 
 invariably induced sterility in the plant, and, 
 if the dose w^ere increased, disease and death. 
 When trees were overstimulated by manures 
 they made a superfluity of wood, blossomed 
 extremely scantily, and only towards the extre- 
 mities of the branches, in situations farthest from 
 the root ; and Anally, the blossoms rarely set, 
 or produced ripe and perfect fruit. In cases of 
 flowering shrubs, the same defect of flowers 
 followed, and with annuals and other flowers, 
 the flower frequently became what is called 
 
OF POPULATION. 267 
 
 double, and ceased to seed. To recover trees 
 treated in this way, it became necessary to put 
 an end to the overstimuhis caused by the extra 
 dose of manure by a reversed process. Tlie tree 
 was to be debihtated to a certain extent, and 
 ringing the bark, extreme lopping, and trencliing 
 the roots, were the expedients. With plants and 
 flowers a similar process of check or depletion, 
 either by lojiping, or, if greenhouse plants, by 
 exposure to cold, was successful. The checked 
 and debilitated plant flowered plenteously alter 
 a state of depletion ; and the tree, after being 
 lopped and ringed, began to bear. That the 
 perfect indication of this law, in the increase or 
 decrease of the vegetable creation, should lead 
 the writer onward to an extended in(]uiry, wa^ 
 not only not unnatural, but almost inevitable. 
 He was naturally induced to ask if the same 
 regulation extended through animated nature, 
 and pursuing the inquiry, he found that it did 
 so ; that it pervaded the animal creation ; and 
 finally, was applied by his Creator to man himscH. 
 Still, in the midst of all the various i)henomena, 
 either indicated by actual experiment, or nar- 
 rated by the various writers on physiology or 
 nosology, which the author was induced to 
 read, he found little or nothing to indicate 
 the modus operandi— i\n\i is to say, the manner 
 
268 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 or mode by ^Ylllch sterility in one case, or 
 fecundity in the other, was brought about. That 
 steriUty in the human female was the frequent 
 consequence of plethora, whether positive or 
 relative — for so medical writers divide it — and 
 that fecundity constantly followed the opposite 
 state, he met with abundant evidence to show. 
 To physicians and anatomists, however, the 
 immediate and proximate causes of sterility, or 
 its opposite, appear to be as great a mystery as 
 they are to the writer of the foregoing chapters. 
 Thus, the writer of the article " Impotence," in 
 the " Cycloppedia of Medicine," says, "In the city 
 (Dublin), where misery, poverty, and starvation 
 exist, to a degree perhaps unj^aralleled on the 
 face of the globe, procreation proceeds with ex- 
 traordinary rapidity ; and it has fallen to the 
 writer's lot, through his connexion with the 
 Coombe Lying-in Hospital, to witness the birth 
 of numberless infants, whose unfortunate parents 
 had not for years partaken of a wholesome meal." 
 Here we have evidence of the fact of starvation 
 and fecundity going on hand in hand ; on this 
 point the writer is decisive ; but of the mode by 
 which Nature causes prohficness in the female to 
 be a consequence of a constant state of depletion, 
 he gives no hint. The same knowledge of the 
 fact, joined with the same ignorance of the 
 
OF POPULATION. 269 
 
 mode, is evinced hy tliose writers ^Ylu) adduce 
 barrenness as one consecjuence of a state ol" 
 plethoric in the human female. Tluis Doctor 
 Combe, in his work " on Digestion and Dietetics," 
 gives the following instructive statement : — " A 
 young woman of a healthy constitution, brought 
 up in all the simplicity of country liabits, passed 
 at once, on her marriage, to a less active mode of 
 //fe, and to a much more eJeyanl table. In a short 
 time she began to complain of irritabihtv, 
 lassitude, various spasmodic sensations, and 
 habitual constipation. Hypochondria was soon 
 added to the other symptoms. Her hope of be- 
 coming a mother being always deceived, an addi- 
 tional glass of wine, bark, and other tonics 
 were ordered : the evil increased. Tiie patient 
 became melancholy, and believed that she was 
 always swallowing pins. In the course of tlie 
 year she became so emaciated and yehow that 
 her mother, wdio had not seen her for eleven 
 months, could scarcely recognise hei". After an 
 eighteen months' course of purgatives, and two 
 courses of Marienbad water, she entirely re- 
 covered.'" Here is evidence of the fact, and ol 
 the strongest sort ; for the plethoric state here 
 induced was "relative," and not "positive" 
 The appearance of a liealthy obesity, wlucli is 
 
270 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 " positive plethora," was not induced. The 
 functions of life were, however, disordered to a 
 great extent — disordered and clogged ; the biliary, 
 digestive, and excretory vessels could not act ; 
 and, as it should seem, those more minute ducts, 
 on the free action of which conception by the 
 female seems to depend, were partakers of the 
 general constitutional derangement, arising from 
 this overloading of the system. And here the 
 author would respectfully ask those qualified by 
 education and knowledge to answer such a ques- 
 tion, what is there extraordinary in this ? If a 
 state of plethora can, as it is held it can, prevent 
 the action of a gland or of a viscus, why should 
 it not be a sufficient cause for the inaction of 
 that finer and more minute apparatus upon the 
 unimpeded state of which must, probably, 
 depend the transit of the ovum from the 
 ovarium to the uterus ; or what of improbability 
 is there in the supposition, that, during a state of 
 unnatural obesity and repletion, this must be the 
 case, and vice-versa ? These are of course 
 questions for the anatomist and physiologist 
 alone ; and, in suggesting them, the author would 
 only guard those who treat of this subject, from 
 confounding with a state of true plethora, that 
 apparent pinguetude, or bloatedness of fibre, 
 
OF POPULATION. 2/1 
 
 which is a frequent accoin])animent of dehiHty, 
 especially in the strumous constitution, which 
 most writers hold to orii;4nate in dehility — tlic 
 consequence of deficient nourishment, and an 
 unnatural state of deijletion. 
 
 So much for the possible |)i-o\imale causes ot 
 sterility in the female; but there is, perhaps, 
 another cause of want of offspring, which may 
 be referred to the male constitution as acted upon 
 by diet, and to which, if indeed it be a cause, ti>e 
 author was led by some of the results ol' those 
 experiments to which he has already alluded. 
 After submitting growing A'egetables to the action 
 of various substances, known, or supposed to be 
 ''manures," he at last arrived at one general 
 conclusion ; and this was, that all substances that 
 contain portions, that is to say, sensible or con- 
 siderable portions of any of the alkalies in com- 
 bination with their other constituents, maybe ex- 
 pected to act, and will, generally s])eaking, act as 
 manures. It is not intended to be argued that 
 their effect as manures is in the exact ralio ol' 
 the alkali present. The results are, and 
 evidently must be, modified in mauy ways. One 
 compound may be more easily decomposed than 
 another when in contact with the loots of the 
 plant. The com[)onents of the original >u\\ uki\ 
 
272 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 accelerate or retard this decomposition, as tlieiv 
 nature may happen to l)e. The ])resence of hme, 
 chalk, gypsum, or of strata, containing marine 
 shells, or other marine deposits, is almost certain 
 to produce some effect upon chemical action. 
 To produce a manure there must be present one 
 or more of the alkalies, and hence all ordinary 
 substances in which soda, potass, or ammonia, 
 are known to be constituents, chemically act as 
 manures. Thus the dung of all animals ; the 
 bodies of animals, wood ashes, the cinders and 
 ashes of coal, bones, calcined sea-weed, the waste 
 ashes of the soap-boiler, the suds of soap, 
 common salt, saltpetre or nitrate of potass, 
 nitrate of soda, the decomposed bodies of fish, 
 and the horny parts of animals, as Avell as their 
 skins, are all found to act as manures, with more 
 or less of success according to the other accom- 
 panying circumstances. Thus far the experi- 
 ments made by the author invariably led, v/hen 
 other circumstances occurred which took him 
 one step further, that is to say, to the belief that 
 the alkali when it acts as a stimulant is caustic, 
 or in part so. To this conclusion he came fi'om 
 observing the following circumstances : — In order 
 to ascertain, if possible, the true efltcts of soda 
 as a manure, he applied to the- roots of several 
 
OF POPULATION. 273 
 
 bulbous plants, by cli<sol\ in:;- in the \v;ittr in 
 \Yhich they grew, minute (|uantilies of pun- 
 carbonate of soda. In the first set ol' expt-ri- 
 menls so tried, the effect upon tlie llower was 
 extraordinary; it was not only douhlctl, hut, to 
 use a strong phrase, tripled and (iuadru|>led, 
 until in more than one instance the structure ul 
 the flower, to an ordinary observer, was total I \ 
 altered. A second set of experiments tried at 
 another place, however, ))roduced no such results. 
 The carbonate of soda, when in solution as before, 
 hardly stimulated the plant, even when the 
 quantity was increased, and it became evident 
 that something remained to be accounted lor. 
 The author at last satisfied himself that the dis- 
 crepancy arose from the circumstance of the 
 w^ater first employed holding lime in solution, 
 whilst the water last employed was destitute of 
 it, and in every way much ])urer and more free 
 from extraneous substances. IJence the carbo- 
 nate of soda, in the first experiment, gradually 
 parted with its carbonic acid, and became 
 caustic ; whilst in the last, nothing being present 
 which had a greater chemical aHinity for carbonic 
 acid, no causticity took place. 
 
 Thus, then, the conclusion was arrived at, 
 that caustic and pure alkali is the basis, or rather 
 
 T 
 
274 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 stimulative principle of manure. It is the prin- 
 ciple Avhicli causes the seed to expand, the plant 
 to push, and the work of vegetable growth to 
 proceed. Whether the plant itself possesses the 
 property of slowly decomposing, and obtaining it 
 from the substances which hold it in combination, 
 is a question to be solved. One thing seems to 
 be certain, that where it is present in quantity, 
 if it be not in excess, vegetation is stimulated by 
 it. Pursuing the inquiry upwards, from the 
 vegetable to the animal kingdom, the next ques- 
 tion is — may not that which stimulates the seed 
 into life, stimulate the egg into life ; and may not 
 one law, here, run throughout nature ? In 
 answer to this inquiry, there are certainly some 
 facts that speak strongly in the affirm.ative ; and 
 these are, that alkali, that is to say soda, is found 
 in the albumen of the eggs of birds, and also in 
 company with ammonia in the " liquor seminalis" 
 of animals, including man. Fourcroy, in his 
 analysis of the " liquor seminalis" of a healthy 
 man, detected both caustic soda, and ammonia 
 in quantity ; and since his time the presence of 
 active alkali in this secretion, has been placed 
 beyond all doubt or question. Thus, then, there 
 is ground for the supposition; at all events, that 
 the neutralization, or absence of aljvali, in the 
 
OF rOPULATION. 27') 
 
 male animal constitution, would be a diivct 
 cause of sterility, and its decided presence, 
 e conirario, a cause of fruitlulness ; supposint^, 
 in each case, the female to be prolific by consti- 
 tution. Thus then, we come, as it were insen- 
 sibly, to the consideration of the final step of this 
 question, which is, whetlier the states which have 
 been proved to be favourable or unfavourable to 
 fecundity amongst mankind, are favourable or un- 
 favourable to the development, in tlic constitution 
 of the male, of those substances which are i)robably 
 necessary to procreation ? What is the tendency 
 of an animal, or plethoric diet, as to the consti- 
 tution ? What is the tendency of a vegetable, or 
 deplethoric diet, as to the constitution ? In the 
 answers to these questions will reside the proof 
 of the probability or improbability of tlie fore- 
 going considerations. 
 
 Now, then, if we examine the writings of tlie 
 principal medical and (hetetic authorS; such as 
 Majendie and others, we shall find the prevalent 
 opinion to be, that a plethoric diet, that is to say, 
 a diet of animal food and wheatcn bread, witli 
 wine and sugar in combination, li(|uid or solid, 
 is accompanied by a develpj)ment of acid in the 
 frame ; whilst, on the contrary, a poor, unwhole- 
 some, deficient, or indeed mostly vegetable nu- 
 
276 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 triment, tends rather to an alhaJef^cent state of 
 the body, from whicli acid is excluded. Of the' 
 true plethoric liabit, the presence of severe 
 and constantly recurrinp; gout, is perhaps the 
 most unerring; symptom ; and in this disease 
 the development of acid is so striking, as not 
 to be mistaken. The urine is overloaded with 
 it, both previously to, and during the tit. It 
 forms deposits of chalkstones upon the joints, 
 in combination with lime, which it obtains from 
 the blood, or from the bone itself; and so pre- 
 dominant is it, that in severe fits, the vegetable 
 blues are turned red, when touched with the per- 
 spiration of the inflamed part. On the contrary j 
 sea scurvy, the most dreadful disease caused 
 by deficient and imwholesome nutriment, is 
 known in its last stages, to produce a highly 
 alkalescent state ; so much so, that " the urine 
 turns blue vegetable infusions to a green colour." 
 It may be indeed objected, that fruits and vege- 
 tables help to cure this disease ; but this is 
 clearly from their containing more or less of 
 acid, which at once neutralises the alkali. Thus 
 citric-acid pure, if administered, produces innne- 
 diate relief. The cure, however, is only to be 
 performed by administering vdth acids, nutritious 
 ?ind quickly digestive articles of diet. Hence 
 
or roiHLATioN. 277 
 
 sireef-irort is sovcrciiin in cases o\ scurvv, ;\> are 
 whey and other (hUicnls conlainiiiu: .suj:;ar, which 
 of all luitniiicnl is most coiicciiliatcd and ca.'^y 
 ot digestion. Fresh animal food also is proper, 
 lor it is only from the use ol' meat that has lo>t all 
 its nutritious (|ualities that the disease is en,i;en- 
 dcrcd, nicreased, pic)l)al>ly. i>y the >alt with wincli 
 the meat is cured. 
 
 Thus, then, a state ol" i)lethora. whether il is 
 considered as acting mechanically or clienucally 
 upon the human frame, is prohahly indicative ol" 
 harrenness oi- paucity of oMsprini:. The >tate ol 
 depletion and dehility, on the other hand, a|)])ear^ 
 hotli chemically and mechanically to 1)c favourahle 
 in its effects, hoth upon the male and iemalc 
 organization, to fccuiuhly, or excess of orts|iring. 
 That the considerations upon which this con- 
 clusion is founded, are of a general and vague 
 nature, the author readily admits. They do not 
 however, seem to he contradictory to any received 
 facts, cither of anatomy oi' nosology, hut arc 
 upon the whole home out by the writings of tho.-^e 
 versed in both. The conclusions which the 
 author has deduced from them are in thcmselve.s 
 general, and he trusts he has not laid ui)on them 
 more weight than the premises arc calculated to 
 
278 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 carry ; at all events, it is by no means his wish 
 that his readers should do so. 
 
 If it should be the fortune of this book to lead 
 to a further investigation of the question, to 
 medical men and physiological inquirers this 
 part of the subject will of course be left ; the 
 author can only regret that it is not already in 
 better hands. 
 
 THE END 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A 
 
 Api^arel, statutes regulating, p. l(j(i. 
 
 Acid, developed in the human frame, p. ^/fi. 
 
 Addison, his account of the decay of the Venetum uobiluy, p. oj. 
 
 Appiau ou Roman population, p. 205. 
 
 Alkali, developed in the human frame, p. 2/6, 
 
 Astrakan, population of, p. 75. 
 
 Animal food, its effects on nations and individuals, p. 1(j(>, 171. 
 
 Animals, effects of food ou the ])rolificness of, p. 11. 
 
 Agrarian Law, the cause of demand for by the Gracchi, p. 2(16. 
 
 Adams, the mutineer, his singular colony, p. Gl. 
 
 Allerstein's account of the Chinese population, p. 80. 
 
 B 
 
 Belgium, its population, and the food of its people, ]>. 21'), 
 
 Bean, the freebooter, and his family, p. Go. 
 
 Bengal, its population, and the food of its people, p. W. 
 
 Basque Provinces, state of, p. 218. 
 
 Bai'onets, their numbers, &c., p. 32, 33. 
 
 Berwick-upon-Tweed, burgesses of, their numbers, &c., p. 53. 
 
 Beef, cheapness of at St. Peteraburgh, p. 71. 
 
 Browne, bii- Thomas, his remark ou decay of lumilic:., p. •>! • 
 
China, population of, ami food of the people, p. 29, 80, 82. 
 Constantinople, the fate of the Eastern Empire ami its causes, 
 
 p. m. 
 
 Combe, Dr., his account of plethora ami its ciftcts, p. 2()'>. 
 
 Courland, poindation of, j). 7 I. 
 
 Coombc Hospital, Dublin, the fecundity of t!ie starvinj^ poor, p. 268. 
 
 Cheek to vegetation the cause of juoliticncss, p. 10. 
 
 Carlisle, burgesses of, their numbers, &e., p. 57. 
 
 Christian Fletcher, the mutineer, p. 02. 
 
 CjGsar, Julius, renews the Roman nobility, p. o/. 
 
 Claudius, Emperor, renews Roman nobility, p. 38. 
 
 Cheyne, Dr., his opinion on the effect of diet, p. 28. 
 
 D 
 
 Decline of the Roman poi)ulation, p. 205. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus, his accomits of the numbers of the Romans, p. 20/ . 
 Depletion, its effects on the animal and vegetable creation, p. 10, 
 15, (52, 268. 
 
 Durham, free burgesses of, their numbtis, p. 55. 
 
 E 
 
 Empire, Roman, decay of the, p. 250. 
 England, population of, &c., p. .98, 100. 
 English poor's rate, progress of, p. 101. 
 English criminal tables, p. 102, 101. 
 Eden, Sir Henry Morton, p. \47. 
 Eggs contain soda, p. 27 J. 
 
F 
 
 Fleetwood's Chionicon Preciosum, ]^. l.')S. 
 
 Fiulayson ami Granville's table, ]). 111. 
 
 France, its population, aiul I'ooil of its iiiliabitaiil>, i>. _' ', 111. 
 
 Foureroy on the " liquor sc'uinalis," p. _7 1. 
 
 Figs, mode of making them bear in Fnglaiid, p. ji'. 
 
 Froissart, his account of the Bourdoan.x Hcct, p. I'i7. 
 
 Fiscal oppression most pernicious, ji. -31. 
 
 Forteseue, (.'hief-Justice, his account of the wealth of England, 
 
 p. 1.35. 
 Fruit trees rendered inulitic by cheeking the sap, p. K'. 
 Fairs, chartered, their nature, p. '2'A'.}. 
 French nobility, Chastellu.\ on the, p. 35. 
 
 G 
 
 Goths, causes of the invasions of the, p. 17-- 
 
 Gibbon, his accounts of the Goths and Huns, p. 17'i 
 
 Gout develoj)es acid, ]>. i'7'>. 
 
 Germany, population of, and mode of living, p. 11". 
 
 Golownin's account of Ja))an, p. Sd. 
 
 Granville, Doctor, his comparative table of biitlis. p. HI . 
 
 Growth of grass, rapid, p. 1 1 . 
 
 Gracchi assert the decay of population, p. _'"•). 
 
 U 
 Ilamel, Doctor, Ins remarks on population, p. M. 
 Holland, population of, and food of the people, p. 1>I. 
 Hasscl's tables, p. 7- . 
 
Huns, their origin and cause of their inroiuls, p. 17^. 
 
 Hindostan, jiopulation of, p. i^O. 
 
 Hume's essay on the populousness of ancient nations, )). "202. 
 
 HolUnshed on English hixury, p. 223. 
 
 Hastings, battle of, numbers slain, p. 221. 
 
 Heylin on the nobility of the Netherlands, p. 35. 
 
 He.\ham, battle of, p. 225. 
 
 I 
 jornandes, his vague traditions of the origin of the Goths, p. 1 7o. 
 Italy, population and food of the people, p. 29. 
 India, poijulousness of, and its causes, p. 29, 92. 
 Ireland, population and misery, p. 93, 96. 
 Japan, population of, and food of the people, p. 85. 
 Inelosure bills, amount of, p. 238. 
 Jeddo, population of, p. 8/. 
 Ireland, acres in cultivation, p. 98. 
 Juvenal on the Roman nobility, p. 37, 253. 
 
 K 
 Katharine of Arragon and her salad, p. 170. 
 Kasan, population of, p. 75. 
 
 L 
 
 Law of Increase Jtnd Decrease stated, )). 5, /• 
 Luxury, statutes against, spread of, p. 1/2. 
 Lands common, their former extent, p. 23/; 
 Lent, effects of, p. 135. 
 
M 
 
 Monopoly, statutes against, p. Ki.i. 
 
 Mdcaitncy, Lord, his statements of the poimUiliuu uf Cluna, p. 80. 
 
 Mutineers of the Bounty, p. (J2. 
 
 Montesquieu, his opinions as to popuhition, p. '2\0, 
 
 Majendic, his dietetic experiments, p. '2J5. 
 
 Malte Brun on France, p. 112. 
 
 Malthus, Rev. IMr., his account of the Swiss Bourgeoisie, p. 36. 
 
 Malte Brun oh the Chinese, p. SO. 
 
 Mvister on St. Gilesgatc Moor, returns of, p. 2_7. 
 
 Malt, disuse of, p. 107. 
 
 Mexico, population of, p. 121. 
 
 Mercers and Grocers' Company of Durham, p. ofi. 
 
 Manure, effect of, p. 9. 
 
 Manure, princ iplc of, p. 27o. 
 
 N 
 Neu castle, free burgesses of, their numbers, 6ce., p. !'•. 
 Newcastle, admissions to the freedom of, j). -11. 
 Newcastle, privileges of the freemen of, p. 40. 
 
 O 
 
 Otaheite, the arreoys of, p. 200. 
 
 P 
 
 Potato, increased use of in England, p. IDtJ. 
 
 Polls of elections for Newcastle, p. '15. 
 
 Poland, its population and climate, kc, p. 2 *, 72. 
 
Petty, Sir "SViUiani, on Ireland, p. Dfi. 
 
 Polylnus' statements as to numbers of the Romans, |). '20G. 
 
 Plutarch, his account of the decay of population in Greece, &c., 
 
 p. 20fi, 211. 
 Pitcairn's Island, population of the colony, p. 'il. 
 Parishes, distribution of, by Henry YIII., p. i.'il. 
 Prussia, its population and their food, &c., p. ll'K 
 Population, decay of in England, p. 1 15, 171. 
 Profits, decline of in modern timers p. 2.'5. 
 Provisions, prices of at certain periods, p. 153. 
 Peru, effect of the discovery of, p. 162. 
 Peerage, numbers of the, p. .'32. 
 Peers created since 176(\ p. J2. 
 
 Q 
 
 Quakers do not intrease tlair numbers, p. oQ. 
 
 R 
 
 Russia, its population., and food of the people, p. 28, 75. 
 
 Rice, effects of as an article of diet, \\ 185. 
 
 Revenue and population compared, p. 185. 
 
 Repletion, effects of on vegetables, p. 9. 
 
 Repletion, effects of on animals, &c., p. 14, 52, 269. 
 
 Richard the Second, statute of, p. '2'M. 
 
 Rutting season of grazing animals, p. I'i. 
 
 Richmond, free burgesses of, their decay, p. nj. 
 
 Rise in prices, causes of iu the sixteenth century, p. 162, 
 
 Roman Empire, chu^cs oi the fall of, p. IJo. 
 
Sailler, Air., his; oomparntivc tahlo-, of ooncpplionv; .iml prices of 
 
 food, p. I-jT. 
 Soai)-boilers, numbers of nt iliffereut periods, p. i.'.'l(j. 
 StatF-strikers, origin of tho, p. Uil. 
 Sliillibeer's account of Pitcaini's Islaiul, j), (11. 
 Sea scurvv, origin of, ami extreme etfcets, p. 'JJCt. 
 Swift on tlie effect of Lent, p. \'A5. 
 Spain, state of in time of the Romans, j). 21-1. 
 Statute of Henrj- YII., anno iv., cap 1!), p. 1-J!>. 
 Swiss Cantons state of population of, p. '/At. 
 Substances that are manures^ p. 272. 
 Slaves in America, increase of, p. 59. 
 Slaves manumitted, decrease of, p. 59. 
 
 T 
 
 Tullius Cicero, bis account of Spain, j). 21<). 
 
 Towton, battle of, numbers slain, p. 22-1. 
 
 Taverns, returns of number in London, p. 2^i5. 
 
 Tacitus, his account of the decay of the Kouirui n()l)ihty, p. lij . 
 
 Tea and coffee unknown in Lu^laud, p. l(il>. 
 
 Tribute table, Chinese, p. Si. 
 
 Tallow j)roduced in England, p. 18.'^ 
 
 Tallow inii)ortcd into England, p. IfK). 
 
 L' 
 United States, population of, p. 1-lU. 
 Ukraine, popidatiou of, p. 77- 
 Use of animal food in Englaud declined, p. 1^8. 
 
Vegetables, little used formerly in England, p. 169. 
 Vines bear best after severe winters, p. 11. 
 Venetian nobility, decay of the, p. 35. 
 Vandals and Visigoths, march of the, p. 1 72. 
 
 W 
 
 Walled towns, regidations as to, p. 161. 
 Wars of the Roses, their nature, p. 233. 
 Wages and prices, comparative table of, p. 159, 
 Wages, statute regulations of, p. 161. 
 Wine, quantity of drunk in England, p. 167. 
 Wharton, Lord, his household book, p. 168. 
 
 Y 
 
 Yeomen, their wealth formerly, p. 154, 
 Yeoinen's estates, longest hereditary, p. 260, 
 
 Z 
 
 Zealand, New, cannibalism of, p. 197. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 Printed by G. PFIRCE, 310, Strand. 
 
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