the appearance of a personal debate; one author in particular, the avowed renovator and champion of the system, having probably embodied in his book all that had been previously advanced in its favour, and "sufficiently pursued it to its consequences." The controversial part is, however, essential to the whole; the theory just alluded to, having, unhappily, present possession of the ground, if I may so speak, must be demolished before the foundations of a contrary one can be laid.

(16) Such, then, are some of the principal causes, which have given prevalence to the doctrine of the superfecundity of the human species; each, when separately considered, has, no doubt, had its particular influence, but their united effect has been its general diffusion. Modern philosophers now receive it on pain of forfeiting their title to their very name; periodical writers almost unanimously espouse it, and unceasingly spread its dogmas through every part of the earth; legislators seem upon the point of reducing the system into practice; monarchs have already acted upon it; and even many of the expounders of our religion, though they cannot pollute the well-head of revelation with its "principle," yet are busily engaged in tinging the stream with its pernicious admixture. Books are published, and sermons written expressly on this system; even the moral code is revised in reference to it, and new virtues and vices are promulgated in conformity with the new theory of population. Yet, notwithstanding this active coalition in its favour, I venture to prognosticate that its triumphs will be short; the moment that renders it a practical question, to which it seems on the eve of being reduced, will give the signal for its destruction. The insults it levels at God, and the injuries it meditates inflicting upon man, will be endured by neither.

(17) Meantime, the pertinacity with which this

notion is retained, however it was imbibed, is far less remarkable than the eagerness with which it has been embraced. Philosophy, as it is well known, has not merely its fashions, which, like those of manners, are deemed indispensable, however absurd; but it has its prejudices, which the history of every age can testify are, at least, as strong as those of ignorance. That it has its pride was never doubted. Hence is it that so many conceive, that to resign principles which they have once espoused, and perhaps warmly advocated, would be to subscribe to their own degradation. The more cogent and unanswerable, therefore, the arguments are which are brought forward against their adopted notions, the more determined their adherence to them becomes; and, indeed, some such have been heard to declare, in allusion to this very subject, that they would as soon resign their belief in the first propositions of Euclid as in those of Malthus.

(18) To such as these, if the succeeding argument addresses itself at all, it does so with very slight hopes of success, and with the full expectation of their utmost hostility. It appeals principally to that unbiassed judgment and unabated humanity, which inspire the great mass of the people; to those, who, never attempting to soar into those abstract regions from whence the doctrine in question has been professedly brought, have never fallen into those depths of absurdity and miscalculation into which it will be seen that it has precipitated itself. I say, it is to the unsophisticated sense, and to the unquenchable feeling of the British people that I appeal; and careful and slow as the decision may be, and very possibly deferred till I can no longer hear the result, I am confident as to its nature: it will be in favour of the system of humanity, of religion, and of truth.

(19) But before I enter upon the task of refuting the

system in question, it may perhaps be expected that I should take some notice of the many volumes that have been already produced in answer to it. It has happened, however, that I have seen very few of these, and read still fewer. Many of them are, I understand, written with great ability and learning; but having satisfied myself that the main, and, as it strikes me, the only final and irrefragable answer to such a theory, namely, the development and demonstration of a contrary principle of human increase as the law of nature, as hereafter explained, has hitherto been undiscovered, at least unadverted to; and as it is on this foundation that the argument will be finally placed, I trust the present work will not be deemed superfluous.

(20) That there is great apparent difficulty in the principle of population, when superficially viewed, or, what is still more fatal to its being understood, viewed through the medium of some pre-conceived system of philosophy or politics, is undoubtedly true. The most striking facts that present themselves on the subject, if viewed singly, and abstractedly from the circumstances with which they are connected, or in numbers insufficient to form any accurate and uniform result, may themselves betray the mind into the false deductions about to be examined; and they have done so. Thus it is undeniably true, that human beings, in the first stages of society, in new colonies for instance, are extraordinarily prolific: it is equally so, that they increase far more slowly in a more advanced state, when the population has become great, and, consequently, condensated. If we were not to admit the former fact, there would be no possible way in which to account for the peopling of the world, nor any by which the planting of new colonies and coun

VOL. I.

C

tries could be accomplished, or the numbers of mankind, when accidentally wasted, replenished,-circumstances which have occurred in almost every age of the world. On the other hand, admitting the prolific power of the human race to remain the same, which is assumed by the system in question, it is impossible to evade the conclusion to which it conducts us, namely, that population has, ultimately, a tendency to exceed production. Laying aside those pretended demonstrations which have certainly confused rather than illustrated the subject, still it must be admitted, that if mankind have a constant and necessary tendency, under all circumstances, to this increase, they must, if unchecked, ultimately outgrow the means of sustentation. Give whatever latitude you please to the combined effects of human industry and the fertile powers of nature, even till the globe were converted into one entire mass of human sustenance, still human sustenance has then its limits, namely, those of the globe itself; whereas the powers of human increase, on the above hypothesis, would still remain the same, and be infinite and inexhaustible, and would consequently exceed those means, as far as the principle was concerned, in an infinitely increasing ratio: that is, granting the ETERNITY OF THE WORLD, which all the advocates, Christian or otherwise, of this revolting scheme, necessarily assume as a postulate in all their demonstrations. But more of this hereafter. To avert this catastrophe, as well as to reconcile the existing state of mankind and the variations in their prolificness in different states of society, these philosophers enunciate a set of checks, the degrading nature, and partial and cruel operation of which, as well as the gross mistakes manifested in reference to their supposed effects, will be matter of distinct con

sideration. Meantime they seem to triumph in the very answers that have been made to their theory, claiming them as arguments in its favour, and maintaining that they all ultimately resolve themselves into their system, though somewhat modified; recognizing the necessity of checks of a very similar character, at a somewhat remoter period.

(21) The following treatise will, at all events, stand clear of this last imputation: it is founded on principles essentially different, and the views it takes of the structure and interests of society are diametrically opposite. Touching the law of human increase, it upholds it to be in exact harmony with, instead of opposition to, that of the increase of the means of human sustentation, if properly developed; and that in all the different states of society, the variations in which it seems adequately to account for-that increase, instead of having to be regulated by checks abhorrent to humanity, is governed by an unerring rule of nature, as merciful in its operation as in its purpose. This law, which though "not dreamt of in their philosophy" who have written so much about, or rather against, population, is yet perfectly consistent with every physical observation on the human species which has the slightest bearing on the subject, and proved by all the registers of human existence of every age and country, accessible to present examination. Even the exact sciences, under the direction of reason and truth, demonstrate its existence. It harmonises with the best feelings and affections of human nature, unites in bonds of mu ́tual kindness and interest the brotherhood of mankind; and, in fine, investing itself in the characters of truth, and speaking the language of benevolence, it asserts its divine origin, and makes good its claim to