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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4239-h.zip b/4239-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c5ab95 --- /dev/null +++ b/4239-h.zip diff --git a/4239-h/4239-h.htm b/4239-h/4239-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..891dede --- /dev/null +++ b/4239-h/4239-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6625 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of An Essay on the Principle of Population, +by Thomas Malthus +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: 80% ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Essay on the Principle of Population, by +Thomas Malthus + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Essay on the Principle of Population + +Author: Thomas Malthus + +Posting Date: July 23, 2009 [EBook #4239] +Release Date: July, 2003 +First Posted: December 14, 2001 +Last Updated: June 30, 2007 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAY--PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +An Essay on the Principle of Population +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Thomas Malthus +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +1798 +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +AN ESSAY ON THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION, AS IT AFFECTS THE FUTURE +IMPROVEMENT OF SOCIETY WITH REMARKS ON THE SPECULATIONS OF MR. GODWIN, +M. CONDORCET, AND OTHER WRITERS. +<BR><BR> +LONDON, PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, IN ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD, 1798. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Preface +</H3> + +<P> +The following Essay owes its origin to a conversation with a friend, on +the subject of Mr Godwin's essay on avarice and profusion, in his +Enquirer. The discussion started the general question of the future +improvement of society, and the Author at first sat down with an +intention of merely stating his thoughts to his friend, upon paper, in +a clearer manner than he thought he could do in conversation. But as +the subject opened upon him, some ideas occurred, which he did not +recollect to have met with before; and as he conceived that every least +light, on a topic so generally interesting, might be received with +candour, he determined to put his thoughts in a form for publication. +</P> + +<P> +The Essay might, undoubtedly, have been rendered much more complete by +a collection of a greater number of facts in elucidation of the general +argument. But a long and almost total interruption from very particular +business, joined to a desire (perhaps imprudent) of not delaying the +publication much beyond the time that he originally proposed, prevented +the Author from giving to the subject an undivided attention. He +presumes, however, that the facts which he has adduced will be found to +form no inconsiderable evidence for the truth of his opinion respecting +the future improvement of mankind. As the Author contemplates this +opinion at present, little more appears to him to be necessary than a +plain statement, in addition to the most cursory view of society, to +establish it. +</P> + +<P> +It is an obvious truth, which has been taken notice of by many writers, +that population must always be kept down to the level of the means of +subsistence; but no writer that the Author recollects has inquired +particularly into the means by which this level is effected: and it is +a view of these means which forms, to his mind, the strongest obstacle +in the way to any very great future improvement of society. He hopes it +will appear that, in the discussion of this interesting subject, he is +actuated solely by a love of truth, and not by any prejudices against +any particular set of men, or of opinions. He professes to have read +some of the speculations on the future improvement of society in a +temper very different from a wish to find them visionary, but he has +not acquired that command over his understanding which would enable him +to believe what he wishes, without evidence, or to refuse his assent to +what might be unpleasing, when accompanied with evidence. +</P> + +<P> +The view which he has given of human life has a melancholy hue, but he +feels conscious that he has drawn these dark tints from a conviction +that they are really in the picture, and not from a jaundiced eye or an +inherent spleen of disposition. The theory of mind which he has +sketched in the two last chapters accounts to his own understanding in +a satisfactory manner for the existence of most of the evils of life, +but whether it will have the same effect upon others must be left to +the judgement of his readers. +</P> + +<P> +If he should succeed in drawing the attention of more able men to what +he conceives to be the principal difficulty in the way to the +improvement of society and should, in consequence, see this difficulty +removed, even in theory, he will gladly retract his present opinions +and rejoice in a conviction of his error. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 7 June 1798<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 1 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Question stated—Little prospect of a determination of it, from the +enmity of the opposing parties—The principal argument against the +perfectibility of man and of society has never been fairly +answered—Nature of the difficulty arising from population—Outline of +the principal argument of the Essay +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The great and unlooked for discoveries that have taken place of late +years in natural philosophy, the increasing diffusion of general +knowledge from the extension of the art of printing, the ardent and +unshackled spirit of inquiry that prevails throughout the lettered and +even unlettered world, the new and extraordinary lights that have been +thrown on political subjects which dazzle and astonish the +understanding, and particularly that tremendous phenomenon in the +political horizon, the French Revolution, which, like a blazing comet, +seems destined either to inspire with fresh life and vigour, or to +scorch up and destroy the shrinking inhabitants of the earth, have all +concurred to lead many able men into the opinion that we were touching +on a period big with the most important changes, changes that would in +some measure be decisive of the future fate of mankind. +</P> + +<P> +It has been said that the great question is now at issue, whether man +shall henceforth start forwards with accelerated velocity towards +illimitable, and hitherto unconceived improvement, or be condemned to a +perpetual oscillation between happiness and misery, and after every +effort remain still at an immeasurable distance from the wished-for +goal. +</P> + +<P> +Yet, anxiously as every friend of mankind must look forwards to the +termination of this painful suspense, and eagerly as the inquiring mind +would hail every ray of light that might assist its view into futurity, +it is much to be lamented that the writers on each side of this +momentous question still keep far aloof from each other. Their mutual +arguments do not meet with a candid examination. The question is not +brought to rest on fewer points, and even in theory scarcely seems to +be approaching to a decision. +</P> + +<P> +The advocate for the present order of things is apt to treat the sect +of speculative philosophers either as a set of artful and designing +knaves who preach up ardent benevolence and draw captivating pictures +of a happier state of society only the better to enable them to destroy +the present establishments and to forward their own deep-laid schemes +of ambition, or as wild and mad-headed enthusiasts whose silly +speculations and absurd paradoxes are not worthy the attention of any +reasonable man. +</P> + +<P> +The advocate for the perfectibility of man, and of society, retorts on +the defender of establishments a more than equal contempt. He brands +him as the slave of the most miserable and narrow prejudices; or as the +defender of the abuses of civil society only because he profits by +them. He paints him either as a character who prostitutes his +understanding to his interest, or as one whose powers of mind are not +of a size to grasp any thing great and noble, who cannot see above five +yards before him, and who must therefore be utterly unable to take in +the views of the enlightened benefactor of mankind. +</P> + +<P> +In this unamicable contest the cause of truth cannot but suffer. The +really good arguments on each side of the question are not allowed to +have their proper weight. Each pursues his own theory, little +solicitous to correct or improve it by an attention to what is advanced +by his opponents. +</P> + +<P> +The friend of the present order of things condemns all political +speculations in the gross. He will not even condescend to examine the +grounds from which the perfectibility of society is inferred. Much less +will he give himself the trouble in a fair and candid manner to attempt +an exposition of their fallacy. +</P> + +<P> +The speculative philosopher equally offends against the cause of truth. +With eyes fixed on a happier state of society, the blessings of which +he paints in the most captivating colours, he allows himself to indulge +in the most bitter invectives against every present establishment, +without applying his talents to consider the best and safest means of +removing abuses and without seeming to be aware of the tremendous +obstacles that threaten, even in theory, to oppose the progress of man +towards perfection. +</P> + +<P> +It is an acknowledged truth in philosophy that a just theory will +always be confirmed by experiment. Yet so much friction, and so many +minute circumstances occur in practice, which it is next to impossible +for the most enlarged and penetrating mind to foresee, that on few +subjects can any theory be pronounced just, till all the arguments +against it have been maturely weighed and clearly and consistently +refuted. +</P> + +<P> +I have read some of the speculations on the perfectibility of man and +of society with great pleasure. I have been warmed and delighted with +the enchanting picture which they hold forth. I ardently wish for such +happy improvements. But I see great, and, to my understanding, +unconquerable difficulties in the way to them. These difficulties it is +my present purpose to state, declaring, at the same time, that so far +from exulting in them, as a cause of triumph over the friends of +innovation, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see them +completely removed. +</P> + +<P> +The most important argument that I shall adduce is certainly not new. +The principles on which it depends have been explained in part by Hume, +and more at large by Dr Adam Smith. It has been advanced and applied to +the present subject, though not with its proper weight, or in the most +forcible point of view, by Mr Wallace, and it may probably have been +stated by many writers that I have never met with. I should certainly +therefore not think of advancing it again, though I mean to place it in +a point of view in some degree different from any that I have hitherto +seen, if it had ever been fairly and satisfactorily answered. +</P> + +<P> +The cause of this neglect on the part of the advocates for the +perfectibility of mankind is not easily accounted for. I cannot doubt +the talents of such men as Godwin and Condorcet. I am unwilling to +doubt their candour. To my understanding, and probably to that of most +others, the difficulty appears insurmountable. Yet these men of +acknowledged ability and penetration scarcely deign to notice it, and +hold on their course in such speculations with unabated ardour and +undiminished confidence. I have certainly no right to say that they +purposely shut their eyes to such arguments. I ought rather to doubt +the validity of them, when neglected by such men, however forcibly +their truth may strike my own mind. Yet in this respect it must be +acknowledged that we are all of us too prone to err. If I saw a glass +of wine repeatedly presented to a man, and he took no notice of it, I +should be apt to think that he was blind or uncivil. A juster +philosophy might teach me rather to think that my eyes deceived me and +that the offer was not really what I conceived it to be. +</P> + +<P> +In entering upon the argument I must premise that I put out of the +question, at present, all mere conjectures, that is, all suppositions, +the probable realization of which cannot be inferred upon any just +philosophical grounds. A writer may tell me that he thinks man will +ultimately become an ostrich. I cannot properly contradict him. But +before he can expect to bring any reasonable person over to his +opinion, he ought to shew that the necks of mankind have been gradually +elongating, that the lips have grown harder and more prominent, that +the legs and feet are daily altering their shape, and that the hair is +beginning to change into stubs of feathers. And till the probability of +so wonderful a conversion can be shewn, it is surely lost time and lost +eloquence to expatiate on the happiness of man in such a state; to +describe his powers, both of running and flying, to paint him in a +condition where all narrow luxuries would be contemned, where he would +be employed only in collecting the necessaries of life, and where, +consequently, each man's share of labour would be light, and his +portion of leisure ample. +</P> + +<P> +I think I may fairly make two postulata. +</P> + +<P> +First, That food is necessary to the existence of man. +</P> + +<P> +Secondly, That the passion between the sexes is necessary and will +remain nearly in its present state. +</P> + +<P> +These two laws, ever since we have had any knowledge of mankind, appear +to have been fixed laws of our nature, and, as we have not hitherto +seen any alteration in them, we have no right to conclude that they +will ever cease to be what they now are, without an immediate act of +power in that Being who first arranged the system of the universe, and +for the advantage of his creatures, still executes, according to fixed +laws, all its various operations. +</P> + +<P> +I do not know that any writer has supposed that on this earth man will +ultimately be able to live without food. But Mr Godwin has conjectured +that the passion between the sexes may in time be extinguished. As, +however, he calls this part of his work a deviation into the land of +conjecture, I will not dwell longer upon it at present than to say that +the best arguments for the perfectibility of man are drawn from a +contemplation of the great progress that he has already made from the +savage state and the difficulty of saying where he is to stop. But +towards the extinction of the passion between the sexes, no progress +whatever has hitherto been made. It appears to exist in as much force +at present as it did two thousand or four thousand years ago. There are +individual exceptions now as there always have been. But, as these +exceptions do not appear to increase in number, it would surely be a +very unphilosophical mode of arguing to infer, merely from the +existence of an exception, that the exception would, in time, become +the rule, and the rule the exception. +</P> + +<P> +Assuming then my postulata as granted, I say, that the power of +population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to +produce subsistence for man. +</P> + +<P> +Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. +Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight +acquaintance with numbers will shew the immensity of the first power in +comparison of the second. +</P> + +<P> +By that law of our nature which makes food necessary to the life of +man, the effects of these two unequal powers must be kept equal. +</P> + +<P> +This implies a strong and constantly operating check on population from +the difficulty of subsistence. This difficulty must fall somewhere and +must necessarily be severely felt by a large portion of mankind. +</P> + +<P> +Through the animal and vegetable kingdoms, nature has scattered the +seeds of life abroad with the most profuse and liberal hand. She has +been comparatively sparing in the room and the nourishment necessary to +rear them. The germs of existence contained in this spot of earth, with +ample food, and ample room to expand in, would fill millions of worlds +in the course of a few thousand years. Necessity, that imperious all +pervading law of nature, restrains them within the prescribed bounds. +The race of plants and the race of animals shrink under this great +restrictive law. And the race of man cannot, by any efforts of reason, +escape from it. Among plants and animals its effects are waste of seed, +sickness, and premature death. Among mankind, misery and vice. The +former, misery, is an absolutely necessary consequence of it. Vice is a +highly probable consequence, and we therefore see it abundantly +prevail, but it ought not, perhaps, to be called an absolutely +necessary consequence. The ordeal of virtue is to resist all temptation +to evil. +</P> + +<P> +This natural inequality of the two powers of population and of +production in the earth, and that great law of our nature which must +constantly keep their effects equal, form the great difficulty that to +me appears insurmountable in the way to the perfectibility of society. +All other arguments are of slight and subordinate consideration in +comparison of this. I see no way by which man can escape from the +weight of this law which pervades all animated nature. No fancied +equality, no agrarian regulations in their utmost extent, could remove +the pressure of it even for a single century. And it appears, +therefore, to be decisive against the possible existence of a society, +all the members of which should live in ease, happiness, and +comparative leisure; and feel no anxiety about providing the means of +subsistence for themselves and families. +</P> + +<P> +Consequently, if the premises are just, the argument is conclusive +against the perfectibility of the mass of mankind. +</P> + +<P> +I have thus sketched the general outline of the argument, but I will +examine it more particularly, and I think it will be found that +experience, the true source and foundation of all knowledge, invariably +confirms its truth. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 2 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +The different ratio in which population and food increase—The +necessary effects of these different ratios of increase—Oscillation +produced by them in the condition of the lower classes of +society—Reasons why this oscillation has not been so much observed as +might be expected—Three propositions on which the general argument of +the Essay depends—The different states in which mankind have been +known to exist proposed to be examined with reference to these three +propositions. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I said that population, when unchecked, increased in a geometrical +ratio, and subsistence for man in an arithmetical ratio. +</P> + +<P> +Let us examine whether this position be just. I think it will be +allowed, that no state has hitherto existed (at least that we have any +account of) where the manners were so pure and simple, and the means of +subsistence so abundant, that no check whatever has existed to early +marriages, among the lower classes, from a fear of not providing well +for their families, or among the higher classes, from a fear of +lowering their condition in life. Consequently in no state that we have +yet known has the power of population been left to exert itself with +perfect freedom. +</P> + +<P> +Whether the law of marriage be instituted or not, the dictate of nature +and virtue seems to be an early attachment to one woman. Supposing a +liberty of changing in the case of an unfortunate choice, this liberty +would not affect population till it arose to a height greatly vicious; +and we are now supposing the existence of a society where vice is +scarcely known. +</P> + +<P> +In a state therefore of great equality and virtue, where pure and +simple manners prevailed, and where the means of subsistence were so +abundant that no part of the society could have any fears about +providing amply for a family, the power of population being left to +exert itself unchecked, the increase of the human species would +evidently be much greater than any increase that has been hitherto +known. +</P> + +<P> +In the United States of America, where the means of subsistence have +been more ample, the manners of the people more pure, and consequently +the checks to early marriages fewer, than in any of the modern states +of Europe, the population has been found to double itself in +twenty-five years. +</P> + +<P> +This ratio of increase, though short of the utmost power of population, +yet as the result of actual experience, we will take as our rule, and +say, that population, when unchecked, goes on doubling itself every +twenty-five years or increases in a geometrical ratio. +</P> + +<P> +Let us now take any spot of earth, this Island for instance, and see in +what ratio the subsistence it affords can be supposed to increase. We +will begin with it under its present state of cultivation. +</P> + +<P> +If I allow that by the best possible policy, by breaking up more land +and by great encouragements to agriculture, the produce of this Island +may be doubled in the first twenty-five years, I think it will be +allowing as much as any person can well demand. +</P> + +<P> +In the next twenty-five years, it is impossible to suppose that the +produce could be quadrupled. It would be contrary to all our knowledge +of the qualities of land. The very utmost that we can conceive, is, +that the increase in the second twenty-five years might equal the +present produce. Let us then take this for our rule, though certainly +far beyond the truth, and allow that, by great exertion, the whole +produce of the Island might be increased every twenty-five years, by a +quantity of subsistence equal to what it at present produces. The most +enthusiastic speculator cannot suppose a greater increase than this. In +a few centuries it would make every acre of land in the Island like a +garden. +</P> + +<P> +Yet this ratio of increase is evidently arithmetical. +</P> + +<P> +It may be fairly said, therefore, that the means of subsistence +increase in an arithmetical ratio. Let us now bring the effects of +these two ratios together. +</P> + +<P> +The population of the Island is computed to be about seven millions, +and we will suppose the present produce equal to the support of such a +number. In the first twenty-five years the population would be fourteen +millions, and the food being also doubled, the means of subsistence +would be equal to this increase. In the next twenty-five years the +population would be twenty-eight millions, and the means of subsistence +only equal to the support of twenty-one millions. In the next period, +the population would be fifty-six millions, and the means of +subsistence just sufficient for half that number. And at the conclusion +of the first century the population would be one hundred and twelve +millions and the means of subsistence only equal to the support of +thirty-five millions, which would leave a population of seventy-seven +millions totally unprovided for. +</P> + +<P> +A great emigration necessarily implies unhappiness of some kind or +other in the country that is deserted. For few persons will leave their +families, connections, friends, and native land, to seek a settlement +in untried foreign climes, without some strong subsisting causes of +uneasiness where they are, or the hope of some great advantages in the +place to which they are going. +</P> + +<P> +But to make the argument more general and less interrupted by the +partial views of emigration, let us take the whole earth, instead of +one spot, and suppose that the restraints to population were +universally removed. If the subsistence for man that the earth affords +was to be increased every twenty-five years by a quantity equal to what +the whole world at present produces, this would allow the power of +production in the earth to be absolutely unlimited, and its ratio of +increase much greater than we can conceive that any possible exertions +of mankind could make it. +</P> + +<P> +Taking the population of the world at any number, a thousand millions, +for instance, the human species would increase in the ratio of—1, 2, +4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, etc. and subsistence as—1, 2, 3, 4, +5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc. In two centuries and a quarter, the population +would be to the means of subsistence as 512 to 10: in three centuries +as 4096 to 13, and in two thousand years the difference would be almost +incalculable, though the produce in that time would have increased to +an immense extent. +</P> + +<P> +No limits whatever are placed to the productions of the earth; they may +increase for ever and be greater than any assignable quantity, yet +still the power of population being a power of a superior order, the +increase of the human species can only be kept commensurate to the +increase of the means of subsistence by the constant operation of the +strong law of necessity acting as a check upon the greater power. +</P> + +<P> +The effects of this check remain now to be considered. +</P> + +<P> +Among plants and animals the view of the subject is simple. They are +all impelled by a powerful instinct to the increase of their species, +and this instinct is interrupted by no reasoning or doubts about +providing for their offspring. Wherever therefore there is liberty, the +power of increase is exerted, and the superabundant effects are +repressed afterwards by want of room and nourishment, which is common +to animals and plants, and among animals by becoming the prey of others. +</P> + +<P> +The effects of this check on man are more complicated. Impelled to the +increase of his species by an equally powerful instinct, reason +interrupts his career and asks him whether he may not bring beings into +the world for whom he cannot provide the means of subsistence. In a +state of equality, this would be the simple question. In the present +state of society, other considerations occur. Will he not lower his +rank in life? Will he not subject himself to greater difficulties than +he at present feels? Will he not be obliged to labour harder? and if he +has a large family, will his utmost exertions enable him to support +them? May he not see his offspring in rags and misery, and clamouring +for bread that he cannot give them? And may he not be reduced to the +grating necessity of forfeiting his independence, and of being obliged +to the sparing hand of charity for support? +</P> + +<P> +These considerations are calculated to prevent, and certainly do +prevent, a very great number in all civilized nations from pursuing the +dictate of nature in an early attachment to one woman. And this +restraint almost necessarily, though not absolutely so, produces vice. +Yet in all societies, even those that are most vicious, the tendency to +a virtuous attachment is so strong that there is a constant effort +towards an increase of population. This constant effort as constantly +tends to subject the lower classes of the society to distress and to +prevent any great permanent amelioration of their condition. +</P> + +<P> +The way in which, these effects are produced seems to be this. We will +suppose the means of subsistence in any country just equal to the easy +support of its inhabitants. The constant effort towards population, +which is found to act even in the most vicious societies, increases the +number of people before the means of subsistence are increased. The +food therefore which before supported seven millions must now be +divided among seven millions and a half or eight millions. The poor +consequently must live much worse, and many of them be reduced to +severe distress. The number of labourers also being above the +proportion of the work in the market, the price of labour must tend +toward a decrease, while the price of provisions would at the same time +tend to rise. The labourer therefore must work harder to earn the same +as he did before. During this season of distress, the discouragements +to marriage, and the difficulty of rearing a family are so great that +population is at a stand. In the mean time the cheapness of labour, the +plenty of labourers, and the necessity of an increased industry amongst +them, encourage cultivators to employ more labour upon their land, to +turn up fresh soil, and to manure and improve more completely what is +already in tillage, till ultimately the means of subsistence become in +the same proportion to the population as at the period from which we +set out. The situation of the labourer being then again tolerably +comfortable, the restraints to population are in some degree loosened, +and the same retrograde and progressive movements with respect to +happiness are repeated. +</P> + +<P> +This sort of oscillation will not be remarked by superficial observers, +and it may be difficult even for the most penetrating mind to calculate +its periods. Yet that in all old states some such vibration does exist, +though from various transverse causes, in a much less marked, and in a +much more irregular manner than I have described it, no reflecting man +who considers the subject deeply can well doubt. +</P> + +<P> +Many reasons occur why this oscillation has been less obvious, and less +decidedly confirmed by experience, than might naturally be expected. +</P> + +<P> +One principal reason is that the histories of mankind that we possess +are histories only of the higher classes. We have but few accounts that +can be depended upon of the manners and customs of that part of mankind +where these retrograde and progressive movements chiefly take place. A +satisfactory history of this kind, on one people, and of one period, +would require the constant and minute attention of an observing mind +during a long life. Some of the objects of inquiry would be, in what +proportion to the number of adults was the number of marriages, to what +extent vicious customs prevailed in consequence of the restraints upon +matrimony, what was the comparative mortality among the children of the +most distressed part of the community and those who lived rather more +at their ease, what were the variations in the real price of labour, +and what were the observable differences in the state of the lower +classes of society with respect to ease and happiness, at different +times during a certain period. +</P> + +<P> +Such a history would tend greatly to elucidate the manner in which the +constant check upon population acts and would probably prove the +existence of the retrograde and progressive movements that have been +mentioned, though the times of their vibrations must necessarily be +rendered irregular from the operation of many interrupting causes, such +as the introduction or failure of certain manufactures, a greater or +less prevalent spirit of agricultural enterprise, years of plenty, or +years of scarcity, wars and pestilence, poor laws, the invention of +processes for shortening labour without the proportional extension of +the market for the commodity, and, particularly, the difference between +the nominal and real price of labour, a circumstance which has perhaps +more than any other contributed to conceal this oscillation from common +view. +</P> + +<P> +It very rarely happens that the nominal price of labour universally +falls, but we well know that it frequently remains the same, while the +nominal price of provisions has been gradually increasing. This is, in +effect, a real fall in the price of labour, and during this period the +condition of the lower orders of the community must gradually grow +worse and worse. But the farmers and capitalists are growing rich from +the real cheapness of labour. Their increased capitals enable them to +employ a greater number of men. Work therefore may be plentiful, and +the price of labour would consequently rise. But the want of freedom in +the market of labour, which occurs more or less in all communities, +either from parish laws, or the more general cause of the facility of +combination among the rich, and its difficulty among the poor, operates +to prevent the price of labour from rising at the natural period, and +keeps it down some time longer; perhaps till a year of scarcity, when +the clamour is too loud and the necessity too apparent to be resisted. +</P> + +<P> +The true cause of the advance in the price of labour is thus concealed, +and the rich affect to grant it as an act of compassion and favour to +the poor, in consideration of a year of scarcity, and, when plenty +returns, indulge themselves in the most unreasonable of all complaints, +that the price does not again fall, when a little rejection would shew +them that it must have risen long before but from an unjust conspiracy +of their own. +</P> + +<P> +But though the rich by unfair combinations contribute frequently to +prolong a season of distress among the poor, yet no possible form of +society could prevent the almost constant action of misery upon a great +part of mankind, if in a state of inequality, and upon all, if all were +equal. +</P> + +<P> +The theory on which the truth of this position depends appears to me so +extremely clear that I feel at a loss to conjecture what part of it can +be denied. +</P> + +<P> +That population cannot increase without the means of subsistence is a +proposition so evident that it needs no illustration. +</P> + +<P> +That population does invariably increase where there are the means of +subsistence, the history of every people that have ever existed will +abundantly prove. +</P> + +<P> +And that the superior power of population cannot be checked without +producing misery or vice, the ample portion of these too bitter +ingredients in the cup of human life and the continuance of the +physical causes that seem to have produced them bear too convincing a +testimony. +</P> + +<P> +But, in order more fully to ascertain the validity of these three +propositions, let us examine the different states in which mankind have +been known to exist. Even a cursory review will, I think, be sufficient +to convince us that these propositions are incontrovertible truths. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 3 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +The savage or hunter state shortly reviewed—The shepherd state, or the +tribes of barbarians that overran the Roman Empire—The superiority of +the power of population to the means of subsistence—the cause of the +great tide of Northern Emigration. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the rudest state of mankind, in which hunting is the principal +occupation, and the only mode of acquiring food; the means of +subsistence being scattered over a large extent of territory, the +comparative population must necessarily be thin. It is said that the +passion between the sexes is less ardent among the North American +Indians, than among any other race of men. Yet, notwithstanding this +apathy, the effort towards population, even in this people, seems to be +always greater than the means to support it. This appears, from the +comparatively rapid population that takes place, whenever any of the +tribes happen to settle in some fertile spot, and to draw nourishment +from more fruitful sources than that of hunting; and it has been +frequently remarked that when an Indian family has taken up its abode +near any European settlement, and adopted a more easy and civilized +mode of life, that one woman has reared five, or six, or more children; +though in the savage state it rarely happens that above one or two in a +family grow up to maturity. The same observation has been made with +regard to the Hottentots near the Cape. These facts prove the superior +power of population to the means of subsistence in nations of hunters, +and that this power always shews itself the moment it is left to act +with freedom. +</P> + +<P> +It remains to inquire whether this power can be checked, and its +effects kept equal to the means of subsistence, without vice or misery. +</P> + +<P> +The North American Indians, considered as a people, cannot justly be +called free and equal. In all the accounts we have of them, and, +indeed, of most other savage nations, the women are represented as much +more completely in a state of slavery to the men than the poor are to +the rich in civilized countries. One half the nation appears to act as +Helots to the other half, and the misery that checks population falls +chiefly, as it always must do, upon that part whose condition is lowest +in the scale of society. The infancy of man in the simplest state +requires considerable attention, but this necessary attention the women +cannot give, condemned as they are to the inconveniences and hardships +of frequent change of place and to the constant and unremitting +drudgery of preparing every thing for the reception of their tyrannic +lords. These exertions, sometimes during pregnancy or with children at +their backs, must occasion frequent miscarriages, and prevent any but +the most robust infants from growing to maturity. Add to these +hardships of the women the constant war that prevails among savages, +and the necessity which they frequently labour under of exposing their +aged and helpless parents, and of thus violating the first feelings of +nature, and the picture will not appear very free from the blot of +misery. In estimating the happiness of a savage nation, we must not fix +our eyes only on the warrior in the prime of life: he is one of a +hundred: he is the gentleman, the man of fortune, the chances have been +in his favour and many efforts have failed ere this fortunate being was +produced, whose guardian genius should preserve him through the +numberless dangers with which he would be surrounded from infancy to +manhood. The true points of comparison between two nations seem to be +the ranks in each which appear nearest to answer to each other. And in +this view, I should compare the warriors in the prime of life with the +gentlemen, and the women, children, and aged, with the lower classes of +the community in civilized states. +</P> + +<P> +May we not then fairly infer from this short review, or rather, from +the accounts that may be referred to of nations of hunters, that their +population is thin from the scarcity of food, that it would immediately +increase if food was in greater plenty, and that, putting vice out of +the question among savages, misery is the check that represses the +superior power of population and keeps its effects equal to the means +of subsistence. Actual observation and experience tell us that this +check, with a few local and temporary exceptions, is constantly acting +now upon all savage nations, and the theory indicates that it probably +acted with nearly equal strength a thousand years ago, and it may not +be much greater a thousand years hence. +</P> + +<P> +Of the manners and habits that prevail among nations of shepherds, the +next state of mankind, we are even more ignorant than of the savage +state. But that these nations could not escape the general lot of +misery arising from the want of subsistence, Europe, and all the +fairest countries in the world, bear ample testimony. Want was the goad +that drove the Scythian shepherds from their native haunts, like so +many famished wolves in search of prey. Set in motion by this all +powerful cause, clouds of Barbarians seemed to collect from all points +of the northern hemisphere. Gathering fresh darkness and terror as they +rolled on, the congregated bodies at length obscured the sun of Italy +and sunk the whole world in universal night. These tremendous effects, +so long and so deeply felt throughout the fairest portions of the +earth, may be traced to the simple cause of the superior power of +population to the means of subsistence. +</P> + +<P> +It is well known that a country in pasture cannot support so many +inhabitants as a country in tillage, but what renders nations of +shepherds so formidable is the power which they possess of moving all +together and the necessity they frequently feel of exerting this power +in search of fresh pasture for their herds. A tribe that was rich in +cattle had an immediate plenty of food. Even the parent stock might be +devoured in a case of absolute necessity. The women lived in greater +ease than among nations of hunters. The men bold in their united +strength and confiding in their power of procuring pasture for their +cattle by change of place, felt, probably, but few fears about +providing for a family. These combined causes soon produced their +natural and invariable effect, an extended population. A more frequent +and rapid change of place became then necessary. A wider and more +extensive territory was successively occupied. A broader desolation +extended all around them. Want pinched the less fortunate members of +the society, and, at length, the impossibility of supporting such a +number together became too evident to be resisted. Young scions were +then pushed out from the parent-stock and instructed to explore fresh +regions and to gain happier seats for themselves by their swords. 'The +world was all before them where to choose.' Restless from present +distress, flushed with the hope of fairer prospects, and animated with +the spirit of hardy enterprise, these daring adventurers were likely to +become formidable adversaries to all who opposed them. The peaceful +inhabitants of the countries on which they rushed could not long +withstand the energy of men acting under such powerful motives of +exertion. And when they fell in with any tribes like their own, the +contest was a struggle for existence, and they fought with a desperate +courage, inspired by the rejection that death was the punishment of +defeat and life the prize of victory. +</P> + +<P> +In these savage contests many tribes must have been utterly +exterminated. Some, probably, perished by hardship and famine. Others, +whose leading star had given them a happier direction, became great and +powerful tribes, and, in their turns, sent off fresh adventurers in +search of still more fertile seats. The prodigious waste of human life +occasioned by this perpetual struggle for room and food was more than +supplied by the mighty power of population, acting, in some degree, +unshackled from the consent habit of emigration. The tribes that +migrated towards the South, though they won these more fruitful regions +by continual battles, rapidly increased in number and power, from the +increased means of subsistence. Till at length the whole territory, +from the confines of China to the shores of the Baltic, was peopled by +a various race of Barbarians, brave, robust, and enterprising, inured +to hardship, and delighting in war. Some tribes maintained their +independence. Others ranged themselves under the standard of some +barbaric chieftain who led them to victory after victory, and what was +of more importance, to regions abounding in corn, wine, and oil, the +long wished for consummation, and great reward of their labours. An +Alaric, an Attila, or a Zingis Khan, and the chiefs around them, might +fight for glory, for the fame of extensive conquests, but the true +cause that set in motion the great tide of northern emigration, and +that continued to propel it till it rolled at different periods against +China, Persia, Italy, and even Egypt, was a scarcity of food, a +population extended beyond the means of supporting it. +</P> + +<P> +The absolute population at any one period, in proportion to the extent +of territory, could never be great, on account of the unproductive +nature of some of the regions occupied; but there appears to have been +a most rapid succession of human beings, and as fast as some were mowed +down by the scythe of war or of famine, others rose in increased +numbers to supply their place. Among these bold and improvident +Barbarians, population was probably but little checked, as in modern +states, from a fear of future difficulties. A prevailing hope of +bettering their condition by change of place, a constant expectation of +plunder, a power even, if distressed, of selling their children as +slaves, added to the natural carelessness of the barbaric character, +all conspired to raise a population which remained to be repressed +afterwards by famine or war. +</P> + +<P> +Where there is any inequality of conditions, and among nations of +shepherds this soon takes place, the distress arising from a scarcity +of provisions must fall hardest upon the least fortunate members of the +society. This distress also must frequently have been felt by the +women, exposed to casual plunder in the absence of their husbands, and +subject to continual disappointments in their expected return. +</P> + +<P> +But without knowing enough of the minute and intimate history of these +people, to point out precisely on what part the distress for want of +food chiefly fell, and to what extent it was generally felt, I think we +may fairly say, from all the accounts that we have of nations of +shepherds, that population invariably increased among them whenever, by +emigration or any other cause, the means of subsistence were increased, +and that a further population was checked, and the actual population +kept equal to the means of subsistence, by misery and vice. +</P> + +<P> +For, independently of any vicious customs that might have prevailed +amongst them with regard to women, which always operate as checks to +population, it must be acknowledged, I think, that the commission of +war is vice, and the effect of it misery, and none can doubt the misery +of want of food. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 4 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +State of civilized nations—Probability that Europe is much more +populous now than in the time of Julius Caesar—Best criterion of +population—Probable error of Hume in one the criterions that he +proposes as assisting in an estimate of population—Slow increase of +population at present in most of the states of Europe—The two +principal checks to population—The first, or preventive check examined +with regard to England. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In examining the next state of mankind with relation to the question +before us, the state of mixed pasture and tillage, in which with some +variation in the proportions the most civilized nations must always +remain, we shall be assisted in our review by what we daily see around +us, by actual experience, by facts that come within the scope of every +man's observation. +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding the exaggerations of some old historians, there can +remain no doubt in the mind of any thinking man that the population of +the principal countries of Europe, France, England, Germany, Russia, +Poland, Sweden, and Denmark is much greater than ever it was in former +times. The obvious reason of these exaggerations is the formidable +aspect that even a thinly peopled nation must have, when collected +together and moving all at once in search of fresh seats. If to this +tremendous appearance be added a succession at certain intervals of +similar emigrations, we shall not be much surprised that the fears of +the timid nations of the South represented the North as a region +absolutely swarming with human beings. A nearer and juster view of the +subject at present enables us to see that the inference was as absurd +as if a man in this country, who was continually meeting on the road +droves of cattle from Wales and the North, was immediately to conclude +that these countries were the most productive of all the parts of the +kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +The reason that the greater part of Europe is more populous now than it +was in former times, is that the industry of the inhabitants has made +these countries produce a greater quantity of human subsistence. For I +conceive that it may be laid down as a position not to be controverted, +that, taking a sufficient extent of territory to include within it +exportation and importation, and allowing some variation for the +prevalence of luxury, or of frugal habits, that population constantly +bears a regular proportion to the food that the earth is made to +produce. In the controversy concerning the populousness of ancient and +modern nations, could it be clearly ascertained that the average +produce of the countries in question, taken altogether, is greater now +than it was in the times of Julius Caesar, the dispute would be at once +determined. +</P> + +<P> +When we are assured that China is the most fertile country in the +world, that almost all the land is in tillage, and that a great part of +it bears two crops every year, and further, that the people live very +frugally, we may infer with certainty that the population must be +immense, without busying ourselves in inquiries into the manners and +habits of the lower classes and the encouragements to early marriages. +But these inquiries are of the utmost importance, and a minute history +of the customs of the lower Chinese would be of the greatest use in +ascertaining in what manner the checks to a further population operate; +what are the vices, and what are the distresses that prevent an +increase of numbers beyond the ability of the country to support. +</P> + +<P> +Hume, in his essay on the populousness of ancient and modern nations, +when he intermingles, as he says, an inquiry concerning causes with +that concerning facts, does not seem to see with his usual penetration +how very little some of the causes he alludes to could enable him to +form any judgement of the actual population of ancient nations. If any +inference can be drawn from them, perhaps it should be directly the +reverse of what Hume draws, though I certainly ought to speak with +great diffidence in dissenting from a man who of all others on such +subjects was the least likely to be deceived by first appearances. If I +find that at a certain period in ancient history, the encouragements to +have a family were great, that early marriages were consequently very +prevalent, and that few persons remained single, I should infer with +certainty that population was rapidly increasing, but by no means that +it was then actually very great, rather; indeed, the contrary, that it +was then thin and that there was room and food for a much greater +number. On the other hand, if I find that at this period the +difficulties attending a family were very great, that, consequently, +few early marriages took place, and that a great number of both sexes +remained single, I infer with certainty that population was at a stand, +and, probably, because the actual population was very great in +proportion to the fertility of the land and that there was scarcely +room and food for more. The number of footmen, housemaids, and other +persons remaining unmarried in modern states, Hume allows to be rather +an argument against their population. I should rather draw a contrary +inference and consider it an argument of their fullness, though this +inference is not certain, because there are many thinly inhabited +states that are yet stationary in their population. To speak, +therefore, correctly, perhaps it may be said that the number of +unmarried persons in proportion to the whole number, existing at +different periods, in the same or different states will enable us to +judge whether population at these periods was increasing, stationary, +or decreasing, but will form no criterion by which we can determine the +actual population. +</P> + +<P> +There is, however, a circumstance taken notice of in most of the +accounts we have of China that it seems difficult to reconcile with +this reasoning. It is said that early marriages very generally prevail +through all the ranks of the Chinese. Yet Dr Adam Smith supposes that +population in China is stationary. These two circumstances appear to be +irreconcilable. It certainly seems very little probable that the +population of China is fast increasing. Every acre of land has been so +long in cultivation that we can hardly conceive there is any great +yearly addition to the average produce. The fact, perhaps, of the +universality of early marriages may not be sufficiently ascertained. If +it be supposed true, the only way of accounting for the difficulty, +with our present knowledge of the subject, appears to be that the +redundant population, necessarily occasioned by the prevalence of early +marriages, must be repressed by occasional famines, and by the custom +of exposing children, which, in times of distress, is probably more +frequent than is ever acknowledged to Europeans. Relative to this +barbarous practice, it is difficult to avoid remarking, that there +cannot be a stronger proof of the distresses that have been felt by +mankind for want of food, than the existence of a custom that thus +violates the most natural principle of the human heart. It appears to +have been very general among ancient nations, and certainly tended +rather to increase population. +</P> + +<P> +In examining the principal states of modern Europe, we shall find that +though they have increased very considerably in population since they +were nations of shepherds, yet that at present their progress is but +slow, and instead of doubling their numbers every twenty-five years +they require three or four hundred years, or more, for that purpose. +Some, indeed, may be absolutely stationary, and others even retrograde. +The cause of this slow progress in population cannot be traced to a +decay of the passion between the sexes. We have sufficient reason to +think that this natural propensity exists still in undiminished vigour. +Why then do not its effects appear in a rapid increase of the human +species? An intimate view of the state of society in any one country in +Europe, which may serve equally for all, will enable us to answer this +question, and to say that a foresight of the difficulties attending the +rearing of a family acts as a preventive check, and the actual +distresses of some of the lower classes, by which they are disabled +from giving the proper food and attention to their children, act as a +positive check to the natural increase of population. +</P> + +<P> +England, as one of the most flourishing states of Europe, may be fairly +taken for an example, and the observations made will apply with but +little variation to any other country where the population increases +slowly. +</P> + +<P> +The preventive check appears to operate in some degree through all the +ranks of society in England. There are some men, even in the highest +rank, who are prevented from marrying by the idea of the expenses that +they must retrench, and the fancied pleasures that they must deprive +themselves of, on the supposition of having a family. These +considerations are certainly trivial, but a preventive foresight of +this kind has objects of much greater weight for its contemplation as +we go lower. +</P> + +<P> +A man of liberal education, but with an income only just sufficient to +enable him to associate in the rank of gentlemen, must feel absolutely +certain that if he marries and has a family he shall be obliged, if he +mixes at all in society, to rank himself with moderate farmers and the +lower class of tradesmen. The woman that a man of education would +naturally make the object of his choice would be one brought up in the +same tastes and sentiments with himself and used to the familiar +intercourse of a society totally different from that to which she must +be reduced by marriage. Can a man consent to place the object of his +affection in a situation so discordant, probably, to her tastes and +inclinations? Two or three steps of descent in society, particularly at +this round of the ladder, where education ends and ignorance begins, +will not be considered by the generality of people as a fancied and +chimerical, but a real and essential evil. If society be held +desirable, it surely must be free, equal, and reciprocal society, where +benefits are conferred as well as received, and not such as the +dependent finds with his patron or the poor with the rich. +</P> + +<P> +These considerations undoubtedly prevent a great number in this rank of +life from following the bent of their inclinations in an early +attachment. Others, guided either by a stronger passion, or a weaker +judgement, break through these restraints, and it would be hard indeed, +if the gratification of so delightful a passion as virtuous love, did +not, sometimes, more than counterbalance all its attendant evils. But I +fear it must be owned that the more general consequences of such +marriages are rather calculated to justify than to repress the +forebodings of the prudent. +</P> + +<P> +The sons of tradesmen and farmers are exhorted not to marry, and +generally find it necessary to pursue this advice till they are settled +in some business or farm that may enable them to support a family. +These events may not, perhaps, occur till they are far advanced in +life. The scarcity of farms is a very general complaint in England. And +the competition in every kind of business is so great that it is not +possible that all should be successful. +</P> + +<P> +The labourer who earns eighteen pence a day and lives with some degree +of comfort as a single man, will hesitate a little before he divides +that pittance among four or five, which seems to be but just sufficient +for one. Harder fare and harder labour he would submit to for the sake +of living with the woman that he loves, but he must feel conscious, if +he thinks at all, that should he have a large family, and any ill luck +whatever, no degree of frugality, no possible exertion of his manual +strength could preserve him from the heart-rending sensation of seeing +his children starve, or of forfeiting his independence, and being +obliged to the parish for their support. The love of independence is a +sentiment that surely none would wish to be erased from the breast of +man, though the parish law of England, it must be confessed, is a +system of all others the most calculated gradually to weaken this +sentiment, and in the end may eradicate it completely. +</P> + +<P> +The servants who live in gentlemen's families have restraints that are +yet stronger to break through in venturing upon marriage. They possess +the necessaries, and even the comforts of life, almost in as great +plenty as their masters. Their work is easy and their food luxurious +compared with the class of labourers. And their sense of dependence is +weakened by the conscious power of changing their masters, if they feel +themselves offended. Thus comfortably situated at present, what are +their prospects in marrying? Without knowledge or capital, either for +business, or farming, and unused and therefore unable, to earn a +subsistence by daily labour, their only refuge seems to be a miserable +ale-house, which certainly offers no very enchanting prospect of a +happy evening to their lives. By much the greater part, therefore, +deterred by this uninviting view of their future situation, content +themselves with remaining single where they are. +</P> + +<P> +If this sketch of the state of society in England be near the truth, +and I do not conceive that it is exaggerated, it will be allowed that +the preventive check to population in this country operates, though +with varied force, through all the classes of the community. The same +observation will hold true with regard to all old states. The effects, +indeed, of these restraints upon marriage are but too conspicuous in +the consequent vices that are produced in almost every part of the +world, vices that are continually involving both sexes in inextricable +unhappiness. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 5 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +The second, or positive check to population examined, in England—The +true cause why the immense sum collected in England for the poor does +not better their condition—The powerful tendency of the poor laws to +defeat their own purpose—Palliative of the distresses of the poor +proposed—The absolute impossibility, from the fixed laws of our +nature, that the pressure of want can ever be completely removed from +the lower classes of society—All the checks to population may be +resolved into misery or vice. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The positive check to population, by which I mean the check that +represses an increase which is already begun, is confined chiefly, +though not perhaps solely, to the lowest orders of society. +</P> + +<P> +This check is not so obvious to common view as the other I have +mentioned, and, to prove distinctly the force and extent of its +operation would require, perhaps, more data than we are in possession +of. But I believe it has been very generally remarked by those who have +attended to bills of mortality that of the number of children who die +annually, much too great a proportion belongs to those who may be +supposed unable to give their offspring proper food and attention, +exposed as they are occasionally to severe distress and confined, +perhaps, to unwholesome habitations and hard labour. This mortality +among the children of the poor has been constantly taken notice of in +all towns. It certainly does not prevail in an equal degree in the +country, but the subject has not hitherto received sufficient attention +to enable anyone to say that there are not more deaths in proportion +among the children of the poor, even in the country, than among those +of the middling and higher classes. Indeed, it seems difficult to +suppose that a labourer's wife who has six children, and who is +sometimes in absolute want of bread, should be able always to give them +the food and attention necessary to support life. The sons and +daughters of peasants will not be found such rosy cherubs in real life +as they are described to be in romances. It cannot fail to be remarked +by those who live much in the country that the sons of labourers are +very apt to be stunted in their growth, and are a long while arriving +at maturity. Boys that you would guess to be fourteen or fifteen are, +upon inquiry, frequently found to be eighteen or nineteen. And the lads +who drive plough, which must certainly be a healthy exercise, are very +rarely seen with any appearance of calves to their legs: a circumstance +which can only be attributed to a want either of proper or of +sufficient nourishment. +</P> + +<P> +To remedy the frequent distresses of the common people, the poor laws +of England have been instituted; but it is to be feared, that though +they may have alleviated a little the intensity of individual +misfortune, they have spread the general evil over a much larger +surface. It is a subject often started in conversation and mentioned +always as a matter of great surprise that, notwithstanding the immense +sum that is annually collected for the poor in England, there is still +so much distress among them. Some think that the money must be +embezzled, others that the church-wardens and overseers consume the +greater part of it in dinners. All agree that somehow or other it must +be very ill-managed. In short the fact that nearly three millions are +collected annually for the poor and yet that their distresses are not +removed is the subject of continual astonishment. But a man who sees a +little below the surface of things would be very much more astonished +if the fact were otherwise than it is observed to be, or even if a +collection universally of eighteen shillings in the pound, instead of +four, were materially to alter it. I will state a case which I hope +will elucidate my meaning. +</P> + +<P> +Suppose that by a subscription of the rich the eighteen pence a day +which men earn now was made up five shillings, it might be imagined, +perhaps, that they would then be able to live comfortably and have a +piece of meat every day for their dinners. But this would be a very +false conclusion. The transfer of three shillings and sixpence a day to +every labourer would not increase the quantity of meat in the country. +There is not at present enough for all to have a decent share. What +would then be the consequence? The competition among the buyers in the +market of meat would rapidly raise the price from sixpence or +sevenpence, to two or three shillings in the pound, and the commodity +would not be divided among many more than it is at present. When an +article is scarce, and cannot be distributed to all, he that can shew +the most valid patent, that is, he that offers most money, becomes the +possessor. If we can suppose the competition among the buyers of meat +to continue long enough for a greater number of cattle to be reared +annually, this could only be done at the expense of the corn, which +would be a very disadvantagous exchange, for it is well known that the +country could not then support the same population, and when +subsistence is scarce in proportion to the number of people, it is of +little consequence whether the lowest members of the society possess +eighteen pence or five shillings. They must at all events be reduced to +live upon the hardest fare and in the smallest quantity. +</P> + +<P> +It will be said, perhaps, that the increased number of purchasers in +every article would give a spur to productive industry and that the +whole produce of the island would be increased. This might in some +degree be the case. But the spur that these fancied riches would give +to population would more than counterbalance it, and the increased +produce would be to be divided among a more than proportionably +increased number of people. All this time I am supposing that the same +quantity of work would be done as before. But this would not really +take place. The receipt of five shillings a day, instead of eighteen +pence, would make every man fancy himself comparatively rich and able +to indulge himself in many hours or days of leisure. This would give a +strong and immediate check to productive industry, and, in a short +time, not only the nation would be poorer, but the lower classes +themselves would be much more distressed than when they received only +eighteen pence a day. +</P> + +<P> +A collection from the rich of eighteen shillings in the pound, even if +distributed in the most judicious manner, would have a little the same +effect as that resulting from the supposition I have just made, and no +possible contributions or sacrifices of the rich, particularly in +money, could for any time prevent the recurrence of distress among the +lower members of society, whoever they were. Great changes might, +indeed, be made. The rich might become poor, and some of the poor rich, +but a part of the society must necessarily feel a difficulty of living, +and this difficulty will naturally fall on the least fortunate members. +</P> + +<P> +It may at first appear strange, but I believe it is true, that I cannot +by means of money raise a poor man and enable him to live much better +than he did before, without proportionably depressing others in the +same class. If I retrench the quantity of food consumed in my house, +and give him what I have cut off, I then benefit him, without +depressing any but myself and family, who, perhaps, may be well able to +bear it. If I turn up a piece of uncultivated land, and give him the +produce, I then benefit both him and all the members of the society, +because what he before consumed is thrown into the common stock, and +probably some of the new produce with it. But if I only give him money, +supposing the produce of the country to remain the same, I give him a +title to a larger share of that produce than formerly, which share he +cannot receive without diminishing the shares of others. It is evident +that this effect, in individual instances, must be so small as to be +totally imperceptible; but still it must exist, as many other effects +do, which, like some of the insects that people the air, elude our +grosser perceptions. +</P> + +<P> +Supposing the quantity of food in any country to remain the same for +many years together, it is evident that this food must be divided +according to the value of each man's patent, or the sum of money that +he can afford to spend on this commodity so universally in request. (Mr +Godwin calls the wealth that a man receives from his ancestors a mouldy +patent. It may, I think, very properly be termed a patent, but I hardly +see the propriety of calling it a mouldy one, as it is an article in +such constant use.) It is a demonstrative truth, therefore, that the +patents of one set of men could not be increased in value without +diminishing the value of the patents of some other set of men. If the +rich were to subscribe and give five shillings a day to five hundred +thousand men without retrenching their own tables, no doubt can exist, +that as these men would naturally live more at their ease and consume a +greater quantity of provisions, there would be less food remaining to +divide among the rest, and consequently each man's patent would be +diminished in value or the same number of pieces of silver would +purchase a smaller quantity of subsistence. +</P> + +<P> +An increase of population without a proportional increase of food will +evidently have the same effect in lowering the value of each man's +patent. The food must necessarily be distributed in smaller quantities, +and consequently a day's labour will purchase a smaller quantity of +provisions. An increase in the price of provisions would arise either +from an increase of population faster than the means of subsistence, or +from a different distribution of the money of the society. The food of +a country that has been long occupied, if it be increasing, increases +slowly and regularly and cannot be made to answer any sudden demands, +but variations in the distribution of the money of a society are not +infrequently occurring, and are undoubtedly among the causes that +occasion the continual variations which we observe in the price of +provisions. +</P> + +<P> +The poor laws of England tend to depress the general condition of the +poor in these two ways. Their first obvious tendency is to increase +population without increasing the food for its support. A poor man may +marry with little or no prospect of being able to support a family in +independence. They may be said therefore in some measure to create the +poor which they maintain, and as the provisions of the country must, in +consequence of the increased population, be distributed to every man in +smaller proportions, it is evident that the labour of those who are not +supported by parish assistance will purchase a smaller quantity of +provisions than before and consequently more of them must be driven to +ask for support. +</P> + +<P> +Secondly, the quantity of provisions consumed in workhouses upon a part +of the society that cannot in general be considered as the most +valuable part diminishes the shares that would otherwise belong to more +industrious and more worthy members, and thus in the same manner forces +more to become dependent. If the poor in the workhouses were to live +better than they now do, this new distribution of the money of the +society would tend more conspicuously to depress the condition of those +out of the workhouses by occasioning a rise in the price of provisions. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately for England, a spirit of independence still remains among +the peasantry. The poor laws are strongly calculated to eradicate this +spirit. They have succeeded in part, but had they succeeded as +completely as might have been expected their pernicious tendency would +not have been so long concealed. +</P> + +<P> +Hard as it may appear in individual instances, dependent poverty ought +to be held disgraceful. Such a stimulus seems to be absolutely +necessary to promote the happiness of the great mass of mankind, and +every general attempt to weaken this stimulus, however benevolent its +apparent intention, will always defeat its own purpose. If men are +induced to marry from a prospect of parish provision, with little or no +chance of maintaining their families in independence, they are not only +unjustly tempted to bring unhappiness and dependence upon themselves +and children, but they are tempted, without knowing it, to injure all +in the same class with themselves. A labourer who marries without being +able to support a family may in some respects be considered as an enemy +to all his fellow-labourers. +</P> + +<P> +I feel no doubt whatever that the parish laws of England have +contributed to raise the price of provisions and to lower the real +price of labour. They have therefore contributed to impoverish that +class of people whose only possession is their labour. It is also +difficult to suppose that they have not powerfully contributed to +generate that carelessness and want of frugality observable among the +poor, so contrary to the disposition frequently to be remarked among +petty tradesmen and small farmers. The labouring poor, to use a vulgar +expression, seem always to live from hand to mouth. Their present wants +employ their whole attention, and they seldom think of the future. Even +when they have an opportunity of saving they seldom exercise it, but +all that is beyond their present necessities goes, generally speaking, +to the ale-house. The poor laws of England may therefore be said to +diminish both the power and the will to save among the common people, +and thus to weaken one of the strongest incentives to sobriety and +industry, and consequently to happiness. +</P> + +<P> +It is a general complaint among master manufacturers that high wages +ruin all their workmen, but it is difficult to conceive that these men +would not save a part of their high wages for the future support of +their families, instead of spending it in drunkenness and dissipation, +if they did not rely on parish assistance for support in case of +accidents. And that the poor employed in manufactures consider this +assistance as a reason why they may spend all the wages they earn and +enjoy themselves while they can appears to be evident from the number +of families that, upon the failure of any great manufactory, +immediately fall upon the parish, when perhaps the wages earned in this +manufactory while it flourished were sufficiently above the price of +common country labour to have allowed them to save enough for their +support till they could find some other channel for their industry. +</P> + +<P> +A man who might not be deterred from going to the ale-house from the +consideration that on his death, or sickness, he should leave his wife +and family upon the parish might yet hesitate in thus dissipating his +earnings if he were assured that, in either of these cases, his family +must starve or be left to the support of casual bounty. In China, where +the real as well as nominal price of labour is very low, sons are yet +obliged by law to support their aged and helpless parents. Whether such +a law would be advisable in this country I will not pretend to +determine. But it seems at any rate highly improper, by positive +institutions, which render dependent poverty so general, to weaken that +disgrace, which for the best and most humane reasons ought to attach to +it. +</P> + +<P> +The mass of happiness among the common people cannot but be diminished +when one of the strongest checks to idleness and dissipation is thus +removed, and when men are thus allured to marry with little or no +prospect of being able to maintain a family in independence. Every +obstacle in the way of marriage must undoubtedly be considered as a +species of unhappiness. But as from the laws of our nature some check +to population must exist, it is better that it should be checked from a +foresight of the difficulties attending a family and the fear of +dependent poverty than that it should be encouraged, only to be +repressed afterwards by want and sickness. +</P> + +<P> +It should be remembered always that there is an essential difference +between food and those wrought commodities, the raw materials of which +are in great plenty. A demand for these last will not fail to create +them in as great a quantity as they are wanted. The demand for food has +by no means the same creative power. In a country where all the fertile +spots have been seized, high offers are necessary to encourage the +farmer to lay his dressing on land from which he cannot expect a +profitable return for some years. And before the prospect of advantage +is sufficiently great to encourage this sort of agricultural +enterprise, and while the new produce is rising, great distresses may +be suffered from the want of it. The demand for an increased quantity +of subsistence is, with few exceptions, constant everywhere, yet we see +how slowly it is answered in all those countries that have been long +occupied. +</P> + +<P> +The poor laws of England were undoubtedly instituted for the most +benevolent purpose, but there is great reason to think that they have +not succeeded in their intention. They certainly mitigate some cases of +very severe distress which might otherwise occur, yet the state of the +poor who are supported by parishes, considered in all its +circumstances, is very far from being free from misery. But one of the +principal objections to them is that for this assistance which some of +the poor receive, in itself almost a doubtful blessing, the whole class +of the common people of England is subjected to a set of grating, +inconvenient, and tyrannical laws, totally inconsistent with the +genuine spirit of the constitution. The whole business of settlements, +even in its present amended state, is utterly contradictory to all +ideas of freedom. The parish persecution of men whose families are +likely to become chargeable, and of poor women who are near lying-in, +is a most disgraceful and disgusting tyranny. And the obstructions +continuity occasioned in the market of labour by these laws have a +constant tendency to add to the difficulties of those who are +struggling to support themselves without assistance. +</P> + +<P> +These evils attendant on the poor laws are in some degree irremediable. +If assistance be to be distributed to a certain class of people, a +power must be given somewhere of discriminating the proper objects and +of managing the concerns of the institutions that are necessary, but +any great interference with the affairs of other people is a species of +tyranny, and in the common course of things the exercise of this power +may be expected to become grating to those who are driven to ask for +support. The tyranny of Justices, Church-wardens, and Overseers, is a +common complaint among the poor, but the fault does not lie so much in +these persons, who probably, before they were in power, were not worse +than other people, but in the nature of all such institutions. +</P> + +<P> +The evil is perhaps gone too far to be remedied, but I feel little +doubt in my own mind that if the poor laws had never existed, though +there might have been a few more instances of very severe distress, yet +that the aggregate mass of happiness among the common people would have +been much greater than it is at present. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Pitt's Poor Bill has the appearance of being framed with benevolent +intentions, and the clamour raised against it was in many respects ill +directed, and unreasonable. But it must be confessed that it possesses +in a high degree the great and radical defect of all systems of the +kind, that of tending to increase population without increasing the +means for its support, and thus to depress the condition of those that +are not supported by parishes, and, consequently, to create more poor. +</P> + +<P> +To remove the wants of the lower classes of society is indeed an +arduous task. The truth is that the pressure of distress on this part +of a community is an evil so deeply seated that no human ingenuity can +reach it. Were I to propose a palliative, and palliatives are all that +the nature of the case will admit, it should be, in the first place, +the total abolition of all the present parish-laws. This would at any +rate give liberty and freedom of action to the peasantry of England, +which they can hardly be said to possess at present. They would then be +able to settle without interruption, wherever there was a prospect of a +greater plenty of work and a higher price for labour. The market of +labour would then be free, and those obstacles removed which, as things +are now, often for a considerable time prevent the price from rising +according to the demand. +</P> + +<P> +Secondly, premiums might be given for turning up fresh land, and it +possible encouragements held out to agriculture above manufactures, and +to tillage above grazing. Every endeavour should be used to weaken and +destroy all those institutions relating to corporations, +apprenticeships, etc., which cause the labours of agriculture to be +worse paid than the labours of trade and manufactures. For a country +can never produce its proper quantity of food while these distinctions +remain in favour of artisans. Such encouragements to agriculture would +tend to furnish the market with an increasing quantity of healthy work, +and at the same time, by augmenting the produce of the country, would +raise the comparative price of labour and ameliorate the condition of +the labourer. Being now in better circumstances, and seeing no prospect +of parish assistance, he would be more able, as well as more inclined, +to enter into associations for providing against the sickness of +himself or family. +</P> + +<P> +Lastly, for cases of extreme distress, county workhouses might be +established, supported by rates upon the whole kingdom, and free for +persons of all counties, and indeed of all nations. The fare should be +hard, and those that were able obliged to work. It would be desirable +that they should not be considered as comfortable asylums in all +difficulties, but merely as places where severe distress might find +some alleviation. A part of these houses might be separated, or others +built for a most beneficial purpose, which has not been infrequently +taken notice of, that of providing a place where any person, whether +native or foreigner, might do a day's work at all times and receive the +market price for it. Many cases would undoubtedly be left for the +exertion of individual benevolence. +</P> + +<P> +A plan of this kind, the preliminary of which should be an abolition of +all the present parish laws, seems to be the best calculated to +increase the mass of happiness among the common people of England. To +prevent the recurrence of misery, is, alas! beyond the power of man. In +the vain endeavour to attain what in the nature of things is +impossible, we now sacrifice not only possible but certain benefits. We +tell the common people that if they will submit to a code of tyrannical +regulations, they shall never be in want. They do submit to these +regulations. They perform their part of the contract, but we do not, +nay cannot, perform ours, and thus the poor sacrifice the valuable +blessing of liberty and receive nothing that can be called an +equivalent in return. +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding, then, the institution of the poor laws in England, I +think it will be allowed that considering the state of the lower +classes altogether, both in the towns and in the country, the +distresses which they suffer from the want of proper and sufficient +food, from hard labour and unwholesome habitations, must operate as a +constant check to incipient population. +</P> + +<P> +To these two great checks to population, in all long occupied +countries, which I have called the preventive and the positive checks, +may be added vicious customs with respect to women, great cities, +unwholesome manufactures, luxury, pestilence, and war. +</P> + +<P> +All these checks may be fairly resolved into misery and vice. And that +these are the true causes of the slow increase of population in all the +states of modern Europe, will appear sufficiently evident from the +comparatively rapid increase that has invariably taken place whenever +these causes have been in any considerable degree removed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 6 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +New colonies—Reasons for their rapid increase—North American +Colonies—Extraordinary instance of increase in the back +settlements—Rapidity with which even old states recover the ravages of +war, pestilence, famine, or the convulsions of nature. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It has been universally remarked that all new colonies settled in +healthy countries, where there was plenty of room and food, have +constantly increased with astonishing rapidity in their population. +Some of the colonies from ancient Greece, in no very long period, more +than equalled their parent states in numbers and strength. And not to +dwell on remote instances, the European settlements in the new world +bear ample testimony to the truth of a remark, which, indeed, has +never, that I know of, been doubted. A plenty of rich land, to be had +for little or nothing, is so powerful a cause of population as to +overcome all other obstacles. No settlements could well have been worse +managed than those of Spain in Mexico, Peru, and Quito. The tyranny, +superstition, and vices of the mother-country were introduced in ample +quantities among her children. Exorbitant taxes were exacted by the +Crown. The most arbitrary restrictions were imposed on their trade. And +the governors were not behind hand in rapacity and extortion for +themselves as well as their master. Yet, under all these difficulties, +the colonies made a quick progress in population. The city of Lima, +founded since the conquest, is represented by Ulloa as containing fifty +thousand inhabitants near fifty years ago. Quito, which had been but a +hamlet of indians, is represented by the same author as in his time +equally populous. Mexico is said to contain a hundred thousand +inhabitants, which, notwithstanding the exaggerations of the Spanish +writers, is supposed to be five times greater than what it contained in +the time of Montezuma. +</P> + +<P> +In the Portuguese colony of Brazil, governed with almost equal tyranny, +there were supposed to be, thirty years since, six hundred thousand +inhabitants of European extraction. +</P> + +<P> +The Dutch and French colonies, though under the government of exclusive +companies of merchants, which, as Dr Adam Smith says very justly, is +the worst of all possible governments, still persisted in thriving +under every disadvantage. +</P> + +<P> +But the English North American colonies, now the powerful people of the +United States of America, made by far the most rapid progress. To the +plenty of good land which they possessed in common with the Spanish and +Portuguese settlements, they added a greater degree of liberty and +equality. Though not without some restrictions on their foreign +commerce, they were allowed a perfect liberty of managing their own +internal affairs. The political institutions that prevailed were +favourable to the alienation and division of property. Lands that were +not cultivated by the proprietor within a limited time were declared +grantable to any other person. In Pennsylvania there was no right of +primogeniture, and in the provinces of New England the eldest had only +a double share. There were no tithes in any of the States, and scarcely +any taxes. And on account of the extreme cheapness of good land a +capital could not be more advantageously employed than in agriculture, +which at the same time that it supplies the greatest quantity of +healthy work affords much the most valuable produce to the society. +</P> + +<P> +The consequence of these favourable circumstances united was a rapidity +of increase probably without parallel in history. Throughout all the +northern colonies, the population was found to double itself in +twenty-five years. The original number of persons who had settled in +the four provinces of new England in 1643 was 21,200.(I take these +figures from Dr Price's two volumes of Observations; not having Dr +Styles' pamphlet, from which he quotes, by me.) Afterwards, it is +supposed that more left them than went to them. In the year 1760, they +were increased to half a million. They had therefore all along doubled +their own number in twenty-five years. In New Jersey the period of +doubling appeared to be twenty-two years; and in Rhode island still +less. In the back settlements, where the inhabitants applied themselves +solely to agriculture, and luxury was not known, they were found to +double their own number in fifteen years, a most extraordinary instance +of increase. Along the sea coast, which would naturally be first +inhabited, the period of doubling was about thirty-five years; and in +some of the maritime towns, the population was absolutely at a stand. +</P> + +<P> +(In instances of this kind the powers of the earth appear to be fully +equal to answer it the demands for food that can be made upon it by +man. But we should be led into an error if we were thence to suppose +that population and food ever really increase in the same ratio. The +one is still a geometrical and the other an arithmetical ratio, that +is, one increases by multiplication, and the other by addition. Where +there are few people, and a great quantity of fertile land, the power +of the earth to afford a yearly increase of food may be compared to a +great reservoir of water, supplied by a moderate stream. The faster +population increases, the more help will be got to draw off the water, +and consequently an increasing quantity will be taken every year. But +the sooner, undoubtedly, will the reservoir be exhausted, and the +streams only remain. When acre has been added to acre, till all the +fertile land is occupied, the yearly increase of food will depend upon +the amelioration of the land already in possession; and even this +moderate stream will be gradually diminishing. But population, could it +be supplied with food, would go on with unexhausted vigour, and the +increase of one period would furnish the power of a greater increase +the next, and this without any limit.) +</P> + +<P> +These facts seem to shew that population increases exactly in the +proportion that the two great checks to it, misery and vice, are +removed, and that there is not a truer criterion of the happiness and +innocence of a people than the rapidity of their increase. The +unwholesomeness of towns, to which some persons are necessarily driven +from the nature of their trades, must be considered as a species of +misery, and every the slightest check to marriage, from a prospect of +the difficulty of maintaining a family, may be fairly classed under the +same head. In short it is difficult to conceive any check to population +which does not come under the description of some species of misery or +vice. +</P> + +<P> +The population of the thirteen American States before the war was +reckoned at about three millions. Nobody imagines that Great Britain is +less populous at present for the emigration of the small parent stock +that produced these numbers. On the contrary, a certain degree of +emigration is known to be favourable to the population of the mother +country. It has been particularly remarked that the two Spanish +provinces from which the greatest number of people emigrated to +America, became in consequence more populous. Whatever was the original +number of British emigrants that increased so fast in the North +American Colonies, let us ask, why does not an equal number produce an +equal increase in the same time in Great Britain? The great and obvious +cause to be assigned is the want of room and food, or, in other words, +misery, and that this is a much more powerful cause even than vice +appears sufficiently evident from the rapidity with which even old +states recover the desolations of war, pestilence, or the accidents of +nature. They are then for a short time placed a little in the situation +of new states, and the effect is always answerable to what might be +expected. If the industry of the inhabitants be not destroyed by fear +or tyranny, subsistence will soon increase beyond the wants of the +reduced numbers, and the invariable consequence will be that population +which before, perhaps, was nearly stationary, will begin immediately to +increase. +</P> + +<P> +The fertile province of Flanders, which has been so often the seat of +the most destructive wars, after a respite of a few years, has appeared +always as fruitful and as populous as ever. Even the Palatinate lifted +up its head again after the execrable ravages of Louis the Fourteenth. +The effects of the dreadful plague in London in 1666 were not +perceptible fifteen or twenty years afterwards. The traces of the most +destructive famines in China and Indostan are by all accounts very soon +obliterated. It may even be doubted whether Turkey and Egypt are upon +an average much less populous for the plagues that periodically lay +them waste. If the number of people which they contain be less now than +formerly, it is, probably, rather to be attributed to the tyranny and +oppression of the government under which they groan, and the consequent +discouragements to agriculture, than to the loss which they sustain by +the plague. The most tremendous convulsions of nature, such as volcanic +eruptions and earthquakes, if they do not happen so frequently as to +drive away the inhabitants, or to destroy their spirit of industry, +have but a trifling effect on the average population of any state. +Naples, and the country under Vesuvius, are still very populous, +notwithstanding the repeated eruptions of that mountain. And Lisbon and +Lima are now, probably, nearly in the same state with regard to +population as they were before the last earthquakes. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 7 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +A probable cause of epidemics—Extracts from Mr Suessmilch's +tables—Periodical returns of sickly seasons to be expected in certain +cases—Proportion of births to burials for short periods in any country +an inadequate criterion of the real average increase of +population—Best criterion of a permanent increase of population—Great +frugality of living one of the causes of the famines of China and +Indostan—Evil tendency of one of the clauses in Mr Pitt's Poor +Bill—Only one proper way of encouraging population—Causes of the +Happiness of nations—Famine, the last and most dreadful mode by which +nature represses a redundant population—The three propositions +considered as established. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +By great attention to cleanliness, the plague seems at length to be +completely expelled from London. But it is not improbable that among +the secondary causes that produce even sickly seasons and epidemics +ought to be ranked a crowded population and unwholesome and +insufficient food. I have been led to this remark, by looking over some +of the tables of Mr Suessmilch, which Dr Price has extracted in one of +his notes to the postscript on the controversy respecting the +population of England and Wales. They are considered as very correct, +and if such tables were general, they would throw great light on the +different ways by which population is repressed and prevented from +increasing beyond the means of subsistence in any country. I will +extract a part of the tables, with Dr Price's remarks. +</P> + +<BR> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 5%"> + IN THE KINGDOM OF PRUSSIA, AND DUKEDOM OF LITHUANIA + + Proportion Proportion + Births Burials Marriages of Births to of Births to + Marriages Burials + 10 Yrs to 1702 21,963 14,718 5,928 37 to 10 150 to 100 + 5 Yrs to 1716 21,602 11,984 4,968 37 to 10 180 to 100 + 5 Yrs to 1756 28,392 19,154 5,599 50 to 10 148 to 100 + +"N.B. In 1709 and 1710, a pestilence carried off 247,733 of the +inhabitants of this country, and in 1736 and 1737, epidemics prevailed, +which again checked its increase." +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P> +It may be remarked, that the greatest proportion of births to burials, +was in the five years after the great pestilence. +</P> + +<BR> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 5%"> + DUCHY OF POMERANIA + + Proportion Proportion + Annual Average Births Burials Marriages of Births to of Births to + Marriages Burials + 6 yrs to 1702 6,540 4,647 1,810 36 to 10 140 to 100 + 6 yrs to 1708 7,455 4,208 1,875 39 to 10 177 to 100 + 6 yrs to 1726 8,432 5,627 2,131 39 to 10 150 to 100 + 6 yrs to 1756 12,767 9,281 2,957 43 to 10 137 to 100 + +"In this instance the inhabitants appear to have been almost doubled in +fifty-six years, no very bad epidemics having once interrupted the +increase, but the three years immediately follow ing the last period +(to 1759) were so sickly that the births were sunk to 10,229 and the +burials raised to 15,068." +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P> +Is it not probable that in this case the number of inhabitants had +increased faster than the food and the accommodations necessary to +preserve them in health? The mass of the people would, upon this +supposition, be obliged to live harder, and a greater number would be +crowded together in one house, and it is not surely improbable that +these were among the natural causes that produced the three sickly +years. These causes may produce such an effect, though the country, +absolutely considered, may not be extremely crowded and populous. In a +country even thinly inhabited, if an increase of population take place, +before more food is raised, and more houses are built, the inhabitants +must be distressed in some degree for room and subsistence. Were the +marriages in England, for the next eight or ten years, to be more +prolifick than usual, or even were a greater number of marriages than +usual to take place, supposing the number of houses to remain the same, +instead of five or six to a cottage, there must be seven or eight, and +this, added to the necessity of harder living, would probably have a +very unfavourable effect on the health of the common people. +</P> + +<BR> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 5%"> + NEUMARK OF BRANDENBURGH + + Proportion Proportion + Annual Average Births Burials Marriages of Births to of Births to + Marriages Burials + 5 yrs to 1701 5,433 3,483 1,436 37 to 10 155 to 100 + 5 yrs to 1726 7,012 4,254 1,713 40 to 10 164 to 100 + 5 yrs to 1756 7,978 5,567 1,891 42 to 10 143 to 100 + +"Epidemics prevailed for six years, from 1736, to 1741, which checked +the increase." +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 5%"> + DUKEDOM OF MAGDEBURGH + + Proportion Proportion + Annual Average Births Burials Marriages of Births to of Births to + Marriages Burials + 5 yrs to 1702 6,431 4,103 1,681 38 to 10 156 to 100 + 5 yrs to 1717 7,590 5,335 2,076 36 to 10 142 to 100 + 5 yrs to 1756 8,850 8,069 2,193 40 to 10 109 to 100 + +"The years 1738, 1740, 1750, and 1751, were particularly sickly." +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P> +For further information on this subject, I refer the reader to Mr +Suessmilch's tables. The extracts that I have made are sufficient to +shew the periodical, though irregular, returns of sickly seasons, and +it seems highly probable that a scantiness of room and food was one of +the principal causes that occasioned them. +</P> + +<P> +It appears from the tables that these countries were increasing rather +fast for old states, notwithstanding the occasional seasons that +prevailed. Cultivation must have been improving, and marriages, +consequently, encouraged. For the checks to population appear to have +been rather of the positive, than of the preventive kind. When from a +prospect of increasing plenty in any country, the weight that represses +population is in some degree removed, it is highly probable that the +motion will be continued beyond the operation of the cause that first +impelled it. Or, to be more particular, when the increasing produce of +a country, and the increasing demand for labour, so far ameliorate the +condition of the labourer as greatly to encourage marriage, it is +probable that the custom of early marriages will continue till the +population of the country has gone beyond the increased produce, and +sickly seasons appear to be the natural and necessary consequence. I +should expect, therefore, that those countries where subsistence was +increasing sufficiency at times to encourage population but not to +answer all its demands, would be more subject to periodical epidemics +than those where the population could more completely accommodate +itself to the average produce. +</P> + +<P> +An observation the converse of this will probably also be found true. +In those countries that are subject to periodical sicknesses, the +increase of population, or the excess of births above the burials, will +be greater in the intervals of these periods than is usual, caeteris +paribus, in the countries not so much subject to such disorders. If +Turkey and Egypt have been nearly stationary in their average +population for the last century, in the intervals of their periodical +plagues, the births must have exceeded the burials in a greater +proportion than in such countries as France and England. +</P> + +<P> +The average proportion of births to burials in any country for a period +of five to ten years, will hence appear to be a very inadequate +criterion by which to judge of its real progress in population. This +proportion certainly shews the rate of increase during those five or +ten years; but we can by no means thence infer what had been the +increase for the twenty years before, or what would be the increase for +the twenty years after. Dr Price observes that Sweden, Norway, Russia, +and the kingdom of Naples, are increasing fast; but the extracts from +registers that he has given are not for periods of sufficient extent to +establish the fact. It is highly probable, however, that Sweden, +Norway, and Russia, are really increasing their population, though not +at the rate that the proportion of births to burials for the short +periods that Dr Price takes would seem to shew. (See Dr Price's +Observations, Vol. ii, postscript to the controversy on the population +of England and Wales.) For five years, ending in 1777, the proportion +of births to burials in the kingdom of Naples was 144 to 100, but there +is reason to suppose that this proportion would indicate an increase +much greater than would be really found to have taken place in that +kingdom during a period of a hundred years. +</P> + +<P> +Dr Short compared the registers of many villages and market towns in +England for two periods; the first, from Queen Elizabeth to the middle +of the last century, and the second, from different years at the end of +the last century to the middle of the present. And from a comparison of +these extracts, it appears that in the former period the births +exceeded the burials in the proportion of 124 to 100, but in the +latter, only in the proportion of 111 to 100. Dr Price thinks that the +registers in the former period are not to be depended upon, but, +probably, in this instance they do not give incorrect proportions. At +least there are many reasons for expecting to find a greater excess of +births above the burials in the former period than in the latter. In +the natural progress of the population of any country, more good land +will, caeteris paribus, be taken into cultivation in the earlier stages +of it than in the later. (I say 'caeteris paribus', because the +increase of the produce of any country will always very greatly depend +on the spirit of industry that prevails, and the way in which it is +directed. The knowledge and habits of the people, and other temporary +causes, particularly the degree of civil liberty and equality existing +at the time, must always have great influence in exciting and directing +this spirit.) And a greater proportional yearly increase of produce +will almost invariably be followed by a greater proportional increase +of population. But, besides this great cause, which would naturally +give the excess of births above burials greater at the end of Queen +Elizabeth's reign than in the middle of the present century, I cannot +help thinking that the occasional ravages of the plague in the former +period must have had some tendency to increase this proportion. If an +average of ten years had been taken in the intervals of the returns of +this dreadful disorder, or if the years of plague had been rejected as +accidental, the registers would certainly give the proportion of births +to burials too high for the real average increase of the population. +For some few years after the great plague in 1666, it is probable that +there was a more than usual excess of births above burials, +particularly if Dr Price's opinion be founded, that England was more +populous at the revolution (which happened only twenty-two years +afterwards) than it is at present. +</P> + +<P> +Mr King, in 1693, stated the proportion of the births to the burials +throughout the Kingdom, exclusive of London, as 115 to 100. Dr Short +makes it, in the middle of the present century, 111 to 100, including +London. The proportion in France for five years, ending in 1774, was +117 to 100. If these statements are near the truth; and if there are no +very great variations at particular periods in the proportions, it +would appear that the population of France and England has accommodated +itself very nearly to the average produce of each country. The +discouragements to marriage, the consequent vicious habits, war, +luxury, the silent though certain depopulation of large towns, and the +close habitations, and insufficient food of many of the poor, prevent +population from increasing beyond the means of subsistence; and, if I +may use an expression which certainly at first appears strange, +supercede the necessity of great and ravaging epidemics to repress what +is redundant. Were a wasting plague to sweep off two millions in +England, and six millions in France, there can be no doubt whatever +that, after the inhabitants had recovered from the dreadful shock, the +proportion of births to burials would be much above what it is in +either country at present. +</P> + +<P> +In New Jersey, the proportion of births to deaths on an average of +seven years, ending in 1743, was as 300 to 100. In France and England, +taking the highest proportion, it is as 117 to 100. Great and +astonishing as this difference is, we ought not to be so wonder-struck +at it as to attribute it to the miraculous interposition of heaven. The +causes of it are not remote, latent and mysterious; but near us, round +about us, and open to the investigation of every inquiring mind. It +accords with the most liberal spirit of philosophy to suppose that not +a stone can fall, or a plant rise, without the immediate agency of +divine power. But we know from experience that these operations of what +we call nature have been conducted almost invariably according to fixed +laws. And since the world began, the causes of population and +depopulation have probably been as constant as any of the laws of +nature with which we are acquainted. +</P> + +<P> +The passion between the sexes has appeared in every age to be so nearly +the same that it may always be considered, in algebraic language, as a +given quantity. The great law of necessity which prevents population +from increasing in any country beyond the food which it can either +produce or acquire, is a law so open to our view, so obvious and +evident to our understandings, and so completely confirmed by the +experience of every age, that we cannot for a moment doubt it. The +different modes which nature takes to prevent or repress a redundant +population do not appear, indeed, to us so certain and regular, but +though we cannot always predict the mode we may with certainty predict +the fact. If the proportion of births to deaths for a few years +indicate an increase of numbers much beyond the proportional increased +or acquired produce of the country, we may be perfectly certain that +unless an emigration takes place, the deaths will shortly exceed the +births; and that the increase that had taken place for a few years +cannot be the real average increase of the population of the country. +Were there no other depopulating causes, every country would, without +doubt, be subject to periodical pestilences or famine. +</P> + +<P> +The only true criterion of a real and permanent increase in the +population of any country is the increase of the means of subsistence. +But even, this criterion is subject to some slight variations which +are, however, completely open to our view and observations. In some +countries population appears to have been forced, that is, the people +have been habituated by degrees to live almost upon the smallest +possible quantity of food. There must have been periods in such +counties when population increased permanently, without an increase in +the means of subsistence. China seems to answer to this description. If +the accounts we have of it are to be trusted, the lower classes of +people are in the habit of living almost upon the smallest possible +quantity of food and are glad to get any putrid offals that European +labourers would rather starve than eat. The law in China which permits +parents to expose their children has tended principally thus to force +the population. A nation in this state must necessarily be subject to +famines. Where a country is so populous in proportion to the means of +subsistence that the average produce of it is but barely sufficient to +support the lives of the inhabitants, any deficiency from the badness +of seasons must be fatal. It is probable that the very frugal manner in +which the Gentoos are in the habit of living contributes in some degree +to the famines of Indostan. +</P> + +<P> +In America, where the reward of labour is at present so liberal, the +lower classes might retrench very considerably in a year of scarcity +without materially distressing themselves. A famine therefore seems to +be almost impossible. It may be expected that in the progress of the +population of America, the labourers will in time be much less +liberally rewarded. The numbers will in this case permanently increase +without a proportional increase in the means of subsistence. +</P> + +<P> +In the different states of Europe there must be some variations in the +proportion between the number of inhabitants and the quantity of food +consumed, arising from the different habits of living that prevail in +each state. The labourers of the South of England are so accustomed to +eat fine wheaten bread that they will suffer themselves to be half +starved before they will submit to live like the Scotch peasants. They +might perhaps in time, by the constant operation of the hard law of +necessity, be reduced to live even like the Lower Chinese, and the +country would then, with the same quantity of food, support a greater +population. But to effect this must always be a most difficult, and, +every friend to humanity will hope, an abortive attempt. Nothing is so +common as to hear of encouragements that ought to be given to +population. If the tendency of mankind to increase be so great as I +have represented it to be, it may appear strange that this increase +does not come when it is thus repeatedly called for. The true reason is +that the demand for a greater population is made without preparing the +funds necessary to support it. Increase the demand for agricultural +labour by promoting cultivation, and with it consequently increase the +produce of the country, and ameliorate the condition of the labourer, +and no apprehensions whatever need be entertained of the proportional +increase of population. An attempt to effect this purpose in any other +way is vicious, cruel, and tyrannical, and in any state of tolerable +freedom cannot therefore succeed. It may appear to be the interest of +the rulers, and the rich of a state, to force population, and thereby +lower the price of labour, and consequently the expense of fleets and +armies, and the cost of manufactures for foreign sale; but every +attempt of the kind should be carefully watched and strenuously +resisted by the friends of the poor, particularly when it comes under +the deceitful garb of benevolence, and is likely, on that account, to +be cheerfully and cordially received by the common people. +</P> + +<P> +I entirely acquit Mr Pitt of any sinister intention in that clause of +his Poor Bill which allows a shilling a week to every labourer for each +child he has above three. I confess, that before the bill was brought +into Parliament, and for some time after, I thought that such a +regulation would be highly beneficial, but further reflection on the +subject has convinced me that if its object be to better the condition +of the poor, it is calculated to defeat the very purpose which it has +in view. It has no tendency that I can discover to increase the produce +of the country, and if it tend to increase the population, without +increasing the produce, the necessary and inevitable consequence +appears to be that the same produce must be divided among a greater +number, and consequently that a day's labour will purchase a smaller +quantity of provisions, and the poor therefore in general must be more +distressed. +</P> + +<P> +I have mentioned some cases where population may permanently increase +without a proportional increase in the means of subsistence. But it is +evident that the variation in different states, between the food and +the numbers supported by it, is restricted to a limit beyond which it +cannot pass. In every country, the population of which is not +absolutely decreasing, the food must be necessarily sufficient to +support, and to continue, the race of labourers. +</P> + +<P> +Other circumstances being the same, it may be affirmed that countries +are populous according to the quantity of human food which they +produce, and happy according to the liberality with which that food is +divided, or the quantity which a day's labour will purchase. Corn +countries are more populous than pasture countries, and rice countries +more populous than corn countries. The lands in England are not suited +to rice, but they would all bear potatoes; and Dr Adam Smith observes +that if potatoes were to become the favourite vegetable food of the +common people, and if the same quantity of land was employed in their +culture as is now employed in the culture of corn, the country would be +able to support a much greater population, and would consequently in a +very short time have it. +</P> + +<P> +The happiness of a country does not depend, absolutely, upon its +poverty or its riches, upon its youth or its age, upon its being thinly +or fully inhabited, but upon the rapidity with which it is increasing, +upon the degree in which the yearly increase of food approaches to the +yearly increase of an unrestricted population. This approximation is +always the nearest in new colonies, where the knowledge and industry of +an old state operate on the fertile unappropriated land of a new one. +In other cases, the youth or the age of a state is not in this respect +of very great importance. It is probable that the food of Great Britain +is divided in as great plenty to the inhabitants, at the present +period, as it was two thousand, three thousand, or four thousand years +ago. And there is reason to believe that the poor and thinly inhabited +tracts of the Scotch Highlands are as much distressed by an overcharged +population as the rich and populous province of Flanders. +</P> + +<P> +Were a country never to be overrun by a people more advanced in arts, +but left to its own natural progress in civilization; from the time +that its produce might be considered as an unit, to the time that it +might be considered as a million, during the lapse of many hundred +years, there would not be a single period when the mass of the people +could be said to be free from distress, either directly or indirectly, +for want of food. In every state in Europe, since we have first had +accounts of it, millions and millions of human existences have been +repressed from this simple cause; though perhaps in some of these +states an absolute famine has never been known. +</P> + +<P> +Famine seems to be the last, the most dreadful resource of nature. The +power of population is so superior to the power in the earth to produce +subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other +visit the human race. The vices of mankind are active and able +ministers of depopulation. They are the precursors in the great army of +destruction; and often finish the dreadful work themselves. But should +they fail in this war of extermination, sickly seasons, epidemics, +pestilence, and plague, advance in terrific array, and sweep off their +thousands and ten thousands. Should success be still incomplete, +gigantic inevitable famine stalks in the rear, and with one mighty blow +levels the population with the food of the world. +</P> + +<P> +Must it not then be acknowledged by an attentive examiner of the +histories of mankind, that in every age and in every state in which man +has existed, or does now exist. +</P> + +<P> +That the increase of population is necessarily limited by the means of +subsistence. +</P> + +<P> +That population does invariably increase when the means of subsistence +increase. And that the superior power of population it repressed, and +the actual population kept equal to the means of subsistence, by misery +and vice? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 8 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Mr Wallace—Error of supposing that the difficulty arising from +population is at a great distance—Mr Condorcet's sketch of the +progress of the human mind—Period when the oscillation, mentioned by +Mr Condorcet, ought to be applied to the human race. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +To a person who draws the preceding obvious inferences, from a view of +the past and present state of mankind, it cannot but be a matter of +astonishment that all the writers on the perfectibility of man and of +society who have noticed the argument of an overcharged population, +treat it always very slightly and invariably represent the difficulties +arising from it as at a great and almost immeasurable distance. Even Mr +Wallace, who thought the argument itself of so much weight as to +destroy his whole system of equality, did not seem to be aware that any +difficulty would occur from this cause till the whole earth had been +cultivated like a garden and was incapable of any further increase of +produce. Were this really the case, and were a beautiful system of +equality in other respects practicable, I cannot think that our ardour +in the pursuit of such a scheme ought to be damped by the contemplation +of so remote a difficulty. An event at such a distance might fairly be +left to providence, but the truth is that if the view of the argument +given in this Essay be just the difficulty, so far from being remote, +would be imminent and immediate. At every period during the progress of +cultivation, from the present moment to the time when the whole earth +was become like a garden, the distress for want of food would be +constantly pressing on all mankind, if they were equal. Though the +produce of the earth might be increasing every year, population would +be increasing much faster, and the redundancy must necessarily be +repressed by the periodical or constant action of misery or vice. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Condorcet's Esquisse d'un Tableau Historique des Progres de l'Esprit +Humain, was written, it is said, under the pressure of that cruel +proscription which terminated in his death. If he had no hopes of its +being seen during his life and of its interesting France in his favour, +it is a singular instance of the attachment of a man to principles, +which every day's experience was so fatally for himself contradicting. +To see the human mind in one of the most enlightened nations of the +world, and after a lapse of some thousand years, debased by such a +fermentation of disgusting passions, of fear, cruelty, malice, revenge, +ambition, madness, and folly as would have disgraced the most savage +nation in the most barbarous age must have been such a tremendous shock +to his ideas of the necessary and inevitable progress of the human mind +that nothing but the firmest conviction of the truth of his principles, +in spite of all appearances, could have withstood. +</P> + +<P> +This posthumous publication is only a sketch of a much larger work, +which he proposed should be executed. It necessarily, therefore, wants +that detail and application which can alone prove the truth of any +theory. A few observations will be sufficient to shew how completely +the theory is contradicted when it is applied to the real, and not to +an imaginary, state of things. +</P> + +<P> +In the last division of the work, which treats of the future progress +of man towards perfection, he says, that comparing, in the different +civilized nations of Europe, the actual population with the extent of +territory, and observing their cultivation, their industry, their +divisions of labour, and their means of subsistence, we shall see that +it would be impossible to preserve the same means of subsistence, and, +consequently, the same population, without a number of individuals who +have no other means of supplying their wants than their industry. +Having allowed the necessity of such a class of men, and adverting +afterwards to the precarious revenue of those families that would +depend so entirely on the life and health of their chief, he says, very +justly: 'There exists then, a necessary cause of inequality, of +dependence, and even of misery, which menaces, without ceasing, the +most numerous and active class of our societies.' (To save time and +long quotations, I shall here give the substance of some of Mr +Condorcet's sentiments, and hope I shall not misrepresent them. But I +refer the reader to the work itself, which will amuse, if it does not +convince him.) The difficulty is just and well stated, and I am afraid +that the mode by which he proposes it should be removed will be found +inefficacious. By the application of calculations to the probabilities +of life and the interest of money, he proposes that a fund should be +established which should assure to the old an assistance, produced, in +part, by their own former savings, and, in part, by the savings of +individuals who in making the same sacrifice die before they reap the +benefit of it. The same, or a similar fund, should give assistance to +women and children who lose their husbands, or fathers, and afford a +capital to those who were of an age to found a new family, sufficient +for the proper development of their industry. These establishments, he +observes, might be made in the name and under the protection of the +society. Going still further, he says that, by the just application of +calculations, means might be found of more completely preserving a +state of equality, by preventing credit from being the exclusive +privilege of great fortunes, and yet giving it a basis equally solid, +and by rendering the progress of industry, and the activity of +commerce, less dependent on great capitalists. +</P> + +<P> +Such establishments and calculations may appear very promising upon +paper, but when applied to real life they will be found to be +absolutely nugatory. Mr Condorcet allows that a class of people which +maintains itself entirely by industry is necessary to every state. Why +does he allow this? No other reason can well be assigned than that he +conceives that the labour necessary to procure subsistence for an +extended population will not be performed without the goad of +necessity. If by establishments of this kind of spur to industry be +removed, if the idle and the negligent are placed upon the same footing +with regard to their credit, and the future support of their wives and +families, as the active and industrious, can we expect to see men exert +that animated activity in bettering their condition which now forms the +master spring of public prosperity? If an inquisition were to be +established to examine the claims of each individual and to determine +whether he had or had not exerted himself to the utmost, and to grant +or refuse assistance accordingly, this would be little else than a +repetition upon a larger scale of the English poor laws and would be +completely destructive of the true principles of liberty and equality. +</P> + +<P> +But independent of this great objection to these establishments, and +supposing for a moment that they would give no check to productive +industry, by far the greatest difficulty remains yet behind. +</P> + +<P> +Were every man sure of a comfortable provision for his family, almost +every man would have one, and were the rising generation free from the +'killing frost' of misery, population must rapidly increase. Of this Mr +Condorcet seems to be fully aware himself, and after having described +further improvements, he says: +</P> + +<P> +But in this process of industry and happiness, each generation will be +called to more extended enjoyments, and in consequence, by the physical +constitution of the human frame, to an increase in the number of +individuals. Must not there arrive a period then, when these laws, +equally necessary, shall counteract each other? When the increase of +the number of men surpassing their means of subsistence, the necessary +result must be either a continual diminution of happiness and +population, a movement truly retrograde, or, at least, a kind of +oscillation between good and evil? In societies arrived at this term, +will not this oscillation be a constantly subsisting cause of +periodical misery? Will it not mark the limit when all further +amelioration will become impossible, and point out that term to the +perfectibility of the human race which it may reach in the course of +ages, but can never pass? +</P> + +<P> +He then adds, +</P> + +<P> +There is no person who does not see how very distant such a period is +from us, but shall we ever arrive at it? It is equally impossible to +pronounce for or against the future realization of an event which +cannot take place but at an era when the human race will have attained +improvements, of which we can at present scarcely form a conception. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Condorcet's picture of what may be expected to happen when the +number of men shall surpass the means of their subsistence is justly +drawn. The oscillation which he describes will certainly take place and +will without doubt be a constantly subsisting cause of periodical +misery. The only point in which I differ from Mr Condorcet with regard +to this picture is the period when it may be applied to the human race. +Mr Condorcet thinks that it cannot possibly be applicable but at an era +extremely distant. If the proportion between the natural increase of +population and food which I have given be in any degree near the truth, +it will appear, on the contrary, that the period when the number of men +surpass their means of subsistence has long since arrived, and that +this necessity oscillation, this constantly subsisting cause of +periodical misery, has existed ever since we have had any histories of +mankind, does exist at present, and will for ever continue to exist, +unless some decided change take place in the physical constitution of +our nature. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Condorcet, however, goes on to say that should the period, which he +conceives to be so distant, ever arrive, the human race, and the +advocates for the perfectibility of man, need not be alarmed at it. He +then proceeds to remove the difficulty in a manner which I profess not +to understand. Having observed, that the ridiculous prejudices of +superstition would by that time have ceased to throw over morals a +corrupt and degrading austerity, he alludes, either to a promiscuous +concubinage, which would prevent breeding, or to something else as +unnatural. To remove the difficulty in this way will, surely, in the +opinion of most men, be to destroy that virtue and purity of manners, +which the advocates of equality, and of the perfectibility of man, +profess to be the end and object of their views. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 9 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Mr Condorcet's conjecture concerning the organic perfectibility of man, +and the indefinite prolongation of human life—Fallacy of the argument, +which infers an unlimited progress from a partial improvement, the +limit of which cannot be ascertained, illustrated in the breeding of +animals, and the cultivation of plants. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The last question which Mr Condorcet proposes for examination is the +organic perfectibility of man. He observes that if the proofs which +have been already given and which, in their development will receive +greater force in the work itself, are sufficient to establish the +indefinite perfectibility of man upon the supposition of the same +natural faculties and the same organization which he has at present, +what will be the certainty, what the extent of our hope, if this +organization, these natural faculties themselves, are susceptible of +amelioration? +</P> + +<P> +From the improvement of medicine, from the use of more wholesome food +and habitations, from a manner of living which will improve the +strength of the body by exercise without impairing it by excess, from +the destruction of the two great causes of the degradation of man, +misery, and too great riches, from the gradual removal of transmissible +and contagious disorders by the improvement of physical knowledge, +rendered more efficacious by the progress of reason and of social +order, he infers that though man will not absolutely become immortal, +yet that the duration between his birth and natural death will increase +without ceasing, will have no assignable term, and may properly be +expressed by the word 'indefinite'. He then defines this word to mean +either a constant approach to an unlimited extent, without ever +reaching it, or an increase. In the immensity of ages to an extent +greater than any assignable quantity. +</P> + +<P> +But surely the application of this term in either of these senses to +the duration of human life is in the highest degree unphilosophical and +totally unwarranted by any appearances in the laws of nature. +Variations from different causes are essentially distinct from a +regular and unretrograde increase. The average duration of human life +will to a certain degree vary from healthy or unhealthy climates, from +wholesome or unwholesome food, from virtuous or vicious manners, and +other causes, but it may be fairly doubted whether there is really the +smallest perceptible advance in the natural duration of human life +since first we have had any authentic history of man. The prejudices of +all ages have indeed been directly contrary to this supposition, and +though I would not lay much stress upon these prejudices, they will in +some measure tend to prove that there has been no marked advance in an +opposite direction. +</P> + +<P> +It may perhaps be said that the world is yet so young, so completely in +its infancy, that it ought not to be expected that any difference +should appear so soon. +</P> + +<P> +If this be the case, there is at once an end of all human science. The +whole train of reasonings from effects to causes will be destroyed. We +may shut our eyes to the book of nature, as it will no longer be of any +use to read it. The wildest and most improbable conjectures may be +advanced with as much certainty as the most just and sublime theories, +founded on careful and reiterated experiments. We may return again to +the old mode of philosophising and make facts bend to systems, instead +of establishing systems upon facts. The grand and consistent theory of +Newton will be placed upon the same footing as the wild and eccentric +hypotheses of Descartes. In short, if the laws of nature are thus +fickle and inconstant, if it can be affirmed and be believed that they +will change, when for ages and ages they have appeared immutable, the +human mind will no longer have any incitements to inquiry, but must +remain fixed in inactive torpor, or amuse itself only in bewildering +dreams and extravagant fancies. +</P> + +<P> +The constancy of the laws of nature and of effects and causes is the +foundation of all human knowledge, though far be it from me to say that +the same power which framed and executes the laws of nature may not +change them all 'in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.' Such a +change may undoubtedly happen. All that I mean to say is that it is +impossible to infer it from reasoning. If without any previous +observable symptoms or indications of a change, we can infer that a +change will take place, we may as well make any assertion whatever and +think it as unreasonable to be contradicted in affirming that the moon +will come in contact with the earth tomorrow, as in saying that the sun +will rise at its usual time. +</P> + +<P> +With regard to the duration of human life, there does not appear to +have existed from the earliest ages of the world to the present moment +the smallest permanent symptom or indication of increasing +prolongation. The observable effects of climate, habit, diet, and other +causes, on length of life have furnished the pretext for asserting its +indefinite extension; and the sandy foundation on which the argument +rests is that because the limit of human life is undefined; because you +cannot mark its precise term, and say so far exactly shall it go and no +further; that therefore its extent may increase for ever, and be +properly termed indefinite or unlimited. But the fallacy and absurdity +of this argument will sufficiently appear from a slight examination of +what Mr Condorcet calls the organic perfectibility, or degeneration, of +the race of plants and animals, which he says may be regarded as one of +the general laws of nature. +</P> + +<P> +I am told that it is a maxim among the improvers of cattle that you may +breed to any degree of nicety you please, and they found this maxim +upon another, which is that some of the offspring will possess the +desirable qualities of the parents in a greater degree. In the famous +Leicestershire breed of sheep, the object is to procure them with small +heads and small legs. Proceeding upon these breeding maxims, it is +evident that we might go on till the heads and legs were evanescent +quantities, but this is so palpable an absurdity that we may be quite +sure that the premises are not just and that there really is a limit, +though we cannot see it or say exactly where it is. In this case, the +point of the greatest degree of improvement, or the smallest size of +the head and legs, may be said to be undefined, but this is very +different from unlimited, or from indefinite, in Mr Condorcet's +acceptation of the term. Though I may not be able in the present +instance to mark the limit at which further improvement will stop, I +can very easily mention a point at which it will not arrive. I should +not scruple to assert that were the breeding to continue for ever, the +head and legs of these sheep would never be so small as the head and +legs of a rat. +</P> + +<P> +It cannot be true, therefore, that among animals, some of the offspring +will possess the desirable qualities of the parents in a greater +degree, or that animals are indefinitely perfectible. +</P> + +<P> +The progress of a wild plant to a beautiful garden flower is perhaps +more marked and striking than anything that takes place among animals, +yet even here it would be the height of absurdity to assert that the +progress was unlimited or indefinite. +</P> + +<P> +One of the most obvious features of the improvement is the increase of +size. The flower has grown gradually larger by cultivation. If the +progress were really unlimited it might be increased ad infinitum, but +this is so gross an absurdity that we may be quite sure that among +plants as well as among animals there is a limit to improvement, though +we do not exactly know where it is. It is probable that the gardeners +who contend for flower prizes have often applied stronger dressing +without success. At the same time it would be highly presumptuous in +any man to say that he had seen the finest carnation or anemone that +could ever be made to grow. He might however assert without the +smallest chance of being contradicted by a future fact, that no +carnation or anemone could ever by cultivation be increased to the size +of a large cabbage; and yet there are assignable quantities much +greater than a cabbage. No man can say that he has seen the largest ear +of wheat, or the largest oak that could ever grow; but he might easily, +and with perfect certainty, name a point of magnitude at which they +would not arrive. In all these cases therefore, a careful distinction +should be made, between an unlimited progress, and a progress where the +limit is merely undefined. +</P> + +<P> +It will be said, perhaps, that the reason why plants and animals cannot +increase indefinitely in size is, that they would fall by their own +weight. I answer, how do we know this but from experience?—from +experience of the degree of strength with which these bodies are +formed. I know that a carnation, long before it reached the size of a +cabbage, would not be supported by its stalk, but I only know this from +my experience of the weakness and want of tenacity in the materials of +a carnation stalk. There are many substances in nature of the same size +that would support as large a head as a cabbage. +</P> + +<P> +The reasons of the mortality of plants are at present perfectly unknown +to us. No man can say why such a plant is annual, another biennial, and +another endures for ages. The whole affair in all these cases, in +plants, animals, and in the human race, is an affair of experience, and +I only conclude that man is mortal because the invariable experience of +all ages has proved the mortality of those materials of which his +visible body is made: +</P> + +<P> +What can we reason, but from what we know? +</P> + +<P> +Sound philosophy will not authorize me to alter this opinion of the +mortality of man on earth, till it can be clearly proved that the human +race has made, and is making, a decided progress towards an illimitable +extent of life. And the chief reason why I adduced the two particular +instances from animals and plants was to expose and illustrate, if I +could, the fallacy of that argument which infers an unlimited progress, +merely because some partial improvement has taken place, and that the +limit of this improvement cannot be precisely ascertained. +</P> + +<P> +The capacity of improvement in plants and animals, to a certain degree, +no person can possibly doubt. A clear and decided progress has already +been made, and yet, I think, it appears that it would be highly absurd +to say that this progress has no limits. In human life, though there +are great variations from different causes, it may be doubted whether, +since the world began, any organic improvement whatever in the human +frame can be clearly ascertained. The foundations, therefore, on which +the arguments for the organic perfectibility of man rest, are unusually +weak, and can only be considered as mere conjectures. It does not, +however, by any means seem impossible that by an attention to breed, a +certain degree of improvement, similar to that among animals, might +take place among men. Whether intellect could be communicated may be a +matter of doubt: but size, strength, beauty, complexion, and perhaps +even longevity are in a degree transmissible. The error does not seem +to lie in supposing a small degree of improvement possible, but in not +discriminating between a small improvement, the limit of which is +undefined, and an improvement really unlimited. As the human race, +however, could not be improved in this way, without condemning all the +bad specimens to celibacy, it is not probable that an attention to +breed should ever become general; indeed, I know of no well-directed +attempts of this kind, except in the ancient family of the +Bickerstaffs, who are said to have been very successful in whitening +the skins and increasing the height of their race by prudent marriages, +particularly by that very judicious cross with Maud, the milk-maid, by +which some capital defects in the constitutions of the family were +corrected. +</P> + +<P> +It will not be necessary, I think, in order more completely to shew the +improbability of any approach in man towards immortality on earth, to +urge the very great additional weight that an increase in the duration +of life would give to the argument of population. +</P> + +<P> +Many, I doubt not, will think that the attempting gravely to controvert +so absurd a paradox as the immortality of man on earth, or indeed, even +the perfectibility of man and society, is a waste of time and words, +and that such unfounded conjectures are best answered by neglect. I +profess, however, to be of a different opinion. When paradoxes of this +kind are advanced by ingenious and able men, neglect has no tendency to +convince them of their mistakes. Priding themselves on what they +conceive to be a mark of the reach and size of their own +understandings, of the extent and comprehensiveness of their views, +they will look upon this neglect merely as an indication of poverty, +and narrowness, in the mental exertions of their contemporaries, and +only think that the world is not yet prepared to receive their sublime +truths. +</P> + +<P> +On the contrary, a candid investigation of these subjects, accompanied +with a perfect readiness to adopt any theory warranted by sound +philosophy, may have a tendency to convince them that in forming +improbable and unfounded hypotheses, so far from enlarging the bounds +of human science, they are contracting it, so far from promoting the +improvement of the human mind, they are obstructing it; they are +throwing us back again almost into the infancy of knowledge and +weakening the foundations of that mode of philosophising, under the +auspices of which science has of late made such rapid advances. The +present rage for wide and unrestrained speculation seems to be a kind +of mental intoxication, arising, perhaps, from the great and unexpected +discoveries which have been made of late years, in various branches of +science. To men elate and giddy with such successes, every thing +appeared to be within the grasp of human powers; and, under this +illusion, they confounded subjects where no real progress could be +proved with those where the progress had been marked, certain, and +acknowledged. Could they be persuaded to sober themselves with a little +severe and chastised thinking, they would see, that the cause of truth, +and of sound philosophy, cannot but suffer by substituting wild flights +and unsupported assertions for patient investigation, and well +authenticated proofs. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Condorcet's book may be considered not only as a sketch of the +opinions of a celebrated individual, but of many of the literary men in +France at the beginning of the Revolution. As such, though merely a +sketch, it seems worthy of attention. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 10 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Mr Godwin's system of equality—Error of attributing all the vices of +mankind to human institutions—Mr Godwin's first answer to the +difficulty arising from population totally insufficient—Mr Godwin's +beautiful system of equality supposed to be realized—Its utter +destruction simply from the principle of population in so short a time +as thirty years. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In reading Mr Godwin's ingenious and able work on political justice, it +is impossible not to be struck with the spirit and energy of his style, +the force and precision of some of his reasonings, the ardent tone of +his thoughts, and particularly with that impressive earnestness of +manner which gives an air of truth to the whole. At the same time, it +must be confessed that he has not proceeded in his inquiries with the +caution that sound philosophy seems to require. His conclusions are +often unwarranted by his premises. He fails sometimes in removing the +objections which he himself brings forward. He relies too much on +general and abstract propositions which will not admit of application. +And his conjectures certainly far outstrip the modesty of nature. +</P> + +<P> +The system of equality which Mr Godwin proposes is, without doubt, by +far the most beautiful and engaging of any that has yet appeared. An +amelioration of society to be produced merely by reason and conviction +wears much more the promise of permanence than any change effected and +maintained by force. The unlimited exercise of private judgement is a +doctrine inexpressibly grand and captivating and has a vast superiority +over those systems where every individual is in a manner the slave of +the public. The substitution of benevolence as the master-spring and +moving principle of society, instead of self-love, is a consummation +devoutly to be wished. In short, it is impossible to contemplate the +whole of this fair structure without emotions of delight and +admiration, accompanied with ardent longing for the period of its +accomplishment. But, alas! that moment can never arrive. The whole is +little better than a dream, a beautiful phantom of the imagination. +These 'gorgeous palaces' of happiness and immortality, these 'solemn +temples' of truth and virtue will dissolve, 'like the baseless fabric +of a vision', when we awaken to real life and contemplate the true and +genuine situation of man on earth. Mr Godwin, at the conclusion of the +third chapter of his eighth book, speaking of population, says: +</P> + +<P> +There is a principle in human society, by which population is +perpetually kept down to the level of the means of subsistence. Thus +among the wandering tribes of America and Asia, we never find through +the lapse of ages that population has so increased as to render +necessary the cultivation of the earth. +</P> + +<P> +This principle, which Mr Godwin thus mentions as some mysterious and +occult cause and which he does not attempt to investigate, will be +found to be the grinding law of necessity, misery, and the fear of +misery. +</P> + +<P> +The great error under which Mr Godwin labours throughout his whole work +is the attributing almost all the vices and misery that are seen in +civil society to human institutions. Political regulations and the +established administration of property are with him the fruitful +sources of all evil, the hotbeds of all the crimes that degrade +mankind. Were this really a true state of the case, it would not seem a +hopeless task to remove evil completely from the world, and reason +seems to be the proper and adequate instrument for effecting so great a +purpose. But the truth is, that though human institutions appear to be +the obvious and obtrusive causes of much mischief to mankind, yet in +reality they are light and superficial, they are mere feathers that +float on the surface, in comparison with those deeper seated causes of +impurity that corrupt the springs and render turbid the whole stream of +human life. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Godwin, in his chapter on the benefits attendant on a system of +equality, says: +</P> + +<P> +The spirit of oppression, the spirit of servility, and the spirit of +fraud, these are the immediate growth of the established administration +of property. They are alike hostile to intellectual improvement. The +other vices of envy, malice, and revenge are their inseparable +companions. In a state of society where men lived in the midst of +plenty and where all shared alike the bounties of nature, these +sentiments would inevitably expire. The narrow principle of selfishness +would vanish. No man being obliged to guard his little store or provide +with anxiety and pain for his restless wants, each would lose his +individual existence in the thought of the general good. No man would +be an enemy to his neighbour, for they would have no subject of +contention, and, of consequence, philanthropy would resume the empire +which reason assigns her. Mind would be delivered from her perpetual +anxiety about corporal support, and free to expatiate in the field of +thought, which is congenial to her. Each would assist the inquiries of +all. +</P> + +<P> +This would, indeed, be a happy state. But that it is merely an +imaginary picture, with scarcely a feature near the truth, the reader, +I am afraid, is already too well convinced. +</P> + +<P> +Man cannot live in the midst of plenty. All cannot share alike the +bounties of nature. Were there no established administration of +property, every man would be obliged to guard with force his little +store. Selfishness would be triumphant. The subjects of contention +would be perpetual. Every individual mind would be under a constant +anxiety about corporal support, and not a single intellect would be +left free to expatiate in the field of thought. +</P> + +<P> +How little Mr Godwin has turned the attention of his penetrating mind +to the real state of man on earth will sufficiently appear from the +manner in which he endeavours to remove the difficulty of an +overcharged population. He says: +</P> + +<P> +The obvious answer to this objection, is, that to reason thus is to +foresee difficulties at a great distance. Three fourths of the +habitable globe is now uncultivated. The parts already cultivated are +capable of immeasurable improvement. Myriads of centuries of still +increasing population may pass away, and the earth be still found +sufficient for the subsistence of its inhabitants. +</P> + +<P> +I have already pointed out the error of supposing that no distress and +difficulty would arise from an overcharged population before the earth +absolutely refused to produce any more. But let us imagine for a moment +Mr Godwin's beautiful system of equality realized in its utmost purity, +and see how soon this difficulty might be expected to press under so +perfect a form of society. A theory that will not admit of application +cannot possibly be just. +</P> + +<P> +Let us suppose all the causes of misery and vice in this island +removed. War and contention cease. Unwholesome trades and manufactories +do not exist. Crowds no longer collect together in great and pestilent +cities for purposes of court intrigue, of commerce, and vicious +gratifications. Simple, healthy, and rational amusements take place of +drinking, gaming, and debauchery. There are no towns sufficiently large +to have any prejudicial effects on the human constitution. The greater +part of the happy inhabitants of this terrestrial paradise live in +hamlets and farmhouses scattered over the face of the country. Every +house is clean, airy, sufficiently roomy, and in a healthy situation. +All men are equal. The labours of luxury are at end. And the necessary +labours of agriculture are shared amicably among all. The number of +persons, and the produce of the island, we suppose to be the same as at +present. The spirit of benevolence, guided by impartial justice, will +divide this produce among all the members of the society according to +their wants. Though it would be impossible that they should all have +animal food every day, yet vegetable food, with meat occasionally, +would satisfy the desires of a frugal people and would be sufficient to +preserve them in health, strength, and spirits. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Godwin considers marriage as a fraud and a monopoly. Let us suppose +the commerce of the sexes established upon principles of the most +perfect freedom. Mr Godwin does not think himself that this freedom +would lead to a promiscuous intercourse, and in this I perfectly agree +with him. The love of variety is a vicious, corrupt, and unnatural +taste and could not prevail in any great degree in a simple and +virtuous state of society. Each man would probably select himself a +partner, to whom he would adhere as long as that adherence continued to +be the choice of both parties. It would be of little consequence, +according to Mr Godwin, how many children a woman had or to whom they +belonged. Provisions and assistance would spontaneously flow from the +quarter in which they abounded, to the quarter that was deficient. (See +Bk VIII, ch. 8; in the third edition, Vol II, p. 512) And every man +would be ready to furnish instruction to the rising generation +according to his capacity. +</P> + +<P> +I cannot conceive a form of society so favourable upon the whole to +population. The irremediableness of marriage, as it is at present +constituted, undoubtedly deters many from entering into that state. An +unshackled intercourse on the contrary would be a most powerful +incitement to early attachments, and as we are supposing no anxiety +about the future support of children to exist, I do not conceive that +there would be one woman in a hundred, of twenty-three, without a +family. +</P> + +<P> +With these extraordinary encouragements to population, and every cause +of depopulation, as we have supposed, removed, the numbers would +necessarily increase faster than in any society that has ever yet been +known. I have mentioned, on the authority of a pamphlet published by a +Dr Styles and referred to by Dr Price, that the inhabitants of the back +settlements of America doubled their numbers in fifteen years. England +is certainly a more healthy country than the back settlements of +America, and as we have supposed every house in the island to be airy +and wholesome, and the encouragements to have a family greater even +than with the back settlers, no probable reason can be assigned why the +population should not double itself in less, if possible, than fifteen +years. But to be quite sure that we do not go beyond the truth, we will +only suppose the period of doubling to be twenty-five years, a ratio of +increase which is well known to have taken place throughout all the +Northern States of America. +</P> + +<P> +There can be little doubt that the equalization of property which we +have supposed, added to the circumstance of the labour of the whole +community being directed chiefly to agriculture, would tend greatly to +augment the produce of the country. But to answer the demands of a +population increasing so rapidly, Mr Godwin's calculation of half an +hour a day for each man would certainly not be sufficient. It is +probable that the half of every man's time must be employed for this +purpose. Yet with such, or much greater exertions, a person who is +acquainted with the nature of the soil in this country, and who +reflects on the fertility of the lands already in cultivation, and the +barrenness of those that are not cultivated, will be very much disposed +to doubt whether the whole average produce could possibly be doubled in +twenty-five years from the present period. The only chance of success +would be the ploughing up all the grazing countries and putting an end +almost entirely to the use of animal food. Yet a part of this scheme +might defeat itself. The soil of England will not produce much without +dressing, and cattle seem to be necessary to make that species of +manure which best suits the land. In China it is said that the soil in +some of the provinces is so fertile as to produce two crops of rice in +the year without dressing. None of the lands in England will answer to +this description. +</P> + +<P> +Difficult, however, as it might be to double the average produce of the +island in twenty-five years, let us suppose it effected. At the +expiration of the first period therefore, the food, though almost +entirely vegetable, would be sufficient to support in health the +doubled population of fourteen millions. +</P> + +<P> +During the next period of doubling, where will the food be found to +satisfy the importunate demands of the increasing numbers? Where is the +fresh land to turn up? Where is the dressing necessary to improve that +which is already in cultivation? There is no person with the smallest +knowledge of land but would say that it was impossible that the average +produce of the country could be increased during the second twenty-five +years by a quantity equal to what it at present yields. Yet we will +suppose this increase, however improbable, to take place. The exuberant +strength of the argument allows of almost any concession. Even with +this concession, however, there would be seven millions at the +expiration of the second term unprovided for. A quantity of food equal +to the frugal support of twenty-one millions, would be to be divided +among twenty-eight millions. +</P> + +<P> +Alas! what becomes of the picture where men lived in the midst of +plenty, where no man was obliged to provide with anxiety and pain for +his restless wants, where the narrow principle of selfishness did not +exist, where Mind was delivered from her perpetual anxiety about +corporal support and free to expatiate in the field of thought which is +congenial to her. This beautiful fabric of imagination vanishes at the +severe touch of truth. The spirit of benevolence, cherished and +invigorated by plenty, is repressed by the chilling breath of want. The +hateful passions that had vanished reappear. The mighty law of +self-preservation expels all the softer and more exalted emotions of +the soul. The temptations to evil are too strong for human nature to +resist. The corn is plucked before it is ripe, or secreted in unfair +proportions, and the whole black train of vices that belong to +falsehood are immediately generated. Provisions no longer flow in for +the support of the mother with a large family. The children are sickly +from insufficient food. The rosy flush of health gives place to the +pallid cheek and hollow eye of misery. Benevolence, yet lingering in a +few bosoms, makes some faint expiring struggles, till at length +self-love resumes his wonted empire and lords it triumphant over the +world. +</P> + +<P> +No human institutions here existed, to the perverseness of which Mr +Godwin ascribes the original sin of the worst men. (Bk VIII, ch. 3; in +the third edition, Vol. II, p. 462) No opposition had been produced by +them between public and private good. No monopoly had been created of +those advantages which reason directs to be left in common. No man had +been goaded to the breach of order by unjust laws. Benevolence had +established her reign in all hearts: and yet in so short a period as +within fifty years, violence, oppression, falsehood, misery, every +hateful vice, and every form of distress, which degrade and sadden the +present state of society, seem to have been generated by the most +imperious circumstances, by laws inherent in the nature of man, and +absolutely independent of it human regulations. +</P> + +<P> +If we are not yet too well convinced of the reality of this melancholy +picture, let us but look for a moment into the next period of +twenty-five years; and we shall see twenty-eight millions of human +beings without the means of support; and before the conclusion of the +first century, the population would be one hundred and twelve millions, +and the food only sufficient for thirty-five millions, leaving +seventy-seven millions unprovided for. In these ages want would be +indeed triumphant, and rapine and murder must reign at large: and yet +all this time we are supposing the produce of the earth absolutely +unlimited, and the yearly increase greater than the boldest speculator +can imagine. +</P> + +<P> +This is undoubtedly a very different view of the difficulty arising +from population from that which Mr Godwin gives, when he says, 'Myriads +of centuries of still increasing population may pass away, and the +earth be still found sufficient for the subsistence of its inhabitants.' +</P> + +<P> +I am sufficiently aware that the redundant twenty-eight millions, or +seventy-seven millions, that I have mentioned, could never have +existed. It is a perfectly just observation of Mr Godwin, that, 'There +is a principle in human society, by which population is perpetually +kept down to the level of the means of subsistence.' The sole question +is, what is this principle? is it some obscure and occult cause? Is it +some mysterious interference of heaven which, at a certain period, +strikes the men with impotence, and the women with barrenness? Or is it +a cause, open to our researches, within our view, a cause, which has +constantly been observed to operate, though with varied force, in every +state in which man has been placed? Is it not a degree of misery, the +necessary and inevitable result of the laws of nature, which human +institutions, so far from aggravating, have tended considerably to +mitigate, though they never can remove? +</P> + +<P> +It may be curious to observe, in the case that we have been supposing, +how some of the laws which at present govern civilized society, would +be successively dictated by the most imperious necessity. As man, +according to Mr Godwin, is the creature of the impressions to which he +is subject, the goadings of want could not continue long, before some +violations of public or private stock would necessarily take place. As +these violations increased in number and extent, the more active and +comprehensive intellects of the society would soon perceive, that while +population was fast increasing, the yearly produce of the country would +shortly begin to diminish. The urgency of the case would suggest the +necessity of some mediate measures to be taken for the general safety. +Some kind of convention would then be called, and the dangerous +situation of the country stated in the strongest terms. It would be +observed, that while they lived in the midst of plenty, it was of +little consequence who laboured the least, or who possessed the least, +as every man was perfectly willing and ready to supply the wants of his +neighbour. But that the question was no longer whether one man should +give to another that which he did not use himself, but whether he +should give to his neighbour the food which was absolutely necessary to +his own existence. It would be represented, that the number of those +that were in want very greatly exceeded the number and means of those +who should supply them; that these pressing wants, which from the state +of the produce of the country could not all be gratified, had +occasioned some flagrant violations of justice; that these violations +had already checked the increase of food, and would, if they were not +by some means or other prevented, throw the whole community in +confusion; that imperious necessity seemed to dictate that a yearly +increase of produce should, if possible, be obtained at all events; +that in order to effect this first, great, and indispensable purpose, +it would be advisable to make a more complete division of land, and to +secure every man's stock against violation by the most powerful +sanctions, even by death itself. +</P> + +<P> +It might be urged perhaps by some objectors that, as the fertility of +the land increased, and various accidents occurred, the share of some +men might be much more than sufficient for their support, and that when +the reign of self-love was once established, they would not distribute +their surplus produce without some compensation in return. It would be +observed, in answer, that this was an inconvenience greatly to be +lamented; but that it was an evil which bore no comparison to the black +train of distresses that would inevitably be occasioned by the +insecurity of property; that the quantity of food which one man could +consume was necessarily limited by the narrow capacity of the human +stomach; that it was not certainly probable that he should throw away +the rest; but that even if he exchanged his surplus food for the labour +of others, and made them in some degree dependent on him, this would +still be better than that these others should absolutely starve. +</P> + +<P> +It seems highly probable, therefore, that an administration of +property, not very different from that which prevails in civilized +states at present, would be established, as the best, though +inadequate, remedy for the evils which were pressing on the society. +</P> + +<P> +The next subject that would come under discussion, intimately connected +with the preceding, is the commerce between the sexes. It would be +urged by those who had turned their attention to the true cause of the +difficulties under which the community laboured, that while every man +felt secure that all his children would be well provided for by general +benevolence, the powers of the earth would be absolutely inadequate to +produce food for the population which would inevitably ensue; that even +if the whole attention and labour of the society were directed to this +sole point, and if, by the most perfect security of property, and every +other encouragement that could be thought of, the greatest possible +increase of produce were yearly obtained; yet still, that the increase +of food would by no means keep pace with the much more rapid increase +of population; that some check to population therefore was imperiously +called for; that the most natural and obvious check seemed to be to +make every man provide for his own children; that this would operate in +some respect as a measure and guide in the increase of population, as +it might be expected that no man would bring beings into the world, for +whom he could not find the means of support; that where this +notwithstanding was the case, it seemed necessary, for the example of +others, that the disgrace and inconvenience attending such a conduct +should fall upon the individual, who had thus inconsiderately plunged +himself and innocent children in misery and want. +</P> + +<P> +The institution of marriage, or at least, of some express or implied +obligation on every man to support his own children, seems to be the +natural result of these reasonings in a community under the +difficulties that we have supposed. +</P> + +<P> +The view of these difficulties presents us with a very natural origin +of the superior disgrace which attends a breach of chastity in the +woman than in the man. It could not be expected that women should have +resources sufficient to support their own children. When therefore a +woman was connected with a man, who had entered into no compact to +maintain her children, and, aware of the inconveniences that he might +bring upon himself, had deserted her, these children must necessarily +fall for support upon the society, or starve. And to prevent the +frequent recurrence of such an inconvenience, as it would be highly +unjust to punish so natural a fault by personal restraint or +infliction, the men might agree to punish it with disgrace. The offence +is besides more obvious and conspicuous in the woman, and less liable +to any mistake. The father of a child may not always be known, but the +same uncertainty cannot easily exist with regard to the mother. Where +the evidence of the offence was most complete, and the inconvenience to +the society at the same time the greatest, there it was agreed that the +large share of blame should fall. The obligation on every man to +maintain his children, the society would enforce, if there were +occasion; and the greater degree of inconvenience or labour, to which a +family would necessarily subject him, added to some portion of disgrace +which every human being must incur who leads another into unhappiness, +might be considered as a sufficient punishment for the man. +</P> + +<P> +That a woman should at present be almost driven from society for an +offence which men commit nearly with impunity, seems to be undoubtedly +a breach of natural justice. But the origin of the custom, as the most +obvious and effectual method of preventing the frequent recurrence of a +serious inconvenience to a community, appears to be natural, though not +perhaps perfectly justifiable. This origin, however, is now lost in the +new train of ideas which the custom has since generated. What at first +might be dictated by state necessity is now supported by female +delicacy, and operates with the greatest force on that part of society +where, if the original intention of the custom were preserved, there is +the least real occasion for it. +</P> + +<P> +When these two fundamental laws of society, the security of property, +and the institution of marriage, were once established, inequality of +conditions must necessarily follow. Those who were born after the +division of property would come into a world already possessed. If +their parents, from having too large a family, could not give them +sufficient for their support, what are they to do in a world where +everything is appropriated? We have seen the fatal effects that would +result to a society, if every man had a valid claim to an equal share +of the produce of the earth. The members of a family which was grown +too large for the original division of land appropriated to it could +not then demand a part of the surplus produce of others, as a debt of +justice. It has appeared, that from the inevitable laws of our nature +some human beings must suffer from want. These are the unhappy persons +who, in the great lottery of life, have drawn a blank. The number of +these claimants would soon exceed the ability of the surplus produce to +supply. Moral merit is a very difficult distinguishing criterion, +except in extreme cases. The owners of surplus produce would in general +seek some more obvious mark of distinction. And it seems both natural +and just that, except upon particular occasions, their choice should +fall upon those who were able, and professed themselves willing, to +exert their strength in procuring a further surplus produce; and thus +at once benefiting the community, and enabling these proprietors to +afford assistance to greater numbers. All who were in want of food +would be urged by imperious necessity to offer their labour in exchange +for this article so absolutely essential to existence. The fund +appropriated to the maintenance of labour would be the aggregate +quantity of food possessed by the owners of land beyond their own +consumption. When the demands upon this fund were great and numerous, +it would naturally be divided in very small shares. Labour would be ill +paid. Men would offer to work for a bare subsistence, and the rearing +of families would be checked by sickness and misery. On the contrary, +when this fund was increasing fast, when it was great in proportion to +the number of claimants, it would be divided in much larger shares. No +man would exchange his labour without receiving an ample quantity of +food in return. Labourers would live in ease and comfort, and would +consequently be able to rear a numerous and vigorous offspring. +</P> + +<P> +On the state of this fund, the happiness, or the degree of misery, +prevailing among the lower classes of people in every known state at +present chiefly depends. And on this happiness, or degree of misery, +depends the increase, stationariness, or decrease of population. +</P> + +<P> +And thus it appears, that a society constituted according to the most +beautiful form that imagination can conceive, with benevolence for its +moving principle, instead of self-love, and with every evil disposition +in all its members corrected by reason and not force, would, from the +inevitable laws of nature, and not from any original depravity of man, +in a very short period degenerate into a society constructed upon a +plan not essentially different from that which prevails in every known +state at present; I mean, a society divided into a class of +proprietors, and a class of labourers, and with self-love the +main-spring of the great machine. +</P> + +<P> +In the supposition I have made, I have undoubtedly taken the increase +of population smaller, and the increase of produce greater, than they +really would be. No reason can be assigned why, under the circumstances +I have supposed, population should not increase faster than in any +known instance. If then we were to take the period of doubling at +fifteen years, instead of twenty-five years, and reflect upon the +labour necessary to double the produce in so short a time, even if we +allow it possible, we may venture to pronounce with certainty that if +Mr Godwin's system of society was established in its utmost perfection, +instead of myriads of centuries, not thirty years could elapse before +its utter destruction from the simple principle of population. +</P> + +<P> +I have taken no notice of emigration for obvious reasons. If such +societies were instituted in other parts of Europe, these countries +would be under the same difficulties with regard to population, and +could admit no fresh members into their bosoms. If this beautiful +society were confined to this island, it must have degenerated +strangely from its original purity, and administer but a very small +portion of the happiness it proposed; in short, its essential principle +must be completely destroyed, before any of its members would +voluntarily consent to leave it, and live under such governments as at +present exist in Europe, or submit to the extreme hardships of first +settlers in new regions. We well know, from repeated experience, how +much misery and hardship men will undergo in their own country, before +they can determine to desert it; and how often the most tempting +proposals of embarking for new settlements have been rejected by people +who appeared to be almost starving. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 11 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Mr Godwin's conjecture concerning the future extinction of the passion +between the sexes—Little apparent grounds for such a +conjecture—Passion of love not inconsistent either with reason or +virtue. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +We have supported Mr Godwin's system of society once completely +established. But it is supposing an impossibility. The same causes in +nature which would destroy it so rapidly, were it once established, +would prevent the possibility of its establishment. And upon what +grounds we can presume a change in these natural causes, I am utterly +at a loss to conjecture. No move towards the extinction of the passion +between the sexes has taken place in the five or six thousand years +that the world has existed. Men in the decline of life have in all ages +declaimed against a passion which they have ceased to feel, but with as +little reason as success. Those who from coldness of constitutional +temperament have never felt what love is, will surely be allowed to be +very incompetent judges with regard to the power of this passion to +contribute to the sum of pleasurable sensations in life. Those who have +spent their youth in criminal excesses and have prepared for +themselves, as the comforts of their age, corporeal debility and mental +remorse may well inveigh against such pleasures as vain and futile, and +unproductive of lasting satisfaction. But the pleasures of pure love +will bear the contemplation of the most improved reason, and the most +exalted virtue. Perhaps there is scarcely a man who has once +experienced the genuine delight of virtuous love, however great his +intellectual pleasure may have been, that does not look back to the +period as the sunny spot in his whole life, where his imagination loves +to bask, which he recollects and contemplates with the fondest regrets, +and which he would most wish to live over again. The superiority of +intellectual to sensual pleasures consists rather in their filling up +more time, in their having a larger range, and in their being less +liable to satiety, than in their being more real and essential. +</P> + +<P> +Intemperance in every enjoyment defeats its own purpose. A walk in the +finest day through the most beautiful country, if pursued too far, ends +in pain and fatigue. The most wholesome and invigorating food, eaten +with an unrestrained appetite, produces weakness instead of strength. +Even intellectual pleasures, though certainly less liable than others +to satiety, pursued with too little intermission, debilitate the body, +and impair the vigour of the mind. To argue against the reality of +these pleasures from their abuse seems to be hardly just. Morality, +according to Mr Godwin, is a calculation of consequences, or, as +Archdeacon Paley very justly expresses it, the will of God, as +collected from general expediency. According to either of these +definitions, a sensual pleasure not attended with the probability of +unhappy consequences does not offend against the laws of morality, and +if it be pursued with such a degree of temperance as to leave the most +ample room for intellectual attainments, it must undoubtedly add to the +sum of pleasurable sensations in life. Virtuous love, exalted by +friendship, seems to be that sort of mixture of sensual and +intellectual enjoyment particularly suited to the nature of man, and +most powerfully calculated to awaken the sympathies of the soul, and +produce the most exquisite gratifications. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Godwin says, in order to shew the evident inferiority of the +pleasures of sense, 'Strip the commerce of the sexes of all its +attendant circumstances, and it would be generally despised' (Bk. I, +ch. 5; in the third edition, Vol. I, pp. 71-72). He might as well say +to a man who admired trees: strip them of their spreading branches and +lovely foliage, and what beauty can you see in a bare pole? But it was +the tree with the branches and foliage, and not without them, that +excited admiration. One feature of an object may be as distinct, and +excite as different emotions, from the aggregate as any two things the +most remote, as a beautiful woman, and a map of Madagascar. It is 'the +symmetry of person, the vivacity, the voluptuous softness of temper, +the affectionate kindness of feelings, the imagination and the wit' of +a woman that excite the passion of love, and not the mere distinction +of her being female. Urged by the passion of love, men have been driven +into acts highly prejudicial to the general interests of society, but +probably they would have found no difficulty in resisting the +temptation, had it appeared in the form of a woman with no other +attractions whatever but her sex. To strip sensual pleasures of all +their adjuncts, in order to prove their inferiority, is to deprive a +magnet of some of its most essential causes of attraction, and then to +say that it is weak and inefficient. +</P> + +<P> +In the pursuit of every enjoyment, whether sensual or intellectual, +reason, that faculty which enables us to calculate consequences, is the +proper corrective and guide. It is probable therefore that improved +reason will always tend to prevent the abuse of sensual pleasures, +though it by no means follows that it will extinguish them. +</P> + +<P> +I have endeavoured to expose the fallacy of that argument which infers +an unlimited progress from a partial improvement, the limits of which +cannot be exactly ascertained. It has appeared, I think, that there are +many instances in which a decided progress has been observed, where yet +it would be a gross absurdity to suppose that progress indefinite. But +towards the extinction of the passion between the sexes, no observable +progress whatever has hitherto been made. To suppose such an +extinction, therefore, is merely to offer an unfounded conjecture, +unsupported by any philosophical probabilities. +</P> + +<P> +It is a truth, which history I am afraid makes too clear, that some men +of the highest mental powers have been addicted not only to a moderate, +but even to an immoderate indulgence in the pleasures of sensual love. +But allowing, as I should be inclined to do, notwithstanding numerous +instances to the contrary, that great intellectual exertions tend to +diminish the empire of this passion over man, it is evident that the +mass of mankind must be improved more highly than the brightest +ornaments of the species at present before any difference can take +place sufficient sensibly to affect population. I would by no means +suppose that the mass of mankind has reached its term of improvement, +but the principal argument of this essay tends to place in a strong +point of view the improbability that the lower classes of people in any +country should ever be sufficiently free from want and labour to obtain +any high degree of intellectual improvement. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 12 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Mr Godwin's conjecture concerning the indefinite prolongation of human +life—Improper inference drawn from the effects of mental stimulants on +the human frame, illustrated in various instances—Conjectures not +founded on any indications in the past not to be considered as +philosophical conjectures—Mr Godwin's and Mr Condorcet's conjecture +respecting the approach of man towards immortality on earth, a curious +instance of the inconsistency of scepticism. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Mr Godwin's conjecture respecting the future approach of man towards +immortality on earth seems to be rather oddly placed in a chapter which +professes to remove the objection to his system of equality from the +principle of population. Unless he supposes the passion between the +sexes to decrease faster than the duration of life increases, the earth +would be more encumbered than ever. But leaving this difficulty to Mr +Godwin, let us examine a few of the appearances from which the probable +immortality of man is inferred. +</P> + +<P> +To prove the power of the mind over the body, Mr Godwin observes, "How +often do we find a piece of good news dissipating a distemper? How +common is the remark that those accidents which are to the indolent a +source of disease are forgotten and extirpated in the busy and active? +I walk twenty miles in an indolent and half determined temper and am +extremely fatigued. I walk twenty miles full of ardour, and with a +motive that engrosses my soul, and I come in as fresh and as alert as +when I began my journey. Emotion excited by some unexpected word, by a +letter that is delivered to us, occasions the most extraordinary +revolutions in our frame, accelerates the circulation, causes the heart +to palpitate, the tongue to refuse its office, and has been known to +occasion death by extreme anguish or extreme joy. There is nothing +indeed of which the physician is more aware than of the power of the +mind in assisting or reading convalescence." +</P> + +<P> +The instances here mentioned are chiefly instances of the effects of +mental stimulants on the bodily frame. No person has ever for a moment +doubted the near, though mysterious, connection of mind and body. But +it is arguing totally without knowledge of the nature of stimulants to +suppose, either that they can be applied continually with equal +strength, or if they could be so applied, for a time, that they would +not exhaust and wear out the subject. In some of the cases here +noticed, the strength of the stimulus depends upon its novelty and +unexpectedness. Such a stimulus cannot, from its nature, be repeated +often with the same effect, as it would by repetition lose that +property which gives it its strength. +</P> + +<P> +In the other cases, the argument is from a small and partial effect, to +a great and general effect, which will in numberless instances be found +to be a very fallacious mode of reasoning. The busy and active man may +in some degree counteract, or what is perhaps nearer the truth, may +disregard those slight disorders of frame which fix the attention of a +man who has nothing else to think of; but this does not tend to prove +that activity of mind will enable a man to disregard a high fever, the +smallpox, or the plague. +</P> + +<P> +The man who walks twenty miles with a motive that engrosses his soul +does not attend to his slight fatigue of body when he comes in; but +double his motive, and set him to walk another twenty miles, quadruple +it, and let him start a third time, and so on; and the length of his +walk will ultimately depend upon muscle and not mind. Powell, for a +motive of ten guineas, would have walked further probably than Mr +Godwin, for a motive of half a million. A motive of uncommon power +acting upon a frame of moderate strength would, perhaps, make the man +kill himself by his exertions, but it would not make him walk a hundred +miles in twenty-four hours. This statement of the case shews the +fallacy of supposing that the person was really not at all tired in his +first walk of twenty miles, because he did not appear to be so, or, +perhaps, scarcely felt any fatigue himself. The mind cannot fix its +attention strongly on more than one object at once. The twenty thousand +pounds so engrossed his thoughts that he did not attend to any slight +soreness of foot, or stiffness of limb. But had he been really as fresh +and as alert, as when he first set off, he would be able to go the +second twenty miles with as much ease as the first, and so on, the +third, &c. Which leads to a palpable absurdity. When a horse of spirit +is nearly half tired, by the stimulus of the spur, added to the proper +management of the bit, he may be put so much upon his mettle, that he +would appear to a standerby, as fresh and as high spirited as if he had +not gone a mile. Nay, probably, the horse himself, while in the heat +and passion occasioned by this stimulus, would not feel any fatigue; +but it would be strangely contrary to all reason and experience, to +argue from such an appearance that, if the stimulus were continued, the +horse would never be tired. The cry of a pack of hounds will make some +horses, after a journey of forty miles on the road, appear as fresh, +and as lively, as when they first set out. Were they then to be hunted, +no perceptible abatement would at first be felt by their riders in +their strength and spirits, but towards the end of a hard day, the +previous fatigue would have its full weight and effect, and make them +tire sooner. When I have taken a long walk with my gun, and met with no +success, I have frequently returned home feeling a considerable degree +of uncomfortableness from fatigue. Another day, perhaps, going over +nearly the same extent of ground with a good deal of sport, I have come +home fresh, and alert. The difference in the sensation of fatigue upon +coming in, on the different days, may have been very striking, but on +the following mornings I have found no such difference. I have not +perceived that I was less stiff in my limbs, or less footsore, on the +morning after the day of the sport, than on the other morning. +</P> + +<P> +In all these cases, stimulants upon the mind seem to act rather by +taking off the attention from the bodily fatigue, than by really and +truly counteracting it. If the energy of my mind had really +counteracted the fatigue of my body, why should I feel tired the next +morning? if the stimulus of the hounds had as completely overcome the +fatigue of the journey in reality, as it did in appearance, why should +the horse be tired sooner than if he had not gone the forty miles? I +happen to have a very bad fit of the toothache at the time I am writing +this. In the eagerness of composition, I every now and then, for a +moment or two, forget it. Yet I cannot help thinking that the process, +which causes the pain, is still going forwards, and that the nerves +which carry the information of it to the brain are even during these +moments demanding attention and room for their appropriate vibrations. +The multiplicity of vibrations of another kind may perhaps prevent +their admission, or overcome them for a time when admitted, till a +shoot of extraordinary energy puts all other vibration to the rout, +destroys the vividness of my argumentative conceptions, and rides +triumphant in the brain. In this case, as in the others, the mind seems +to have little or no power in counteracting or curing the disorder, but +merely possesses a power, if strongly excited, of fixing its attention +on other subjects. +</P> + +<P> +I do not, however, mean to say that a sound and vigorous mind has no +tendency whatever to keep the body in a similar state. So close and +intimate is the union of mind and body that it would be highly +extraordinary if they did not mutually assist each other's functions. +But, perhaps, upon a comparison, the body has more effect upon the mind +than the mind upon the body. The first object of the mind is to act as +purveyor to the wants of the body. When these wants are completely +satisfied, an active mind is indeed apt to wander further, to range +over the fields of science, or sport in the regions of. Imagination, to +fancy that it has 'shuffled off this mortal coil', and is seeking its +kindred element. But all these efforts are like the vain exertions of +the hare in the fable. The slowly moving tortoise, the body, never +fails to overtake the mind, however widely and extensively it may have +ranged, and the brightest and most energetic intellects, unwillingly as +they may attend to the first or second summons, must ultimately yield +the empire of the brain to the calls of hunger, or sink with the +exhausted body in sleep. +</P> + +<P> +It seems as if one might say with certainty that if a medicine could be +found to immortalize the body there would be no fear of its [not] being +accompanied by the immortality of the mind. But the immortality of the +mind by no means seems to infer the immortality of the body. On the +contrary, the greatest conceivable energy of mind would probably +exhaust and destroy the strength of the body. A temperate vigour of +mind appears to be favourable to health, but very great intellectual +exertions tend rather, as has been often observed, to wear out the +scabbard. Most of the instances which Mr Godwin has brought to prove +the power of the mind over the body, and the consequent probability of +the immortality of man, are of this latter description, and could such +stimulants be continually applied, instead of tending to immortalize, +they would tend very rapidly to destroy the human frame. +</P> + +<P> +The probable increase of the voluntary power of man over his animal +frame comes next under Mr Godwin's consideration, and he concludes by +saying, that the voluntary power of some men, in this respect, is found +to extend to various articles in which other men are impotent. But this +is reasoning against an almost universal rule from a few exceptions; +and these exceptions seem to be rather tricks, than powers that may be +exerted to any good purpose. I have never heard of any man who could +regulate his pulse in a fever, and doubt much, if any of the persons +here alluded to have made the smallest perceptible progress in the +regular correction of the disorders of their frames and the consequent +prolongation of their lives. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Godwin says, 'Nothing can be more unphilosophical than to conclude, +that, because a certain species of power is beyond the train of our +present observation, that it is beyond the limits of the human mind.' I +own my ideas of philosophy are in this respect widely different from Mr +Godwin's. The only distinction that I see, between a philosophical +conjecture, and the assertions of the Prophet Mr Brothers, is, that one +is founded upon indications arising from the train of our present +observations, and the other has no foundation at all. I expect that +great discoveries are yet to take place in all the branches of human +science, particularly in physics; but the moment we leave past +experience as the foundation of our conjectures concerning the future, +and, still more, if our conjectures absolutely contradict past +experience, we are thrown upon a wide field of uncertainty, and any one +supposition is then just as good as another. If a person were to tell +me that men would ultimately have eyes and hands behind them as well as +before them, I should admit the usefulness of the addition, but should +give as a reason for my disbelief of it, that I saw no indications +whatever in the past from which I could infer the smallest probability +of such a change. If this be not allowed a valid objection, all +conjectures are alike, and all equally philosophical. I own it appears +to me that in the train of our present observations, there are no more +genuine indications that man will become immortal upon earth than that +he will have four eyes and four hands, or that trees will grow +horizontally instead of perpendicularly. +</P> + +<P> +It will be said, perhaps, that many discoveries have already taken +place in the world that were totally unforeseen and unexpected. This I +grant to be true; but if a person had predicted these discoveries +without being guided by any analogies or indications from past facts, +he would deserve the name of seer or prophet, but not of philosopher. +The wonder that some of our modern discoveries would excite in the +savage inhabitants of Europe in the times of Theseus and Achilles, +proves but little. Persons almost entirely unacquainted with the powers +of a machine cannot be expected to guess at its effects. I am far from +saying, that we are at present by any means fully acquainted with the +powers of the human mind; but we certainly know more of this instrument +than was known four thousand years ago; and therefore, though not to be +called competent judges, we are certainly much better able than savages +to say what is, or is not, within its grasp. A watch would strike a +savage with as much surprise as a perpetual motion; yet one is to us a +most familiar piece of mechanism, and the other has constantly eluded +the efforts of the most acute intellects. In many instances we are now +able to perceive the causes, which prevent an unlimited improvement in +those inventions, which seemed to promise fairly for it at first. The +original improvers of telescopes would probably think, that as long as +the size of the specula and the length of the tubes could be increased, +the powers and advantages of the instrument would increase; but +experience has since taught us, that the smallness of the field, the +deficiency of light, and the circumstance of the atmosphere being +magnified, prevent the beneficial results that were to be expected from +telescopes of extraordinary size and power. In many parts of knowledge, +man has been almost constantly making some progress; in other parts, +his efforts have been invariably baffled. The savage would not probably +be able to guess at the causes of this mighty difference. Our further +experience has given us some little insight into these causes, and has +therefore enabled us better to judge, if not of what we are to expect +in future, at least of what we are not to expect, which, though +negative, is a very useful piece of information. +</P> + +<P> +As the necessity of sleep seems rather to depend upon the body than the +mind, it does not appear how the improvement of the mind can tend very +greatly to supersede this 'conspicuous infirmity'. A man who by great +excitements on his mind is able to pass two or three nights without +sleep, proportionably exhausts the vigour of his body, and this +diminution of health and strength will soon disturb the operations of +his understanding, so that by these great efforts he appears to have +made no real progress whatever in superseding the necessity of this +species of rest. +</P> + +<P> +There is certainly a sufficiently marked difference in the various +characters of which we have some knowledge, relative to the energies of +their minds, their benevolent pursuits, etc., to enable us to judge +whether the operations of intellect have any decided effect in +prolonging the duration of human life. It is certain that no decided +effect of this kind has yet been observed. Though no attention of any +kind has ever produced such an effect as could be construed into the +smallest semblance of an approach towards immortality, yet of the two, +a certain attention to the body seems to have more effect in this +respect than an attention to the mind. The man who takes his temperate +meals and his bodily exercise, with scrupulous regularity, will +generally be found more healthy than the man who, very deeply engaged +in intellectual pursuits, often forgets for a time these bodily +cravings. The citizen who has retired, and whose ideas, perhaps, +scarcely soar above or extend beyond his little garden, puddling all +the morning about his borders of box, will, perhaps, live as long as +the philosopher whose range of intellect is the most extensive, and +whose views are the clearest of any of his contemporaries. It has been +positively observed by those who have attended to the bills of +mortality that women live longer upon an average than men, and, though +I would not by any means say that their intellectual faculties are +inferior, yet, I think, it must be allowed that, from their different +education, there are not so many women as men, who are excited to +vigorous mental exertion. +</P> + +<P> +As in these and similar instances, or to take a larger range, as in the +great diversity of characters that have existed during some thousand +years, no decided difference has been observed in the duration of human +life from the operation of intellect, the mortality of man on earth +seems to be as completely established, and exactly upon the same +grounds, as any one, the most constant, of the laws of nature. An +immediate act of power in the Creator of the Universe might, indeed, +change one or all of these laws, either suddenly or gradually, but +without some indications of such a change, and such indications do not +exist, it. Is just as unphilosophical to suppose that the life of man +may be prolonged beyond any assignable limits, as to suppose that the +attraction of the earth will gradually be changed into repulsion and +that stones will ultimately rise instead of fall or that the earth will +fly off at a certain period to some more genial and warmer sun. +</P> + +<P> +The conclusion of this chapter presents us, undoubtedly, with a very +beautiful and desirable picture, but like some of the landscapes drawn +from fancy and not imagined with truth, it fails of that interest in +the heart which nature and probability can alone give. +</P> + +<P> +I cannot quit this subject without taking notice of these conjectures +of Mr Godwin and Mr Condorcet concerning the indefinite prolongation of +human life, as a very curious instance of the longing of the soul after +immortality. Both these gentlemen have rejected the light of revelation +which absolutely promises eternal life in another state. They have also +rejected the light of natural religion, which to the ablest intellects +in all ages has indicated the future existence of the soul. Yet so +congenial is the idea of immortality to the mind of man that they +cannot consent entirely to throw it out of their systems. After all +their fastidious scepticisms concerning the only probable mode of +immortality, they introduce a species of immortality of their own, not +only completely contradictory to every law of philosophical +probability, but in itself in the highest degree narrow, partial, and +unjust. They suppose that all the great, virtuous, and exalted minds +that have ever existed or that may exist for some thousands, perhaps +millions of years, will be sunk in annihilation, and that only a few +beings, not greater in number than can exist at once upon the earth, +will be ultimately crowned with immortality. Had such a tenet been +advanced as a tenet of revelation I am very sure that all the enemies +of religion, and probably Mr Godwin and Mr Condorcet among the rest, +would have exhausted the whole force of their ridicule upon it, as the +most puerile, the most absurd, the poorest, the most pitiful, the most +iniquitously unjust, and, consequently, the most unworthy of the Deity +that the superstitious folly of man could invent. +</P> + +<P> +What a strange and curious proof do these conjectures exhibit of the +inconsistency of scepticism! For it should be observed, that there is a +very striking and essential difference between believing an assertion +which absolutely contradicts the most uniform experience, and an +assertion which contradicts nothing, but is merely beyond the power of +our present observation and knowledge. So diversified are the natural +objects around us, so many instances of mighty power daily offer +themselves to our view, that we may fairly presume, that there are many +forms and operations of nature which we have not yet observed, or +which, perhaps, we are not capable of observing with our present +confined inlets of knowledge. The resurrection of a spiritual body from +a natural body does not appear in itself a more wonderful instance of +power than the germination of a blade of wheat from the grain, or of an +oak from an acorn. Could we conceive an intelligent being, so placed as +to be conversant only with inanimate or full grown objects, and never +to have witnessed the process of vegetation and growth; and were +another being to shew him two little pieces of matter, a grain of +wheat, and an acorn, to desire him to examine them, to analyse them if +he pleased, and endeavour to find out their properties and essences; +and then to tell him, that however trifling these little bits of matter +might appear to him, that they possessed such curious powers of +selection, combination, arrangement, and almost of creation, that upon +being put into the ground, they would choose, amongst all the dirt and +moisture that surrounded them, those parts which best suited their +purpose, that they would collect and arrange these parts with wonderful +taste, judgement, and execution, and would rise up into beautiful +forms, scarcely in any respect analogous to the little bits of matter +which were first placed in the earth. I feel very little doubt that the +imaginary being which I have supposed would hesitate more, would +require better authority, and stronger proofs, before he believed these +strange assertions, than if he had been told, that a being of mighty +power, who had been the cause of all that he saw around him, and of +that existence of which he himself was conscious, would, by a great act +of power upon the death and corruption of human creatures, raise up the +essence of thought in an incorporeal, or at least invisible form, to +give it a happier existence in another state. +</P> + +<P> +The only difference, with regard to our own apprehensions, that is not +in favour of the latter assertion is that the first miracle we have +repeatedly seen, and the last miracle we have not seen. I admit the +full weight of this prodigious difference, but surely no man can +hesitate a moment in saying that, putting Revelation out of the +question, the resurrection of a spiritual body from a natural body, +which may be merely one among the many operations of nature which we +cannot see, is an event indefinitely more probable than the immortality +of man on earth, which is not only an event of which no symptoms or +indications have yet appeared, but is a positive contradiction to one +of the most constant of the laws of nature that has ever come within +the observation of man. +</P> + +<P> +When we extend our view beyond this life, it is evident that we can +have no other guides than authority, or conjecture, and perhaps, +indeed, an obscure and undefined feeling. What I say here, therefore, +does not appear to me in any respect to contradict what I said before, +when I observed that it was unphilosophical to expect any specifick +event that was not indicated by some kind of analogy in the past. In +ranging beyond the bourne from which no traveller returns, we must +necessarily quit this rule; but with regard to events that may be +expected to happen on earth, we can seldom quit it consistently with +true philosophy. Analogy has, however, as I conceive, great latitude. +For instance, man has discovered many of the laws of nature: analogy +seems to indicate that he will discover many more; but no analogy seems +to indicate that he will discover a sixth sense, or a new species of +power in the human mind, entirely beyond the train of our present +observations. +</P> + +<P> +The powers of selection, combination, and transmutation, which every +seed shews, are truly miraculous. Who can imagine that these wonderful +faculties are contained in these little bits of matter? To me it +appears much more philosophical to suppose that the mighty God of +nature is present in full energy in all these operations. To this all +powerful Being, it would be equally easy to raise an oak without an +acorn as with one. The preparatory process of putting seeds into the +ground is merely ordained for the use of man, as one among the various +other excitements necessary to awaken matter into mind. It is an idea +that will be found consistent, equally with the natural phenomena +around us, with the various events of human life, and with the +successive revelations of God to man, to suppose that the world is a +mighty process for the creation and formation of mind. Many vessels +will necessarily come out of this great furnace in wrong shapes. These +will be broken and thrown aside as useless; while those vessels whose +forms are full of truth, grace, and loveliness, will be wafted into +happier situations, nearer the presence of the mighty maker. +</P> + +<P> +I ought perhaps again to make an apology to my readers for dwelling so +long upon a conjecture which many, I know, will think too absurd and +improbable to require the least discussion. But if it be as improbable +and as contrary to the genuine spirit of philosophy as I own I think it +is, why should it not be shewn to be so in a candid examination? A +conjecture, however improbable on the first view of it, advanced by +able and ingenious men, seems at least to deserve investigation. For my +own part I feel no disinclination whatever to give that degree of +credit to the opinion of the probable immortality of man on earth, +which the appearances that can be brought in support of it deserve. +Before we decide upon the utter improbability of such an event, it is +but fair impartially to examine these appearances; and from such an +examination I think we may conclude, that we have rather less reason +for supposing that the life of man may be indefinitely prolonged, than +that trees may be made to grow indefinitely high, or potatoes +indefinitely large. Though Mr Godwin advances the idea of the +indefinite prolongation of human life merely as a conjecture, yet as he +has produced some appearances, which in his conception favour the +supposition, he must certainly intend that these appearances should be +examined and this is all that I have meant to do. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 13 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Error of Mr Godwin is considering man too much in the light of a being +merely rational—In the compound being, man, the passions will always +act as disturbing forces in the decisions of the +understanding—Reasonings of Mr Godwin on the subject of coercion—Some +truths of a nature not to be communicated from one man to another. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the chapter which I have been examining, Mr Godwin professes to +consider the objection to his system of equality from the principle of +population. It has appeared, I think clearly, that he is greatly +erroneous in his statement of the distance of this difficulty, and that +instead of myriads of centuries, it is really not thirty years, or even +thirty days, distant from us. The supposition of the approach of man to +immortality on earth is certainly not of a kind to soften the +difficulty. The only argument, therefore, in the chapter which has any +tendency to remove the objection is the conjecture concerning the +extinction of the passion between the sexes, but as this is a mere +conjecture, unsupported by the smallest shadow of proof, the force of +the objection may be fairly said to remain unimpaired, and it is +undoubtedly of sufficient weight of itself completely to overturn Mr +Godwin's whole system of equality. I will, however, make one or two +observations on a few of the prominent parts of Mr Godwin's reasonings +which will contribute to place in a still clearer point of view the +little hope that we can reasonably entertain of those vast improvements +in the nature of man and of society which he holds up to our admiring +gaze in his Political Justice. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Godwin considers man too much in the light of a being merely +intellectual. This error, at least such I conceive it to be, pervades +his whole work and mixes itself with all his reasonings. The voluntary +actions of men may originate in their opinions, but these opinions will +be very differently modified in creatures compounded of a rational +faculty and corporal propensities from what they would be in beings +wholly intellectual. Mr Godwin, in proving that sound reasoning and +truth are capable of being adequately communicated, examines the +proposition first practically, and then adds, 'Such is the appearance +which this proposition assumes, when examined in a loose and practical +view. In strict consideration it will not admit of debate. Man is a +rational being, etc.' (Bk. I, ch. 5; in the third edition Vol. I, p. +88). So far from calling this a strict consideration of the subject, I +own I should call it the loosest, and most erroneous, way possible, of +considering it. It is the calculating the velocity of a falling body in +vacuo, and persisting in it, that it would be the same through whatever +resisting mediums it might fall. This was not Newton's mode of +philosophizing. Very few general propositions are just in application +to a particular subject. The moon is not kept in her orbit round the +earth, nor the earth in her orbit round the sun, by a force that varies +merely in the inverse ratio of the squares of the distances. To make +the general theory just in application to the revolutions of these +bodies, it was necessary to calculate accurately the disturbing force +of the sun upon the moon, and of the moon upon the earth; and till +these disturbing forces were properly estimated, actual observations on +the motions of these bodies would have proved that the theory was not +accurately true. +</P> + +<P> +I am willing to allow that every voluntary act is preceded by a +decision of the mind, but it is strangely opposite to what I should +conceive to be the just theory upon the subject, and a palpable +contradiction to all experience, to say that the corporal propensities +of man do not act very powerfully, as disturbing forces, in these +decisions. The question, therefore, does not merely depend upon whether +a man may be made to understand a distinct proposition or be convinced +by an unanswerable argument. A truth may be brought home to his +conviction as a rational being, though he may determine to act contrary +to it, as a compound being. The cravings of hunger, the love of liquor, +the desire of possessing a beautiful woman, will urge men to actions, +of the fatal consequences of which, to the general interests of +society, they are perfectly well convinced, even at the very time they +commit them. Remove their bodily cravings, and they would not hesitate +a moment in determining against such actions. Ask them their opinion of +the same conduct in another person, and they would immediately +reprobate it. But in their own case, and under all the circumstances of +their situation with these bodily cravings, the decision of the +compound being is different from the conviction of the rational being. +</P> + +<P> +If this be the just view of the subject, and both theory and experience +unite to prove that it is, almost all Mr Godwin's reasonings on the +subject of coercion in his seventh chapter, will appear to be founded +on error. He spends some time in placing in a ridiculous point of view +the attempt to convince a man's understanding and to clear up a +doubtful proposition in his mind, by blows. Undoubtedly it is both +ridiculous and barbarous, and so is cock-fighting, but one has little +more to do with the real object of human punishments than the other. +One frequent (indeed much too frequent) mode of punishment is death. Mr +Godwin will hardly think this intended for conviction, at least it does +not appear how the individual or the society could reap much future +benefit from an understanding enlightened in this manner. +</P> + +<P> +The principal objects which human punishments have in view are +undoubtedly restraint and example; restraint, or removal, of an +individual member whose vicious habits are likely to be prejudicial to +the society'; and example, which by expressing the sense of the +community with regard to a particular crime, and by associating more +nearly and visibly crime and punishment, holds out a moral motive to +dissuade others from the commission of it. +</P> + +<P> +Restraint, Mr Godwin thinks, may be permitted as a temporary expedient, +though he reprobates solitary imprisonment, which has certainly been +the most successful, and, indeed, almost the only attempt towards the +moral amelioration of offenders. He talks of the selfish passions that +are fostered by solitude and of the virtues generated in society. But +surely these virtues are not generated in the society of a prison. Were +the offender confined to the society of able and virtuous men he would +probably be more improved than in solitude. But is this practicable? Mr +Godwin's ingenuity is more frequently employed in finding out evils +than in suggesting practical remedies. +</P> + +<P> +Punishment, for example, is totally reprobated. By endeavouring to make +examples too impressive and terrible, nations have, indeed, been led +into the most barbarous cruelties, but the abuse of any practice is not +a good argument against its use. The indefatigable pains taken in this +country to find out a murder, and the certainty of its punishment, has +powerfully contributed to generate that sentiment which is frequent in +the mouths of the common people, that a murder will sooner or later +come to light; and the habitual horror in which murder is in +consequence held will make a man, in the agony of passion, throw down +his knife for fear he should be tempted to use it in the gratification +of his revenge. In Italy, where murderers, by flying to a sanctuary, +are allowed more frequently to escape, the crime has never been held in +the same detestation and has consequently been more frequent. No man, +who is at all aware of the operation of moral motives, can doubt for a +moment, that if every murder in Italy had been invariably punished, the +use of the stiletto in transports of passion would have been +comparatively but little known. +</P> + +<P> +That human laws either do, or can, proportion the punishment accurately +to the offence, no person will have the folly to assert. From the +inscrutability of motives the thing is absolutely impossible, but this +imperfection, though it may be called a species of injustice, is no +valid argument against human laws. It is the lot of man, that he will +frequently have to choose between two evils; and it is a sufficient +reason for the adoption of any institution, that it is the best mode +that suggests itself of preventing greater evils. A continual endeavour +should undoubtedly prevail to make these institutions as perfect as the +nature of them will admit. But nothing is so easy as to find fault with +human institutions; nothing so difficult as to suggest adequate +practical improvements. It is to be lamented, that more men of talents +employ their time in the former occupation than in the latter. +</P> + +<P> +The frequency of crime among men, who, as the common saying is, know +better, sufficiently proves, that some truths may be brought home to +the conviction of the mind without always producing the proper effect +upon the conduct. There are other truths of a nature that perhaps never +can be adequately communicated from one man to another. The superiority +of the pleasures of intellect to those of sense, Mr Godwin considers as +a fundamental truth. Taking all circumstances into consideration, I +should be disposed to agree with him; but how am I to communicate this +truth to a person who has scarcely ever felt intellectual pleasure? I +may as well attempt to explain the nature and beauty of colours to a +blind man. If I am ever so laborious, patient, and clear, and have the +most repeated opportunities of expostulation, any real progress toward +the accomplishment of my purpose seems absolutely hopeless. There is no +common measure between us. I cannot proceed step by step.. It is a +truth of a nature absolutely incapable of demonstration. All that I can +say is, that the wisest and best men in all ages had agreed in giving +the preference, very greatly, to the pleasures of intellect; and that +my own experience completely confirmed the truth of their decisions; +that I had found sensual pleasures vain, transient, and continually +attended with tedium and disgust; but that intellectual pleasures +appeared to me ever fresh and young, filled up all my hours +satisfactorily, gave a new zest to life, and diffused a lasting +serenity over my mind. If he believe me, it can only be from respect +and veneration for my authority. It is credulity, and not conviction. I +have not said any thing, nor can any thing be said, of a nature to +produce real conviction. The affair is not an affair of reasoning, but +of experience. He would probably observe in reply, what you say may be +very true with regard to yourself and many other good men, but for my +own part I feel very differently upon the subject. I have very +frequently taken up a book and almost as frequently gone to sleep over +it; but when I pass an evening with a gay party, or a pretty woman, I +feel alive, and in spirits, and truly enjoy my existence. +</P> + +<P> +Under such circumstances, reasoning and arguments are not instruments +from which success can be expected. At some future time perhaps, real +satiety of sensual pleasures, or some accidental impressions that +awakened the energies of his mind, might effect that, in a month, which +the most patient and able expostulations might be incapable of +effecting in forty years. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 14 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Mr Godwin's five propositions respecting political truth, on which his +whole work hinges, not established—Reasons we have for supposing, from +the distress occasioned by the principle of population, that the vices +and moral weakness of man can never be wholly +eradicated—Perfectibility, in the sense in which Mr Godwin uses the +term, not applicable to man—Nature of the real perfectibility of man +illustrated. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +If the reasonings of the preceding chapter are just, the corollaries +respecting political truth, which Mr Godwin draws from the proposition, +that the voluntary actions of men originate in their opinions, will not +appear to be clearly established. These corollaries are, "Sound +reasoning and truth, when adequately communicated, must always be +victorious over error: Sound reasoning and truth are capable of being +so communicated: Truth is omnipotent: The vices and moral weakness of +man are not invincible: Man is perfectible, or in other words, +susceptible of perpetual improvement." +</P> + +<P> +The first three propositions may be considered a complete syllogism. If +by adequately communicated, be meant such a conviction as to produce an +adequate effect upon the conduct, the major may be allowed and the +minor denied. The consequent, or the omnipotence of truth, of course +falls to the ground. If by 'adequately communicated' be meant merely +the conviction of the rational faculty, the major must be denied, the +minor will be only true in cases capable of demonstration, and the +consequent equally falls. The fourth proposition Mr Godwin calls the +preceding proposition, with a slight variation in the statement. If so, +it must accompany the preceding proposition in its fall. But it may be +worth while to inquire, with reference to the principal argument of +this essay, into the particular reasons which we have for supposing +that the vices and moral weakness of man can never be wholly overcome +in this world. +</P> + +<P> +Man, according to Mr Godwin, is a creature formed what he is by the +successive impressions which he has received, from the first moment +that the germ from which he sprung was animated. Could he be placed in +a situation, where he was subject to no evil impressions whatever, +though it might be doubted whether in such a situation virtue could +exist, vice would certainly be banished. The great bent of Mr Godwin's +work on Political Justice, if I understand it rightly, is to shew that +the greater part of the vices and weaknesses of men proceed from the +injustice of their political and social institutions, and that if these +were removed and the understandings of men more enlightened, there +would be little or no temptation in the world to evil. As it has been +clearly proved, however, (at least as I think) that this is entirely a +false conception, and that, independent of any political or social +institutions whatever, the greater part of mankind, from the fixed and +unalterable laws of nature, must ever be subject to the evil +temptations arising from want, besides other passions, it follows from +Mr Godwin's definition of man that such impressions, and combinations +of impressions, cannot be afloat in the world without generating a +variety of bad men. According to Mr Godwin's own conception of the +formation of character, it is surely as improbable that under such +circumstances all men will be virtuous as that sixes will come up a +hundred times following upon the dice. The great variety of +combinations upon the dice in a repeated succession of throws appears +to me not inaptly to represent the great variety of character that must +necessarily exist in the world, supposing every individual to be formed +what he is by that combination of impressions which he has received +since his first existence. And this comparison will, in some measure, +shew the absurdity of supposing, that exceptions will ever become +general rules; that extraordinary and unusual combinations will be +frequent; or that the individual instances of great virtue which had +appeared in all ages of the world will ever prevail universally. +</P> + +<P> +I am aware that Mr Godwin might say that the comparison is in one +respect inaccurate, that in the case of the dice, the preceding causes, +or rather the chances respecting the preceding causes, were always the +same, and that, therefore, I could have no good reason for supposing +that a greater number of sixes would come up in the next hundred times +of throwing than in the preceding same number of throws. But, that man +had in some sort a power of influencing those causes that formed +character, and that every good and virtuous man that was produced, by +the influence which he must necessarily have, rather increased the +probability that another such virtuous character would be generated, +whereas the coming up of sixes upon the dice once, would certainly not +increase the probability of their coming up a second time. I admit this +objection to the accuracy of the comparison, but it is only partially +valid. Repeated experience has assured us, that the influence of the +most virtuous character will rarely prevail against very strong +temptations to evil. It will undoubtedly affect some, but it will fail +with a much greater number. Had Mr Godwin succeeded in his attempt to +prove that these temptations to evil could by the exertions of man be +removed, I would give up the comparison; or at least allow, that a man +might be so far enlightened with regard to the mode of shaking his +elbow, that he would be able to throw sixes every time. But as long as +a great number of those impressions which form character, like the nice +motions of the arm, remain absolutely independent of the will of man, +though it would be the height of folly and presumption to attempt to +calculate the relative proportions of virtue and vice at the future +periods of the world, it may be safely asserted that the vices and +moral weakness of mankind, taken in the mass, are invincible. +</P> + +<P> +The fifth proposition is the general deduction from the four former and +will consequently fall, as the foundations which support it have given +way. In the sense in which Mr Godwin understands the term +'perfectible', the perfectibility of man cannot be asserted, unless the +preceding propositions could have been clearly established. There is, +however, one sense, which the term will bear, in which it is, perhaps, +just. It may be said with truth that man is always susceptible of +improvement, or that there never has been, or will be, a period of his +history, in which he can be said to have reached his possible acme of +perfection. Yet it does not by any means follow from this, that our +efforts to improve man will always succeed, or even that he will ever +make, in the greatest number of ages, any extraordinary strides towards +perfection. The only inference that can be drawn is that the precise +limit of his improvement cannot possibly be known. And I cannot help +again reminding the reader of a distinction which, it appears to me, +ought particularly to be attended to in the present question: I mean, +the essential difference there is between an unlimited improvement and +an improvement the limit of which cannot be ascertained. The former is +an improvement not applicable to man under the present laws of his +nature. The latter, undoubtedly, is applicable. +</P> + +<P> +The real perfectibility of man may be illustrated, as I have mentioned +before, by the perfectibility of a plant. The object of the +enterprising florist is, as I conceive, to unite size, symmetry, and +beauty of colour. It would surely be presumptuous in the most +successful improver to affirm, that he possessed a carnation in which +these qualities existed in the greatest possible state of perfection. +However beautiful his flower may be, other care, other soil, or other +suns, might produce one still more beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +Yet, although he may be aware of the absurdity of supposing that he has +reached perfection, and though he may know by what means he attained +that degree of beauty in the flower which he at present possesses, yet +he cannot be sure that by pursuing similar means, rather increased in +strength, he will obtain a more beautiful blossom. By endeavouring to +improve one quality, he may impair the beauty of another. The richer +mould which he would employ to increase the size of his plant would +probably burst the calyx, and destroy at once its symmetry. In a +similar manner, the forcing manure used to bring about the French +Revolution, and to give a greater freedom and energy to the human mind, +has burst the calyx of humanity, the restraining bond of all society; +and, however large the separate petals have grown, however strongly, or +even beautifully, a few of them have been marked, the whole is at +present a loose, deformed, disjointed mass, without union, symmetry, or +harmony of colouring. +</P> + +<P> +Were it of consequence to improve pinks and carnations, though we could +have no hope of raising them as large as cabbages, we might undoubtedly +expect, by successive efforts, to obtain more beautiful specimens than +we at present possess. No person can deny the importance of improving +the happiness of the human species. Every the least advance in this +respect is highly valuable. But an experiment with the human race is +not like an experiment upon inanimate objects. The bursting of a flower +may be a trifle. Another will soon succeed it. But the bursting of the +bonds of society is such a separation of parts as cannot take place +without giving the most acute pain to thousands: and a long time may +elapse, and much misery may be endured, before the wound grows up again. +</P> + +<P> +As the five propositions which I have been examining may be considered +as the corner stones of Mr Godwin's fanciful structure, and, indeed, as +expressing the aim and bent of his whole work, however excellent much +of his detached reasoning may be, he must be considered as having +failed in the great object of his undertaking. Besides the difficulties +arising from the compound nature of man, which he has by no means +sufficiently smoothed, the principal argument against the +perfectibility of man and society remains whole and unimpaired from any +thing that he has advanced. And as far as I can trust my own judgement, +this argument appears to be conclusive, not only against the +perfectibility of man, in the enlarged sense in which Mr Godwin +understands the term, but against any very marked and striking change +for the better, in the form and structure of general society; by which +I mean any great and decided amelioration of the condition of the lower +classes of mankind, the most numerous, and, consequently, in a general +view of the subject, the most important part of the human race. Were I +to live a thousand years, and the laws of nature to remain the same, I +should little fear, or rather little hope, a contradiction from +experience in asserting that no possible sacrifices or exertions of the +rich, in a country which had been long inhabited, could for any time +place the lower classes of the community in a situation equal, with +regard to circumstances, to the situation of the common people about +thirty years ago in the northern States of America. +</P> + +<P> +The lower classes of people in Europe may at some future period be much +better instructed than they are at present; they may be taught to +employ the little spare time they have in many better ways than at the +ale-house; they may live under better and more equal laws than they +have ever hitherto done, perhaps, in any country; and I even conceive +it possible, though not probable that they may have more leisure; but +it is not in the nature of things that they can be awarded such a +quantity of money or subsistence as will allow them all to marry early, +in the full confidence that they shall be able to provide with ease for +a numerous family. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 15 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Models too perfect may sometimes rather impede than promote +improvement—Mr Godwin's essay on 'Avarice and +Profusion'—Impossibility of dividing the necessary labour of a society +amicably among all—Invectives against labour may produce present evil, +with little or no chance of producing future good—An accession to the +mass of agricultural labour must always be an advantage to the labourer. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Mr Godwin in the preface to his Enquirer, drops a few expressions which +seem to hint at some change in his opinions since he wrote the +Political Justice; and as this is a work now of some years standing, I +should certainly think that I had been arguing against opinions which +the author had himself seen reason to alter, but that in some of the +essays of the Enquirer, Mr Godwin's peculiar mode of thinking appears +in as striking a light as ever. +</P> + +<P> +It has been frequently observed that though we cannot hope to reach +perfection in any thing, yet that it must always be advantageous to us +to place before our eyes the most perfect models. This observation has +a plausible appearance, but is very far from being generally true. I +even doubt its truth in one of the most obvious exemplifications that +would occur. I doubt whether a very young painter would receive so much +benefit, from an attempt to copy a highly finished and perfect picture, +as from copying one where the outlines were more strongly marked and +the manner of laying on the colours was more easily discoverable. But +in cases where the perfection of the model is a perfection of a +different and superior nature from that towards which we should +naturally advance, we shall not always fail in making any progress +towards it, but we shall in all probability impede the progress which +we might have expected to make had we not fixed our eyes upon so +perfect a model. A highly intellectual being, exempt from the infirm +calls of hunger or sleep, is undoubtedly a much more perfect existence +than man, but were man to attempt to copy such a model, he would not +only fail in making any advances towards it; but by unwisely straining +to imitate what was inimitable, he would probably destroy the little +intellect which he was endeavouring to improve. +</P> + +<P> +The form and structure of society which Mr Godwin describes is as +essentially distinct from any forms of society which have hitherto +prevailed in the world as a being that can live without food or sleep +is from a man. By improving society in its present form, we are making +no more advances towards such a state of things as he pictures than we +should make approaches towards a line, with regard to which we were +walking parallel. The question, therefore, is whether, by looking to +such a form of society as our polar star, we are likely to advance or +retard the improvement of the human species? Mr Godwin appears to me to +have decided this question against himself in his essay on 'Avarice and +Profusion' in the Enquirer. +</P> + +<P> +Dr Adam Smith has very justly observed that nations as well as +individuals grow rich by parsimony and poor by profusion, and that, +therefore, every frugal man was a friend and every spendthrift an enemy +to his country. The reason he gives is that what is saved from revenue +is always added to stock, and is therefore taken from the maintenance +of labour that is generally unproductive and employed in the +maintenance of labour that realizes itself in valuable commodities. No +observation can be more evidently just. The subject of Mr Godwin's +essay is a little similar in its first appearance, but in essence is as +distinct as possible. He considers the mischief of profusion as an +acknowledged truth, and therefore makes his comparison between the +avaricious man, and the man who spends his income. But the avaricious +man of Mr Godwin is totally a distinct character, at least with regard +to his effect upon the prosperity of the state, from the frugal man of +Dr Adam Smith. The frugal man in order to make more money saves from +his income and adds to his capital, and this capital he either employs +himself in the maintenance of productive labour, or he lends it to some +other person who will probably employ it in this way. He benefits the +state because he adds to its general capital, and because wealth +employed as capital not only sets in motion more labour than when spent +as income, but the labour is besides of a more valuable kind. But the +avaricious man of Mr Godwin locks up his wealth in a chest and sets in +motion no labour of any kind, either productive or unproductive. This +is so essential a difference that Mr Godwin's decision in his essay +appears at once as evidently false as Dr Adam Smith's position is +evidently true. It could not, indeed, but occur to Mr Godwin that some +present inconvenience might arise to the poor from thus locking up the +funds destined for the maintenance of labour. The only way, therefore, +he had of weakening this objection was to compare the two characters +chiefly with regard to their tendency to accelerate the approach of +that happy state of cultivated equality, on which he says we ought +always to fix our eyes as our polar star. +</P> + +<P> +I think it has been proved in the former parts of this essay that such +a state of society is absolutely impracticable. What consequences then +are we to expect from looking to such a point as our guide and polar +star in the great sea of political discovery? Reason would teach us to +expect no other than winds perpetually adverse, constant but fruitless +toil, frequent shipwreck, and certain misery. We shall not only fail in +making the smallest real approach towards such a perfect form of +society; but by wasting our strength of mind and body, in a direction +in which it is impossible to proceed, and by the frequent distress +which we must necessarily occasion by our repeated failures, we shall +evidently impede that degree of improvement in society, which is really +attainable. +</P> + +<P> +It has appeared that a society constituted according to Mr Godwin's +system must, from the inevitable laws of our nature, degenerate into a +class of proprietors and a class of labourers, and that the +substitution of benevolence for self-love as the moving principle of +society, instead of producing the happy effects that might be expected +from so fair a name, would cause the same pressure of want to be felt +by the whole of society, which is now felt only by a part. It is to the +established administration of property and to the apparently narrow +principle of self-love that we are indebted for all the noblest +exertions of human genius, all the finer and more delicate emotions of +the soul, for everything, indeed, that distinguishes the civilized from +the savage state; and no sufficient change has as yet taken place in +the nature of civilized man to enable us to say that he either is, or +ever will be, in a state when he may safely throw down the ladder by +which he has risen to this eminence. +</P> + +<P> +If in every society that has advanced beyond the savage state, a class +of proprietors and a class of labourers must necessarily exist, it is +evident that, as labour is the only property of the class of labourers, +every thing that tends to diminish the value of this property must tend +to diminish the possession of this part of society. The only way that a +poor man has of supporting himself in independence is by the exertion +of his bodily strength. This is the only commodity he has to give in +exchange for the necessaries of life. It would hardly appear then that +you benefit him by narrowing the market for this commodity, by +decreasing the demand for labour, and lessening the value of the only +property that he possesses. +</P> + +<P> +It should be observed that the principal argument of this Essay only +goes to prove the necessity of a class of proprietors, and a class of +labourers, but by no means infers that the present great inequality of +property is either necessary or useful to society. On the contrary, it +must certainly be considered as an evil, and every institution that +promotes it is essentially bad and impolitic. But whether a government +could with advantage to society actively interfere to repress +inequality of fortunes may be a matter of doubt. Perhaps the generous +system of perfect liberty adopted by Dr Adam Smith and the French +economists would be ill exchanged for any system of restraint. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Godwin would perhaps say that the whole system of barter and +exchange is a vile and iniquitous traffic. If you would essentially +relieve the poor man, you should take a part of his labour upon +yourself, or give him your money, without exacting so severe a return +for it. In answer to the first method proposed, it may be observed, +that even if the rich could be persuaded to assist the poor in this +way, the value of the assistance would be comparatively trifling. The +rich, though they think themselves of great importance, bear but a +small proportion in point of numbers to the poor, and would, therefore, +relieve them but of a small part of their burdens by taking a share. +Were all those that are employed in the labours of luxuries added to +the number of those employed in producing necessaries, and could these +necessary labours be amicably divided among all, each man's share might +indeed be comparatively light; but desirable as such an amicable +division would undoubtedly be, I cannot conceive any practical +principle according to which it could take place. It has been shewn, +that the spirit of benevolence, guided by the strict impartial justice +that Mr Godwin describes, would, if vigorously acted upon, depress in +want and misery the whole human race. Let us examine what would be the +consequence, if the proprietor were to retain a decent share for +himself, but to give the rest away to the poor, without exacting a task +from them in return. Not to mention the idleness and the vice that such +a proceeding, if general, would probably create in the present state of +society, and the great risk there would be, of diminishing the produce +of land, as well as the labours of luxury, another objection yet +remains. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Godwin seems to have but little respect for practical principles; +but I own it appears to me, that he is a much greater benefactor to +mankind, who points out how an inferior good may be attained, than he +who merely expatiates on the deformity of the present state of society, +and the beauty of a different state, without pointing out a practical +method, that might be immediately applied, of accelerating our advances +from the one, to the other. +</P> + +<P> +It has appeared that from the principle of population more will always +be in want than can be adequately supplied. The surplus of the rich man +might be sufficient for three, but four will be desirous to obtain it. +He cannot make this selection of three out of the four without +conferring a great favour on those that are the objects of his choice. +These persons must consider themselves as under a great obligation to +him and as dependent upon him for their support. The rich man would +feel his power and the poor man his dependence, and the evil effects of +these two impressions on the human heart are well known. Though I +perfectly agree with Mr Godwin therefore in the evil of hard labour, +yet I still think it a less evil, and less calculated to debase the +human mind, than dependence, and every history of man that we have ever +read places in a strong point of view the danger to which that mind is +exposed which is entrusted with constant power. +</P> + +<P> +In the present state of things, and particularly when labour is in +request, the man who does a day's work for me confers full as great an +obligation upon me as I do upon him. I possess what he wants, he +possesses what I want. We make an amicable exchange. The poor man walks +erect in conscious independence; and the mind of his employer is not +vitiated by a sense of power. +</P> + +<P> +Three or four hundred years ago there was undoubtedly much less labour +in England, in proportion to the population, than at present, but there +was much more dependence, and we probably should not now enjoy our +present degree of civil liberty if the poor, by the introduction of +manufactures, had not been enabled to give something in exchange for +the provisions of the great Lords, instead of being dependent upon +their bounty. Even the greatest enemies of trade and manufactures, and +I do not reckon myself a very determined friend to them, must allow +that when they were introduced into England, liberty came in their +train. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing that has been said tends in the most remote degree to +undervalue the principle of benevolence. It is one of the noblest and +most godlike qualities of the human heart, generated, perhaps, slowly +and gradually from self-love, and afterwards intended to act as a +general law, whose kind office it should be, to soften the partial +deformities, to correct the asperities, and to smooth the wrinkles of +its parent: and this seems to be the analog of all nature. Perhaps +there is no one general law of nature that will not appear, to us at +least, to produce partial evil; and we frequently observe at the same +time, some bountiful provision which, acting as another general law, +corrects the inequalities of the first. +</P> + +<P> +The proper office of benevolence is to soften the partial evils arising +from self-love, but it can never be substituted in its place. If no man +were to allow himself to act till he had completely determined that the +action he was about to perform was more conducive than any other to the +general good, the most enlightened minds would hesitate in perplexity +and amazement; and the unenlightened would be continually committing +the grossest mistakes. +</P> + +<P> +As Mr Godwin, therefore, has not laid down any practical principle +according to which the necessary labours of agriculture might be +amicably shared among the whole class of labourers, by general +invectives against employing the poor he appears to pursue an +unattainable good through much present evil. For if every man who +employs the poor ought to be considered as their enemy, and as adding +to the weight of their oppressions, and if the miser is for this reason +to be preferred to the man who spends his income, it follows that any +number of men who now spend their incomes might, to the advantage of +society, be converted into misers. Suppose then that a hundred thousand +persons who now employ ten men each were to lock up their wealth from +general use, it is evident, that a million of working men of different +kinds would be completely thrown out of all employment. The extensive +misery that such an event would produce in the present state of society +Mr Godwin himself could hardly refuse to acknowledge, and I question +whether he might not find some difficulty in proving that a conduct of +this kind tended more than the conduct of those who spend their incomes +to 'place human beings in the condition in which they ought to be +placed.' But Mr Godwin says that the miser really locks up nothing, +that the point has not been rightly understood, and that the true +development and definition of the nature of wealth have not been +applied to illustrate it. Having defined therefore wealth, very justly, +to be the commodities raised and fostered by human labour, he observes +that the miser locks up neither corn, nor oxen, nor clothes, nor +houses. Undoubtedly he does not really lock up these articles, but he +locks up the power of producing them, which is virtually the same. +These things are certainly used and consumed by his contemporaries, as +truly, and to as great an extent, as if he were a beggar; but not to as +great an extent as if he had employed his wealth in turning up more +land, in breeding more oxen, in employing more tailors, and in building +more houses. But supposing, for a moment, that the conduct of the miser +did not tend to check any really useful produce, how are all those who +are thrown out of employment to obtain patents which they may shew in +order to be awarded a proper share of the food and raiment produced by +the society? This is the unconquerable difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +I am perfectly willing to concede to Mr Godwin that there is much more +labour in the world than is really necessary, and that, if the lower +classes of society could agree among themselves never to work more than +six or seven hours in the day, the commodities essential to human +happiness might still be produced in as great abundance as at present. +But it is almost impossible to conceive that such an agreement could be +adhered to. From the principle of population, some would necessarily be +more in want than others. Those that had large families would naturally +be desirous of exchanging two hours more of their labour for an ampler +quantity of subsistence. How are they to be prevented from making this +exchange? it would be a violation of the first and most sacred property +that a man possesses to attempt, by positive institutions, to interfere +with his command over his own labour. +</P> + +<P> +Till Mr Godwin, therefore, can point out some practical plan according +to which the necessary labour in a society might be equitably divided, +his invectives against labour, if they were attended to, would +certainly produce much present evil without approximating us to that +state of cultivated equality to which he looks forward as his polar +star, and which, he seems to think, should at present be our guide in +determining the nature and tendency of human actions. A mariner guided +by such a polar star is in danger of shipwreck. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps there is no possible way in which wealth could in general be +employed so beneficially to a state, and particularly to the lower +orders of it, as by improving and rendering productive that land which +to a farmer would not answer the expense of cultivation. Had Mr Godwin +exerted his energetic eloquence in painting the superior worth and +usefulness of the character who employed the poor in this way, to him +who employed them in narrow luxuries, every enlightened man must have +applauded his efforts. The increasing demand for agricultural labour +must always tend to better the condition of the poor; and if the +accession of work be of this kind, so far is it from being true that +the poor would be obliged to work ten hours for the same price that +they before worked eight, that the very reverse would be the fact; and +a labourer might then support his wife and family as well by the labour +of six hours as he could before by the labour of eight. +</P> + +<P> +The labour created by luxuries, though useful in distributing the +produce of the country, without vitiating the proprietor by power, or +debasing the labourer by dependence, has not, indeed, the same +beneficial effects on the state of the poor. A great accession of work +from manufacturers, though it may raise the price of labour even more +than an increasing demand for agricultural labour, yet, as in this case +the quantity of food in the country may not be proportionably +increasing, the advantage to the poor will be but temporary, as the +price of provisions must necessarily rise in proportion to the price of +labour. Relative to this subject, I cannot avoid venturing a few +remarks on a part of Dr Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, speaking at the +same time with that diffidence which I ought certainly to feel in +differing from a person so justly celebrated in the political world. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 16 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Probable error of Dr Adam Smith in representing every increase of the +revenue or stock of a society as an increase in the funds for the +maintenance of labour—Instances where an increase of wealth can have +no tendency to better the condition of the labouring poor—England has +increased in riches without a proportional increase in the funds for +the maintenance of labour—The state of the poor in China would not be +improved by an increase of wealth from manufactures. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The professed object of Dr Adam Smith's inquiry is the nature and +causes of the wealth of nations. There is another inquiry, however, +perhaps still more interesting, which he occasionally mixes with it; I +mean an inquiry into the causes which affect the happiness of nations +or the happiness and comfort of the lower orders of society, which is +the most numerous class in every nation. I am sufficiency aware of the +near connection of these two subjects, and that the causes which tend +to increase the wealth of a state tend also, generally speaking, to +increase the happiness of the lower classes of the people. But perhaps +Dr Adam Smith has considered these two inquiries as still more nearly +connected than they really are; at least, he has not stopped to take +notice of those instances where the wealth of a society may increase +(according to his definition of 'wealth') without having any tendency +to increase the comforts of the labouring part of it. I do not mean to +enter into a philosophical discussion of what constitutes the proper +happiness of man, but shall merely consider two universally +acknowledged ingredients, health, and the command of the necessaries +and conveniences of life. +</P> + +<P> +Little or no doubt can exist that the comforts of the labouring poor +depend upon the increase of the funds destined for the maintenance of +labour, and will be very exactly in proportion to the rapidity of this +increase. The demand for labour which such increase would occasion, by +creating a competition in the market, must necessarily raise the value +of labour, and, till the additional number of hands required were +reared, the increased funds would be distributed to the same number of +persons as before the increase, and therefore every labourer would live +comparatively at his ease. But perhaps Dr Adam Smith errs in +representing every increase of the revenue or stock of a society as an +increase of these funds. Such surplus stock or revenue will, indeed, +always be considered by the individual possessing it as an additional +fund from which he may maintain more labour: but it will not be a real +and effectual fund for the maintenance of an additional number of +labourers, unless the whole, or at least a great part of this increase +of the stock or revenue of the society, be convertible into a +proportional quantity of provisions; and it will not be so convertible +where the increase has arisen merely from the produce of labour, and +not from the produce of land. A distinction will in this case occur, +between the number of hands which the stock of the society could +employ, and the number which its territory can maintain. +</P> + +<P> +To explain myself by an instance. Dr Adam Smith defines the wealth of a +nation to consist. In the annual produce of its land and labour. This +definition evidently includes manufactured produce, as well as the +produce of the land. Now supposing a nation for a course of years was +to add what it saved from its yearly revenue to its manufacturing +capital solely, and not to its capital employed upon land, it is +evident that it might grow richer according to the above definition, +without a power of supporting a greater number of labourers, and, +therefore, without an increase in the real funds for the maintenance of +labour. There would, notwithstanding, be a demand for labour from the +power which each manufacturer would possess, or at least think he +possessed, of extending his old stock in trade or of setting up fresh +works. This demand would of course raise the price of labour, but if +the yearly stock of provisions in the country was not increasing, this +rise would soon turn out to be merely nominal, as the price of +provisions must necessarily rise with it. The demand for manufacturing +labourers might, indeed, entice many from agriculture and thus tend to +diminish the annual produce of the land, but we will suppose any effect +of this kind to be compensated by improvements in the instruments of +agriculture, and the quantity of provisions therefore to remain the +same. Improvements in manufacturing machinery would of course take +place, and this circumstance, added to the greater number of hands +employed in manufactures, would cause the annual produce of the labour +of the country to be upon the whole greatly increased. The wealth +therefore of the country would be increasing annually, according to the +definition, and might not, perhaps, be increasing very slowly. +</P> + +<P> +The question is whether wealth, increasing in this way, has any +tendency to better the condition of the labouring poor. It is a +self-evident proposition that any general rise in the price of labour, +the stock of provisions remaining the same, can only be a nominal rise, +as it must very shortly be followed by a proportional rise in the price +of provisions. The increase in the price of labour, therefore, which we +have supposed, would have little or no effect in giving the labouring +poor a greater command over the necessaries and conveniences of life. +In this respect they would be nearly in the same state as before. In +one other respect they would be in a worse state. A greater proportion +of them would be employed in manufactures, and fewer, consequently, in +agriculture. And this exchange of professions will be allowed, I think, +by all, to be very unfavourable in respect of health, one essential +ingredient of happiness, besides the greater uncertainty of +manufacturing labour, arising from the capricious taste of man, the +accidents of war, and other causes. +</P> + +<P> +It may be said, perhaps, that such an instance as I have supposed could +not occur, because the rise in the price of provisions would +immediately turn some additional capital into the channel of +agriculture. But this is an event which may take place very slowly, as +it should be remarked that a rise in the price of labour had preceded +the rise of provisions, and would, therefore, impede the good effects +upon agriculture, which the increased value of the produce of the land +might otherwise have occasioned. +</P> + +<P> +It might also be said, that the additional capital of the nation would +enable it to import provisions sufficient for the maintenance of those +whom its stock could employ. A small country with a large navy, and +great inland accommodations for carriage, such as Holland, may, indeed, +import and distribute an effectual quantity of provisions; but the +price of provisions must be very high to make such an importation and +distribution answer in large countries less advantageously +circumstanced in this respect. +</P> + +<P> +An instance, accurately such as I have supposed, may not, perhaps, ever +have occurred, but I have little doubt that instances nearly +approximating to it may be found without any very laborious search. +Indeed I am strongly inclined to think that England herself, since the +Revolution, affords a very striking elucidation of the argument in +question. +</P> + +<P> +The commerce of this country, internal as well as external, has +certainly been rapidly advancing during the last century. The +exchangeable value in the market of Europe of the annual produce of its +land and labour has, without doubt, increased very considerably. But, +upon examination, it will be found that the increase has been chiefly +in the produce of labour and not in the produce of land, and therefore, +though the wealth of the nation has been advancing with a quick pace, +the effectual funds for the maintenance of labour have been increasing +very slowly, and the result is such as might be expected. The +increasing wealth of the nation has had little or no tendency to better +the condition of the labouring poor. They have not, I believe, a +greater command of the necessaries and conveniences of life, and a much +greater proportion of them than at the period of the Revolution is +employed in manufactures and crowded together in close and unwholesome +rooms. +</P> + +<P> +Could we believe the statement of Dr Price that the population of +England has decreased since the Revolution, it would even appear that +the effectual funds for the maintenance of labour had been declining +during the progress of wealth in other respects. For I conceive that it +may be laid down as a general rule that if the effectual funds for the +maintenance of labour are increasing, that is, if the territory can +maintain as well as the stock employ a greater number of labourers, +this additional number will quickly spring up, even in spite of such +wars as Dr Price enumerates. And, consequently, if the population of +any country has been stationary, or declining, we may safely infer, +that, however it may have advanced in manufacturing wealth, its +effectual funds for the maintenance of labour cannot have increased. +</P> + +<P> +It is difficult, however, to conceive that the population of England +has been declining since the Revolution, though every testimony concurs +to prove that its increase, if it has increased, has been very slow. In +the controversy which the question has occasioned, Dr Price undoubtedly +appears to be much more completely master of his subject, and to +possess more accurate information, than his opponents. Judging simply +from this controversy, I think one should say that Dr Price's point is +nearer being proved than Mr Howlett's. Truth, probably, lies between +the two statements, but this supposition makes the increase of +population since the Revolution to have been very slow in comparison +with the increase of wealth. +</P> + +<P> +That the produce of the land has been decreasing, or even that it has +been absolutely stationary during the last century, few will be +disposed to believe. The enclosure of commons and waste lands certainly +tends to increase the food of the country, but it has been asserted +with confidence that the enclosure of common fields has frequently had +a contrary effect, and that large tracts of land which formerly +produced great quantities of corn, by being converted into pasture both +employ fewer hands and feed fewer mouths than before their enclosure. +It is, indeed, an acknowledged truth, that pasture land produces a +smaller quantity of human subsistence than corn land of the same +natural fertility, and could it be clearly ascertained that from the +increased demand for butchers' meat of the best quality, and its +increased price in consequence, a greater quantity of good land has +annually been employed in grazing, the diminution of human subsistence, +which this circumstance would occasion, might have counterbalanced the +advantages derived from the enclosure of waste lands, and the general +improvements in husbandry. +</P> + +<P> +It scarcely need be remarked that the high price of butchers' meat at +present, and its low price formerly, were not caused by the scarcity in +the one case or the plenty in the other, but by the different expense +sustained at the different periods, in preparing cattle for the market. +It is, however, possible, that there might have been more cattle a +hundred years ago in the country than at present; but no doubt can be +entertained, that there is much more meat of a superior quality brought +to market at present than ever there was. When the price of butchers' +meat was very low, cattle were reared chiefly upon waste lands; and +except for some of the principal markets, were probably killed with but +little other fatting. The veal that is sold so cheap in some distant +counties at present bears little other resemblance than the name, to +that which is bought in London. Formerly, the price of butchers, meat +would not pay for rearing, and scarcely for feeding, cattle on land +that would answer in tillage; but the present price will not only pay +for fatting cattle on the very best land, but will even allow of the +rearing many, on land that would bear good crops of corn. The same +number of cattle, or even the same weight of cattle at the different +periods when killed, will have consumed (if I may be allowed the +expression) very different quantities of human substance. A fatted +beast may in some respects be considered, in the language of the French +economists, as an unproductive labourer: he has added nothing to the +value of the raw produce that he has consumed. The present system of +grating, undoubtedly tends more than the former system to diminish the +quantity of human subsistence in the country, in proportion to the +general fertility of the land. +</P> + +<P> +I would not by any means be understood to say that the former system +either could or ought to have continued. The increasing price of +butchers' meat is a natural and inevitable consequence of the general +progress of cultivation; but I cannot help thinking, that the present +great demand for butchers' meat of the best quality, and the quantity +of good land that is in consequence annually employed to produce it, +together with the great number of horses at present kept for pleasure, +are the chief causes that have prevented the quantity of human food in +the country from keeping pace with the generally increased fertility of +the soil; and a change of custom in these respects would, I have little +doubt, have a very sensible effect on the quantity of subsistence in +the country, and consequently on its population. +</P> + +<P> +The employment of much of the most fertile land in grating, the +improvements in agricultural instruments, the increase of large farms, +and particularly the diminution of the number of cottages throughout +the kingdom, all concur to prove, that there are not probably so many +persons employed in agricultural labour now as at the period of the +Revolution. Whatever increase of population, therefore, has taken +place, must be employed almost wholly in manufactures, and it is well +known that the failure of some of these manufactures, merely from the +caprice of fashion, such as the adoption of muslins instead of silks, +or of shoe-strings and covered buttons, instead of buckles and metal +buttons, combined with the restraints in the market of labour arising +from corporation and parish laws, have frequently driven thousands on +charity for support. The great increase of the poor rates is, indeed, +of itself a strong evidence that the poor have not a greater command of +the necessaries and conveniences of life, and if to the consideration, +that their condition in this respect is rather worse than better, be +added the circumstance, that a much greater proportion of them is +employed in large manufactories, unfavourable both to health and +virtue, it must be acknowledged, that the increase of wealth of late +years has had no tendency to increase the happiness of the labouring +poor. +</P> + +<P> +That every increase of the stock or revenue of a nation cannot be +considered as an increase of the real funds for the maintenance of +labour and, therefore, cannot have the same good effect upon the +condition of the poor, will appear in a strong light if the argument be +applied to China. +</P> + +<P> +Dr Adam Smith observes that China has probably long been as rich as the +nature of her laws and institutions will admit, but that with other +laws and institutions, and if foreign commerce were had in honour, she +might still be much richer. The question is, would such an increase of +wealth be an increase of the real funds for the maintenance of labour, +and consequently tend to place the lower classes of people in China in +a state of greater plenty? +</P> + +<P> +It is evident, that if trade and foreign commerce were held in great +honour in China, from the plenty of labourers, and the cheapness of +labour, she might work up manufactures for foreign sale to an immense +amount. It is equally evident that from the great bulk of provisions +and the amazing extent of her inland territory she could not in return +import such a quantity as would be any sensible addition to the annual +stock of subsistence in the country. Her immense amount of +manufactures, therefore, she would exchange, chiefly, for luxuries +collected from all parts of the world. At present, it appears, that no +labour whatever is spared in the production of food. The country is +rather over-people in proportion to what its stock can employ, and +labour is, therefore, so abundant, that no pains are taken to abridge +it. The consequence of this is, probably, the greatest production of +food that the soil can possibly afford, for it will be generally +observed, that processes for abridging labour, though they may enable a +farmer to bring a certain quantity of grain cheaper to market, tend +rather to diminish than increase the whole produce; and in agriculture, +therefore, may, in some respects, be considered rather as private than +public advantages. +</P> + +<P> +An immense capital could not be employed in China in preparing +manufactures for foreign trade without taking off so many labourers +from agriculture as to alter this state of things, and in some degree +to diminish the produce of the country. The demand for manufacturing +labourers would naturally raise the price of labour, but as the +quantity of subsistence would not be increased, the price of provisions +would keep pace with it, or even more than keep pace with it if the +quantity of provisions were really decreasing. The country would be +evidently advancing in wealth, the exchangeable value of the annual +produce of its land and labour would be annually augmented, yet the +real funds for the maintenance of labour would be stationary, or even +declining, and, consequently, the increasing wealth of the nation would +rather tend to depress than to raise the condition of the poor. With +regard to the command over the necessaries and comforts of life, they +would be in the same or rather worse state than before; and a great +part of them would have exchanged the healthy labours of agriculture +for the unhealthy occupations of manufacturing industry. +</P> + +<P> +The argument, perhaps, appears clearer when applied to China, because +it is generally allowed that the wealth of China has been long +stationary. With regard to any other country it might be always a +matter of dispute at which of the two periods, compared, wealth was +increasing the fastest, as it is upon the rapidity of the increase of +wealth at any particular period that Dr Adam Smith says the condition +of the poor depends. It is evident, however, that two nations might +increase exactly with the same rapidity in the exchangeable value of +the annual produce of their land and labour, yet if one had applied +itself chiefly to agriculture, and the other chiefly to commerce, the +funds for the maintenance of labour, and consequently the effect of the +increase of wealth in each nation, would be extremely different. In +that which had applied itself chiefly to agriculture, the poor would +live in great plenty, and population would rapidly increase. In that +which had applied itself chiefly to commerce, the poor would be +comparatively but little benefited and consequently population would +increase slowly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 17 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Question of the proper definition of the wealth of a state—Reason +given by the French economists for considering all manufacturers as +unproductive labourers, not the true reason—The labour of artificers +and manufacturers sufficiently productive to individuals, though not to +the state—A remarkable passage in Dr Price's two volumes of +Observations—Error of Dr Price in attributing the happiness and rapid +population of America, chiefly, to its peculiar state of +civilization—No advantage can be expected from shutting our eyes to +the difficulties in the way to the improvement of society. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A question seems naturally to arise here whether the exchangeable value +of the annual produce of the land and labour be the proper definition +of the wealth of a country, or whether the gross produce of the land, +according to the French economists, may not be a more accurate +definition. Certain it is that every increase of wealth, according to +the definition of the economists, will be an increase of the funds for +the maintenance of labour, and consequently will always tend to +ameliorate the condition of the labouring poor, though an increase of +wealth, according to Dr Adam Smith's definition, will by no means +invariably have the same tendency. And yet it may not follow from this +consideration that Dr Adam Smith's definition is not just. It seems in +many respects improper to exclude the clothing and lodging of a whole +people from any part of their revenue. Much of it may, indeed, be of +very trivial and unimportant value in comparison with the food of the +country, yet still it may be fairly considered as a part of its +revenue; and, therefore, the only point in which I should differ from +Dr Adam Smith is where he seems to consider every increase of the +revenue or stock of a society as an increase of the funds for the +maintenance of labour, and consequently as tending always to ameliorate +the condition of the poor. +</P> + +<P> +The fine silks and cottons, the laces, and other ornamental luxuries of +a rich country, may contribute very considerably to augment the +exchangeable value of its annual produce; yet they contribute but in a +very small degree to augment the mass of happiness in the society, and +it appears to me that it is with some view to the real utility of the +produce that we ought to estimate the productiveness or +unproductiveness of different sorts of labour. The French economists +consider all labour employed in manufactures as unproductive. Comparing +it with the labour employed upon land, I should be perfectly disposed +to agree with them, but not exactly for the reasons which they give. +They say that labour employed upon land is productive because the +produce, over and above completely paying the labourer and the farmer, +affords a clear rent to the landlord, and that the labour employed upon +a piece of lace is unproductive because it merely replaces the +provisions that the workman had consumed, and the stock of his +employer, without affording any clear rent whatever. But supposing the +value of the wrought lace to be such as that, besides paying in the +most complete manner the workman and his employer, it could afford a +clear rent to a third person, it appears to me that, in comparison with +the labour employed upon land, it would be still as unproductive as +ever. Though, according to the reasoning used by the French economists, +the man employed in the manufacture of lace would, in this case, seem +to be a productive labourer. Yet according to their definition of the +wealth of a state, he ought not to be considered in that light. He will +have added nothing to the gross produce of the land: he has consumed a +portion of this gross produce, and has left a bit of lace in return; +and though he may sell this bit of lace for three times the quantity of +provisions that he consumed whilst he was making it, and thus be a very +productive labourer with regard to himself, yet he cannot be considered +as having added by his labour to any essential part of the riches of +the state. The clear rent, therefore, that a certain produce can +afford, after paying the expenses of procuring it, does not appear to +be the sole criterion, by which to judge of the productiveness or +unproductiveness to a state of any particular species of labour. +</P> + +<P> +Suppose that two hundred thousand men, who are now employed in +producing manufactures that only tend to gratify the vanity of a few +rich people, were to be employed upon some barren and uncultivated +lands, and to produce only half the quantity of food that they +themselves consumed; they would be still more productive labourers with +regard to the state than they were before, though their labour, so far +from affording a rent to a third person, would but half replace the +provisions used in obtaining the produce. In their former employment +they consumed a certain portion of the food of the country and left in +return some silks and laces. In their latter employment they consumed +the same quantity of food and left in return provision for a hundred +thousand men. There can be little doubt which of the two legacies would +be the most really beneficial to the country, and it will, I think, be +allowed that the wealth which supported the two hundred thousand men +while they were producing silks and laces would have been more usefully +employed in supporting them while they were producing the additional +quantity of food. +</P> + +<P> +A capital employed upon land may be unproductive to the individual that +employs it and yet be highly productive to the society. A capital +employed in trade, on the contrary, may be highly productive to the +individual, and yet be almost totally unproductive to the society: and +this is the reason why I should call manufacturing labour unproductive, +in comparison of that which is employed in agriculture, and not for the +reason given by the French economists. It is, indeed, almost impossible +to see the great fortunes that are made in trade, and the liberality +with which so many merchants live, and yet agree in the statement of +the economists, that manufacturers can only grow rich by depriving +themselves of the funds destined for their support. In many branches of +trade the profits are so great as would allow of a clear rent to a +third person; but as there is no third person in the case, and as all +the profits centre in the master manufacturer, or merchant, he seems to +have a fair chance of growing rich, without much privation; and we +consequently see large fortunes acquired in trade by persons who have +not been remarked for their parsimony. +</P> + +<P> +Daily experience proves that the labour employed in trade and +manufactures is sufficiently productive to individuals, but it +certainly is not productive in the same degree to the state. Every +accession to the food of a country tends to the immediate benefit of +the whole society; but the fortunes made in trade tend but in a remote +and uncertain manner to the same end, and in some respects have even a +contrary tendency. The home trade of consumption is by far the most +important trade of every nation. China is the richest country in the +world, without any other. Putting then, for a moment, foreign trade out +of the question, the man who, by an ingenious manufacture, obtains a +double portion out of the old stock of provisions, will certainly not +to be so useful to the state as the man who, by his labour, adds a +single share to the former stock. The consumable commodities of silks, +laces, trinkets, and expensive furniture, are undoubtedly a part of the +revenue of the society; but they are the revenue only of the rich, and +not of the society in general. An increase in this part of the revenue +of a state, cannot, therefore, be considered of the same importance as +an increase of food, which forms the principal revenue of the great +mass of the people. +</P> + +<P> +Foreign commerce adds to the wealth of a state, according to Dr Adam +Smith's definition, though not according to the definition of the +economists. Its principal use, and the reason, probably, that it has in +general been held in such high estimation is that it adds greatly to +the external power of a nation or to its power of commanding the labour +of other countries; but it will be found, upon a near examination, to +contribute but little to the increase of the internal funds for the +maintenance of labour, and consequently but little to the happiness of +the greatest part of society. In the natural progress of a state +towards riches, manufactures, and foreign commerce would follow, in +their order, the high cultivation of the soil. In Europe, this natural +order of things has been inverted, and the soil has been cultivated +from the redundancy of manufacturing capital, instead of manufactures +rising from the redundancy of capital employed upon land. The superior +encouragement that has been given to the industry of the towns, and the +consequent higher price that is paid for the labour of artificers than +for the labour of those employed in husbandry, are probably the reasons +why so much soil in Europe remains uncultivated. Had a different policy +been pursued throughout Europe, it might undoubtedly have been much +more populous than at present, and yet not be more incumbered by its +population. +</P> + +<P> +I cannot quit this curious subject of the difficulty arising from +population, a subject that appears to me to deserve a minute +investigation and able discussion much beyond my power to give it, +without taking notice of an extraordinary passage in Dr Price's two +volumes of Observations. Having given some tables on the probabilities +of life, in towns and in the country, he says (Vol. II, p. 243): +</P> + +<P> +From this comparison, it appears with how much truth great cities have +been called the graves of mankind. It must also convince all who +consider it, that according to the observation, at the end of the +fourth essay, in the former volume, it is by no means strictly proper +to consider our diseases as the original intention of nature. They are, +without doubt, in general our own creation. Were there a country where +the inhabitants led lives entirely natural and virtuous, few of them +would die without measuring out the whole period of present existence +allotted to them; pain and distemper would be unknown among them, and +death would come upon them like a sleep, in consequence of no other +cause than gradual and unavoidable decay. +</P> + +<P> +I own that I felt myself obliged to draw a very opposite conclusion +from the facts advanced in Dr Price's two volumes. I had for some time +been aware that population and food increased in different ratios, and +a vague opinion had been floating in my mind that they could only be +kept equal by some species of misery or vice, but the perusal of Dr +Price's two volumes of Observations, after that opinion had been +conceived, raised it at once to conviction. With so many facts in his +view to prove the extraordinary rapidity with which population +increases when unchecked, and with such a body of evidence before him +to elucidate even the manner by which the general laws of nature +repress a redundant population, it is perfectly inconceivable to me how +he could write the passage that I have quoted. He was a strenuous +advocate for early marriages, as the best preservative against vicious +manners. He had no fanciful conceptions about the extinction of the +passion between the sexes, like Mr Godwin, nor did he ever think of +eluding the difficulty in the ways hinted at by Mr Condorcet. He +frequently talks of giving the prolifick powers of nature room to exert +themselves. Yet with these ideas, that his understanding could escape +from the obvious and necessary inference that an unchecked population +would increase, beyond comparison, faster than the earth, by the best +directed exertions of man, could produce food for its support, appears +to me as astonishing as if he had resisted the conclusion of one of the +plainest propositions of Euclid. +</P> + +<P> +Dr Price, speaking of the different stages of the civilized state, +says, 'The first, or simple stages of civilization, are those which +favour most the increase and the happiness of mankind.' He then +instances the American colonies, as being at that time in the first and +happiest of the states that he had described, and as affording a very +striking proof of the effects of the different stages of civilization +on population. But he does not seem to be aware that the happiness of +the Americans depended much less upon their peculiar degree of +civilization than upon the peculiarity of their situation, as new +colonies, upon their having a great plenty of fertile uncultivated +land. In parts of Norway, Denmark, or Sweden, or in this country, two +or three hundred years ago, he might have found perhaps nearly the same +degree of civilization, but by no means the same happiness or the same +increase of population. He quotes himself a statute of Henry the +Eighth, complaining of the decay of tillage, and the enhanced price of +provisions, 'whereby a marvellous number of people were rendered +incapable of maintaining themselves and families.' The superior degree +of civil liberty which prevailed in America contributed, without doubt, +its share to promote the industry, happiness, and population of these +states, but even civil liberty, all powerful as it is, will not create +fresh land. The Americans may be said, perhaps, to enjoy a greater +degree of civil liberty, now they are an independent people, than while +they were in subjection in England, but we may be perfectly sure that +population will not long continue to increase with the same rapidity as +it did then. +</P> + +<P> +A person who contemplated the happy state of the lower classes of +people in America twenty years ago would naturally wish to retain them +for ever in that state, and might think, perhaps, that by preventing +the introduction of manufactures and luxury he might effect his +purpose, but he might as reasonably expect to prevent a wife or +mistress from growing old by never exposing her to the sun or air. The +situation of new colonies, well governed, is a bloom of youth that no +efforts can arrest. There are, indeed, many modes of treatment in the +political, as well as animal, body, that contribute to accelerate or +retard the approaches of age, but there can be no chance of success, in +any mode that could be devised, for keeping either of them in perpetual +youth. By encouraging the industry of the towns more than the industry +of the country, Europe may be said, perhaps, to have brought on a +premature old age. A different policy in this respect would infuse +fresh life and vigour into every state. While from the law of +primogeniture, and other European customs, land bears a monopoly price, +a capital can never be employed in it with much advantage to the +individual; and, therefore, it is not probable that the soil should be +properly cultivated. And, though in every civilized state a class of +proprietors and a class of labourers must exist, yet one permanent +advantage would always result from a nearer equalization of property. +The greater the number of proprietors, the smaller must be the number +of labourers: a greater part of society would be in the happy state of +possessing property: and a smaller part in the unhappy state of +possessing no other property than their labour. But the best directed +exertions, though they may alleviate, can never remove the pressure of +want, and it will be difficult for any person who contemplates the +genuine situation of man on earth, and the general laws of nature, to +suppose it possible that any, the most enlightened, efforts could place +mankind in a state where 'few would die without measuring out the whole +period of present existence allotted to them; where pain and distemper +would be unknown among them; and death would come upon them like a +sleep, in consequence of no other cause than gradual and unavoidable +decay.' +</P> + +<P> +It is, undoubtedly, a most disheartening reflection that the great +obstacle in the way to any extraordinary improvement in society is of a +nature that we can never hope to overcome. The perpetual tendency in +the race of man to increase beyond the means of subsistence is one of +the general laws of animated nature which we can have no reason to +expect will change. Yet, discouraging as the contemplation of this +difficulty must be to those whose exertions are laudably directed to +the improvement of the human species, it is evident that no possible +good can arise from any endeavours to slur it over or keep it in the +background. On the contrary, the most baleful mischiefs may be expected +from the unmanly conduct of not daring to face truth because it is +unpleasing. Independently of what relates to this great obstacle, +sufficient yet remains to be done for mankind to animate us to the most +unremitted exertion. But if we proceed without a thorough knowledge and +accurate comprehension of the nature, extent, and magnitude of the +difficulties we have to encounter, or if we unwisely direct our efforts +towards an object in which we cannot hope for success, we shall not +only exhaust our strength in fruitless exertions and remain at as great +a distance as ever from the summit of our wishes, but we shall be +perpetually crushed by the recoil of this rock of Sisyphus. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 18 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +The constant pressure of distress on man, from the principle of +population, seems to direct our hopes to the future—State of trial +inconsistent with our ideas of the foreknowledge of God—The world, +probably, a mighty process for awakening matter into mind—Theory of +the formation of mind—Excitements from the wants of the +body—Excitements from the operation of general laws—Excitements from +the difficulties of life arising from the principle of population. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The view of human life which results from the contemplation of the +constant pressure of distress on man from the difficulty of +subsistence, by shewing the little expectation that he can reasonably +entertain of perfectibility on earth, seems strongly to point his hopes +to the future. And the temptations to which he must necessarily be +exposed, from the operation of those laws of nature which we have been +examining, would seem to represent the world in the light in which it +has been frequently considered, as a state of trial and school of +virtue preparatory to a superior state of happiness. But I hope I shall +be pardoned if I attempt to give a view in some degree different of the +situation of man on earth, which appears to me to be more consistent +with the various phenomena of nature which we observe around us and +more consonant to our ideas of the power, goodness, and foreknowledge +of the Deity. +</P> + +<P> +It cannot be considered as an unimproving exercise of the human mind to +endeavour to 'vindicate the ways of God to man' if we proceed with a +proper distrust of our own understandings and a just sense of our +insufficiency to comprehend the reason of all we see, if we hail every +ray of light with gratitude, and, when no light appears, think that the +darkness is from within and not from without, and bow with humble +deference to the supreme wisdom of him whose 'thoughts are above our +thoughts' 'as the heavens are high above the earth.' +</P> + +<P> +In all our feeble attempts, however, to 'find out the Almighty to +perfection', it seems absolutely necessary that we should reason from +nature up to nature's God and not presume to reason from God to nature. +The moment we allow ourselves to ask why some things are not otherwise, +instead of endeavouring to account for them as they are, we shall never +know where to stop, we shall be led into the grossest and most childish +absurdities, all progress in the knowledge of the ways of Providence +must necessarily be at an end, and the study will even cease to be an +improving exercise of the human mind. Infinite power is so vast and +incomprehensible an idea that the mind of man must necessarily be +bewildered in the contemplation of it. With the crude and puerile +conceptions which we sometimes form of this attribute of the Deity, we +might imagine that God could call into being myriads and myriads of +existences, all free from pain and imperfection, all eminent in +goodness and wisdom, all capable of the highest enjoyments, and +unnumbered as the points throughout infinite space. But when from these +vain and extravagant dreams of fancy, we turn our eyes to the book of +nature, where alone we can read God as he is, we see a constant +succession of sentient beings, rising apparently from so many specks of +matter, going through a long and sometimes painful process in this +world, but many of them attaining, ere the termination of it, such high +qualities and powers as seem to indicate their fitness for some +superior state. Ought we not then to correct our crude and puerile +ideas of infinite Power from the contemplation of what we actually see +existing? Can we judge of the Creator but from his creation? And, +unless we wish to exalt the power of God at the expense of his +goodness, ought we not to conclude that even to the great Creator, +almighty as he is, a certain process may be necessary, a certain time +(or at least what appears to us as time) may be requisite, in order to +form beings with those exalted qualities of mind which will fit them +for his high purposes? +</P> + +<P> +A state of trial seems to imply a previously formed existence that does +not agree with the appearance of man in infancy and indicates something +like suspicion and want of foreknowledge, inconsistent with those ideas +which we wish to cherish of the Supreme Being. I should be inclined, +therefore, as I have hinted before, to consider the world and this life +as the mighty process of God, not for the trial, but for the creation +and formation of mind, a process necessary to awaken inert, chaotic +matter into spirit, to sublimate the dust of the earth into soul, to +elicit an ethereal spark from the clod of clay. And in this view of the +subject, the various impressions and excitements which man receives +through life may be considered as the forming hand of his Creator, +acting by general laws, and awakening his sluggish existence, by the +animating touches of the Divinity, into a capacity of superior +enjoyment. The original sin of man is the torpor and corruption of the +chaotic matter in which he may be said to be born. +</P> + +<P> +It could answer no good purpose to enter into the question whether mind +be a distinct substance from matter, or only a finer form of it. The +question is, perhaps, after all, a question merely of words. Mind is as +essentially mind, whether formed from matter or any other substance. We +know from experience that soul and body are most intimately united, and +every appearance seems to indicate that they grow from infancy +together. It would be a supposition attended with very little +probability to believe that a complete and full formed spirit existed +in every infant, but that it was clogged and impeded in its operations +during the first twenty years of life by the weakness, or hebetude, of +the organs in which it was enclosed. As we shall all be disposed to +agree that God is the creator of mind as well as of body, and as they +both seem to be forming and unfolding themselves at the same time, it +cannot appear inconsistent either with reason or revelation, if it +appear to be consistent with phenomena of nature, to suppose that God +is constantly occupied in forming mind out of matter and that the +various impressions that man receives through life is the process for +that purpose. The employment is surely worthy of the highest attributes +of the Deity. +</P> + +<P> +This view of the state of man on earth will not seem to be unattended +with probability, if, judging from the little experience we have of the +nature of mind, it shall appear upon investigation that the phenomena +around us, and the various events of human life, seem peculiarly +calculated to promote this great end, and especially if, upon this +supposition, we can account, even to our own narrow understandings, for +many of those roughnesses and inequalities in life which querulous man +too frequently makes the subject of his complaint against the God of +nature. +</P> + +<P> +The first great awakeners of the mind seem to be the wants of the body. +(It was my intention to have entered at some length into this subject +as a kind of second part to the Essay. A long interruption, from +particular business, has obliged me to lay aside this intention, at +least for the present. I shall now, therefore, only give a sketch of a +few of the leading circumstances that appear to me to favour the +general supposition that I have advanced.) They are the first +stimulants that rouse the brain of infant man into sentient activity, +and such seems to be the sluggishness of original matter that unless by +a peculiar course of excitements other wants, equally powerful, are +generated, these stimulants seem, even afterwards, to be necessary to +continue that activity which they first awakened. The savage would +slumber for ever under his tree unless he were roused from his torpor +by the cravings of hunger or the pinchings of cold, and the exertions +that he makes to avoid these evils, by procuring food, and building +himself a covering, are the exercises which form and keep in motion his +faculties, which otherwise would sink into listless inactivity. From +all that experience has taught us concerning the structure of the human +mind, if those stimulants to exertion which arise from the wants of the +body were removed from the mass of mankind, we have much more reason to +think that they would be sunk to the level of brutes, from a deficiency +of excitements, than that they would be raised to the rank of +philosophers by the possession of leisure. In those countries where +nature is the most redundant in spontaneous produce the inhabitants +will not be found the most remarkable for acuteness of intellect. +Necessity has been with great truth called the mother of invention. +Some of the noblest exertions of the human mind have been set in motion +by the necessity of satisfying the wants of the body. Want has not +unfrequently given wings to the imagination of the poet, pointed the +flowing periods of the historian, and added acuteness to the researches +of the philosopher, and though there are undoubtedly many minds at +present so far improved by the various excitements of knowledge, or of +social sympathy, that they would not relapse into listlessness if their +bodily stimulants were removed, yet it can scarcely be doubted that +these stimulants could not be withdrawn from the mass of mankind +without producing a general and fatal torpor, destructive of all the +germs of future improvement. +</P> + +<P> +Locke, if I recollect, says that the endeavour to avoid pain rather +than the pursuit of pleasure is the great stimulus to action in life: +and that in looking to any particular pleasure, we shall not be roused +into action in order to obtain it, till the contemplation of it has +continued so long as to amount to a sensation of pain or uneasiness +under the absence of it. To avoid evil and to pursue good seem to be +the great duty and business of man, and this world appears to be +peculiarly calculated to afford opportunity of the most unremitted +exertion of this kind, and it is by this exertion, by these stimulants, +that mind is formed. If Locke's idea be just, and there is great reason +to think that it is, evil seems to be necessary to create exertion, and +exertion seems evidently necessary to create mind. +</P> + +<P> +The necessity of food for the support of life gives rise, probably, to +a greater quantity of exertion than any other want, bodily or mental. +The Supreme Being has ordained that the earth shall not produce good in +great quantities till much preparatory labour and ingenuity has been +exercised upon its surface. There is no conceivable connection to our +comprehensions, between the seed and the plant or tree that rises from +it. The Supreme Creator might, undoubtedly, raise up plants of all +kinds, for the use of his creatures, without the assistance of those +little bits of matter, which we call seed, or even without the +assisting labour and attention of man. The processes of ploughing and +clearing the ground, of collecting and sowing seeds, are not surely for +the assistance of God in his creation, but are made previously +necessary to the enjoyment of the blessings of life, in order to rouse +man into action, and form his mind to reason. +</P> + +<P> +To furnish the most unremitted excitements of this kind, and to urge +man to further the gracious designs of Providence by the full +cultivation of the earth, it has been ordained that population should +increase much faster than food. This general law (as it has appeared in +the former parts of this Essay) undoubtedly produces much partial evil, +but a little reflection may, perhaps, satisfy us, that it produces a +great overbalance of good. Strong excitements seem necessary to create +exertion, and to direct this exertion, and form the reasoning faculty, +it seems absolutely necessary, that the Supreme Being should act always +according to general laws. The constancy of the laws of nature, or the +certainty with which we may expect the same effects from the same +causes, is the foundation of the faculty of reason. If in the ordinary +course of things, the finger of God were frequently visible, or to +speak more correctly, if God were frequently to change his purpose (for +the finger of God is, indeed, visible in every blade of grass that we +see), a general and fatal torpor of the human faculties would probably +ensue; even the bodily wants of mankind would cease to stimulate them +to exertion, could they not reasonably expect that if their efforts +were well directed they would be crowned with success. The constancy of +the laws of nature is the foundation of the industry and foresight of +the husbandman, the indefatigable ingenuity of the artificer, the +skilful researches of the physician and anatomist, and the watchful +observation and patient investigation of the natural philosopher. To +this constancy we owe all the greatest and noblest efforts of +intellect. To this constancy we owe the immortal mind of a Newton. +</P> + +<P> +As the reasons, therefore, for the constancy of the laws of nature +seem, even to our understandings, obvious and striking; if we return to +the principle of population and consider man as he really is, inert, +sluggish, and averse from labour, unless compelled by necessity (and it +is surely the height of folly to talk of man, according to our crude +fancies of what he might be), we may pronounce with certainty that the +world would not have been peopled, but for the superiority of the power +of population to the means of subsistence. Strong and constantly +operative as this stimulus is on man to urge him to the cultivation of +the earth, if we still see that cultivation proceeds very slowly, we +may fairly conclude that a less stimulus would have been insufficient. +Even under the operation of this constant excitement, savages will +inhabit countries of the greatest natural fertility for a long period +before they betake themselves to pasturage or agriculture. Had +population and food increased in the same ratio, it is probable that +man might never have emerged from the savage state. But supposing the +earth once well peopled, an Alexander, a Julius Caesar, a Tamberlane, +or a bloody revolution might irrecoverably thin the human race, and +defeat the great designs of the Creator. The ravages of a contagious +disorder would be felt for ages; and an earthquake might unpeople a +region for ever. The principle, according to which population +increases, prevents the vices of mankind, or the accidents of nature, +the partial evils arising from general laws, from obstructing the high +purpose of the creation. It keeps the inhabitants of the earth always +fully up to the level of the means of subsistence; and is constantly +acting upon man as a powerful stimulus, urging him to the further +cultivation of the earth, and to enable it, consequently, to support a +more extended population. But it is impossible that this law can +operate, and produce the effects apparently intended by the Supreme +Being, without occasioning partial evil. Unless the principle of +population were to be altered according to the circumstances of each +separate country (which would not only be contrary to our universal +experience, with regard to the laws of nature, but would contradict +even our own reason, which sees the absolute necessity of general laws +for the formation of intellect), it is evident that the same principle +which, seconded by industry, will people a fertile region in a few +years must produce distress in countries that have been long inhabited. +</P> + +<P> +It seems, however, every way probable that even the acknowledged +difficulties occasioned by the law of population tend rather to promote +than impede the general purpose of Providence. They excite universal +exertion and contribute to that infinite variety of situations, and +consequently of impressions, which seems upon the whole favourable to +the growth of mind. It is probable, that too great or too little +excitement, extreme poverty, or too great riches may be alike +unfavourable in this respect. The middle regions of society seem to be +best suited to intellectual improvement, but it is contrary to the +analogy of all nature to expect that the whole of society can be a +middle region. The temperate zones of the earth seem to be the most +favourable to the mental and corporal energies of man, but all cannot +be temperate zones. A world, warmed and enlightened but by one sun, +must from the laws of matter have some parts chilled by perpetual +frosts and others scorched by perpetual heats. Every piece of matter +lying on a surface must have an upper and an under side, all the +particles cannot be in the middle. The most valuable parts of an oak, +to a timber merchant, are not either the roots or the branches, but +these are absolutely necessary to the existence of the middle part, or +stem, which is the object in request. The timber merchant could not +possibly expect to make an oak grow without roots or branches, but if +he could find out a mode of cultivation which would cause more of the +substance to go to stem, and less to root and branch, he would be right +to exert himself in bringing such a system into general use. +</P> + +<P> +In the same manner, though we cannot possibly expect to exclude riches +and poverty from society, yet if we could find out a mode of government +by which the numbers in the extreme regions would be lessened and the +numbers in the middle regions increased, it would be undoubtedly our +duty to adopt it. It is not, however, improbable that as in the oak, +the roots and branches could not be diminished very greatly without +weakening the vigorous circulation of the sap in the stem, so in +society the extreme parts could not be diminished beyond a certain +degree without lessening that animated exertion throughout the middle +parts, which is the very cause that they are the most favourable to the +growth of intellect. If no man could hope to rise or fear to fall, in +society, if industry did not bring with it its reward and idleness its +punishment, the middle parts would not certainly be what they now are. +In reasoning upon this subject, it is evident that we ought to consider +chiefly the mass of mankind and not individual instances. There are +undoubtedly many minds, and there ought to be many, according to the +chances out of so great a mass, that, having been vivified early by a +peculiar course of excitements, would not need the constant action of +narrow motives to continue them in activity. But if we were to review +the various useful discoveries, the valuable writings, and other +laudable exertions of mankind, I believe we should find that more were +to be attributed to the narrow motives that operate upon the many than +to the apparently more enlarged motives that operate upon the few. +</P> + +<P> +Leisure is, without doubt, highly valuable to man, but taking man as he +is, the probability seems to be that in the greater number of instances +it will produce evil rather than good. It has been not infrequently +remarked that talents are more common among younger brothers than among +elder brothers, but it can scarcely be imagined that younger brothers +are, upon an average, born with a greater original susceptibility of +parts. The difference, if there really is any observable difference, +can only arise from their different situations. Exertion and activity +are in general absolutely necessary in one case and are only optional +in the other. +</P> + +<P> +That the difficulties of life contribute to generate talents, every +day's experience must convince us. The exertions that men find it +necessary to make, in order to support themselves or families, +frequently awaken faculties that might otherwise have lain for ever +dormant, and it has been commonly remarked that new and extraordinary +situations generally create minds adequate to grapple with the +difficulties in which they are involved. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER 19 +</H3> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +The sorrows of life necessary to soften and humanize the heart—The +excitement of social sympathy often produce characters of a higher +order than the mere possessors of talents—Moral evil probably +necessary to the production of moral excellence—Excitements from +intellectual wants continually kept up by the infinite variety of +nature, and the obscurity that involves metaphysical subjects—The +difficulties in revelation to be accounted for upon this principle—The +degree of evidence which the scriptures contain, probably, best suited +to the improvements of the human faculties, and the moral amelioration +of mankind—The idea that mind is created by excitements seems to +account for the existence of natural and moral evil. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The sorrows and distresses of life form another class of excitements, +which seem to be necessary, by a peculiar train of impressions, to +soften and humanize the heart, to awaken social sympathy, to generate +all the Christian virtues, and to afford scope for the ample exertion +of benevolence. The general tendency of an uniform course of prosperity +is rather to degrade than exalt the character. The heart that has never +known sorrow itself will seldom be feelingly alive to the pains and +pleasures, the wants and wishes, of its fellow beings. It will seldom +be overflowing with that warmth of brotherly love, those kind and +amiable affections, which dignify the human character even more than +the possession of the highest talents. Talents, indeed, though +undoubtedly a very prominent and fine feature of mind, can by no means +be considered as constituting the whole of it. There are many minds +which have not been exposed to those excitements that usually form +talents, that have yet been vivified to a high degree by the +excitements of social sympathy. In every rank of life, in the lowest as +frequently as in the highest, characters are to be found overflowing +with the milk of human kindness, breathing love towards God and man, +and, though without those peculiar powers of mind called talents, +evidently holding a higher rank in the scale of beings than many who +possess them. Evangelical charity, meekness, piety, and all that class +of virtues distinguished particularly by the name of Christian virtues +do not seem necessarily to include abilities; yet a soul possessed of +these amiable qualities, a soul awakened and vivified by these +delightful sympathies, seems to hold a nearer commerce with the skies +than mere acuteness of intellect. +</P> + +<P> +The greatest talents have been frequently misapplied and have produced +evil proportionate to the extent of their powers. Both reason and +revelation seem to assure us that such minds will be condemned to +eternal death, but while on earth, these vicious instruments performed +their part in the great mass of impressions, by the disgust and +abhorrence which they excited. It seems highly probable that moral evil +is absolutely necessary to the production of moral excellence. A being +with only good placed in view may be justly said to be impelled by a +blind necessity. The pursuit of good in this case can be no indication +of virtuous propensities. It might be said, perhaps, that infinite +Wisdom cannot want such an indication as outward action, but would +foreknow with certainly whether the being would choose good or evil. +This might be a plausible argument against a state of trial, but will +not hold against the supposition that mind in this world is in a state +of formation. Upon this idea, the being that has seen moral evil and +has felt disapprobation and disgust at it is essentially different from +the being that has seen only good. They are pieces of clay that have +received distinct impressions: they must, therefore, necessarily be in +different shapes; or, even if we allow them both to have the same +lovely form of virtue, it must be acknowledged that one has undergone +the further process, necessary to give firmness and durability to its +substance, while the other is still exposed to injury, and liable to be +broken by every accidental impulse. An ardent love and admiration of +virtue seems to imply the existence of something opposite to it, and it +seems highly probable that the same beauty of form and substance, the +same perfection of character, could not be generated without the +impressions of disapprobation which arise from the spectacle of moral +evil. +</P> + +<P> +When the mind has been awakened into activity by the passions, and the +wants of the body, intellectual wants arise; and the desire of +knowledge, and the impatience under ignorance, form a new and important +class of excitements. Every part of nature seems peculiarly calculated +to furnish stimulants to mental exertion of this kind, and to offer +inexhaustible food for the most unremitted inquiry. Our mortal Bard +says of Cleopatra: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + Custom cannot stale<BR> + Her infinite variety.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +The expression, when applied to any one object, may be considered as a +poetical amplification, but it is accurately true when applied to +nature. Infinite variety seems, indeed, eminently her characteristic +feature. The shades that are here and there blended in the picture give +spirit, life, and prominence to her exuberant beauties, and those +roughnesses and inequalities, those inferior parts that support the +superior, though they sometimes offend the fastidious microscopic eye +of short-sighted man, contribute to the symmetry, grace, and fair +proportion of the whole. +</P> + +<P> +The infinite variety of the forms and operations of nature, besides +tending immediately to awaken and improve the mind by the variety of +impressions that it creates, opens other fertile sources of improvement +by offering so wide and extensive a field for investigation and +research. Uniform, undiversified perfection could not possess the same +awakening powers. When we endeavour then to contemplate the system of +the universe, when we think of the stars as the suns of other systems +scattered throughout infinite space, when we reflect that we do not +probably see a millionth part of those bright orbs that are beaming +light and life to unnumbered worlds, when our minds, unable to grasp +the immeasurable conception, sink, lost and confounded, in admiration +at the mighty incomprehensible power of the Creator, let us not +querulously complain that all climates are not equally genial, that +perpetual spring does not reign throughout the year, that God's +creatures do not possess the same advantages, that clouds and tempests +sometimes darken the natural world and vice and misery the moral world, +and that all the works of the creation are not formed with equal +perfection. Both reason and experience seem to indicate to us that the +infinite variety of nature (and variety cannot exist without inferior +parts, or apparent blemishes) is admirably adapted to further the high +purpose of the creation and to produce the greatest possible quantity +of good. +</P> + +<P> +The obscurity that involves all metaphysical subjects appears to me, in +the same manner, peculiarly calculated to add to that class of +excitements which arise from the thirst of knowledge. It is probable +that man, while on earth, will never be able to attain complete +satisfaction on these subjects; but this is by no means a reason that +he should not engage in them. The darkness that surrounds these +interesting topics of human curiosity may be intended to furnish +endless motives to intellectual activity and exertion. The constant +effort to dispel this darkness, even if it fail of success, invigorates +and improves the thinking faculty. If the subjects of human inquiry +were once exhausted, mind would probably stagnate; but the infinitely +diversified forms and operations of nature, together with the endless +food for speculation which metaphysical subjects offer, prevent the +possibility that such a period should ever arrive. +</P> + +<P> +It is by no means one of the wisest sayings of Solomon that 'there is +no new thing under the sun.' On the contrary, it is probable that were +the present system to continue for millions of years, continual +additions would be making to the mass of human knowledge, and yet, +perhaps, it may be a matter of doubt whether what may be called the +capacity of mind be in any marked and decided manner increasing. A +Socrates, a Plato, or an Aristotle, however confessedly inferior in +knowledge to the philosophers of the present day, do not appear to have +been much below them in intellectual capacity. Intellect rises from a +speck, continues in vigour only for a certain period, and will not +perhaps admit while on earth of above a certain number of impressions. +These impressions may, indeed, be infinitely modified, and from these +various modifications, added probably to a difference in the +susceptibility of the original germs, arise the endless diversity of +character that we see in the world; but reason and experience seem both +to assure us that the capacity of individual minds does not increase in +proportion to the mass of existing knowledge. (It is probable that no +two grains of wheat are exactly alike. Soil undoubtedly makes the +principal difference in the blades that spring up, but probably not +all. It seems natural to suppose some sort of difference in the +original germs that are afterwards awakened into thought, and the +extraordinary difference of susceptibility in very young children seems +to confirm the supposition.) +</P> + +<P> +The finest minds seem to be formed rather by efforts at original +thinking, by endeavours to form new combinations, and to discover new +truths, than by passively receiving the impressions of other men's +ideas. Could we suppose the period arrived, when there was not further +hope of future discoveries, and the only employment of mind was to +acquire pre-existing knowledge, without any efforts to form new and +original combinations, though the mass of human knowledge were a +thousand times greater than it is at present, yet it is evident that +one of the noblest stimulants to mental exertion would have ceased; the +finest feature of intellect would be lost; everything allied to genius +would be at an end; and it appears to be impossible, that, under such +circumstances, any individuals could possess the same intellectual +energies as were possessed by a Locke, a Newton, or a Shakespeare, or +even by a Socrates, a Plato, an Aristotle or a Homer. +</P> + +<P> +If a revelation from heaven of which no person could feel the smallest +doubt were to dispel the mists that now hang over metaphysical +subjects, were to explain the nature and structure of mind, the +affections and essences of all substances, the mode in which the +Supreme Being operates in the works of the creation, and the whole plan +and scheme of the Universe, such an accession of knowledge so obtained, +instead of giving additional vigour and activity to the human mind, +would in all probability tend to repress future exertion and to damp +the soaring wings of intellect. +</P> + +<P> +For this reason I have never considered the doubts and difficulties +that involve some parts of the sacred writings as any ardent against +their divine original. The Supreme Being might, undoubtedly, have +accompanied his revelations to man by such a succession of miracles, +and of such a nature, as would have produced universal overpowering +conviction and have put an end at once to all hesitation and +discussion. But weak as our reason is to comprehend the plans of the +great Creator, it is yet sufficiently strong to see the most striking +objections to such a revelation. From the little we know of the +structure of the human understanding, we must be convinced that an +overpowering conviction of this kind, instead of tending to the +improvement and moral amelioration of man, would act like the touch of +a torpedo on all intellectual exertion and would almost put an end to +the existence of virtue. If the scriptural denunciations of eternal +punishment were brought home with the same certainty to every man's +mind as that the night will follow the day, this one vast and gloomy +idea would take such full possession of the human faculties as to leave +no room for any other conceptions, the external actions of men would be +all nearly alike, virtuous conduct would be no indication of virtuous +disposition, vice and virtue would be blended together in one common +mass, and though the all-seeing eye of God might distinguish them they +must necessarily make the same impressions on man, who can judge only +from external appearances. Under such a dispensation, it is difficult +to conceive how human beings could be formed to a detestation of moral +evil, and a love and admiration of God, and of moral excellence. +</P> + +<P> +Our ideas of virtue and vice are not, perhaps, very accurate and +well-defined; but few, I think, would call an action really virtuous +which was performed simply and solely from the dread of a very great +punishment or the expectation of a very great reward. The fear of the +Lord is very justly said to be the beginning of wisdom, but the end of +wisdom is the love of the Lord and the admiration of moral good. The +denunciations of future punishment contained in the scriptures seem to +be well calculated to arrest the progress of the vicious and awaken the +attention of the careless, but we see from repeated experience that +they are not accompanied with evidence of such a nature as to overpower +the human will and to make men lead virtuous lives with vicious +dispositions, merely from a dread of hereafter. A genuine faith, by +which I mean a faith that shews itself in it the virtues of a truly +Christian life, may generally be considered as an indication of an +amiable and virtuous disposition, operated upon more by love than by +pure unmixed fear. +</P> + +<P> +When we reflect on the temptations to which man must necessarily be +exposed in this world, from the structure of his frame, and the +operation of the laws of nature, and the consequent moral certainty +that many vessels will come out of this mighty creative furnace in +wrong shapes, it is perfectly impossible to conceive that any of these +creatures of God's hand can be condemned to eternal suffering. Could we +once admit such an idea, it our natural conceptions of goodness and +justice would be completely overthrown, and we could no longer look up +to God as a merciful and righteous Being. But the doctrine of life and +Mortality which was brought to light by the gospel, the doctrine that +the end of righteousness is everlasting life, but that the wages of sin +are death, is in every respect just and merciful, and worthy of the +great Creator. Nothing can appear more consonant to our reason than +that those beings which come out of the creative process of the world +in lovely and beautiful forms should be crowned with immortality, while +those which come out misshapen, those whose minds are not suited to a +purer and happier state of existence, should perish and be condemned to +mix again with their original clay. Eternal condemnation of this kind +may be considered as a species of eternal punishment, and it is not +wonderful that it should be represented, sometimes, under images of +suffering. But life and death, salvation and destruction, are more +frequently opposed to each other in the New Testament than happiness +and misery. The Supreme Being would appear to us in a very different +view if we were to consider him as pursuing the creatures that had +offended him with eternal hate and torture, instead of merely +condemning to their original insensibility those beings that, by the +operation of general laws, had not been formed with qualities suited to +a purer state of happiness. +</P> + +<P> +Life is, generally speaking, a blessing independent of a future state. +It is a gift which the vicious would not always be ready to throw away, +even if they had no fear of death. The partial pain, therefore, that is +inflicted by the supreme Creator, while he is forming numberless beings +to a capacity of the highest enjoyments, is but as the dust of the +balance in comparison of the happiness that is communicated, and we +have every reason to think that there is no more evil in the world than +what is absolutely necessary as one of the ingredients in the mighty +process. +</P> + +<P> +The striking necessity of general laws for the formation of intellect +will not in any respect be contradicted by one or two exceptions, and +these evidently not intended for partial purposes, but calculated to +operate upon a great part of mankind, and through many ages. Upon the +idea that I have given of the formation of mind, the infringement of +the general law of nature, by a divine revelation, will appear in the +light of the immediate hand of God mixing new ingredients in the mighty +mass, suited to the particular state of the process, and calculated to +give rise to a new and powerful train of impressions, tending to +purify, exalt, and improve the human mind. The miracles that +accompanied these revelations when they had once excited the attention +of mankind, and rendered it a matter of most interesting discussion, +whether the doctrine was from God or man, had performed their part, had +answered the purpose of the Creator, and these communications of the +divine will were afterwards left to make their way by their own +intrinsic excellence; and, by operating as moral motives, gradually to +influence and improve, and not to overpower and stagnate the faculties +of man. +</P> + +<P> +It would be, undoubtedly, presumptuous to say that the Supreme Being +could not possibly have effected his purpose in any other way than that +which he has chosen, but as the revelation of the divine will which we +possess is attended with some doubts and difficulties, and as our +reason points out to us the strongest objections to a revelation which +would force immediate, implicit, universal belief, we have surely just +cause to think that these doubts and difficulties are no argument +against the divine origin of the scriptures, and that the species of +evidence which they possess is best suited to the improvement of the +human faculties and the moral amelioration of mankind. +</P> + +<P> +The idea that the impressions and excitements of this world are the +instruments with which the Supreme Being forms matter into mind, and +that the necessity of constant exertion to avoid evil and to pursue +good is the principal spring of these impressions and excitements, +seems to smooth many of the difficulties that occur in a contemplation +of human life, and appears to me to give a satisfactory reason for the +existence of natural and moral evil, and, consequently, for that part +of both, and it certainly is not a very small part, which arises from +the principle of population. But, though, upon this supposition, it +seems highly improbable that evil should ever be removed from the +world; yet it is evident that this impression would not answer the +apparent purpose of the Creator; it would not act so powerfully as an +excitement to exertion, if the quantity of it did not diminish or +increase with the activity or the indolence of man. The continual +variations in the weight and in the distribution of this pressure keep +alive a constant expectation of throwing it off. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Hope springs eternal in the Human breast,<BR> + Man never is, but always to be blest."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Evil exists in the world not to create despair but activity. We are not +patiently to submit to it, but to exert ourselves to avoid it. It is +not only the interest but the duty of every individual to use his +utmost efforts to remove evil from himself and from as large a circle +as he can influence, and the more he exercises himself in this duty, +the more wisely he directs his efforts, and the more successful these +efforts are; the more he will probably improve and exalt his own mind, +and the more completely does he appear to fulfil the will of his +Creator. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Essay on the Principle of Population, by +Thomas Malthus + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAY--PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION *** + +***** This file should be named 4239-h.htm or 4239-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/3/4239/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Essay on the Principle of Population + +Author: Thomas Malthus + +Posting Date: July 23, 2009 [EBook #4239] +Release Date: July, 2003 +First Posted: December 14, 2001 +Last Updated: June 30, 2007 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAY--PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +An Essay on the Principle of Population + +Thomas Malthus + + + +1798 + + + + + +AN ESSAY ON THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION, AS IT AFFECTS THE FUTURE +IMPROVEMENT OF SOCIETY WITH REMARKS ON THE SPECULATIONS OF MR. GODWIN, +M. CONDORCET, AND OTHER WRITERS. + +LONDON, PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, IN ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD, 1798. + + + + +Preface + + +The following Essay owes its origin to a conversation with a friend, on +the subject of Mr Godwin's essay on avarice and profusion, in his +Enquirer. The discussion started the general question of the future +improvement of society, and the Author at first sat down with an +intention of merely stating his thoughts to his friend, upon paper, in +a clearer manner than he thought he could do in conversation. But as +the subject opened upon him, some ideas occurred, which he did not +recollect to have met with before; and as he conceived that every least +light, on a topic so generally interesting, might be received with +candour, he determined to put his thoughts in a form for publication. + +The Essay might, undoubtedly, have been rendered much more complete by +a collection of a greater number of facts in elucidation of the general +argument. But a long and almost total interruption from very particular +business, joined to a desire (perhaps imprudent) of not delaying the +publication much beyond the time that he originally proposed, prevented +the Author from giving to the subject an undivided attention. He +presumes, however, that the facts which he has adduced will be found to +form no inconsiderable evidence for the truth of his opinion respecting +the future improvement of mankind. As the Author contemplates this +opinion at present, little more appears to him to be necessary than a +plain statement, in addition to the most cursory view of society, to +establish it. + +It is an obvious truth, which has been taken notice of by many writers, +that population must always be kept down to the level of the means of +subsistence; but no writer that the Author recollects has inquired +particularly into the means by which this level is effected: and it is +a view of these means which forms, to his mind, the strongest obstacle +in the way to any very great future improvement of society. He hopes it +will appear that, in the discussion of this interesting subject, he is +actuated solely by a love of truth, and not by any prejudices against +any particular set of men, or of opinions. He professes to have read +some of the speculations on the future improvement of society in a +temper very different from a wish to find them visionary, but he has +not acquired that command over his understanding which would enable him +to believe what he wishes, without evidence, or to refuse his assent to +what might be unpleasing, when accompanied with evidence. + +The view which he has given of human life has a melancholy hue, but he +feels conscious that he has drawn these dark tints from a conviction +that they are really in the picture, and not from a jaundiced eye or an +inherent spleen of disposition. The theory of mind which he has +sketched in the two last chapters accounts to his own understanding in +a satisfactory manner for the existence of most of the evils of life, +but whether it will have the same effect upon others must be left to +the judgement of his readers. + +If he should succeed in drawing the attention of more able men to what +he conceives to be the principal difficulty in the way to the +improvement of society and should, in consequence, see this difficulty +removed, even in theory, he will gladly retract his present opinions +and rejoice in a conviction of his error. + + 7 June 1798 + + + + +CHAPTER 1 + +Question stated--Little prospect of a determination of it, from the +enmity of the opposing parties--The principal argument against the +perfectibility of man and of society has never been fairly +answered--Nature of the difficulty arising from population--Outline of +the principal argument of the Essay + + +The great and unlooked for discoveries that have taken place of late +years in natural philosophy, the increasing diffusion of general +knowledge from the extension of the art of printing, the ardent and +unshackled spirit of inquiry that prevails throughout the lettered and +even unlettered world, the new and extraordinary lights that have been +thrown on political subjects which dazzle and astonish the +understanding, and particularly that tremendous phenomenon in the +political horizon, the French Revolution, which, like a blazing comet, +seems destined either to inspire with fresh life and vigour, or to +scorch up and destroy the shrinking inhabitants of the earth, have all +concurred to lead many able men into the opinion that we were touching +on a period big with the most important changes, changes that would in +some measure be decisive of the future fate of mankind. + +It has been said that the great question is now at issue, whether man +shall henceforth start forwards with accelerated velocity towards +illimitable, and hitherto unconceived improvement, or be condemned to a +perpetual oscillation between happiness and misery, and after every +effort remain still at an immeasurable distance from the wished-for +goal. + +Yet, anxiously as every friend of mankind must look forwards to the +termination of this painful suspense, and eagerly as the inquiring mind +would hail every ray of light that might assist its view into futurity, +it is much to be lamented that the writers on each side of this +momentous question still keep far aloof from each other. Their mutual +arguments do not meet with a candid examination. The question is not +brought to rest on fewer points, and even in theory scarcely seems to +be approaching to a decision. + +The advocate for the present order of things is apt to treat the sect +of speculative philosophers either as a set of artful and designing +knaves who preach up ardent benevolence and draw captivating pictures +of a happier state of society only the better to enable them to destroy +the present establishments and to forward their own deep-laid schemes +of ambition, or as wild and mad-headed enthusiasts whose silly +speculations and absurd paradoxes are not worthy the attention of any +reasonable man. + +The advocate for the perfectibility of man, and of society, retorts on +the defender of establishments a more than equal contempt. He brands +him as the slave of the most miserable and narrow prejudices; or as the +defender of the abuses of civil society only because he profits by +them. He paints him either as a character who prostitutes his +understanding to his interest, or as one whose powers of mind are not +of a size to grasp any thing great and noble, who cannot see above five +yards before him, and who must therefore be utterly unable to take in +the views of the enlightened benefactor of mankind. + +In this unamicable contest the cause of truth cannot but suffer. The +really good arguments on each side of the question are not allowed to +have their proper weight. Each pursues his own theory, little +solicitous to correct or improve it by an attention to what is advanced +by his opponents. + +The friend of the present order of things condemns all political +speculations in the gross. He will not even condescend to examine the +grounds from which the perfectibility of society is inferred. Much less +will he give himself the trouble in a fair and candid manner to attempt +an exposition of their fallacy. + +The speculative philosopher equally offends against the cause of truth. +With eyes fixed on a happier state of society, the blessings of which +he paints in the most captivating colours, he allows himself to indulge +in the most bitter invectives against every present establishment, +without applying his talents to consider the best and safest means of +removing abuses and without seeming to be aware of the tremendous +obstacles that threaten, even in theory, to oppose the progress of man +towards perfection. + +It is an acknowledged truth in philosophy that a just theory will +always be confirmed by experiment. Yet so much friction, and so many +minute circumstances occur in practice, which it is next to impossible +for the most enlarged and penetrating mind to foresee, that on few +subjects can any theory be pronounced just, till all the arguments +against it have been maturely weighed and clearly and consistently +refuted. + +I have read some of the speculations on the perfectibility of man and +of society with great pleasure. I have been warmed and delighted with +the enchanting picture which they hold forth. I ardently wish for such +happy improvements. But I see great, and, to my understanding, +unconquerable difficulties in the way to them. These difficulties it is +my present purpose to state, declaring, at the same time, that so far +from exulting in them, as a cause of triumph over the friends of +innovation, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see them +completely removed. + +The most important argument that I shall adduce is certainly not new. +The principles on which it depends have been explained in part by Hume, +and more at large by Dr Adam Smith. It has been advanced and applied to +the present subject, though not with its proper weight, or in the most +forcible point of view, by Mr Wallace, and it may probably have been +stated by many writers that I have never met with. I should certainly +therefore not think of advancing it again, though I mean to place it in +a point of view in some degree different from any that I have hitherto +seen, if it had ever been fairly and satisfactorily answered. + +The cause of this neglect on the part of the advocates for the +perfectibility of mankind is not easily accounted for. I cannot doubt +the talents of such men as Godwin and Condorcet. I am unwilling to +doubt their candour. To my understanding, and probably to that of most +others, the difficulty appears insurmountable. Yet these men of +acknowledged ability and penetration scarcely deign to notice it, and +hold on their course in such speculations with unabated ardour and +undiminished confidence. I have certainly no right to say that they +purposely shut their eyes to such arguments. I ought rather to doubt +the validity of them, when neglected by such men, however forcibly +their truth may strike my own mind. Yet in this respect it must be +acknowledged that we are all of us too prone to err. If I saw a glass +of wine repeatedly presented to a man, and he took no notice of it, I +should be apt to think that he was blind or uncivil. A juster +philosophy might teach me rather to think that my eyes deceived me and +that the offer was not really what I conceived it to be. + +In entering upon the argument I must premise that I put out of the +question, at present, all mere conjectures, that is, all suppositions, +the probable realization of which cannot be inferred upon any just +philosophical grounds. A writer may tell me that he thinks man will +ultimately become an ostrich. I cannot properly contradict him. But +before he can expect to bring any reasonable person over to his +opinion, he ought to shew that the necks of mankind have been gradually +elongating, that the lips have grown harder and more prominent, that +the legs and feet are daily altering their shape, and that the hair is +beginning to change into stubs of feathers. And till the probability of +so wonderful a conversion can be shewn, it is surely lost time and lost +eloquence to expatiate on the happiness of man in such a state; to +describe his powers, both of running and flying, to paint him in a +condition where all narrow luxuries would be contemned, where he would +be employed only in collecting the necessaries of life, and where, +consequently, each man's share of labour would be light, and his +portion of leisure ample. + +I think I may fairly make two postulata. + +First, That food is necessary to the existence of man. + +Secondly, That the passion between the sexes is necessary and will +remain nearly in its present state. + +These two laws, ever since we have had any knowledge of mankind, appear +to have been fixed laws of our nature, and, as we have not hitherto +seen any alteration in them, we have no right to conclude that they +will ever cease to be what they now are, without an immediate act of +power in that Being who first arranged the system of the universe, and +for the advantage of his creatures, still executes, according to fixed +laws, all its various operations. + +I do not know that any writer has supposed that on this earth man will +ultimately be able to live without food. But Mr Godwin has conjectured +that the passion between the sexes may in time be extinguished. As, +however, he calls this part of his work a deviation into the land of +conjecture, I will not dwell longer upon it at present than to say that +the best arguments for the perfectibility of man are drawn from a +contemplation of the great progress that he has already made from the +savage state and the difficulty of saying where he is to stop. But +towards the extinction of the passion between the sexes, no progress +whatever has hitherto been made. It appears to exist in as much force +at present as it did two thousand or four thousand years ago. There are +individual exceptions now as there always have been. But, as these +exceptions do not appear to increase in number, it would surely be a +very unphilosophical mode of arguing to infer, merely from the +existence of an exception, that the exception would, in time, become +the rule, and the rule the exception. + +Assuming then my postulata as granted, I say, that the power of +population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to +produce subsistence for man. + +Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. +Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight +acquaintance with numbers will shew the immensity of the first power in +comparison of the second. + +By that law of our nature which makes food necessary to the life of +man, the effects of these two unequal powers must be kept equal. + +This implies a strong and constantly operating check on population from +the difficulty of subsistence. This difficulty must fall somewhere and +must necessarily be severely felt by a large portion of mankind. + +Through the animal and vegetable kingdoms, nature has scattered the +seeds of life abroad with the most profuse and liberal hand. She has +been comparatively sparing in the room and the nourishment necessary to +rear them. The germs of existence contained in this spot of earth, with +ample food, and ample room to expand in, would fill millions of worlds +in the course of a few thousand years. Necessity, that imperious all +pervading law of nature, restrains them within the prescribed bounds. +The race of plants and the race of animals shrink under this great +restrictive law. And the race of man cannot, by any efforts of reason, +escape from it. Among plants and animals its effects are waste of seed, +sickness, and premature death. Among mankind, misery and vice. The +former, misery, is an absolutely necessary consequence of it. Vice is a +highly probable consequence, and we therefore see it abundantly +prevail, but it ought not, perhaps, to be called an absolutely +necessary consequence. The ordeal of virtue is to resist all temptation +to evil. + +This natural inequality of the two powers of population and of +production in the earth, and that great law of our nature which must +constantly keep their effects equal, form the great difficulty that to +me appears insurmountable in the way to the perfectibility of society. +All other arguments are of slight and subordinate consideration in +comparison of this. I see no way by which man can escape from the +weight of this law which pervades all animated nature. No fancied +equality, no agrarian regulations in their utmost extent, could remove +the pressure of it even for a single century. And it appears, +therefore, to be decisive against the possible existence of a society, +all the members of which should live in ease, happiness, and +comparative leisure; and feel no anxiety about providing the means of +subsistence for themselves and families. + +Consequently, if the premises are just, the argument is conclusive +against the perfectibility of the mass of mankind. + +I have thus sketched the general outline of the argument, but I will +examine it more particularly, and I think it will be found that +experience, the true source and foundation of all knowledge, invariably +confirms its truth. + + + + +CHAPTER 2 + +The different ratio in which population and food increase--The +necessary effects of these different ratios of increase--Oscillation +produced by them in the condition of the lower classes of +society--Reasons why this oscillation has not been so much observed as +might be expected--Three propositions on which the general argument of +the Essay depends--The different states in which mankind have been +known to exist proposed to be examined with reference to these three +propositions. + + +I said that population, when unchecked, increased in a geometrical +ratio, and subsistence for man in an arithmetical ratio. + +Let us examine whether this position be just. I think it will be +allowed, that no state has hitherto existed (at least that we have any +account of) where the manners were so pure and simple, and the means of +subsistence so abundant, that no check whatever has existed to early +marriages, among the lower classes, from a fear of not providing well +for their families, or among the higher classes, from a fear of +lowering their condition in life. Consequently in no state that we have +yet known has the power of population been left to exert itself with +perfect freedom. + +Whether the law of marriage be instituted or not, the dictate of nature +and virtue seems to be an early attachment to one woman. Supposing a +liberty of changing in the case of an unfortunate choice, this liberty +would not affect population till it arose to a height greatly vicious; +and we are now supposing the existence of a society where vice is +scarcely known. + +In a state therefore of great equality and virtue, where pure and +simple manners prevailed, and where the means of subsistence were so +abundant that no part of the society could have any fears about +providing amply for a family, the power of population being left to +exert itself unchecked, the increase of the human species would +evidently be much greater than any increase that has been hitherto +known. + +In the United States of America, where the means of subsistence have +been more ample, the manners of the people more pure, and consequently +the checks to early marriages fewer, than in any of the modern states +of Europe, the population has been found to double itself in +twenty-five years. + +This ratio of increase, though short of the utmost power of population, +yet as the result of actual experience, we will take as our rule, and +say, that population, when unchecked, goes on doubling itself every +twenty-five years or increases in a geometrical ratio. + +Let us now take any spot of earth, this Island for instance, and see in +what ratio the subsistence it affords can be supposed to increase. We +will begin with it under its present state of cultivation. + +If I allow that by the best possible policy, by breaking up more land +and by great encouragements to agriculture, the produce of this Island +may be doubled in the first twenty-five years, I think it will be +allowing as much as any person can well demand. + +In the next twenty-five years, it is impossible to suppose that the +produce could be quadrupled. It would be contrary to all our knowledge +of the qualities of land. The very utmost that we can conceive, is, +that the increase in the second twenty-five years might equal the +present produce. Let us then take this for our rule, though certainly +far beyond the truth, and allow that, by great exertion, the whole +produce of the Island might be increased every twenty-five years, by a +quantity of subsistence equal to what it at present produces. The most +enthusiastic speculator cannot suppose a greater increase than this. In +a few centuries it would make every acre of land in the Island like a +garden. + +Yet this ratio of increase is evidently arithmetical. + +It may be fairly said, therefore, that the means of subsistence +increase in an arithmetical ratio. Let us now bring the effects of +these two ratios together. + +The population of the Island is computed to be about seven millions, +and we will suppose the present produce equal to the support of such a +number. In the first twenty-five years the population would be fourteen +millions, and the food being also doubled, the means of subsistence +would be equal to this increase. In the next twenty-five years the +population would be twenty-eight millions, and the means of subsistence +only equal to the support of twenty-one millions. In the next period, +the population would be fifty-six millions, and the means of +subsistence just sufficient for half that number. And at the conclusion +of the first century the population would be one hundred and twelve +millions and the means of subsistence only equal to the support of +thirty-five millions, which would leave a population of seventy-seven +millions totally unprovided for. + +A great emigration necessarily implies unhappiness of some kind or +other in the country that is deserted. For few persons will leave their +families, connections, friends, and native land, to seek a settlement +in untried foreign climes, without some strong subsisting causes of +uneasiness where they are, or the hope of some great advantages in the +place to which they are going. + +But to make the argument more general and less interrupted by the +partial views of emigration, let us take the whole earth, instead of +one spot, and suppose that the restraints to population were +universally removed. If the subsistence for man that the earth affords +was to be increased every twenty-five years by a quantity equal to what +the whole world at present produces, this would allow the power of +production in the earth to be absolutely unlimited, and its ratio of +increase much greater than we can conceive that any possible exertions +of mankind could make it. + +Taking the population of the world at any number, a thousand millions, +for instance, the human species would increase in the ratio of--1, 2, +4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, etc. and subsistence as--1, 2, 3, 4, +5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc. In two centuries and a quarter, the population +would be to the means of subsistence as 512 to 10: in three centuries +as 4096 to 13, and in two thousand years the difference would be almost +incalculable, though the produce in that time would have increased to +an immense extent. + +No limits whatever are placed to the productions of the earth; they may +increase for ever and be greater than any assignable quantity, yet +still the power of population being a power of a superior order, the +increase of the human species can only be kept commensurate to the +increase of the means of subsistence by the constant operation of the +strong law of necessity acting as a check upon the greater power. + +The effects of this check remain now to be considered. + +Among plants and animals the view of the subject is simple. They are +all impelled by a powerful instinct to the increase of their species, +and this instinct is interrupted by no reasoning or doubts about +providing for their offspring. Wherever therefore there is liberty, the +power of increase is exerted, and the superabundant effects are +repressed afterwards by want of room and nourishment, which is common +to animals and plants, and among animals by becoming the prey of others. + +The effects of this check on man are more complicated. Impelled to the +increase of his species by an equally powerful instinct, reason +interrupts his career and asks him whether he may not bring beings into +the world for whom he cannot provide the means of subsistence. In a +state of equality, this would be the simple question. In the present +state of society, other considerations occur. Will he not lower his +rank in life? Will he not subject himself to greater difficulties than +he at present feels? Will he not be obliged to labour harder? and if he +has a large family, will his utmost exertions enable him to support +them? May he not see his offspring in rags and misery, and clamouring +for bread that he cannot give them? And may he not be reduced to the +grating necessity of forfeiting his independence, and of being obliged +to the sparing hand of charity for support? + +These considerations are calculated to prevent, and certainly do +prevent, a very great number in all civilized nations from pursuing the +dictate of nature in an early attachment to one woman. And this +restraint almost necessarily, though not absolutely so, produces vice. +Yet in all societies, even those that are most vicious, the tendency to +a virtuous attachment is so strong that there is a constant effort +towards an increase of population. This constant effort as constantly +tends to subject the lower classes of the society to distress and to +prevent any great permanent amelioration of their condition. + +The way in which, these effects are produced seems to be this. We will +suppose the means of subsistence in any country just equal to the easy +support of its inhabitants. The constant effort towards population, +which is found to act even in the most vicious societies, increases the +number of people before the means of subsistence are increased. The +food therefore which before supported seven millions must now be +divided among seven millions and a half or eight millions. The poor +consequently must live much worse, and many of them be reduced to +severe distress. The number of labourers also being above the +proportion of the work in the market, the price of labour must tend +toward a decrease, while the price of provisions would at the same time +tend to rise. The labourer therefore must work harder to earn the same +as he did before. During this season of distress, the discouragements +to marriage, and the difficulty of rearing a family are so great that +population is at a stand. In the mean time the cheapness of labour, the +plenty of labourers, and the necessity of an increased industry amongst +them, encourage cultivators to employ more labour upon their land, to +turn up fresh soil, and to manure and improve more completely what is +already in tillage, till ultimately the means of subsistence become in +the same proportion to the population as at the period from which we +set out. The situation of the labourer being then again tolerably +comfortable, the restraints to population are in some degree loosened, +and the same retrograde and progressive movements with respect to +happiness are repeated. + +This sort of oscillation will not be remarked by superficial observers, +and it may be difficult even for the most penetrating mind to calculate +its periods. Yet that in all old states some such vibration does exist, +though from various transverse causes, in a much less marked, and in a +much more irregular manner than I have described it, no reflecting man +who considers the subject deeply can well doubt. + +Many reasons occur why this oscillation has been less obvious, and less +decidedly confirmed by experience, than might naturally be expected. + +One principal reason is that the histories of mankind that we possess +are histories only of the higher classes. We have but few accounts that +can be depended upon of the manners and customs of that part of mankind +where these retrograde and progressive movements chiefly take place. A +satisfactory history of this kind, on one people, and of one period, +would require the constant and minute attention of an observing mind +during a long life. Some of the objects of inquiry would be, in what +proportion to the number of adults was the number of marriages, to what +extent vicious customs prevailed in consequence of the restraints upon +matrimony, what was the comparative mortality among the children of the +most distressed part of the community and those who lived rather more +at their ease, what were the variations in the real price of labour, +and what were the observable differences in the state of the lower +classes of society with respect to ease and happiness, at different +times during a certain period. + +Such a history would tend greatly to elucidate the manner in which the +constant check upon population acts and would probably prove the +existence of the retrograde and progressive movements that have been +mentioned, though the times of their vibrations must necessarily be +rendered irregular from the operation of many interrupting causes, such +as the introduction or failure of certain manufactures, a greater or +less prevalent spirit of agricultural enterprise, years of plenty, or +years of scarcity, wars and pestilence, poor laws, the invention of +processes for shortening labour without the proportional extension of +the market for the commodity, and, particularly, the difference between +the nominal and real price of labour, a circumstance which has perhaps +more than any other contributed to conceal this oscillation from common +view. + +It very rarely happens that the nominal price of labour universally +falls, but we well know that it frequently remains the same, while the +nominal price of provisions has been gradually increasing. This is, in +effect, a real fall in the price of labour, and during this period the +condition of the lower orders of the community must gradually grow +worse and worse. But the farmers and capitalists are growing rich from +the real cheapness of labour. Their increased capitals enable them to +employ a greater number of men. Work therefore may be plentiful, and +the price of labour would consequently rise. But the want of freedom in +the market of labour, which occurs more or less in all communities, +either from parish laws, or the more general cause of the facility of +combination among the rich, and its difficulty among the poor, operates +to prevent the price of labour from rising at the natural period, and +keeps it down some time longer; perhaps till a year of scarcity, when +the clamour is too loud and the necessity too apparent to be resisted. + +The true cause of the advance in the price of labour is thus concealed, +and the rich affect to grant it as an act of compassion and favour to +the poor, in consideration of a year of scarcity, and, when plenty +returns, indulge themselves in the most unreasonable of all complaints, +that the price does not again fall, when a little rejection would shew +them that it must have risen long before but from an unjust conspiracy +of their own. + +But though the rich by unfair combinations contribute frequently to +prolong a season of distress among the poor, yet no possible form of +society could prevent the almost constant action of misery upon a great +part of mankind, if in a state of inequality, and upon all, if all were +equal. + +The theory on which the truth of this position depends appears to me so +extremely clear that I feel at a loss to conjecture what part of it can +be denied. + +That population cannot increase without the means of subsistence is a +proposition so evident that it needs no illustration. + +That population does invariably increase where there are the means of +subsistence, the history of every people that have ever existed will +abundantly prove. + +And that the superior power of population cannot be checked without +producing misery or vice, the ample portion of these too bitter +ingredients in the cup of human life and the continuance of the +physical causes that seem to have produced them bear too convincing a +testimony. + +But, in order more fully to ascertain the validity of these three +propositions, let us examine the different states in which mankind have +been known to exist. Even a cursory review will, I think, be sufficient +to convince us that these propositions are incontrovertible truths. + + + + +CHAPTER 3 + +The savage or hunter state shortly reviewed--The shepherd state, or the +tribes of barbarians that overran the Roman Empire--The superiority of +the power of population to the means of subsistence--the cause of the +great tide of Northern Emigration. + + +In the rudest state of mankind, in which hunting is the principal +occupation, and the only mode of acquiring food; the means of +subsistence being scattered over a large extent of territory, the +comparative population must necessarily be thin. It is said that the +passion between the sexes is less ardent among the North American +Indians, than among any other race of men. Yet, notwithstanding this +apathy, the effort towards population, even in this people, seems to be +always greater than the means to support it. This appears, from the +comparatively rapid population that takes place, whenever any of the +tribes happen to settle in some fertile spot, and to draw nourishment +from more fruitful sources than that of hunting; and it has been +frequently remarked that when an Indian family has taken up its abode +near any European settlement, and adopted a more easy and civilized +mode of life, that one woman has reared five, or six, or more children; +though in the savage state it rarely happens that above one or two in a +family grow up to maturity. The same observation has been made with +regard to the Hottentots near the Cape. These facts prove the superior +power of population to the means of subsistence in nations of hunters, +and that this power always shews itself the moment it is left to act +with freedom. + +It remains to inquire whether this power can be checked, and its +effects kept equal to the means of subsistence, without vice or misery. + +The North American Indians, considered as a people, cannot justly be +called free and equal. In all the accounts we have of them, and, +indeed, of most other savage nations, the women are represented as much +more completely in a state of slavery to the men than the poor are to +the rich in civilized countries. One half the nation appears to act as +Helots to the other half, and the misery that checks population falls +chiefly, as it always must do, upon that part whose condition is lowest +in the scale of society. The infancy of man in the simplest state +requires considerable attention, but this necessary attention the women +cannot give, condemned as they are to the inconveniences and hardships +of frequent change of place and to the constant and unremitting +drudgery of preparing every thing for the reception of their tyrannic +lords. These exertions, sometimes during pregnancy or with children at +their backs, must occasion frequent miscarriages, and prevent any but +the most robust infants from growing to maturity. Add to these +hardships of the women the constant war that prevails among savages, +and the necessity which they frequently labour under of exposing their +aged and helpless parents, and of thus violating the first feelings of +nature, and the picture will not appear very free from the blot of +misery. In estimating the happiness of a savage nation, we must not fix +our eyes only on the warrior in the prime of life: he is one of a +hundred: he is the gentleman, the man of fortune, the chances have been +in his favour and many efforts have failed ere this fortunate being was +produced, whose guardian genius should preserve him through the +numberless dangers with which he would be surrounded from infancy to +manhood. The true points of comparison between two nations seem to be +the ranks in each which appear nearest to answer to each other. And in +this view, I should compare the warriors in the prime of life with the +gentlemen, and the women, children, and aged, with the lower classes of +the community in civilized states. + +May we not then fairly infer from this short review, or rather, from +the accounts that may be referred to of nations of hunters, that their +population is thin from the scarcity of food, that it would immediately +increase if food was in greater plenty, and that, putting vice out of +the question among savages, misery is the check that represses the +superior power of population and keeps its effects equal to the means +of subsistence. Actual observation and experience tell us that this +check, with a few local and temporary exceptions, is constantly acting +now upon all savage nations, and the theory indicates that it probably +acted with nearly equal strength a thousand years ago, and it may not +be much greater a thousand years hence. + +Of the manners and habits that prevail among nations of shepherds, the +next state of mankind, we are even more ignorant than of the savage +state. But that these nations could not escape the general lot of +misery arising from the want of subsistence, Europe, and all the +fairest countries in the world, bear ample testimony. Want was the goad +that drove the Scythian shepherds from their native haunts, like so +many famished wolves in search of prey. Set in motion by this all +powerful cause, clouds of Barbarians seemed to collect from all points +of the northern hemisphere. Gathering fresh darkness and terror as they +rolled on, the congregated bodies at length obscured the sun of Italy +and sunk the whole world in universal night. These tremendous effects, +so long and so deeply felt throughout the fairest portions of the +earth, may be traced to the simple cause of the superior power of +population to the means of subsistence. + +It is well known that a country in pasture cannot support so many +inhabitants as a country in tillage, but what renders nations of +shepherds so formidable is the power which they possess of moving all +together and the necessity they frequently feel of exerting this power +in search of fresh pasture for their herds. A tribe that was rich in +cattle had an immediate plenty of food. Even the parent stock might be +devoured in a case of absolute necessity. The women lived in greater +ease than among nations of hunters. The men bold in their united +strength and confiding in their power of procuring pasture for their +cattle by change of place, felt, probably, but few fears about +providing for a family. These combined causes soon produced their +natural and invariable effect, an extended population. A more frequent +and rapid change of place became then necessary. A wider and more +extensive territory was successively occupied. A broader desolation +extended all around them. Want pinched the less fortunate members of +the society, and, at length, the impossibility of supporting such a +number together became too evident to be resisted. Young scions were +then pushed out from the parent-stock and instructed to explore fresh +regions and to gain happier seats for themselves by their swords. 'The +world was all before them where to choose.' Restless from present +distress, flushed with the hope of fairer prospects, and animated with +the spirit of hardy enterprise, these daring adventurers were likely to +become formidable adversaries to all who opposed them. The peaceful +inhabitants of the countries on which they rushed could not long +withstand the energy of men acting under such powerful motives of +exertion. And when they fell in with any tribes like their own, the +contest was a struggle for existence, and they fought with a desperate +courage, inspired by the rejection that death was the punishment of +defeat and life the prize of victory. + +In these savage contests many tribes must have been utterly +exterminated. Some, probably, perished by hardship and famine. Others, +whose leading star had given them a happier direction, became great and +powerful tribes, and, in their turns, sent off fresh adventurers in +search of still more fertile seats. The prodigious waste of human life +occasioned by this perpetual struggle for room and food was more than +supplied by the mighty power of population, acting, in some degree, +unshackled from the consent habit of emigration. The tribes that +migrated towards the South, though they won these more fruitful regions +by continual battles, rapidly increased in number and power, from the +increased means of subsistence. Till at length the whole territory, +from the confines of China to the shores of the Baltic, was peopled by +a various race of Barbarians, brave, robust, and enterprising, inured +to hardship, and delighting in war. Some tribes maintained their +independence. Others ranged themselves under the standard of some +barbaric chieftain who led them to victory after victory, and what was +of more importance, to regions abounding in corn, wine, and oil, the +long wished for consummation, and great reward of their labours. An +Alaric, an Attila, or a Zingis Khan, and the chiefs around them, might +fight for glory, for the fame of extensive conquests, but the true +cause that set in motion the great tide of northern emigration, and +that continued to propel it till it rolled at different periods against +China, Persia, Italy, and even Egypt, was a scarcity of food, a +population extended beyond the means of supporting it. + +The absolute population at any one period, in proportion to the extent +of territory, could never be great, on account of the unproductive +nature of some of the regions occupied; but there appears to have been +a most rapid succession of human beings, and as fast as some were mowed +down by the scythe of war or of famine, others rose in increased +numbers to supply their place. Among these bold and improvident +Barbarians, population was probably but little checked, as in modern +states, from a fear of future difficulties. A prevailing hope of +bettering their condition by change of place, a constant expectation of +plunder, a power even, if distressed, of selling their children as +slaves, added to the natural carelessness of the barbaric character, +all conspired to raise a population which remained to be repressed +afterwards by famine or war. + +Where there is any inequality of conditions, and among nations of +shepherds this soon takes place, the distress arising from a scarcity +of provisions must fall hardest upon the least fortunate members of the +society. This distress also must frequently have been felt by the +women, exposed to casual plunder in the absence of their husbands, and +subject to continual disappointments in their expected return. + +But without knowing enough of the minute and intimate history of these +people, to point out precisely on what part the distress for want of +food chiefly fell, and to what extent it was generally felt, I think we +may fairly say, from all the accounts that we have of nations of +shepherds, that population invariably increased among them whenever, by +emigration or any other cause, the means of subsistence were increased, +and that a further population was checked, and the actual population +kept equal to the means of subsistence, by misery and vice. + +For, independently of any vicious customs that might have prevailed +amongst them with regard to women, which always operate as checks to +population, it must be acknowledged, I think, that the commission of +war is vice, and the effect of it misery, and none can doubt the misery +of want of food. + + + + +CHAPTER 4 + +State of civilized nations--Probability that Europe is much more +populous now than in the time of Julius Caesar--Best criterion of +population--Probable error of Hume in one the criterions that he +proposes as assisting in an estimate of population--Slow increase of +population at present in most of the states of Europe--The two +principal checks to population--The first, or preventive check examined +with regard to England. + + +In examining the next state of mankind with relation to the question +before us, the state of mixed pasture and tillage, in which with some +variation in the proportions the most civilized nations must always +remain, we shall be assisted in our review by what we daily see around +us, by actual experience, by facts that come within the scope of every +man's observation. + +Notwithstanding the exaggerations of some old historians, there can +remain no doubt in the mind of any thinking man that the population of +the principal countries of Europe, France, England, Germany, Russia, +Poland, Sweden, and Denmark is much greater than ever it was in former +times. The obvious reason of these exaggerations is the formidable +aspect that even a thinly peopled nation must have, when collected +together and moving all at once in search of fresh seats. If to this +tremendous appearance be added a succession at certain intervals of +similar emigrations, we shall not be much surprised that the fears of +the timid nations of the South represented the North as a region +absolutely swarming with human beings. A nearer and juster view of the +subject at present enables us to see that the inference was as absurd +as if a man in this country, who was continually meeting on the road +droves of cattle from Wales and the North, was immediately to conclude +that these countries were the most productive of all the parts of the +kingdom. + +The reason that the greater part of Europe is more populous now than it +was in former times, is that the industry of the inhabitants has made +these countries produce a greater quantity of human subsistence. For I +conceive that it may be laid down as a position not to be controverted, +that, taking a sufficient extent of territory to include within it +exportation and importation, and allowing some variation for the +prevalence of luxury, or of frugal habits, that population constantly +bears a regular proportion to the food that the earth is made to +produce. In the controversy concerning the populousness of ancient and +modern nations, could it be clearly ascertained that the average +produce of the countries in question, taken altogether, is greater now +than it was in the times of Julius Caesar, the dispute would be at once +determined. + +When we are assured that China is the most fertile country in the +world, that almost all the land is in tillage, and that a great part of +it bears two crops every year, and further, that the people live very +frugally, we may infer with certainty that the population must be +immense, without busying ourselves in inquiries into the manners and +habits of the lower classes and the encouragements to early marriages. +But these inquiries are of the utmost importance, and a minute history +of the customs of the lower Chinese would be of the greatest use in +ascertaining in what manner the checks to a further population operate; +what are the vices, and what are the distresses that prevent an +increase of numbers beyond the ability of the country to support. + +Hume, in his essay on the populousness of ancient and modern nations, +when he intermingles, as he says, an inquiry concerning causes with +that concerning facts, does not seem to see with his usual penetration +how very little some of the causes he alludes to could enable him to +form any judgement of the actual population of ancient nations. If any +inference can be drawn from them, perhaps it should be directly the +reverse of what Hume draws, though I certainly ought to speak with +great diffidence in dissenting from a man who of all others on such +subjects was the least likely to be deceived by first appearances. If I +find that at a certain period in ancient history, the encouragements to +have a family were great, that early marriages were consequently very +prevalent, and that few persons remained single, I should infer with +certainty that population was rapidly increasing, but by no means that +it was then actually very great, rather; indeed, the contrary, that it +was then thin and that there was room and food for a much greater +number. On the other hand, if I find that at this period the +difficulties attending a family were very great, that, consequently, +few early marriages took place, and that a great number of both sexes +remained single, I infer with certainty that population was at a stand, +and, probably, because the actual population was very great in +proportion to the fertility of the land and that there was scarcely +room and food for more. The number of footmen, housemaids, and other +persons remaining unmarried in modern states, Hume allows to be rather +an argument against their population. I should rather draw a contrary +inference and consider it an argument of their fullness, though this +inference is not certain, because there are many thinly inhabited +states that are yet stationary in their population. To speak, +therefore, correctly, perhaps it may be said that the number of +unmarried persons in proportion to the whole number, existing at +different periods, in the same or different states will enable us to +judge whether population at these periods was increasing, stationary, +or decreasing, but will form no criterion by which we can determine the +actual population. + +There is, however, a circumstance taken notice of in most of the +accounts we have of China that it seems difficult to reconcile with +this reasoning. It is said that early marriages very generally prevail +through all the ranks of the Chinese. Yet Dr Adam Smith supposes that +population in China is stationary. These two circumstances appear to be +irreconcilable. It certainly seems very little probable that the +population of China is fast increasing. Every acre of land has been so +long in cultivation that we can hardly conceive there is any great +yearly addition to the average produce. The fact, perhaps, of the +universality of early marriages may not be sufficiently ascertained. If +it be supposed true, the only way of accounting for the difficulty, +with our present knowledge of the subject, appears to be that the +redundant population, necessarily occasioned by the prevalence of early +marriages, must be repressed by occasional famines, and by the custom +of exposing children, which, in times of distress, is probably more +frequent than is ever acknowledged to Europeans. Relative to this +barbarous practice, it is difficult to avoid remarking, that there +cannot be a stronger proof of the distresses that have been felt by +mankind for want of food, than the existence of a custom that thus +violates the most natural principle of the human heart. It appears to +have been very general among ancient nations, and certainly tended +rather to increase population. + +In examining the principal states of modern Europe, we shall find that +though they have increased very considerably in population since they +were nations of shepherds, yet that at present their progress is but +slow, and instead of doubling their numbers every twenty-five years +they require three or four hundred years, or more, for that purpose. +Some, indeed, may be absolutely stationary, and others even retrograde. +The cause of this slow progress in population cannot be traced to a +decay of the passion between the sexes. We have sufficient reason to +think that this natural propensity exists still in undiminished vigour. +Why then do not its effects appear in a rapid increase of the human +species? An intimate view of the state of society in any one country in +Europe, which may serve equally for all, will enable us to answer this +question, and to say that a foresight of the difficulties attending the +rearing of a family acts as a preventive check, and the actual +distresses of some of the lower classes, by which they are disabled +from giving the proper food and attention to their children, act as a +positive check to the natural increase of population. + +England, as one of the most flourishing states of Europe, may be fairly +taken for an example, and the observations made will apply with but +little variation to any other country where the population increases +slowly. + +The preventive check appears to operate in some degree through all the +ranks of society in England. There are some men, even in the highest +rank, who are prevented from marrying by the idea of the expenses that +they must retrench, and the fancied pleasures that they must deprive +themselves of, on the supposition of having a family. These +considerations are certainly trivial, but a preventive foresight of +this kind has objects of much greater weight for its contemplation as +we go lower. + +A man of liberal education, but with an income only just sufficient to +enable him to associate in the rank of gentlemen, must feel absolutely +certain that if he marries and has a family he shall be obliged, if he +mixes at all in society, to rank himself with moderate farmers and the +lower class of tradesmen. The woman that a man of education would +naturally make the object of his choice would be one brought up in the +same tastes and sentiments with himself and used to the familiar +intercourse of a society totally different from that to which she must +be reduced by marriage. Can a man consent to place the object of his +affection in a situation so discordant, probably, to her tastes and +inclinations? Two or three steps of descent in society, particularly at +this round of the ladder, where education ends and ignorance begins, +will not be considered by the generality of people as a fancied and +chimerical, but a real and essential evil. If society be held +desirable, it surely must be free, equal, and reciprocal society, where +benefits are conferred as well as received, and not such as the +dependent finds with his patron or the poor with the rich. + +These considerations undoubtedly prevent a great number in this rank of +life from following the bent of their inclinations in an early +attachment. Others, guided either by a stronger passion, or a weaker +judgement, break through these restraints, and it would be hard indeed, +if the gratification of so delightful a passion as virtuous love, did +not, sometimes, more than counterbalance all its attendant evils. But I +fear it must be owned that the more general consequences of such +marriages are rather calculated to justify than to repress the +forebodings of the prudent. + +The sons of tradesmen and farmers are exhorted not to marry, and +generally find it necessary to pursue this advice till they are settled +in some business or farm that may enable them to support a family. +These events may not, perhaps, occur till they are far advanced in +life. The scarcity of farms is a very general complaint in England. And +the competition in every kind of business is so great that it is not +possible that all should be successful. + +The labourer who earns eighteen pence a day and lives with some degree +of comfort as a single man, will hesitate a little before he divides +that pittance among four or five, which seems to be but just sufficient +for one. Harder fare and harder labour he would submit to for the sake +of living with the woman that he loves, but he must feel conscious, if +he thinks at all, that should he have a large family, and any ill luck +whatever, no degree of frugality, no possible exertion of his manual +strength could preserve him from the heart-rending sensation of seeing +his children starve, or of forfeiting his independence, and being +obliged to the parish for their support. The love of independence is a +sentiment that surely none would wish to be erased from the breast of +man, though the parish law of England, it must be confessed, is a +system of all others the most calculated gradually to weaken this +sentiment, and in the end may eradicate it completely. + +The servants who live in gentlemen's families have restraints that are +yet stronger to break through in venturing upon marriage. They possess +the necessaries, and even the comforts of life, almost in as great +plenty as their masters. Their work is easy and their food luxurious +compared with the class of labourers. And their sense of dependence is +weakened by the conscious power of changing their masters, if they feel +themselves offended. Thus comfortably situated at present, what are +their prospects in marrying? Without knowledge or capital, either for +business, or farming, and unused and therefore unable, to earn a +subsistence by daily labour, their only refuge seems to be a miserable +ale-house, which certainly offers no very enchanting prospect of a +happy evening to their lives. By much the greater part, therefore, +deterred by this uninviting view of their future situation, content +themselves with remaining single where they are. + +If this sketch of the state of society in England be near the truth, +and I do not conceive that it is exaggerated, it will be allowed that +the preventive check to population in this country operates, though +with varied force, through all the classes of the community. The same +observation will hold true with regard to all old states. The effects, +indeed, of these restraints upon marriage are but too conspicuous in +the consequent vices that are produced in almost every part of the +world, vices that are continually involving both sexes in inextricable +unhappiness. + + + + +CHAPTER 5 + +The second, or positive check to population examined, in England--The +true cause why the immense sum collected in England for the poor does +not better their condition--The powerful tendency of the poor laws to +defeat their own purpose--Palliative of the distresses of the poor +proposed--The absolute impossibility, from the fixed laws of our +nature, that the pressure of want can ever be completely removed from +the lower classes of society--All the checks to population may be +resolved into misery or vice. + + +The positive check to population, by which I mean the check that +represses an increase which is already begun, is confined chiefly, +though not perhaps solely, to the lowest orders of society. + +This check is not so obvious to common view as the other I have +mentioned, and, to prove distinctly the force and extent of its +operation would require, perhaps, more data than we are in possession +of. But I believe it has been very generally remarked by those who have +attended to bills of mortality that of the number of children who die +annually, much too great a proportion belongs to those who may be +supposed unable to give their offspring proper food and attention, +exposed as they are occasionally to severe distress and confined, +perhaps, to unwholesome habitations and hard labour. This mortality +among the children of the poor has been constantly taken notice of in +all towns. It certainly does not prevail in an equal degree in the +country, but the subject has not hitherto received sufficient attention +to enable anyone to say that there are not more deaths in proportion +among the children of the poor, even in the country, than among those +of the middling and higher classes. Indeed, it seems difficult to +suppose that a labourer's wife who has six children, and who is +sometimes in absolute want of bread, should be able always to give them +the food and attention necessary to support life. The sons and +daughters of peasants will not be found such rosy cherubs in real life +as they are described to be in romances. It cannot fail to be remarked +by those who live much in the country that the sons of labourers are +very apt to be stunted in their growth, and are a long while arriving +at maturity. Boys that you would guess to be fourteen or fifteen are, +upon inquiry, frequently found to be eighteen or nineteen. And the lads +who drive plough, which must certainly be a healthy exercise, are very +rarely seen with any appearance of calves to their legs: a circumstance +which can only be attributed to a want either of proper or of +sufficient nourishment. + +To remedy the frequent distresses of the common people, the poor laws +of England have been instituted; but it is to be feared, that though +they may have alleviated a little the intensity of individual +misfortune, they have spread the general evil over a much larger +surface. It is a subject often started in conversation and mentioned +always as a matter of great surprise that, notwithstanding the immense +sum that is annually collected for the poor in England, there is still +so much distress among them. Some think that the money must be +embezzled, others that the church-wardens and overseers consume the +greater part of it in dinners. All agree that somehow or other it must +be very ill-managed. In short the fact that nearly three millions are +collected annually for the poor and yet that their distresses are not +removed is the subject of continual astonishment. But a man who sees a +little below the surface of things would be very much more astonished +if the fact were otherwise than it is observed to be, or even if a +collection universally of eighteen shillings in the pound, instead of +four, were materially to alter it. I will state a case which I hope +will elucidate my meaning. + +Suppose that by a subscription of the rich the eighteen pence a day +which men earn now was made up five shillings, it might be imagined, +perhaps, that they would then be able to live comfortably and have a +piece of meat every day for their dinners. But this would be a very +false conclusion. The transfer of three shillings and sixpence a day to +every labourer would not increase the quantity of meat in the country. +There is not at present enough for all to have a decent share. What +would then be the consequence? The competition among the buyers in the +market of meat would rapidly raise the price from sixpence or +sevenpence, to two or three shillings in the pound, and the commodity +would not be divided among many more than it is at present. When an +article is scarce, and cannot be distributed to all, he that can shew +the most valid patent, that is, he that offers most money, becomes the +possessor. If we can suppose the competition among the buyers of meat +to continue long enough for a greater number of cattle to be reared +annually, this could only be done at the expense of the corn, which +would be a very disadvantagous exchange, for it is well known that the +country could not then support the same population, and when +subsistence is scarce in proportion to the number of people, it is of +little consequence whether the lowest members of the society possess +eighteen pence or five shillings. They must at all events be reduced to +live upon the hardest fare and in the smallest quantity. + +It will be said, perhaps, that the increased number of purchasers in +every article would give a spur to productive industry and that the +whole produce of the island would be increased. This might in some +degree be the case. But the spur that these fancied riches would give +to population would more than counterbalance it, and the increased +produce would be to be divided among a more than proportionably +increased number of people. All this time I am supposing that the same +quantity of work would be done as before. But this would not really +take place. The receipt of five shillings a day, instead of eighteen +pence, would make every man fancy himself comparatively rich and able +to indulge himself in many hours or days of leisure. This would give a +strong and immediate check to productive industry, and, in a short +time, not only the nation would be poorer, but the lower classes +themselves would be much more distressed than when they received only +eighteen pence a day. + +A collection from the rich of eighteen shillings in the pound, even if +distributed in the most judicious manner, would have a little the same +effect as that resulting from the supposition I have just made, and no +possible contributions or sacrifices of the rich, particularly in +money, could for any time prevent the recurrence of distress among the +lower members of society, whoever they were. Great changes might, +indeed, be made. The rich might become poor, and some of the poor rich, +but a part of the society must necessarily feel a difficulty of living, +and this difficulty will naturally fall on the least fortunate members. + +It may at first appear strange, but I believe it is true, that I cannot +by means of money raise a poor man and enable him to live much better +than he did before, without proportionably depressing others in the +same class. If I retrench the quantity of food consumed in my house, +and give him what I have cut off, I then benefit him, without +depressing any but myself and family, who, perhaps, may be well able to +bear it. If I turn up a piece of uncultivated land, and give him the +produce, I then benefit both him and all the members of the society, +because what he before consumed is thrown into the common stock, and +probably some of the new produce with it. But if I only give him money, +supposing the produce of the country to remain the same, I give him a +title to a larger share of that produce than formerly, which share he +cannot receive without diminishing the shares of others. It is evident +that this effect, in individual instances, must be so small as to be +totally imperceptible; but still it must exist, as many other effects +do, which, like some of the insects that people the air, elude our +grosser perceptions. + +Supposing the quantity of food in any country to remain the same for +many years together, it is evident that this food must be divided +according to the value of each man's patent, or the sum of money that +he can afford to spend on this commodity so universally in request. (Mr +Godwin calls the wealth that a man receives from his ancestors a mouldy +patent. It may, I think, very properly be termed a patent, but I hardly +see the propriety of calling it a mouldy one, as it is an article in +such constant use.) It is a demonstrative truth, therefore, that the +patents of one set of men could not be increased in value without +diminishing the value of the patents of some other set of men. If the +rich were to subscribe and give five shillings a day to five hundred +thousand men without retrenching their own tables, no doubt can exist, +that as these men would naturally live more at their ease and consume a +greater quantity of provisions, there would be less food remaining to +divide among the rest, and consequently each man's patent would be +diminished in value or the same number of pieces of silver would +purchase a smaller quantity of subsistence. + +An increase of population without a proportional increase of food will +evidently have the same effect in lowering the value of each man's +patent. The food must necessarily be distributed in smaller quantities, +and consequently a day's labour will purchase a smaller quantity of +provisions. An increase in the price of provisions would arise either +from an increase of population faster than the means of subsistence, or +from a different distribution of the money of the society. The food of +a country that has been long occupied, if it be increasing, increases +slowly and regularly and cannot be made to answer any sudden demands, +but variations in the distribution of the money of a society are not +infrequently occurring, and are undoubtedly among the causes that +occasion the continual variations which we observe in the price of +provisions. + +The poor laws of England tend to depress the general condition of the +poor in these two ways. Their first obvious tendency is to increase +population without increasing the food for its support. A poor man may +marry with little or no prospect of being able to support a family in +independence. They may be said therefore in some measure to create the +poor which they maintain, and as the provisions of the country must, in +consequence of the increased population, be distributed to every man in +smaller proportions, it is evident that the labour of those who are not +supported by parish assistance will purchase a smaller quantity of +provisions than before and consequently more of them must be driven to +ask for support. + +Secondly, the quantity of provisions consumed in workhouses upon a part +of the society that cannot in general be considered as the most +valuable part diminishes the shares that would otherwise belong to more +industrious and more worthy members, and thus in the same manner forces +more to become dependent. If the poor in the workhouses were to live +better than they now do, this new distribution of the money of the +society would tend more conspicuously to depress the condition of those +out of the workhouses by occasioning a rise in the price of provisions. + +Fortunately for England, a spirit of independence still remains among +the peasantry. The poor laws are strongly calculated to eradicate this +spirit. They have succeeded in part, but had they succeeded as +completely as might have been expected their pernicious tendency would +not have been so long concealed. + +Hard as it may appear in individual instances, dependent poverty ought +to be held disgraceful. Such a stimulus seems to be absolutely +necessary to promote the happiness of the great mass of mankind, and +every general attempt to weaken this stimulus, however benevolent its +apparent intention, will always defeat its own purpose. If men are +induced to marry from a prospect of parish provision, with little or no +chance of maintaining their families in independence, they are not only +unjustly tempted to bring unhappiness and dependence upon themselves +and children, but they are tempted, without knowing it, to injure all +in the same class with themselves. A labourer who marries without being +able to support a family may in some respects be considered as an enemy +to all his fellow-labourers. + +I feel no doubt whatever that the parish laws of England have +contributed to raise the price of provisions and to lower the real +price of labour. They have therefore contributed to impoverish that +class of people whose only possession is their labour. It is also +difficult to suppose that they have not powerfully contributed to +generate that carelessness and want of frugality observable among the +poor, so contrary to the disposition frequently to be remarked among +petty tradesmen and small farmers. The labouring poor, to use a vulgar +expression, seem always to live from hand to mouth. Their present wants +employ their whole attention, and they seldom think of the future. Even +when they have an opportunity of saving they seldom exercise it, but +all that is beyond their present necessities goes, generally speaking, +to the ale-house. The poor laws of England may therefore be said to +diminish both the power and the will to save among the common people, +and thus to weaken one of the strongest incentives to sobriety and +industry, and consequently to happiness. + +It is a general complaint among master manufacturers that high wages +ruin all their workmen, but it is difficult to conceive that these men +would not save a part of their high wages for the future support of +their families, instead of spending it in drunkenness and dissipation, +if they did not rely on parish assistance for support in case of +accidents. And that the poor employed in manufactures consider this +assistance as a reason why they may spend all the wages they earn and +enjoy themselves while they can appears to be evident from the number +of families that, upon the failure of any great manufactory, +immediately fall upon the parish, when perhaps the wages earned in this +manufactory while it flourished were sufficiently above the price of +common country labour to have allowed them to save enough for their +support till they could find some other channel for their industry. + +A man who might not be deterred from going to the ale-house from the +consideration that on his death, or sickness, he should leave his wife +and family upon the parish might yet hesitate in thus dissipating his +earnings if he were assured that, in either of these cases, his family +must starve or be left to the support of casual bounty. In China, where +the real as well as nominal price of labour is very low, sons are yet +obliged by law to support their aged and helpless parents. Whether such +a law would be advisable in this country I will not pretend to +determine. But it seems at any rate highly improper, by positive +institutions, which render dependent poverty so general, to weaken that +disgrace, which for the best and most humane reasons ought to attach to +it. + +The mass of happiness among the common people cannot but be diminished +when one of the strongest checks to idleness and dissipation is thus +removed, and when men are thus allured to marry with little or no +prospect of being able to maintain a family in independence. Every +obstacle in the way of marriage must undoubtedly be considered as a +species of unhappiness. But as from the laws of our nature some check +to population must exist, it is better that it should be checked from a +foresight of the difficulties attending a family and the fear of +dependent poverty than that it should be encouraged, only to be +repressed afterwards by want and sickness. + +It should be remembered always that there is an essential difference +between food and those wrought commodities, the raw materials of which +are in great plenty. A demand for these last will not fail to create +them in as great a quantity as they are wanted. The demand for food has +by no means the same creative power. In a country where all the fertile +spots have been seized, high offers are necessary to encourage the +farmer to lay his dressing on land from which he cannot expect a +profitable return for some years. And before the prospect of advantage +is sufficiently great to encourage this sort of agricultural +enterprise, and while the new produce is rising, great distresses may +be suffered from the want of it. The demand for an increased quantity +of subsistence is, with few exceptions, constant everywhere, yet we see +how slowly it is answered in all those countries that have been long +occupied. + +The poor laws of England were undoubtedly instituted for the most +benevolent purpose, but there is great reason to think that they have +not succeeded in their intention. They certainly mitigate some cases of +very severe distress which might otherwise occur, yet the state of the +poor who are supported by parishes, considered in all its +circumstances, is very far from being free from misery. But one of the +principal objections to them is that for this assistance which some of +the poor receive, in itself almost a doubtful blessing, the whole class +of the common people of England is subjected to a set of grating, +inconvenient, and tyrannical laws, totally inconsistent with the +genuine spirit of the constitution. The whole business of settlements, +even in its present amended state, is utterly contradictory to all +ideas of freedom. The parish persecution of men whose families are +likely to become chargeable, and of poor women who are near lying-in, +is a most disgraceful and disgusting tyranny. And the obstructions +continuity occasioned in the market of labour by these laws have a +constant tendency to add to the difficulties of those who are +struggling to support themselves without assistance. + +These evils attendant on the poor laws are in some degree irremediable. +If assistance be to be distributed to a certain class of people, a +power must be given somewhere of discriminating the proper objects and +of managing the concerns of the institutions that are necessary, but +any great interference with the affairs of other people is a species of +tyranny, and in the common course of things the exercise of this power +may be expected to become grating to those who are driven to ask for +support. The tyranny of Justices, Church-wardens, and Overseers, is a +common complaint among the poor, but the fault does not lie so much in +these persons, who probably, before they were in power, were not worse +than other people, but in the nature of all such institutions. + +The evil is perhaps gone too far to be remedied, but I feel little +doubt in my own mind that if the poor laws had never existed, though +there might have been a few more instances of very severe distress, yet +that the aggregate mass of happiness among the common people would have +been much greater than it is at present. + +Mr Pitt's Poor Bill has the appearance of being framed with benevolent +intentions, and the clamour raised against it was in many respects ill +directed, and unreasonable. But it must be confessed that it possesses +in a high degree the great and radical defect of all systems of the +kind, that of tending to increase population without increasing the +means for its support, and thus to depress the condition of those that +are not supported by parishes, and, consequently, to create more poor. + +To remove the wants of the lower classes of society is indeed an +arduous task. The truth is that the pressure of distress on this part +of a community is an evil so deeply seated that no human ingenuity can +reach it. Were I to propose a palliative, and palliatives are all that +the nature of the case will admit, it should be, in the first place, +the total abolition of all the present parish-laws. This would at any +rate give liberty and freedom of action to the peasantry of England, +which they can hardly be said to possess at present. They would then be +able to settle without interruption, wherever there was a prospect of a +greater plenty of work and a higher price for labour. The market of +labour would then be free, and those obstacles removed which, as things +are now, often for a considerable time prevent the price from rising +according to the demand. + +Secondly, premiums might be given for turning up fresh land, and it +possible encouragements held out to agriculture above manufactures, and +to tillage above grazing. Every endeavour should be used to weaken and +destroy all those institutions relating to corporations, +apprenticeships, etc., which cause the labours of agriculture to be +worse paid than the labours of trade and manufactures. For a country +can never produce its proper quantity of food while these distinctions +remain in favour of artisans. Such encouragements to agriculture would +tend to furnish the market with an increasing quantity of healthy work, +and at the same time, by augmenting the produce of the country, would +raise the comparative price of labour and ameliorate the condition of +the labourer. Being now in better circumstances, and seeing no prospect +of parish assistance, he would be more able, as well as more inclined, +to enter into associations for providing against the sickness of +himself or family. + +Lastly, for cases of extreme distress, county workhouses might be +established, supported by rates upon the whole kingdom, and free for +persons of all counties, and indeed of all nations. The fare should be +hard, and those that were able obliged to work. It would be desirable +that they should not be considered as comfortable asylums in all +difficulties, but merely as places where severe distress might find +some alleviation. A part of these houses might be separated, or others +built for a most beneficial purpose, which has not been infrequently +taken notice of, that of providing a place where any person, whether +native or foreigner, might do a day's work at all times and receive the +market price for it. Many cases would undoubtedly be left for the +exertion of individual benevolence. + +A plan of this kind, the preliminary of which should be an abolition of +all the present parish laws, seems to be the best calculated to +increase the mass of happiness among the common people of England. To +prevent the recurrence of misery, is, alas! beyond the power of man. In +the vain endeavour to attain what in the nature of things is +impossible, we now sacrifice not only possible but certain benefits. We +tell the common people that if they will submit to a code of tyrannical +regulations, they shall never be in want. They do submit to these +regulations. They perform their part of the contract, but we do not, +nay cannot, perform ours, and thus the poor sacrifice the valuable +blessing of liberty and receive nothing that can be called an +equivalent in return. + +Notwithstanding, then, the institution of the poor laws in England, I +think it will be allowed that considering the state of the lower +classes altogether, both in the towns and in the country, the +distresses which they suffer from the want of proper and sufficient +food, from hard labour and unwholesome habitations, must operate as a +constant check to incipient population. + +To these two great checks to population, in all long occupied +countries, which I have called the preventive and the positive checks, +may be added vicious customs with respect to women, great cities, +unwholesome manufactures, luxury, pestilence, and war. + +All these checks may be fairly resolved into misery and vice. And that +these are the true causes of the slow increase of population in all the +states of modern Europe, will appear sufficiently evident from the +comparatively rapid increase that has invariably taken place whenever +these causes have been in any considerable degree removed. + + + + +CHAPTER 6 + +New colonies--Reasons for their rapid increase--North American +Colonies--Extraordinary instance of increase in the back +settlements--Rapidity with which even old states recover the ravages of +war, pestilence, famine, or the convulsions of nature. + + +It has been universally remarked that all new colonies settled in +healthy countries, where there was plenty of room and food, have +constantly increased with astonishing rapidity in their population. +Some of the colonies from ancient Greece, in no very long period, more +than equalled their parent states in numbers and strength. And not to +dwell on remote instances, the European settlements in the new world +bear ample testimony to the truth of a remark, which, indeed, has +never, that I know of, been doubted. A plenty of rich land, to be had +for little or nothing, is so powerful a cause of population as to +overcome all other obstacles. No settlements could well have been worse +managed than those of Spain in Mexico, Peru, and Quito. The tyranny, +superstition, and vices of the mother-country were introduced in ample +quantities among her children. Exorbitant taxes were exacted by the +Crown. The most arbitrary restrictions were imposed on their trade. And +the governors were not behind hand in rapacity and extortion for +themselves as well as their master. Yet, under all these difficulties, +the colonies made a quick progress in population. The city of Lima, +founded since the conquest, is represented by Ulloa as containing fifty +thousand inhabitants near fifty years ago. Quito, which had been but a +hamlet of indians, is represented by the same author as in his time +equally populous. Mexico is said to contain a hundred thousand +inhabitants, which, notwithstanding the exaggerations of the Spanish +writers, is supposed to be five times greater than what it contained in +the time of Montezuma. + +In the Portuguese colony of Brazil, governed with almost equal tyranny, +there were supposed to be, thirty years since, six hundred thousand +inhabitants of European extraction. + +The Dutch and French colonies, though under the government of exclusive +companies of merchants, which, as Dr Adam Smith says very justly, is +the worst of all possible governments, still persisted in thriving +under every disadvantage. + +But the English North American colonies, now the powerful people of the +United States of America, made by far the most rapid progress. To the +plenty of good land which they possessed in common with the Spanish and +Portuguese settlements, they added a greater degree of liberty and +equality. Though not without some restrictions on their foreign +commerce, they were allowed a perfect liberty of managing their own +internal affairs. The political institutions that prevailed were +favourable to the alienation and division of property. Lands that were +not cultivated by the proprietor within a limited time were declared +grantable to any other person. In Pennsylvania there was no right of +primogeniture, and in the provinces of New England the eldest had only +a double share. There were no tithes in any of the States, and scarcely +any taxes. And on account of the extreme cheapness of good land a +capital could not be more advantageously employed than in agriculture, +which at the same time that it supplies the greatest quantity of +healthy work affords much the most valuable produce to the society. + +The consequence of these favourable circumstances united was a rapidity +of increase probably without parallel in history. Throughout all the +northern colonies, the population was found to double itself in +twenty-five years. The original number of persons who had settled in +the four provinces of new England in 1643 was 21,200.(I take these +figures from Dr Price's two volumes of Observations; not having Dr +Styles' pamphlet, from which he quotes, by me.) Afterwards, it is +supposed that more left them than went to them. In the year 1760, they +were increased to half a million. They had therefore all along doubled +their own number in twenty-five years. In New Jersey the period of +doubling appeared to be twenty-two years; and in Rhode island still +less. In the back settlements, where the inhabitants applied themselves +solely to agriculture, and luxury was not known, they were found to +double their own number in fifteen years, a most extraordinary instance +of increase. Along the sea coast, which would naturally be first +inhabited, the period of doubling was about thirty-five years; and in +some of the maritime towns, the population was absolutely at a stand. + +(In instances of this kind the powers of the earth appear to be fully +equal to answer it the demands for food that can be made upon it by +man. But we should be led into an error if we were thence to suppose +that population and food ever really increase in the same ratio. The +one is still a geometrical and the other an arithmetical ratio, that +is, one increases by multiplication, and the other by addition. Where +there are few people, and a great quantity of fertile land, the power +of the earth to afford a yearly increase of food may be compared to a +great reservoir of water, supplied by a moderate stream. The faster +population increases, the more help will be got to draw off the water, +and consequently an increasing quantity will be taken every year. But +the sooner, undoubtedly, will the reservoir be exhausted, and the +streams only remain. When acre has been added to acre, till all the +fertile land is occupied, the yearly increase of food will depend upon +the amelioration of the land already in possession; and even this +moderate stream will be gradually diminishing. But population, could it +be supplied with food, would go on with unexhausted vigour, and the +increase of one period would furnish the power of a greater increase +the next, and this without any limit.) + +These facts seem to shew that population increases exactly in the +proportion that the two great checks to it, misery and vice, are +removed, and that there is not a truer criterion of the happiness and +innocence of a people than the rapidity of their increase. The +unwholesomeness of towns, to which some persons are necessarily driven +from the nature of their trades, must be considered as a species of +misery, and every the slightest check to marriage, from a prospect of +the difficulty of maintaining a family, may be fairly classed under the +same head. In short it is difficult to conceive any check to population +which does not come under the description of some species of misery or +vice. + +The population of the thirteen American States before the war was +reckoned at about three millions. Nobody imagines that Great Britain is +less populous at present for the emigration of the small parent stock +that produced these numbers. On the contrary, a certain degree of +emigration is known to be favourable to the population of the mother +country. It has been particularly remarked that the two Spanish +provinces from which the greatest number of people emigrated to +America, became in consequence more populous. Whatever was the original +number of British emigrants that increased so fast in the North +American Colonies, let us ask, why does not an equal number produce an +equal increase in the same time in Great Britain? The great and obvious +cause to be assigned is the want of room and food, or, in other words, +misery, and that this is a much more powerful cause even than vice +appears sufficiently evident from the rapidity with which even old +states recover the desolations of war, pestilence, or the accidents of +nature. They are then for a short time placed a little in the situation +of new states, and the effect is always answerable to what might be +expected. If the industry of the inhabitants be not destroyed by fear +or tyranny, subsistence will soon increase beyond the wants of the +reduced numbers, and the invariable consequence will be that population +which before, perhaps, was nearly stationary, will begin immediately to +increase. + +The fertile province of Flanders, which has been so often the seat of +the most destructive wars, after a respite of a few years, has appeared +always as fruitful and as populous as ever. Even the Palatinate lifted +up its head again after the execrable ravages of Louis the Fourteenth. +The effects of the dreadful plague in London in 1666 were not +perceptible fifteen or twenty years afterwards. The traces of the most +destructive famines in China and Indostan are by all accounts very soon +obliterated. It may even be doubted whether Turkey and Egypt are upon +an average much less populous for the plagues that periodically lay +them waste. If the number of people which they contain be less now than +formerly, it is, probably, rather to be attributed to the tyranny and +oppression of the government under which they groan, and the consequent +discouragements to agriculture, than to the loss which they sustain by +the plague. The most tremendous convulsions of nature, such as volcanic +eruptions and earthquakes, if they do not happen so frequently as to +drive away the inhabitants, or to destroy their spirit of industry, +have but a trifling effect on the average population of any state. +Naples, and the country under Vesuvius, are still very populous, +notwithstanding the repeated eruptions of that mountain. And Lisbon and +Lima are now, probably, nearly in the same state with regard to +population as they were before the last earthquakes. + + + + +CHAPTER 7 + +A probable cause of epidemics--Extracts from Mr Suessmilch's +tables--Periodical returns of sickly seasons to be expected in certain +cases--Proportion of births to burials for short periods in any country +an inadequate criterion of the real average increase of +population--Best criterion of a permanent increase of population--Great +frugality of living one of the causes of the famines of China and +Indostan--Evil tendency of one of the clauses in Mr Pitt's Poor +Bill--Only one proper way of encouraging population--Causes of the +Happiness of nations--Famine, the last and most dreadful mode by which +nature represses a redundant population--The three propositions +considered as established. + + +By great attention to cleanliness, the plague seems at length to be +completely expelled from London. But it is not improbable that among +the secondary causes that produce even sickly seasons and epidemics +ought to be ranked a crowded population and unwholesome and +insufficient food. I have been led to this remark, by looking over some +of the tables of Mr Suessmilch, which Dr Price has extracted in one of +his notes to the postscript on the controversy respecting the +population of England and Wales. They are considered as very correct, +and if such tables were general, they would throw great light on the +different ways by which population is repressed and prevented from +increasing beyond the means of subsistence in any country. I will +extract a part of the tables, with Dr Price's remarks. + + + IN THE KINGDOM OF PRUSSIA, AND DUKEDOM OF LITHUANIA + + Proportion Proportion + Births Burials Marriages of Births to of Births to + Marriages Burials + 10 Yrs to 1702 21,963 14,718 5,928 37 to 10 150 to 100 + 5 Yrs to 1716 21,602 11,984 4,968 37 to 10 180 to 100 + 5 Yrs to 1756 28,392 19,154 5,599 50 to 10 148 to 100 + +"N.B. In 1709 and 1710, a pestilence carried off 247,733 of the +inhabitants of this country, and in 1736 and 1737, epidemics prevailed, +which again checked its increase." + + +It may be remarked, that the greatest proportion of births to burials, +was in the five years after the great pestilence. + + + DUCHY OF POMERANIA + + Proportion Proportion + Annual Average Births Burials Marriages of Births to of Births to + Marriages Burials + 6 yrs to 1702 6,540 4,647 1,810 36 to 10 140 to 100 + 6 yrs to 1708 7,455 4,208 1,875 39 to 10 177 to 100 + 6 yrs to 1726 8,432 5,627 2,131 39 to 10 150 to 100 + 6 yrs to 1756 12,767 9,281 2,957 43 to 10 137 to 100 + +"In this instance the inhabitants appear to have been almost doubled in +fifty-six years, no very bad epidemics having once interrupted the +increase, but the three years immediately follow ing the last period +(to 1759) were so sickly that the births were sunk to 10,229 and the +burials raised to 15,068." + + +Is it not probable that in this case the number of inhabitants had +increased faster than the food and the accommodations necessary to +preserve them in health? The mass of the people would, upon this +supposition, be obliged to live harder, and a greater number would be +crowded together in one house, and it is not surely improbable that +these were among the natural causes that produced the three sickly +years. These causes may produce such an effect, though the country, +absolutely considered, may not be extremely crowded and populous. In a +country even thinly inhabited, if an increase of population take place, +before more food is raised, and more houses are built, the inhabitants +must be distressed in some degree for room and subsistence. Were the +marriages in England, for the next eight or ten years, to be more +prolifick than usual, or even were a greater number of marriages than +usual to take place, supposing the number of houses to remain the same, +instead of five or six to a cottage, there must be seven or eight, and +this, added to the necessity of harder living, would probably have a +very unfavourable effect on the health of the common people. + + + NEUMARK OF BRANDENBURGH + + Proportion Proportion + Annual Average Births Burials Marriages of Births to of Births to + Marriages Burials + 5 yrs to 1701 5,433 3,483 1,436 37 to 10 155 to 100 + 5 yrs to 1726 7,012 4,254 1,713 40 to 10 164 to 100 + 5 yrs to 1756 7,978 5,567 1,891 42 to 10 143 to 100 + +"Epidemics prevailed for six years, from 1736, to 1741, which checked +the increase." + + + DUKEDOM OF MAGDEBURGH + + Proportion Proportion + Annual Average Births Burials Marriages of Births to of Births to + Marriages Burials + 5 yrs to 1702 6,431 4,103 1,681 38 to 10 156 to 100 + 5 yrs to 1717 7,590 5,335 2,076 36 to 10 142 to 100 + 5 yrs to 1756 8,850 8,069 2,193 40 to 10 109 to 100 + +"The years 1738, 1740, 1750, and 1751, were particularly sickly." + + +For further information on this subject, I refer the reader to Mr +Suessmilch's tables. The extracts that I have made are sufficient to +shew the periodical, though irregular, returns of sickly seasons, and +it seems highly probable that a scantiness of room and food was one of +the principal causes that occasioned them. + +It appears from the tables that these countries were increasing rather +fast for old states, notwithstanding the occasional seasons that +prevailed. Cultivation must have been improving, and marriages, +consequently, encouraged. For the checks to population appear to have +been rather of the positive, than of the preventive kind. When from a +prospect of increasing plenty in any country, the weight that represses +population is in some degree removed, it is highly probable that the +motion will be continued beyond the operation of the cause that first +impelled it. Or, to be more particular, when the increasing produce of +a country, and the increasing demand for labour, so far ameliorate the +condition of the labourer as greatly to encourage marriage, it is +probable that the custom of early marriages will continue till the +population of the country has gone beyond the increased produce, and +sickly seasons appear to be the natural and necessary consequence. I +should expect, therefore, that those countries where subsistence was +increasing sufficiency at times to encourage population but not to +answer all its demands, would be more subject to periodical epidemics +than those where the population could more completely accommodate +itself to the average produce. + +An observation the converse of this will probably also be found true. +In those countries that are subject to periodical sicknesses, the +increase of population, or the excess of births above the burials, will +be greater in the intervals of these periods than is usual, caeteris +paribus, in the countries not so much subject to such disorders. If +Turkey and Egypt have been nearly stationary in their average +population for the last century, in the intervals of their periodical +plagues, the births must have exceeded the burials in a greater +proportion than in such countries as France and England. + +The average proportion of births to burials in any country for a period +of five to ten years, will hence appear to be a very inadequate +criterion by which to judge of its real progress in population. This +proportion certainly shews the rate of increase during those five or +ten years; but we can by no means thence infer what had been the +increase for the twenty years before, or what would be the increase for +the twenty years after. Dr Price observes that Sweden, Norway, Russia, +and the kingdom of Naples, are increasing fast; but the extracts from +registers that he has given are not for periods of sufficient extent to +establish the fact. It is highly probable, however, that Sweden, +Norway, and Russia, are really increasing their population, though not +at the rate that the proportion of births to burials for the short +periods that Dr Price takes would seem to shew. (See Dr Price's +Observations, Vol. ii, postscript to the controversy on the population +of England and Wales.) For five years, ending in 1777, the proportion +of births to burials in the kingdom of Naples was 144 to 100, but there +is reason to suppose that this proportion would indicate an increase +much greater than would be really found to have taken place in that +kingdom during a period of a hundred years. + +Dr Short compared the registers of many villages and market towns in +England for two periods; the first, from Queen Elizabeth to the middle +of the last century, and the second, from different years at the end of +the last century to the middle of the present. And from a comparison of +these extracts, it appears that in the former period the births +exceeded the burials in the proportion of 124 to 100, but in the +latter, only in the proportion of 111 to 100. Dr Price thinks that the +registers in the former period are not to be depended upon, but, +probably, in this instance they do not give incorrect proportions. At +least there are many reasons for expecting to find a greater excess of +births above the burials in the former period than in the latter. In +the natural progress of the population of any country, more good land +will, caeteris paribus, be taken into cultivation in the earlier stages +of it than in the later. (I say 'caeteris paribus', because the +increase of the produce of any country will always very greatly depend +on the spirit of industry that prevails, and the way in which it is +directed. The knowledge and habits of the people, and other temporary +causes, particularly the degree of civil liberty and equality existing +at the time, must always have great influence in exciting and directing +this spirit.) And a greater proportional yearly increase of produce +will almost invariably be followed by a greater proportional increase +of population. But, besides this great cause, which would naturally +give the excess of births above burials greater at the end of Queen +Elizabeth's reign than in the middle of the present century, I cannot +help thinking that the occasional ravages of the plague in the former +period must have had some tendency to increase this proportion. If an +average of ten years had been taken in the intervals of the returns of +this dreadful disorder, or if the years of plague had been rejected as +accidental, the registers would certainly give the proportion of births +to burials too high for the real average increase of the population. +For some few years after the great plague in 1666, it is probable that +there was a more than usual excess of births above burials, +particularly if Dr Price's opinion be founded, that England was more +populous at the revolution (which happened only twenty-two years +afterwards) than it is at present. + +Mr King, in 1693, stated the proportion of the births to the burials +throughout the Kingdom, exclusive of London, as 115 to 100. Dr Short +makes it, in the middle of the present century, 111 to 100, including +London. The proportion in France for five years, ending in 1774, was +117 to 100. If these statements are near the truth; and if there are no +very great variations at particular periods in the proportions, it +would appear that the population of France and England has accommodated +itself very nearly to the average produce of each country. The +discouragements to marriage, the consequent vicious habits, war, +luxury, the silent though certain depopulation of large towns, and the +close habitations, and insufficient food of many of the poor, prevent +population from increasing beyond the means of subsistence; and, if I +may use an expression which certainly at first appears strange, +supercede the necessity of great and ravaging epidemics to repress what +is redundant. Were a wasting plague to sweep off two millions in +England, and six millions in France, there can be no doubt whatever +that, after the inhabitants had recovered from the dreadful shock, the +proportion of births to burials would be much above what it is in +either country at present. + +In New Jersey, the proportion of births to deaths on an average of +seven years, ending in 1743, was as 300 to 100. In France and England, +taking the highest proportion, it is as 117 to 100. Great and +astonishing as this difference is, we ought not to be so wonder-struck +at it as to attribute it to the miraculous interposition of heaven. The +causes of it are not remote, latent and mysterious; but near us, round +about us, and open to the investigation of every inquiring mind. It +accords with the most liberal spirit of philosophy to suppose that not +a stone can fall, or a plant rise, without the immediate agency of +divine power. But we know from experience that these operations of what +we call nature have been conducted almost invariably according to fixed +laws. And since the world began, the causes of population and +depopulation have probably been as constant as any of the laws of +nature with which we are acquainted. + +The passion between the sexes has appeared in every age to be so nearly +the same that it may always be considered, in algebraic language, as a +given quantity. The great law of necessity which prevents population +from increasing in any country beyond the food which it can either +produce or acquire, is a law so open to our view, so obvious and +evident to our understandings, and so completely confirmed by the +experience of every age, that we cannot for a moment doubt it. The +different modes which nature takes to prevent or repress a redundant +population do not appear, indeed, to us so certain and regular, but +though we cannot always predict the mode we may with certainty predict +the fact. If the proportion of births to deaths for a few years +indicate an increase of numbers much beyond the proportional increased +or acquired produce of the country, we may be perfectly certain that +unless an emigration takes place, the deaths will shortly exceed the +births; and that the increase that had taken place for a few years +cannot be the real average increase of the population of the country. +Were there no other depopulating causes, every country would, without +doubt, be subject to periodical pestilences or famine. + +The only true criterion of a real and permanent increase in the +population of any country is the increase of the means of subsistence. +But even, this criterion is subject to some slight variations which +are, however, completely open to our view and observations. In some +countries population appears to have been forced, that is, the people +have been habituated by degrees to live almost upon the smallest +possible quantity of food. There must have been periods in such +counties when population increased permanently, without an increase in +the means of subsistence. China seems to answer to this description. If +the accounts we have of it are to be trusted, the lower classes of +people are in the habit of living almost upon the smallest possible +quantity of food and are glad to get any putrid offals that European +labourers would rather starve than eat. The law in China which permits +parents to expose their children has tended principally thus to force +the population. A nation in this state must necessarily be subject to +famines. Where a country is so populous in proportion to the means of +subsistence that the average produce of it is but barely sufficient to +support the lives of the inhabitants, any deficiency from the badness +of seasons must be fatal. It is probable that the very frugal manner in +which the Gentoos are in the habit of living contributes in some degree +to the famines of Indostan. + +In America, where the reward of labour is at present so liberal, the +lower classes might retrench very considerably in a year of scarcity +without materially distressing themselves. A famine therefore seems to +be almost impossible. It may be expected that in the progress of the +population of America, the labourers will in time be much less +liberally rewarded. The numbers will in this case permanently increase +without a proportional increase in the means of subsistence. + +In the different states of Europe there must be some variations in the +proportion between the number of inhabitants and the quantity of food +consumed, arising from the different habits of living that prevail in +each state. The labourers of the South of England are so accustomed to +eat fine wheaten bread that they will suffer themselves to be half +starved before they will submit to live like the Scotch peasants. They +might perhaps in time, by the constant operation of the hard law of +necessity, be reduced to live even like the Lower Chinese, and the +country would then, with the same quantity of food, support a greater +population. But to effect this must always be a most difficult, and, +every friend to humanity will hope, an abortive attempt. Nothing is so +common as to hear of encouragements that ought to be given to +population. If the tendency of mankind to increase be so great as I +have represented it to be, it may appear strange that this increase +does not come when it is thus repeatedly called for. The true reason is +that the demand for a greater population is made without preparing the +funds necessary to support it. Increase the demand for agricultural +labour by promoting cultivation, and with it consequently increase the +produce of the country, and ameliorate the condition of the labourer, +and no apprehensions whatever need be entertained of the proportional +increase of population. An attempt to effect this purpose in any other +way is vicious, cruel, and tyrannical, and in any state of tolerable +freedom cannot therefore succeed. It may appear to be the interest of +the rulers, and the rich of a state, to force population, and thereby +lower the price of labour, and consequently the expense of fleets and +armies, and the cost of manufactures for foreign sale; but every +attempt of the kind should be carefully watched and strenuously +resisted by the friends of the poor, particularly when it comes under +the deceitful garb of benevolence, and is likely, on that account, to +be cheerfully and cordially received by the common people. + +I entirely acquit Mr Pitt of any sinister intention in that clause of +his Poor Bill which allows a shilling a week to every labourer for each +child he has above three. I confess, that before the bill was brought +into Parliament, and for some time after, I thought that such a +regulation would be highly beneficial, but further reflection on the +subject has convinced me that if its object be to better the condition +of the poor, it is calculated to defeat the very purpose which it has +in view. It has no tendency that I can discover to increase the produce +of the country, and if it tend to increase the population, without +increasing the produce, the necessary and inevitable consequence +appears to be that the same produce must be divided among a greater +number, and consequently that a day's labour will purchase a smaller +quantity of provisions, and the poor therefore in general must be more +distressed. + +I have mentioned some cases where population may permanently increase +without a proportional increase in the means of subsistence. But it is +evident that the variation in different states, between the food and +the numbers supported by it, is restricted to a limit beyond which it +cannot pass. In every country, the population of which is not +absolutely decreasing, the food must be necessarily sufficient to +support, and to continue, the race of labourers. + +Other circumstances being the same, it may be affirmed that countries +are populous according to the quantity of human food which they +produce, and happy according to the liberality with which that food is +divided, or the quantity which a day's labour will purchase. Corn +countries are more populous than pasture countries, and rice countries +more populous than corn countries. The lands in England are not suited +to rice, but they would all bear potatoes; and Dr Adam Smith observes +that if potatoes were to become the favourite vegetable food of the +common people, and if the same quantity of land was employed in their +culture as is now employed in the culture of corn, the country would be +able to support a much greater population, and would consequently in a +very short time have it. + +The happiness of a country does not depend, absolutely, upon its +poverty or its riches, upon its youth or its age, upon its being thinly +or fully inhabited, but upon the rapidity with which it is increasing, +upon the degree in which the yearly increase of food approaches to the +yearly increase of an unrestricted population. This approximation is +always the nearest in new colonies, where the knowledge and industry of +an old state operate on the fertile unappropriated land of a new one. +In other cases, the youth or the age of a state is not in this respect +of very great importance. It is probable that the food of Great Britain +is divided in as great plenty to the inhabitants, at the present +period, as it was two thousand, three thousand, or four thousand years +ago. And there is reason to believe that the poor and thinly inhabited +tracts of the Scotch Highlands are as much distressed by an overcharged +population as the rich and populous province of Flanders. + +Were a country never to be overrun by a people more advanced in arts, +but left to its own natural progress in civilization; from the time +that its produce might be considered as an unit, to the time that it +might be considered as a million, during the lapse of many hundred +years, there would not be a single period when the mass of the people +could be said to be free from distress, either directly or indirectly, +for want of food. In every state in Europe, since we have first had +accounts of it, millions and millions of human existences have been +repressed from this simple cause; though perhaps in some of these +states an absolute famine has never been known. + +Famine seems to be the last, the most dreadful resource of nature. The +power of population is so superior to the power in the earth to produce +subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other +visit the human race. The vices of mankind are active and able +ministers of depopulation. They are the precursors in the great army of +destruction; and often finish the dreadful work themselves. But should +they fail in this war of extermination, sickly seasons, epidemics, +pestilence, and plague, advance in terrific array, and sweep off their +thousands and ten thousands. Should success be still incomplete, +gigantic inevitable famine stalks in the rear, and with one mighty blow +levels the population with the food of the world. + +Must it not then be acknowledged by an attentive examiner of the +histories of mankind, that in every age and in every state in which man +has existed, or does now exist. + +That the increase of population is necessarily limited by the means of +subsistence. + +That population does invariably increase when the means of subsistence +increase. And that the superior power of population it repressed, and +the actual population kept equal to the means of subsistence, by misery +and vice? + + + + +CHAPTER 8 + +Mr Wallace--Error of supposing that the difficulty arising from +population is at a great distance--Mr Condorcet's sketch of the +progress of the human mind--Period when the oscillation, mentioned by +Mr Condorcet, ought to be applied to the human race. + + +To a person who draws the preceding obvious inferences, from a view of +the past and present state of mankind, it cannot but be a matter of +astonishment that all the writers on the perfectibility of man and of +society who have noticed the argument of an overcharged population, +treat it always very slightly and invariably represent the difficulties +arising from it as at a great and almost immeasurable distance. Even Mr +Wallace, who thought the argument itself of so much weight as to +destroy his whole system of equality, did not seem to be aware that any +difficulty would occur from this cause till the whole earth had been +cultivated like a garden and was incapable of any further increase of +produce. Were this really the case, and were a beautiful system of +equality in other respects practicable, I cannot think that our ardour +in the pursuit of such a scheme ought to be damped by the contemplation +of so remote a difficulty. An event at such a distance might fairly be +left to providence, but the truth is that if the view of the argument +given in this Essay be just the difficulty, so far from being remote, +would be imminent and immediate. At every period during the progress of +cultivation, from the present moment to the time when the whole earth +was become like a garden, the distress for want of food would be +constantly pressing on all mankind, if they were equal. Though the +produce of the earth might be increasing every year, population would +be increasing much faster, and the redundancy must necessarily be +repressed by the periodical or constant action of misery or vice. + +Mr Condorcet's Esquisse d'un Tableau Historique des Progres de l'Esprit +Humain, was written, it is said, under the pressure of that cruel +proscription which terminated in his death. If he had no hopes of its +being seen during his life and of its interesting France in his favour, +it is a singular instance of the attachment of a man to principles, +which every day's experience was so fatally for himself contradicting. +To see the human mind in one of the most enlightened nations of the +world, and after a lapse of some thousand years, debased by such a +fermentation of disgusting passions, of fear, cruelty, malice, revenge, +ambition, madness, and folly as would have disgraced the most savage +nation in the most barbarous age must have been such a tremendous shock +to his ideas of the necessary and inevitable progress of the human mind +that nothing but the firmest conviction of the truth of his principles, +in spite of all appearances, could have withstood. + +This posthumous publication is only a sketch of a much larger work, +which he proposed should be executed. It necessarily, therefore, wants +that detail and application which can alone prove the truth of any +theory. A few observations will be sufficient to shew how completely +the theory is contradicted when it is applied to the real, and not to +an imaginary, state of things. + +In the last division of the work, which treats of the future progress +of man towards perfection, he says, that comparing, in the different +civilized nations of Europe, the actual population with the extent of +territory, and observing their cultivation, their industry, their +divisions of labour, and their means of subsistence, we shall see that +it would be impossible to preserve the same means of subsistence, and, +consequently, the same population, without a number of individuals who +have no other means of supplying their wants than their industry. +Having allowed the necessity of such a class of men, and adverting +afterwards to the precarious revenue of those families that would +depend so entirely on the life and health of their chief, he says, very +justly: 'There exists then, a necessary cause of inequality, of +dependence, and even of misery, which menaces, without ceasing, the +most numerous and active class of our societies.' (To save time and +long quotations, I shall here give the substance of some of Mr +Condorcet's sentiments, and hope I shall not misrepresent them. But I +refer the reader to the work itself, which will amuse, if it does not +convince him.) The difficulty is just and well stated, and I am afraid +that the mode by which he proposes it should be removed will be found +inefficacious. By the application of calculations to the probabilities +of life and the interest of money, he proposes that a fund should be +established which should assure to the old an assistance, produced, in +part, by their own former savings, and, in part, by the savings of +individuals who in making the same sacrifice die before they reap the +benefit of it. The same, or a similar fund, should give assistance to +women and children who lose their husbands, or fathers, and afford a +capital to those who were of an age to found a new family, sufficient +for the proper development of their industry. These establishments, he +observes, might be made in the name and under the protection of the +society. Going still further, he says that, by the just application of +calculations, means might be found of more completely preserving a +state of equality, by preventing credit from being the exclusive +privilege of great fortunes, and yet giving it a basis equally solid, +and by rendering the progress of industry, and the activity of +commerce, less dependent on great capitalists. + +Such establishments and calculations may appear very promising upon +paper, but when applied to real life they will be found to be +absolutely nugatory. Mr Condorcet allows that a class of people which +maintains itself entirely by industry is necessary to every state. Why +does he allow this? No other reason can well be assigned than that he +conceives that the labour necessary to procure subsistence for an +extended population will not be performed without the goad of +necessity. If by establishments of this kind of spur to industry be +removed, if the idle and the negligent are placed upon the same footing +with regard to their credit, and the future support of their wives and +families, as the active and industrious, can we expect to see men exert +that animated activity in bettering their condition which now forms the +master spring of public prosperity? If an inquisition were to be +established to examine the claims of each individual and to determine +whether he had or had not exerted himself to the utmost, and to grant +or refuse assistance accordingly, this would be little else than a +repetition upon a larger scale of the English poor laws and would be +completely destructive of the true principles of liberty and equality. + +But independent of this great objection to these establishments, and +supposing for a moment that they would give no check to productive +industry, by far the greatest difficulty remains yet behind. + +Were every man sure of a comfortable provision for his family, almost +every man would have one, and were the rising generation free from the +'killing frost' of misery, population must rapidly increase. Of this Mr +Condorcet seems to be fully aware himself, and after having described +further improvements, he says: + +But in this process of industry and happiness, each generation will be +called to more extended enjoyments, and in consequence, by the physical +constitution of the human frame, to an increase in the number of +individuals. Must not there arrive a period then, when these laws, +equally necessary, shall counteract each other? When the increase of +the number of men surpassing their means of subsistence, the necessary +result must be either a continual diminution of happiness and +population, a movement truly retrograde, or, at least, a kind of +oscillation between good and evil? In societies arrived at this term, +will not this oscillation be a constantly subsisting cause of +periodical misery? Will it not mark the limit when all further +amelioration will become impossible, and point out that term to the +perfectibility of the human race which it may reach in the course of +ages, but can never pass? + +He then adds, + +There is no person who does not see how very distant such a period is +from us, but shall we ever arrive at it? It is equally impossible to +pronounce for or against the future realization of an event which +cannot take place but at an era when the human race will have attained +improvements, of which we can at present scarcely form a conception. + +Mr Condorcet's picture of what may be expected to happen when the +number of men shall surpass the means of their subsistence is justly +drawn. The oscillation which he describes will certainly take place and +will without doubt be a constantly subsisting cause of periodical +misery. The only point in which I differ from Mr Condorcet with regard +to this picture is the period when it may be applied to the human race. +Mr Condorcet thinks that it cannot possibly be applicable but at an era +extremely distant. If the proportion between the natural increase of +population and food which I have given be in any degree near the truth, +it will appear, on the contrary, that the period when the number of men +surpass their means of subsistence has long since arrived, and that +this necessity oscillation, this constantly subsisting cause of +periodical misery, has existed ever since we have had any histories of +mankind, does exist at present, and will for ever continue to exist, +unless some decided change take place in the physical constitution of +our nature. + +Mr Condorcet, however, goes on to say that should the period, which he +conceives to be so distant, ever arrive, the human race, and the +advocates for the perfectibility of man, need not be alarmed at it. He +then proceeds to remove the difficulty in a manner which I profess not +to understand. Having observed, that the ridiculous prejudices of +superstition would by that time have ceased to throw over morals a +corrupt and degrading austerity, he alludes, either to a promiscuous +concubinage, which would prevent breeding, or to something else as +unnatural. To remove the difficulty in this way will, surely, in the +opinion of most men, be to destroy that virtue and purity of manners, +which the advocates of equality, and of the perfectibility of man, +profess to be the end and object of their views. + + + + +CHAPTER 9 + +Mr Condorcet's conjecture concerning the organic perfectibility of man, +and the indefinite prolongation of human life--Fallacy of the argument, +which infers an unlimited progress from a partial improvement, the +limit of which cannot be ascertained, illustrated in the breeding of +animals, and the cultivation of plants. + + +The last question which Mr Condorcet proposes for examination is the +organic perfectibility of man. He observes that if the proofs which +have been already given and which, in their development will receive +greater force in the work itself, are sufficient to establish the +indefinite perfectibility of man upon the supposition of the same +natural faculties and the same organization which he has at present, +what will be the certainty, what the extent of our hope, if this +organization, these natural faculties themselves, are susceptible of +amelioration? + +From the improvement of medicine, from the use of more wholesome food +and habitations, from a manner of living which will improve the +strength of the body by exercise without impairing it by excess, from +the destruction of the two great causes of the degradation of man, +misery, and too great riches, from the gradual removal of transmissible +and contagious disorders by the improvement of physical knowledge, +rendered more efficacious by the progress of reason and of social +order, he infers that though man will not absolutely become immortal, +yet that the duration between his birth and natural death will increase +without ceasing, will have no assignable term, and may properly be +expressed by the word 'indefinite'. He then defines this word to mean +either a constant approach to an unlimited extent, without ever +reaching it, or an increase. In the immensity of ages to an extent +greater than any assignable quantity. + +But surely the application of this term in either of these senses to +the duration of human life is in the highest degree unphilosophical and +totally unwarranted by any appearances in the laws of nature. +Variations from different causes are essentially distinct from a +regular and unretrograde increase. The average duration of human life +will to a certain degree vary from healthy or unhealthy climates, from +wholesome or unwholesome food, from virtuous or vicious manners, and +other causes, but it may be fairly doubted whether there is really the +smallest perceptible advance in the natural duration of human life +since first we have had any authentic history of man. The prejudices of +all ages have indeed been directly contrary to this supposition, and +though I would not lay much stress upon these prejudices, they will in +some measure tend to prove that there has been no marked advance in an +opposite direction. + +It may perhaps be said that the world is yet so young, so completely in +its infancy, that it ought not to be expected that any difference +should appear so soon. + +If this be the case, there is at once an end of all human science. The +whole train of reasonings from effects to causes will be destroyed. We +may shut our eyes to the book of nature, as it will no longer be of any +use to read it. The wildest and most improbable conjectures may be +advanced with as much certainty as the most just and sublime theories, +founded on careful and reiterated experiments. We may return again to +the old mode of philosophising and make facts bend to systems, instead +of establishing systems upon facts. The grand and consistent theory of +Newton will be placed upon the same footing as the wild and eccentric +hypotheses of Descartes. In short, if the laws of nature are thus +fickle and inconstant, if it can be affirmed and be believed that they +will change, when for ages and ages they have appeared immutable, the +human mind will no longer have any incitements to inquiry, but must +remain fixed in inactive torpor, or amuse itself only in bewildering +dreams and extravagant fancies. + +The constancy of the laws of nature and of effects and causes is the +foundation of all human knowledge, though far be it from me to say that +the same power which framed and executes the laws of nature may not +change them all 'in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.' Such a +change may undoubtedly happen. All that I mean to say is that it is +impossible to infer it from reasoning. If without any previous +observable symptoms or indications of a change, we can infer that a +change will take place, we may as well make any assertion whatever and +think it as unreasonable to be contradicted in affirming that the moon +will come in contact with the earth tomorrow, as in saying that the sun +will rise at its usual time. + +With regard to the duration of human life, there does not appear to +have existed from the earliest ages of the world to the present moment +the smallest permanent symptom or indication of increasing +prolongation. The observable effects of climate, habit, diet, and other +causes, on length of life have furnished the pretext for asserting its +indefinite extension; and the sandy foundation on which the argument +rests is that because the limit of human life is undefined; because you +cannot mark its precise term, and say so far exactly shall it go and no +further; that therefore its extent may increase for ever, and be +properly termed indefinite or unlimited. But the fallacy and absurdity +of this argument will sufficiently appear from a slight examination of +what Mr Condorcet calls the organic perfectibility, or degeneration, of +the race of plants and animals, which he says may be regarded as one of +the general laws of nature. + +I am told that it is a maxim among the improvers of cattle that you may +breed to any degree of nicety you please, and they found this maxim +upon another, which is that some of the offspring will possess the +desirable qualities of the parents in a greater degree. In the famous +Leicestershire breed of sheep, the object is to procure them with small +heads and small legs. Proceeding upon these breeding maxims, it is +evident that we might go on till the heads and legs were evanescent +quantities, but this is so palpable an absurdity that we may be quite +sure that the premises are not just and that there really is a limit, +though we cannot see it or say exactly where it is. In this case, the +point of the greatest degree of improvement, or the smallest size of +the head and legs, may be said to be undefined, but this is very +different from unlimited, or from indefinite, in Mr Condorcet's +acceptation of the term. Though I may not be able in the present +instance to mark the limit at which further improvement will stop, I +can very easily mention a point at which it will not arrive. I should +not scruple to assert that were the breeding to continue for ever, the +head and legs of these sheep would never be so small as the head and +legs of a rat. + +It cannot be true, therefore, that among animals, some of the offspring +will possess the desirable qualities of the parents in a greater +degree, or that animals are indefinitely perfectible. + +The progress of a wild plant to a beautiful garden flower is perhaps +more marked and striking than anything that takes place among animals, +yet even here it would be the height of absurdity to assert that the +progress was unlimited or indefinite. + +One of the most obvious features of the improvement is the increase of +size. The flower has grown gradually larger by cultivation. If the +progress were really unlimited it might be increased ad infinitum, but +this is so gross an absurdity that we may be quite sure that among +plants as well as among animals there is a limit to improvement, though +we do not exactly know where it is. It is probable that the gardeners +who contend for flower prizes have often applied stronger dressing +without success. At the same time it would be highly presumptuous in +any man to say that he had seen the finest carnation or anemone that +could ever be made to grow. He might however assert without the +smallest chance of being contradicted by a future fact, that no +carnation or anemone could ever by cultivation be increased to the size +of a large cabbage; and yet there are assignable quantities much +greater than a cabbage. No man can say that he has seen the largest ear +of wheat, or the largest oak that could ever grow; but he might easily, +and with perfect certainty, name a point of magnitude at which they +would not arrive. In all these cases therefore, a careful distinction +should be made, between an unlimited progress, and a progress where the +limit is merely undefined. + +It will be said, perhaps, that the reason why plants and animals cannot +increase indefinitely in size is, that they would fall by their own +weight. I answer, how do we know this but from experience?--from +experience of the degree of strength with which these bodies are +formed. I know that a carnation, long before it reached the size of a +cabbage, would not be supported by its stalk, but I only know this from +my experience of the weakness and want of tenacity in the materials of +a carnation stalk. There are many substances in nature of the same size +that would support as large a head as a cabbage. + +The reasons of the mortality of plants are at present perfectly unknown +to us. No man can say why such a plant is annual, another biennial, and +another endures for ages. The whole affair in all these cases, in +plants, animals, and in the human race, is an affair of experience, and +I only conclude that man is mortal because the invariable experience of +all ages has proved the mortality of those materials of which his +visible body is made: + +What can we reason, but from what we know? + +Sound philosophy will not authorize me to alter this opinion of the +mortality of man on earth, till it can be clearly proved that the human +race has made, and is making, a decided progress towards an illimitable +extent of life. And the chief reason why I adduced the two particular +instances from animals and plants was to expose and illustrate, if I +could, the fallacy of that argument which infers an unlimited progress, +merely because some partial improvement has taken place, and that the +limit of this improvement cannot be precisely ascertained. + +The capacity of improvement in plants and animals, to a certain degree, +no person can possibly doubt. A clear and decided progress has already +been made, and yet, I think, it appears that it would be highly absurd +to say that this progress has no limits. In human life, though there +are great variations from different causes, it may be doubted whether, +since the world began, any organic improvement whatever in the human +frame can be clearly ascertained. The foundations, therefore, on which +the arguments for the organic perfectibility of man rest, are unusually +weak, and can only be considered as mere conjectures. It does not, +however, by any means seem impossible that by an attention to breed, a +certain degree of improvement, similar to that among animals, might +take place among men. Whether intellect could be communicated may be a +matter of doubt: but size, strength, beauty, complexion, and perhaps +even longevity are in a degree transmissible. The error does not seem +to lie in supposing a small degree of improvement possible, but in not +discriminating between a small improvement, the limit of which is +undefined, and an improvement really unlimited. As the human race, +however, could not be improved in this way, without condemning all the +bad specimens to celibacy, it is not probable that an attention to +breed should ever become general; indeed, I know of no well-directed +attempts of this kind, except in the ancient family of the +Bickerstaffs, who are said to have been very successful in whitening +the skins and increasing the height of their race by prudent marriages, +particularly by that very judicious cross with Maud, the milk-maid, by +which some capital defects in the constitutions of the family were +corrected. + +It will not be necessary, I think, in order more completely to shew the +improbability of any approach in man towards immortality on earth, to +urge the very great additional weight that an increase in the duration +of life would give to the argument of population. + +Many, I doubt not, will think that the attempting gravely to controvert +so absurd a paradox as the immortality of man on earth, or indeed, even +the perfectibility of man and society, is a waste of time and words, +and that such unfounded conjectures are best answered by neglect. I +profess, however, to be of a different opinion. When paradoxes of this +kind are advanced by ingenious and able men, neglect has no tendency to +convince them of their mistakes. Priding themselves on what they +conceive to be a mark of the reach and size of their own +understandings, of the extent and comprehensiveness of their views, +they will look upon this neglect merely as an indication of poverty, +and narrowness, in the mental exertions of their contemporaries, and +only think that the world is not yet prepared to receive their sublime +truths. + +On the contrary, a candid investigation of these subjects, accompanied +with a perfect readiness to adopt any theory warranted by sound +philosophy, may have a tendency to convince them that in forming +improbable and unfounded hypotheses, so far from enlarging the bounds +of human science, they are contracting it, so far from promoting the +improvement of the human mind, they are obstructing it; they are +throwing us back again almost into the infancy of knowledge and +weakening the foundations of that mode of philosophising, under the +auspices of which science has of late made such rapid advances. The +present rage for wide and unrestrained speculation seems to be a kind +of mental intoxication, arising, perhaps, from the great and unexpected +discoveries which have been made of late years, in various branches of +science. To men elate and giddy with such successes, every thing +appeared to be within the grasp of human powers; and, under this +illusion, they confounded subjects where no real progress could be +proved with those where the progress had been marked, certain, and +acknowledged. Could they be persuaded to sober themselves with a little +severe and chastised thinking, they would see, that the cause of truth, +and of sound philosophy, cannot but suffer by substituting wild flights +and unsupported assertions for patient investigation, and well +authenticated proofs. + +Mr Condorcet's book may be considered not only as a sketch of the +opinions of a celebrated individual, but of many of the literary men in +France at the beginning of the Revolution. As such, though merely a +sketch, it seems worthy of attention. + + + + +CHAPTER 10 + +Mr Godwin's system of equality--Error of attributing all the vices of +mankind to human institutions--Mr Godwin's first answer to the +difficulty arising from population totally insufficient--Mr Godwin's +beautiful system of equality supposed to be realized--Its utter +destruction simply from the principle of population in so short a time +as thirty years. + + +In reading Mr Godwin's ingenious and able work on political justice, it +is impossible not to be struck with the spirit and energy of his style, +the force and precision of some of his reasonings, the ardent tone of +his thoughts, and particularly with that impressive earnestness of +manner which gives an air of truth to the whole. At the same time, it +must be confessed that he has not proceeded in his inquiries with the +caution that sound philosophy seems to require. His conclusions are +often unwarranted by his premises. He fails sometimes in removing the +objections which he himself brings forward. He relies too much on +general and abstract propositions which will not admit of application. +And his conjectures certainly far outstrip the modesty of nature. + +The system of equality which Mr Godwin proposes is, without doubt, by +far the most beautiful and engaging of any that has yet appeared. An +amelioration of society to be produced merely by reason and conviction +wears much more the promise of permanence than any change effected and +maintained by force. The unlimited exercise of private judgement is a +doctrine inexpressibly grand and captivating and has a vast superiority +over those systems where every individual is in a manner the slave of +the public. The substitution of benevolence as the master-spring and +moving principle of society, instead of self-love, is a consummation +devoutly to be wished. In short, it is impossible to contemplate the +whole of this fair structure without emotions of delight and +admiration, accompanied with ardent longing for the period of its +accomplishment. But, alas! that moment can never arrive. The whole is +little better than a dream, a beautiful phantom of the imagination. +These 'gorgeous palaces' of happiness and immortality, these 'solemn +temples' of truth and virtue will dissolve, 'like the baseless fabric +of a vision', when we awaken to real life and contemplate the true and +genuine situation of man on earth. Mr Godwin, at the conclusion of the +third chapter of his eighth book, speaking of population, says: + +There is a principle in human society, by which population is +perpetually kept down to the level of the means of subsistence. Thus +among the wandering tribes of America and Asia, we never find through +the lapse of ages that population has so increased as to render +necessary the cultivation of the earth. + +This principle, which Mr Godwin thus mentions as some mysterious and +occult cause and which he does not attempt to investigate, will be +found to be the grinding law of necessity, misery, and the fear of +misery. + +The great error under which Mr Godwin labours throughout his whole work +is the attributing almost all the vices and misery that are seen in +civil society to human institutions. Political regulations and the +established administration of property are with him the fruitful +sources of all evil, the hotbeds of all the crimes that degrade +mankind. Were this really a true state of the case, it would not seem a +hopeless task to remove evil completely from the world, and reason +seems to be the proper and adequate instrument for effecting so great a +purpose. But the truth is, that though human institutions appear to be +the obvious and obtrusive causes of much mischief to mankind, yet in +reality they are light and superficial, they are mere feathers that +float on the surface, in comparison with those deeper seated causes of +impurity that corrupt the springs and render turbid the whole stream of +human life. + +Mr Godwin, in his chapter on the benefits attendant on a system of +equality, says: + +The spirit of oppression, the spirit of servility, and the spirit of +fraud, these are the immediate growth of the established administration +of property. They are alike hostile to intellectual improvement. The +other vices of envy, malice, and revenge are their inseparable +companions. In a state of society where men lived in the midst of +plenty and where all shared alike the bounties of nature, these +sentiments would inevitably expire. The narrow principle of selfishness +would vanish. No man being obliged to guard his little store or provide +with anxiety and pain for his restless wants, each would lose his +individual existence in the thought of the general good. No man would +be an enemy to his neighbour, for they would have no subject of +contention, and, of consequence, philanthropy would resume the empire +which reason assigns her. Mind would be delivered from her perpetual +anxiety about corporal support, and free to expatiate in the field of +thought, which is congenial to her. Each would assist the inquiries of +all. + +This would, indeed, be a happy state. But that it is merely an +imaginary picture, with scarcely a feature near the truth, the reader, +I am afraid, is already too well convinced. + +Man cannot live in the midst of plenty. All cannot share alike the +bounties of nature. Were there no established administration of +property, every man would be obliged to guard with force his little +store. Selfishness would be triumphant. The subjects of contention +would be perpetual. Every individual mind would be under a constant +anxiety about corporal support, and not a single intellect would be +left free to expatiate in the field of thought. + +How little Mr Godwin has turned the attention of his penetrating mind +to the real state of man on earth will sufficiently appear from the +manner in which he endeavours to remove the difficulty of an +overcharged population. He says: + +The obvious answer to this objection, is, that to reason thus is to +foresee difficulties at a great distance. Three fourths of the +habitable globe is now uncultivated. The parts already cultivated are +capable of immeasurable improvement. Myriads of centuries of still +increasing population may pass away, and the earth be still found +sufficient for the subsistence of its inhabitants. + +I have already pointed out the error of supposing that no distress and +difficulty would arise from an overcharged population before the earth +absolutely refused to produce any more. But let us imagine for a moment +Mr Godwin's beautiful system of equality realized in its utmost purity, +and see how soon this difficulty might be expected to press under so +perfect a form of society. A theory that will not admit of application +cannot possibly be just. + +Let us suppose all the causes of misery and vice in this island +removed. War and contention cease. Unwholesome trades and manufactories +do not exist. Crowds no longer collect together in great and pestilent +cities for purposes of court intrigue, of commerce, and vicious +gratifications. Simple, healthy, and rational amusements take place of +drinking, gaming, and debauchery. There are no towns sufficiently large +to have any prejudicial effects on the human constitution. The greater +part of the happy inhabitants of this terrestrial paradise live in +hamlets and farmhouses scattered over the face of the country. Every +house is clean, airy, sufficiently roomy, and in a healthy situation. +All men are equal. The labours of luxury are at end. And the necessary +labours of agriculture are shared amicably among all. The number of +persons, and the produce of the island, we suppose to be the same as at +present. The spirit of benevolence, guided by impartial justice, will +divide this produce among all the members of the society according to +their wants. Though it would be impossible that they should all have +animal food every day, yet vegetable food, with meat occasionally, +would satisfy the desires of a frugal people and would be sufficient to +preserve them in health, strength, and spirits. + +Mr Godwin considers marriage as a fraud and a monopoly. Let us suppose +the commerce of the sexes established upon principles of the most +perfect freedom. Mr Godwin does not think himself that this freedom +would lead to a promiscuous intercourse, and in this I perfectly agree +with him. The love of variety is a vicious, corrupt, and unnatural +taste and could not prevail in any great degree in a simple and +virtuous state of society. Each man would probably select himself a +partner, to whom he would adhere as long as that adherence continued to +be the choice of both parties. It would be of little consequence, +according to Mr Godwin, how many children a woman had or to whom they +belonged. Provisions and assistance would spontaneously flow from the +quarter in which they abounded, to the quarter that was deficient. (See +Bk VIII, ch. 8; in the third edition, Vol II, p. 512) And every man +would be ready to furnish instruction to the rising generation +according to his capacity. + +I cannot conceive a form of society so favourable upon the whole to +population. The irremediableness of marriage, as it is at present +constituted, undoubtedly deters many from entering into that state. An +unshackled intercourse on the contrary would be a most powerful +incitement to early attachments, and as we are supposing no anxiety +about the future support of children to exist, I do not conceive that +there would be one woman in a hundred, of twenty-three, without a +family. + +With these extraordinary encouragements to population, and every cause +of depopulation, as we have supposed, removed, the numbers would +necessarily increase faster than in any society that has ever yet been +known. I have mentioned, on the authority of a pamphlet published by a +Dr Styles and referred to by Dr Price, that the inhabitants of the back +settlements of America doubled their numbers in fifteen years. England +is certainly a more healthy country than the back settlements of +America, and as we have supposed every house in the island to be airy +and wholesome, and the encouragements to have a family greater even +than with the back settlers, no probable reason can be assigned why the +population should not double itself in less, if possible, than fifteen +years. But to be quite sure that we do not go beyond the truth, we will +only suppose the period of doubling to be twenty-five years, a ratio of +increase which is well known to have taken place throughout all the +Northern States of America. + +There can be little doubt that the equalization of property which we +have supposed, added to the circumstance of the labour of the whole +community being directed chiefly to agriculture, would tend greatly to +augment the produce of the country. But to answer the demands of a +population increasing so rapidly, Mr Godwin's calculation of half an +hour a day for each man would certainly not be sufficient. It is +probable that the half of every man's time must be employed for this +purpose. Yet with such, or much greater exertions, a person who is +acquainted with the nature of the soil in this country, and who +reflects on the fertility of the lands already in cultivation, and the +barrenness of those that are not cultivated, will be very much disposed +to doubt whether the whole average produce could possibly be doubled in +twenty-five years from the present period. The only chance of success +would be the ploughing up all the grazing countries and putting an end +almost entirely to the use of animal food. Yet a part of this scheme +might defeat itself. The soil of England will not produce much without +dressing, and cattle seem to be necessary to make that species of +manure which best suits the land. In China it is said that the soil in +some of the provinces is so fertile as to produce two crops of rice in +the year without dressing. None of the lands in England will answer to +this description. + +Difficult, however, as it might be to double the average produce of the +island in twenty-five years, let us suppose it effected. At the +expiration of the first period therefore, the food, though almost +entirely vegetable, would be sufficient to support in health the +doubled population of fourteen millions. + +During the next period of doubling, where will the food be found to +satisfy the importunate demands of the increasing numbers? Where is the +fresh land to turn up? Where is the dressing necessary to improve that +which is already in cultivation? There is no person with the smallest +knowledge of land but would say that it was impossible that the average +produce of the country could be increased during the second twenty-five +years by a quantity equal to what it at present yields. Yet we will +suppose this increase, however improbable, to take place. The exuberant +strength of the argument allows of almost any concession. Even with +this concession, however, there would be seven millions at the +expiration of the second term unprovided for. A quantity of food equal +to the frugal support of twenty-one millions, would be to be divided +among twenty-eight millions. + +Alas! what becomes of the picture where men lived in the midst of +plenty, where no man was obliged to provide with anxiety and pain for +his restless wants, where the narrow principle of selfishness did not +exist, where Mind was delivered from her perpetual anxiety about +corporal support and free to expatiate in the field of thought which is +congenial to her. This beautiful fabric of imagination vanishes at the +severe touch of truth. The spirit of benevolence, cherished and +invigorated by plenty, is repressed by the chilling breath of want. The +hateful passions that had vanished reappear. The mighty law of +self-preservation expels all the softer and more exalted emotions of +the soul. The temptations to evil are too strong for human nature to +resist. The corn is plucked before it is ripe, or secreted in unfair +proportions, and the whole black train of vices that belong to +falsehood are immediately generated. Provisions no longer flow in for +the support of the mother with a large family. The children are sickly +from insufficient food. The rosy flush of health gives place to the +pallid cheek and hollow eye of misery. Benevolence, yet lingering in a +few bosoms, makes some faint expiring struggles, till at length +self-love resumes his wonted empire and lords it triumphant over the +world. + +No human institutions here existed, to the perverseness of which Mr +Godwin ascribes the original sin of the worst men. (Bk VIII, ch. 3; in +the third edition, Vol. II, p. 462) No opposition had been produced by +them between public and private good. No monopoly had been created of +those advantages which reason directs to be left in common. No man had +been goaded to the breach of order by unjust laws. Benevolence had +established her reign in all hearts: and yet in so short a period as +within fifty years, violence, oppression, falsehood, misery, every +hateful vice, and every form of distress, which degrade and sadden the +present state of society, seem to have been generated by the most +imperious circumstances, by laws inherent in the nature of man, and +absolutely independent of it human regulations. + +If we are not yet too well convinced of the reality of this melancholy +picture, let us but look for a moment into the next period of +twenty-five years; and we shall see twenty-eight millions of human +beings without the means of support; and before the conclusion of the +first century, the population would be one hundred and twelve millions, +and the food only sufficient for thirty-five millions, leaving +seventy-seven millions unprovided for. In these ages want would be +indeed triumphant, and rapine and murder must reign at large: and yet +all this time we are supposing the produce of the earth absolutely +unlimited, and the yearly increase greater than the boldest speculator +can imagine. + +This is undoubtedly a very different view of the difficulty arising +from population from that which Mr Godwin gives, when he says, 'Myriads +of centuries of still increasing population may pass away, and the +earth be still found sufficient for the subsistence of its inhabitants.' + +I am sufficiently aware that the redundant twenty-eight millions, or +seventy-seven millions, that I have mentioned, could never have +existed. It is a perfectly just observation of Mr Godwin, that, 'There +is a principle in human society, by which population is perpetually +kept down to the level of the means of subsistence.' The sole question +is, what is this principle? is it some obscure and occult cause? Is it +some mysterious interference of heaven which, at a certain period, +strikes the men with impotence, and the women with barrenness? Or is it +a cause, open to our researches, within our view, a cause, which has +constantly been observed to operate, though with varied force, in every +state in which man has been placed? Is it not a degree of misery, the +necessary and inevitable result of the laws of nature, which human +institutions, so far from aggravating, have tended considerably to +mitigate, though they never can remove? + +It may be curious to observe, in the case that we have been supposing, +how some of the laws which at present govern civilized society, would +be successively dictated by the most imperious necessity. As man, +according to Mr Godwin, is the creature of the impressions to which he +is subject, the goadings of want could not continue long, before some +violations of public or private stock would necessarily take place. As +these violations increased in number and extent, the more active and +comprehensive intellects of the society would soon perceive, that while +population was fast increasing, the yearly produce of the country would +shortly begin to diminish. The urgency of the case would suggest the +necessity of some mediate measures to be taken for the general safety. +Some kind of convention would then be called, and the dangerous +situation of the country stated in the strongest terms. It would be +observed, that while they lived in the midst of plenty, it was of +little consequence who laboured the least, or who possessed the least, +as every man was perfectly willing and ready to supply the wants of his +neighbour. But that the question was no longer whether one man should +give to another that which he did not use himself, but whether he +should give to his neighbour the food which was absolutely necessary to +his own existence. It would be represented, that the number of those +that were in want very greatly exceeded the number and means of those +who should supply them; that these pressing wants, which from the state +of the produce of the country could not all be gratified, had +occasioned some flagrant violations of justice; that these violations +had already checked the increase of food, and would, if they were not +by some means or other prevented, throw the whole community in +confusion; that imperious necessity seemed to dictate that a yearly +increase of produce should, if possible, be obtained at all events; +that in order to effect this first, great, and indispensable purpose, +it would be advisable to make a more complete division of land, and to +secure every man's stock against violation by the most powerful +sanctions, even by death itself. + +It might be urged perhaps by some objectors that, as the fertility of +the land increased, and various accidents occurred, the share of some +men might be much more than sufficient for their support, and that when +the reign of self-love was once established, they would not distribute +their surplus produce without some compensation in return. It would be +observed, in answer, that this was an inconvenience greatly to be +lamented; but that it was an evil which bore no comparison to the black +train of distresses that would inevitably be occasioned by the +insecurity of property; that the quantity of food which one man could +consume was necessarily limited by the narrow capacity of the human +stomach; that it was not certainly probable that he should throw away +the rest; but that even if he exchanged his surplus food for the labour +of others, and made them in some degree dependent on him, this would +still be better than that these others should absolutely starve. + +It seems highly probable, therefore, that an administration of +property, not very different from that which prevails in civilized +states at present, would be established, as the best, though +inadequate, remedy for the evils which were pressing on the society. + +The next subject that would come under discussion, intimately connected +with the preceding, is the commerce between the sexes. It would be +urged by those who had turned their attention to the true cause of the +difficulties under which the community laboured, that while every man +felt secure that all his children would be well provided for by general +benevolence, the powers of the earth would be absolutely inadequate to +produce food for the population which would inevitably ensue; that even +if the whole attention and labour of the society were directed to this +sole point, and if, by the most perfect security of property, and every +other encouragement that could be thought of, the greatest possible +increase of produce were yearly obtained; yet still, that the increase +of food would by no means keep pace with the much more rapid increase +of population; that some check to population therefore was imperiously +called for; that the most natural and obvious check seemed to be to +make every man provide for his own children; that this would operate in +some respect as a measure and guide in the increase of population, as +it might be expected that no man would bring beings into the world, for +whom he could not find the means of support; that where this +notwithstanding was the case, it seemed necessary, for the example of +others, that the disgrace and inconvenience attending such a conduct +should fall upon the individual, who had thus inconsiderately plunged +himself and innocent children in misery and want. + +The institution of marriage, or at least, of some express or implied +obligation on every man to support his own children, seems to be the +natural result of these reasonings in a community under the +difficulties that we have supposed. + +The view of these difficulties presents us with a very natural origin +of the superior disgrace which attends a breach of chastity in the +woman than in the man. It could not be expected that women should have +resources sufficient to support their own children. When therefore a +woman was connected with a man, who had entered into no compact to +maintain her children, and, aware of the inconveniences that he might +bring upon himself, had deserted her, these children must necessarily +fall for support upon the society, or starve. And to prevent the +frequent recurrence of such an inconvenience, as it would be highly +unjust to punish so natural a fault by personal restraint or +infliction, the men might agree to punish it with disgrace. The offence +is besides more obvious and conspicuous in the woman, and less liable +to any mistake. The father of a child may not always be known, but the +same uncertainty cannot easily exist with regard to the mother. Where +the evidence of the offence was most complete, and the inconvenience to +the society at the same time the greatest, there it was agreed that the +large share of blame should fall. The obligation on every man to +maintain his children, the society would enforce, if there were +occasion; and the greater degree of inconvenience or labour, to which a +family would necessarily subject him, added to some portion of disgrace +which every human being must incur who leads another into unhappiness, +might be considered as a sufficient punishment for the man. + +That a woman should at present be almost driven from society for an +offence which men commit nearly with impunity, seems to be undoubtedly +a breach of natural justice. But the origin of the custom, as the most +obvious and effectual method of preventing the frequent recurrence of a +serious inconvenience to a community, appears to be natural, though not +perhaps perfectly justifiable. This origin, however, is now lost in the +new train of ideas which the custom has since generated. What at first +might be dictated by state necessity is now supported by female +delicacy, and operates with the greatest force on that part of society +where, if the original intention of the custom were preserved, there is +the least real occasion for it. + +When these two fundamental laws of society, the security of property, +and the institution of marriage, were once established, inequality of +conditions must necessarily follow. Those who were born after the +division of property would come into a world already possessed. If +their parents, from having too large a family, could not give them +sufficient for their support, what are they to do in a world where +everything is appropriated? We have seen the fatal effects that would +result to a society, if every man had a valid claim to an equal share +of the produce of the earth. The members of a family which was grown +too large for the original division of land appropriated to it could +not then demand a part of the surplus produce of others, as a debt of +justice. It has appeared, that from the inevitable laws of our nature +some human beings must suffer from want. These are the unhappy persons +who, in the great lottery of life, have drawn a blank. The number of +these claimants would soon exceed the ability of the surplus produce to +supply. Moral merit is a very difficult distinguishing criterion, +except in extreme cases. The owners of surplus produce would in general +seek some more obvious mark of distinction. And it seems both natural +and just that, except upon particular occasions, their choice should +fall upon those who were able, and professed themselves willing, to +exert their strength in procuring a further surplus produce; and thus +at once benefiting the community, and enabling these proprietors to +afford assistance to greater numbers. All who were in want of food +would be urged by imperious necessity to offer their labour in exchange +for this article so absolutely essential to existence. The fund +appropriated to the maintenance of labour would be the aggregate +quantity of food possessed by the owners of land beyond their own +consumption. When the demands upon this fund were great and numerous, +it would naturally be divided in very small shares. Labour would be ill +paid. Men would offer to work for a bare subsistence, and the rearing +of families would be checked by sickness and misery. On the contrary, +when this fund was increasing fast, when it was great in proportion to +the number of claimants, it would be divided in much larger shares. No +man would exchange his labour without receiving an ample quantity of +food in return. Labourers would live in ease and comfort, and would +consequently be able to rear a numerous and vigorous offspring. + +On the state of this fund, the happiness, or the degree of misery, +prevailing among the lower classes of people in every known state at +present chiefly depends. And on this happiness, or degree of misery, +depends the increase, stationariness, or decrease of population. + +And thus it appears, that a society constituted according to the most +beautiful form that imagination can conceive, with benevolence for its +moving principle, instead of self-love, and with every evil disposition +in all its members corrected by reason and not force, would, from the +inevitable laws of nature, and not from any original depravity of man, +in a very short period degenerate into a society constructed upon a +plan not essentially different from that which prevails in every known +state at present; I mean, a society divided into a class of +proprietors, and a class of labourers, and with self-love the +main-spring of the great machine. + +In the supposition I have made, I have undoubtedly taken the increase +of population smaller, and the increase of produce greater, than they +really would be. No reason can be assigned why, under the circumstances +I have supposed, population should not increase faster than in any +known instance. If then we were to take the period of doubling at +fifteen years, instead of twenty-five years, and reflect upon the +labour necessary to double the produce in so short a time, even if we +allow it possible, we may venture to pronounce with certainty that if +Mr Godwin's system of society was established in its utmost perfection, +instead of myriads of centuries, not thirty years could elapse before +its utter destruction from the simple principle of population. + +I have taken no notice of emigration for obvious reasons. If such +societies were instituted in other parts of Europe, these countries +would be under the same difficulties with regard to population, and +could admit no fresh members into their bosoms. If this beautiful +society were confined to this island, it must have degenerated +strangely from its original purity, and administer but a very small +portion of the happiness it proposed; in short, its essential principle +must be completely destroyed, before any of its members would +voluntarily consent to leave it, and live under such governments as at +present exist in Europe, or submit to the extreme hardships of first +settlers in new regions. We well know, from repeated experience, how +much misery and hardship men will undergo in their own country, before +they can determine to desert it; and how often the most tempting +proposals of embarking for new settlements have been rejected by people +who appeared to be almost starving. + + + + +CHAPTER 11 + +Mr Godwin's conjecture concerning the future extinction of the passion +between the sexes--Little apparent grounds for such a +conjecture--Passion of love not inconsistent either with reason or +virtue. + + +We have supported Mr Godwin's system of society once completely +established. But it is supposing an impossibility. The same causes in +nature which would destroy it so rapidly, were it once established, +would prevent the possibility of its establishment. And upon what +grounds we can presume a change in these natural causes, I am utterly +at a loss to conjecture. No move towards the extinction of the passion +between the sexes has taken place in the five or six thousand years +that the world has existed. Men in the decline of life have in all ages +declaimed against a passion which they have ceased to feel, but with as +little reason as success. Those who from coldness of constitutional +temperament have never felt what love is, will surely be allowed to be +very incompetent judges with regard to the power of this passion to +contribute to the sum of pleasurable sensations in life. Those who have +spent their youth in criminal excesses and have prepared for +themselves, as the comforts of their age, corporeal debility and mental +remorse may well inveigh against such pleasures as vain and futile, and +unproductive of lasting satisfaction. But the pleasures of pure love +will bear the contemplation of the most improved reason, and the most +exalted virtue. Perhaps there is scarcely a man who has once +experienced the genuine delight of virtuous love, however great his +intellectual pleasure may have been, that does not look back to the +period as the sunny spot in his whole life, where his imagination loves +to bask, which he recollects and contemplates with the fondest regrets, +and which he would most wish to live over again. The superiority of +intellectual to sensual pleasures consists rather in their filling up +more time, in their having a larger range, and in their being less +liable to satiety, than in their being more real and essential. + +Intemperance in every enjoyment defeats its own purpose. A walk in the +finest day through the most beautiful country, if pursued too far, ends +in pain and fatigue. The most wholesome and invigorating food, eaten +with an unrestrained appetite, produces weakness instead of strength. +Even intellectual pleasures, though certainly less liable than others +to satiety, pursued with too little intermission, debilitate the body, +and impair the vigour of the mind. To argue against the reality of +these pleasures from their abuse seems to be hardly just. Morality, +according to Mr Godwin, is a calculation of consequences, or, as +Archdeacon Paley very justly expresses it, the will of God, as +collected from general expediency. According to either of these +definitions, a sensual pleasure not attended with the probability of +unhappy consequences does not offend against the laws of morality, and +if it be pursued with such a degree of temperance as to leave the most +ample room for intellectual attainments, it must undoubtedly add to the +sum of pleasurable sensations in life. Virtuous love, exalted by +friendship, seems to be that sort of mixture of sensual and +intellectual enjoyment particularly suited to the nature of man, and +most powerfully calculated to awaken the sympathies of the soul, and +produce the most exquisite gratifications. + +Mr Godwin says, in order to shew the evident inferiority of the +pleasures of sense, 'Strip the commerce of the sexes of all its +attendant circumstances, and it would be generally despised' (Bk. I, +ch. 5; in the third edition, Vol. I, pp. 71-72). He might as well say +to a man who admired trees: strip them of their spreading branches and +lovely foliage, and what beauty can you see in a bare pole? But it was +the tree with the branches and foliage, and not without them, that +excited admiration. One feature of an object may be as distinct, and +excite as different emotions, from the aggregate as any two things the +most remote, as a beautiful woman, and a map of Madagascar. It is 'the +symmetry of person, the vivacity, the voluptuous softness of temper, +the affectionate kindness of feelings, the imagination and the wit' of +a woman that excite the passion of love, and not the mere distinction +of her being female. Urged by the passion of love, men have been driven +into acts highly prejudicial to the general interests of society, but +probably they would have found no difficulty in resisting the +temptation, had it appeared in the form of a woman with no other +attractions whatever but her sex. To strip sensual pleasures of all +their adjuncts, in order to prove their inferiority, is to deprive a +magnet of some of its most essential causes of attraction, and then to +say that it is weak and inefficient. + +In the pursuit of every enjoyment, whether sensual or intellectual, +reason, that faculty which enables us to calculate consequences, is the +proper corrective and guide. It is probable therefore that improved +reason will always tend to prevent the abuse of sensual pleasures, +though it by no means follows that it will extinguish them. + +I have endeavoured to expose the fallacy of that argument which infers +an unlimited progress from a partial improvement, the limits of which +cannot be exactly ascertained. It has appeared, I think, that there are +many instances in which a decided progress has been observed, where yet +it would be a gross absurdity to suppose that progress indefinite. But +towards the extinction of the passion between the sexes, no observable +progress whatever has hitherto been made. To suppose such an +extinction, therefore, is merely to offer an unfounded conjecture, +unsupported by any philosophical probabilities. + +It is a truth, which history I am afraid makes too clear, that some men +of the highest mental powers have been addicted not only to a moderate, +but even to an immoderate indulgence in the pleasures of sensual love. +But allowing, as I should be inclined to do, notwithstanding numerous +instances to the contrary, that great intellectual exertions tend to +diminish the empire of this passion over man, it is evident that the +mass of mankind must be improved more highly than the brightest +ornaments of the species at present before any difference can take +place sufficient sensibly to affect population. I would by no means +suppose that the mass of mankind has reached its term of improvement, +but the principal argument of this essay tends to place in a strong +point of view the improbability that the lower classes of people in any +country should ever be sufficiently free from want and labour to obtain +any high degree of intellectual improvement. + + + + +CHAPTER 12 + +Mr Godwin's conjecture concerning the indefinite prolongation of human +life--Improper inference drawn from the effects of mental stimulants on +the human frame, illustrated in various instances--Conjectures not +founded on any indications in the past not to be considered as +philosophical conjectures--Mr Godwin's and Mr Condorcet's conjecture +respecting the approach of man towards immortality on earth, a curious +instance of the inconsistency of scepticism. + + +Mr Godwin's conjecture respecting the future approach of man towards +immortality on earth seems to be rather oddly placed in a chapter which +professes to remove the objection to his system of equality from the +principle of population. Unless he supposes the passion between the +sexes to decrease faster than the duration of life increases, the earth +would be more encumbered than ever. But leaving this difficulty to Mr +Godwin, let us examine a few of the appearances from which the probable +immortality of man is inferred. + +To prove the power of the mind over the body, Mr Godwin observes, "How +often do we find a piece of good news dissipating a distemper? How +common is the remark that those accidents which are to the indolent a +source of disease are forgotten and extirpated in the busy and active? +I walk twenty miles in an indolent and half determined temper and am +extremely fatigued. I walk twenty miles full of ardour, and with a +motive that engrosses my soul, and I come in as fresh and as alert as +when I began my journey. Emotion excited by some unexpected word, by a +letter that is delivered to us, occasions the most extraordinary +revolutions in our frame, accelerates the circulation, causes the heart +to palpitate, the tongue to refuse its office, and has been known to +occasion death by extreme anguish or extreme joy. There is nothing +indeed of which the physician is more aware than of the power of the +mind in assisting or reading convalescence." + +The instances here mentioned are chiefly instances of the effects of +mental stimulants on the bodily frame. No person has ever for a moment +doubted the near, though mysterious, connection of mind and body. But +it is arguing totally without knowledge of the nature of stimulants to +suppose, either that they can be applied continually with equal +strength, or if they could be so applied, for a time, that they would +not exhaust and wear out the subject. In some of the cases here +noticed, the strength of the stimulus depends upon its novelty and +unexpectedness. Such a stimulus cannot, from its nature, be repeated +often with the same effect, as it would by repetition lose that +property which gives it its strength. + +In the other cases, the argument is from a small and partial effect, to +a great and general effect, which will in numberless instances be found +to be a very fallacious mode of reasoning. The busy and active man may +in some degree counteract, or what is perhaps nearer the truth, may +disregard those slight disorders of frame which fix the attention of a +man who has nothing else to think of; but this does not tend to prove +that activity of mind will enable a man to disregard a high fever, the +smallpox, or the plague. + +The man who walks twenty miles with a motive that engrosses his soul +does not attend to his slight fatigue of body when he comes in; but +double his motive, and set him to walk another twenty miles, quadruple +it, and let him start a third time, and so on; and the length of his +walk will ultimately depend upon muscle and not mind. Powell, for a +motive of ten guineas, would have walked further probably than Mr +Godwin, for a motive of half a million. A motive of uncommon power +acting upon a frame of moderate strength would, perhaps, make the man +kill himself by his exertions, but it would not make him walk a hundred +miles in twenty-four hours. This statement of the case shews the +fallacy of supposing that the person was really not at all tired in his +first walk of twenty miles, because he did not appear to be so, or, +perhaps, scarcely felt any fatigue himself. The mind cannot fix its +attention strongly on more than one object at once. The twenty thousand +pounds so engrossed his thoughts that he did not attend to any slight +soreness of foot, or stiffness of limb. But had he been really as fresh +and as alert, as when he first set off, he would be able to go the +second twenty miles with as much ease as the first, and so on, the +third, &c. Which leads to a palpable absurdity. When a horse of spirit +is nearly half tired, by the stimulus of the spur, added to the proper +management of the bit, he may be put so much upon his mettle, that he +would appear to a standerby, as fresh and as high spirited as if he had +not gone a mile. Nay, probably, the horse himself, while in the heat +and passion occasioned by this stimulus, would not feel any fatigue; +but it would be strangely contrary to all reason and experience, to +argue from such an appearance that, if the stimulus were continued, the +horse would never be tired. The cry of a pack of hounds will make some +horses, after a journey of forty miles on the road, appear as fresh, +and as lively, as when they first set out. Were they then to be hunted, +no perceptible abatement would at first be felt by their riders in +their strength and spirits, but towards the end of a hard day, the +previous fatigue would have its full weight and effect, and make them +tire sooner. When I have taken a long walk with my gun, and met with no +success, I have frequently returned home feeling a considerable degree +of uncomfortableness from fatigue. Another day, perhaps, going over +nearly the same extent of ground with a good deal of sport, I have come +home fresh, and alert. The difference in the sensation of fatigue upon +coming in, on the different days, may have been very striking, but on +the following mornings I have found no such difference. I have not +perceived that I was less stiff in my limbs, or less footsore, on the +morning after the day of the sport, than on the other morning. + +In all these cases, stimulants upon the mind seem to act rather by +taking off the attention from the bodily fatigue, than by really and +truly counteracting it. If the energy of my mind had really +counteracted the fatigue of my body, why should I feel tired the next +morning? if the stimulus of the hounds had as completely overcome the +fatigue of the journey in reality, as it did in appearance, why should +the horse be tired sooner than if he had not gone the forty miles? I +happen to have a very bad fit of the toothache at the time I am writing +this. In the eagerness of composition, I every now and then, for a +moment or two, forget it. Yet I cannot help thinking that the process, +which causes the pain, is still going forwards, and that the nerves +which carry the information of it to the brain are even during these +moments demanding attention and room for their appropriate vibrations. +The multiplicity of vibrations of another kind may perhaps prevent +their admission, or overcome them for a time when admitted, till a +shoot of extraordinary energy puts all other vibration to the rout, +destroys the vividness of my argumentative conceptions, and rides +triumphant in the brain. In this case, as in the others, the mind seems +to have little or no power in counteracting or curing the disorder, but +merely possesses a power, if strongly excited, of fixing its attention +on other subjects. + +I do not, however, mean to say that a sound and vigorous mind has no +tendency whatever to keep the body in a similar state. So close and +intimate is the union of mind and body that it would be highly +extraordinary if they did not mutually assist each other's functions. +But, perhaps, upon a comparison, the body has more effect upon the mind +than the mind upon the body. The first object of the mind is to act as +purveyor to the wants of the body. When these wants are completely +satisfied, an active mind is indeed apt to wander further, to range +over the fields of science, or sport in the regions of. Imagination, to +fancy that it has 'shuffled off this mortal coil', and is seeking its +kindred element. But all these efforts are like the vain exertions of +the hare in the fable. The slowly moving tortoise, the body, never +fails to overtake the mind, however widely and extensively it may have +ranged, and the brightest and most energetic intellects, unwillingly as +they may attend to the first or second summons, must ultimately yield +the empire of the brain to the calls of hunger, or sink with the +exhausted body in sleep. + +It seems as if one might say with certainty that if a medicine could be +found to immortalize the body there would be no fear of its [not] being +accompanied by the immortality of the mind. But the immortality of the +mind by no means seems to infer the immortality of the body. On the +contrary, the greatest conceivable energy of mind would probably +exhaust and destroy the strength of the body. A temperate vigour of +mind appears to be favourable to health, but very great intellectual +exertions tend rather, as has been often observed, to wear out the +scabbard. Most of the instances which Mr Godwin has brought to prove +the power of the mind over the body, and the consequent probability of +the immortality of man, are of this latter description, and could such +stimulants be continually applied, instead of tending to immortalize, +they would tend very rapidly to destroy the human frame. + +The probable increase of the voluntary power of man over his animal +frame comes next under Mr Godwin's consideration, and he concludes by +saying, that the voluntary power of some men, in this respect, is found +to extend to various articles in which other men are impotent. But this +is reasoning against an almost universal rule from a few exceptions; +and these exceptions seem to be rather tricks, than powers that may be +exerted to any good purpose. I have never heard of any man who could +regulate his pulse in a fever, and doubt much, if any of the persons +here alluded to have made the smallest perceptible progress in the +regular correction of the disorders of their frames and the consequent +prolongation of their lives. + +Mr Godwin says, 'Nothing can be more unphilosophical than to conclude, +that, because a certain species of power is beyond the train of our +present observation, that it is beyond the limits of the human mind.' I +own my ideas of philosophy are in this respect widely different from Mr +Godwin's. The only distinction that I see, between a philosophical +conjecture, and the assertions of the Prophet Mr Brothers, is, that one +is founded upon indications arising from the train of our present +observations, and the other has no foundation at all. I expect that +great discoveries are yet to take place in all the branches of human +science, particularly in physics; but the moment we leave past +experience as the foundation of our conjectures concerning the future, +and, still more, if our conjectures absolutely contradict past +experience, we are thrown upon a wide field of uncertainty, and any one +supposition is then just as good as another. If a person were to tell +me that men would ultimately have eyes and hands behind them as well as +before them, I should admit the usefulness of the addition, but should +give as a reason for my disbelief of it, that I saw no indications +whatever in the past from which I could infer the smallest probability +of such a change. If this be not allowed a valid objection, all +conjectures are alike, and all equally philosophical. I own it appears +to me that in the train of our present observations, there are no more +genuine indications that man will become immortal upon earth than that +he will have four eyes and four hands, or that trees will grow +horizontally instead of perpendicularly. + +It will be said, perhaps, that many discoveries have already taken +place in the world that were totally unforeseen and unexpected. This I +grant to be true; but if a person had predicted these discoveries +without being guided by any analogies or indications from past facts, +he would deserve the name of seer or prophet, but not of philosopher. +The wonder that some of our modern discoveries would excite in the +savage inhabitants of Europe in the times of Theseus and Achilles, +proves but little. Persons almost entirely unacquainted with the powers +of a machine cannot be expected to guess at its effects. I am far from +saying, that we are at present by any means fully acquainted with the +powers of the human mind; but we certainly know more of this instrument +than was known four thousand years ago; and therefore, though not to be +called competent judges, we are certainly much better able than savages +to say what is, or is not, within its grasp. A watch would strike a +savage with as much surprise as a perpetual motion; yet one is to us a +most familiar piece of mechanism, and the other has constantly eluded +the efforts of the most acute intellects. In many instances we are now +able to perceive the causes, which prevent an unlimited improvement in +those inventions, which seemed to promise fairly for it at first. The +original improvers of telescopes would probably think, that as long as +the size of the specula and the length of the tubes could be increased, +the powers and advantages of the instrument would increase; but +experience has since taught us, that the smallness of the field, the +deficiency of light, and the circumstance of the atmosphere being +magnified, prevent the beneficial results that were to be expected from +telescopes of extraordinary size and power. In many parts of knowledge, +man has been almost constantly making some progress; in other parts, +his efforts have been invariably baffled. The savage would not probably +be able to guess at the causes of this mighty difference. Our further +experience has given us some little insight into these causes, and has +therefore enabled us better to judge, if not of what we are to expect +in future, at least of what we are not to expect, which, though +negative, is a very useful piece of information. + +As the necessity of sleep seems rather to depend upon the body than the +mind, it does not appear how the improvement of the mind can tend very +greatly to supersede this 'conspicuous infirmity'. A man who by great +excitements on his mind is able to pass two or three nights without +sleep, proportionably exhausts the vigour of his body, and this +diminution of health and strength will soon disturb the operations of +his understanding, so that by these great efforts he appears to have +made no real progress whatever in superseding the necessity of this +species of rest. + +There is certainly a sufficiently marked difference in the various +characters of which we have some knowledge, relative to the energies of +their minds, their benevolent pursuits, etc., to enable us to judge +whether the operations of intellect have any decided effect in +prolonging the duration of human life. It is certain that no decided +effect of this kind has yet been observed. Though no attention of any +kind has ever produced such an effect as could be construed into the +smallest semblance of an approach towards immortality, yet of the two, +a certain attention to the body seems to have more effect in this +respect than an attention to the mind. The man who takes his temperate +meals and his bodily exercise, with scrupulous regularity, will +generally be found more healthy than the man who, very deeply engaged +in intellectual pursuits, often forgets for a time these bodily +cravings. The citizen who has retired, and whose ideas, perhaps, +scarcely soar above or extend beyond his little garden, puddling all +the morning about his borders of box, will, perhaps, live as long as +the philosopher whose range of intellect is the most extensive, and +whose views are the clearest of any of his contemporaries. It has been +positively observed by those who have attended to the bills of +mortality that women live longer upon an average than men, and, though +I would not by any means say that their intellectual faculties are +inferior, yet, I think, it must be allowed that, from their different +education, there are not so many women as men, who are excited to +vigorous mental exertion. + +As in these and similar instances, or to take a larger range, as in the +great diversity of characters that have existed during some thousand +years, no decided difference has been observed in the duration of human +life from the operation of intellect, the mortality of man on earth +seems to be as completely established, and exactly upon the same +grounds, as any one, the most constant, of the laws of nature. An +immediate act of power in the Creator of the Universe might, indeed, +change one or all of these laws, either suddenly or gradually, but +without some indications of such a change, and such indications do not +exist, it. Is just as unphilosophical to suppose that the life of man +may be prolonged beyond any assignable limits, as to suppose that the +attraction of the earth will gradually be changed into repulsion and +that stones will ultimately rise instead of fall or that the earth will +fly off at a certain period to some more genial and warmer sun. + +The conclusion of this chapter presents us, undoubtedly, with a very +beautiful and desirable picture, but like some of the landscapes drawn +from fancy and not imagined with truth, it fails of that interest in +the heart which nature and probability can alone give. + +I cannot quit this subject without taking notice of these conjectures +of Mr Godwin and Mr Condorcet concerning the indefinite prolongation of +human life, as a very curious instance of the longing of the soul after +immortality. Both these gentlemen have rejected the light of revelation +which absolutely promises eternal life in another state. They have also +rejected the light of natural religion, which to the ablest intellects +in all ages has indicated the future existence of the soul. Yet so +congenial is the idea of immortality to the mind of man that they +cannot consent entirely to throw it out of their systems. After all +their fastidious scepticisms concerning the only probable mode of +immortality, they introduce a species of immortality of their own, not +only completely contradictory to every law of philosophical +probability, but in itself in the highest degree narrow, partial, and +unjust. They suppose that all the great, virtuous, and exalted minds +that have ever existed or that may exist for some thousands, perhaps +millions of years, will be sunk in annihilation, and that only a few +beings, not greater in number than can exist at once upon the earth, +will be ultimately crowned with immortality. Had such a tenet been +advanced as a tenet of revelation I am very sure that all the enemies +of religion, and probably Mr Godwin and Mr Condorcet among the rest, +would have exhausted the whole force of their ridicule upon it, as the +most puerile, the most absurd, the poorest, the most pitiful, the most +iniquitously unjust, and, consequently, the most unworthy of the Deity +that the superstitious folly of man could invent. + +What a strange and curious proof do these conjectures exhibit of the +inconsistency of scepticism! For it should be observed, that there is a +very striking and essential difference between believing an assertion +which absolutely contradicts the most uniform experience, and an +assertion which contradicts nothing, but is merely beyond the power of +our present observation and knowledge. So diversified are the natural +objects around us, so many instances of mighty power daily offer +themselves to our view, that we may fairly presume, that there are many +forms and operations of nature which we have not yet observed, or +which, perhaps, we are not capable of observing with our present +confined inlets of knowledge. The resurrection of a spiritual body from +a natural body does not appear in itself a more wonderful instance of +power than the germination of a blade of wheat from the grain, or of an +oak from an acorn. Could we conceive an intelligent being, so placed as +to be conversant only with inanimate or full grown objects, and never +to have witnessed the process of vegetation and growth; and were +another being to shew him two little pieces of matter, a grain of +wheat, and an acorn, to desire him to examine them, to analyse them if +he pleased, and endeavour to find out their properties and essences; +and then to tell him, that however trifling these little bits of matter +might appear to him, that they possessed such curious powers of +selection, combination, arrangement, and almost of creation, that upon +being put into the ground, they would choose, amongst all the dirt and +moisture that surrounded them, those parts which best suited their +purpose, that they would collect and arrange these parts with wonderful +taste, judgement, and execution, and would rise up into beautiful +forms, scarcely in any respect analogous to the little bits of matter +which were first placed in the earth. I feel very little doubt that the +imaginary being which I have supposed would hesitate more, would +require better authority, and stronger proofs, before he believed these +strange assertions, than if he had been told, that a being of mighty +power, who had been the cause of all that he saw around him, and of +that existence of which he himself was conscious, would, by a great act +of power upon the death and corruption of human creatures, raise up the +essence of thought in an incorporeal, or at least invisible form, to +give it a happier existence in another state. + +The only difference, with regard to our own apprehensions, that is not +in favour of the latter assertion is that the first miracle we have +repeatedly seen, and the last miracle we have not seen. I admit the +full weight of this prodigious difference, but surely no man can +hesitate a moment in saying that, putting Revelation out of the +question, the resurrection of a spiritual body from a natural body, +which may be merely one among the many operations of nature which we +cannot see, is an event indefinitely more probable than the immortality +of man on earth, which is not only an event of which no symptoms or +indications have yet appeared, but is a positive contradiction to one +of the most constant of the laws of nature that has ever come within +the observation of man. + +When we extend our view beyond this life, it is evident that we can +have no other guides than authority, or conjecture, and perhaps, +indeed, an obscure and undefined feeling. What I say here, therefore, +does not appear to me in any respect to contradict what I said before, +when I observed that it was unphilosophical to expect any specifick +event that was not indicated by some kind of analogy in the past. In +ranging beyond the bourne from which no traveller returns, we must +necessarily quit this rule; but with regard to events that may be +expected to happen on earth, we can seldom quit it consistently with +true philosophy. Analogy has, however, as I conceive, great latitude. +For instance, man has discovered many of the laws of nature: analogy +seems to indicate that he will discover many more; but no analogy seems +to indicate that he will discover a sixth sense, or a new species of +power in the human mind, entirely beyond the train of our present +observations. + +The powers of selection, combination, and transmutation, which every +seed shews, are truly miraculous. Who can imagine that these wonderful +faculties are contained in these little bits of matter? To me it +appears much more philosophical to suppose that the mighty God of +nature is present in full energy in all these operations. To this all +powerful Being, it would be equally easy to raise an oak without an +acorn as with one. The preparatory process of putting seeds into the +ground is merely ordained for the use of man, as one among the various +other excitements necessary to awaken matter into mind. It is an idea +that will be found consistent, equally with the natural phenomena +around us, with the various events of human life, and with the +successive revelations of God to man, to suppose that the world is a +mighty process for the creation and formation of mind. Many vessels +will necessarily come out of this great furnace in wrong shapes. These +will be broken and thrown aside as useless; while those vessels whose +forms are full of truth, grace, and loveliness, will be wafted into +happier situations, nearer the presence of the mighty maker. + +I ought perhaps again to make an apology to my readers for dwelling so +long upon a conjecture which many, I know, will think too absurd and +improbable to require the least discussion. But if it be as improbable +and as contrary to the genuine spirit of philosophy as I own I think it +is, why should it not be shewn to be so in a candid examination? A +conjecture, however improbable on the first view of it, advanced by +able and ingenious men, seems at least to deserve investigation. For my +own part I feel no disinclination whatever to give that degree of +credit to the opinion of the probable immortality of man on earth, +which the appearances that can be brought in support of it deserve. +Before we decide upon the utter improbability of such an event, it is +but fair impartially to examine these appearances; and from such an +examination I think we may conclude, that we have rather less reason +for supposing that the life of man may be indefinitely prolonged, than +that trees may be made to grow indefinitely high, or potatoes +indefinitely large. Though Mr Godwin advances the idea of the +indefinite prolongation of human life merely as a conjecture, yet as he +has produced some appearances, which in his conception favour the +supposition, he must certainly intend that these appearances should be +examined and this is all that I have meant to do. + + + + +CHAPTER 13 + +Error of Mr Godwin is considering man too much in the light of a being +merely rational--In the compound being, man, the passions will always +act as disturbing forces in the decisions of the +understanding--Reasonings of Mr Godwin on the subject of coercion--Some +truths of a nature not to be communicated from one man to another. + + +In the chapter which I have been examining, Mr Godwin professes to +consider the objection to his system of equality from the principle of +population. It has appeared, I think clearly, that he is greatly +erroneous in his statement of the distance of this difficulty, and that +instead of myriads of centuries, it is really not thirty years, or even +thirty days, distant from us. The supposition of the approach of man to +immortality on earth is certainly not of a kind to soften the +difficulty. The only argument, therefore, in the chapter which has any +tendency to remove the objection is the conjecture concerning the +extinction of the passion between the sexes, but as this is a mere +conjecture, unsupported by the smallest shadow of proof, the force of +the objection may be fairly said to remain unimpaired, and it is +undoubtedly of sufficient weight of itself completely to overturn Mr +Godwin's whole system of equality. I will, however, make one or two +observations on a few of the prominent parts of Mr Godwin's reasonings +which will contribute to place in a still clearer point of view the +little hope that we can reasonably entertain of those vast improvements +in the nature of man and of society which he holds up to our admiring +gaze in his Political Justice. + +Mr Godwin considers man too much in the light of a being merely +intellectual. This error, at least such I conceive it to be, pervades +his whole work and mixes itself with all his reasonings. The voluntary +actions of men may originate in their opinions, but these opinions will +be very differently modified in creatures compounded of a rational +faculty and corporal propensities from what they would be in beings +wholly intellectual. Mr Godwin, in proving that sound reasoning and +truth are capable of being adequately communicated, examines the +proposition first practically, and then adds, 'Such is the appearance +which this proposition assumes, when examined in a loose and practical +view. In strict consideration it will not admit of debate. Man is a +rational being, etc.' (Bk. I, ch. 5; in the third edition Vol. I, p. +88). So far from calling this a strict consideration of the subject, I +own I should call it the loosest, and most erroneous, way possible, of +considering it. It is the calculating the velocity of a falling body in +vacuo, and persisting in it, that it would be the same through whatever +resisting mediums it might fall. This was not Newton's mode of +philosophizing. Very few general propositions are just in application +to a particular subject. The moon is not kept in her orbit round the +earth, nor the earth in her orbit round the sun, by a force that varies +merely in the inverse ratio of the squares of the distances. To make +the general theory just in application to the revolutions of these +bodies, it was necessary to calculate accurately the disturbing force +of the sun upon the moon, and of the moon upon the earth; and till +these disturbing forces were properly estimated, actual observations on +the motions of these bodies would have proved that the theory was not +accurately true. + +I am willing to allow that every voluntary act is preceded by a +decision of the mind, but it is strangely opposite to what I should +conceive to be the just theory upon the subject, and a palpable +contradiction to all experience, to say that the corporal propensities +of man do not act very powerfully, as disturbing forces, in these +decisions. The question, therefore, does not merely depend upon whether +a man may be made to understand a distinct proposition or be convinced +by an unanswerable argument. A truth may be brought home to his +conviction as a rational being, though he may determine to act contrary +to it, as a compound being. The cravings of hunger, the love of liquor, +the desire of possessing a beautiful woman, will urge men to actions, +of the fatal consequences of which, to the general interests of +society, they are perfectly well convinced, even at the very time they +commit them. Remove their bodily cravings, and they would not hesitate +a moment in determining against such actions. Ask them their opinion of +the same conduct in another person, and they would immediately +reprobate it. But in their own case, and under all the circumstances of +their situation with these bodily cravings, the decision of the +compound being is different from the conviction of the rational being. + +If this be the just view of the subject, and both theory and experience +unite to prove that it is, almost all Mr Godwin's reasonings on the +subject of coercion in his seventh chapter, will appear to be founded +on error. He spends some time in placing in a ridiculous point of view +the attempt to convince a man's understanding and to clear up a +doubtful proposition in his mind, by blows. Undoubtedly it is both +ridiculous and barbarous, and so is cock-fighting, but one has little +more to do with the real object of human punishments than the other. +One frequent (indeed much too frequent) mode of punishment is death. Mr +Godwin will hardly think this intended for conviction, at least it does +not appear how the individual or the society could reap much future +benefit from an understanding enlightened in this manner. + +The principal objects which human punishments have in view are +undoubtedly restraint and example; restraint, or removal, of an +individual member whose vicious habits are likely to be prejudicial to +the society'; and example, which by expressing the sense of the +community with regard to a particular crime, and by associating more +nearly and visibly crime and punishment, holds out a moral motive to +dissuade others from the commission of it. + +Restraint, Mr Godwin thinks, may be permitted as a temporary expedient, +though he reprobates solitary imprisonment, which has certainly been +the most successful, and, indeed, almost the only attempt towards the +moral amelioration of offenders. He talks of the selfish passions that +are fostered by solitude and of the virtues generated in society. But +surely these virtues are not generated in the society of a prison. Were +the offender confined to the society of able and virtuous men he would +probably be more improved than in solitude. But is this practicable? Mr +Godwin's ingenuity is more frequently employed in finding out evils +than in suggesting practical remedies. + +Punishment, for example, is totally reprobated. By endeavouring to make +examples too impressive and terrible, nations have, indeed, been led +into the most barbarous cruelties, but the abuse of any practice is not +a good argument against its use. The indefatigable pains taken in this +country to find out a murder, and the certainty of its punishment, has +powerfully contributed to generate that sentiment which is frequent in +the mouths of the common people, that a murder will sooner or later +come to light; and the habitual horror in which murder is in +consequence held will make a man, in the agony of passion, throw down +his knife for fear he should be tempted to use it in the gratification +of his revenge. In Italy, where murderers, by flying to a sanctuary, +are allowed more frequently to escape, the crime has never been held in +the same detestation and has consequently been more frequent. No man, +who is at all aware of the operation of moral motives, can doubt for a +moment, that if every murder in Italy had been invariably punished, the +use of the stiletto in transports of passion would have been +comparatively but little known. + +That human laws either do, or can, proportion the punishment accurately +to the offence, no person will have the folly to assert. From the +inscrutability of motives the thing is absolutely impossible, but this +imperfection, though it may be called a species of injustice, is no +valid argument against human laws. It is the lot of man, that he will +frequently have to choose between two evils; and it is a sufficient +reason for the adoption of any institution, that it is the best mode +that suggests itself of preventing greater evils. A continual endeavour +should undoubtedly prevail to make these institutions as perfect as the +nature of them will admit. But nothing is so easy as to find fault with +human institutions; nothing so difficult as to suggest adequate +practical improvements. It is to be lamented, that more men of talents +employ their time in the former occupation than in the latter. + +The frequency of crime among men, who, as the common saying is, know +better, sufficiently proves, that some truths may be brought home to +the conviction of the mind without always producing the proper effect +upon the conduct. There are other truths of a nature that perhaps never +can be adequately communicated from one man to another. The superiority +of the pleasures of intellect to those of sense, Mr Godwin considers as +a fundamental truth. Taking all circumstances into consideration, I +should be disposed to agree with him; but how am I to communicate this +truth to a person who has scarcely ever felt intellectual pleasure? I +may as well attempt to explain the nature and beauty of colours to a +blind man. If I am ever so laborious, patient, and clear, and have the +most repeated opportunities of expostulation, any real progress toward +the accomplishment of my purpose seems absolutely hopeless. There is no +common measure between us. I cannot proceed step by step.. It is a +truth of a nature absolutely incapable of demonstration. All that I can +say is, that the wisest and best men in all ages had agreed in giving +the preference, very greatly, to the pleasures of intellect; and that +my own experience completely confirmed the truth of their decisions; +that I had found sensual pleasures vain, transient, and continually +attended with tedium and disgust; but that intellectual pleasures +appeared to me ever fresh and young, filled up all my hours +satisfactorily, gave a new zest to life, and diffused a lasting +serenity over my mind. If he believe me, it can only be from respect +and veneration for my authority. It is credulity, and not conviction. I +have not said any thing, nor can any thing be said, of a nature to +produce real conviction. The affair is not an affair of reasoning, but +of experience. He would probably observe in reply, what you say may be +very true with regard to yourself and many other good men, but for my +own part I feel very differently upon the subject. I have very +frequently taken up a book and almost as frequently gone to sleep over +it; but when I pass an evening with a gay party, or a pretty woman, I +feel alive, and in spirits, and truly enjoy my existence. + +Under such circumstances, reasoning and arguments are not instruments +from which success can be expected. At some future time perhaps, real +satiety of sensual pleasures, or some accidental impressions that +awakened the energies of his mind, might effect that, in a month, which +the most patient and able expostulations might be incapable of +effecting in forty years. + + + + +CHAPTER 14 + +Mr Godwin's five propositions respecting political truth, on which his +whole work hinges, not established--Reasons we have for supposing, from +the distress occasioned by the principle of population, that the vices +and moral weakness of man can never be wholly +eradicated--Perfectibility, in the sense in which Mr Godwin uses the +term, not applicable to man--Nature of the real perfectibility of man +illustrated. + + +If the reasonings of the preceding chapter are just, the corollaries +respecting political truth, which Mr Godwin draws from the proposition, +that the voluntary actions of men originate in their opinions, will not +appear to be clearly established. These corollaries are, "Sound +reasoning and truth, when adequately communicated, must always be +victorious over error: Sound reasoning and truth are capable of being +so communicated: Truth is omnipotent: The vices and moral weakness of +man are not invincible: Man is perfectible, or in other words, +susceptible of perpetual improvement." + +The first three propositions may be considered a complete syllogism. If +by adequately communicated, be meant such a conviction as to produce an +adequate effect upon the conduct, the major may be allowed and the +minor denied. The consequent, or the omnipotence of truth, of course +falls to the ground. If by 'adequately communicated' be meant merely +the conviction of the rational faculty, the major must be denied, the +minor will be only true in cases capable of demonstration, and the +consequent equally falls. The fourth proposition Mr Godwin calls the +preceding proposition, with a slight variation in the statement. If so, +it must accompany the preceding proposition in its fall. But it may be +worth while to inquire, with reference to the principal argument of +this essay, into the particular reasons which we have for supposing +that the vices and moral weakness of man can never be wholly overcome +in this world. + +Man, according to Mr Godwin, is a creature formed what he is by the +successive impressions which he has received, from the first moment +that the germ from which he sprung was animated. Could he be placed in +a situation, where he was subject to no evil impressions whatever, +though it might be doubted whether in such a situation virtue could +exist, vice would certainly be banished. The great bent of Mr Godwin's +work on Political Justice, if I understand it rightly, is to shew that +the greater part of the vices and weaknesses of men proceed from the +injustice of their political and social institutions, and that if these +were removed and the understandings of men more enlightened, there +would be little or no temptation in the world to evil. As it has been +clearly proved, however, (at least as I think) that this is entirely a +false conception, and that, independent of any political or social +institutions whatever, the greater part of mankind, from the fixed and +unalterable laws of nature, must ever be subject to the evil +temptations arising from want, besides other passions, it follows from +Mr Godwin's definition of man that such impressions, and combinations +of impressions, cannot be afloat in the world without generating a +variety of bad men. According to Mr Godwin's own conception of the +formation of character, it is surely as improbable that under such +circumstances all men will be virtuous as that sixes will come up a +hundred times following upon the dice. The great variety of +combinations upon the dice in a repeated succession of throws appears +to me not inaptly to represent the great variety of character that must +necessarily exist in the world, supposing every individual to be formed +what he is by that combination of impressions which he has received +since his first existence. And this comparison will, in some measure, +shew the absurdity of supposing, that exceptions will ever become +general rules; that extraordinary and unusual combinations will be +frequent; or that the individual instances of great virtue which had +appeared in all ages of the world will ever prevail universally. + +I am aware that Mr Godwin might say that the comparison is in one +respect inaccurate, that in the case of the dice, the preceding causes, +or rather the chances respecting the preceding causes, were always the +same, and that, therefore, I could have no good reason for supposing +that a greater number of sixes would come up in the next hundred times +of throwing than in the preceding same number of throws. But, that man +had in some sort a power of influencing those causes that formed +character, and that every good and virtuous man that was produced, by +the influence which he must necessarily have, rather increased the +probability that another such virtuous character would be generated, +whereas the coming up of sixes upon the dice once, would certainly not +increase the probability of their coming up a second time. I admit this +objection to the accuracy of the comparison, but it is only partially +valid. Repeated experience has assured us, that the influence of the +most virtuous character will rarely prevail against very strong +temptations to evil. It will undoubtedly affect some, but it will fail +with a much greater number. Had Mr Godwin succeeded in his attempt to +prove that these temptations to evil could by the exertions of man be +removed, I would give up the comparison; or at least allow, that a man +might be so far enlightened with regard to the mode of shaking his +elbow, that he would be able to throw sixes every time. But as long as +a great number of those impressions which form character, like the nice +motions of the arm, remain absolutely independent of the will of man, +though it would be the height of folly and presumption to attempt to +calculate the relative proportions of virtue and vice at the future +periods of the world, it may be safely asserted that the vices and +moral weakness of mankind, taken in the mass, are invincible. + +The fifth proposition is the general deduction from the four former and +will consequently fall, as the foundations which support it have given +way. In the sense in which Mr Godwin understands the term +'perfectible', the perfectibility of man cannot be asserted, unless the +preceding propositions could have been clearly established. There is, +however, one sense, which the term will bear, in which it is, perhaps, +just. It may be said with truth that man is always susceptible of +improvement, or that there never has been, or will be, a period of his +history, in which he can be said to have reached his possible acme of +perfection. Yet it does not by any means follow from this, that our +efforts to improve man will always succeed, or even that he will ever +make, in the greatest number of ages, any extraordinary strides towards +perfection. The only inference that can be drawn is that the precise +limit of his improvement cannot possibly be known. And I cannot help +again reminding the reader of a distinction which, it appears to me, +ought particularly to be attended to in the present question: I mean, +the essential difference there is between an unlimited improvement and +an improvement the limit of which cannot be ascertained. The former is +an improvement not applicable to man under the present laws of his +nature. The latter, undoubtedly, is applicable. + +The real perfectibility of man may be illustrated, as I have mentioned +before, by the perfectibility of a plant. The object of the +enterprising florist is, as I conceive, to unite size, symmetry, and +beauty of colour. It would surely be presumptuous in the most +successful improver to affirm, that he possessed a carnation in which +these qualities existed in the greatest possible state of perfection. +However beautiful his flower may be, other care, other soil, or other +suns, might produce one still more beautiful. + +Yet, although he may be aware of the absurdity of supposing that he has +reached perfection, and though he may know by what means he attained +that degree of beauty in the flower which he at present possesses, yet +he cannot be sure that by pursuing similar means, rather increased in +strength, he will obtain a more beautiful blossom. By endeavouring to +improve one quality, he may impair the beauty of another. The richer +mould which he would employ to increase the size of his plant would +probably burst the calyx, and destroy at once its symmetry. In a +similar manner, the forcing manure used to bring about the French +Revolution, and to give a greater freedom and energy to the human mind, +has burst the calyx of humanity, the restraining bond of all society; +and, however large the separate petals have grown, however strongly, or +even beautifully, a few of them have been marked, the whole is at +present a loose, deformed, disjointed mass, without union, symmetry, or +harmony of colouring. + +Were it of consequence to improve pinks and carnations, though we could +have no hope of raising them as large as cabbages, we might undoubtedly +expect, by successive efforts, to obtain more beautiful specimens than +we at present possess. No person can deny the importance of improving +the happiness of the human species. Every the least advance in this +respect is highly valuable. But an experiment with the human race is +not like an experiment upon inanimate objects. The bursting of a flower +may be a trifle. Another will soon succeed it. But the bursting of the +bonds of society is such a separation of parts as cannot take place +without giving the most acute pain to thousands: and a long time may +elapse, and much misery may be endured, before the wound grows up again. + +As the five propositions which I have been examining may be considered +as the corner stones of Mr Godwin's fanciful structure, and, indeed, as +expressing the aim and bent of his whole work, however excellent much +of his detached reasoning may be, he must be considered as having +failed in the great object of his undertaking. Besides the difficulties +arising from the compound nature of man, which he has by no means +sufficiently smoothed, the principal argument against the +perfectibility of man and society remains whole and unimpaired from any +thing that he has advanced. And as far as I can trust my own judgement, +this argument appears to be conclusive, not only against the +perfectibility of man, in the enlarged sense in which Mr Godwin +understands the term, but against any very marked and striking change +for the better, in the form and structure of general society; by which +I mean any great and decided amelioration of the condition of the lower +classes of mankind, the most numerous, and, consequently, in a general +view of the subject, the most important part of the human race. Were I +to live a thousand years, and the laws of nature to remain the same, I +should little fear, or rather little hope, a contradiction from +experience in asserting that no possible sacrifices or exertions of the +rich, in a country which had been long inhabited, could for any time +place the lower classes of the community in a situation equal, with +regard to circumstances, to the situation of the common people about +thirty years ago in the northern States of America. + +The lower classes of people in Europe may at some future period be much +better instructed than they are at present; they may be taught to +employ the little spare time they have in many better ways than at the +ale-house; they may live under better and more equal laws than they +have ever hitherto done, perhaps, in any country; and I even conceive +it possible, though not probable that they may have more leisure; but +it is not in the nature of things that they can be awarded such a +quantity of money or subsistence as will allow them all to marry early, +in the full confidence that they shall be able to provide with ease for +a numerous family. + + + + +CHAPTER 15 + +Models too perfect may sometimes rather impede than promote +improvement--Mr Godwin's essay on 'Avarice and +Profusion'--Impossibility of dividing the necessary labour of a society +amicably among all--Invectives against labour may produce present evil, +with little or no chance of producing future good--An accession to the +mass of agricultural labour must always be an advantage to the labourer. + + +Mr Godwin in the preface to his Enquirer, drops a few expressions which +seem to hint at some change in his opinions since he wrote the +Political Justice; and as this is a work now of some years standing, I +should certainly think that I had been arguing against opinions which +the author had himself seen reason to alter, but that in some of the +essays of the Enquirer, Mr Godwin's peculiar mode of thinking appears +in as striking a light as ever. + +It has been frequently observed that though we cannot hope to reach +perfection in any thing, yet that it must always be advantageous to us +to place before our eyes the most perfect models. This observation has +a plausible appearance, but is very far from being generally true. I +even doubt its truth in one of the most obvious exemplifications that +would occur. I doubt whether a very young painter would receive so much +benefit, from an attempt to copy a highly finished and perfect picture, +as from copying one where the outlines were more strongly marked and +the manner of laying on the colours was more easily discoverable. But +in cases where the perfection of the model is a perfection of a +different and superior nature from that towards which we should +naturally advance, we shall not always fail in making any progress +towards it, but we shall in all probability impede the progress which +we might have expected to make had we not fixed our eyes upon so +perfect a model. A highly intellectual being, exempt from the infirm +calls of hunger or sleep, is undoubtedly a much more perfect existence +than man, but were man to attempt to copy such a model, he would not +only fail in making any advances towards it; but by unwisely straining +to imitate what was inimitable, he would probably destroy the little +intellect which he was endeavouring to improve. + +The form and structure of society which Mr Godwin describes is as +essentially distinct from any forms of society which have hitherto +prevailed in the world as a being that can live without food or sleep +is from a man. By improving society in its present form, we are making +no more advances towards such a state of things as he pictures than we +should make approaches towards a line, with regard to which we were +walking parallel. The question, therefore, is whether, by looking to +such a form of society as our polar star, we are likely to advance or +retard the improvement of the human species? Mr Godwin appears to me to +have decided this question against himself in his essay on 'Avarice and +Profusion' in the Enquirer. + +Dr Adam Smith has very justly observed that nations as well as +individuals grow rich by parsimony and poor by profusion, and that, +therefore, every frugal man was a friend and every spendthrift an enemy +to his country. The reason he gives is that what is saved from revenue +is always added to stock, and is therefore taken from the maintenance +of labour that is generally unproductive and employed in the +maintenance of labour that realizes itself in valuable commodities. No +observation can be more evidently just. The subject of Mr Godwin's +essay is a little similar in its first appearance, but in essence is as +distinct as possible. He considers the mischief of profusion as an +acknowledged truth, and therefore makes his comparison between the +avaricious man, and the man who spends his income. But the avaricious +man of Mr Godwin is totally a distinct character, at least with regard +to his effect upon the prosperity of the state, from the frugal man of +Dr Adam Smith. The frugal man in order to make more money saves from +his income and adds to his capital, and this capital he either employs +himself in the maintenance of productive labour, or he lends it to some +other person who will probably employ it in this way. He benefits the +state because he adds to its general capital, and because wealth +employed as capital not only sets in motion more labour than when spent +as income, but the labour is besides of a more valuable kind. But the +avaricious man of Mr Godwin locks up his wealth in a chest and sets in +motion no labour of any kind, either productive or unproductive. This +is so essential a difference that Mr Godwin's decision in his essay +appears at once as evidently false as Dr Adam Smith's position is +evidently true. It could not, indeed, but occur to Mr Godwin that some +present inconvenience might arise to the poor from thus locking up the +funds destined for the maintenance of labour. The only way, therefore, +he had of weakening this objection was to compare the two characters +chiefly with regard to their tendency to accelerate the approach of +that happy state of cultivated equality, on which he says we ought +always to fix our eyes as our polar star. + +I think it has been proved in the former parts of this essay that such +a state of society is absolutely impracticable. What consequences then +are we to expect from looking to such a point as our guide and polar +star in the great sea of political discovery? Reason would teach us to +expect no other than winds perpetually adverse, constant but fruitless +toil, frequent shipwreck, and certain misery. We shall not only fail in +making the smallest real approach towards such a perfect form of +society; but by wasting our strength of mind and body, in a direction +in which it is impossible to proceed, and by the frequent distress +which we must necessarily occasion by our repeated failures, we shall +evidently impede that degree of improvement in society, which is really +attainable. + +It has appeared that a society constituted according to Mr Godwin's +system must, from the inevitable laws of our nature, degenerate into a +class of proprietors and a class of labourers, and that the +substitution of benevolence for self-love as the moving principle of +society, instead of producing the happy effects that might be expected +from so fair a name, would cause the same pressure of want to be felt +by the whole of society, which is now felt only by a part. It is to the +established administration of property and to the apparently narrow +principle of self-love that we are indebted for all the noblest +exertions of human genius, all the finer and more delicate emotions of +the soul, for everything, indeed, that distinguishes the civilized from +the savage state; and no sufficient change has as yet taken place in +the nature of civilized man to enable us to say that he either is, or +ever will be, in a state when he may safely throw down the ladder by +which he has risen to this eminence. + +If in every society that has advanced beyond the savage state, a class +of proprietors and a class of labourers must necessarily exist, it is +evident that, as labour is the only property of the class of labourers, +every thing that tends to diminish the value of this property must tend +to diminish the possession of this part of society. The only way that a +poor man has of supporting himself in independence is by the exertion +of his bodily strength. This is the only commodity he has to give in +exchange for the necessaries of life. It would hardly appear then that +you benefit him by narrowing the market for this commodity, by +decreasing the demand for labour, and lessening the value of the only +property that he possesses. + +It should be observed that the principal argument of this Essay only +goes to prove the necessity of a class of proprietors, and a class of +labourers, but by no means infers that the present great inequality of +property is either necessary or useful to society. On the contrary, it +must certainly be considered as an evil, and every institution that +promotes it is essentially bad and impolitic. But whether a government +could with advantage to society actively interfere to repress +inequality of fortunes may be a matter of doubt. Perhaps the generous +system of perfect liberty adopted by Dr Adam Smith and the French +economists would be ill exchanged for any system of restraint. + +Mr Godwin would perhaps say that the whole system of barter and +exchange is a vile and iniquitous traffic. If you would essentially +relieve the poor man, you should take a part of his labour upon +yourself, or give him your money, without exacting so severe a return +for it. In answer to the first method proposed, it may be observed, +that even if the rich could be persuaded to assist the poor in this +way, the value of the assistance would be comparatively trifling. The +rich, though they think themselves of great importance, bear but a +small proportion in point of numbers to the poor, and would, therefore, +relieve them but of a small part of their burdens by taking a share. +Were all those that are employed in the labours of luxuries added to +the number of those employed in producing necessaries, and could these +necessary labours be amicably divided among all, each man's share might +indeed be comparatively light; but desirable as such an amicable +division would undoubtedly be, I cannot conceive any practical +principle according to which it could take place. It has been shewn, +that the spirit of benevolence, guided by the strict impartial justice +that Mr Godwin describes, would, if vigorously acted upon, depress in +want and misery the whole human race. Let us examine what would be the +consequence, if the proprietor were to retain a decent share for +himself, but to give the rest away to the poor, without exacting a task +from them in return. Not to mention the idleness and the vice that such +a proceeding, if general, would probably create in the present state of +society, and the great risk there would be, of diminishing the produce +of land, as well as the labours of luxury, another objection yet +remains. + +Mr Godwin seems to have but little respect for practical principles; +but I own it appears to me, that he is a much greater benefactor to +mankind, who points out how an inferior good may be attained, than he +who merely expatiates on the deformity of the present state of society, +and the beauty of a different state, without pointing out a practical +method, that might be immediately applied, of accelerating our advances +from the one, to the other. + +It has appeared that from the principle of population more will always +be in want than can be adequately supplied. The surplus of the rich man +might be sufficient for three, but four will be desirous to obtain it. +He cannot make this selection of three out of the four without +conferring a great favour on those that are the objects of his choice. +These persons must consider themselves as under a great obligation to +him and as dependent upon him for their support. The rich man would +feel his power and the poor man his dependence, and the evil effects of +these two impressions on the human heart are well known. Though I +perfectly agree with Mr Godwin therefore in the evil of hard labour, +yet I still think it a less evil, and less calculated to debase the +human mind, than dependence, and every history of man that we have ever +read places in a strong point of view the danger to which that mind is +exposed which is entrusted with constant power. + +In the present state of things, and particularly when labour is in +request, the man who does a day's work for me confers full as great an +obligation upon me as I do upon him. I possess what he wants, he +possesses what I want. We make an amicable exchange. The poor man walks +erect in conscious independence; and the mind of his employer is not +vitiated by a sense of power. + +Three or four hundred years ago there was undoubtedly much less labour +in England, in proportion to the population, than at present, but there +was much more dependence, and we probably should not now enjoy our +present degree of civil liberty if the poor, by the introduction of +manufactures, had not been enabled to give something in exchange for +the provisions of the great Lords, instead of being dependent upon +their bounty. Even the greatest enemies of trade and manufactures, and +I do not reckon myself a very determined friend to them, must allow +that when they were introduced into England, liberty came in their +train. + +Nothing that has been said tends in the most remote degree to +undervalue the principle of benevolence. It is one of the noblest and +most godlike qualities of the human heart, generated, perhaps, slowly +and gradually from self-love, and afterwards intended to act as a +general law, whose kind office it should be, to soften the partial +deformities, to correct the asperities, and to smooth the wrinkles of +its parent: and this seems to be the analog of all nature. Perhaps +there is no one general law of nature that will not appear, to us at +least, to produce partial evil; and we frequently observe at the same +time, some bountiful provision which, acting as another general law, +corrects the inequalities of the first. + +The proper office of benevolence is to soften the partial evils arising +from self-love, but it can never be substituted in its place. If no man +were to allow himself to act till he had completely determined that the +action he was about to perform was more conducive than any other to the +general good, the most enlightened minds would hesitate in perplexity +and amazement; and the unenlightened would be continually committing +the grossest mistakes. + +As Mr Godwin, therefore, has not laid down any practical principle +according to which the necessary labours of agriculture might be +amicably shared among the whole class of labourers, by general +invectives against employing the poor he appears to pursue an +unattainable good through much present evil. For if every man who +employs the poor ought to be considered as their enemy, and as adding +to the weight of their oppressions, and if the miser is for this reason +to be preferred to the man who spends his income, it follows that any +number of men who now spend their incomes might, to the advantage of +society, be converted into misers. Suppose then that a hundred thousand +persons who now employ ten men each were to lock up their wealth from +general use, it is evident, that a million of working men of different +kinds would be completely thrown out of all employment. The extensive +misery that such an event would produce in the present state of society +Mr Godwin himself could hardly refuse to acknowledge, and I question +whether he might not find some difficulty in proving that a conduct of +this kind tended more than the conduct of those who spend their incomes +to 'place human beings in the condition in which they ought to be +placed.' But Mr Godwin says that the miser really locks up nothing, +that the point has not been rightly understood, and that the true +development and definition of the nature of wealth have not been +applied to illustrate it. Having defined therefore wealth, very justly, +to be the commodities raised and fostered by human labour, he observes +that the miser locks up neither corn, nor oxen, nor clothes, nor +houses. Undoubtedly he does not really lock up these articles, but he +locks up the power of producing them, which is virtually the same. +These things are certainly used and consumed by his contemporaries, as +truly, and to as great an extent, as if he were a beggar; but not to as +great an extent as if he had employed his wealth in turning up more +land, in breeding more oxen, in employing more tailors, and in building +more houses. But supposing, for a moment, that the conduct of the miser +did not tend to check any really useful produce, how are all those who +are thrown out of employment to obtain patents which they may shew in +order to be awarded a proper share of the food and raiment produced by +the society? This is the unconquerable difficulty. + +I am perfectly willing to concede to Mr Godwin that there is much more +labour in the world than is really necessary, and that, if the lower +classes of society could agree among themselves never to work more than +six or seven hours in the day, the commodities essential to human +happiness might still be produced in as great abundance as at present. +But it is almost impossible to conceive that such an agreement could be +adhered to. From the principle of population, some would necessarily be +more in want than others. Those that had large families would naturally +be desirous of exchanging two hours more of their labour for an ampler +quantity of subsistence. How are they to be prevented from making this +exchange? it would be a violation of the first and most sacred property +that a man possesses to attempt, by positive institutions, to interfere +with his command over his own labour. + +Till Mr Godwin, therefore, can point out some practical plan according +to which the necessary labour in a society might be equitably divided, +his invectives against labour, if they were attended to, would +certainly produce much present evil without approximating us to that +state of cultivated equality to which he looks forward as his polar +star, and which, he seems to think, should at present be our guide in +determining the nature and tendency of human actions. A mariner guided +by such a polar star is in danger of shipwreck. + +Perhaps there is no possible way in which wealth could in general be +employed so beneficially to a state, and particularly to the lower +orders of it, as by improving and rendering productive that land which +to a farmer would not answer the expense of cultivation. Had Mr Godwin +exerted his energetic eloquence in painting the superior worth and +usefulness of the character who employed the poor in this way, to him +who employed them in narrow luxuries, every enlightened man must have +applauded his efforts. The increasing demand for agricultural labour +must always tend to better the condition of the poor; and if the +accession of work be of this kind, so far is it from being true that +the poor would be obliged to work ten hours for the same price that +they before worked eight, that the very reverse would be the fact; and +a labourer might then support his wife and family as well by the labour +of six hours as he could before by the labour of eight. + +The labour created by luxuries, though useful in distributing the +produce of the country, without vitiating the proprietor by power, or +debasing the labourer by dependence, has not, indeed, the same +beneficial effects on the state of the poor. A great accession of work +from manufacturers, though it may raise the price of labour even more +than an increasing demand for agricultural labour, yet, as in this case +the quantity of food in the country may not be proportionably +increasing, the advantage to the poor will be but temporary, as the +price of provisions must necessarily rise in proportion to the price of +labour. Relative to this subject, I cannot avoid venturing a few +remarks on a part of Dr Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, speaking at the +same time with that diffidence which I ought certainly to feel in +differing from a person so justly celebrated in the political world. + + + + +CHAPTER 16 + +Probable error of Dr Adam Smith in representing every increase of the +revenue or stock of a society as an increase in the funds for the +maintenance of labour--Instances where an increase of wealth can have +no tendency to better the condition of the labouring poor--England has +increased in riches without a proportional increase in the funds for +the maintenance of labour--The state of the poor in China would not be +improved by an increase of wealth from manufactures. + + +The professed object of Dr Adam Smith's inquiry is the nature and +causes of the wealth of nations. There is another inquiry, however, +perhaps still more interesting, which he occasionally mixes with it; I +mean an inquiry into the causes which affect the happiness of nations +or the happiness and comfort of the lower orders of society, which is +the most numerous class in every nation. I am sufficiency aware of the +near connection of these two subjects, and that the causes which tend +to increase the wealth of a state tend also, generally speaking, to +increase the happiness of the lower classes of the people. But perhaps +Dr Adam Smith has considered these two inquiries as still more nearly +connected than they really are; at least, he has not stopped to take +notice of those instances where the wealth of a society may increase +(according to his definition of 'wealth') without having any tendency +to increase the comforts of the labouring part of it. I do not mean to +enter into a philosophical discussion of what constitutes the proper +happiness of man, but shall merely consider two universally +acknowledged ingredients, health, and the command of the necessaries +and conveniences of life. + +Little or no doubt can exist that the comforts of the labouring poor +depend upon the increase of the funds destined for the maintenance of +labour, and will be very exactly in proportion to the rapidity of this +increase. The demand for labour which such increase would occasion, by +creating a competition in the market, must necessarily raise the value +of labour, and, till the additional number of hands required were +reared, the increased funds would be distributed to the same number of +persons as before the increase, and therefore every labourer would live +comparatively at his ease. But perhaps Dr Adam Smith errs in +representing every increase of the revenue or stock of a society as an +increase of these funds. Such surplus stock or revenue will, indeed, +always be considered by the individual possessing it as an additional +fund from which he may maintain more labour: but it will not be a real +and effectual fund for the maintenance of an additional number of +labourers, unless the whole, or at least a great part of this increase +of the stock or revenue of the society, be convertible into a +proportional quantity of provisions; and it will not be so convertible +where the increase has arisen merely from the produce of labour, and +not from the produce of land. A distinction will in this case occur, +between the number of hands which the stock of the society could +employ, and the number which its territory can maintain. + +To explain myself by an instance. Dr Adam Smith defines the wealth of a +nation to consist. In the annual produce of its land and labour. This +definition evidently includes manufactured produce, as well as the +produce of the land. Now supposing a nation for a course of years was +to add what it saved from its yearly revenue to its manufacturing +capital solely, and not to its capital employed upon land, it is +evident that it might grow richer according to the above definition, +without a power of supporting a greater number of labourers, and, +therefore, without an increase in the real funds for the maintenance of +labour. There would, notwithstanding, be a demand for labour from the +power which each manufacturer would possess, or at least think he +possessed, of extending his old stock in trade or of setting up fresh +works. This demand would of course raise the price of labour, but if +the yearly stock of provisions in the country was not increasing, this +rise would soon turn out to be merely nominal, as the price of +provisions must necessarily rise with it. The demand for manufacturing +labourers might, indeed, entice many from agriculture and thus tend to +diminish the annual produce of the land, but we will suppose any effect +of this kind to be compensated by improvements in the instruments of +agriculture, and the quantity of provisions therefore to remain the +same. Improvements in manufacturing machinery would of course take +place, and this circumstance, added to the greater number of hands +employed in manufactures, would cause the annual produce of the labour +of the country to be upon the whole greatly increased. The wealth +therefore of the country would be increasing annually, according to the +definition, and might not, perhaps, be increasing very slowly. + +The question is whether wealth, increasing in this way, has any +tendency to better the condition of the labouring poor. It is a +self-evident proposition that any general rise in the price of labour, +the stock of provisions remaining the same, can only be a nominal rise, +as it must very shortly be followed by a proportional rise in the price +of provisions. The increase in the price of labour, therefore, which we +have supposed, would have little or no effect in giving the labouring +poor a greater command over the necessaries and conveniences of life. +In this respect they would be nearly in the same state as before. In +one other respect they would be in a worse state. A greater proportion +of them would be employed in manufactures, and fewer, consequently, in +agriculture. And this exchange of professions will be allowed, I think, +by all, to be very unfavourable in respect of health, one essential +ingredient of happiness, besides the greater uncertainty of +manufacturing labour, arising from the capricious taste of man, the +accidents of war, and other causes. + +It may be said, perhaps, that such an instance as I have supposed could +not occur, because the rise in the price of provisions would +immediately turn some additional capital into the channel of +agriculture. But this is an event which may take place very slowly, as +it should be remarked that a rise in the price of labour had preceded +the rise of provisions, and would, therefore, impede the good effects +upon agriculture, which the increased value of the produce of the land +might otherwise have occasioned. + +It might also be said, that the additional capital of the nation would +enable it to import provisions sufficient for the maintenance of those +whom its stock could employ. A small country with a large navy, and +great inland accommodations for carriage, such as Holland, may, indeed, +import and distribute an effectual quantity of provisions; but the +price of provisions must be very high to make such an importation and +distribution answer in large countries less advantageously +circumstanced in this respect. + +An instance, accurately such as I have supposed, may not, perhaps, ever +have occurred, but I have little doubt that instances nearly +approximating to it may be found without any very laborious search. +Indeed I am strongly inclined to think that England herself, since the +Revolution, affords a very striking elucidation of the argument in +question. + +The commerce of this country, internal as well as external, has +certainly been rapidly advancing during the last century. The +exchangeable value in the market of Europe of the annual produce of its +land and labour has, without doubt, increased very considerably. But, +upon examination, it will be found that the increase has been chiefly +in the produce of labour and not in the produce of land, and therefore, +though the wealth of the nation has been advancing with a quick pace, +the effectual funds for the maintenance of labour have been increasing +very slowly, and the result is such as might be expected. The +increasing wealth of the nation has had little or no tendency to better +the condition of the labouring poor. They have not, I believe, a +greater command of the necessaries and conveniences of life, and a much +greater proportion of them than at the period of the Revolution is +employed in manufactures and crowded together in close and unwholesome +rooms. + +Could we believe the statement of Dr Price that the population of +England has decreased since the Revolution, it would even appear that +the effectual funds for the maintenance of labour had been declining +during the progress of wealth in other respects. For I conceive that it +may be laid down as a general rule that if the effectual funds for the +maintenance of labour are increasing, that is, if the territory can +maintain as well as the stock employ a greater number of labourers, +this additional number will quickly spring up, even in spite of such +wars as Dr Price enumerates. And, consequently, if the population of +any country has been stationary, or declining, we may safely infer, +that, however it may have advanced in manufacturing wealth, its +effectual funds for the maintenance of labour cannot have increased. + +It is difficult, however, to conceive that the population of England +has been declining since the Revolution, though every testimony concurs +to prove that its increase, if it has increased, has been very slow. In +the controversy which the question has occasioned, Dr Price undoubtedly +appears to be much more completely master of his subject, and to +possess more accurate information, than his opponents. Judging simply +from this controversy, I think one should say that Dr Price's point is +nearer being proved than Mr Howlett's. Truth, probably, lies between +the two statements, but this supposition makes the increase of +population since the Revolution to have been very slow in comparison +with the increase of wealth. + +That the produce of the land has been decreasing, or even that it has +been absolutely stationary during the last century, few will be +disposed to believe. The enclosure of commons and waste lands certainly +tends to increase the food of the country, but it has been asserted +with confidence that the enclosure of common fields has frequently had +a contrary effect, and that large tracts of land which formerly +produced great quantities of corn, by being converted into pasture both +employ fewer hands and feed fewer mouths than before their enclosure. +It is, indeed, an acknowledged truth, that pasture land produces a +smaller quantity of human subsistence than corn land of the same +natural fertility, and could it be clearly ascertained that from the +increased demand for butchers' meat of the best quality, and its +increased price in consequence, a greater quantity of good land has +annually been employed in grazing, the diminution of human subsistence, +which this circumstance would occasion, might have counterbalanced the +advantages derived from the enclosure of waste lands, and the general +improvements in husbandry. + +It scarcely need be remarked that the high price of butchers' meat at +present, and its low price formerly, were not caused by the scarcity in +the one case or the plenty in the other, but by the different expense +sustained at the different periods, in preparing cattle for the market. +It is, however, possible, that there might have been more cattle a +hundred years ago in the country than at present; but no doubt can be +entertained, that there is much more meat of a superior quality brought +to market at present than ever there was. When the price of butchers' +meat was very low, cattle were reared chiefly upon waste lands; and +except for some of the principal markets, were probably killed with but +little other fatting. The veal that is sold so cheap in some distant +counties at present bears little other resemblance than the name, to +that which is bought in London. Formerly, the price of butchers, meat +would not pay for rearing, and scarcely for feeding, cattle on land +that would answer in tillage; but the present price will not only pay +for fatting cattle on the very best land, but will even allow of the +rearing many, on land that would bear good crops of corn. The same +number of cattle, or even the same weight of cattle at the different +periods when killed, will have consumed (if I may be allowed the +expression) very different quantities of human substance. A fatted +beast may in some respects be considered, in the language of the French +economists, as an unproductive labourer: he has added nothing to the +value of the raw produce that he has consumed. The present system of +grating, undoubtedly tends more than the former system to diminish the +quantity of human subsistence in the country, in proportion to the +general fertility of the land. + +I would not by any means be understood to say that the former system +either could or ought to have continued. The increasing price of +butchers' meat is a natural and inevitable consequence of the general +progress of cultivation; but I cannot help thinking, that the present +great demand for butchers' meat of the best quality, and the quantity +of good land that is in consequence annually employed to produce it, +together with the great number of horses at present kept for pleasure, +are the chief causes that have prevented the quantity of human food in +the country from keeping pace with the generally increased fertility of +the soil; and a change of custom in these respects would, I have little +doubt, have a very sensible effect on the quantity of subsistence in +the country, and consequently on its population. + +The employment of much of the most fertile land in grating, the +improvements in agricultural instruments, the increase of large farms, +and particularly the diminution of the number of cottages throughout +the kingdom, all concur to prove, that there are not probably so many +persons employed in agricultural labour now as at the period of the +Revolution. Whatever increase of population, therefore, has taken +place, must be employed almost wholly in manufactures, and it is well +known that the failure of some of these manufactures, merely from the +caprice of fashion, such as the adoption of muslins instead of silks, +or of shoe-strings and covered buttons, instead of buckles and metal +buttons, combined with the restraints in the market of labour arising +from corporation and parish laws, have frequently driven thousands on +charity for support. The great increase of the poor rates is, indeed, +of itself a strong evidence that the poor have not a greater command of +the necessaries and conveniences of life, and if to the consideration, +that their condition in this respect is rather worse than better, be +added the circumstance, that a much greater proportion of them is +employed in large manufactories, unfavourable both to health and +virtue, it must be acknowledged, that the increase of wealth of late +years has had no tendency to increase the happiness of the labouring +poor. + +That every increase of the stock or revenue of a nation cannot be +considered as an increase of the real funds for the maintenance of +labour and, therefore, cannot have the same good effect upon the +condition of the poor, will appear in a strong light if the argument be +applied to China. + +Dr Adam Smith observes that China has probably long been as rich as the +nature of her laws and institutions will admit, but that with other +laws and institutions, and if foreign commerce were had in honour, she +might still be much richer. The question is, would such an increase of +wealth be an increase of the real funds for the maintenance of labour, +and consequently tend to place the lower classes of people in China in +a state of greater plenty? + +It is evident, that if trade and foreign commerce were held in great +honour in China, from the plenty of labourers, and the cheapness of +labour, she might work up manufactures for foreign sale to an immense +amount. It is equally evident that from the great bulk of provisions +and the amazing extent of her inland territory she could not in return +import such a quantity as would be any sensible addition to the annual +stock of subsistence in the country. Her immense amount of +manufactures, therefore, she would exchange, chiefly, for luxuries +collected from all parts of the world. At present, it appears, that no +labour whatever is spared in the production of food. The country is +rather over-people in proportion to what its stock can employ, and +labour is, therefore, so abundant, that no pains are taken to abridge +it. The consequence of this is, probably, the greatest production of +food that the soil can possibly afford, for it will be generally +observed, that processes for abridging labour, though they may enable a +farmer to bring a certain quantity of grain cheaper to market, tend +rather to diminish than increase the whole produce; and in agriculture, +therefore, may, in some respects, be considered rather as private than +public advantages. + +An immense capital could not be employed in China in preparing +manufactures for foreign trade without taking off so many labourers +from agriculture as to alter this state of things, and in some degree +to diminish the produce of the country. The demand for manufacturing +labourers would naturally raise the price of labour, but as the +quantity of subsistence would not be increased, the price of provisions +would keep pace with it, or even more than keep pace with it if the +quantity of provisions were really decreasing. The country would be +evidently advancing in wealth, the exchangeable value of the annual +produce of its land and labour would be annually augmented, yet the +real funds for the maintenance of labour would be stationary, or even +declining, and, consequently, the increasing wealth of the nation would +rather tend to depress than to raise the condition of the poor. With +regard to the command over the necessaries and comforts of life, they +would be in the same or rather worse state than before; and a great +part of them would have exchanged the healthy labours of agriculture +for the unhealthy occupations of manufacturing industry. + +The argument, perhaps, appears clearer when applied to China, because +it is generally allowed that the wealth of China has been long +stationary. With regard to any other country it might be always a +matter of dispute at which of the two periods, compared, wealth was +increasing the fastest, as it is upon the rapidity of the increase of +wealth at any particular period that Dr Adam Smith says the condition +of the poor depends. It is evident, however, that two nations might +increase exactly with the same rapidity in the exchangeable value of +the annual produce of their land and labour, yet if one had applied +itself chiefly to agriculture, and the other chiefly to commerce, the +funds for the maintenance of labour, and consequently the effect of the +increase of wealth in each nation, would be extremely different. In +that which had applied itself chiefly to agriculture, the poor would +live in great plenty, and population would rapidly increase. In that +which had applied itself chiefly to commerce, the poor would be +comparatively but little benefited and consequently population would +increase slowly. + + + + +CHAPTER 17 + +Question of the proper definition of the wealth of a state--Reason +given by the French economists for considering all manufacturers as +unproductive labourers, not the true reason--The labour of artificers +and manufacturers sufficiently productive to individuals, though not to +the state--A remarkable passage in Dr Price's two volumes of +Observations--Error of Dr Price in attributing the happiness and rapid +population of America, chiefly, to its peculiar state of +civilization--No advantage can be expected from shutting our eyes to +the difficulties in the way to the improvement of society. + + +A question seems naturally to arise here whether the exchangeable value +of the annual produce of the land and labour be the proper definition +of the wealth of a country, or whether the gross produce of the land, +according to the French economists, may not be a more accurate +definition. Certain it is that every increase of wealth, according to +the definition of the economists, will be an increase of the funds for +the maintenance of labour, and consequently will always tend to +ameliorate the condition of the labouring poor, though an increase of +wealth, according to Dr Adam Smith's definition, will by no means +invariably have the same tendency. And yet it may not follow from this +consideration that Dr Adam Smith's definition is not just. It seems in +many respects improper to exclude the clothing and lodging of a whole +people from any part of their revenue. Much of it may, indeed, be of +very trivial and unimportant value in comparison with the food of the +country, yet still it may be fairly considered as a part of its +revenue; and, therefore, the only point in which I should differ from +Dr Adam Smith is where he seems to consider every increase of the +revenue or stock of a society as an increase of the funds for the +maintenance of labour, and consequently as tending always to ameliorate +the condition of the poor. + +The fine silks and cottons, the laces, and other ornamental luxuries of +a rich country, may contribute very considerably to augment the +exchangeable value of its annual produce; yet they contribute but in a +very small degree to augment the mass of happiness in the society, and +it appears to me that it is with some view to the real utility of the +produce that we ought to estimate the productiveness or +unproductiveness of different sorts of labour. The French economists +consider all labour employed in manufactures as unproductive. Comparing +it with the labour employed upon land, I should be perfectly disposed +to agree with them, but not exactly for the reasons which they give. +They say that labour employed upon land is productive because the +produce, over and above completely paying the labourer and the farmer, +affords a clear rent to the landlord, and that the labour employed upon +a piece of lace is unproductive because it merely replaces the +provisions that the workman had consumed, and the stock of his +employer, without affording any clear rent whatever. But supposing the +value of the wrought lace to be such as that, besides paying in the +most complete manner the workman and his employer, it could afford a +clear rent to a third person, it appears to me that, in comparison with +the labour employed upon land, it would be still as unproductive as +ever. Though, according to the reasoning used by the French economists, +the man employed in the manufacture of lace would, in this case, seem +to be a productive labourer. Yet according to their definition of the +wealth of a state, he ought not to be considered in that light. He will +have added nothing to the gross produce of the land: he has consumed a +portion of this gross produce, and has left a bit of lace in return; +and though he may sell this bit of lace for three times the quantity of +provisions that he consumed whilst he was making it, and thus be a very +productive labourer with regard to himself, yet he cannot be considered +as having added by his labour to any essential part of the riches of +the state. The clear rent, therefore, that a certain produce can +afford, after paying the expenses of procuring it, does not appear to +be the sole criterion, by which to judge of the productiveness or +unproductiveness to a state of any particular species of labour. + +Suppose that two hundred thousand men, who are now employed in +producing manufactures that only tend to gratify the vanity of a few +rich people, were to be employed upon some barren and uncultivated +lands, and to produce only half the quantity of food that they +themselves consumed; they would be still more productive labourers with +regard to the state than they were before, though their labour, so far +from affording a rent to a third person, would but half replace the +provisions used in obtaining the produce. In their former employment +they consumed a certain portion of the food of the country and left in +return some silks and laces. In their latter employment they consumed +the same quantity of food and left in return provision for a hundred +thousand men. There can be little doubt which of the two legacies would +be the most really beneficial to the country, and it will, I think, be +allowed that the wealth which supported the two hundred thousand men +while they were producing silks and laces would have been more usefully +employed in supporting them while they were producing the additional +quantity of food. + +A capital employed upon land may be unproductive to the individual that +employs it and yet be highly productive to the society. A capital +employed in trade, on the contrary, may be highly productive to the +individual, and yet be almost totally unproductive to the society: and +this is the reason why I should call manufacturing labour unproductive, +in comparison of that which is employed in agriculture, and not for the +reason given by the French economists. It is, indeed, almost impossible +to see the great fortunes that are made in trade, and the liberality +with which so many merchants live, and yet agree in the statement of +the economists, that manufacturers can only grow rich by depriving +themselves of the funds destined for their support. In many branches of +trade the profits are so great as would allow of a clear rent to a +third person; but as there is no third person in the case, and as all +the profits centre in the master manufacturer, or merchant, he seems to +have a fair chance of growing rich, without much privation; and we +consequently see large fortunes acquired in trade by persons who have +not been remarked for their parsimony. + +Daily experience proves that the labour employed in trade and +manufactures is sufficiently productive to individuals, but it +certainly is not productive in the same degree to the state. Every +accession to the food of a country tends to the immediate benefit of +the whole society; but the fortunes made in trade tend but in a remote +and uncertain manner to the same end, and in some respects have even a +contrary tendency. The home trade of consumption is by far the most +important trade of every nation. China is the richest country in the +world, without any other. Putting then, for a moment, foreign trade out +of the question, the man who, by an ingenious manufacture, obtains a +double portion out of the old stock of provisions, will certainly not +to be so useful to the state as the man who, by his labour, adds a +single share to the former stock. The consumable commodities of silks, +laces, trinkets, and expensive furniture, are undoubtedly a part of the +revenue of the society; but they are the revenue only of the rich, and +not of the society in general. An increase in this part of the revenue +of a state, cannot, therefore, be considered of the same importance as +an increase of food, which forms the principal revenue of the great +mass of the people. + +Foreign commerce adds to the wealth of a state, according to Dr Adam +Smith's definition, though not according to the definition of the +economists. Its principal use, and the reason, probably, that it has in +general been held in such high estimation is that it adds greatly to +the external power of a nation or to its power of commanding the labour +of other countries; but it will be found, upon a near examination, to +contribute but little to the increase of the internal funds for the +maintenance of labour, and consequently but little to the happiness of +the greatest part of society. In the natural progress of a state +towards riches, manufactures, and foreign commerce would follow, in +their order, the high cultivation of the soil. In Europe, this natural +order of things has been inverted, and the soil has been cultivated +from the redundancy of manufacturing capital, instead of manufactures +rising from the redundancy of capital employed upon land. The superior +encouragement that has been given to the industry of the towns, and the +consequent higher price that is paid for the labour of artificers than +for the labour of those employed in husbandry, are probably the reasons +why so much soil in Europe remains uncultivated. Had a different policy +been pursued throughout Europe, it might undoubtedly have been much +more populous than at present, and yet not be more incumbered by its +population. + +I cannot quit this curious subject of the difficulty arising from +population, a subject that appears to me to deserve a minute +investigation and able discussion much beyond my power to give it, +without taking notice of an extraordinary passage in Dr Price's two +volumes of Observations. Having given some tables on the probabilities +of life, in towns and in the country, he says (Vol. II, p. 243): + +From this comparison, it appears with how much truth great cities have +been called the graves of mankind. It must also convince all who +consider it, that according to the observation, at the end of the +fourth essay, in the former volume, it is by no means strictly proper +to consider our diseases as the original intention of nature. They are, +without doubt, in general our own creation. Were there a country where +the inhabitants led lives entirely natural and virtuous, few of them +would die without measuring out the whole period of present existence +allotted to them; pain and distemper would be unknown among them, and +death would come upon them like a sleep, in consequence of no other +cause than gradual and unavoidable decay. + +I own that I felt myself obliged to draw a very opposite conclusion +from the facts advanced in Dr Price's two volumes. I had for some time +been aware that population and food increased in different ratios, and +a vague opinion had been floating in my mind that they could only be +kept equal by some species of misery or vice, but the perusal of Dr +Price's two volumes of Observations, after that opinion had been +conceived, raised it at once to conviction. With so many facts in his +view to prove the extraordinary rapidity with which population +increases when unchecked, and with such a body of evidence before him +to elucidate even the manner by which the general laws of nature +repress a redundant population, it is perfectly inconceivable to me how +he could write the passage that I have quoted. He was a strenuous +advocate for early marriages, as the best preservative against vicious +manners. He had no fanciful conceptions about the extinction of the +passion between the sexes, like Mr Godwin, nor did he ever think of +eluding the difficulty in the ways hinted at by Mr Condorcet. He +frequently talks of giving the prolifick powers of nature room to exert +themselves. Yet with these ideas, that his understanding could escape +from the obvious and necessary inference that an unchecked population +would increase, beyond comparison, faster than the earth, by the best +directed exertions of man, could produce food for its support, appears +to me as astonishing as if he had resisted the conclusion of one of the +plainest propositions of Euclid. + +Dr Price, speaking of the different stages of the civilized state, +says, 'The first, or simple stages of civilization, are those which +favour most the increase and the happiness of mankind.' He then +instances the American colonies, as being at that time in the first and +happiest of the states that he had described, and as affording a very +striking proof of the effects of the different stages of civilization +on population. But he does not seem to be aware that the happiness of +the Americans depended much less upon their peculiar degree of +civilization than upon the peculiarity of their situation, as new +colonies, upon their having a great plenty of fertile uncultivated +land. In parts of Norway, Denmark, or Sweden, or in this country, two +or three hundred years ago, he might have found perhaps nearly the same +degree of civilization, but by no means the same happiness or the same +increase of population. He quotes himself a statute of Henry the +Eighth, complaining of the decay of tillage, and the enhanced price of +provisions, 'whereby a marvellous number of people were rendered +incapable of maintaining themselves and families.' The superior degree +of civil liberty which prevailed in America contributed, without doubt, +its share to promote the industry, happiness, and population of these +states, but even civil liberty, all powerful as it is, will not create +fresh land. The Americans may be said, perhaps, to enjoy a greater +degree of civil liberty, now they are an independent people, than while +they were in subjection in England, but we may be perfectly sure that +population will not long continue to increase with the same rapidity as +it did then. + +A person who contemplated the happy state of the lower classes of +people in America twenty years ago would naturally wish to retain them +for ever in that state, and might think, perhaps, that by preventing +the introduction of manufactures and luxury he might effect his +purpose, but he might as reasonably expect to prevent a wife or +mistress from growing old by never exposing her to the sun or air. The +situation of new colonies, well governed, is a bloom of youth that no +efforts can arrest. There are, indeed, many modes of treatment in the +political, as well as animal, body, that contribute to accelerate or +retard the approaches of age, but there can be no chance of success, in +any mode that could be devised, for keeping either of them in perpetual +youth. By encouraging the industry of the towns more than the industry +of the country, Europe may be said, perhaps, to have brought on a +premature old age. A different policy in this respect would infuse +fresh life and vigour into every state. While from the law of +primogeniture, and other European customs, land bears a monopoly price, +a capital can never be employed in it with much advantage to the +individual; and, therefore, it is not probable that the soil should be +properly cultivated. And, though in every civilized state a class of +proprietors and a class of labourers must exist, yet one permanent +advantage would always result from a nearer equalization of property. +The greater the number of proprietors, the smaller must be the number +of labourers: a greater part of society would be in the happy state of +possessing property: and a smaller part in the unhappy state of +possessing no other property than their labour. But the best directed +exertions, though they may alleviate, can never remove the pressure of +want, and it will be difficult for any person who contemplates the +genuine situation of man on earth, and the general laws of nature, to +suppose it possible that any, the most enlightened, efforts could place +mankind in a state where 'few would die without measuring out the whole +period of present existence allotted to them; where pain and distemper +would be unknown among them; and death would come upon them like a +sleep, in consequence of no other cause than gradual and unavoidable +decay.' + +It is, undoubtedly, a most disheartening reflection that the great +obstacle in the way to any extraordinary improvement in society is of a +nature that we can never hope to overcome. The perpetual tendency in +the race of man to increase beyond the means of subsistence is one of +the general laws of animated nature which we can have no reason to +expect will change. Yet, discouraging as the contemplation of this +difficulty must be to those whose exertions are laudably directed to +the improvement of the human species, it is evident that no possible +good can arise from any endeavours to slur it over or keep it in the +background. On the contrary, the most baleful mischiefs may be expected +from the unmanly conduct of not daring to face truth because it is +unpleasing. Independently of what relates to this great obstacle, +sufficient yet remains to be done for mankind to animate us to the most +unremitted exertion. But if we proceed without a thorough knowledge and +accurate comprehension of the nature, extent, and magnitude of the +difficulties we have to encounter, or if we unwisely direct our efforts +towards an object in which we cannot hope for success, we shall not +only exhaust our strength in fruitless exertions and remain at as great +a distance as ever from the summit of our wishes, but we shall be +perpetually crushed by the recoil of this rock of Sisyphus. + + + + +CHAPTER 18 + +The constant pressure of distress on man, from the principle of +population, seems to direct our hopes to the future--State of trial +inconsistent with our ideas of the foreknowledge of God--The world, +probably, a mighty process for awakening matter into mind--Theory of +the formation of mind--Excitements from the wants of the +body--Excitements from the operation of general laws--Excitements from +the difficulties of life arising from the principle of population. + + +The view of human life which results from the contemplation of the +constant pressure of distress on man from the difficulty of +subsistence, by shewing the little expectation that he can reasonably +entertain of perfectibility on earth, seems strongly to point his hopes +to the future. And the temptations to which he must necessarily be +exposed, from the operation of those laws of nature which we have been +examining, would seem to represent the world in the light in which it +has been frequently considered, as a state of trial and school of +virtue preparatory to a superior state of happiness. But I hope I shall +be pardoned if I attempt to give a view in some degree different of the +situation of man on earth, which appears to me to be more consistent +with the various phenomena of nature which we observe around us and +more consonant to our ideas of the power, goodness, and foreknowledge +of the Deity. + +It cannot be considered as an unimproving exercise of the human mind to +endeavour to 'vindicate the ways of God to man' if we proceed with a +proper distrust of our own understandings and a just sense of our +insufficiency to comprehend the reason of all we see, if we hail every +ray of light with gratitude, and, when no light appears, think that the +darkness is from within and not from without, and bow with humble +deference to the supreme wisdom of him whose 'thoughts are above our +thoughts' 'as the heavens are high above the earth.' + +In all our feeble attempts, however, to 'find out the Almighty to +perfection', it seems absolutely necessary that we should reason from +nature up to nature's God and not presume to reason from God to nature. +The moment we allow ourselves to ask why some things are not otherwise, +instead of endeavouring to account for them as they are, we shall never +know where to stop, we shall be led into the grossest and most childish +absurdities, all progress in the knowledge of the ways of Providence +must necessarily be at an end, and the study will even cease to be an +improving exercise of the human mind. Infinite power is so vast and +incomprehensible an idea that the mind of man must necessarily be +bewildered in the contemplation of it. With the crude and puerile +conceptions which we sometimes form of this attribute of the Deity, we +might imagine that God could call into being myriads and myriads of +existences, all free from pain and imperfection, all eminent in +goodness and wisdom, all capable of the highest enjoyments, and +unnumbered as the points throughout infinite space. But when from these +vain and extravagant dreams of fancy, we turn our eyes to the book of +nature, where alone we can read God as he is, we see a constant +succession of sentient beings, rising apparently from so many specks of +matter, going through a long and sometimes painful process in this +world, but many of them attaining, ere the termination of it, such high +qualities and powers as seem to indicate their fitness for some +superior state. Ought we not then to correct our crude and puerile +ideas of infinite Power from the contemplation of what we actually see +existing? Can we judge of the Creator but from his creation? And, +unless we wish to exalt the power of God at the expense of his +goodness, ought we not to conclude that even to the great Creator, +almighty as he is, a certain process may be necessary, a certain time +(or at least what appears to us as time) may be requisite, in order to +form beings with those exalted qualities of mind which will fit them +for his high purposes? + +A state of trial seems to imply a previously formed existence that does +not agree with the appearance of man in infancy and indicates something +like suspicion and want of foreknowledge, inconsistent with those ideas +which we wish to cherish of the Supreme Being. I should be inclined, +therefore, as I have hinted before, to consider the world and this life +as the mighty process of God, not for the trial, but for the creation +and formation of mind, a process necessary to awaken inert, chaotic +matter into spirit, to sublimate the dust of the earth into soul, to +elicit an ethereal spark from the clod of clay. And in this view of the +subject, the various impressions and excitements which man receives +through life may be considered as the forming hand of his Creator, +acting by general laws, and awakening his sluggish existence, by the +animating touches of the Divinity, into a capacity of superior +enjoyment. The original sin of man is the torpor and corruption of the +chaotic matter in which he may be said to be born. + +It could answer no good purpose to enter into the question whether mind +be a distinct substance from matter, or only a finer form of it. The +question is, perhaps, after all, a question merely of words. Mind is as +essentially mind, whether formed from matter or any other substance. We +know from experience that soul and body are most intimately united, and +every appearance seems to indicate that they grow from infancy +together. It would be a supposition attended with very little +probability to believe that a complete and full formed spirit existed +in every infant, but that it was clogged and impeded in its operations +during the first twenty years of life by the weakness, or hebetude, of +the organs in which it was enclosed. As we shall all be disposed to +agree that God is the creator of mind as well as of body, and as they +both seem to be forming and unfolding themselves at the same time, it +cannot appear inconsistent either with reason or revelation, if it +appear to be consistent with phenomena of nature, to suppose that God +is constantly occupied in forming mind out of matter and that the +various impressions that man receives through life is the process for +that purpose. The employment is surely worthy of the highest attributes +of the Deity. + +This view of the state of man on earth will not seem to be unattended +with probability, if, judging from the little experience we have of the +nature of mind, it shall appear upon investigation that the phenomena +around us, and the various events of human life, seem peculiarly +calculated to promote this great end, and especially if, upon this +supposition, we can account, even to our own narrow understandings, for +many of those roughnesses and inequalities in life which querulous man +too frequently makes the subject of his complaint against the God of +nature. + +The first great awakeners of the mind seem to be the wants of the body. +(It was my intention to have entered at some length into this subject +as a kind of second part to the Essay. A long interruption, from +particular business, has obliged me to lay aside this intention, at +least for the present. I shall now, therefore, only give a sketch of a +few of the leading circumstances that appear to me to favour the +general supposition that I have advanced.) They are the first +stimulants that rouse the brain of infant man into sentient activity, +and such seems to be the sluggishness of original matter that unless by +a peculiar course of excitements other wants, equally powerful, are +generated, these stimulants seem, even afterwards, to be necessary to +continue that activity which they first awakened. The savage would +slumber for ever under his tree unless he were roused from his torpor +by the cravings of hunger or the pinchings of cold, and the exertions +that he makes to avoid these evils, by procuring food, and building +himself a covering, are the exercises which form and keep in motion his +faculties, which otherwise would sink into listless inactivity. From +all that experience has taught us concerning the structure of the human +mind, if those stimulants to exertion which arise from the wants of the +body were removed from the mass of mankind, we have much more reason to +think that they would be sunk to the level of brutes, from a deficiency +of excitements, than that they would be raised to the rank of +philosophers by the possession of leisure. In those countries where +nature is the most redundant in spontaneous produce the inhabitants +will not be found the most remarkable for acuteness of intellect. +Necessity has been with great truth called the mother of invention. +Some of the noblest exertions of the human mind have been set in motion +by the necessity of satisfying the wants of the body. Want has not +unfrequently given wings to the imagination of the poet, pointed the +flowing periods of the historian, and added acuteness to the researches +of the philosopher, and though there are undoubtedly many minds at +present so far improved by the various excitements of knowledge, or of +social sympathy, that they would not relapse into listlessness if their +bodily stimulants were removed, yet it can scarcely be doubted that +these stimulants could not be withdrawn from the mass of mankind +without producing a general and fatal torpor, destructive of all the +germs of future improvement. + +Locke, if I recollect, says that the endeavour to avoid pain rather +than the pursuit of pleasure is the great stimulus to action in life: +and that in looking to any particular pleasure, we shall not be roused +into action in order to obtain it, till the contemplation of it has +continued so long as to amount to a sensation of pain or uneasiness +under the absence of it. To avoid evil and to pursue good seem to be +the great duty and business of man, and this world appears to be +peculiarly calculated to afford opportunity of the most unremitted +exertion of this kind, and it is by this exertion, by these stimulants, +that mind is formed. If Locke's idea be just, and there is great reason +to think that it is, evil seems to be necessary to create exertion, and +exertion seems evidently necessary to create mind. + +The necessity of food for the support of life gives rise, probably, to +a greater quantity of exertion than any other want, bodily or mental. +The Supreme Being has ordained that the earth shall not produce good in +great quantities till much preparatory labour and ingenuity has been +exercised upon its surface. There is no conceivable connection to our +comprehensions, between the seed and the plant or tree that rises from +it. The Supreme Creator might, undoubtedly, raise up plants of all +kinds, for the use of his creatures, without the assistance of those +little bits of matter, which we call seed, or even without the +assisting labour and attention of man. The processes of ploughing and +clearing the ground, of collecting and sowing seeds, are not surely for +the assistance of God in his creation, but are made previously +necessary to the enjoyment of the blessings of life, in order to rouse +man into action, and form his mind to reason. + +To furnish the most unremitted excitements of this kind, and to urge +man to further the gracious designs of Providence by the full +cultivation of the earth, it has been ordained that population should +increase much faster than food. This general law (as it has appeared in +the former parts of this Essay) undoubtedly produces much partial evil, +but a little reflection may, perhaps, satisfy us, that it produces a +great overbalance of good. Strong excitements seem necessary to create +exertion, and to direct this exertion, and form the reasoning faculty, +it seems absolutely necessary, that the Supreme Being should act always +according to general laws. The constancy of the laws of nature, or the +certainty with which we may expect the same effects from the same +causes, is the foundation of the faculty of reason. If in the ordinary +course of things, the finger of God were frequently visible, or to +speak more correctly, if God were frequently to change his purpose (for +the finger of God is, indeed, visible in every blade of grass that we +see), a general and fatal torpor of the human faculties would probably +ensue; even the bodily wants of mankind would cease to stimulate them +to exertion, could they not reasonably expect that if their efforts +were well directed they would be crowned with success. The constancy of +the laws of nature is the foundation of the industry and foresight of +the husbandman, the indefatigable ingenuity of the artificer, the +skilful researches of the physician and anatomist, and the watchful +observation and patient investigation of the natural philosopher. To +this constancy we owe all the greatest and noblest efforts of +intellect. To this constancy we owe the immortal mind of a Newton. + +As the reasons, therefore, for the constancy of the laws of nature +seem, even to our understandings, obvious and striking; if we return to +the principle of population and consider man as he really is, inert, +sluggish, and averse from labour, unless compelled by necessity (and it +is surely the height of folly to talk of man, according to our crude +fancies of what he might be), we may pronounce with certainty that the +world would not have been peopled, but for the superiority of the power +of population to the means of subsistence. Strong and constantly +operative as this stimulus is on man to urge him to the cultivation of +the earth, if we still see that cultivation proceeds very slowly, we +may fairly conclude that a less stimulus would have been insufficient. +Even under the operation of this constant excitement, savages will +inhabit countries of the greatest natural fertility for a long period +before they betake themselves to pasturage or agriculture. Had +population and food increased in the same ratio, it is probable that +man might never have emerged from the savage state. But supposing the +earth once well peopled, an Alexander, a Julius Caesar, a Tamberlane, +or a bloody revolution might irrecoverably thin the human race, and +defeat the great designs of the Creator. The ravages of a contagious +disorder would be felt for ages; and an earthquake might unpeople a +region for ever. The principle, according to which population +increases, prevents the vices of mankind, or the accidents of nature, +the partial evils arising from general laws, from obstructing the high +purpose of the creation. It keeps the inhabitants of the earth always +fully up to the level of the means of subsistence; and is constantly +acting upon man as a powerful stimulus, urging him to the further +cultivation of the earth, and to enable it, consequently, to support a +more extended population. But it is impossible that this law can +operate, and produce the effects apparently intended by the Supreme +Being, without occasioning partial evil. Unless the principle of +population were to be altered according to the circumstances of each +separate country (which would not only be contrary to our universal +experience, with regard to the laws of nature, but would contradict +even our own reason, which sees the absolute necessity of general laws +for the formation of intellect), it is evident that the same principle +which, seconded by industry, will people a fertile region in a few +years must produce distress in countries that have been long inhabited. + +It seems, however, every way probable that even the acknowledged +difficulties occasioned by the law of population tend rather to promote +than impede the general purpose of Providence. They excite universal +exertion and contribute to that infinite variety of situations, and +consequently of impressions, which seems upon the whole favourable to +the growth of mind. It is probable, that too great or too little +excitement, extreme poverty, or too great riches may be alike +unfavourable in this respect. The middle regions of society seem to be +best suited to intellectual improvement, but it is contrary to the +analogy of all nature to expect that the whole of society can be a +middle region. The temperate zones of the earth seem to be the most +favourable to the mental and corporal energies of man, but all cannot +be temperate zones. A world, warmed and enlightened but by one sun, +must from the laws of matter have some parts chilled by perpetual +frosts and others scorched by perpetual heats. Every piece of matter +lying on a surface must have an upper and an under side, all the +particles cannot be in the middle. The most valuable parts of an oak, +to a timber merchant, are not either the roots or the branches, but +these are absolutely necessary to the existence of the middle part, or +stem, which is the object in request. The timber merchant could not +possibly expect to make an oak grow without roots or branches, but if +he could find out a mode of cultivation which would cause more of the +substance to go to stem, and less to root and branch, he would be right +to exert himself in bringing such a system into general use. + +In the same manner, though we cannot possibly expect to exclude riches +and poverty from society, yet if we could find out a mode of government +by which the numbers in the extreme regions would be lessened and the +numbers in the middle regions increased, it would be undoubtedly our +duty to adopt it. It is not, however, improbable that as in the oak, +the roots and branches could not be diminished very greatly without +weakening the vigorous circulation of the sap in the stem, so in +society the extreme parts could not be diminished beyond a certain +degree without lessening that animated exertion throughout the middle +parts, which is the very cause that they are the most favourable to the +growth of intellect. If no man could hope to rise or fear to fall, in +society, if industry did not bring with it its reward and idleness its +punishment, the middle parts would not certainly be what they now are. +In reasoning upon this subject, it is evident that we ought to consider +chiefly the mass of mankind and not individual instances. There are +undoubtedly many minds, and there ought to be many, according to the +chances out of so great a mass, that, having been vivified early by a +peculiar course of excitements, would not need the constant action of +narrow motives to continue them in activity. But if we were to review +the various useful discoveries, the valuable writings, and other +laudable exertions of mankind, I believe we should find that more were +to be attributed to the narrow motives that operate upon the many than +to the apparently more enlarged motives that operate upon the few. + +Leisure is, without doubt, highly valuable to man, but taking man as he +is, the probability seems to be that in the greater number of instances +it will produce evil rather than good. It has been not infrequently +remarked that talents are more common among younger brothers than among +elder brothers, but it can scarcely be imagined that younger brothers +are, upon an average, born with a greater original susceptibility of +parts. The difference, if there really is any observable difference, +can only arise from their different situations. Exertion and activity +are in general absolutely necessary in one case and are only optional +in the other. + +That the difficulties of life contribute to generate talents, every +day's experience must convince us. The exertions that men find it +necessary to make, in order to support themselves or families, +frequently awaken faculties that might otherwise have lain for ever +dormant, and it has been commonly remarked that new and extraordinary +situations generally create minds adequate to grapple with the +difficulties in which they are involved. + + + + +CHAPTER 19 + +The sorrows of life necessary to soften and humanize the heart--The +excitement of social sympathy often produce characters of a higher +order than the mere possessors of talents--Moral evil probably +necessary to the production of moral excellence--Excitements from +intellectual wants continually kept up by the infinite variety of +nature, and the obscurity that involves metaphysical subjects--The +difficulties in revelation to be accounted for upon this principle--The +degree of evidence which the scriptures contain, probably, best suited +to the improvements of the human faculties, and the moral amelioration +of mankind--The idea that mind is created by excitements seems to +account for the existence of natural and moral evil. + + +The sorrows and distresses of life form another class of excitements, +which seem to be necessary, by a peculiar train of impressions, to +soften and humanize the heart, to awaken social sympathy, to generate +all the Christian virtues, and to afford scope for the ample exertion +of benevolence. The general tendency of an uniform course of prosperity +is rather to degrade than exalt the character. The heart that has never +known sorrow itself will seldom be feelingly alive to the pains and +pleasures, the wants and wishes, of its fellow beings. It will seldom +be overflowing with that warmth of brotherly love, those kind and +amiable affections, which dignify the human character even more than +the possession of the highest talents. Talents, indeed, though +undoubtedly a very prominent and fine feature of mind, can by no means +be considered as constituting the whole of it. There are many minds +which have not been exposed to those excitements that usually form +talents, that have yet been vivified to a high degree by the +excitements of social sympathy. In every rank of life, in the lowest as +frequently as in the highest, characters are to be found overflowing +with the milk of human kindness, breathing love towards God and man, +and, though without those peculiar powers of mind called talents, +evidently holding a higher rank in the scale of beings than many who +possess them. Evangelical charity, meekness, piety, and all that class +of virtues distinguished particularly by the name of Christian virtues +do not seem necessarily to include abilities; yet a soul possessed of +these amiable qualities, a soul awakened and vivified by these +delightful sympathies, seems to hold a nearer commerce with the skies +than mere acuteness of intellect. + +The greatest talents have been frequently misapplied and have produced +evil proportionate to the extent of their powers. Both reason and +revelation seem to assure us that such minds will be condemned to +eternal death, but while on earth, these vicious instruments performed +their part in the great mass of impressions, by the disgust and +abhorrence which they excited. It seems highly probable that moral evil +is absolutely necessary to the production of moral excellence. A being +with only good placed in view may be justly said to be impelled by a +blind necessity. The pursuit of good in this case can be no indication +of virtuous propensities. It might be said, perhaps, that infinite +Wisdom cannot want such an indication as outward action, but would +foreknow with certainly whether the being would choose good or evil. +This might be a plausible argument against a state of trial, but will +not hold against the supposition that mind in this world is in a state +of formation. Upon this idea, the being that has seen moral evil and +has felt disapprobation and disgust at it is essentially different from +the being that has seen only good. They are pieces of clay that have +received distinct impressions: they must, therefore, necessarily be in +different shapes; or, even if we allow them both to have the same +lovely form of virtue, it must be acknowledged that one has undergone +the further process, necessary to give firmness and durability to its +substance, while the other is still exposed to injury, and liable to be +broken by every accidental impulse. An ardent love and admiration of +virtue seems to imply the existence of something opposite to it, and it +seems highly probable that the same beauty of form and substance, the +same perfection of character, could not be generated without the +impressions of disapprobation which arise from the spectacle of moral +evil. + +When the mind has been awakened into activity by the passions, and the +wants of the body, intellectual wants arise; and the desire of +knowledge, and the impatience under ignorance, form a new and important +class of excitements. Every part of nature seems peculiarly calculated +to furnish stimulants to mental exertion of this kind, and to offer +inexhaustible food for the most unremitted inquiry. Our mortal Bard +says of Cleopatra: + + Custom cannot stale + Her infinite variety. + +The expression, when applied to any one object, may be considered as a +poetical amplification, but it is accurately true when applied to +nature. Infinite variety seems, indeed, eminently her characteristic +feature. The shades that are here and there blended in the picture give +spirit, life, and prominence to her exuberant beauties, and those +roughnesses and inequalities, those inferior parts that support the +superior, though they sometimes offend the fastidious microscopic eye +of short-sighted man, contribute to the symmetry, grace, and fair +proportion of the whole. + +The infinite variety of the forms and operations of nature, besides +tending immediately to awaken and improve the mind by the variety of +impressions that it creates, opens other fertile sources of improvement +by offering so wide and extensive a field for investigation and +research. Uniform, undiversified perfection could not possess the same +awakening powers. When we endeavour then to contemplate the system of +the universe, when we think of the stars as the suns of other systems +scattered throughout infinite space, when we reflect that we do not +probably see a millionth part of those bright orbs that are beaming +light and life to unnumbered worlds, when our minds, unable to grasp +the immeasurable conception, sink, lost and confounded, in admiration +at the mighty incomprehensible power of the Creator, let us not +querulously complain that all climates are not equally genial, that +perpetual spring does not reign throughout the year, that God's +creatures do not possess the same advantages, that clouds and tempests +sometimes darken the natural world and vice and misery the moral world, +and that all the works of the creation are not formed with equal +perfection. Both reason and experience seem to indicate to us that the +infinite variety of nature (and variety cannot exist without inferior +parts, or apparent blemishes) is admirably adapted to further the high +purpose of the creation and to produce the greatest possible quantity +of good. + +The obscurity that involves all metaphysical subjects appears to me, in +the same manner, peculiarly calculated to add to that class of +excitements which arise from the thirst of knowledge. It is probable +that man, while on earth, will never be able to attain complete +satisfaction on these subjects; but this is by no means a reason that +he should not engage in them. The darkness that surrounds these +interesting topics of human curiosity may be intended to furnish +endless motives to intellectual activity and exertion. The constant +effort to dispel this darkness, even if it fail of success, invigorates +and improves the thinking faculty. If the subjects of human inquiry +were once exhausted, mind would probably stagnate; but the infinitely +diversified forms and operations of nature, together with the endless +food for speculation which metaphysical subjects offer, prevent the +possibility that such a period should ever arrive. + +It is by no means one of the wisest sayings of Solomon that 'there is +no new thing under the sun.' On the contrary, it is probable that were +the present system to continue for millions of years, continual +additions would be making to the mass of human knowledge, and yet, +perhaps, it may be a matter of doubt whether what may be called the +capacity of mind be in any marked and decided manner increasing. A +Socrates, a Plato, or an Aristotle, however confessedly inferior in +knowledge to the philosophers of the present day, do not appear to have +been much below them in intellectual capacity. Intellect rises from a +speck, continues in vigour only for a certain period, and will not +perhaps admit while on earth of above a certain number of impressions. +These impressions may, indeed, be infinitely modified, and from these +various modifications, added probably to a difference in the +susceptibility of the original germs, arise the endless diversity of +character that we see in the world; but reason and experience seem both +to assure us that the capacity of individual minds does not increase in +proportion to the mass of existing knowledge. (It is probable that no +two grains of wheat are exactly alike. Soil undoubtedly makes the +principal difference in the blades that spring up, but probably not +all. It seems natural to suppose some sort of difference in the +original germs that are afterwards awakened into thought, and the +extraordinary difference of susceptibility in very young children seems +to confirm the supposition.) + +The finest minds seem to be formed rather by efforts at original +thinking, by endeavours to form new combinations, and to discover new +truths, than by passively receiving the impressions of other men's +ideas. Could we suppose the period arrived, when there was not further +hope of future discoveries, and the only employment of mind was to +acquire pre-existing knowledge, without any efforts to form new and +original combinations, though the mass of human knowledge were a +thousand times greater than it is at present, yet it is evident that +one of the noblest stimulants to mental exertion would have ceased; the +finest feature of intellect would be lost; everything allied to genius +would be at an end; and it appears to be impossible, that, under such +circumstances, any individuals could possess the same intellectual +energies as were possessed by a Locke, a Newton, or a Shakespeare, or +even by a Socrates, a Plato, an Aristotle or a Homer. + +If a revelation from heaven of which no person could feel the smallest +doubt were to dispel the mists that now hang over metaphysical +subjects, were to explain the nature and structure of mind, the +affections and essences of all substances, the mode in which the +Supreme Being operates in the works of the creation, and the whole plan +and scheme of the Universe, such an accession of knowledge so obtained, +instead of giving additional vigour and activity to the human mind, +would in all probability tend to repress future exertion and to damp +the soaring wings of intellect. + +For this reason I have never considered the doubts and difficulties +that involve some parts of the sacred writings as any ardent against +their divine original. The Supreme Being might, undoubtedly, have +accompanied his revelations to man by such a succession of miracles, +and of such a nature, as would have produced universal overpowering +conviction and have put an end at once to all hesitation and +discussion. But weak as our reason is to comprehend the plans of the +great Creator, it is yet sufficiently strong to see the most striking +objections to such a revelation. From the little we know of the +structure of the human understanding, we must be convinced that an +overpowering conviction of this kind, instead of tending to the +improvement and moral amelioration of man, would act like the touch of +a torpedo on all intellectual exertion and would almost put an end to +the existence of virtue. If the scriptural denunciations of eternal +punishment were brought home with the same certainty to every man's +mind as that the night will follow the day, this one vast and gloomy +idea would take such full possession of the human faculties as to leave +no room for any other conceptions, the external actions of men would be +all nearly alike, virtuous conduct would be no indication of virtuous +disposition, vice and virtue would be blended together in one common +mass, and though the all-seeing eye of God might distinguish them they +must necessarily make the same impressions on man, who can judge only +from external appearances. Under such a dispensation, it is difficult +to conceive how human beings could be formed to a detestation of moral +evil, and a love and admiration of God, and of moral excellence. + +Our ideas of virtue and vice are not, perhaps, very accurate and +well-defined; but few, I think, would call an action really virtuous +which was performed simply and solely from the dread of a very great +punishment or the expectation of a very great reward. The fear of the +Lord is very justly said to be the beginning of wisdom, but the end of +wisdom is the love of the Lord and the admiration of moral good. The +denunciations of future punishment contained in the scriptures seem to +be well calculated to arrest the progress of the vicious and awaken the +attention of the careless, but we see from repeated experience that +they are not accompanied with evidence of such a nature as to overpower +the human will and to make men lead virtuous lives with vicious +dispositions, merely from a dread of hereafter. A genuine faith, by +which I mean a faith that shews itself in it the virtues of a truly +Christian life, may generally be considered as an indication of an +amiable and virtuous disposition, operated upon more by love than by +pure unmixed fear. + +When we reflect on the temptations to which man must necessarily be +exposed in this world, from the structure of his frame, and the +operation of the laws of nature, and the consequent moral certainty +that many vessels will come out of this mighty creative furnace in +wrong shapes, it is perfectly impossible to conceive that any of these +creatures of God's hand can be condemned to eternal suffering. Could we +once admit such an idea, it our natural conceptions of goodness and +justice would be completely overthrown, and we could no longer look up +to God as a merciful and righteous Being. But the doctrine of life and +Mortality which was brought to light by the gospel, the doctrine that +the end of righteousness is everlasting life, but that the wages of sin +are death, is in every respect just and merciful, and worthy of the +great Creator. Nothing can appear more consonant to our reason than +that those beings which come out of the creative process of the world +in lovely and beautiful forms should be crowned with immortality, while +those which come out misshapen, those whose minds are not suited to a +purer and happier state of existence, should perish and be condemned to +mix again with their original clay. Eternal condemnation of this kind +may be considered as a species of eternal punishment, and it is not +wonderful that it should be represented, sometimes, under images of +suffering. But life and death, salvation and destruction, are more +frequently opposed to each other in the New Testament than happiness +and misery. The Supreme Being would appear to us in a very different +view if we were to consider him as pursuing the creatures that had +offended him with eternal hate and torture, instead of merely +condemning to their original insensibility those beings that, by the +operation of general laws, had not been formed with qualities suited to +a purer state of happiness. + +Life is, generally speaking, a blessing independent of a future state. +It is a gift which the vicious would not always be ready to throw away, +even if they had no fear of death. The partial pain, therefore, that is +inflicted by the supreme Creator, while he is forming numberless beings +to a capacity of the highest enjoyments, is but as the dust of the +balance in comparison of the happiness that is communicated, and we +have every reason to think that there is no more evil in the world than +what is absolutely necessary as one of the ingredients in the mighty +process. + +The striking necessity of general laws for the formation of intellect +will not in any respect be contradicted by one or two exceptions, and +these evidently not intended for partial purposes, but calculated to +operate upon a great part of mankind, and through many ages. Upon the +idea that I have given of the formation of mind, the infringement of +the general law of nature, by a divine revelation, will appear in the +light of the immediate hand of God mixing new ingredients in the mighty +mass, suited to the particular state of the process, and calculated to +give rise to a new and powerful train of impressions, tending to +purify, exalt, and improve the human mind. The miracles that +accompanied these revelations when they had once excited the attention +of mankind, and rendered it a matter of most interesting discussion, +whether the doctrine was from God or man, had performed their part, had +answered the purpose of the Creator, and these communications of the +divine will were afterwards left to make their way by their own +intrinsic excellence; and, by operating as moral motives, gradually to +influence and improve, and not to overpower and stagnate the faculties +of man. + +It would be, undoubtedly, presumptuous to say that the Supreme Being +could not possibly have effected his purpose in any other way than that +which he has chosen, but as the revelation of the divine will which we +possess is attended with some doubts and difficulties, and as our +reason points out to us the strongest objections to a revelation which +would force immediate, implicit, universal belief, we have surely just +cause to think that these doubts and difficulties are no argument +against the divine origin of the scriptures, and that the species of +evidence which they possess is best suited to the improvement of the +human faculties and the moral amelioration of mankind. + +The idea that the impressions and excitements of this world are the +instruments with which the Supreme Being forms matter into mind, and +that the necessity of constant exertion to avoid evil and to pursue +good is the principal spring of these impressions and excitements, +seems to smooth many of the difficulties that occur in a contemplation +of human life, and appears to me to give a satisfactory reason for the +existence of natural and moral evil, and, consequently, for that part +of both, and it certainly is not a very small part, which arises from +the principle of population. But, though, upon this supposition, it +seems highly improbable that evil should ever be removed from the +world; yet it is evident that this impression would not answer the +apparent purpose of the Creator; it would not act so powerfully as an +excitement to exertion, if the quantity of it did not diminish or +increase with the activity or the indolence of man. The continual +variations in the weight and in the distribution of this pressure keep +alive a constant expectation of throwing it off. + + "Hope springs eternal in the Human breast, + Man never is, but always to be blest." + +Evil exists in the world not to create despair but activity. We are not +patiently to submit to it, but to exert ourselves to avoid it. It is +not only the interest but the duty of every individual to use his +utmost efforts to remove evil from himself and from as large a circle +as he can influence, and the more he exercises himself in this duty, +the more wisely he directs his efforts, and the more successful these +efforts are; the more he will probably improve and exalt his own mind, +and the more completely does he appear to fulfil the will of his +Creator. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Essay on the Principle of Population, by +Thomas Malthus + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAY--PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION *** + +***** This file should be named 4239.txt or 4239.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/3/4239/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo. 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The discussion started the general +question of the future improvement of society, and the Author at +first sat down with an intention of merely stating his thoughts +to his friend, upon paper, in a clearer manner than he thought he +could do in conversation. But as the subject opened upon him, +some ideas occurred, which he did not recollect to have met with +before; and as he conceived that every least light, on a topic so +generally interesting, might be received with candour, he +determined to put his thoughts in a form for publication. + +The Essay might, undoubtedly, have been rendered much more +complete by a collection of a greater number of facts in +elucidation of the general argument. But a long and almost total +interruption from very particular business, joined to a desire +(perhaps imprudent) of not delaying the publication much beyond +the time that he originally proposed, prevented the Author from +giving to the subject an undivided attention. He presumes, +however, that the facts which he has adduced will be found to +form no inconsiderable evidence for the truth of his opinion +respecting the future improvement of mankind. As the Author +contemplates this opinion at present, little more appears to him +to be necessary than a plain statement, in addition to the most +cursory view of society, to establish it. + +It is an obvious truth, which has been taken notice of by +many writers, that population must always be kept down to the +level of the means of subsistence; but no writer that the Author +recollects has inquired particularly into the means by which this +level is effected: and it is a view of these means which forms, +to his mind, the strongest obstacle in the way to any very great +future improvement of society. He hopes it will appear that, in +the discussion of this interesting subject, he is actuated solely +by a love of truth, and not by any prejudices against any +particular set of men, or of opinions. He professes to have read +some of the speculations on the future improvement of society in +a temper very different from a wish to find them visionary, but +he has not acquired that command over his understanding which +would enable him to believe what he wishes, without evidence, or +to refuse his assent to what might be unpleasing, when +accompanied with evidence. + +The view which he has given of human life has a melancholy +hue, but he feels conscious that he has drawn these dark tints +from a conviction that they are really in the picture, and not +from a jaundiced eye or an inherent spleen of disposition. The +theory of mind which he has sketched in the two last chapters +accounts to his own understanding in a satisfactory manner for +the existence of most of the evils of life, but whether it will +have the same effect upon others must be left to the judgement of +his readers. + +If he should succeed in drawing the attention of more able +men to what he conceives to be the principal difficulty in the +way to the improvement of society and should, in consequence, see +this difficulty removed, even in theory, he will gladly retract +his present opinions and rejoice in a conviction of his error. + + 7 June 1798 + + + +CHAPTER 1 + +Question stated--Little prospect of a determination of it, from +the enmity of the opposing parties--The principal argument +against the perfectibility of man and of society has never been +fairly answered--Nature of the difficulty arising from +population--Outline of the principal argument of the Essay + + +The great and unlooked for discoveries that have taken place of +late years in natural philosophy, the increasing diffusion of +general knowledge from the extension of the art of printing, the +ardent and unshackled spirit of inquiry that prevails throughout +the lettered and even unlettered world, the new and extraordinary +lights that have been thrown on political subjects which dazzle +and astonish the understanding, and particularly that tremendous +phenomenon in the political horizon, the French Revolution, +which, like a blazing comet, seems destined either to inspire +with fresh life and vigour, or to scorch up and destroy the +shrinking inhabitants of the earth, have all concurred to lead +many able men into the opinion that we were touching on a period +big with the most important changes, changes that would in some +measure be decisive of the future fate of mankind. + +It has been said that the great question is now at issue, +whether man shall henceforth start forwards with accelerated +velocity towards illimitable, and hitherto unconceived +improvement, or be condemned to a perpetual oscillation between +happiness and misery, and after every effort remain still at an +immeasurable distance from the wished-for goal. + +Yet, anxiously as every friend of mankind must look forwards +to the termination of this painful suspense, and eagerly as the +inquiring mind would hail every ray of light that might assist +its view into futurity, it is much to be lamented that the +writers on each side of this momentous question still keep far +aloof from each other. Their mutual arguments do not meet with a +candid examination. The question is not brought to rest on fewer +points, and even in theory scarcely seems to be approaching to a +decision. + +The advocate for the present order of things is apt to treat +the sect of speculative philosophers either as a set of artful +and designing knaves who preach up ardent benevolence and draw +captivating pictures of a happier state of society only the +better to enable them to destroy the present establishments and +to forward their own deep-laid schemes of ambition, or as wild +and mad-headed enthusiasts whose silly speculations and absurd +paradoxes are not worthy the attention of any reasonable man. + +The advocate for the perfectibility of man, and of society, +retorts on the defender of establishments a more than equal +contempt. He brands him as the slave of the most miserable and +narrow prejudices; or as the defender of the abuses of civil +society only because he profits by them. He paints him either as +a character who prostitutes his understanding to his interest, or +as one whose powers of mind are not of a size to grasp any thing +great and noble, who cannot see above five yards before him, and +who must therefore be utterly unable to take in the views of the +enlightened benefactor of mankind. + +In this unamicable contest the cause of truth cannot but +suffer. The really good arguments on each side of the question +are not allowed to have their proper weight. Each pursues his own +theory, little solicitous to correct or improve it by an +attention to what is advanced by his opponents. + +The friend of the present order of things condemns all +political speculations in the gross. He will not even condescend +to examine the grounds from which the perfectibility of society +is inferred. Much less will he give himself the trouble in a fair +and candid manner to attempt an exposition of their fallacy. + +The speculative philosopher equally offends against the cause +of truth. With eyes fixed on a happier state of society, the +blessings of which he paints in the most captivating colours, he +allows himself to indulge in the most bitter invectives against +every present establishment, without applying his talents to +consider the best and safest means of removing abuses and without +seeming to be aware of the tremendous obstacles that threaten, +even in theory, to oppose the progress of man towards perfection. + +It is an acknowledged truth in philosophy that a just theory +will always be confirmed by experiment. Yet so much friction, and +so many minute circumstances occur in practice, which it is next +to impossible for the most enlarged and penetrating mind to +foresee, that on few subjects can any theory be pronounced just, +till all the arguments against it have been maturely weighed and +clearly and consistently refuted. + +I have read some of the speculations on the perfectibility of +man and of society with great pleasure. I have been warmed and +delighted with the enchanting picture which they hold forth. I +ardently wish for such happy improvements. But I see great, and, +to my understanding, unconquerable difficulties in the way to +them. These difficulties it is my present purpose to state, +declaring, at the same time, that so far from exulting in them, +as a cause of triumph over the friends of innovation, nothing +would give me greater pleasure than to see them completely +removed. + +The most important argument that I shall adduce is certainly +not new. The principles on which it depends have been explained +in part by Hume, and more at large by Dr Adam Smith. It has been +advanced and applied to the present subject, though not with its +proper weight, or in the most forcible point of view, by Mr +Wallace, and it may probably have been stated by many writers +that I have never met with. I should certainly therefore not +think of advancing it again, though I mean to place it in a point +of view in some degree different from any that I have hitherto +seen, if it had ever been fairly and satisfactorily answered. + +The cause of this neglect on the part of the advocates for +the perfectibility of mankind is not easily accounted for. I +cannot doubt the talents of such men as Godwin and Condorcet. I +am unwilling to doubt their candour. To my understanding, and +probably to that of most others, the difficulty appears +insurmountable. Yet these men of acknowledged ability and +penetration scarcely deign to notice it, and hold on their course +in such speculations with unabated ardour and undiminished +confidence. I have certainly no right to say that they purposely +shut their eyes to such arguments. I ought rather to doubt the +validity of them, when neglected by such men, however forcibly +their truth may strike my own mind. Yet in this respect it must +be acknowledged that we are all of us too prone to err. If I saw +a glass of wine repeatedly presented to a man, and he took no +notice of it, I should be apt to think that he was blind or +uncivil. A juster philosophy might teach me rather to think that +my eyes deceived me and that the offer was not really what I +conceived it to be. + +In entering upon the argument I must premise that I put out +of the question, at present, all mere conjectures, that is, all +suppositions, the probable realization of which cannot be +inferred upon any just philosophical grounds. A writer may tell +me that he thinks man will ultimately become an ostrich. I cannot +properly contradict him. But before he can expect to bring any +reasonable person over to his opinion, he ought to shew that the +necks of mankind have been gradually elongating, that the lips +have grown harder and more prominent, that the legs and feet are +daily altering their shape, and that the hair is beginning to +change into stubs of feathers. And till the probability of so +wonderful a conversion can be shewn, it is surely lost time and +lost eloquence to expatiate on the happiness of man in such a +state; to describe his powers, both of running and flying, to +paint him in a condition where all narrow luxuries would be +contemned, where he would be employed only in collecting the +necessaries of life, and where, consequently, each man's share of +labour would be light, and his portion of leisure ample. + +I think I may fairly make two postulata. + +First, That food is necessary to the existence of man. + +Secondly, That the passion between the sexes is necessary and +will remain nearly in its present state. + +These two laws, ever since we have had any knowledge of +mankind, appear to have been fixed laws of our nature, and, as we +have not hitherto seen any alteration in them, we have no right +to conclude that they will ever cease to be what they now are, +without an immediate act of power in that Being who first +arranged the system of the universe, and for the advantage of his +creatures, still executes, according to fixed laws, all its +various operations. + +I do not know that any writer has supposed that on this earth +man will ultimately be able to live without food. But Mr Godwin +has conjectured that the passion between the sexes may in time be +extinguished. As, however, he calls this part of his work a +deviation into the land of conjecture, I will not dwell longer +upon it at present than to say that the best arguments for the +perfectibility of man are drawn from a contemplation of the great +progress that he has already made from the savage state and the +difficulty of saying where he is to stop. But towards the +extinction of the passion between the sexes, no progress whatever +has hitherto been made. It appears to exist in as much force at +present as it did two thousand or four thousand years ago. There +are individual exceptions now as there always have been. But, as +these exceptions do not appear to increase in number, it would +surely be a very unphilosophical mode of arguing to infer, merely +from the existence of an exception, that the exception would, in +time, become the rule, and the rule the exception. + +Assuming then my postulata as granted, I say, that the power +of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth +to produce subsistence for man. + +Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. +Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight +acquaintance with numbers will shew the immensity of the first +power in comparison of the second. + +By that law of our nature which makes food necessary to the +life of man, the effects of these two unequal powers must be kept +equal. + +This implies a strong and constantly operating check on +population from the difficulty of subsistence. This difficulty +must fall somewhere and must necessarily be severely felt by a +large portion of mankind. + +Through the animal and vegetable kingdoms, nature has +scattered the seeds of life abroad with the most profuse and +liberal hand. She has been comparatively sparing in the room and +the nourishment necessary to rear them. The germs of existence +contained in this spot of earth, with ample food, and ample room +to expand in, would fill millions of worlds in the course of a +few thousand years. Necessity, that imperious all pervading law +of nature, restrains them within the prescribed bounds. The race +of plants and the race of animals shrink under this great +restrictive law. And the race of man cannot, by any efforts of +reason, escape from it. Among plants and animals its effects are +waste of seed, sickness, and premature death. Among mankind, +misery and vice. The former, misery, is an absolutely necessary +consequence of it. Vice is a highly probable consequence, and we +therefore see it abundantly prevail, but it ought not, perhaps, +to be called an absolutely necessary consequence. The ordeal of +virtue is to resist all temptation to evil. + +This natural inequality of the two powers of population and +of production in the earth, and that great law of our nature +which must constantly keep their effects equal, form the great +difficulty that to me appears insurmountable in the way to the +perfectibility of society. All other arguments are of slight and +subordinate consideration in comparison of this. I see no way by +which man can escape from the weight of this law which pervades +all animated nature. No fancied equality, no agrarian regulations +in their utmost extent, could remove the pressure of it even for +a single century. And it appears, therefore, to be decisive +against the possible existence of a society, all the members of +which should live in ease, happiness, and comparative leisure; +and feel no anxiety about providing the means of subsistence for +themselves and families. + +Consequently, if the premises are just, the argument is +conclusive against the perfectibility of the mass of mankind. + +I have thus sketched the general outline of the argument, but +I will examine it more particularly, and I think it will be found +that experience, the true source and foundation of all knowledge, +invariably confirms its truth. + + + +CHAPTER 2 + +The different ratio in which population and food increase--The +necessary effects of these different ratios of increase-- +Oscillation produced by them in the condition of the lower +classes of society--Reasons why this oscillation has not been so +much observed as might be expected--Three propositions on which +the general argument of the Essay depends--The different states +in which mankind have been known to exist proposed to be examined +with reference to these three propositions. + + +I said that population, when unchecked, increased in a +geometrical ratio, and subsistence for man in an arithmetical +ratio. + +Let us examine whether this position be just. I think it will +be allowed, that no state has hitherto existed (at least that we +have any account of) where the manners were so pure and simple, +and the means of subsistence so abundant, that no check whatever +has existed to early marriages, among the lower classes, from a +fear of not providing well for their families, or among the +higher classes, from a fear of lowering their condition in life. +Consequently in no state that we have yet known has the power of +population been left to exert itself with perfect freedom. + +Whether the law of marriage be instituted or not, the dictate +of nature and virtue seems to be an early attachment to one +woman. Supposing a liberty of changing in the case of an +unfortunate choice, this liberty would not affect population till +it arose to a height greatly vicious; and we are now supposing +the existence of a society where vice is scarcely known. + +In a state therefore of great equality and virtue, where pure +and simple manners prevailed, and where the means of subsistence +were so abundant that no part of the society could have any fears +about providing amply for a family, the power of population being +left to exert itself unchecked, the increase of the human species +would evidently be much greater than any increase that has been +hitherto known. + +In the United States of America, where the means of +subsistence have been more ample, the manners of the people more +pure, and consequently the checks to early marriages fewer, than +in any of the modern states of Europe, the population has been +found to double itself in twenty-five years. + +This ratio of increase, though short of the utmost power of +population, yet as the result of actual experience, we will take +as our rule, and say, that population, when unchecked, goes on +doubling itself every twenty-five years or increases in a +geometrical ratio. + +Let us now take any spot of earth, this Island for instance, +and see in what ratio the subsistence it affords can be supposed +to increase. We will begin with it under its present state of +cultivation. + +If I allow that by the best possible policy, by breaking up +more land and by great encouragements to agriculture, the produce +of this Island may be doubled in the first twenty-five years, I +think it will be allowing as much as any person can well demand. + +In the next twenty-five years, it is impossible to suppose +that the produce could be quadrupled. It would be contrary to all +our knowledge of the qualities of land. The very utmost that we +can conceive, is, that the increase in the second twenty-five +years might equal the present produce. Let us then take this for +our rule, though certainly far beyond the truth, and allow that, +by great exertion, the whole produce of the Island might be +increased every twenty-five years, by a quantity of subsistence +equal to what it at present produces. The most enthusiastic +speculator cannot suppose a greater increase than this. In a few +centuries it would make every acre of land in the Island like a +garden. + +Yet this ratio of increase is evidently arithmetical. + +It may be fairly said, therefore, that the means of +subsistence increase in an arithmetical ratio. Let us now bring +the effects of these two ratios together. + +The population of the Island is computed to be about seven +millions, and we will suppose the present produce equal to the +support of such a number. In the first twenty-five years the +population would be fourteen millions, and the food being also +doubled, the means of subsistence would be equal to this +increase. In the next twenty-five years the population would be +twenty-eight millions, and the means of subsistence only equal to +the support of twenty-one millions. In the next period, the +population would be fifty-six millions, and the means of +subsistence just sufficient for half that number. And at the +conclusion of the first century the population would be one +hundred and twelve millions and the means of subsistence only +equal to the support of thirty-five millions, which would leave a +population of seventy-seven millions totally unprovided for. + +A great emigration necessarily implies unhappiness of some +kind or other in the country that is deserted. For few persons +will leave their families, connections, friends, and native land, +to seek a settlement in untried foreign climes, without some +strong subsisting causes of uneasiness where they are, or the +hope of some great advantages in the place to which they are +going. + +But to make the argument more general and less interrupted by +the partial views of emigration, let us take the whole earth, +instead of one spot, and suppose that the restraints to +population were universally removed. If the subsistence for man +that the earth affords was to be increased every twenty-five +years by a quantity equal to what the whole world at present +produces, this would allow the power of production in the earth +to be absolutely unlimited, and its ratio of increase much +greater than we can conceive that any possible exertions of +mankind could make it. + +Taking the population of the world at any number, a thousand +millions, for instance, the human species would increase in the +ratio of--1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, etc. and +subsistence as--1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc. In two +centuries and a quarter, the population would be to the means of +subsistence as 512 to 10: in three centuries as 4096 to 13, and +in two thousand years the difference would be almost +incalculable, though the produce in that time would have +increased to an immense extent. + +No limits whatever are placed to the productions of the +earth; they may increase for ever and be greater than any +assignable quantity, yet still the power of population being a +power of a superior order, the increase of the human species can +only be kept commensurate to the increase of the means of +subsistence by the constant operation of the strong law of +necessity acting as a check upon the greater power. + +The effects of this check remain now to be considered. + +Among plants and animals the view of the subject is simple. +They are all impelled by a powerful instinct to the increase of +their species, and this instinct is interrupted by no reasoning +or doubts about providing for their offspring. Wherever therefore +there is liberty, the power of increase is exerted, and the +superabundant effects are repressed afterwards by want of room +and nourishment, which is common to animals and plants, and among +animals by becoming the prey of others. + +The effects of this check on man are more complicated. +Impelled to the increase of his species by an equally powerful +instinct, reason interrupts his career and asks him whether he +may not bring beings into the world for whom he cannot provide +the means of subsistence. In a state of equality, this would be +the simple question. In the present state of society, other +considerations occur. Will he not lower his rank in life? Will he +not subject himself to greater difficulties than he at present +feels? Will he not be obliged to labour harder? and if he has a +large family, will his utmost exertions enable him to support +them? May he not see his offspring in rags and misery, and +clamouring for bread that he cannot give them? And may he not be +reduced to the grating necessity of forfeiting his independence, +and of being obliged to the sparing hand of charity for support? + +These considerations are calculated to prevent, and certainly +do prevent, a very great number in all civilized nations from +pursuing the dictate of nature in an early attachment to one +woman. And this restraint almost necessarily, though not +absolutely so, produces vice. Yet in all societies, even those +that are most vicious, the tendency to a virtuous attachment is +so strong that there is a constant effort towards an increase of +population. This constant effort as constantly tends to subject +the lower classes of the society to distress and to prevent any +great permanent amelioration of their condition. + +The way in which, these effects are produced seems to be +this. We will suppose the means of subsistence in any country +just equal to the easy support of its inhabitants. The constant +effort towards population, which is found to act even in the most +vicious societies, increases the number of people before the +means of subsistence are increased. The food therefore which +before supported seven millions must now be divided among seven +millions and a half or eight millions. The poor consequently must +live much worse, and many of them be reduced to severe distress. +The number of labourers also being above the proportion of the +work in the market, the price of labour must tend toward a +decrease, while the price of provisions would at the same time +tend to rise. The labourer therefore must work harder to earn the +same as he did before. During this season of distress, the +discouragements to marriage, and the difficulty of rearing a +family are so great that population is at a stand. In the mean +time the cheapness of labour, the plenty of labourers, and the +necessity of an increased industry amongst them, encourage +cultivators to employ more labour upon their land, to turn up +fresh soil, and to manure and improve more completely what is +already in tillage, till ultimately the means of subsistence +become in the same proportion to the population as at the period +from which we set out. The situation of the labourer being then +again tolerably comfortable, the restraints to population are in +some degree loosened, and the same retrograde and progressive +movements with respect to happiness are repeated. + +This sort of oscillation will not be remarked by superficial +observers, and it may be difficult even for the most penetrating +mind to calculate its periods. Yet that in all old states some +such vibration does exist, though from various transverse causes, +in a much less marked, and in a much more irregular manner than I +have described it, no reflecting man who considers the subject +deeply can well doubt. + +Many reasons occur why this oscillation has been less +obvious, and less decidedly confirmed by experience, than might +naturally be expected. + +One principal reason is that the histories of mankind that we +possess are histories only of the higher classes. We have but few +accounts that can be depended upon of the manners and customs of +that part of mankind where these retrograde and progressive +movements chiefly take place. A satisfactory history of this +kind, on one people, and of one period, would require the +constant and minute attention of an observing mind during a long +life. Some of the objects of inquiry would be, in what proportion +to the number of adults was the number of marriages, to what +extent vicious customs prevailed in consequence of the restraints +upon matrimony, what was the comparative mortality among the +children of the most distressed part of the community and those +who lived rather more at their ease, what were the variations in +the real price of labour, and what were the observable +differences in the state of the lower classes of society with +respect to ease and happiness, at different times during a +certain period. + +Such a history would tend greatly to elucidate the manner in +which the constant check upon population acts and would probably +prove the existence of the retrograde and progressive movements +that have been mentioned, though the times of their vibrations +must necessarily be rendered irregular from the operation of many +interrupting causes, such as the introduction or failure of +certain manufactures, a greater or less prevalent spirit of +agricultural enterprise, years of plenty, or years of scarcity, +wars and pestilence, poor laws, the invention of processes for +shortening labour without the proportional extension of the +market for the commodity, and, particularly, the difference +between the nominal and real price of labour, a circumstance +which has perhaps more than any other contributed to conceal this +oscillation from common view. + +It very rarely happens that the nominal price of labour +universally falls, but we well know that it frequently remains +the same, while the nominal price of provisions has been +gradually increasing. This is, in effect, a real fall in the +price of labour, and during this period the condition of the +lower orders of the community must gradually grow worse and +worse. But the farmers and capitalists are growing rich from the +real cheapness of labour. Their increased capitals enable them to +employ a greater number of men. Work therefore may be plentiful, +and the price of labour would consequently rise. But the want of +freedom in the market of labour, which occurs more or less in all +communities, either from parish laws, or the more general cause +of the facility of combination among the rich, and its difficulty +among the poor, operates to prevent the price of labour from +rising at the natural period, and keeps it down some time longer; +perhaps till a year of scarcity, when the clamour is too loud and +the necessity too apparent to be resisted. + +The true cause of the advance in the price of labour is thus +concealed, and the rich affect to grant it as an act of +compassion and favour to the poor, in consideration of a year of +scarcity, and, when plenty returns, indulge themselves in the +most unreasonable of all complaints, that the price does not +again fall, when a little rejection would shew them that it must +have risen long before but from an unjust conspiracy of their +own. + +But though the rich by unfair combinations contribute +frequently to prolong a season of distress among the poor, yet no +possible form of society could prevent the almost constant action +of misery upon a great part of mankind, if in a state of +inequality, and upon all, if all were equal. + +The theory on which the truth of this position depends +appears to me so extremely clear that I feel at a loss to +conjecture what part of it can be denied. + +That population cannot increase without the means of +subsistence is a proposition so evident that it needs no +illustration. + +That population does invariably increase where there are the +means of subsistence, the history of every people that have ever +existed will abundantly prove. + +And that the superior power of population cannot be checked +without producing misery or vice, the ample portion of these too +bitter ingredients in the cup of human life and the continuance +of the physical causes that seem to have produced them bear too +convincing a testimony. + +But, in order more fully to ascertain the validity of these +three propositions, let us examine the different states in which +mankind have been known to exist. Even a cursory review will, I +think, be sufficient to convince us that these propositions are +incontrovertible truths. + + + +CHAPTER 3 + +The savage or hunter state shortly reviewed--The shepherd state, +or the tribes of barbarians that overran the Roman Empire--The +superiority of the power of population to the means of +subsistence--the cause of the great tide of Northern Emigration. + + +In the rudest state of mankind, in which hunting is the principal +occupation, and the only mode of acquiring food; the means of +subsistence being scattered over a large extent of territory, the +comparative population must necessarily be thin. It is said that +the passion between the sexes is less ardent among the North +American Indians, than among any other race of men. Yet, +notwithstanding this apathy, the effort towards population, even +in this people, seems to be always greater than the means to +support it. This appears, from the comparatively rapid population +that takes place, whenever any of the tribes happen to settle in +some fertile spot, and to draw nourishment from more fruitful +sources than that of hunting; and it has been frequently remarked +that when an Indian family has taken up its abode near any +European settlement, and adopted a more easy and civilized mode of +life, that one woman has reared five, or six, or more children; +though in the savage state it rarely happens that above one or +two in a family grow up to maturity. The same observation has +been made with regard to the Hottentots near the Cape. These +facts prove the superior power of population to the means of +subsistence in nations of hunters, and that this power always +shews itself the moment it is left to act with freedom. + +It remains to inquire whether this power can be checked, and +its effects kept equal to the means of subsistence, without vice +or misery. + +The North American Indians, considered as a people, cannot +justly be called free and equal. In all the accounts we have of +them, and, indeed, of most other savage nations, the women are +represented as much more completely in a state of slavery to the +men than the poor are to the rich in civilized countries. One +half the nation appears to act as Helots to the other half, and +the misery that checks population falls chiefly, as it always +must do, upon that part whose condition is lowest in the scale of +society. The infancy of man in the simplest state requires +considerable attention, but this necessary attention the women +cannot give, condemned as they are to the inconveniences and +hardships of frequent change of place and to the constant and +unremitting drudgery of preparing every thing for the reception +of their tyrannic lords. These exertions, sometimes during +pregnancy or with children at their backs, must occasion frequent +miscarriages, and prevent any but the most robust infants from +growing to maturity. Add to these hardships of the women the +constant war that prevails among savages, and the necessity which +they frequently labour under of exposing their aged and helpless +parents, and of thus violating the first feelings of nature, and +the picture will not appear very free from the blot of misery. In +estimating the happiness of a savage nation, we must not fix our +eyes only on the warrior in the prime of life: he is one of a +hundred: he is the gentleman, the man of fortune, the chances +have been in his favour and many efforts have failed ere this +fortunate being was produced, whose guardian genius should +preserve him through the numberless dangers with which he would +be surrounded from infancy to manhood. The true points of +comparison between two nations seem to be the ranks in each which +appear nearest to answer to each other. And in this view, I +should compare the warriors in the prime of life with the +gentlemen, and the women, children, and aged, with the lower +classes of the community in civilized states. + +May we not then fairly infer from this short review, or +rather, from the accounts that may be referred to of nations of +hunters, that their population is thin from the scarcity of food, +that it would immediately increase if food was in greater plenty, +and that, putting vice out of the question among savages, misery +is the check that represses the superior power of population and +keeps its effects equal to the means of subsistence. Actual +observation and experience tell us that this check, with a few +local and temporary exceptions, is constantly acting now upon all +savage nations, and the theory indicates that it probably acted +with nearly equal strength a thousand years ago, and it may not +be much greater a thousand years hence. + +Of the manners and habits that prevail among nations of +shepherds, the next state of mankind, we are even more ignorant +than of the savage state. But that these nations could not escape +the general lot of misery arising from the want of subsistence, +Europe, and all the fairest countries in the world, bear ample +testimony. Want was the goad that drove the Scythian shepherds +from their native haunts, like so many famished wolves in search +of prey. Set in motion by this all powerful cause, clouds of +Barbarians seemed to collect from all points of the northern +hemisphere. Gathering fresh darkness and terror as they rolled +on, the congregated bodies at length obscured the sun of Italy +and sunk the whole world in universal night. These tremendous +effects, so long and so deeply felt throughout the fairest +portions of the earth, may be traced to the simple cause of the +superior power of population to the means of subsistence. + +It is well known that a country in pasture cannot support so +many inhabitants as a country in tillage, but what renders +nations of shepherds so formidable is the power which they +possess of moving all together and the necessity they frequently +feel of exerting this power in search of fresh pasture for their +herds. A tribe that was rich in cattle had an immediate plenty of +food. Even the parent stock might be devoured in a case of +absolute necessity. The women lived in greater ease than among +nations of hunters. The men bold in their united strength and +confiding in their power of procuring pasture for their cattle by +change of place, felt, probably, but few fears about providing +for a family. These combined causes soon produced their natural +and invariable effect, an extended population. A more frequent +and rapid change of place became then necessary. A wider and more +extensive territory was successively occupied. A broader +desolation extended all around them. Want pinched the less +fortunate members of the society, and, at length, the +impossibility of supporting such a number together became too +evident to be resisted. Young scions were then pushed out from +the parent-stock and instructed to explore fresh regions and to +gain happier seats for themselves by their swords. 'The world was +all before them where to choose.' Restless from present distress, +flushed with the hope of fairer prospects, and animated with the +spirit of hardy enterprise, these daring adventurers were likely +to become formidable adversaries to all who opposed them. The +peaceful inhabitants of the countries on which they rushed could +not long withstand the energy of men acting under such powerful +motives of exertion. And when they fell in with any tribes like +their own, the contest was a struggle for existence, and they +fought with a desperate courage, inspired by the rejection that +death was the punishment of defeat and life the prize of victory. + +In these savage contests many tribes must have been utterly +exterminated. Some, probably, perished by hardship and famine. +Others, whose leading star had given them a happier direction, +became great and powerful tribes, and, in their turns, sent off +fresh adventurers in search of still more fertile seats. The +prodigious waste of human life occasioned by this perpetual +struggle for room and food was more than supplied by the mighty +power of population, acting, in some degree, unshackled from the +consent habit of emigration. The tribes that migrated towards the +South, though they won these more fruitful regions by continual +battles, rapidly increased in number and power, from the +increased means of subsistence. Till at length the whole +territory, from the confines of China to the shores of the +Baltic, was peopled by a various race of Barbarians, brave, +robust, and enterprising, inured to hardship, and delighting in +war. Some tribes maintained their independence. Others ranged +themselves under the standard of some barbaric chieftain who led +them to victory after victory, and what was of more importance, +to regions abounding in corn, wine, and oil, the long wished for +consummation, and great reward of their labours. An Alaric, an +Attila, or a Zingis Khan, and the chiefs around them, might fight +for glory, for the fame of extensive conquests, but the true +cause that set in motion the great tide of northern emigration, +and that continued to propel it till it rolled at different +periods against China, Persia, Italy, and even Egypt, was a +scarcity of food, a population extended beyond the means of +supporting it. + +The absolute population at any one period, in proportion to +the extent of territory, could never be great, on account of the +unproductive nature of some of the regions occupied; but there +appears to have been a most rapid succession of human beings, and +as fast as some were mowed down by the scythe of war or of +famine, others rose in increased numbers to supply their place. +Among these bold and improvident Barbarians, population was +probably but little checked, as in modern states, from a fear of +future difficulties. A prevailing hope of bettering their +condition by change of place, a constant expectation of plunder, +a power even, if distressed, of selling their children as slaves, +added to the natural carelessness of the barbaric character, all +conspired to raise a population which remained to be repressed +afterwards by famine or war. + +Where there is any inequality of conditions, and among +nations of shepherds this soon takes place, the distress arising +from a scarcity of provisions must fall hardest upon the least +fortunate members of the society. This distress also must +frequently have been felt by the women, exposed to casual plunder +in the absence of their husbands, and subject to continual +disappointments in their expected return. + +But without knowing enough of the minute and intimate history +of these people, to point out precisely on what part the distress +for want of food chiefly fell, and to what extent it was +generally felt, I think we may fairly say, from all the accounts +that we have of nations of shepherds, that population invariably +increased among them whenever, by emigration or any other cause, +the means of subsistence were increased, and that a further +population was checked, and the actual population kept equal to +the means of subsistence, by misery and vice. + +For, independently of any vicious customs that might have +prevailed amongst them with regard to women, which always operate +as checks to population, it must be acknowledged, I think, that +the commission of war is vice, and the effect of it misery, and +none can doubt the misery of want of food. + + + +CHAPTER 4 + +State of civilized nations--Probability that Europe is much more +populous now than in the time of Julius Caesar--Best criterion +of population--Probable error of Hume in one the criterions that +he proposes as assisting in an estimate of population--Slow +increase of population at present in most of the states of Europe +--The two principal checks to population--The first, or +preventive check examined with regard to England. + + +In examining the next state of mankind with relation to the +question before us, the state of mixed pasture and tillage, in +which with some variation in the proportions the most civilized +nations must always remain, we shall be assisted in our review by +what we daily see around us, by actual experience, by facts that +come within the scope of every man's observation. + +Notwithstanding the exaggerations of some old historians, +there can remain no doubt in the mind of any thinking man that +the population of the principal countries of Europe, France, +England, Germany, Russia, Poland, Sweden, and Denmark is much +greater than ever it was in former times. The obvious reason of +these exaggerations is the formidable aspect that even a thinly +peopled nation must have, when collected together and moving all +at once in search of fresh seats. If to this tremendous +appearance be added a succession at certain intervals of similar +emigrations, we shall not be much surprised that the fears of +the timid nations of the South represented the North as a region +absolutely swarming with human beings. A nearer and juster view +of the subject at present enables us to see that the inference +was as absurd as if a man in this country, who was continually +meeting on the road droves of cattle from Wales and the North, +was immediately to conclude that these countries were the most +productive of all the parts of the kingdom. + +The reason that the greater part of Europe is more populous +now than it was in former times, is that the industry of the +inhabitants has made these countries produce a greater quantity +of human subsistence. For I conceive that it may be laid down as +a position not to be controverted, that, taking a sufficient +extent of territory to include within it exportation and +importation, and allowing some variation for the prevalence of +luxury, or of frugal habits, that population constantly bears a +regular proportion to the food that the earth is made to produce. +In the controversy concerning the populousness of ancient and +modern nations, could it be clearly ascertained that the average +produce of the countries in question, taken altogether, is +greater now than it was in the times of Julius Caesar, the +dispute would be at once determined. + +When we are assured that China is the most fertile country in +the world, that almost all the land is in tillage, and that a +great part of it bears two crops every year, and further, that +the people live very frugally, we may infer with certainty that +the population must be immense, without busying ourselves in +inquiries into the manners and habits of the lower classes and +the encouragements to early marriages. But these inquiries are of +the utmost importance, and a minute history of the customs of the +lower Chinese would be of the greatest use in ascertaining in +what manner the checks to a further population operate; what are +the vices, and what are the distresses that prevent an increase +of numbers beyond the ability of the country to support. + +Hume, in his essay on the populousness of ancient and modern +nations, when he intermingles, as he says, an inquiry concerning +causes with that concerning facts, does not seem to see with his +usual penetration how very little some of the causes he alludes +to could enable him to form any judgement of the actual +population of ancient nations. If any inference can be drawn from +them, perhaps it should be directly the reverse of what Hume +draws, though I certainly ought to speak with great diffidence in +dissenting from a man who of all others on such subjects was the +least likely to be deceived by first appearances. If I find that +at a certain period in ancient history, the encouragements to +have a family were great, that early marriages were consequently +very prevalent, and that few persons remained single, I should +infer with certainty that population was rapidly increasing, but +by no means that it was then actually very great, rather; indeed, +the contrary, that it was then thin and that there was room and +food for a much greater number. On the other hand, if I find that +at this period the difficulties attending a family were very +great, that, consequently, few early marriages took place, and +that a great number of both sexes remained single, I infer with +certainty that population was at a stand, and, probably, because +the actual population was very great in proportion to the +fertility of the land and that there was scarcely room and food +for more. The number of footmen, housemaids, and other persons +remaining unmarried in modern states, Hume allows to be rather an +argument against their population. I should rather draw a +contrary inference and consider it an argument of their fullness, +though this inference is not certain, because there are many +thinly inhabited states that are yet stationary in their +population. To speak, therefore, correctly, perhaps it may be +said that the number of unmarried persons in proportion to the +whole number, existing at different periods, in the same or +different states will enable us to judge whether population at +these periods was increasing, stationary, or decreasing, but will +form no criterion by which we can determine the actual +population. + +There is, however, a circumstance taken notice of in most of +the accounts we have of China that it seems difficult to +reconcile with this reasoning. It is said that early marriages +very generally prevail through all the ranks of the Chinese. Yet +Dr Adam Smith supposes that population in China is stationary. +These two circumstances appear to be irreconcilable. It certainly +seems very little probable that the population of China is fast +increasing. Every acre of land has been so long in cultivation +that we can hardly conceive there is any great yearly addition to +the average produce. The fact, perhaps, of the universality of +early marriages may not be sufficiently ascertained. If it be +supposed true, the only way of accounting for the difficulty, +with our present knowledge of the subject, appears to be that the +redundant population, necessarily occasioned by the prevalence of +early marriages, must be repressed by occasional famines, and by +the custom of exposing children, which, in times of distress, is +probably more frequent than is ever acknowledged to Europeans. +Relative to this barbarous practice, it is difficult to avoid +remarking, that there cannot be a stronger proof of the +distresses that have been felt by mankind for want of food, than +the existence of a custom that thus violates the most natural +principle of the human heart. It appears to have been very +general among ancient nations, and certainly tended rather to +increase population. + +In examining the principal states of modern Europe, we shall +find that though they have increased very considerably in +population since they were nations of shepherds, yet that at +present their progress is but slow, and instead of doubling their +numbers every twenty-five years they require three or four +hundred years, or more, for that purpose. Some, indeed, may be +absolutely stationary, and others even retrograde. The cause of +this slow progress in population cannot be traced to a decay of +the passion between the sexes. We have sufficient reason to think +that this natural propensity exists still in undiminished vigour. +Why then do not its effects appear in a rapid increase of the +human species? An intimate view of the state of society in any +one country in Europe, which may serve equally for all, will +enable us to answer this question, and to say that a foresight of +the difficulties attending the rearing of a family acts as a +preventive check, and the actual distresses of some of the lower +classes, by which they are disabled from giving the proper food +and attention to their children, act as a positive check to the +natural increase of population. + +England, as one of the most flourishing states of Europe, may +be fairly taken for an example, and the observations made will +apply with but little variation to any other country where the +population increases slowly. + +The preventive check appears to operate in some degree +through all the ranks of society in England. There are some men, +even in the highest rank, who are prevented from marrying by the +idea of the expenses that they must retrench, and the fancied +pleasures that they must deprive themselves of, on the +supposition of having a family. These considerations are +certainly trivial, but a preventive foresight of this kind has +objects of much greater weight for its contemplation as we go +lower. + +A man of liberal education, but with an income only just +sufficient to enable him to associate in the rank of gentlemen, +must feel absolutely certain that if he marries and has a family +he shall be obliged, if he mixes at all in society, to rank +himself with moderate farmers and the lower class of tradesmen. +The woman that a man of education would naturally make the object +of his choice would be one brought up in the same tastes and +sentiments with himself and used to the familiar intercourse of a +society totally different from that to which she must be reduced +by marriage. Can a man consent to place the object of his +affection in a situation so discordant, probably, to her tastes +and inclinations? Two or three steps of descent in society, +particularly at this round of the ladder, where education ends +and ignorance begins, will not be considered by the generality of +people as a fancied and chimerical, but a real and essential +evil. If society be held desirable, it surely must be free, +equal, and reciprocal society, where benefits are conferred as +well as received, and not such as the dependent finds with his +patron or the poor with the rich. + +These considerations undoubtedly prevent a great number in +this rank of life from following the bent of their inclinations +in an early attachment. Others, guided either by a stronger +passion, or a weaker judgement, break through these restraints, +and it would be hard indeed, if the gratification of so +delightful a passion as virtuous love, did not, sometimes, more +than counterbalance all its attendant evils. But I fear it must +be owned that the more general consequences of such marriages are +rather calculated to justify than to repress the forebodings of +the prudent. + +The sons of tradesmen and farmers are exhorted not to marry, +and generally find it necessary to pursue this advice till they +are settled in some business or farm that may enable them to +support a family. These events may not, perhaps, occur till they +are far advanced in life. The scarcity of farms is a very general +complaint in England. And the competition in every kind of +business is so great that it is not possible that all should be +successful. + +The labourer who earns eighteen pence a day and lives with +some degree of comfort as a single man, will hesitate a little +before he divides that pittance among four or five, which seems +to be but just sufficient for one. Harder fare and harder labour +he would submit to for the sake of living with the woman that he +loves, but he must feel conscious, if he thinks at all, that +should he have a large family, and any ill luck whatever, no +degree of frugality, no possible exertion of his manual strength +could preserve him from the heart-rending sensation of seeing his +children starve, or of forfeiting his independence, and being +obliged to the parish for their support. The love of independence +is a sentiment that surely none would wish to be erased from the +breast of man, though the parish law of England, it must be +confessed, is a system of all others the most calculated +gradually to weaken this sentiment, and in the end may eradicate +it completely. + +The servants who live in gentlemen's families have restraints +that are yet stronger to break through in venturing upon +marriage. They possess the necessaries, and even the comforts of +life, almost in as great plenty as their masters. Their work is +easy and their food luxurious compared with the class of +labourers. And their sense of dependence is weakened by the +conscious power of changing their masters, if they feel +themselves offended. Thus comfortably situated at present, what +are their prospects in marrying? Without knowledge or capital, +either for business, or farming, and unused and therefore unable, +to earn a subsistence by daily labour, their only refuge seems to +be a miserable ale-house, which certainly offers no very +enchanting prospect of a happy evening to their lives. By much +the greater part, therefore, deterred by this uninviting view of +their future situation, content themselves with remaining single +where they are. + +If this sketch of the state of society in England be near the +truth, and I do not conceive that it is exaggerated, it will be +allowed that the preventive check to population in this country +operates, though with varied force, through all the classes of +the community. The same observation will hold true with regard to +all old states. The effects, indeed, of these restraints upon +marriage are but too conspicuous in the consequent vices that are +produced in almost every part of the world, vices that are +continually involving both sexes in inextricable unhappiness. + + + +CHAPTER 5 + +The second, or positive check to population examined, in England +--The true cause why the immense sum collected in England for the +poor does not better their condition--The powerful tendency of +the poor laws to defeat their own purpose--Palliative of the +distresses of the poor proposed--The absolute impossibility, +from the fixed laws of our nature, that the pressure of want can +ever be completely removed from the lower classes of society-- +All the checks to population may be resolved into misery or vice. + + +The positive check to population, by which I mean the check that +represses an increase which is already begun, is confined +chiefly, though not perhaps solely, to the lowest orders of +society. + +This check is not so obvious to common view as the other I have +mentioned, and, to prove distinctly the force and extent of its +operation would require, perhaps, more data than we are in +possession of. But I believe it has been very generally remarked +by those who have attended to bills of mortality that of the +number of children who die annually, much too great a proportion +belongs to those who may be supposed unable to give their +offspring proper food and attention, exposed as they are +occasionally to severe distress and confined, perhaps, to +unwholesome habitations and hard labour. This mortality among the +children of the poor has been constantly taken notice of in all +towns. It certainly does not prevail in an equal degree in the +country, but the subject has not hitherto received sufficient +attention to enable anyone to say that there are not more deaths +in proportion among the children of the poor, even in the +country, than among those of the middling and higher classes. +Indeed, it seems difficult to suppose that a labourer's wife who +has six children, and who is sometimes in absolute want of bread, +should be able always to give them the food and attention +necessary to support life. The sons and daughters of peasants +will not be found such rosy cherubs in real life as they are +described to be in romances. It cannot fail to be remarked by +those who live much in the country that the sons of labourers are +very apt to be stunted in their growth, and are a long while +arriving at maturity. Boys that you would guess to be fourteen or +fifteen are, upon inquiry, frequently found to be eighteen or +nineteen. And the lads who drive plough, which must certainly be +a healthy exercise, are very rarely seen with any appearance of +calves to their legs: a circumstance which can only be attributed +to a want either of proper or of sufficient nourishment. + +To remedy the frequent distresses of the common people, the +poor laws of England have been instituted; but it is to be +feared, that though they may have alleviated a little the +intensity of individual misfortune, they have spread the general +evil over a much larger surface. It is a subject often started in +conversation and mentioned always as a matter of great surprise +that, notwithstanding the immense sum that is annually collected +for the poor in England, there is still so much distress among +them. Some think that the money must be embezzled, others that +the church-wardens and overseers consume the greater part of it +in dinners. All agree that somehow or other it must be very +ill-managed. In short the fact that nearly three millions are +collected annually for the poor and yet that their distresses are +not removed is the subject of continual astonishment. But a man +who sees a little below the surface of things would be very much +more astonished if the fact were otherwise than it is observed to +be, or even if a collection universally of eighteen shillings in +the pound, instead of four, were materially to alter it. I will +state a case which I hope will elucidate my meaning. + +Suppose that by a subscription of the rich the eighteen pence +a day which men earn now was made up five shillings, it might be +imagined, perhaps, that they would then be able to live +comfortably and have a piece of meat every day for their dinners. +But this would be a very false conclusion. The transfer of three +shillings and sixpence a day to every labourer would not increase +the quantity of meat in the country. There is not at present +enough for all to have a decent share. What would then be the +consequence? The competition among the buyers in the market of +meat would rapidly raise the price from sixpence or sevenpence, +to two or three shillings in the pound, and the commodity would +not be divided among many more than it is at present. When an +article is scarce, and cannot be distributed to all, he that can +shew the most valid patent, that is, he that offers most money, +becomes the possessor. If we can suppose the competition among +the buyers of meat to continue long enough for a greater number +of cattle to be reared annually, this could only be done at the +expense of the corn, which would be a very disadvantagous +exchange, for it is well known that the country could not then +support the same population, and when subsistence is scarce in +proportion to the number of people, it is of little consequence +whether the lowest members of the society possess eighteen pence +or five shillings. They must at all events be reduced to live +upon the hardest fare and in the smallest quantity. + +It will be said, perhaps, that the increased number of +purchasers in every article would give a spur to productive +industry and that the whole produce of the island would be +increased. This might in some degree be the case. But the spur +that these fancied riches would give to population would more +than counterbalance it, and the increased produce would be to be +divided among a more than proportionably increased number of +people. All this time I am supposing that the same quantity of +work would be done as before. But this would not really take +place. The receipt of five shillings a day, instead of eighteen +pence, would make every man fancy himself comparatively rich and +able to indulge himself in many hours or days of leisure. This +would give a strong and immediate check to productive industry, +and, in a short time, not only the nation would be poorer, but +the lower classes themselves would be much more distressed than +when they received only eighteen pence a day. + +A collection from the rich of eighteen shillings in the +pound, even if distributed in the most judicious manner, would +have a little the same effect as that resulting from the +supposition I have just made, and no possible contributions or +sacrifices of the rich, particularly in money, could for any time +prevent the recurrence of distress among the lower members of +society, whoever they were. Great changes might, indeed, be made. +The rich might become poor, and some of the poor rich, but a part +of the society must necessarily feel a difficulty of living, and +this difficulty will naturally fall on the least fortunate +members. + +It may at first appear strange, but I believe it is true, +that I cannot by means of money raise a poor man and enable him +to live much better than he did before, without proportionably +depressing others in the same class. If I retrench the quantity +of food consumed in my house, and give him what I have cut off, I +then benefit him, without depressing any but myself and family, +who, perhaps, may be well able to bear it. If I turn up a piece +of uncultivated land, and give him the produce, I then benefit +both him and all the members of the society, because what he +before consumed is thrown into the common stock, and probably +some of the new produce with it. But if I only give him money, +supposing the produce of the country to remain the same, I give +him a title to a larger share of that produce than formerly, +which share he cannot receive without diminishing the shares of +others. It is evident that this effect, in individual instances, +must be so small as to be totally imperceptible; but still it +must exist, as many other effects do, which, like some of the +insects that people the air, elude our grosser perceptions. + +Supposing the quantity of food in any country to remain the +same for many years together, it is evident that this food must +be divided according to the value of each man's patent, or the +sum of money that he can afford to spend on this commodity so +universally in request. (Mr Godwin calls the wealth that a man +receives from his ancestors a mouldy patent. It may, I think, +very properly be termed a patent, but I hardly see the propriety +of calling it a mouldy one, as it is an article in such constant +use.) It is a demonstrative truth, therefore, that the patents of +one set of men could not be increased in value without +diminishing the value of the patents of some other set of men. If +the rich were to subscribe and give five shillings a day to five +hundred thousand men without retrenching their own tables, no +doubt can exist, that as these men would naturally live more at +their ease and consume a greater quantity of provisions, there +would be less food remaining to divide among the rest, and +consequently each man's patent would be diminished in value or +the same number of pieces of silver would purchase a smaller +quantity of subsistence. + +An increase of population without a proportional increase of +food will evidently have the same effect in lowering the value of +each man's patent. The food must necessarily be distributed in +smaller quantities, and consequently a day's labour will purchase +a smaller quantity of provisions. An increase in the price of +provisions would arise either from an increase of population +faster than the means of subsistence, or from a different +distribution of the money of the society. The food of a country +that has been long occupied, if it be increasing, increases +slowly and regularly and cannot be made to answer any sudden +demands, but variations in the distribution of the money of a +society are not infrequently occurring, and are undoubtedly among +the causes that occasion the continual variations which we +observe in the price of provisions. + +The poor laws of England tend to depress the general +condition of the poor in these two ways. Their first obvious +tendency is to increase population without increasing the food +for its support. A poor man may marry with little or no prospect +of being able to support a family in independence. They may be +said therefore in some measure to create the poor which they +maintain, and as the provisions of the country must, in +consequence of the increased population, be distributed to every +man in smaller proportions, it is evident that the labour of +those who are not supported by parish assistance will purchase a +smaller quantity of provisions than before and consequently more +of them must be driven to ask for support. + +Secondly, the quantity of provisions consumed in workhouses +upon a part of the society that cannot in general be considered +as the most valuable part diminishes the shares that would +otherwise belong to more industrious and more worthy members, and +thus in the same manner forces more to become dependent. If the +poor in the workhouses were to live better than they now do, this +new distribution of the money of the society would tend more +conspicuously to depress the condition of those out of the +workhouses by occasioning a rise in the price of provisions. + +Fortunately for England, a spirit of independence still +remains among the peasantry. The poor laws are strongly +calculated to eradicate this spirit. They have succeeded in part, +but had they succeeded as completely as might have been expected +their pernicious tendency would not have been so long concealed. + +Hard as it may appear in individual instances, dependent +poverty ought to be held disgraceful. Such a stimulus seems to be +absolutely necessary to promote the happiness of the great mass +of mankind, and every general attempt to weaken this stimulus, +however benevolent its apparent intention, will always defeat its +own purpose. If men are induced to marry from a prospect of +parish provision, with little or no chance of maintaining their +families in independence, they are not only unjustly tempted to +bring unhappiness and dependence upon themselves and children, +but they are tempted, without knowing it, to injure all in the +same class with themselves. A labourer who marries without being +able to support a family may in some respects be considered as an +enemy to all his fellow-labourers. + +I feel no doubt whatever that the parish laws of England have +contributed to raise the price of provisions and to lower the +real price of labour. They have therefore contributed to +impoverish that class of people whose only possession is their +labour. It is also difficult to suppose that they have not +powerfully contributed to generate that carelessness and want of +frugality observable among the poor, so contrary to the +disposition frequently to be remarked among petty tradesmen and +small farmers. The labouring poor, to use a vulgar expression, +seem always to live from hand to mouth. Their present wants +employ their whole attention, and they seldom think of the +future. Even when they have an opportunity of saving they seldom +exercise it, but all that is beyond their present necessities +goes, generally speaking, to the ale-house. The poor laws of +England may therefore be said to diminish both the power and the +will to save among the common people, and thus to weaken one of +the strongest incentives to sobriety and industry, and +consequently to happiness. + +It is a general complaint among master manufacturers that +high wages ruin all their workmen, but it is difficult to +conceive that these men would not save a part of their high wages +for the future support of their families, instead of spending it +in drunkenness and dissipation, if they did not rely on parish +assistance for support in case of accidents. And that the poor +employed in manufactures consider this assistance as a reason why +they may spend all the wages they earn and enjoy themselves while +they can appears to be evident from the number of families that, +upon the failure of any great manufactory, immediately fall upon +the parish, when perhaps the wages earned in this manufactory +while it flourished were sufficiently above the price of common +country labour to have allowed them to save enough for their +support till they could find some other channel for their +industry. + +A man who might not be deterred from going to the ale-house +from the consideration that on his death, or sickness, he should +leave his wife and family upon the parish might yet hesitate in +thus dissipating his earnings if he were assured that, in either +of these cases, his family must starve or be left to the support +of casual bounty. In China, where the real as well as nominal +price of labour is very low, sons are yet obliged by law to +support their aged and helpless parents. Whether such a law would +be advisable in this country I will not pretend to determine. But +it seems at any rate highly improper, by positive institutions, +which render dependent poverty so general, to weaken that +disgrace, which for the best and most humane reasons ought to +attach to it. + +The mass of happiness among the common people cannot but be +diminished when one of the strongest checks to idleness and +dissipation is thus removed, and when men are thus allured to +marry with little or no prospect of being able to maintain a +family in independence. Every obstacle in the way of marriage +must undoubtedly be considered as a species of unhappiness. But +as from the laws of our nature some check to population must +exist, it is better that it should be checked from a foresight of +the difficulties attending a family and the fear of dependent +poverty than that it should be encouraged, only to be repressed +afterwards by want and sickness. + +It should be remembered always that there is an essential +difference between food and those wrought commodities, the raw +materials of which are in great plenty. A demand for these last +will not fail to create them in as great a quantity as they are +wanted. The demand for food has by no means the same creative +power. In a country where all the fertile spots have been seized, +high offers are necessary to encourage the farmer to lay his +dressing on land from which he cannot expect a profitable return +for some years. And before the prospect of advantage is +sufficiently great to encourage this sort of agricultural +enterprise, and while the new produce is rising, great distresses +may be suffered from the want of it. The demand for an increased +quantity of subsistence is, with few exceptions, constant +everywhere, yet we see how slowly it is answered in all those +countries that have been long occupied. + +The poor laws of England were undoubtedly instituted for the +most benevolent purpose, but there is great reason to think that +they have not succeeded in their intention. They certainly +mitigate some cases of very severe distress which might otherwise +occur, yet the state of the poor who are supported by parishes, +considered in all its circumstances, is very far from being free +from misery. But one of the principal objections to them is that +for this assistance which some of the poor receive, in itself +almost a doubtful blessing, the whole class of the common people +of England is subjected to a set of grating, inconvenient, and +tyrannical laws, totally inconsistent with the genuine spirit of +the constitution. The whole business of settlements, even in its +present amended state, is utterly contradictory to all ideas of +freedom. The parish persecution of men whose families are likely +to become chargeable, and of poor women who are near lying-in, is +a most disgraceful and disgusting tyranny. And the obstructions +continuity occasioned in the market of labour by these laws have +a constant tendency to add to the difficulties of those who are +struggling to support themselves without assistance. + +These evils attendant on the poor laws are in some degree +irremediable. If assistance be to be distributed to a certain +class of people, a power must be given somewhere of +discriminating the proper objects and of managing the concerns of +the institutions that are necessary, but any great interference +with the affairs of other people is a species of tyranny, and in +the common course of things the exercise of this power may be +expected to become grating to those who are driven to ask for +support. The tyranny of Justices, Church-wardens, and Overseers, +is a common complaint among the poor, but the fault does not lie +so much in these persons, who probably, before they were in +power, were not worse than other people, but in the nature of all +such institutions. + +The evil is perhaps gone too far to be remedied, but I feel +little doubt in my own mind that if the poor laws had never +existed, though there might have been a few more instances of +very severe distress, yet that the aggregate mass of happiness +among the common people would have been much greater than it is +at present. + +Mr Pitt's Poor Bill has the appearance of being framed with +benevolent intentions, and the clamour raised against it was in +many respects ill directed, and unreasonable. But it must be +confessed that it possesses in a high degree the great and +radical defect of all systems of the kind, that of tending to +increase population without increasing the means for its support, +and thus to depress the condition of those that are not supported +by parishes, and, consequently, to create more poor. + +To remove the wants of the lower classes of society is indeed +an arduous task. The truth is that the pressure of distress on +this part of a community is an evil so deeply seated that no +human ingenuity can reach it. Were I to propose a palliative, and +palliatives are all that the nature of the case will admit, it +should be, in the first place, the total abolition of all the +present parish-laws. This would at any rate give liberty and +freedom of action to the peasantry of England, which they can +hardly be said to possess at present. They would then be able to +settle without interruption, wherever there was a prospect of a +greater plenty of work and a higher price for labour. The market +of labour would then be free, and those obstacles removed which, +as things are now, often for a considerable time prevent the +price from rising according to the demand. + +Secondly, premiums might be given for turning up fresh land, +and it possible encouragements held out to agriculture above +manufactures, and to tillage above grazing. Every endeavour +should be used to weaken and destroy all those institutions +relating to corporations, apprenticeships, etc., which cause the +labours of agriculture to be worse paid than the labours of trade +and manufactures. For a country can never produce its proper +quantity of food while these distinctions remain in favour of +artisans. Such encouragements to agriculture would tend to +furnish the market with an increasing quantity of healthy work, +and at the same time, by augmenting the produce of the country, +would raise the comparative price of labour and ameliorate the +condition of the labourer. Being now in better circumstances, and +seeing no prospect of parish assistance, he would be more able, +as well as more inclined, to enter into associations for +providing against the sickness of himself or family. + +Lastly, for cases of extreme distress, county workhouses +might be established, supported by rates upon the whole kingdom, +and free for persons of all counties, and indeed of all nations. +The fare should be hard, and those that were able obliged to +work. It would be desirable that they should not be considered as +comfortable asylums in all difficulties, but merely as places +where severe distress might find some alleviation. A part of +these houses might be separated, or others built for a most +beneficial purpose, which has not been infrequently taken notice +of, that of providing a place where any person, whether native or +foreigner, might do a day's work at all times and receive the +market price for it. Many cases would undoubtedly be left for the +exertion of individual benevolence. + +A plan of this kind, the preliminary of which should be an +abolition of all the present parish laws, seems to be the best +calculated to increase the mass of happiness among the common +people of England. To prevent the recurrence of misery, is, alas! +beyond the power of man. In the vain endeavour to attain what +in the nature of things is impossible, we now sacrifice not only +possible but certain benefits. We tell the common people that if +they will submit to a code of tyrannical regulations, they shall +never be in want. They do submit to these regulations. They +perform their part of the contract, but we do not, nay cannot, +perform ours, and thus the poor sacrifice the valuable blessing +of liberty and receive nothing that can be called an equivalent +in return. + +Notwithstanding, then, the institution of the poor laws in +England, I think it will be allowed that considering the state of +the lower classes altogether, both in the towns and in the +country, the distresses which they suffer from the want of proper +and sufficient food, from hard labour and unwholesome +habitations, must operate as a constant check to incipient +population. + +To these two great checks to population, in all long occupied +countries, which I have called the preventive and the positive +checks, may be added vicious customs with respect to women, great +cities, unwholesome manufactures, luxury, pestilence, and war. + +All these checks may be fairly resolved into misery and vice. +And that these are the true causes of the slow increase of +population in all the states of modern Europe, will appear +sufficiently evident from the comparatively rapid increase that +has invariably taken place whenever these causes have been in any +considerable degree removed. + + + +CHAPTER 6 + +New colonies--Reasons for their rapid increase--North American +Colonies--Extraordinary instance of increase in the back +settlements--Rapidity with which even old states recover the +ravages of war, pestilence, famine, or the convulsions of nature. + + +It has been universally remarked that all new colonies settled in +healthy countries, where there was plenty of room and food, have +constantly increased with astonishing rapidity in their +population. Some of the colonies from ancient Greece, in no very +long period, more than equalled their parent states in numbers +and strength. And not to dwell on remote instances, the European +settlements in the new world bear ample testimony to the truth of +a remark, which, indeed, has never, that I know of, been doubted. +A plenty of rich land, to be had for little or nothing, is so +powerful a cause of population as to overcome all other +obstacles. No settlements could well have been worse managed than +those of Spain in Mexico, Peru, and Quito. The tyranny, +superstition, and vices of the mother-country were introduced in +ample quantities among her children. Exorbitant taxes were +exacted by the Crown. The most arbitrary restrictions were +imposed on their trade. And the governors were not behind hand in +rapacity and extortion for themselves as well as their master. +Yet, under all these difficulties, the colonies made a quick +progress in population. The city of Lima, founded since the +conquest, is represented by Ulloa as containing fifty thousand +inhabitants near fifty years ago. Quito, which had been but a +hamlet of indians, is represented by the same author as in his +time equally populous. Mexico is said to contain a hundred +thousand inhabitants, which, notwithstanding the exaggerations of +the Spanish writers, is supposed to be five times greater than +what it contained in the time of Montezuma. + +In the Portuguese colony of Brazil, governed with almost +equal tyranny, there were supposed to be, thirty years since, six +hundred thousand inhabitants of European extraction. + +The Dutch and French colonies, though under the government of +exclusive companies of merchants, which, as Dr Adam Smith says +very justly, is the worst of all possible governments, still +persisted in thriving under every disadvantage. + +But the English North American colonies, now the powerful +people of the United States of America, made by far the most +rapid progress. To the plenty of good land which they possessed +in common with the Spanish and Portuguese settlements, they added +a greater degree of liberty and equality. Though not without some +restrictions on their foreign commerce, they were allowed a +perfect liberty of managing their own internal affairs. The +political institutions that prevailed were favourable to the +alienation and division of property. Lands that were not +cultivated by the proprietor within a limited time were declared +grantable to any other person. In Pennsylvania there was no right +of primogeniture, and in the provinces of New England the eldest +had only a double share. There were no tithes in any of the +States, and scarcely any taxes. And on account of the extreme +cheapness of good land a capital could not be more advantageously +employed than in agriculture, which at the same time that it +supplies the greatest quantity of healthy work affords much the +most valuable produce to the society. + +The consequence of these favourable circumstances united was +a rapidity of increase probably without parallel in history. +Throughout all the northern colonies, the population was found to +double itself in twenty-five years. The original number of +persons who had settled in the four provinces of new England in +1643 was 21,200.(I take these figures from Dr Price's two volumes +of Observations; not having Dr Styles' pamphlet, from which he +quotes, by me.) Afterwards, it is supposed that more left them +than went to them. In the year 1760, they were increased to half +a million. They had therefore all along doubled their own number +in twenty-five years. In New Jersey the period of doubling +appeared to be twenty-two years; and in Rhode island still less. +In the back settlements, where the inhabitants applied themselves +solely to agriculture, and luxury was not known, they were found +to double their own number in fifteen years, a most extraordinary +instance of increase. Along the sea coast, which would naturally +be first inhabited, the period of doubling was about thirty-five +years; and in some of the maritime towns, the population was +absolutely at a stand. + +(In instances of this kind the powers of the earth appear to +be fully equal to answer it the demands for food that can be made +upon it by man. But we should be led into an error if we were +thence to suppose that population and food ever really increase +in the same ratio. The one is still a geometrical and the other +an arithmetical ratio, that is, one increases by multiplication, +and the other by addition. Where there are few people, and a +great quantity of fertile land, the power of the earth to afford +a yearly increase of food may be compared to a great reservoir of +water, supplied by a moderate stream. The faster population +increases, the more help will be got to draw off the water, and +consequently an increasing quantity will be taken every year. But +the sooner, undoubtedly, will the reservoir be exhausted, and the +streams only remain. When acre has been added to acre, till all +the fertile land is occupied, the yearly increase of food will +depend upon the amelioration of the land already in possession; +and even this moderate stream will be gradually diminishing. But +population, could it be supplied with food, would go on with +unexhausted vigour, and the increase of one period would furnish +the power of a greater increase the next, and this without any +limit.) + +These facts seem to shew that population increases exactly in +the proportion that the two great checks to it, misery and vice, +are removed, and that there is not a truer criterion of the +happiness and innocence of a people than the rapidity of their +increase. The unwholesomeness of towns, to which some persons are +necessarily driven from the nature of their trades, must be +considered as a species of misery, and every the slightest check +to marriage, from a prospect of the difficulty of maintaining a +family, may be fairly classed under the same head. In short it is +difficult to conceive any check to population which does not come +under the description of some species of misery or vice. + +The population of the thirteen American States before the war +was reckoned at about three millions. Nobody imagines that Great +Britain is less populous at present for the emigration of the +small parent stock that produced these numbers. On the contrary, +a certain degree of emigration is known to be favourable to the +population of the mother country. It has been particularly +remarked that the two Spanish provinces from which the greatest +number of people emigrated to America, became in consequence more +populous. Whatever was the original number of British emigrants +that increased so fast in the North American Colonies, let us +ask, why does not an equal number produce an equal increase in +the same time in Great Britain? The great and obvious cause to be +assigned is the want of room and food, or, in other words, +misery, and that this is a much more powerful cause even than +vice appears sufficiently evident from the rapidity with which +even old states recover the desolations of war, pestilence, or +the accidents of nature. They are then for a short time placed a +little in the situation of new states, and the effect is always +answerable to what might be expected. If the industry of the +inhabitants be not destroyed by fear or tyranny, subsistence will +soon increase beyond the wants of the reduced numbers, and the +invariable consequence will be that population which before, +perhaps, was nearly stationary, will begin immediately to +increase. + +The fertile province of Flanders, which has been so often the +seat of the most destructive wars, after a respite of a few +years, has appeared always as fruitful and as populous as ever. +Even the Palatinate lifted up its head again after the execrable +ravages of Louis the Fourteenth. The effects of the dreadful +plague in London in 1666 were not perceptible fifteen or twenty +years afterwards. The traces of the most destructive famines in +China and Indostan are by all accounts very soon obliterated. +It may even be doubted whether Turkey and Egypt are upon an +average much less populous for the plagues that periodically lay +them waste. If the number of people which they contain be less +now than formerly, it is, probably, rather to be attributed to +the tyranny and oppression of the government under which they +groan, and the consequent discouragements to agriculture, than to +the loss which they sustain by the plague. The most tremendous +convulsions of nature, such as volcanic eruptions and +earthquakes, if they do not happen so frequently as to drive away +the inhabitants, or to destroy their spirit of industry, have but +a trifling effect on the average population of any state. Naples, +and the country under Vesuvius, are still very populous, +notwithstanding the repeated eruptions of that mountain. And +Lisbon and Lima are now, probably, nearly in the same state with +regard to population as they were before the last earthquakes. + + + +CHAPTER 7 + +A probable cause of epidemics--Extracts from Mr Suessmilch's +tables--Periodical returns of sickly seasons to be expected in +certain cases--Proportion of births to burials for short periods +in any country an inadequate criterion of the real average +increase of population--Best criterion of a permanent increase +of population--Great frugality of living one of the causes of +the famines of China and Indostan--Evil tendency of one of the +clauses in Mr Pitt's Poor Bill--Only one proper way of +encouraging population--Causes of the Happiness of nations-- +Famine, the last and most dreadful mode by which nature represses +a redundant population--The three propositions considered as +established. + + +By great attention to cleanliness, the plague seems at length to +be completely expelled from London. But it is not improbable that +among the secondary causes that produce even sickly seasons and +epidemics ought to be ranked a crowded population and unwholesome +and insufficient food. I have been led to this remark, by looking +over some of the tables of Mr Suessmilch, which Dr Price has +extracted in one of his notes to the postscript on the +controversy respecting the population of England and Wales. They +are considered as very correct, and if such tables were general, +they would throw great light on the different ways by which +population is repressed and prevented from increasing beyond the +means of subsistence in any country. I will extract a part of the +tables, with Dr Price's remarks. + +IN THE KINGDOM OF PRUSSIA, AND DUKEDOM OF LITHUANIA + + Proportion Proportion + Births Burials Marriages of Births to of Births to + Marriages Burials +10 Yrs to 1702 21,963 14,718 5,928 37 to 10 150 to 100 +5 Yrs to 1716 21,602 11,984 4,968 37 to 10 180 to 100 +5 Yrs to 1756 28,392 19,154 5,599 50 to 10 148 to 100 + + +"N.B. In 1709 and 1710, a pestilence carried off 247,733 of the +inhabitants of this country, and in 1736 and 1737, epidemics +prevailed, which again checked its increase." + +It may be remarked, that the greatest proportion of births to +burials, was in the five years after the great pestilence. + +DUCHY OF POMERANIA + + Proportion Proportion +Annual Average Births Burials Marriages of Births to of Births to + Marriages Burials +6 yrs to 1702 6,540 4,647 1,810 36 to 10 140 to 100 +6 yrs to 1708 7,455 4,208 1,875 39 to 10 177 to 100 +6 yrs to 1726 8,432 5,627 2,131 39 to 10 150 to 100 +6 yrs to 1756 12,767 9,281 2,957 43 to 10 137 to 100 + + +"In this instance the inhabitants appear to have been almost +doubled in fifty-six years, no very bad epidemics having once +interrupted the increase, but the three years immediately follow +ing the last period (to 1759) were so sickly that the births were +sunk to 10,229 and the burials raised to 15,068." + +Is it not probable that in this case the number of inhabitants +had increased faster than the food and the accommodations +necessary to preserve them in health? The mass of the people +would, upon this supposition, be obliged to live harder, and +a greater number would be crowded together in one house, and +it is not surely improbable that these were among the natural +causes that produced the three sickly years. These causes +may produce such an effect, though the country, absolutely +considered, may not be extremely crowded and populous. In a +country even thinly inhabited, if an increase of population take +place, before more food is raised, and more houses are built, the +inhabitants must be distressed in some degree for room and +subsistence. Were the marriages in England, for the next eight or +ten years, to be more prolifick than usual, or even were a +greater number of marriages than usual to take place, supposing +the number of houses to remain the same, instead of five or six +to a cottage, there must be seven or eight, and this, added to +the necessity of harder living, would probably have a very +unfavourable effect on the health of the common people. + +NEUMARK OF BRANDENBURGH + + Proportion Proportion +Annual Average Births Burials Marriages of Births to of Births to + Marriages Burials +5 yrs to 1701 5,433 3,483 1,436 37 to 10 155 to 100 +5 yrs to 1726 7,012 4,254 1,713 40 to 10 164 to 100 +5 yrs to 1756 7,978 5,567 1,891 42 to 10 143 to 100 + + +"Epidemics prevailed for six years, from 1736, to 1741, which +checked the increase." + +DUKEDOM OF MAGDEBURGH + + Proportion Proportion +Annual Average Births Burials Marriages of Births to of Births to + Marriages Burials +5 yrs to 1702 6,431 4,103 1,681 38 to 10 156 to 100 +5 yrs to 1717 7,590 5,335 2,076 36 to 10 142 to 100 +5 yrs to 1756 8,850 8,069 2,193 40 to 10 109 to 100 + + +"The years 1738, 1740, 1750, and 1751, were particularly +sickly." + +For further information on this subject, I refer the reader +to Mr Suessmilch's tables. The extracts that I have made are +sufficient to shew the periodical, though irregular, returns of +sickly seasons, and it seems highly probable that a scantiness of +room and food was one of the principal causes that occasioned +them. + +It appears from the tables that these countries were +increasing rather fast for old states, notwithstanding the +occasional seasons that prevailed. Cultivation must have been +improving, and marriages, consequently, encouraged. For the +checks to population appear to have been rather of the positive, +than of the preventive kind. When from a prospect of increasing +plenty in any country, the weight that represses population is in +some degree removed, it is highly probable that the motion will +be continued beyond the operation of the cause that first +impelled it. Or, to be more particular, when the increasing +produce of a country, and the increasing demand for labour, so +far ameliorate the condition of the labourer as greatly to +encourage marriage, it is probable that the custom of early +marriages will continue till the population of the country has +gone beyond the increased produce, and sickly seasons appear to +be the natural and necessary consequence. I should expect, +therefore, that those countries where subsistence was increasing +sufficiency at times to encourage population but not to answer +all its demands, would be more subject to periodical epidemics +than those where the population could more completely accommodate +itself to the average produce. + +An observation the converse of this will probably also be +found true. In those countries that are subject to periodical +sicknesses, the increase of population, or the excess of births +above the burials, will be greater in the intervals of these +periods than is usual, caeteris paribus, in the countries not so +much subject to such disorders. If Turkey and Egypt have been +nearly stationary in their average population for the last +century, in the intervals of their periodical plagues, the births +must have exceeded the burials in a greater proportion than in +such countries as France and England. + +The average proportion of births to burials in any country +for a period of five to ten years, will hence appear to be a very +inadequate criterion by which to judge of its real progress in +population. This proportion certainly shews the rate of increase +during those five or ten years; but we can by no means thence +infer what had been the increase for the twenty years before, or +what would be the increase for the twenty years after. Dr Price +observes that Sweden, Norway, Russia, and the kingdom of Naples, +are increasing fast; but the extracts from registers that he has +given are not for periods of sufficient extent to establish the +fact. It is highly probable, however, that Sweden, Norway, and +Russia, are really increasing their population, though not at the +rate that the proportion of births to burials for the short +periods that Dr Price takes would seem to shew. (See Dr Price's +Observations, Vol. ii, postscript to the controversy on the +population of England and Wales.) For five years, ending in 1777, +the proportion of births to burials in the kingdom of Naples was +144 to 100, but there is reason to suppose that this proportion +would indicate an increase much greater than would be really +found to have taken place in that kingdom during a period of a +hundred years. + +Dr Short compared the registers of many villages and market +towns in England for two periods; the first, from Queen Elizabeth +to the middle of the last century, and the second, from different +years at the end of the last century to the middle of the +present. And from a comparison of these extracts, it appears that +in the former period the births exceeded the burials in the +proportion of 124 to 100, but in the latter, only in the +proportion of 111 to 100. Dr Price thinks that the registers in +the former period are not to be depended upon, but, probably, in +this instance they do not give incorrect proportions. At least +there are many reasons for expecting to find a greater excess of +births above the burials in the former period than in the latter. +In the natural progress of the population of any country, more +good land will, caeteris paribus, be taken into cultivation in +the earlier stages of it than in the later. (I say 'caeteris +paribus', because the increase of the produce of any country will +always very greatly depend on the spirit of industry that +prevails, and the way in which it is directed. The knowledge and +habits of the people, and other temporary causes, particularly +the degree of civil liberty and equality existing at the time, +must always have great influence in exciting and directing this +spirit.) And a greater proportional yearly increase of produce +will almost invariably be followed by a greater proportional +increase of population. But, besides this great cause, which +would naturally give the excess of births above burials greater +at the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign than in the middle of the +present century, I cannot help thinking that the occasional +ravages of the plague in the former period must have had some +tendency to increase this proportion. If an average of ten years +had been taken in the intervals of the returns of this dreadful +disorder, or if the years of plague had been rejected as +accidental, the registers would certainly give the proportion of +births to burials too high for the real average increase of the +population. For some few years after the great plague in 1666, it +is probable that there was a more than usual excess of births +above burials, particularly if Dr Price's opinion be founded, +that England was more populous at the revolution (which happened +only twenty-two years afterwards) than it is at present. + +Mr King, in 1693, stated the proportion of the births to the +burials throughout the Kingdom, exclusive of London, as 115 to +100. Dr Short makes it, in the middle of the present century, 111 +to 100, including London. The proportion in France for five +years, ending in 1774, was 117 to 100. If these statements are +near the truth; and if there are no very great variations at +particular periods in the proportions, it would appear that the +population of France and England has accommodated itself very +nearly to the average produce of each country. The +discouragements to marriage, the consequent vicious habits, war, +luxury, the silent though certain depopulation of large towns, +and the close habitations, and insufficient food of many of the +poor, prevent population from increasing beyond the means of +subsistence; and, if I may use an expression which certainly at +first appears strange, supercede the necessity of great and +ravaging epidemics to repress what is redundant. Were a wasting +plague to sweep off two millions in England, and six millions in +France, there can be no doubt whatever that, after the +inhabitants had recovered from the dreadful shock, the proportion +of births to burials would be much above what it is in either +country at present. + +In New Jersey, the proportion of births to deaths on an +average of seven years, ending in 1743, was as 300 to 100. In +France and England, taking the highest proportion, it is as 117 +to 100. Great and astonishing as this difference is, we ought not +to be so wonder-struck at it as to attribute it to the miraculous +interposition of heaven. The causes of it are not remote, latent +and mysterious; but near us, round about us, and open to the +investigation of every inquiring mind. It accords with the most +liberal spirit of philosophy to suppose that not a stone can +fall, or a plant rise, without the immediate agency of divine +power. But we know from experience that these operations of what +we call nature have been conducted almost invariably according to +fixed laws. And since the world began, the causes of population +and depopulation have probably been as constant as any of the +laws of nature with which we are acquainted. + +The passion between the sexes has appeared in every age to be +so nearly the same that it may always be considered, in algebraic +language, as a given quantity. The great law of necessity which +prevents population from increasing in any country beyond the +food which it can either produce or acquire, is a law so open to +our view, so obvious and evident to our understandings, and so +completely confirmed by the experience of every age, that we +cannot for a moment doubt it. The different modes which nature +takes to prevent or repress a redundant population do not appear, +indeed, to us so certain and regular, but though we cannot always +predict the mode we may with certainty predict the fact. If the +proportion of births to deaths for a few years indicate an +increase of numbers much beyond the proportional increased or +acquired produce of the country, we may be perfectly certain that +unless an emigration takes place, the deaths will shortly exceed +the births; and that the increase that had taken place for a few +years cannot be the real average increase of the population of +the country. Were there no other depopulating causes, every +country would, without doubt, be subject to periodical +pestilences or famine. + +The only true criterion of a real and permanent increase in +the population of any country is the increase of the means of +subsistence. But even, this criterion is subject to some slight +variations which are, however, completely open to our view and +observations. In some countries population appears to have been +forced, that is, the people have been habituated by degrees to +live almost upon the smallest possible quantity of food. There +must have been periods in such counties when population increased +permanently, without an increase in the means of subsistence. +China seems to answer to this description. If the accounts we +have of it are to be trusted, the lower classes of people are in +the habit of living almost upon the smallest possible quantity of +food and are glad to get any putrid offals that European +labourers would rather starve than eat. The law in China which +permits parents to expose their children has tended principally +thus to force the population. A nation in this state must +necessarily be subject to famines. Where a country is so populous +in proportion to the means of subsistence that the average +produce of it is but barely sufficient to support the lives of +the inhabitants, any deficiency from the badness of seasons must +be fatal. It is probable that the very frugal manner in which the +Gentoos are in the habit of living contributes in some degree to +the famines of Indostan. + +In America, where the reward of labour is at present so +liberal, the lower classes might retrench very considerably in a +year of scarcity without materially distressing themselves. A +famine therefore seems to be almost impossible. It may be +expected that in the progress of the population of America, the +labourers will in time be much less liberally rewarded. The +numbers will in this case permanently increase without a +proportional increase in the means of subsistence. + +In the different states of Europe there must be some +variations in the proportion between the number of inhabitants +and the quantity of food consumed, arising from the different +habits of living that prevail in each state. The labourers of the +South of England are so accustomed to eat fine wheaten bread that +they will suffer themselves to be half starved before they will +submit to live like the Scotch peasants. They might perhaps in +time, by the constant operation of the hard law of necessity, be +reduced to live even like the Lower Chinese, and the country +would then, with the same quantity of food, support a greater +population. But to effect this must always be a most difficult, +and, every friend to humanity will hope, an abortive attempt. +Nothing is so common as to hear of encouragements that ought to +be given to population. If the tendency of mankind to increase be +so great as I have represented it to be, it may appear strange +that this increase does not come when it is thus repeatedly +called for. The true reason is that the demand for a greater +population is made without preparing the funds necessary to +support it. Increase the demand for agricultural labour by +promoting cultivation, and with it consequently increase the +produce of the country, and ameliorate the condition of the +labourer, and no apprehensions whatever need be entertained of +the proportional increase of population. An attempt to effect +this purpose in any other way is vicious, cruel, and tyrannical, +and in any state of tolerable freedom cannot therefore succeed. +It may appear to be the interest of the rulers, and the rich of a +state, to force population, and thereby lower the price of +labour, and consequently the expense of fleets and armies, and +the cost of manufactures for foreign sale; but every attempt of +the kind should be carefully watched and strenuously resisted by +the friends of the poor, particularly when it comes under the +deceitful garb of benevolence, and is likely, on that account, to +be cheerfully and cordially received by the common people. + +I entirely acquit Mr Pitt of any sinister intention in that +clause of his Poor Bill which allows a shilling a week to every +labourer for each child he has above three. I confess, that +before the bill was brought into Parliament, and for some time +after, I thought that such a regulation would be highly +beneficial, but further reflection on the subject has convinced +me that if its object be to better the condition of the poor, it +is calculated to defeat the very purpose which it has in view. It +has no tendency that I can discover to increase the produce of +the country, and if it tend to increase the population, without +increasing the produce, the necessary and inevitable consequence +appears to be that the same produce must be divided among a +greater number, and consequently that a day's labour will +purchase a smaller quantity of provisions, and the poor therefore +in general must be more distressed. + +I have mentioned some cases where population may permanently +increase without a proportional increase in the means of +subsistence. But it is evident that the variation in different +states, between the food and the numbers supported by it, is +restricted to a limit beyond which it cannot pass. In every +country, the population of which is not absolutely decreasing, +the food must be necessarily sufficient to support, and to +continue, the race of labourers. + +Other circumstances being the same, it may be affirmed that +countries are populous according to the quantity of human food +which they produce, and happy according to the liberality with +which that food is divided, or the quantity which a day's labour +will purchase. Corn countries are more populous than pasture +countries, and rice countries more populous than corn countries. +The lands in England are not suited to rice, but they would all +bear potatoes; and Dr Adam Smith observes that if potatoes were +to become the favourite vegetable food of the common people, and +if the same quantity of land was employed in their culture as is +now employed in the culture of corn, the country would be able to +support a much greater population, and would consequently in a +very short time have it. + +The happiness of a country does not depend, absolutely, upon +its poverty or its riches, upon its youth or its age, upon its +being thinly or fully inhabited, but upon the rapidity with which +it is increasing, upon the degree in which the yearly increase of +food approaches to the yearly increase of an unrestricted +population. This approximation is always the nearest in new +colonies, where the knowledge and industry of an old state +operate on the fertile unappropriated land of a new one. In other +cases, the youth or the age of a state is not in this respect of +very great importance. It is probable that the food of Great +Britain is divided in as great plenty to the inhabitants, at the +present period, as it was two thousand, three thousand, or four +thousand years ago. And there is reason to believe that the poor +and thinly inhabited tracts of the Scotch Highlands are as much +distressed by an overcharged population as the rich and populous +province of Flanders. + +Were a country never to be overrun by a people more advanced +in arts, but left to its own natural progress in civilization; +from the time that its produce might be considered as an unit, to +the time that it might be considered as a million, during the +lapse of many hundred years, there would not be a single period +when the mass of the people could be said to be free from +distress, either directly or indirectly, for want of food. In +every state in Europe, since we have first had accounts of it, +millions and millions of human existences have been repressed +from this simple cause; though perhaps in some of these states an +absolute famine has never been known. + +Famine seems to be the last, the most dreadful resource of +nature. The power of population is so superior to the power in +the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death +must in some shape or other visit the human race. The vices of +mankind are active and able ministers of depopulation. They are +the precursors in the great army of destruction; and often finish +the dreadful work themselves. But should they fail in this war of +extermination, sickly seasons, epidemics, pestilence, and plague, +advance in terrific array, and sweep off their thousands and ten +thousands. Should success be still incomplete, gigantic +inevitable famine stalks in the rear, and with one mighty blow +levels the population with the food of the world. + +Must it not then be acknowledged by an attentive examiner of +the histories of mankind, that in every age and in every state in +which man has existed, or does now exist. + +That the increase of population is necessarily limited by the +means of subsistence. + +That population does invariably increase when the means of +subsistence increase. And that the superior power of +population it repressed, and the actual population kept equal to +the means of subsistence, by misery and vice? + + + +CHAPTER 8 + +Mr Wallace--Error of supposing that the difficulty arising from +population is at a great distance--Mr Condorcet's sketch of the +progress of the human mind--Period when the oscillation, +mentioned by Mr Condorcet, ought to be applied to the human race. + + +To a person who draws the preceding obvious inferences, from a +view of the past and present state of mankind, it cannot but be a +matter of astonishment that all the writers on the perfectibility +of man and of society who have noticed the argument of an +overcharged population, treat it always very slightly and +invariably represent the difficulties arising from it as at a +great and almost immeasurable distance. Even Mr Wallace, who +thought the argument itself of so much weight as to destroy his +whole system of equality, did not seem to be aware that any +difficulty would occur from this cause till the whole earth had +been cultivated like a garden and was incapable of any further +increase of produce. Were this really the case, and were a +beautiful system of equality in other respects practicable, I +cannot think that our ardour in the pursuit of such a scheme +ought to be damped by the contemplation of so remote a +difficulty. An event at such a distance might fairly be left to +providence, but the truth is that if the view of the argument +given in this Essay be just the difficulty, so far from being +remote, would be imminent and immediate. At every period during +the progress of cultivation, from the present moment to the time +when the whole earth was become like a garden, the distress for +want of food would be constantly pressing on all mankind, if they +were equal. Though the produce of the earth might be increasing +every year, population would be increasing much faster, and the +redundancy must necessarily be repressed by the periodical or +constant action of misery or vice. + +Mr Condorcet's Esquisse d'un Tableau Historique des Progres +de l'Esprit Humain, was written, it is said, under the pressure +of that cruel proscription which terminated in his death. If he +had no hopes of its being seen during his life and of its +interesting France in his favour, it is a singular instance of +the attachment of a man to principles, which every day's +experience was so fatally for himself contradicting. To see the +human mind in one of the most enlightened nations of the world, +and after a lapse of some thousand years, debased by such a +fermentation of disgusting passions, of fear, cruelty, malice, +revenge, ambition, madness, and folly as would have disgraced the +most savage nation in the most barbarous age must have been such +a tremendous shock to his ideas of the necessary and inevitable +progress of the human mind that nothing but the firmest +conviction of the truth of his principles, in spite of all +appearances, could have withstood. + +This posthumous publication is only a sketch of a much larger +work, which he proposed should be executed. It necessarily, +therefore, wants that detail and application which can alone +prove the truth of any theory. A few observations will be +sufficient to shew how completely the theory is contradicted when +it is applied to the real, and not to an imaginary, state of +things. + +In the last division of the work, which treats of the future +progress of man towards perfection, he says, that comparing, in +the different civilized nations of Europe, the actual population +with the extent of territory, and observing their cultivation, +their industry, their divisions of labour, and their means of +subsistence, we shall see that it would be impossible to preserve +the same means of subsistence, and, consequently, the same +population, without a number of individuals who have no other +means of supplying their wants than their industry. Having +allowed the necessity of such a class of men, and adverting +afterwards to the precarious revenue of those families that would +depend so entirely on the life and health of their chief, he +says, very justly: 'There exists then, a necessary cause of +inequality, of dependence, and even of misery, which menaces, +without ceasing, the most numerous and active class of our +societies.' (To save time and long quotations, I shall here give +the substance of some of Mr Condorcet's sentiments, and hope I +shall not misrepresent them. But I refer the reader to the work +itself, which will amuse, if it does not convince him.) The +difficulty is just and well stated, and I am afraid that the mode +by which he proposes it should be removed will be found +inefficacious. By the application of calculations to the +probabilities of life and the interest of money, he proposes that +a fund should be established which should assure to the old an +assistance, produced, in part, by their own former savings, and, +in part, by the savings of individuals who in making the same +sacrifice die before they reap the benefit of it. The same, or a +similar fund, should give assistance to women and children who +lose their husbands, or fathers, and afford a capital to those +who were of an age to found a new family, sufficient for the +proper development of their industry. These establishments, he +observes, might be made in the name and under the protection of +the society. Going still further, he says that, by the just +application of calculations, means might be found of more +completely preserving a state of equality, by preventing credit +from being the exclusive privilege of great fortunes, and yet +giving it a basis equally solid, and by rendering the progress of +industry, and the activity of commerce, less dependent on great +capitalists. + +Such establishments and calculations may appear very +promising upon paper, but when applied to real life they will be +found to be absolutely nugatory. Mr Condorcet allows that a class +of people which maintains itself entirely by industry is +necessary to every state. Why does he allow this? No other reason +can well be assigned than that he conceives that the labour +necessary to procure subsistence for an extended population will +not be performed without the goad of necessity. If by +establishments of this kind of spur to industry be removed, if +the idle and the negligent are placed upon the same footing with +regard to their credit, and the future support of their wives and +families, as the active and industrious, can we expect to see men +exert that animated activity in bettering their condition which +now forms the master spring of public prosperity? If an +inquisition were to be established to examine the claims of each +individual and to determine whether he had or had not exerted +himself to the utmost, and to grant or refuse assistance +accordingly, this would be little else than a repetition upon a +larger scale of the English poor laws and would be completely +destructive of the true principles of liberty and equality. + +But independent of this great objection to these +establishments, and supposing for a moment that they would give +no check to productive industry, by far the greatest difficulty +remains yet behind. + +Were every man sure of a comfortable provision for his +family, almost every man would have one, and were the rising +generation free from the 'killing frost' of misery, population +must rapidly increase. Of this Mr Condorcet seems to be fully +aware himself, and after having described further improvements, +he says: + +But in this process of industry and happiness, each generation +will be called to more extended enjoyments, and in consequence, +by the physical constitution of the human frame, to an increase +in the number of individuals. Must not there arrive a period +then, when these laws, equally necessary, shall counteract each +other? When the increase of the number of men surpassing their +means of subsistence, the necessary result must be either a +continual diminution of happiness and population, a movement +truly retrograde, or, at least, a kind of oscillation between +good and evil? In societies arrived at this term, will not this +oscillation be a constantly subsisting cause of periodical +misery? Will it not mark the limit when all further amelioration +will become impossible, and point out that term to the +perfectibility of the human race which it may reach in the course +of ages, but can never pass? + +He then adds, + +There is no person who does not see how very distant such a +period is from us, but shall we ever arrive at it? It is equally +impossible to pronounce for or against the future realization of +an event which cannot take place but at an era when the human +race will have attained improvements, of which we can at present +scarcely form a conception. + +Mr Condorcet's picture of what may be expected to happen when +the number of men shall surpass the means of their subsistence is +justly drawn. The oscillation which he describes will certainly +take place and will without doubt be a constantly subsisting +cause of periodical misery. The only point in which I differ from +Mr Condorcet with regard to this picture is the period when it +may be applied to the human race. Mr Condorcet thinks that it +cannot possibly be applicable but at an era extremely distant. If +the proportion between the natural increase of population and +food which I have given be in any degree near the truth, it will +appear, on the contrary, that the period when the number of men +surpass their means of subsistence has long since arrived, and +that this necessity oscillation, this constantly subsisting cause +of periodical misery, has existed ever since we have had any +histories of mankind, does exist at present, and will for ever +continue to exist, unless some decided change take place in the +physical constitution of our nature. + +Mr Condorcet, however, goes on to say that should the period, +which he conceives to be so distant, ever arrive, the human race, +and the advocates for the perfectibility of man, need not be +alarmed at it. He then proceeds to remove the difficulty in a +manner which I profess not to understand. Having observed, that +the ridiculous prejudices of superstition would by that time have +ceased to throw over morals a corrupt and degrading austerity, he +alludes, either to a promiscuous concubinage, which would prevent +breeding, or to something else as unnatural. To remove the +difficulty in this way will, surely, in the opinion of most men, +be to destroy that virtue and purity of manners, which the +advocates of equality, and of the perfectibility of man, profess +to be the end and object of their views. + + + +CHAPTER 9 + +Mr Condorcet's conjecture concerning the organic perfectibility +of man, and the indefinite prolongation of human life--Fallacy +of the argument, which infers an unlimited progress from a +partial improvement, the limit of which cannot be ascertained, +illustrated in the breeding of animals, and the cultivation of +plants. + + +The last question which Mr Condorcet proposes for examination is +the organic perfectibility of man. He observes that if the proofs +which have been already given and which, in their development +will receive greater force in the work itself, are sufficient to +establish the indefinite perfectibility of man upon the +supposition of the same natural faculties and the same +organization which he has at present, what will be the certainty, +what the extent of our hope, if this organization, these natural +faculties themselves, are susceptible of amelioration? + +From the improvement of medicine, from the use of more +wholesome food and habitations, from a manner of living which +will improve the strength of the body by exercise without +impairing it by excess, from the destruction of the two great +causes of the degradation of man, misery, and too great riches, +from the gradual removal of transmissible and contagious +disorders by the improvement of physical knowledge, rendered more +efficacious by the progress of reason and of social order, he +infers that though man will not absolutely become immortal, yet +that the duration between his birth and natural death will +increase without ceasing, will have no assignable term, and may +properly be expressed by the word 'indefinite'. He then defines +this word to mean either a constant approach to an unlimited +extent, without ever reaching it, or an increase. In the +immensity of ages to an extent greater than any assignable +quantity. + +But surely the application of this term in either of these +senses to the duration of human life is in the highest degree +unphilosophical and totally unwarranted by any appearances in the +laws of nature. Variations from different causes are essentially +distinct from a regular and unretrograde increase. The average +duration of human life will to a certain degree vary from healthy +or unhealthy climates, from wholesome or unwholesome food, from +virtuous or vicious manners, and other causes, but it may be +fairly doubted whether there is really the smallest perceptible +advance in the natural duration of human life since first we have +had any authentic history of man. The prejudices of all ages have +indeed been directly contrary to this supposition, and though I +would not lay much stress upon these prejudices, they will in +some measure tend to prove that there has been no marked advance +in an opposite direction. + +It may perhaps be said that the world is yet so young, so +completely in its infancy, that it ought not to be expected that +any difference should appear so soon. + +If this be the case, there is at once an end of all human +science. The whole train of reasonings from effects to causes +will be destroyed. We may shut our eyes to the book of nature, as +it will no longer be of any use to read it. The wildest and most +improbable conjectures may be advanced with as much certainty as +the most just and sublime theories, founded on careful and +reiterated experiments. We may return again to the old mode of +philosophising and make facts bend to systems, instead of +establishing systems upon facts. The grand and consistent theory +of Newton will be placed upon the same footing as the wild and +eccentric hypotheses of Descartes. In short, if the laws of +nature are thus fickle and inconstant, if it can be affirmed and +be believed that they will change, when for ages and ages they +have appeared immutable, the human mind will no longer have any +incitements to inquiry, but must remain fixed in inactive torpor, +or amuse itself only in bewildering dreams and extravagant +fancies. + +The constancy of the laws of nature and of effects and causes +is the foundation of all human knowledge, though far be it from +me to say that the same power which framed and executes the laws +of nature may not change them all 'in a moment, in the twinkling +of an eye.' Such a change may undoubtedly happen. All that I +mean to say is that it is impossible to infer it from reasoning. +If without any previous observable symptoms or indications of a +change, we can infer that a change will take place, we may as +well make any assertion whatever and think it as unreasonable to +be contradicted in affirming that the moon will come in contact +with the earth tomorrow, as in saying that the sun will rise at +its usual time. + +With regard to the duration of human life, there does not +appear to have existed from the earliest ages of the world to the +present moment the smallest permanent symptom or indication of +increasing prolongation. The observable effects of climate, +habit, diet, and other causes, on length of life have furnished +the pretext for asserting its indefinite extension; and the sandy +foundation on which the argument rests is that because the limit +of human life is undefined; because you cannot mark its precise +term, and say so far exactly shall it go and no further; that +therefore its extent may increase for ever, and be properly +termed indefinite or unlimited. But the fallacy and absurdity of +this argument will sufficiently appear from a slight examination +of what Mr Condorcet calls the organic perfectibility, or +degeneration, of the race of plants and animals, which he says +may be regarded as one of the general laws of nature. + +I am told that it is a maxim among the improvers of cattle +that you may breed to any degree of nicety you please, and they +found this maxim upon another, which is that some of the +offspring will possess the desirable qualities of the parents in +a greater degree. In the famous Leicestershire breed of sheep, +the object is to procure them with small heads and small legs. +Proceeding upon these breeding maxims, it is evident that we +might go on till the heads and legs were evanescent quantities, +but this is so palpable an absurdity that we may be quite sure +that the premises are not just and that there really is a limit, +though we cannot see it or say exactly where it is. In this case, +the point of the greatest degree of improvement, or the smallest +size of the head and legs, may be said to be undefined, but this +is very different from unlimited, or from indefinite, in Mr +Condorcet's acceptation of the term. Though I may not be able in +the present instance to mark the limit at which further +improvement will stop, I can very easily mention a point at which +it will not arrive. I should not scruple to assert that were the +breeding to continue for ever, the head and legs of these sheep +would never be so small as the head and legs of a rat. + +It cannot be true, therefore, that among animals, some of the +offspring will possess the desirable qualities of the parents in +a greater degree, or that animals are indefinitely perfectible. + +The progress of a wild plant to a beautiful garden flower is +perhaps more marked and striking than anything that takes place +among animals, yet even here it would be the height of absurdity +to assert that the progress was unlimited or indefinite. + +One of the most obvious features of the improvement is the +increase of size. The flower has grown gradually larger by +cultivation. If the progress were really unlimited it might be +increased ad infinitum, but this is so gross an absurdity that we +may be quite sure that among plants as well as among animals +there is a limit to improvement, though we do not exactly know +where it is. It is probable that the gardeners who contend for +flower prizes have often applied stronger dressing without +success. At the same time it would be highly presumptuous in any +man to say that he had seen the finest carnation or anemone that +could ever be made to grow. He might however assert without the +smallest chance of being contradicted by a future fact, that no +carnation or anemone could ever by cultivation be increased to +the size of a large cabbage; and yet there are assignable +quantities much greater than a cabbage. No man can say that he +has seen the largest ear of wheat, or the largest oak that could +ever grow; but he might easily, and with perfect certainty, name +a point of magnitude at which they would not arrive. In all these +cases therefore, a careful distinction should be made, between an +unlimited progress, and a progress where the limit is merely +undefined. + +It will be said, perhaps, that the reason why plants and +animals cannot increase indefinitely in size is, that they would +fall by their own weight. I answer, how do we know this but from +experience?--from experience of the degree of strength with +which these bodies are formed. I know that a carnation, long +before it reached the size of a cabbage, would not be supported +by its stalk, but I only know this from my experience of the +weakness and want of tenacity in the materials of a carnation +stalk. There are many substances in nature of the same size that +would support as large a head as a cabbage. + +The reasons of the mortality of plants are at present +perfectly unknown to us. No man can say why such a plant is +annual, another biennial, and another endures for ages. The whole +affair in all these cases, in plants, animals, and in the human +race, is an affair of experience, and I only conclude that man is +mortal because the invariable experience of all ages has proved +the mortality of those materials of which his visible body is +made: + +What can we reason, but from what we know? + +Sound philosophy will not authorize me to alter this opinion +of the mortality of man on earth, till it can be clearly proved +that the human race has made, and is making, a decided progress +towards an illimitable extent of life. And the chief reason why I +adduced the two particular instances from animals and plants was +to expose and illustrate, if I could, the fallacy of that +argument which infers an unlimited progress, merely because some +partial improvement has taken place, and that the limit of this +improvement cannot be precisely ascertained. + +The capacity of improvement in plants and animals, to a +certain degree, no person can possibly doubt. A clear and decided +progress has already been made, and yet, I think, it appears that +it would be highly absurd to say that this progress has no +limits. In human life, though there are great variations from +different causes, it may be doubted whether, since the world +began, any organic improvement whatever in the human frame can be +clearly ascertained. The foundations, therefore, on which the +arguments for the organic perfectibility of man rest, are +unusually weak, and can only be considered as mere conjectures. +It does not, however, by any means seem impossible that by an +attention to breed, a certain degree of improvement, similar to +that among animals, might take place among men. Whether intellect +could be communicated may be a matter of doubt: but size, +strength, beauty, complexion, and perhaps even longevity are in a +degree transmissible. The error does not seem to lie in supposing +a small degree of improvement possible, but in not discriminating +between a small improvement, the limit of which is undefined, and +an improvement really unlimited. As the human race, however, +could not be improved in this way, without condemning all the bad +specimens to celibacy, it is not probable that an attention to +breed should ever become general; indeed, I know of no +well-directed attempts of this kind, except in the ancient family +of the Bickerstaffs, who are said to have been very successful in +whitening the skins and increasing the height of their race by +prudent marriages, particularly by that very judicious cross with +Maud, the milk-maid, by which some capital defects in the +constitutions of the family were corrected. + +It will not be necessary, I think, in order more completely +to shew the improbability of any approach in man towards +immortality on earth, to urge the very great additional weight +that an increase in the duration of life would give to the +argument of population. + +Many, I doubt not, will think that the attempting gravely to +controvert so absurd a paradox as the immortality of man on +earth, or indeed, even the perfectibility of man and society, is +a waste of time and words, and that such unfounded conjectures +are best answered by neglect. I profess, however, to be of a +different opinion. When paradoxes of this kind are advanced by +ingenious and able men, neglect has no tendency to convince them +of their mistakes. Priding themselves on what they conceive to be +a mark of the reach and size of their own understandings, of the +extent and comprehensiveness of their views, they will look upon +this neglect merely as an indication of poverty, and narrowness, +in the mental exertions of their contemporaries, and only think +that the world is not yet prepared to receive their sublime +truths. + +On the contrary, a candid investigation of these subjects, +accompanied with a perfect readiness to adopt any theory +warranted by sound philosophy, may have a tendency to convince +them that in forming improbable and unfounded hypotheses, so far +from enlarging the bounds of human science, they are contracting +it, so far from promoting the improvement of the human mind, they +are obstructing it; they are throwing us back again almost into +the infancy of knowledge and weakening the foundations of that +mode of philosophising, under the auspices of which science has +of late made such rapid advances. The present rage for wide and +unrestrained speculation seems to be a kind of mental +intoxication, arising, perhaps, from the great and unexpected +discoveries which have been made of late years, in various +branches of science. To men elate and giddy with such successes, +every thing appeared to be within the grasp of human powers; and, +under this illusion, they confounded subjects where no real +progress could be proved with those where the progress had been +marked, certain, and acknowledged. Could they be persuaded to +sober themselves with a little severe and chastised thinking, +they would see, that the cause of truth, and of sound philosophy, +cannot but suffer by substituting wild flights and unsupported +assertions for patient investigation, and well authenticated +proofs. + +Mr Condorcet's book may be considered not only as a sketch of +the opinions of a celebrated individual, but of many of the +literary men in France at the beginning of the Revolution. As +such, though merely a sketch, it seems worthy of attention. + + + +CHAPTER 10 + +Mr Godwin's system of equality--Error of attributing all the +vices of mankind to human institutions--Mr Godwin's first answer +to the difficulty arising from population totally insufficient-- +Mr Godwin's beautiful system of equality supposed to be realized +--Its utter destruction simply from the principle of population in +so short a time as thirty years. + + +In reading Mr Godwin's ingenious and able work on political +justice, it is impossible not to be struck with the spirit and +energy of his style, the force and precision of some of his +reasonings, the ardent tone of his thoughts, and particularly +with that impressive earnestness of manner which gives an air of +truth to the whole. At the same time, it must be confessed that +he has not proceeded in his inquiries with the caution that sound +philosophy seems to require. His conclusions are often +unwarranted by his premises. He fails sometimes in removing the +objections which he himself brings forward. He relies too much on +general and abstract propositions which will not admit of +application. And his conjectures certainly far outstrip the +modesty of nature. + +The system of equality which Mr Godwin proposes is, without +doubt, by far the most beautiful and engaging of any that has yet +appeared. An amelioration of society to be produced merely by +reason and conviction wears much more the promise of permanence +than any change effected and maintained by force. The unlimited +exercise of private judgement is a doctrine inexpressibly grand +and captivating and has a vast superiority over those systems +where every individual is in a manner the slave of the public. +The substitution of benevolence as the master-spring and moving +principle of society, instead of self-love, is a consummation +devoutly to be wished. In short, it is impossible to contemplate +the whole of this fair structure without emotions of delight and +admiration, accompanied with ardent longing for the period of its +accomplishment. But, alas! that moment can never arrive. The +whole is little better than a dream, a beautiful phantom of the +imagination. These 'gorgeous palaces' of happiness and +immortality, these 'solemn temples' of truth and virtue will +dissolve, 'like the baseless fabric of a vision', when we awaken +to real life and contemplate the true and genuine situation of +man on earth. Mr Godwin, at the conclusion of the third chapter +of his eighth book, speaking of population, says: + +There is a principle in human society, by which population is +perpetually kept down to the level of the means of subsistence. +Thus among the wandering tribes of America and Asia, we never +find through the lapse of ages that population has so increased +as to render necessary the cultivation of the earth. + +This principle, which Mr Godwin thus mentions as some +mysterious and occult cause and which he does not attempt to +investigate, will be found to be the grinding law of necessity, +misery, and the fear of misery. + +The great error under which Mr Godwin labours throughout his +whole work is the attributing almost all the vices and misery +that are seen in civil society to human institutions. Political +regulations and the established administration of property are +with him the fruitful sources of all evil, the hotbeds of all the +crimes that degrade mankind. Were this really a true state of the +case, it would not seem a hopeless task to remove evil completely +from the world, and reason seems to be the proper and adequate +instrument for effecting so great a purpose. But the truth is, +that though human institutions appear to be the obvious and +obtrusive causes of much mischief to mankind, yet in reality they +are light and superficial, they are mere feathers that float on +the surface, in comparison with those deeper seated causes of +impurity that corrupt the springs and render turbid the whole +stream of human life. + +Mr Godwin, in his chapter on the benefits attendant on a +system of equality, says: + +The spirit of oppression, the spirit of servility, and the +spirit of fraud, these are the immediate growth of the +established administration of property. They are alike hostile to +intellectual improvement. The other vices of envy, malice, and +revenge are their inseparable companions. In a state of society +where men lived in the midst of plenty and where all shared alike +the bounties of nature, these sentiments would inevitably expire. +The narrow principle of selfishness would vanish. No man being +obliged to guard his little store or provide with anxiety and +pain for his restless wants, each would lose his individual +existence in the thought of the general good. No man would be an +enemy to his neighbour, for they would have no subject of +contention, and, of consequence, philanthropy would resume the +empire which reason assigns her. Mind would be delivered from her +perpetual anxiety about corporal support, and free to expatiate +in the field of thought, which is congenial to her. Each would +assist the inquiries of all. + +This would, indeed, be a happy state. But that it is merely +an imaginary picture, with scarcely a feature near the truth, the +reader, I am afraid, is already too well convinced. + +Man cannot live in the midst of plenty. All cannot share +alike the bounties of nature. Were there no established +administration of property, every man would be obliged to guard +with force his little store. Selfishness would be triumphant. The +subjects of contention would be perpetual. Every individual mind +would be under a constant anxiety about corporal support, and not +a single intellect would be left free to expatiate in the field +of thought. + +How little Mr Godwin has turned the attention of his +penetrating mind to the real state of man on earth will +sufficiently appear from the manner in which he endeavours to +remove the difficulty of an overcharged population. He says: + +The obvious answer to this objection, is, that to reason thus +is to foresee difficulties at a great distance. Three fourths of +the habitable globe is now uncultivated. The parts already +cultivated are capable of immeasurable improvement. Myriads of +centuries of still increasing population may pass away, and the +earth be still found sufficient for the subsistence of its +inhabitants. + +I have already pointed out the error of supposing that no +distress and difficulty would arise from an overcharged +population before the earth absolutely refused to produce any +more. But let us imagine for a moment Mr Godwin's beautiful +system of equality realized in its utmost purity, and see how +soon this difficulty might be expected to press under so perfect +a form of society. A theory that will not admit of application +cannot possibly be just. + +Let us suppose all the causes of misery and vice in this +island removed. War and contention cease. Unwholesome trades and +manufactories do not exist. Crowds no longer collect together in +great and pestilent cities for purposes of court intrigue, of +commerce, and vicious gratifications. Simple, healthy, and +rational amusements take place of drinking, gaming, and +debauchery. There are no towns sufficiently large to have any +prejudicial effects on the human constitution. The greater part +of the happy inhabitants of this terrestrial paradise live in +hamlets and farmhouses scattered over the face of the country. +Every house is clean, airy, sufficiently roomy, and in a healthy +situation. All men are equal. The labours of luxury are at end. +And the necessary labours of agriculture are shared amicably +among all. The number of persons, and the produce of the island, +we suppose to be the same as at present. The spirit of +benevolence, guided by impartial justice, will divide this +produce among all the members of the society according to their +wants. Though it would be impossible that they should all have +animal food every day, yet vegetable food, with meat +occasionally, would satisfy the desires of a frugal people and +would be sufficient to preserve them in health, strength, and +spirits. + +Mr Godwin considers marriage as a fraud and a monopoly. Let +us suppose the commerce of the sexes established upon principles +of the most perfect freedom. Mr Godwin does not think himself +that this freedom would lead to a promiscuous intercourse, and in +this I perfectly agree with him. The love of variety is a +vicious, corrupt, and unnatural taste and could not prevail in +any great degree in a simple and virtuous state of society. Each +man would probably select himself a partner, to whom he would +adhere as long as that adherence continued to be the choice of +both parties. It would be of little consequence, according to Mr +Godwin, how many children a woman had or to whom they belonged. +Provisions and assistance would spontaneously flow from the +quarter in which they abounded, to the quarter that was +deficient. (See Bk VIII, ch. 8; in the third edition, Vol II, p. +512) And every man would be ready to furnish instruction to the +rising generation according to his capacity. + +I cannot conceive a form of society so favourable upon the +whole to population. The irremediableness of marriage, as it is +at present constituted, undoubtedly deters many from entering +into that state. An unshackled intercourse on the contrary would +be a most powerful incitement to early attachments, and as we are +supposing no anxiety about the future support of children to +exist, I do not conceive that there would be one woman in a +hundred, of twenty-three, without a family. + +With these extraordinary encouragements to population, and +every cause of depopulation, as we have supposed, removed, the +numbers would necessarily increase faster than in any society +that has ever yet been known. I have mentioned, on the authority +of a pamphlet published by a Dr Styles and referred to by Dr +Price, that the inhabitants of the back settlements of America +doubled their numbers in fifteen years. England is certainly a +more healthy country than the back settlements of America, and as +we have supposed every house in the island to be airy and +wholesome, and the encouragements to have a family greater even +than with the back settlers, no probable reason can be assigned +why the population should not double itself in less, if possible, +than fifteen years. But to be quite sure that we do not go beyond +the truth, we will only suppose the period of doubling to be +twenty-five years, a ratio of increase which is well known to +have taken place throughout all the Northern States of America. + +There can be little doubt that the equalization of property +which we have supposed, added to the circumstance of the labour +of the whole community being directed chiefly to agriculture, +would tend greatly to augment the produce of the country. But to +answer the demands of a population increasing so rapidly, Mr +Godwin's calculation of half an hour a day for each man would +certainly not be sufficient. It is probable that the half of +every man's time must be employed for this purpose. Yet with +such, or much greater exertions, a person who is acquainted with +the nature of the soil in this country, and who reflects on the +fertility of the lands already in cultivation, and the barrenness +of those that are not cultivated, will be very much disposed to +doubt whether the whole average produce could possibly be doubled +in twenty-five years from the present period. The only chance of +success would be the ploughing up all the grazing countries and +putting an end almost entirely to the use of animal food. Yet a +part of this scheme might defeat itself. The soil of England will +not produce much without dressing, and cattle seem to be +necessary to make that species of manure which best suits the +land. In China it is said that the soil in some of the provinces +is so fertile as to produce two crops of rice in the year without +dressing. None of the lands in England will answer to this +description. + +Difficult, however, as it might be to double the average +produce of the island in twenty-five years, let us suppose it +effected. At the expiration of the first period therefore, the +food, though almost entirely vegetable, would be sufficient to +support in health the doubled population of fourteen millions. + +During the next period of doubling, where will the food be +found to satisfy the importunate demands of the increasing +numbers? Where is the fresh land to turn up? Where is the +dressing necessary to improve that which is already in +cultivation? There is no person with the smallest knowledge of +land but would say that it was impossible that the average +produce of the country could be increased during the second +twenty-five years by a quantity equal to what it at present +yields. Yet we will suppose this increase, however improbable, to +take place. The exuberant strength of the argument allows of +almost any concession. Even with this concession, however, there +would be seven millions at the expiration of the second term +unprovided for. A quantity of food equal to the frugal support of +twenty-one millions, would be to be divided among twenty-eight +millions. + +Alas! what becomes of the picture where men lived in the +midst of plenty, where no man was obliged to provide with anxiety +and pain for his restless wants, where the narrow principle of +selfishness did not exist, where Mind was delivered from her +perpetual anxiety about corporal support and free to expatiate in +the field of thought which is congenial to her. This beautiful +fabric of imagination vanishes at the severe touch of truth. The +spirit of benevolence, cherished and invigorated by plenty, is +repressed by the chilling breath of want. The hateful passions +that had vanished reappear. The mighty law of self-preservation +expels all the softer and more exalted emotions of the soul. The +temptations to evil are too strong for human nature to resist. +The corn is plucked before it is ripe, or secreted in unfair +proportions, and the whole black train of vices that belong to +falsehood are immediately generated. Provisions no longer flow in +for the support of the mother with a large family. The children +are sickly from insufficient food. The rosy flush of health gives +place to the pallid cheek and hollow eye of misery. Benevolence, +yet lingering in a few bosoms, makes some faint expiring +struggles, till at length self-love resumes his wonted empire and +lords it triumphant over the world. + +No human institutions here existed, to the perverseness of +which Mr Godwin ascribes the original sin of the worst men. (Bk +VIII, ch. 3; in the third edition, Vol. II, p. 462) No opposition +had been produced by them between public and private good. No +monopoly had been created of those advantages which reason +directs to be left in common. No man had been goaded to the +breach of order by unjust laws. Benevolence had established her +reign in all hearts: and yet in so short a period as within fifty +years, violence, oppression, falsehood, misery, every hateful +vice, and every form of distress, which degrade and sadden the +present state of society, seem to have been generated by the most +imperious circumstances, by laws inherent in the nature of man, +and absolutely independent of it human regulations. + +If we are not yet too well convinced of the reality of this +melancholy picture, let us but look for a moment into the next +period of twenty-five years; and we shall see twenty-eight +millions of human beings without the means of support; and before +the conclusion of the first century, the population would be one +hundred and twelve millions, and the food only sufficient for +thirty-five millions, leaving seventy-seven millions unprovided +for. In these ages want would be indeed triumphant, and rapine +and murder must reign at large: and yet all this time we are +supposing the produce of the earth absolutely unlimited, and the +yearly increase greater than the boldest speculator can imagine. + +This is undoubtedly a very different view of the difficulty +arising from population from that which Mr Godwin gives, when he +says, 'Myriads of centuries of still increasing population may +pass away, and the earth be still found sufficient for the +subsistence of its inhabitants.' + +I am sufficiently aware that the redundant twenty-eight +millions, or seventy-seven millions, that I have mentioned, could +never have existed. It is a perfectly just observation of Mr +Godwin, that, 'There is a principle in human society, by which +population is perpetually kept down to the level of the means of +subsistence.' The sole question is, what is this principle? is it +some obscure and occult cause? Is it some mysterious interference +of heaven which, at a certain period, strikes the men with +impotence, and the women with barrenness? Or is it a cause, open +to our researches, within our view, a cause, which has constantly +been observed to operate, though with varied force, in every +state in which man has been placed? Is it not a degree of misery, +the necessary and inevitable result of the laws of nature, which +human institutions, so far from aggravating, have tended +considerably to mitigate, though they never can remove? + +It may be curious to observe, in the case that we have been +supposing, how some of the laws which at present govern civilized +society, would be successively dictated by the most imperious +necessity. As man, according to Mr Godwin, is the creature of the +impressions to which he is subject, the goadings of want could +not continue long, before some violations of public or private +stock would necessarily take place. As these violations increased +in number and extent, the more active and comprehensive +intellects of the society would soon perceive, that while +population was fast increasing, the yearly produce of the country +would shortly begin to diminish. The urgency of the case would +suggest the necessity of some mediate measures to be taken for +the general safety. Some kind of convention would then be called, +and the dangerous situation of the country stated in the +strongest terms. It would be observed, that while they lived in +the midst of plenty, it was of little consequence who laboured +the least, or who possessed the least, as every man was perfectly +willing and ready to supply the wants of his neighbour. But that +the question was no longer whether one man should give to another +that which he did not use himself, but whether he should give to +his neighbour the food which was absolutely necessary to his own +existence. It would be represented, that the number of those that +were in want very greatly exceeded the number and means of those +who should supply them; that these pressing wants, which from the +state of the produce of the country could not all be gratified, +had occasioned some flagrant violations of justice; that these +violations had already checked the increase of food, and would, +if they were not by some means or other prevented, throw the +whole community in confusion; that imperious necessity seemed to +dictate that a yearly increase of produce should, if possible, be +obtained at all events; that in order to effect this first, +great, and indispensable purpose, it would be advisable to make a +more complete division of land, and to secure every man's stock +against violation by the most powerful sanctions, even by death +itself. + +It might be urged perhaps by some objectors that, as the +fertility of the land increased, and various accidents occurred, +the share of some men might be much more than sufficient for +their support, and that when the reign of self-love was once +established, they would not distribute their surplus produce +without some compensation in return. It would be observed, in +answer, that this was an inconvenience greatly to be lamented; +but that it was an evil which bore no comparison to the black +train of distresses that would inevitably be occasioned by the +insecurity of property; that the quantity of food which one man +could consume was necessarily limited by the narrow capacity of +the human stomach; that it was not certainly probable that he +should throw away the rest; but that even if he exchanged his +surplus food for the labour of others, and made them in some +degree dependent on him, this would still be better than that +these others should absolutely starve. + +It seems highly probable, therefore, that an administration +of property, not very different from that which prevails in +civilized states at present, would be established, as the best, +though inadequate, remedy for the evils which were pressing on +the society. + +The next subject that would come under discussion, intimately +connected with the preceding, is the commerce between the sexes. +It would be urged by those who had turned their attention to the +true cause of the difficulties under which the community +laboured, that while every man felt secure that all his children +would be well provided for by general benevolence, the powers of +the earth would be absolutely inadequate to produce food for the +population which would inevitably ensue; that even if the whole +attention and labour of the society were directed to this sole +point, and if, by the most perfect security of property, and +every other encouragement that could be thought of, the greatest +possible increase of produce were yearly obtained; yet still, +that the increase of food would by no means keep pace with the +much more rapid increase of population; that some check to +population therefore was imperiously called for; that the most +natural and obvious check seemed to be to make every man provide +for his own children; that this would operate in some respect as +a measure and guide in the increase of population, as it might be +expected that no man would bring beings into the world, for whom +he could not find the means of support; that where this +notwithstanding was the case, it seemed necessary, for the +example of others, that the disgrace and inconvenience attending +such a conduct should fall upon the individual, who had thus +inconsiderately plunged himself and innocent children in misery +and want. + +The institution of marriage, or at least, of some express or +implied obligation on every man to support his own children, +seems to be the natural result of these reasonings in a community +under the difficulties that we have supposed. + +The view of these difficulties presents us with a very +natural origin of the superior disgrace which attends a breach of +chastity in the woman than in the man. It could not be expected +that women should have resources sufficient to support their own +children. When therefore a woman was connected with a man, who +had entered into no compact to maintain her children, and, aware +of the inconveniences that he might bring upon himself, had +deserted her, these children must necessarily fall for support +upon the society, or starve. And to prevent the frequent +recurrence of such an inconvenience, as it would be highly unjust +to punish so natural a fault by personal restraint or infliction, +the men might agree to punish it with disgrace. The offence is +besides more obvious and conspicuous in the woman, and less +liable to any mistake. The father of a child may not always be +known, but the same uncertainty cannot easily exist with regard +to the mother. Where the evidence of the offence was most +complete, and the inconvenience to the society at the same time +the greatest, there it was agreed that the large share of blame +should fall. The obligation on every man to maintain his +children, the society would enforce, if there were occasion; and +the greater degree of inconvenience or labour, to which a family +would necessarily subject him, added to some portion of disgrace +which every human being must incur who leads another into +unhappiness, might be considered as a sufficient punishment for +the man. + +That a woman should at present be almost driven from society +for an offence which men commit nearly with impunity, seems to be +undoubtedly a breach of natural justice. But the origin of the +custom, as the most obvious and effectual method of preventing +the frequent recurrence of a serious inconvenience to a +community, appears to be natural, though not perhaps perfectly +justifiable. This origin, however, is now lost in the new train +of ideas which the custom has since generated. What at first +might be dictated by state necessity is now supported by female +delicacy, and operates with the greatest force on that part of +society where, if the original intention of the custom were +preserved, there is the least real occasion for it. + +When these two fundamental laws of society, the security of +property, and the institution of marriage, were once established, +inequality of conditions must necessarily follow. Those who were +born after the division of property would come into a world +already possessed. If their parents, from having too large a +family, could not give them sufficient for their support, what +are they to do in a world where everything is appropriated? We +have seen the fatal effects that would result to a society, if +every man had a valid claim to an equal share of the produce of +the earth. The members of a family which was grown too large for +the original division of land appropriated to it could not then +demand a part of the surplus produce of others, as a debt of +justice. It has appeared, that from the inevitable laws of our +nature some human beings must suffer from want. These are the +unhappy persons who, in the great lottery of life, have drawn a +blank. The number of these claimants would soon exceed the +ability of the surplus produce to supply. Moral merit is a very +difficult distinguishing criterion, except in extreme cases. The +owners of surplus produce would in general seek some more obvious +mark of distinction. And it seems both natural and just that, +except upon particular occasions, their choice should fall upon +those who were able, and professed themselves willing, to exert +their strength in procuring a further surplus produce; and thus +at once benefiting the community, and enabling these proprietors +to afford assistance to greater numbers. All who were in want of +food would be urged by imperious necessity to offer their labour +in exchange for this article so absolutely essential to +existence. The fund appropriated to the maintenance of labour +would be the aggregate quantity of food possessed by the owners +of land beyond their own consumption. When the demands upon this +fund were great and numerous, it would naturally be divided in +very small shares. Labour would be ill paid. Men would offer to +work for a bare subsistence, and the rearing of families would be +checked by sickness and misery. On the contrary, when this fund +was increasing fast, when it was great in proportion to the +number of claimants, it would be divided in much larger shares. +No man would exchange his labour without receiving an ample +quantity of food in return. Labourers would live in ease and +comfort, and would consequently be able to rear a numerous and +vigorous offspring. + +On the state of this fund, the happiness, or the degree of +misery, prevailing among the lower classes of people in every +known state at present chiefly depends. And on this happiness, or +degree of misery, depends the increase, stationariness, or +decrease of population. + +And thus it appears, that a society constituted according to +the most beautiful form that imagination can conceive, with +benevolence for its moving principle, instead of self-love, and +with every evil disposition in all its members corrected by +reason and not force, would, from the inevitable laws of nature, +and not from any original depravity of man, in a very short +period degenerate into a society constructed upon a plan not +essentially different from that which prevails in every known +state at present; I mean, a society divided into a class of +proprietors, and a class of labourers, and with self-love the +main-spring of the great machine. + +In the supposition I have made, I have undoubtedly taken the +increase of population smaller, and the increase of produce +greater, than they really would be. No reason can be assigned +why, under the circumstances I have supposed, population should +not increase faster than in any known instance. If then we were +to take the period of doubling at fifteen years, instead of +twenty-five years, and reflect upon the labour necessary to +double the produce in so short a time, even if we allow it +possible, we may venture to pronounce with certainty that if Mr +Godwin's system of society was established in its utmost +perfection, instead of myriads of centuries, not thirty years +could elapse before its utter destruction from the simple +principle of population. + +I have taken no notice of emigration for obvious reasons. If +such societies were instituted in other parts of Europe, these +countries would be under the same difficulties with regard to +population, and could admit no fresh members into their bosoms. +If this beautiful society were confined to this island, it must +have degenerated strangely from its original purity, and +administer but a very small portion of the happiness it proposed; +in short, its essential principle must be completely destroyed, +before any of its members would voluntarily consent to leave it, +and live under such governments as at present exist in Europe, or +submit to the extreme hardships of first settlers in new regions. +We well know, from repeated experience, how much misery and +hardship men will undergo in their own country, before they can +determine to desert it; and how often the most tempting proposals +of embarking for new settlements have been rejected by people who +appeared to be almost starving. + + + +CHAPTER 11 + +Mr Godwin's conjecture concerning the future extinction of the +passion between the sexes--Little apparent grounds for such a +conjecture--Passion of love not inconsistent either with reason +or virtue. + + +We have supported Mr Godwin's system of society once completely +established. But it is supposing an impossibility. The same +causes in nature which would destroy it so rapidly, were it once +established, would prevent the possibility of its establishment. +And upon what grounds we can presume a change in these natural +causes, I am utterly at a loss to conjecture. No move towards the +extinction of the passion between the sexes has taken place in +the five or six thousand years that the world has existed. Men in +the decline of life have in all ages declaimed against a passion +which they have ceased to feel, but with as little reason as +success. Those who from coldness of constitutional temperament +have never felt what love is, will surely be allowed to be very +incompetent judges with regard to the power of this passion to +contribute to the sum of pleasurable sensations in life. Those +who have spent their youth in criminal excesses and have prepared +for themselves, as the comforts of their age, corporeal debility +and mental remorse may well inveigh against such pleasures as +vain and futile, and unproductive of lasting satisfaction. But +the pleasures of pure love will bear the contemplation of the +most improved reason, and the most exalted virtue. Perhaps there +is scarcely a man who has once experienced the genuine delight of +virtuous love, however great his intellectual pleasure may have +been, that does not look back to the period as the sunny spot in +his whole life, where his imagination loves to bask, which he +recollects and contemplates with the fondest regrets, and which +he would most wish to live over again. The superiority of +intellectual to sensual pleasures consists rather in their +filling up more time, in their having a larger range, and in +their being less liable to satiety, than in their being more real +and essential. + +Intemperance in every enjoyment defeats its own purpose. A +walk in the finest day through the most beautiful country, if +pursued too far, ends in pain and fatigue. The most wholesome and +invigorating food, eaten with an unrestrained appetite, produces +weakness instead of strength. Even intellectual pleasures, though +certainly less liable than others to satiety, pursued with too +little intermission, debilitate the body, and impair the vigour +of the mind. To argue against the reality of these pleasures from +their abuse seems to be hardly just. Morality, according to Mr +Godwin, is a calculation of consequences, or, as Archdeacon Paley +very justly expresses it, the will of God, as collected from +general expediency. According to either of these definitions, a +sensual pleasure not attended with the probability of unhappy +consequences does not offend against the laws of morality, and if +it be pursued with such a degree of temperance as to leave the +most ample room for intellectual attainments, it must undoubtedly +add to the sum of pleasurable sensations in life. Virtuous love, +exalted by friendship, seems to be that sort of mixture of +sensual and intellectual enjoyment particularly suited to the +nature of man, and most powerfully calculated to awaken the +sympathies of the soul, and produce the most exquisite +gratifications. + +Mr Godwin says, in order to shew the evident inferiority of +the pleasures of sense, 'Strip the commerce of the sexes of all +its attendant circumstances, and it would be generally despised' +(Bk. I, ch. 5; in the third edition, Vol. I, pp. 71-72). He might +as well say to a man who admired trees: strip them of their +spreading branches and lovely foliage, and what beauty can you +see in a bare pole? But it was the tree with the branches and +foliage, and not without them, that excited admiration. One +feature of an object may be as distinct, and excite as different +emotions, from the aggregate as any two things the most remote, +as a beautiful woman, and a map of Madagascar. It is 'the +symmetry of person, the vivacity, the voluptuous softness of +temper, the affectionate kindness of feelings, the imagination +and the wit' of a woman that excite the passion of love, and not +the mere distinction of her being female. Urged by the passion of +love, men have been driven into acts highly prejudicial to the +general interests of society, but probably they would have found +no difficulty in resisting the temptation, had it appeared in the +form of a woman with no other attractions whatever but her sex. +To strip sensual pleasures of all their adjuncts, in order to +prove their inferiority, is to deprive a magnet of some of its +most essential causes of attraction, and then to say that it is +weak and inefficient. + +In the pursuit of every enjoyment, whether sensual or +intellectual, reason, that faculty which enables us to calculate +consequences, is the proper corrective and guide. It is probable +therefore that improved reason will always tend to prevent the +abuse of sensual pleasures, though it by no means follows that it +will extinguish them. + +I have endeavoured to expose the fallacy of that argument +which infers an unlimited progress from a partial improvement, +the limits of which cannot be exactly ascertained. It has +appeared, I think, that there are many instances in which a +decided progress has been observed, where yet it would be a gross +absurdity to suppose that progress indefinite. But towards the +extinction of the passion between the sexes, no observable +progress whatever has hitherto been made. To suppose such an +extinction, therefore, is merely to offer an unfounded +conjecture, unsupported by any philosophical probabilities. + +It is a truth, which history I am afraid makes too clear, +that some men of the highest mental powers have been addicted not +only to a moderate, but even to an immoderate indulgence in the +pleasures of sensual love. But allowing, as I should be inclined +to do, notwithstanding numerous instances to the contrary, that +great intellectual exertions tend to diminish the empire of this +passion over man, it is evident that the mass of mankind must be +improved more highly than the brightest ornaments of the species +at present before any difference can take place sufficient +sensibly to affect population. I would by no means suppose that +the mass of mankind has reached its term of improvement, but the +principal argument of this essay tends to place in a strong point +of view the improbability that the lower classes of people in any +country should ever be sufficiently free from want and labour to +obtain any high degree of intellectual improvement. + + + +CHAPTER 12 + +Mr Godwin's conjecture concerning the indefinite prolongation of +human life--Improper inference drawn from the effects of mental +stimulants on the human frame, illustrated in various instances-- +Conjectures not founded on any indications in the past not to be +considered as philosophical conjectures--Mr Godwin's and Mr +Condorcet's conjecture respecting the approach of man towards +immortality on earth, a curious instance of the inconsistency of +scepticism. + + +Mr Godwin's conjecture respecting the future approach of man +towards immortality on earth seems to be rather oddly placed in a +chapter which professes to remove the objection to his system of +equality from the principle of population. Unless he supposes the +passion between the sexes to decrease faster than the duration of +life increases, the earth would be more encumbered than ever. But +leaving this difficulty to Mr Godwin, let us examine a few of the +appearances from which the probable immortality of man is +inferred. + +To prove the power of the mind over the body, Mr Godwin +observes, "How often do we find a piece of good news dissipating a +distemper? How common is the remark that those accidents which +are to the indolent a source of disease are forgotten and +extirpated in the busy and active? I walk twenty miles in an +indolent and half determined temper and am extremely fatigued. I +walk twenty miles full of ardour, and with a motive that +engrosses my soul, and I come in as fresh and as alert as when I +began my journey. Emotion excited by some unexpected word, by a +letter that is delivered to us, occasions the most extraordinary +revolutions in our frame, accelerates the circulation, causes the +heart to palpitate, the tongue to refuse its office, and has been +known to occasion death by extreme anguish or extreme joy. There +is nothing indeed of which the physician is more aware than of +the power of the mind in assisting or reading convalescence." + +The instances here mentioned are chiefly instances of the +effects of mental stimulants on the bodily frame. No person has +ever for a moment doubted the near, though mysterious, connection +of mind and body. But it is arguing totally without knowledge of +the nature of stimulants to suppose, either that they can be +applied continually with equal strength, or if they could be so +applied, for a time, that they would not exhaust and wear out the +subject. In some of the cases here noticed, the strength of the +stimulus depends upon its novelty and unexpectedness. Such a +stimulus cannot, from its nature, be repeated often with the same +effect, as it would by repetition lose that property which gives +it its strength. + +In the other cases, the argument is from a small and partial +effect, to a great and general effect, which will in numberless +instances be found to be a very fallacious mode of reasoning. The +busy and active man may in some degree counteract, or what is +perhaps nearer the truth, may disregard those slight disorders of +frame which fix the attention of a man who has nothing else to +think of; but this does not tend to prove that activity of mind +will enable a man to disregard a high fever, the smallpox, or the +plague. + +The man who walks twenty miles with a motive that engrosses +his soul does not attend to his slight fatigue of body when he +comes in; but double his motive, and set him to walk another +twenty miles, quadruple it, and let him start a third time, and +so on; and the length of his walk will ultimately depend upon +muscle and not mind. Powell, for a motive of ten guineas, would +have walked further probably than Mr Godwin, for a motive of half +a million. A motive of uncommon power acting upon a frame of +moderate strength would, perhaps, make the man kill himself by +his exertions, but it would not make him walk a hundred miles in +twenty-four hours. This statement of the case shews the fallacy +of supposing that the person was really not at all tired in his +first walk of twenty miles, because he did not appear to be so, +or, perhaps, scarcely felt any fatigue himself. The mind cannot +fix its attention strongly on more than one object at once. The +twenty thousand pounds so engrossed his thoughts that he did not +attend to any slight soreness of foot, or stiffness of limb. But +had he been really as fresh and as alert, as when he first set +off, he would be able to go the second twenty miles with as much +ease as the first, and so on, the third, &c. Which leads to a +palpable absurdity. When a horse of spirit is nearly half tired, +by the stimulus of the spur, added to the proper management of +the bit, he may be put so much upon his mettle, that he would +appear to a standerby, as fresh and as high spirited as if he had +not gone a mile. Nay, probably, the horse himself, while in the +heat and passion occasioned by this stimulus, would not feel any +fatigue; but it would be strangely contrary to all reason and +experience, to argue from such an appearance that, if the +stimulus were continued, the horse would never be tired. The cry +of a pack of hounds will make some horses, after a journey of +forty miles on the road, appear as fresh, and as lively, as when +they first set out. Were they then to be hunted, no perceptible +abatement would at first be felt by their riders in their +strength and spirits, but towards the end of a hard day, the +previous fatigue would have its full weight and effect, and make +them tire sooner. When I have taken a long walk with my gun, and +met with no success, I have frequently returned home feeling a +considerable degree of uncomfortableness from fatigue. Another +day, perhaps, going over nearly the same extent of ground with a +good deal of sport, I have come home fresh, and alert. The +difference in the sensation of fatigue upon coming in, on the +different days, may have been very striking, but on the following +mornings I have found no such difference. I have not perceived +that I was less stiff in my limbs, or less footsore, on the +morning after the day of the sport, than on the other morning. + +In all these cases, stimulants upon the mind seem to act +rather by taking off the attention from the bodily fatigue, than +by really and truly counteracting it. If the energy of my mind +had really counteracted the fatigue of my body, why should I feel +tired the next morning? if the stimulus of the hounds had as +completely overcome the fatigue of the journey in reality, as it +did in appearance, why should the horse be tired sooner than if +he had not gone the forty miles? I happen to have a very bad fit +of the toothache at the time I am writing this. In the eagerness +of composition, I every now and then, for a moment or two, forget +it. Yet I cannot help thinking that the process, which causes the +pain, is still going forwards, and that the nerves which carry +the information of it to the brain are even during these moments +demanding attention and room for their appropriate vibrations. +The multiplicity of vibrations of another kind may perhaps +prevent their admission, or overcome them for a time when +admitted, till a shoot of extraordinary energy puts all other +vibration to the rout, destroys the vividness of my argumentative +conceptions, and rides triumphant in the brain. In this case, as +in the others, the mind seems to have little or no power in +counteracting or curing the disorder, but merely possesses a +power, if strongly excited, of fixing its attention on other +subjects. + +I do not, however, mean to say that a sound and vigorous mind +has no tendency whatever to keep the body in a similar state. So +close and intimate is the union of mind and body that it would be +highly extraordinary if they did not mutually assist each other's +functions. But, perhaps, upon a comparison, the body has more +effect upon the mind than the mind upon the body. The first +object of the mind is to act as purveyor to the wants of the +body. When these wants are completely satisfied, an active mind +is indeed apt to wander further, to range over the fields of +science, or sport in the regions of. Imagination, to fancy that +it has 'shuffled off this mortal coil', and is seeking its +kindred element. But all these efforts are like the vain +exertions of the hare in the fable. The slowly moving tortoise, +the body, never fails to overtake the mind, however widely and +extensively it may have ranged, and the brightest and most +energetic intellects, unwillingly as they may attend to the first +or second summons, must ultimately yield the empire of the brain +to the calls of hunger, or sink with the exhausted body in sleep. + +It seems as if one might say with certainty that if a +medicine could be found to immortalize the body there would be no +fear of its [not] being accompanied by the immortality of the +mind. But the immortality of the mind by no means seems to infer +the immortality of the body. On the contrary, the greatest +conceivable energy of mind would probably exhaust and destroy the +strength of the body. A temperate vigour of mind appears to be +favourable to health, but very great intellectual exertions tend +rather, as has been often observed, to wear out the scabbard. +Most of the instances which Mr Godwin has brought to prove the +power of the mind over the body, and the consequent probability +of the immortality of man, are of this latter description, and +could such stimulants be continually applied, instead of tending +to immortalize, they would tend very rapidly to destroy the human +frame. + +The probable increase of the voluntary power of man over his +animal frame comes next under Mr Godwin's consideration, and he +concludes by saying, that the voluntary power of some men, in +this respect, is found to extend to various articles in which +other men are impotent. But this is reasoning against an almost +universal rule from a few exceptions; and these exceptions seem +to be rather tricks, than powers that may be exerted to any good +purpose. I have never heard of any man who could regulate his +pulse in a fever, and doubt much, if any of the persons here +alluded to have made the smallest perceptible progress in the +regular correction of the disorders of their frames and the +consequent prolongation of their lives. + +Mr Godwin says, 'Nothing can be more unphilosophical than to +conclude, that, because a certain species of power is beyond the +train of our present observation, that it is beyond the limits of +the human mind.' I own my ideas of philosophy are in this respect +widely different from Mr Godwin's. The only distinction that I +see, between a philosophical conjecture, and the assertions of +the Prophet Mr Brothers, is, that one is founded upon indications +arising from the train of our present observations, and the other +has no foundation at all. I expect that great discoveries are yet +to take place in all the branches of human science, particularly +in physics; but the moment we leave past experience as the +foundation of our conjectures concerning the future, and, still +more, if our conjectures absolutely contradict past experience, +we are thrown upon a wide field of uncertainty, and any one +supposition is then just as good as another. If a person were to +tell me that men would ultimately have eyes and hands behind them +as well as before them, I should admit the usefulness of the +addition, but should give as a reason for my disbelief of it, +that I saw no indications whatever in the past from which I could +infer the smallest probability of such a change. If this be not +allowed a valid objection, all conjectures are alike, and all +equally philosophical. I own it appears to me that in the train +of our present observations, there are no more genuine +indications that man will become immortal upon earth than that he +will have four eyes and four hands, or that trees will grow +horizontally instead of perpendicularly. + +It will be said, perhaps, that many discoveries have already +taken place in the world that were totally unforeseen and +unexpected. This I grant to be true; but if a person had +predicted these discoveries without being guided by any analogies +or indications from past facts, he would deserve the name of seer +or prophet, but not of philosopher. The wonder that some of our +modern discoveries would excite in the savage inhabitants of +Europe in the times of Theseus and Achilles, proves but little. +Persons almost entirely unacquainted with the powers of a machine +cannot be expected to guess at its effects. I am far from saying, +that we are at present by any means fully acquainted with the +powers of the human mind; but we certainly know more of this +instrument than was known four thousand years ago; and therefore, +though not to be called competent judges, we are certainly much +better able than savages to say what is, or is not, within its +grasp. A watch would strike a savage with as much surprise as a +perpetual motion; yet one is to us a most familiar piece of +mechanism, and the other has constantly eluded the efforts of the +most acute intellects. In many instances we are now able to +perceive the causes, which prevent an unlimited improvement in +those inventions, which seemed to promise fairly for it at first. +The original improvers of telescopes would probably think, that +as long as the size of the specula and the length of the tubes +could be increased, the powers and advantages of the instrument +would increase; but experience has since taught us, that the +smallness of the field, the deficiency of light, and the +circumstance of the atmosphere being magnified, prevent the +beneficial results that were to be expected from telescopes of +extraordinary size and power. In many parts of knowledge, man has +been almost constantly making some progress; in other parts, his +efforts have been invariably baffled. The savage would not +probably be able to guess at the causes of this mighty +difference. Our further experience has given us some little +insight into these causes, and has therefore enabled us better to +judge, if not of what we are to expect in future, at least of +what we are not to expect, which, though negative, is a very +useful piece of information. + +As the necessity of sleep seems rather to depend upon the +body than the mind, it does not appear how the improvement of the +mind can tend very greatly to supersede this 'conspicuous +infirmity'. A man who by great excitements on his mind is able +to pass two or three nights without sleep, proportionably +exhausts the vigour of his body, and this diminution of health +and strength will soon disturb the operations of his +understanding, so that by these great efforts he appears to have +made no real progress whatever in superseding the necessity of +this species of rest. + +There is certainly a sufficiently marked difference in the +various characters of which we have some knowledge, relative to +the energies of their minds, their benevolent pursuits, etc., to +enable us to judge whether the operations of intellect have any +decided effect in prolonging the duration of human life. It is +certain that no decided effect of this kind has yet been +observed. Though no attention of any kind has ever produced such +an effect as could be construed into the smallest semblance of an +approach towards immortality, yet of the two, a certain attention +to the body seems to have more effect in this respect than an +attention to the mind. The man who takes his temperate meals and +his bodily exercise, with scrupulous regularity, will generally +be found more healthy than the man who, very deeply engaged in +intellectual pursuits, often forgets for a time these bodily +cravings. The citizen who has retired, and whose ideas, perhaps, +scarcely soar above or extend beyond his little garden, puddling +all the morning about his borders of box, will, perhaps, live as +long as the philosopher whose range of intellect is the most +extensive, and whose views are the clearest of any of his +contemporaries. It has been positively observed by those who have +attended to the bills of mortality that women live longer upon an +average than men, and, though I would not by any means say that +their intellectual faculties are inferior, yet, I think, it must +be allowed that, from their different education, there are not so +many women as men, who are excited to vigorous mental exertion. + +As in these and similar instances, or to take a larger range, +as in the great diversity of characters that have existed during +some thousand years, no decided difference has been observed in +the duration of human life from the operation of intellect, the +mortality of man on earth seems to be as completely established, +and exactly upon the same grounds, as any one, the most constant, +of the laws of nature. An immediate act of power in the Creator +of the Universe might, indeed, change one or all of these laws, +either suddenly or gradually, but without some indications of +such a change, and such indications do not exist, it. Is just as +unphilosophical to suppose that the life of man may be prolonged +beyond any assignable limits, as to suppose that the attraction +of the earth will gradually be changed into repulsion and that +stones will ultimately rise instead of fall or that the earth +will fly off at a certain period to some more genial and warmer +sun. + +The conclusion of this chapter presents us, undoubtedly, with +a very beautiful and desirable picture, but like some of the +landscapes drawn from fancy and not imagined with truth, it fails +of that interest in the heart which nature and probability can +alone give. + +I cannot quit this subject without taking notice of these +conjectures of Mr Godwin and Mr Condorcet concerning the +indefinite prolongation of human life, as a very curious instance +of the longing of the soul after immortality. Both these +gentlemen have rejected the light of revelation which absolutely +promises eternal life in another state. They have also rejected +the light of natural religion, which to the ablest intellects in +all ages has indicated the future existence of the soul. Yet so +congenial is the idea of immortality to the mind of man that they +cannot consent entirely to throw it out of their systems. After +all their fastidious scepticisms concerning the only probable +mode of immortality, they introduce a species of immortality of +their own, not only completely contradictory to every law of +philosophical probability, but in itself in the highest degree +narrow, partial, and unjust. They suppose that all the great, +virtuous, and exalted minds that have ever existed or that may +exist for some thousands, perhaps millions of years, will be sunk +in annihilation, and that only a few beings, not greater in +number than can exist at once upon the earth, will be ultimately +crowned with immortality. Had such a tenet been advanced as a +tenet of revelation I am very sure that all the enemies of +religion, and probably Mr Godwin and Mr Condorcet among the rest, +would have exhausted the whole force of their ridicule upon it, +as the most puerile, the most absurd, the poorest, the most +pitiful, the most iniquitously unjust, and, consequently, the +most unworthy of the Deity that the superstitious folly of man +could invent. + +What a strange and curious proof do these conjectures exhibit +of the inconsistency of scepticism! For it should be observed, +that there is a very striking and essential difference between +believing an assertion which absolutely contradicts the most +uniform experience, and an assertion which contradicts nothing, +but is merely beyond the power of our present observation and +knowledge. So diversified are the natural objects around us, so +many instances of mighty power daily offer themselves to our +view, that we may fairly presume, that there are many forms and +operations of nature which we have not yet observed, or which, +perhaps, we are not capable of observing with our present +confined inlets of knowledge. The resurrection of a spiritual +body from a natural body does not appear in itself a more +wonderful instance of power than the germination of a blade of +wheat from the grain, or of an oak from an acorn. Could we +conceive an intelligent being, so placed as to be conversant only +with inanimate or full grown objects, and never to have witnessed +the process of vegetation and growth; and were another being to +shew him two little pieces of matter, a grain of wheat, and an +acorn, to desire him to examine them, to analyse them if he +pleased, and endeavour to find out their properties and essences; +and then to tell him, that however trifling these little bits of +matter might appear to him, that they possessed such curious +powers of selection, combination, arrangement, and almost of +creation, that upon being put into the ground, they would choose, +amongst all the dirt and moisture that surrounded them, those +parts which best suited their purpose, that they would collect +and arrange these parts with wonderful taste, judgement, and +execution, and would rise up into beautiful forms, scarcely in +any respect analogous to the little bits of matter which were +first placed in the earth. I feel very little doubt that the +imaginary being which I have supposed would hesitate more, would +require better authority, and stronger proofs, before he believed +these strange assertions, than if he had been told, that a being +of mighty power, who had been the cause of all that he saw around +him, and of that existence of which he himself was conscious, +would, by a great act of power upon the death and corruption of +human creatures, raise up the essence of thought in an +incorporeal, or at least invisible form, to give it a happier +existence in another state. + +The only difference, with regard to our own apprehensions, +that is not in favour of the latter assertion is that the first +miracle we have repeatedly seen, and the last miracle we have not +seen. I admit the full weight of this prodigious difference, but +surely no man can hesitate a moment in saying that, putting +Revelation out of the question, the resurrection of a spiritual +body from a natural body, which may be merely one among the many +operations of nature which we cannot see, is an event +indefinitely more probable than the immortality of man on earth, +which is not only an event of which no symptoms or indications +have yet appeared, but is a positive contradiction to one of the +most constant of the laws of nature that has ever come within the +observation of man. + +When we extend our view beyond this life, it is evident that +we can have no other guides than authority, or conjecture, and +perhaps, indeed, an obscure and undefined feeling. What I say +here, therefore, does not appear to me in any respect to +contradict what I said before, when I observed that it was +unphilosophical to expect any specifick event that was not +indicated by some kind of analogy in the past. In ranging beyond +the bourne from which no traveller returns, we must necessarily +quit this rule; but with regard to events that may be expected to +happen on earth, we can seldom quit it consistently with true +philosophy. Analogy has, however, as I conceive, great latitude. +For instance, man has discovered many of the laws of nature: +analogy seems to indicate that he will discover many more; but no +analogy seems to indicate that he will discover a sixth sense, or +a new species of power in the human mind, entirely beyond the +train of our present observations. + +The powers of selection, combination, and transmutation, +which every seed shews, are truly miraculous. Who can imagine +that these wonderful faculties are contained in these little bits +of matter? To me it appears much more philosophical to suppose +that the mighty God of nature is present in full energy in all +these operations. To this all powerful Being, it would be equally +easy to raise an oak without an acorn as with one. The +preparatory process of putting seeds into the ground is merely +ordained for the use of man, as one among the various other +excitements necessary to awaken matter into mind. It is an idea +that will be found consistent, equally with the natural phenomena +around us, with the various events of human life, and with the +successive revelations of God to man, to suppose that the world +is a mighty process for the creation and formation of mind. Many +vessels will necessarily come out of this great furnace in wrong +shapes. These will be broken and thrown aside as useless; while +those vessels whose forms are full of truth, grace, and +loveliness, will be wafted into happier situations, nearer the +presence of the mighty maker. + +I ought perhaps again to make an apology to my readers for +dwelling so long upon a conjecture which many, I know, will think +too absurd and improbable to require the least discussion. But if +it be as improbable and as contrary to the genuine spirit of +philosophy as I own I think it is, why should it not be shewn to +be so in a candid examination? A conjecture, however improbable +on the first view of it, advanced by able and ingenious men, +seems at least to deserve investigation. For my own part I feel +no disinclination whatever to give that degree of credit to the +opinion of the probable immortality of man on earth, which the +appearances that can be brought in support of it deserve. Before +we decide upon the utter improbability of such an event, it is +but fair impartially to examine these appearances; and from such +an examination I think we may conclude, that we have rather less +reason for supposing that the life of man may be indefinitely +prolonged, than that trees may be made to grow indefinitely high, +or potatoes indefinitely large. Though Mr Godwin advances the +idea of the indefinite prolongation of human life merely as a +conjecture, yet as he has produced some appearances, which in his +conception favour the supposition, he must certainly intend that +these appearances should be examined and this is all that I have +meant to do. + + + +CHAPTER 13 + +Error of Mr Godwin is considering man too much in the light of a +being merely rational--In the compound being, man, the passions +will always act as disturbing forces in the decisions of the +understanding--Reasonings of Mr Godwin on the subject of +coercion--Some truths of a nature not to be communicated from +one man to another. + + +In the chapter which I have been examining, Mr Godwin professes +to consider the objection to his system of equality from the +principle of population. It has appeared, I think clearly, that +he is greatly erroneous in his statement of the distance of this +difficulty, and that instead of myriads of centuries, it is +really not thirty years, or even thirty days, distant from us. +The supposition of the approach of man to immortality on earth is +certainly not of a kind to soften the difficulty. The only +argument, therefore, in the chapter which has any tendency to +remove the objection is the conjecture concerning the extinction +of the passion between the sexes, but as this is a mere +conjecture, unsupported by the smallest shadow of proof, the +force of the objection may be fairly said to remain unimpaired, +and it is undoubtedly of sufficient weight of itself completely +to overturn Mr Godwin's whole system of equality. I will, +however, make one or two observations on a few of the prominent +parts of Mr Godwin's reasonings which will contribute to place in +a still clearer point of view the little hope that we can +reasonably entertain of those vast improvements in the nature of +man and of society which he holds up to our admiring gaze in his +Political Justice. + +Mr Godwin considers man too much in the light of a being +merely intellectual. This error, at least such I conceive it to +be, pervades his whole work and mixes itself with all his +reasonings. The voluntary actions of men may originate in their +opinions, but these opinions will be very differently modified in +creatures compounded of a rational faculty and corporal +propensities from what they would be in beings wholly +intellectual. Mr Godwin, in proving that sound reasoning and +truth are capable of being adequately communicated, examines the +proposition first practically, and then adds, 'Such is the +appearance which this proposition assumes, when examined in a +loose and practical view. In strict consideration it will not +admit of debate. Man is a rational being, etc.' (Bk. I, ch. 5; in +the third edition Vol. I, p. 88). So far from calling this a +strict consideration of the subject, I own I should call it the +loosest, and most erroneous, way possible, of considering it. It +is the calculating the velocity of a falling body in vacuo, and +persisting in it, that it would be the same through whatever +resisting mediums it might fall. This was not Newton's mode of +philosophizing. Very few general propositions are just in +application to a particular subject. The moon is not kept in her +orbit round the earth, nor the earth in her orbit round the sun, +by a force that varies merely in the inverse ratio of the squares +of the distances. To make the general theory just in application +to the revolutions of these bodies, it was necessary to calculate +accurately the disturbing force of the sun upon the moon, and of +the moon upon the earth; and till these disturbing forces were +properly estimated, actual observations on the motions of these +bodies would have proved that the theory was not accurately true. + +I am willing to allow that every voluntary act is preceded by +a decision of the mind, but it is strangely opposite to what I +should conceive to be the just theory upon the subject, and a +palpable contradiction to all experience, to say that the +corporal propensities of man do not act very powerfully, as +disturbing forces, in these decisions. The question, therefore, +does not merely depend upon whether a man may be made to +understand a distinct proposition or be convinced by an +unanswerable argument. A truth may be brought home to his +conviction as a rational being, though he may determine to act +contrary to it, as a compound being. The cravings of hunger, the +love of liquor, the desire of possessing a beautiful woman, will +urge men to actions, of the fatal consequences of which, to the +general interests of society, they are perfectly well convinced, +even at the very time they commit them. Remove their bodily +cravings, and they would not hesitate a moment in determining +against such actions. Ask them their opinion of the same conduct +in another person, and they would immediately reprobate it. But +in their own case, and under all the circumstances of their +situation with these bodily cravings, the decision of the +compound being is different from the conviction of the rational +being. + +If this be the just view of the subject, and both theory and +experience unite to prove that it is, almost all Mr Godwin's +reasonings on the subject of coercion in his seventh chapter, +will appear to be founded on error. He spends some time in +placing in a ridiculous point of view the attempt to convince a +man's understanding and to clear up a doubtful proposition in his +mind, by blows. Undoubtedly it is both ridiculous and barbarous, +and so is cock-fighting, but one has little more to do with the +real object of human punishments than the other. One frequent +(indeed much too frequent) mode of punishment is death. Mr Godwin +will hardly think this intended for conviction, at least it does +not appear how the individual or the society could reap much +future benefit from an understanding enlightened in this manner. + +The principal objects which human punishments have in view +are undoubtedly restraint and example; restraint, or removal, of +an individual member whose vicious habits are likely to be +prejudicial to the society'; and example, which by expressing the +sense of the community with regard to a particular crime, and by +associating more nearly and visibly crime and punishment, holds +out a moral motive to dissuade others from the commission of it. + +Restraint, Mr Godwin thinks, may be permitted as a temporary +expedient, though he reprobates solitary imprisonment, which has +certainly been the most successful, and, indeed, almost the only +attempt towards the moral amelioration of offenders. He talks of +the selfish passions that are fostered by solitude and of the +virtues generated in society. But surely these virtues are not +generated in the society of a prison. Were the offender confined +to the society of able and virtuous men he would probably be more +improved than in solitude. But is this practicable? Mr Godwin's +ingenuity is more frequently employed in finding out evils than +in suggesting practical remedies. + +Punishment, for example, is totally reprobated. By +endeavouring to make examples too impressive and terrible, +nations have, indeed, been led into the most barbarous cruelties, +but the abuse of any practice is not a good argument against its +use. The indefatigable pains taken in this country to find out a +murder, and the certainty of its punishment, has powerfully +contributed to generate that sentiment which is frequent in the +mouths of the common people, that a murder will sooner or later +come to light; and the habitual horror in which murder is in +consequence held will make a man, in the agony of passion, throw +down his knife for fear he should be tempted to use it in the +gratification of his revenge. In Italy, where murderers, by +flying to a sanctuary, are allowed more frequently to escape, the +crime has never been held in the same detestation and has +consequently been more frequent. No man, who is at all aware of +the operation of moral motives, can doubt for a moment, that if +every murder in Italy had been invariably punished, the use of +the stiletto in transports of passion would have been +comparatively but little known. + +That human laws either do, or can, proportion the punishment +accurately to the offence, no person will have the folly to +assert. From the inscrutability of motives the thing is +absolutely impossible, but this imperfection, though it may be +called a species of injustice, is no valid argument against human +laws. It is the lot of man, that he will frequently have to +choose between two evils; and it is a sufficient reason for the +adoption of any institution, that it is the best mode that +suggests itself of preventing greater evils. A continual +endeavour should undoubtedly prevail to make these institutions +as perfect as the nature of them will admit. But nothing is so +easy as to find fault with human institutions; nothing so +difficult as to suggest adequate practical improvements. It is to +be lamented, that more men of talents employ their time in the +former occupation than in the latter. + +The frequency of crime among men, who, as the common saying +is, know better, sufficiently proves, that some truths may be +brought home to the conviction of the mind without always +producing the proper effect upon the conduct. There are other +truths of a nature that perhaps never can be adequately +communicated from one man to another. The superiority of the +pleasures of intellect to those of sense, Mr Godwin considers as +a fundamental truth. Taking all circumstances into consideration, +I should be disposed to agree with him; but how am I to +communicate this truth to a person who has scarcely ever felt +intellectual pleasure? I may as well attempt to explain the +nature and beauty of colours to a blind man. If I am ever so +laborious, patient, and clear, and have the most repeated +opportunities of expostulation, any real progress toward the +accomplishment of my purpose seems absolutely hopeless. There is +no common measure between us. I cannot proceed step by step.. It +is a truth of a nature absolutely incapable of demonstration. All +that I can say is, that the wisest and best men in all ages had +agreed in giving the preference, very greatly, to the pleasures +of intellect; and that my own experience completely confirmed the +truth of their decisions; that I had found sensual pleasures +vain, transient, and continually attended with tedium and +disgust; but that intellectual pleasures appeared to me ever +fresh and young, filled up all my hours satisfactorily, gave a +new zest to life, and diffused a lasting serenity over my mind. +If he believe me, it can only be from respect and veneration for +my authority. It is credulity, and not conviction. I have not +said any thing, nor can any thing be said, of a nature to produce +real conviction. The affair is not an affair of reasoning, but of +experience. He would probably observe in reply, what you say may +be very true with regard to yourself and many other good men, but +for my own part I feel very differently upon the subject. I have +very frequently taken up a book and almost as frequently gone to +sleep over it; but when I pass an evening with a gay party, or a +pretty woman, I feel alive, and in spirits, and truly enjoy my +existence. + +Under such circumstances, reasoning and arguments are not +instruments from which success can be expected. At some future +time perhaps, real satiety of sensual pleasures, or some +accidental impressions that awakened the energies of his mind, +might effect that, in a month, which the most patient and able +expostulations might be incapable of effecting in forty years. + + + +CHAPTER 14 + +Mr Godwin's five propositions respecting political truth, on +which his whole work hinges, not established--Reasons we have +for supposing, from the distress occasioned by the principle of +population, that the vices and moral weakness of man can never be +wholly eradicated--Perfectibility, in the sense in which Mr +Godwin uses the term, not applicable to man--Nature of the real +perfectibility of man illustrated. + + +If the reasonings of the preceding chapter are just, the +corollaries respecting political truth, which Mr Godwin draws +from the proposition, that the voluntary actions of men originate +in their opinions, will not appear to be clearly established. +These corollaries are, "Sound reasoning and truth, when +adequately communicated, must always be victorious over error: +Sound reasoning and truth are capable of being so communicated: +Truth is omnipotent: The vices and moral weakness of man are not +invincible: Man is perfectible, or in other words, susceptible of +perpetual improvement." + +The first three propositions may be considered a complete +syllogism. If by adequately communicated, be meant such a +conviction as to produce an adequate effect upon the conduct, the +major may be allowed and the minor denied. The consequent, or the +omnipotence of truth, of course falls to the ground. If by +'adequately communicated' be meant merely the conviction of the +rational faculty, the major must be denied, the minor will be +only true in cases capable of demonstration, and the consequent +equally falls. The fourth proposition Mr Godwin calls the +preceding proposition, with a slight variation in the statement. +If so, it must accompany the preceding proposition in its fall. +But it may be worth while to inquire, with reference to the +principal argument of this essay, into the particular reasons +which we have for supposing that the vices and moral weakness of +man can never be wholly overcome in this world. + +Man, according to Mr Godwin, is a creature formed what he is +by the successive impressions which he has received, from the +first moment that the germ from which he sprung was animated. +Could he be placed in a situation, where he was subject to no +evil impressions whatever, though it might be doubted whether in +such a situation virtue could exist, vice would certainly be +banished. The great bent of Mr Godwin's work on Political +Justice, if I understand it rightly, is to shew that the greater +part of the vices and weaknesses of men proceed from the +injustice of their political and social institutions, and that if +these were removed and the understandings of men more +enlightened, there would be little or no temptation in the world +to evil. As it has been clearly proved, however, (at least as I +think) that this is entirely a false conception, and that, +independent of any political or social institutions whatever, the +greater part of mankind, from the fixed and unalterable laws of +nature, must ever be subject to the evil temptations arising from +want, besides other passions, it follows from Mr Godwin's +definition of man that such impressions, and combinations of +impressions, cannot be afloat in the world without generating a +variety of bad men. According to Mr Godwin's own conception of +the formation of character, it is surely as improbable that under +such circumstances all men will be virtuous as that sixes will +come up a hundred times following upon the dice. The great +variety of combinations upon the dice in a repeated succession of +throws appears to me not inaptly to represent the great variety +of character that must necessarily exist in the world, supposing +every individual to be formed what he is by that combination of +impressions which he has received since his first existence. And +this comparison will, in some measure, shew the absurdity of +supposing, that exceptions will ever become general rules; that +extraordinary and unusual combinations will be frequent; or that +the individual instances of great virtue which had appeared in +all ages of the world will ever prevail universally. + +I am aware that Mr Godwin might say that the comparison is in +one respect inaccurate, that in the case of the dice, the +preceding causes, or rather the chances respecting the preceding +causes, were always the same, and that, therefore, I could have +no good reason for supposing that a greater number of sixes would +come up in the next hundred times of throwing than in the +preceding same number of throws. But, that man had in some sort a +power of influencing those causes that formed character, and that +every good and virtuous man that was produced, by the influence +which he must necessarily have, rather increased the probability +that another such virtuous character would be generated, whereas +the coming up of sixes upon the dice once, would certainly not +increase the probability of their coming up a second time. I +admit this objection to the accuracy of the comparison, but it is +only partially valid. Repeated experience has assured us, that +the influence of the most virtuous character will rarely prevail +against very strong temptations to evil. It will undoubtedly +affect some, but it will fail with a much greater number. Had Mr +Godwin succeeded in his attempt to prove that these temptations +to evil could by the exertions of man be removed, I would give up +the comparison; or at least allow, that a man might be so far +enlightened with regard to the mode of shaking his elbow, that he +would be able to throw sixes every time. But as long as a great +number of those impressions which form character, like the nice +motions of the arm, remain absolutely independent of the will of +man, though it would be the height of folly and presumption to +attempt to calculate the relative proportions of virtue and vice +at the future periods of the world, it may be safely asserted +that the vices and moral weakness of mankind, taken in the mass, +are invincible. + +The fifth proposition is the general deduction from the four +former and will consequently fall, as the foundations which +support it have given way. In the sense in which Mr Godwin +understands the term 'perfectible', the perfectibility of man +cannot be asserted, unless the preceding propositions could have +been clearly established. There is, however, one sense, which the +term will bear, in which it is, perhaps, just. It may be said +with truth that man is always susceptible of improvement, or that +there never has been, or will be, a period of his history, in +which he can be said to have reached his possible acme of +perfection. Yet it does not by any means follow from this, that +our efforts to improve man will always succeed, or even that he +will ever make, in the greatest number of ages, any extraordinary +strides towards perfection. The only inference that can be drawn +is that the precise limit of his improvement cannot possibly be +known. And I cannot help again reminding the reader of a +distinction which, it appears to me, ought particularly to be +attended to in the present question: I mean, the essential +difference there is between an unlimited improvement and an +improvement the limit of which cannot be ascertained. The former +is an improvement not applicable to man under the present laws of +his nature. The latter, undoubtedly, is applicable. + +The real perfectibility of man may be illustrated, as I have +mentioned before, by the perfectibility of a plant. The object of +the enterprising florist is, as I conceive, to unite size, +symmetry, and beauty of colour. It would surely be presumptuous +in the most successful improver to affirm, that he possessed a +carnation in which these qualities existed in the greatest +possible state of perfection. However beautiful his flower may +be, other care, other soil, or other suns, might produce one +still more beautiful. + +Yet, although he may be aware of the absurdity of supposing +that he has reached perfection, and though he may know by what +means he attained that degree of beauty in the flower which he at +present possesses, yet he cannot be sure that by pursuing similar +means, rather increased in strength, he will obtain a more +beautiful blossom. By endeavouring to improve one quality, he may +impair the beauty of another. The richer mould which he would +employ to increase the size of his plant would probably burst the +calyx, and destroy at once its symmetry. In a similar manner, the +forcing manure used to bring about the French Revolution, and to +give a greater freedom and energy to the human mind, has burst +the calyx of humanity, the restraining bond of all society; and, +however large the separate petals have grown, however strongly, +or even beautifully, a few of them have been marked, the whole is +at present a loose, deformed, disjointed mass, without union, +symmetry, or harmony of colouring. + +Were it of consequence to improve pinks and carnations, +though we could have no hope of raising them as large as +cabbages, we might undoubtedly expect, by successive efforts, to +obtain more beautiful specimens than we at present possess. No +person can deny the importance of improving the happiness of the +human species. Every the least advance in this respect is highly +valuable. But an experiment with the human race is not like an +experiment upon inanimate objects. The bursting of a flower may +be a trifle. Another will soon succeed it. But the bursting of +the bonds of society is such a separation of parts as cannot take +place without giving the most acute pain to thousands: and a long +time may elapse, and much misery may be endured, before the wound +grows up again. + +As the five propositions which I have been examining may be +considered as the corner stones of Mr Godwin's fanciful +structure, and, indeed, as expressing the aim and bent of his +whole work, however excellent much of his detached reasoning may +be, he must be considered as having failed in the great object of +his undertaking. Besides the difficulties arising from the +compound nature of man, which he has by no means sufficiently +smoothed, the principal argument against the perfectibility of +man and society remains whole and unimpaired from any thing that +he has advanced. And as far as I can trust my own judgement, this +argument appears to be conclusive, not only against the +perfectibility of man, in the enlarged sense in which Mr Godwin +understands the term, but against any very marked and striking +change for the better, in the form and structure of general +society; by which I mean any great and decided amelioration of +the condition of the lower classes of mankind, the most numerous, +and, consequently, in a general view of the subject, the most +important part of the human race. Were I to live a thousand +years, and the laws of nature to remain the same, I should little +fear, or rather little hope, a contradiction from experience in +asserting that no possible sacrifices or exertions of the rich, +in a country which had been long inhabited, could for any time +place the lower classes of the community in a situation equal, +with regard to circumstances, to the situation of the common +people about thirty years ago in the northern States of America. + +The lower classes of people in Europe may at some future +period be much better instructed than they are at present; they +may be taught to employ the little spare time they have in many +better ways than at the ale-house; they may live under better and +more equal laws than they have ever hitherto done, perhaps, in +any country; and I even conceive it possible, though not probable +that they may have more leisure; but it is not in the nature of +things that they can be awarded such a quantity of money or +subsistence as will allow them all to marry early, in the full +confidence that they shall be able to provide with ease for a +numerous family. + + + +CHAPTER 15 + +Models too perfect may sometimes rather impede than promote +improvement--Mr Godwin's essay on 'Avarice and Profusion'-- +Impossibility of dividing the necessary labour of a society +amicably among all--Invectives against labour may produce present +evil, with little or no chance of producing future good--An +accession to the mass of agricultural labour must always be an +advantage to the labourer. + + +Mr Godwin in the preface to his Enquirer, drops a few expressions +which seem to hint at some change in his opinions since he wrote +the Political Justice; and as this is a work now of some years +standing, I should certainly think that I had been arguing +against opinions which the author had himself seen reason to +alter, but that in some of the essays of the Enquirer, Mr +Godwin's peculiar mode of thinking appears in as striking a light +as ever. + +It has been frequently observed that though we cannot hope to +reach perfection in any thing, yet that it must always be +advantageous to us to place before our eyes the most perfect +models. This observation has a plausible appearance, but is very +far from being generally true. I even doubt its truth in one of +the most obvious exemplifications that would occur. I doubt +whether a very young painter would receive so much benefit, from +an attempt to copy a highly finished and perfect picture, as from +copying one where the outlines were more strongly marked and the +manner of laying on the colours was more easily discoverable. But +in cases where the perfection of the model is a perfection of a +different and superior nature from that towards which we should +naturally advance, we shall not always fail in making any +progress towards it, but we shall in all probability impede the +progress which we might have expected to make had we not fixed +our eyes upon so perfect a model. A highly intellectual +being, exempt from the infirm calls of hunger or sleep, is +undoubtedly a much more perfect existence than man, but were man +to attempt to copy such a model, he would not only fail in making +any advances towards it; but by unwisely straining to imitate +what was inimitable, he would probably destroy the little +intellect which he was endeavouring to improve. + +The form and structure of society which Mr Godwin describes +is as essentially distinct from any forms of society which have +hitherto prevailed in the world as a being that can live without +food or sleep is from a man. By improving society in its present +form, we are making no more advances towards such a state of +things as he pictures than we should make approaches towards a +line, with regard to which we were walking parallel. The +question, therefore, is whether, by looking to such a form of +society as our polar star, we are likely to advance or retard the +improvement of the human species? Mr Godwin appears to me to have +decided this question against himself in his essay on 'Avarice +and Profusion' in the Enquirer. + +Dr Adam Smith has very justly observed that nations as well +as individuals grow rich by parsimony and poor by profusion, and +that, therefore, every frugal man was a friend and every +spendthrift an enemy to his country. The reason he gives is that +what is saved from revenue is always added to stock, and is +therefore taken from the maintenance of labour that is generally +unproductive and employed in the maintenance of labour that +realizes itself in valuable commodities. No observation can be +more evidently just. The subject of Mr Godwin's essay is a little +similar in its first appearance, but in essence is as distinct as +possible. He considers the mischief of profusion as an +acknowledged truth, and therefore makes his comparison between +the avaricious man, and the man who spends his income. But the +avaricious man of Mr Godwin is totally a distinct character, at +least with regard to his effect upon the prosperity of the state, +from the frugal man of Dr Adam Smith. The frugal man in order to +make more money saves from his income and adds to his capital, +and this capital he either employs himself in the maintenance of +productive labour, or he lends it to some other person who will +probably employ it in this way. He benefits the state because he +adds to its general capital, and because wealth employed as +capital not only sets in motion more labour than when spent as +income, but the labour is besides of a more valuable kind. But +the avaricious man of Mr Godwin locks up his wealth in a chest +and sets in motion no labour of any kind, either productive or +unproductive. This is so essential a difference that Mr Godwin's +decision in his essay appears at once as evidently false as Dr +Adam Smith's position is evidently true. It could not, indeed, +but occur to Mr Godwin that some present inconvenience might +arise to the poor from thus locking up the funds destined for the +maintenance of labour. The only way, therefore, he had of +weakening this objection was to compare the two characters +chiefly with regard to their tendency to accelerate the approach +of that happy state of cultivated equality, on which he says we +ought always to fix our eyes as our polar star. + +I think it has been proved in the former parts of this essay +that such a state of society is absolutely impracticable. What +consequences then are we to expect from looking to such a point +as our guide and polar star in the great sea of political +discovery? Reason would teach us to expect no other than winds +perpetually adverse, constant but fruitless toil, frequent +shipwreck, and certain misery. We shall not only fail in making +the smallest real approach towards such a perfect form of +society; but by wasting our strength of mind and body, in a +direction in which it is impossible to proceed, and by the +frequent distress which we must necessarily occasion by our +repeated failures, we shall evidently impede that degree of +improvement in society, which is really attainable. + +It has appeared that a society constituted according to Mr +Godwin's system must, from the inevitable laws of our nature, +degenerate into a class of proprietors and a class of labourers, +and that the substitution of benevolence for self-love as the +moving principle of society, instead of producing the happy +effects that might be expected from so fair a name, would cause +the same pressure of want to be felt by the whole of society, +which is now felt only by a part. It is to the established +administration of property and to the apparently narrow principle +of self-love that we are indebted for all the noblest exertions +of human genius, all the finer and more delicate emotions of the +soul, for everything, indeed, that distinguishes the civilized +from the savage state; and no sufficient change has as yet taken +place in the nature of civilized man to enable us to say that he +either is, or ever will be, in a state when he may safely throw +down the ladder by which he has risen to this eminence. + +If in every society that has advanced beyond the savage +state, a class of proprietors and a class of labourers must +necessarily exist, it is evident that, as labour is the only +property of the class of labourers, every thing that tends to +diminish the value of this property must tend to diminish the +possession of this part of society. The only way that a poor man +has of supporting himself in independence is by the exertion of +his bodily strength. This is the only commodity he has to give in +exchange for the necessaries of life. It would hardly appear then +that you benefit him by narrowing the market for this commodity, +by decreasing the demand for labour, and lessening the value of +the only property that he possesses. + +It should be observed that the principal argument of this +Essay only goes to prove the necessity of a class of proprietors, +and a class of labourers, but by no means infers that the present +great inequality of property is either necessary or useful to +society. On the contrary, it must certainly be considered as an +evil, and every institution that promotes it is essentially bad +and impolitic. But whether a government could with advantage to +society actively interfere to repress inequality of fortunes may +be a matter of doubt. Perhaps the generous system of perfect +liberty adopted by Dr Adam Smith and the French economists would +be ill exchanged for any system of restraint. + +Mr Godwin would perhaps say that the whole system of barter +and exchange is a vile and iniquitous traffic. If you would +essentially relieve the poor man, you should take a part of his +labour upon yourself, or give him your money, without exacting so +severe a return for it. In answer to the first method proposed, +it may be observed, that even if the rich could be persuaded to +assist the poor in this way, the value of the assistance would be +comparatively trifling. The rich, though they think themselves of +great importance, bear but a small proportion in point of numbers +to the poor, and would, therefore, relieve them but of a small +part of their burdens by taking a share. Were all those that are +employed in the labours of luxuries added to the number of those +employed in producing necessaries, and could these necessary +labours be amicably divided among all, each man's share might +indeed be comparatively light; but desirable as such an amicable +division would undoubtedly be, I cannot conceive any practical +principle according to which it could take place. It has been +shewn, that the spirit of benevolence, guided by the strict +impartial justice that Mr Godwin describes, would, if vigorously +acted upon, depress in want and misery the whole human race. Let +us examine what would be the consequence, if the proprietor were +to retain a decent share for himself, but to give the rest away +to the poor, without exacting a task from them in return. Not to +mention the idleness and the vice that such a proceeding, if +general, would probably create in the present state of society, +and the great risk there would be, of diminishing the produce of +land, as well as the labours of luxury, another objection yet +remains. + +Mr Godwin seems to have but little respect for practical +principles; but I own it appears to me, that he is a much greater +benefactor to mankind, who points out how an inferior good may be +attained, than he who merely expatiates on the deformity of the +present state of society, and the beauty of a different state, +without pointing out a practical method, that might be +immediately applied, of accelerating our advances from the one, +to the other. + +It has appeared that from the principle of population more +will always be in want than can be adequately supplied. The +surplus of the rich man might be sufficient for three, but four +will be desirous to obtain it. He cannot make this selection of +three out of the four without conferring a great favour on those +that are the objects of his choice. These persons must consider +themselves as under a great obligation to him and as dependent +upon him for their support. The rich man would feel his power and +the poor man his dependence, and the evil effects of these two +impressions on the human heart are well known. Though I perfectly +agree with Mr Godwin therefore in the evil of hard labour, yet I +still think it a less evil, and less calculated to debase the +human mind, than dependence, and every history of man that we +have ever read places in a strong point of view the danger to +which that mind is exposed which is entrusted with constant +power. + +In the present state of things, and particularly when labour +is in request, the man who does a day's work for me confers full +as great an obligation upon me as I do upon him. I possess what +he wants, he possesses what I want. We make an amicable exchange. +The poor man walks erect in conscious independence; and the mind +of his employer is not vitiated by a sense of power. + +Three or four hundred years ago there was undoubtedly much +less labour in England, in proportion to the population, than at +present, but there was much more dependence, and we probably +should not now enjoy our present degree of civil liberty if the +poor, by the introduction of manufactures, had not been enabled +to give something in exchange for the provisions of the great +Lords, instead of being dependent upon their bounty. Even the +greatest enemies of trade and manufactures, and I do not reckon +myself a very determined friend to them, must allow that when +they were introduced into England, liberty came in their train. + +Nothing that has been said tends in the most remote degree to +undervalue the principle of benevolence. It is one of the noblest +and most godlike qualities of the human heart, generated, +perhaps, slowly and gradually from self-love, and afterwards +intended to act as a general law, whose kind office it should be, +to soften the partial deformities, to correct the asperities, and +to smooth the wrinkles of its parent: and this seems to be the +analog of all nature. Perhaps there is no one general law of +nature that will not appear, to us at least, to produce partial +evil; and we frequently observe at the same time, some bountiful +provision which, acting as another general law, corrects the +inequalities of the first. + +The proper office of benevolence is to soften the partial +evils arising from self-love, but it can never be substituted in +its place. If no man were to allow himself to act till he had +completely determined that the action he was about to perform was +more conducive than any other to the general good, the most +enlightened minds would hesitate in perplexity and amazement; and +the unenlightened would be continually committing the grossest +mistakes. + +As Mr Godwin, therefore, has not laid down any practical +principle according to which the necessary labours of agriculture +might be amicably shared among the whole class of labourers, by +general invectives against employing the poor he appears to +pursue an unattainable good through much present evil. For if +every man who employs the poor ought to be considered as their +enemy, and as adding to the weight of their oppressions, and if +the miser is for this reason to be preferred to the man who +spends his income, it follows that any number of men who now +spend their incomes might, to the advantage of society, be +converted into misers. Suppose then that a hundred thousand +persons who now employ ten men each were to lock up their wealth +from general use, it is evident, that a million of working men of +different kinds would be completely thrown out of all employment. +The extensive misery that such an event would produce in the +present state of society Mr Godwin himself could hardly refuse to +acknowledge, and I question whether he might not find some +difficulty in proving that a conduct of this kind tended more +than the conduct of those who spend their incomes to 'place human +beings in the condition in which they ought to be placed.' But Mr +Godwin says that the miser really locks up nothing, that the +point has not been rightly understood, and that the true +development and definition of the nature of wealth have not been +applied to illustrate it. Having defined therefore wealth, very +justly, to be the commodities raised and fostered by human +labour, he observes that the miser locks up neither corn, nor +oxen, nor clothes, nor houses. Undoubtedly he does not really +lock up these articles, but he locks up the power of producing +them, which is virtually the same. These things are certainly +used and consumed by his contemporaries, as truly, and to as +great an extent, as if he were a beggar; but not to as great an +extent as if he had employed his wealth in turning up more land, +in breeding more oxen, in employing more tailors, and in building +more houses. But supposing, for a moment, that the conduct of the +miser did not tend to check any really useful produce, how are +all those who are thrown out of employment to obtain patents +which they may shew in order to be awarded a proper share of the +food and raiment produced by the society? This is the +unconquerable difficulty. + +I am perfectly willing to concede to Mr Godwin that there is +much more labour in the world than is really necessary, and that, +if the lower classes of society could agree among themselves +never to work more than six or seven hours in the day, the +commodities essential to human happiness might still be produced +in as great abundance as at present. But it is almost impossible +to conceive that such an agreement could be adhered to. From the +principle of population, some would necessarily be more in want +than others. Those that had large families would naturally be +desirous of exchanging two hours more of their labour for an +ampler quantity of subsistence. How are they to be prevented from +making this exchange? it would be a violation of the first and +most sacred property that a man possesses to attempt, by positive +institutions, to interfere with his command over his own labour. + +Till Mr Godwin, therefore, can point out some practical plan +according to which the necessary labour in a society might be +equitably divided, his invectives against labour, if they were +attended to, would certainly produce much present evil without +approximating us to that state of cultivated equality to which he +looks forward as his polar star, and which, he seems to think, +should at present be our guide in determining the nature and +tendency of human actions. A mariner guided by such a polar star +is in danger of shipwreck. + +Perhaps there is no possible way in which wealth could in +general be employed so beneficially to a state, and particularly +to the lower orders of it, as by improving and rendering +productive that land which to a farmer would not answer the +expense of cultivation. Had Mr Godwin exerted his energetic +eloquence in painting the superior worth and usefulness of the +character who employed the poor in this way, to him who employed +them in narrow luxuries, every enlightened man must have +applauded his efforts. The increasing demand for agricultural +labour must always tend to better the condition of the poor; and +if the accession of work be of this kind, so far is it from being +true that the poor would be obliged to work ten hours for the +same price that they before worked eight, that the very reverse +would be the fact; and a labourer might then support his wife and +family as well by the labour of six hours as he could before by +the labour of eight. + +The labour created by luxuries, though useful in distributing +the produce of the country, without vitiating the proprietor by +power, or debasing the labourer by dependence, has not, indeed, +the same beneficial effects on the state of the poor. A great +accession of work from manufacturers, though it may raise the +price of labour even more than an increasing demand for +agricultural labour, yet, as in this case the quantity of food in +the country may not be proportionably increasing, the advantage +to the poor will be but temporary, as the price of provisions +must necessarily rise in proportion to the price of labour. +Relative to this subject, I cannot avoid venturing a few remarks +on a part of Dr Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, speaking at the +same time with that diffidence which I ought certainly to feel in +differing from a person so justly celebrated in the political +world. + + + +CHAPTER 16 + +Probable error of Dr Adam Smith in representing every increase of +the revenue or stock of a society as an increase in the funds for +the maintenance of labour--Instances where an increase of wealth +can have no tendency to better the condition of the labouring +poor--England has increased in riches without a proportional +increase in the funds for the maintenance of labour--The state +of the poor in China would not be improved by an increase of +wealth from manufactures. + + +The professed object of Dr Adam Smith's inquiry is the nature and +causes of the wealth of nations. There is another inquiry, +however, perhaps still more interesting, which he occasionally +mixes with it; I mean an inquiry into the causes which affect the +happiness of nations or the happiness and comfort of the lower +orders of society, which is the most numerous class in every +nation. I am sufficiency aware of the near connection of these +two subjects, and that the causes which tend to increase the +wealth of a state tend also, generally speaking, to increase the +happiness of the lower classes of the people. But perhaps Dr Adam +Smith has considered these two inquiries as still more nearly +connected than they really are; at least, he has not stopped to +take notice of those instances where the wealth of a society may +increase (according to his definition of 'wealth') without having +any tendency to increase the comforts of the labouring part of +it. I do not mean to enter into a philosophical discussion of +what constitutes the proper happiness of man, but shall merely +consider two universally acknowledged ingredients, health, and +the command of the necessaries and conveniences of life. + +Little or no doubt can exist that the comforts of the +labouring poor depend upon the increase of the funds destined for +the maintenance of labour, and will be very exactly in proportion +to the rapidity of this increase. The demand for labour which +such increase would occasion, by creating a competition in the +market, must necessarily raise the value of labour, and, till the +additional number of hands required were reared, the increased +funds would be distributed to the same number of persons as +before the increase, and therefore every labourer would live +comparatively at his ease. But perhaps Dr Adam Smith errs in +representing every increase of the revenue or stock of a society +as an increase of these funds. Such surplus stock or revenue +will, indeed, always be considered by the individual possessing +it as an additional fund from which he may maintain more labour: +but it will not be a real and effectual fund for the maintenance +of an additional number of labourers, unless the whole, or at +least a great part of this increase of the stock or revenue of +the society, be convertible into a proportional quantity of +provisions; and it will not be so convertible where the increase +has arisen merely from the produce of labour, and not from the +produce of land. A distinction will in this case occur, between +the number of hands which the stock of the society could employ, +and the number which its territory can maintain. + +To explain myself by an instance. Dr Adam Smith defines the +wealth of a nation to consist. In the annual produce of its land +and labour. This definition evidently includes manufactured +produce, as well as the produce of the land. Now supposing a +nation for a course of years was to add what it saved from its +yearly revenue to its manufacturing capital solely, and not to +its capital employed upon land, it is evident that it might grow +richer according to the above definition, without a power of +supporting a greater number of labourers, and, therefore, without +an increase in the real funds for the maintenance of labour. +There would, notwithstanding, be a demand for labour from the +power which each manufacturer would possess, or at least think he +possessed, of extending his old stock in trade or of setting up +fresh works. This demand would of course raise the price of +labour, but if the yearly stock of provisions in the country was +not increasing, this rise would soon turn out to be merely +nominal, as the price of provisions must necessarily rise with +it. The demand for manufacturing labourers might, indeed, entice +many from agriculture and thus tend to diminish the annual +produce of the land, but we will suppose any effect of this kind +to be compensated by improvements in the instruments of +agriculture, and the quantity of provisions therefore to remain +the same. Improvements in manufacturing machinery would of course +take place, and this circumstance, added to the greater number of +hands employed in manufactures, would cause the annual produce of +the labour of the country to be upon the whole greatly increased. +The wealth therefore of the country would be increasing annually, +according to the definition, and might not, perhaps, be +increasing very slowly. + +The question is whether wealth, increasing in this way, has +any tendency to better the condition of the labouring poor. It is +a self-evident proposition that any general rise in the price of +labour, the stock of provisions remaining the same, can only be a +nominal rise, as it must very shortly be followed by a +proportional rise in the price of provisions. The increase in the +price of labour, therefore, which we have supposed, would have +little or no effect in giving the labouring poor a greater +command over the necessaries and conveniences of life. In this +respect they would be nearly in the same state as before. In one +other respect they would be in a worse state. A greater +proportion of them would be employed in manufactures, and fewer, +consequently, in agriculture. And this exchange of professions +will be allowed, I think, by all, to be very unfavourable in +respect of health, one essential ingredient of happiness, besides +the greater uncertainty of manufacturing labour, arising from the +capricious taste of man, the accidents of war, and other causes. + +It may be said, perhaps, that such an instance as I have +supposed could not occur, because the rise in the price of +provisions would immediately turn some additional capital into +the channel of agriculture. But this is an event which may take +place very slowly, as it should be remarked that a rise in the +price of labour had preceded the rise of provisions, and would, +therefore, impede the good effects upon agriculture, which the +increased value of the produce of the land might otherwise have +occasioned. + +It might also be said, that the additional capital of the +nation would enable it to import provisions sufficient for the +maintenance of those whom its stock could employ. A small country +with a large navy, and great inland accommodations for carriage, +such as Holland, may, indeed, import and distribute an effectual +quantity of provisions; but the price of provisions must be very +high to make such an importation and distribution answer in large +countries less advantageously circumstanced in this respect. + +An instance, accurately such as I have supposed, may not, +perhaps, ever have occurred, but I have little doubt that +instances nearly approximating to it may be found without any +very laborious search. Indeed I am strongly inclined to think +that England herself, since the Revolution, affords a very +striking elucidation of the argument in question. + +The commerce of this country, internal as well as external, +has certainly been rapidly advancing during the last century. The +exchangeable value in the market of Europe of the annual produce +of its land and labour has, without doubt, increased very +considerably. But, upon examination, it will be found that the +increase has been chiefly in the produce of labour and not in the +produce of land, and therefore, though the wealth of the nation +has been advancing with a quick pace, the effectual funds for the +maintenance of labour have been increasing very slowly, and the +result is such as might be expected. The increasing wealth of the +nation has had little or no tendency to better the condition of +the labouring poor. They have not, I believe, a greater command +of the necessaries and conveniences of life, and a much greater +proportion of them than at the period of the Revolution is +employed in manufactures and crowded together in close and +unwholesome rooms. + +Could we believe the statement of Dr Price that the +population of England has decreased since the Revolution, it +would even appear that the effectual funds for the maintenance of +labour had been declining during the progress of wealth in other +respects. For I conceive that it may be laid down as a general +rule that if the effectual funds for the maintenance of labour +are increasing, that is, if the territory can maintain as well as +the stock employ a greater number of labourers, this additional +number will quickly spring up, even in spite of such wars as Dr +Price enumerates. And, consequently, if the population of any +country has been stationary, or declining, we may safely infer, +that, however it may have advanced in manufacturing wealth, its +effectual funds for the maintenance of labour cannot have +increased. + +It is difficult, however, to conceive that the population of +England has been declining since the Revolution, though every +testimony concurs to prove that its increase, if it has +increased, has been very slow. In the controversy which the +question has occasioned, Dr Price undoubtedly appears to be much +more completely master of his subject, and to possess more +accurate information, than his opponents. Judging simply from +this controversy, I think one should say that Dr Price's point is +nearer being proved than Mr Howlett's. Truth, probably, lies +between the two statements, but this supposition makes the +increase of population since the Revolution to have been very +slow in comparison with the increase of wealth. + +That the produce of the land has been decreasing, or even +that it has been absolutely stationary during the last century, +few will be disposed to believe. The enclosure of commons and +waste lands certainly tends to increase the food of the country, +but it has been asserted with confidence that the enclosure of +common fields has frequently had a contrary effect, and that +large tracts of land which formerly produced great quantities of +corn, by being converted into pasture both employ fewer hands and +feed fewer mouths than before their enclosure. It is, indeed, an +acknowledged truth, that pasture land produces a smaller quantity +of human subsistence than corn land of the same natural +fertility, and could it be clearly ascertained that from the +increased demand for butchers' meat of the best quality, and its +increased price in consequence, a greater quantity of good land +has annually been employed in grazing, the diminution of human +subsistence, which this circumstance would occasion, might have +counterbalanced the advantages derived from the enclosure of +waste lands, and the general improvements in husbandry. + +It scarcely need be remarked that the high price of butchers' +meat at present, and its low price formerly, were not caused by +the scarcity in the one case or the plenty in the other, but by +the different expense sustained at the different periods, in +preparing cattle for the market. It is, however, possible, that +there might have been more cattle a hundred years ago in the +country than at present; but no doubt can be entertained, that +there is much more meat of a superior quality brought to market +at present than ever there was. When the price of butchers' meat +was very low, cattle were reared chiefly upon waste lands; and +except for some of the principal markets, were probably killed +with but little other fatting. The veal that is sold so cheap in +some distant counties at present bears little other resemblance +than the name, to that which is bought in London. Formerly, the +price of butchers, meat would not pay for rearing, and scarcely +for feeding, cattle on land that would answer in tillage; but the +present price will not only pay for fatting cattle on the very +best land, but will even allow of the rearing many, on land that +would bear good crops of corn. The same number of cattle, or even +the same weight of cattle at the different periods when killed, +will have consumed (if I may be allowed the expression) very +different quantities of human substance. A fatted beast may in +some respects be considered, in the language of the French +economists, as an unproductive labourer: he has added nothing +to the value of the raw produce that he has consumed. The present +system of grating, undoubtedly tends more than the former system +to diminish the quantity of human subsistence in the country, in +proportion to the general fertility of the land. + +I would not by any means be understood to say that the former +system either could or ought to have continued. The increasing +price of butchers' meat is a natural and inevitable consequence +of the general progress of cultivation; but I cannot help +thinking, that the present great demand for butchers' meat of the +best quality, and the quantity of good land that is in +consequence annually employed to produce it, together with the +great number of horses at present kept for pleasure, are the +chief causes that have prevented the quantity of human food in +the country from keeping pace with the generally increased +fertility of the soil; and a change of custom in these respects +would, I have little doubt, have a very sensible effect on the +quantity of subsistence in the country, and consequently on its +population. + +The employment of much of the most fertile land in grating, +the improvements in agricultural instruments, the increase of +large farms, and particularly the diminution of the number of +cottages throughout the kingdom, all concur to prove, that there +are not probably so many persons employed in agricultural labour +now as at the period of the Revolution. Whatever increase of +population, therefore, has taken place, must be employed almost +wholly in manufactures, and it is well known that the failure of +some of these manufactures, merely from the caprice of fashion, +such as the adoption of muslins instead of silks, or of +shoe-strings and covered buttons, instead of buckles and metal +buttons, combined with the restraints in the market of labour +arising from corporation and parish laws, have frequently driven +thousands on charity for support. The great increase of the poor +rates is, indeed, of itself a strong evidence that the poor have +not a greater command of the necessaries and conveniences of +life, and if to the consideration, that their condition in this +respect is rather worse than better, be added the circumstance, +that a much greater proportion of them is employed in large +manufactories, unfavourable both to health and virtue, it must be +acknowledged, that the increase of wealth of late years has had +no tendency to increase the happiness of the labouring poor. + +That every increase of the stock or revenue of a nation +cannot be considered as an increase of the real funds for the +maintenance of labour and, therefore, cannot have the same good +effect upon the condition of the poor, will appear in a strong +light if the argument be applied to China. + +Dr Adam Smith observes that China has probably long been as +rich as the nature of her laws and institutions will admit, but +that with other laws and institutions, and if foreign commerce +were had in honour, she might still be much richer. The question +is, would such an increase of wealth be an increase of the real +funds for the maintenance of labour, and consequently tend to +place the lower classes of people in China in a state of greater +plenty? + +It is evident, that if trade and foreign commerce were held +in great honour in China, from the plenty of labourers, and the +cheapness of labour, she might work up manufactures for foreign +sale to an immense amount. It is equally evident that from the +great bulk of provisions and the amazing extent of her inland +territory she could not in return import such a quantity as would +be any sensible addition to the annual stock of subsistence in +the country. Her immense amount of manufactures, therefore, she +would exchange, chiefly, for luxuries collected from all parts of +the world. At present, it appears, that no labour whatever is +spared in the production of food. The country is rather +over-people in proportion to what its stock can employ, and +labour is, therefore, so abundant, that no pains are taken to +abridge it. The consequence of this is, probably, the greatest +production of food that the soil can possibly afford, for it will +be generally observed, that processes for abridging labour, +though they may enable a farmer to bring a certain quantity of +grain cheaper to market, tend rather to diminish than increase +the whole produce; and in agriculture, therefore, may, in some +respects, be considered rather as private than public advantages. + +An immense capital could not be employed in China in +preparing manufactures for foreign trade without taking off so +many labourers from agriculture as to alter this state of things, +and in some degree to diminish the produce of the country. The +demand for manufacturing labourers would naturally raise the +price of labour, but as the quantity of subsistence would not be +increased, the price of provisions would keep pace with it, or +even more than keep pace with it if the quantity of provisions +were really decreasing. The country would be evidently advancing +in wealth, the exchangeable value of the annual produce of its +land and labour would be annually augmented, yet the real funds +for the maintenance of labour would be stationary, or even +declining, and, consequently, the increasing wealth of the nation +would rather tend to depress than to raise the condition of the +poor. With regard to the command over the necessaries and +comforts of life, they would be in the same or rather worse state +than before; and a great part of them would have exchanged the +healthy labours of agriculture for the unhealthy occupations of +manufacturing industry. + +The argument, perhaps, appears clearer when applied to China, +because it is generally allowed that the wealth of China has been +long stationary. With regard to any other country it might be +always a matter of dispute at which of the two periods, compared, +wealth was increasing the fastest, as it is upon the rapidity of +the increase of wealth at any particular period that Dr Adam +Smith says the condition of the poor depends. It is evident, +however, that two nations might increase exactly with the same +rapidity in the exchangeable value of the annual produce of their +land and labour, yet if one had applied itself chiefly to +agriculture, and the other chiefly to commerce, the funds for the +maintenance of labour, and consequently the effect of the +increase of wealth in each nation, would be extremely different. +In that which had applied itself chiefly to agriculture, the poor +would live in great plenty, and population would rapidly +increase. In that which had applied itself chiefly to commerce, +the poor would be comparatively but little benefited and +consequently population would increase slowly. + + + +CHAPTER 17 + +Question of the proper definition of the wealth of a state-- +Reason given by the French economists for considering all +manufacturers as unproductive labourers, not the true reason-- +The labour of artificers and manufacturers sufficiently +productive to individuals, though not to the state--A remarkable +passage in Dr Price's two volumes of Observations--Error of Dr +Price in attributing the happiness and rapid population of +America, chiefly, to its peculiar state of civilization--No +advantage can be expected from shutting our eyes to the +difficulties in the way to the improvement of society. + + +A question seems naturally to arise here whether the exchangeable +value of the annual produce of the land and labour be the proper +definition of the wealth of a country, or whether the gross +produce of the land, according to the French economists, may not +be a more accurate definition. Certain it is that every increase +of wealth, according to the definition of the economists, will be +an increase of the funds for the maintenance of labour, and +consequently will always tend to ameliorate the condition of the +labouring poor, though an increase of wealth, according to Dr +Adam Smith's definition, will by no means invariably have the +same tendency. And yet it may not follow from this consideration +that Dr Adam Smith's definition is not just. It seems in many +respects improper to exclude the clothing and lodging of a whole +people from any part of their revenue. Much of it may, indeed, be +of very trivial and unimportant value in comparison with the food +of the country, yet still it may be fairly considered as a part +of its revenue; and, therefore, the only point in which I should +differ from Dr Adam Smith is where he seems to consider every +increase of the revenue or stock of a society as an increase of +the funds for the maintenance of labour, and consequently as +tending always to ameliorate the condition of the poor. + +The fine silks and cottons, the laces, and other ornamental +luxuries of a rich country, may contribute very considerably to +augment the exchangeable value of its annual produce; yet they +contribute but in a very small degree to augment the mass of +happiness in the society, and it appears to me that it is with +some view to the real utility of the produce that we ought to +estimate the productiveness or unproductiveness of different +sorts of labour. The French economists consider all labour +employed in manufactures as unproductive. Comparing it with the +labour employed upon land, I should be perfectly disposed to +agree with them, but not exactly for the reasons which they give. +They say that labour employed upon land is productive because the +produce, over and above completely paying the labourer and the +farmer, affords a clear rent to the landlord, and that the labour +employed upon a piece of lace is unproductive because it merely +replaces the provisions that the workman had consumed, and the +stock of his employer, without affording any clear rent whatever. +But supposing the value of the wrought lace to be such as that, +besides paying in the most complete manner the workman and his +employer, it could afford a clear rent to a third person, it +appears to me that, in comparison with the labour employed upon +land, it would be still as unproductive as ever. Though, +according to the reasoning used by the French economists, the man +employed in the manufacture of lace would, in this case, seem to +be a productive labourer. Yet according to their definition of +the wealth of a state, he ought not to be considered in that +light. He will have added nothing to the gross produce of the +land: he has consumed a portion of this gross produce, and has +left a bit of lace in return; and though he may sell this bit of +lace for three times the quantity of provisions that he consumed +whilst he was making it, and thus be a very productive labourer +with regard to himself, yet he cannot be considered as having +added by his labour to any essential part of the riches of the +state. The clear rent, therefore, that a certain produce can +afford, after paying the expenses of procuring it, does not +appear to be the sole criterion, by which to judge of the +productiveness or unproductiveness to a state of any particular +species of labour. + +Suppose that two hundred thousand men, who are now employed +in producing manufactures that only tend to gratify the vanity of +a few rich people, were to be employed upon some barren and +uncultivated lands, and to produce only half the quantity of food +that they themselves consumed; they would be still more +productive labourers with regard to the state than they were +before, though their labour, so far from affording a rent to a +third person, would but half replace the provisions used in +obtaining the produce. In their former employment they consumed a +certain portion of the food of the country and left in return +some silks and laces. In their latter employment they consumed +the same quantity of food and left in return provision for a +hundred thousand men. There can be little doubt which of the two +legacies would be the most really beneficial to the country, and +it will, I think, be allowed that the wealth which supported the +two hundred thousand men while they were producing silks and +laces would have been more usefully employed in supporting them +while they were producing the additional quantity of food. + +A capital employed upon land may be unproductive to the +individual that employs it and yet be highly productive to the +society. A capital employed in trade, on the contrary, may be +highly productive to the individual, and yet be almost totally +unproductive to the society: and this is the reason why I should +call manufacturing labour unproductive, in comparison of that +which is employed in agriculture, and not for the reason given by +the French economists. It is, indeed, almost impossible to see +the great fortunes that are made in trade, and the liberality +with which so many merchants live, and yet agree in the statement +of the economists, that manufacturers can only grow rich by +depriving themselves of the funds destined for their support. In +many branches of trade the profits are so great as would allow of +a clear rent to a third person; but as there is no third person +in the case, and as all the profits centre in the master +manufacturer, or merchant, he seems to have a fair chance of +growing rich, without much privation; and we consequently see +large fortunes acquired in trade by persons who have not been +remarked for their parsimony. + +Daily experience proves that the labour employed in trade and +manufactures is sufficiently productive to individuals, but it +certainly is not productive in the same degree to the state. +Every accession to the food of a country tends to the immediate +benefit of the whole society; but the fortunes made in trade tend +but in a remote and uncertain manner to the same end, and in some +respects have even a contrary tendency. The home trade of +consumption is by far the most important trade of every nation. +China is the richest country in the world, without any other. +Putting then, for a moment, foreign trade out of the question, +the man who, by an ingenious manufacture, obtains a double +portion out of the old stock of provisions, will certainly not to +be so useful to the state as the man who, by his labour, adds a +single share to the former stock. The consumable commodities of +silks, laces, trinkets, and expensive furniture, are undoubtedly +a part of the revenue of the society; but they are the revenue +only of the rich, and not of the society in general. An increase +in this part of the revenue of a state, cannot, therefore, be +considered of the same importance as an increase of food, which +forms the principal revenue of the great mass of the people. + +Foreign commerce adds to the wealth of a state, according to +Dr Adam Smith's definition, though not according to the +definition of the economists. Its principal use, and the reason, +probably, that it has in general been held in such high +estimation is that it adds greatly to the external power of a +nation or to its power of commanding the labour of other +countries; but it will be found, upon a near examination, to +contribute but little to the increase of the internal funds for +the maintenance of labour, and consequently but little to the +happiness of the greatest part of society. In the natural +progress of a state towards riches, manufactures, and foreign +commerce would follow, in their order, the high cultivation of +the soil. In Europe, this natural order of things has been +inverted, and the soil has been cultivated from the redundancy of +manufacturing capital, instead of manufactures rising from the +redundancy of capital employed upon land. The superior +encouragement that has been given to the industry of the towns, +and the consequent higher price that is paid for the labour of +artificers than for the labour of those employed in husbandry, +are probably the reasons why so much soil in Europe remains +uncultivated. Had a different policy been pursued throughout +Europe, it might undoubtedly have been much more populous than at +present, and yet not be more incumbered by its population. + +I cannot quit this curious subject of the difficulty arising +from population, a subject that appears to me to deserve a minute +investigation and able discussion much beyond my power to give +it, without taking notice of an extraordinary passage in Dr +Price's two volumes of Observations. Having given some tables on +the probabilities of life, in towns and in the country, he says +(Vol. II, p. 243): + +From this comparison, it appears with how much truth great cities +have been called the graves of mankind. It must also convince all +who consider it, that according to the observation, at the end of +the fourth essay, in the former volume, it is by no means +strictly proper to consider our diseases as the original +intention of nature. They are, without doubt, in general our own +creation. Were there a country where the inhabitants led lives +entirely natural and virtuous, few of them would die without +measuring out the whole period of present existence allotted to +them; pain and distemper would be unknown among them, and death +would come upon them like a sleep, in consequence of no other +cause than gradual and unavoidable decay. + +I own that I felt myself obliged to draw a very opposite +conclusion from the facts advanced in Dr Price's two volumes. I +had for some time been aware that population and food increased +in different ratios, and a vague opinion had been floating in my +mind that they could only be kept equal by some species of misery +or vice, but the perusal of Dr Price's two volumes of +Observations, after that opinion had been conceived, raised it at +once to conviction. With so many facts in his view to prove the +extraordinary rapidity with which population increases when +unchecked, and with such a body of evidence before him to +elucidate even the manner by which the general laws of nature +repress a redundant population, it is perfectly inconceivable to +me how he could write the passage that I have quoted. He was a +strenuous advocate for early marriages, as the best preservative +against vicious manners. He had no fanciful conceptions about the +extinction of the passion between the sexes, like Mr Godwin, nor +did he ever think of eluding the difficulty in the ways hinted at +by Mr Condorcet. He frequently talks of giving the prolifick +powers of nature room to exert themselves. Yet with these ideas, +that his understanding could escape from the obvious and +necessary inference that an unchecked population would increase, +beyond comparison, faster than the earth, by the best directed +exertions of man, could produce food for its support, appears to +me as astonishing as if he had resisted the conclusion of one of +the plainest propositions of Euclid. + +Dr Price, speaking of the different stages of the civilized +state, says, 'The first, or simple stages of civilization, are +those which favour most the increase and the happiness of +mankind.' He then instances the American colonies, as being at +that time in the first and happiest of the states that he had +described, and as affording a very striking proof of the effects +of the different stages of civilization on population. But he +does not seem to be aware that the happiness of the Americans +depended much less upon their peculiar degree of civilization +than upon the peculiarity of their situation, as new colonies, +upon their having a great plenty of fertile uncultivated land. In +parts of Norway, Denmark, or Sweden, or in this country, two or +three hundred years ago, he might have found perhaps nearly the +same degree of civilization, but by no means the same happiness +or the same increase of population. He quotes himself a statute +of Henry the Eighth, complaining of the decay of tillage, and the +enhanced price of provisions, 'whereby a marvellous number of +people were rendered incapable of maintaining themselves and +families.' The superior degree of civil liberty which prevailed +in America contributed, without doubt, its share to promote the +industry, happiness, and population of these states, but even +civil liberty, all powerful as it is, will not create fresh land. +The Americans may be said, perhaps, to enjoy a greater degree of +civil liberty, now they are an independent people, than while +they were in subjection in England, but we may be perfectly sure +that population will not long continue to increase with the same +rapidity as it did then. + +A person who contemplated the happy state of the lower +classes of people in America twenty years ago would naturally +wish to retain them for ever in that state, and might think, +perhaps, that by preventing the introduction of manufactures and +luxury he might effect his purpose, but he might as reasonably +expect to prevent a wife or mistress from growing old by never +exposing her to the sun or air. The situation of new colonies, +well governed, is a bloom of youth that no efforts can arrest. +There are, indeed, many modes of treatment in the political, as +well as animal, body, that contribute to accelerate or retard the +approaches of age, but there can be no chance of success, in any +mode that could be devised, for keeping either of them in +perpetual youth. By encouraging the industry of the towns more +than the industry of the country, Europe may be said, perhaps, to +have brought on a premature old age. A different policy in this +respect would infuse fresh life and vigour into every state. +While from the law of primogeniture, and other European customs, +land bears a monopoly price, a capital can never be employed in +it with much advantage to the individual; and, therefore, it is +not probable that the soil should be properly cultivated. And, +though in every civilized state a class of proprietors and a +class of labourers must exist, yet one permanent advantage would +always result from a nearer equalization of property. The greater +the number of proprietors, the smaller must be the number of +labourers: a greater part of society would be in the happy state +of possessing property: and a smaller part in the unhappy state +of possessing no other property than their labour. But the best +directed exertions, though they may alleviate, can never remove +the pressure of want, and it will be difficult for any person who +contemplates the genuine situation of man on earth, and the +general laws of nature, to suppose it possible that any, the most +enlightened, efforts could place mankind in a state where 'few +would die without measuring out the whole period of present +existence allotted to them; where pain and distemper would be +unknown among them; and death would come upon them like a sleep, +in consequence of no other cause than gradual and unavoidable +decay.' + +It is, undoubtedly, a most disheartening reflection that the +great obstacle in the way to any extraordinary improvement in +society is of a nature that we can never hope to overcome. The +perpetual tendency in the race of man to increase beyond the +means of subsistence is one of the general laws of animated +nature which we can have no reason to expect will change. Yet, +discouraging as the contemplation of this difficulty must be to +those whose exertions are laudably directed to the improvement of +the human species, it is evident that no possible good can arise +from any endeavours to slur it over or keep it in the background. +On the contrary, the most baleful mischiefs may be expected from +the unmanly conduct of not daring to face truth because it is +unpleasing. Independently of what relates to this great obstacle, +sufficient yet remains to be done for mankind to animate us to +the most unremitted exertion. But if we proceed without a +thorough knowledge and accurate comprehension of the nature, +extent, and magnitude of the difficulties we have to encounter, +or if we unwisely direct our efforts towards an object in which +we cannot hope for success, we shall not only exhaust our +strength in fruitless exertions and remain at as great a distance +as ever from the summit of our wishes, but we shall be +perpetually crushed by the recoil of this rock of Sisyphus. + + + +CHAPTER 18 + +The constant pressure of distress on man, from the principle of +population, seems to direct our hopes to the future--State of +trial inconsistent with our ideas of the foreknowledge of God-- +The world, probably, a mighty process for awakening matter into +mind--Theory of the formation of mind--Excitements from the +wants of the body--Excitements from the operation of general +laws--Excitements from the difficulties of life arising from the +principle of population. + + +The view of human life which results from the contemplation of +the constant pressure of distress on man from the difficulty of +subsistence, by shewing the little expectation that he can +reasonably entertain of perfectibility on earth, seems strongly +to point his hopes to the future. And the temptations to which he +must necessarily be exposed, from the operation of those laws of +nature which we have been examining, would seem to represent the +world in the light in which it has been frequently considered, as +a state of trial and school of virtue preparatory to a superior +state of happiness. But I hope I shall be pardoned if I attempt +to give a view in some degree different of the situation of man +on earth, which appears to me to be more consistent with the +various phenomena of nature which we observe around us and more +consonant to our ideas of the power, goodness, and foreknowledge +of the Deity. + +It cannot be considered as an unimproving exercise of the +human mind to endeavour to 'vindicate the ways of God to man' if +we proceed with a proper distrust of our own understandings and a +just sense of our insufficiency to comprehend the reason of all +we see, if we hail every ray of light with gratitude, and, when +no light appears, think that the darkness is from within and not +from without, and bow with humble deference to the supreme wisdom +of him whose 'thoughts are above our thoughts' 'as the heavens +are high above the earth.' + +In all our feeble attempts, however, to 'find out the +Almighty to perfection', it seems absolutely necessary that we +should reason from nature up to nature's God and not presume to +reason from God to nature. The moment we allow ourselves to ask +why some things are not otherwise, instead of endeavouring to +account for them as they are, we shall never know where to stop, +we shall be led into the grossest and most childish absurdities, +all progress in the knowledge of the ways of Providence must +necessarily be at an end, and the study will even cease to be an +improving exercise of the human mind. Infinite power is so vast +and incomprehensible an idea that the mind of man must +necessarily be bewildered in the contemplation of it. With the +crude and puerile conceptions which we sometimes form of this +attribute of the Deity, we might imagine that God could call into +being myriads and myriads of existences, all free from pain and +imperfection, all eminent in goodness and wisdom, all capable of +the highest enjoyments, and unnumbered as the points throughout +infinite space. But when from these vain and extravagant dreams +of fancy, we turn our eyes to the book of nature, where alone we +can read God as he is, we see a constant succession of sentient +beings, rising apparently from so many specks of matter, going +through a long and sometimes painful process in this world, but +many of them attaining, ere the termination of it, such high +qualities and powers as seem to indicate their fitness for some +superior state. Ought we not then to correct our crude and +puerile ideas of infinite Power from the contemplation of what we +actually see existing? Can we judge of the Creator but from his +creation? And, unless we wish to exalt the power of God at the +expense of his goodness, ought we not to conclude that even to +the great Creator, almighty as he is, a certain process may be +necessary, a certain time (or at least what appears to us as +time) may be requisite, in order to form beings with those +exalted qualities of mind which will fit them for his high +purposes? + +A state of trial seems to imply a previously formed existence +that does not agree with the appearance of man in infancy and +indicates something like suspicion and want of foreknowledge, +inconsistent with those ideas which we wish to cherish of the +Supreme Being. I should be inclined, therefore, as I have hinted +before, to consider the world and this life as the mighty process +of God, not for the trial, but for the creation and formation of +mind, a process necessary to awaken inert, chaotic matter into +spirit, to sublimate the dust of the earth into soul, to elicit +an ethereal spark from the clod of clay. And in this view of the +subject, the various impressions and excitements which man +receives through life may be considered as the forming hand of +his Creator, acting by general laws, and awakening his sluggish +existence, by the animating touches of the Divinity, into a +capacity of superior enjoyment. The original sin of man is the +torpor and corruption of the chaotic matter in which he may be +said to be born. + +It could answer no good purpose to enter into the question +whether mind be a distinct substance from matter, or only a finer +form of it. The question is, perhaps, after all, a question +merely of words. Mind is as essentially mind, whether formed from +matter or any other substance. We know from experience that soul +and body are most intimately united, and every appearance seems +to indicate that they grow from infancy together. It would be a +supposition attended with very little probability to believe that +a complete and full formed spirit existed in every infant, but +that it was clogged and impeded in its operations during the +first twenty years of life by the weakness, or hebetude, of the +organs in which it was enclosed. As we shall all be disposed to +agree that God is the creator of mind as well as of body, and as +they both seem to be forming and unfolding themselves at the same +time, it cannot appear inconsistent either with reason or +revelation, if it appear to be consistent with phenomena of +nature, to suppose that God is constantly occupied in forming +mind out of matter and that the various impressions that man +receives through life is the process for that purpose. The +employment is surely worthy of the highest attributes of the +Deity. + +This view of the state of man on earth will not seem to be +unattended with probability, if, judging from the little +experience we have of the nature of mind, it shall appear upon +investigation that the phenomena around us, and the various +events of human life, seem peculiarly calculated to promote this +great end, and especially if, upon this supposition, we can +account, even to our own narrow understandings, for many of those +roughnesses and inequalities in life which querulous man too +frequently makes the subject of his complaint against the God of +nature. + +The first great awakeners of the mind seem to be the wants of +the body. (It was my intention to have entered at some length +into this subject as a kind of second part to the Essay. A long +interruption, from particular business, has obliged me to lay +aside this intention, at least for the present. I shall now, +therefore, only give a sketch of a few of the leading +circumstances that appear to me to favour the general supposition +that I have advanced.) They are the first stimulants that rouse +the brain of infant man into sentient activity, and such seems to +be the sluggishness of original matter that unless by a peculiar +course of excitements other wants, equally powerful, are +generated, these stimulants seem, even afterwards, to be +necessary to continue that activity which they first awakened. +The savage would slumber for ever under his tree unless he were +roused from his torpor by the cravings of hunger or the pinchings +of cold, and the exertions that he makes to avoid these evils, by +procuring food, and building himself a covering, are the +exercises which form and keep in motion his faculties, which +otherwise would sink into listless inactivity. From all that +experience has taught us concerning the structure of the human +mind, if those stimulants to exertion which arise from the wants +of the body were removed from the mass of mankind, we have much +more reason to think that they would be sunk to the level of +brutes, from a deficiency of excitements, than that they would be +raised to the rank of philosophers by the possession of leisure. +In those countries where nature is the most redundant in +spontaneous produce the inhabitants will not be found the most +remarkable for acuteness of intellect. Necessity has been with +great truth called the mother of invention. Some of the noblest +exertions of the human mind have been set in motion by the +necessity of satisfying the wants of the body. Want has not +unfrequently given wings to the imagination of the poet, pointed +the flowing periods of the historian, and added acuteness to the +researches of the philosopher, and though there are undoubtedly +many minds at present so far improved by the various excitements +of knowledge, or of social sympathy, that they would not relapse +into listlessness if their bodily stimulants were removed, yet it +can scarcely be doubted that these stimulants could not be +withdrawn from the mass of mankind without producing a general +and fatal torpor, destructive of all the germs of future +improvement. + +Locke, if I recollect, says that the endeavour to avoid pain +rather than the pursuit of pleasure is the great stimulus to +action in life: and that in looking to any particular pleasure, +we shall not be roused into action in order to obtain it, till +the contemplation of it has continued so long as to amount to a +sensation of pain or uneasiness under the absence of it. To avoid +evil and to pursue good seem to be the great duty and business of +man, and this world appears to be peculiarly calculated to afford +opportunity of the most unremitted exertion of this kind, and it +is by this exertion, by these stimulants, that mind is formed. If +Locke's idea be just, and there is great reason to think that it +is, evil seems to be necessary to create exertion, and exertion +seems evidently necessary to create mind. + +The necessity of food for the support of life gives rise, +probably, to a greater quantity of exertion than any other want, +bodily or mental. The Supreme Being has ordained that the earth +shall not produce good in great quantities till much preparatory +labour and ingenuity has been exercised upon its surface. There +is no conceivable connection to our comprehensions, between the +seed and the plant or tree that rises from it. The Supreme +Creator might, undoubtedly, raise up plants of all kinds, for the +use of his creatures, without the assistance of those little bits +of matter, which we call seed, or even without the assisting +labour and attention of man. The processes of ploughing and +clearing the ground, of collecting and sowing seeds, are not +surely for the assistance of God in his creation, but are made +previously necessary to the enjoyment of the blessings of life, +in order to rouse man into action, and form his mind to reason. + +To furnish the most unremitted excitements of this kind, and +to urge man to further the gracious designs of Providence by the +full cultivation of the earth, it has been ordained that +population should increase much faster than food. This general +law (as it has appeared in the former parts of this Essay) +undoubtedly produces much partial evil, but a little reflection +may, perhaps, satisfy us, that it produces a great overbalance of +good. Strong excitements seem necessary to create exertion, and +to direct this exertion, and form the reasoning faculty, it seems +absolutely necessary, that the Supreme Being should act always +according to general laws. The constancy of the laws of nature, +or the certainty with which we may expect the same effects from +the same causes, is the foundation of the faculty of reason. If +in the ordinary course of things, the finger of God were +frequently visible, or to speak more correctly, if God were +frequently to change his purpose (for the finger of God is, +indeed, visible in every blade of grass that we see), a general +and fatal torpor of the human faculties would probably ensue; +even the bodily wants of mankind would cease to stimulate them to +exertion, could they not reasonably expect that if their efforts +were well directed they would be crowned with success. The +constancy of the laws of nature is the foundation of the industry +and foresight of the husbandman, the indefatigable ingenuity of +the artificer, the skilful researches of the physician and +anatomist, and the watchful observation and patient investigation +of the natural philosopher. To this constancy we owe all the +greatest and noblest efforts of intellect. To this constancy we +owe the immortal mind of a Newton. + +As the reasons, therefore, for the constancy of the laws of +nature seem, even to our understandings, obvious and striking; if +we return to the principle of population and consider man as he +really is, inert, sluggish, and averse from labour, unless +compelled by necessity (and it is surely the height of folly to +talk of man, according to our crude fancies of what he might be), +we may pronounce with certainty that the world would not have +been peopled, but for the superiority of the power of population +to the means of subsistence. Strong and constantly operative as +this stimulus is on man to urge him to the cultivation of the +earth, if we still see that cultivation proceeds very slowly, we +may fairly conclude that a less stimulus would have been +insufficient. Even under the operation of this constant +excitement, savages will inhabit countries of the greatest +natural fertility for a long period before they betake themselves +to pasturage or agriculture. Had population and food increased in +the same ratio, it is probable that man might never have emerged +from the savage state. But supposing the earth once well peopled, +an Alexander, a Julius Caesar, a Tamberlane, or a bloody +revolution might irrecoverably thin the human race, and defeat +the great designs of the Creator. The ravages of a contagious +disorder would be felt for ages; and an earthquake might unpeople +a region for ever. The principle, according to which population +increases, prevents the vices of mankind, or the accidents of +nature, the partial evils arising from general laws, from +obstructing the high purpose of the creation. It keeps the +inhabitants of the earth always fully up to the level of the +means of subsistence; and is constantly acting upon man as a +powerful stimulus, urging him to the further cultivation of the +earth, and to enable it, consequently, to support a more extended +population. But it is impossible that this law can operate, and +produce the effects apparently intended by the Supreme Being, +without occasioning partial evil. Unless the principle of +population were to be altered according to the circumstances of +each separate country (which would not only be contrary to our +universal experience, with regard to the laws of nature, but +would contradict even our own reason, which sees the absolute +necessity of general laws for the formation of intellect), it is +evident that the same principle which, seconded by industry, will +people a fertile region in a few years must produce distress in +countries that have been long inhabited. + +It seems, however, every way probable that even the +acknowledged difficulties occasioned by the law of population +tend rather to promote than impede the general purpose of +Providence. They excite universal exertion and contribute to that +infinite variety of situations, and consequently of impressions, +which seems upon the whole favourable to the growth of mind. It +is probable, that too great or too little excitement, extreme +poverty, or too great riches may be alike unfavourable in this +respect. The middle regions of society seem to be best suited to +intellectual improvement, but it is contrary to the analogy of +all nature to expect that the whole of society can be a middle +region. The temperate zones of the earth seem to be the most +favourable to the mental and corporal energies of man, but all +cannot be temperate zones. A world, warmed and enlightened but by +one sun, must from the laws of matter have some parts chilled by +perpetual frosts and others scorched by perpetual heats. Every +piece of matter lying on a surface must have an upper and an +under side, all the particles cannot be in the middle. The most +valuable parts of an oak, to a timber merchant, are not either +the roots or the branches, but these are absolutely necessary to +the existence of the middle part, or stem, which is the object in +request. The timber merchant could not possibly expect to make an +oak grow without roots or branches, but if he could find out a +mode of cultivation which would cause more of the substance to go +to stem, and less to root and branch, he would be right to exert +himself in bringing such a system into general use. + +In the same manner, though we cannot possibly expect to +exclude riches and poverty from society, yet if we could find out +a mode of government by which the numbers in the extreme regions +would be lessened and the numbers in the middle regions +increased, it would be undoubtedly our duty to adopt it. It is +not, however, improbable that as in the oak, the roots and +branches could not be diminished very greatly without weakening +the vigorous circulation of the sap in the stem, so in society +the extreme parts could not be diminished beyond a certain degree +without lessening that animated exertion throughout the middle +parts, which is the very cause that they are the most favourable +to the growth of intellect. If no man could hope to rise or fear +to fall, in society, if industry did not bring with it its reward +and idleness its punishment, the middle parts would not certainly +be what they now are. In reasoning upon this subject, it is +evident that we ought to consider chiefly the mass of mankind and +not individual instances. There are undoubtedly many minds, and +there ought to be many, according to the chances out of so great +a mass, that, having been vivified early by a peculiar course of +excitements, would not need the constant action of narrow motives +to continue them in activity. But if we were to review the +various useful discoveries, the valuable writings, and other +laudable exertions of mankind, I believe we should find that more +were to be attributed to the narrow motives that operate upon the +many than to the apparently more enlarged motives that operate +upon the few. + +Leisure is, without doubt, highly valuable to man, but taking +man as he is, the probability seems to be that in the greater +number of instances it will produce evil rather than good. It has +been not infrequently remarked that talents are more common among +younger brothers than among elder brothers, but it can scarcely +be imagined that younger brothers are, upon an average, born with +a greater original susceptibility of parts. The difference, if +there really is any observable difference, can only arise from +their different situations. Exertion and activity are in general +absolutely necessary in one case and are only optional in the +other. + +That the difficulties of life contribute to generate talents, +every day's experience must convince us. The exertions that men +find it necessary to make, in order to support themselves or +families, frequently awaken faculties that might otherwise have +lain for ever dormant, and it has been commonly remarked that new +and extraordinary situations generally create minds adequate to +grapple with the difficulties in which they are involved. + + + +CHAPTER 19 + +The sorrows of life necessary to soften and humanize the heart-- +The excitement of social sympathy often produce characters of a +higher order than the mere possessors of talents--Moral evil +probably necessary to the production of moral excellence-- +Excitements from intellectual wants continually kept up by the +infinite variety of nature, and the obscurity that involves +metaphysical subjects--The difficulties in revelation to be +accounted for upon this principle--The degree of evidence which +the scriptures contain, probably, best suited to the improvements +of the human faculties, and the moral amerlioration of mankind-- +The idea that mind is created by excitements seems to account for +the existence of natural and moral evil. + + +The sorrows and distresses of life form another class of +excitements, which seem to be necessary, by a peculiar train of +impressions, to soften and humanize the heart, to awaken social +sympathy, to generate all the Christian virtues, and to afford +scope for the ample exertion of benevolence. The general tendency +of an uniform course of prosperity is rather to degrade than +exalt the character. The heart that has never known sorrow itself +will seldom be feelingly alive to the pains and pleasures, the +wants and wishes, of its fellow beings. It will seldom be +overflowing with that warmth of brotherly love, those kind and +amiable affections, which dignify the human character even more +than the possession of the highest talents. Talents, indeed, +though undoubtedly a very prominent and fine feature of mind, can +by no means be considered as constituting the whole of it. There +are many minds which have not been exposed to those excitements +that usually form talents, that have yet been vivified to a high +degree by the excitements of social sympathy. In every rank of +life, in the lowest as frequently as in the highest, characters +are to be found overflowing with the milk of human kindness, +breathing love towards God and man, and, though without those +peculiar powers of mind called talents, evidently holding a +higher rank in the scale of beings than many who possess them. +Evangelical charity, meekness, piety, and all that class of +virtues distinguished particularly by the name of Christian +virtues do not seem necessarily to include abilities; yet a soul +possessed of these amiable qualities, a soul awakened and +vivified by these delightful sympathies, seems to hold a nearer +commerce with the skies than mere acuteness of intellect. + +The greatest talents have been frequently misapplied and have +produced evil proportionate to the extent of their powers. Both +reason and revelation seem to assure us that such minds will be +condemned to eternal death, but while on earth, these vicious +instruments performed their part in the great mass of +impressions, by the disgust and abhorrence which they excited. It +seems highly probable that moral evil is absolutely necessary to +the production of moral excellence. A being with only good placed +in view may be justly said to be impelled by a blind necessity. +The pursuit of good in this case can be no indication of virtuous +propensities. It might be said, perhaps, that infinite Wisdom +cannot want such an indication as outward action, but would +foreknow with certainly whether the being would choose good or +evil. This might be a plausible argument against a state of +trial, but will not hold against the supposition that mind in +this world is in a state of formation. Upon this idea, the being +that has seen moral evil and has felt disapprobation and disgust +at it is essentially different from the being that has seen only +good. They are pieces of clay that have received distinct +impressions: they must, therefore, necessarily be in different +shapes; or, even if we allow them both to have the same lovely +form of virtue, it must be acknowledged that one has undergone +the further process, necessary to give firmness and durability to +its substance, while the other is still exposed to injury, and +liable to be broken by every accidental impulse. An ardent love +and admiration of virtue seems to imply the existence of +something opposite to it, and it seems highly probable that the +same beauty of form and substance, the same perfection of +character, could not be generated without the impressions of +disapprobation which arise from the spectacle of moral evil. + +When the mind has been awakened into activity by the +passions, and the wants of the body, intellectual wants arise; +and the desire of knowledge, and the impatience under ignorance, +form a new and important class of excitements. Every part of +nature seems peculiarly calculated to furnish stimulants to +mental exertion of this kind, and to offer inexhaustible food for +the most unremitted inquiry. Our mortal Bard says of Cleopatra: + +Custom cannot stale +Her infinite variety. + +The expression, when applied to any one object, may be considered +as a poetical amplification, but it is accurately true when +applied to nature. Infinite variety seems, indeed, eminently her +characteristic feature. The shades that are here and there +blended in the picture give spirit, life, and prominence to her +exuberant beauties, and those roughnesses and inequalities, those +inferior parts that support the superior, though they sometimes +offend the fastidious microscopic eye of short-sighted man, +contribute to the symmetry, grace, and fair proportion of the +whole. + +The infinite variety of the forms and operations of nature, +besides tending immediately to awaken and improve the mind by the +variety of impressions that it creates, opens other fertile +sources of improvement by offering so wide and extensive a field +for investigation and research. Uniform, undiversified perfection +could not possess the same awakening powers. When we endeavour +then to contemplate the system of the universe, when we think of +the stars as the suns of other systems scattered throughout +infinite space, when we reflect that we do not probably see a +millionth part of those bright orbs that are beaming light and +life to unnumbered worlds, when our minds, unable to grasp the +immeasurable conception, sink, lost and confounded, in admiration +at the mighty incomprehensible power of the Creator, let us not +querulously complain that all climates are not equally genial, +that perpetual spring does not reign throughout the year, that +God's creatures do not possess the same advantages, that clouds +and tempests sometimes darken the natural world and vice and +misery the moral world, and that all the works of the creation +are not formed with equal perfection. Both reason and experience +seem to indicate to us that the infinite variety of nature (and +variety cannot exist without inferior parts, or apparent +blemishes) is admirably adapted to further the high purpose of +the creation and to produce the greatest possible quantity of +good. + +The obscurity that involves all metaphysical subjects appears +to me, in the same manner, peculiarly calculated to add to that +class of excitements which arise from the thirst of knowledge. It +is probable that man, while on earth, will never be able to +attain complete satisfaction on these subjects; but this is by no +means a reason that he should not engage in them. The darkness +that surrounds these interesting topics of human curiosity may be +intended to furnish endless motives to intellectual activity and +exertion. The constant effort to dispel this darkness, even if it +fail of success, invigorates and improves the thinking faculty. +If the subjects of human inquiry were once exhausted, mind would +probably stagnate; but the infinitely diversified forms and +operations of nature, together with the endless food for +speculation which metaphysical subjects offer, prevent the +possibility that such a period should ever arrive. + +It is by no means one of the wisest sayings of Solomon that +'there is no new thing under the sun.' On the contrary, it is +probable that were the present system to continue for millions of +years, continual additions would be making to the mass of human +knowledge, and yet, perhaps, it may be a matter of doubt whether +what may be called the capacity of mind be in any marked and +decided manner increasing. A Socrates, a Plato, or an Aristotle, +however confessedly inferior in knowledge to the philosophers of +the present day, do not appear to have been much below them in +intellectual capacity. Intellect rises from a speck, continues in +vigour only for a certain period, and will not perhaps admit +while on earth of above a certain number of impressions. These +impressions may, indeed, be infinitely modified, and from these +various modifications, added probably to a difference in the +susceptibility of the original germs, arise the endless diversity +of character that we see in the world; but reason and experience +seem both to assure us that the capacity of individual minds does +not increase in proportion to the mass of existing knowledge. (It +is probable that no two grains of wheat are exactly alike. Soil +undoubtedly makes the principal difference in the blades that +spring up, but probably not all. It seems natural to suppose some +sort of difference in the original germs that are afterwards +awakened into thought, and the extraordinary difference of +susceptibility in very young children seems to confirm the +supposition.) + +The finest minds seem to be formed rather by efforts at +original thinking, by endeavours to form new combinations, and to +discover new truths, than by passively receiving the impressions +of other men's ideas. Could we suppose the period arrived, when +there was not further hope of future discoveries, and the only +employment of mind was to acquire pre-existing knowledge, without +any efforts to form new and original combinations, though the +mass of human knowledge were a thousand times greater than it is +at present, yet it is evident that one of the noblest stimulants +to mental exertion would have ceased; the finest feature of +intellect would be lost; everything allied to genius would be at +an end; and it appears to be impossible, that, under such +circumstances, any individuals could possess the same +intellectual energies as were possessed by a Locke, a Newton, or +a Shakespeare, or even by a Socrates, a Plato, an Aristotle or a +Homer. + +If a revelation from heaven of which no person could feel the +smallest doubt were to dispel the mists that now hang over +metaphysical subjects, were to explain the nature and structure +of mind, the affections and essences of all substances, the mode +in which the Supreme Being operates in the works of the creation, +and the whole plan and scheme of the Universe, such an accession +of knowledge so obtained, instead of giving additional vigour and +activity to the human mind, would in all probability tend to +repress future exertion and to damp the soaring wings of +intellect. + +For this reason I have never considered the doubts and +difficulties that involve some parts of the sacred writings as +any ardent against their divine original. The Supreme Being +might, undoubtedly, have accompanied his revelations to man by +such a succession of miracles, and of such a nature, as would +have produced universal overpowering conviction and have put an +end at once to all hesitation and discussion. But weak as our +reason is to comprehend the plans of the great Creator, it is yet +sufficiently strong to see the most striking objections to such a +revelation. From the little we know of the structure of the human +understanding, we must be convinced that an overpowering +conviction of this kind, instead of tending to the improvement +and moral amelioration of man, would act like the touch of a +torpedo on all intellectual exertion and would almost put an end +to the existence of virtue. If the scriptural denunciations of +eternal punishment were brought home with the same certainty to +every man's mind as that the night will follow the day, this one +vast and gloomy idea would take such full possession of the human +faculties as to leave no room for any other conceptions, the +external actions of men would be all nearly alike, virtuous +conduct would be no indication of virtuous disposition, vice and +virtue would be blended together in one common mass, and though +the all-seeing eye of God might distinguish them they must +necessarily make the same impressions on man, who can judge only +from external appearances. Under such a dispensation, it is +difficult to conceive how human beings could be formed to a +detestation of moral evil, and a love and admiration of God, and +of moral excellence. + +Our ideas of virtue and vice are not, perhaps, very accurate +and well-defined; but few, I think, would call an action really +virtuous which was performed simply and solely from the dread of +a very great punishment or the expectation of a very great +reward. The fear of the Lord is very justly said to be the +beginning of wisdom, but the end of wisdom is the love of the +Lord and the admiration of moral good. The denunciations of +future punishment contained in the scriptures seem to be well +calculated to arrest the progress of the vicious and awaken the +attention of the careless, but we see from repeated experience +that they are not accompanied with evidence of such a nature as +to overpower the human will and to make men lead virtuous lives +with vicious dispositions, merely from a dread of hereafter. A +genuine faith, by which I mean a faith that shews itself in it +the virtues of a truly Christian life, may generally be +considered as an indication of an amiable and virtuous +disposition, operated upon more by love than by pure unmixed +fear. + +When we reflect on the temptations to which man must +necessarily be exposed in this world, from the structure of his +frame, and the operation of the laws of nature, and the +consequent moral certainty that many vessels will come out of +this mighty creative furnace in wrong shapes, it is perfectly +impossible to conceive that any of these creatures of God's hand +can be condemned to eternal suffering. Could we once admit such +an idea, it our natural conceptions of goodness and justice would +be completely overthrown, and we could no longer look up to God +as a merciful and righteous Being. But the doctrine of life and +Mortality which was brought to light by the gospel, the doctrine +that the end of righteousness is everlasting life, but that the +wages of sin are death, is in every respect just and merciful, +and worthy of the great Creator. Nothing can appear more +consonant to our reason than that those beings which come out of +the creative process of the world in lovely and beautiful forms +should be crowned with immortality, while those which come out +misshapen, those whose minds are not suited to a purer and +happier state of existence, should perish and be condemned to mix +again with their original clay. Eternal condemnation of this kind +may be considered as a species of eternal punishment, and it is +not wonderful that it should be represented, sometimes, under +images of suffering. But life and death, salvation and +destruction, are more frequently opposed to each other in the New +Testament than happiness and misery. The Supreme Being would +appear to us in a very different view if we were to consider him +as pursuing the creatures that had offended him with eternal hate +and torture, instead of merely condemning to their original +insensibility those beings that, by the operation of general +laws, had not been formed with qualities suited to a purer state +of happiness. + +Life is, generally speaking, a blessing independent of a +future state. It is a gift which the vicious would not always be +ready to throw away, even if they had no fear of death. The +partial pain, therefore, that is inflicted by the supreme +Creator, while he is forming numberless beings to a capacity of +the highest enjoyments, is but as the dust of the balance in +comparison of the happiness that is communicated, and we have +every reason to think that there is no more evil in the world +than what is absolutely necessary as one of the ingredients in +the mighty process. + +The striking necessity of general laws for the formation of +intellect will not in any respect be contradicted by one or two +exceptions, and these evidently not intended for partial +purposes, but calculated to operate upon a great part of mankind, +and through many ages. Upon the idea that I have given of the +formation of mind, the infringement of the general law of nature, +by a divine revelation, will appear in the light of the immediate +hand of God mixing new ingredients in the mighty mass, suited to +the particular state of the process, and calculated to give rise +to a new and powerful train of impressions, tending to purify, +exalt, and improve the human mind. The miracles that accompanied +these revelations when they had once excited the attention of +mankind, and rendered it a matter of most interesting discussion, +whether the doctrine was from God or man, had performed their +part, had answered the purpose of the Creator, and these +communications of the divine will were afterwards left to make +their way by their own intrinsic excellence; and, by operating as +moral motives, gradually to influence and improve, and not to +overpower and stagnate the faculties of man. + +It would be, undoubtedly, presumptuous to say that the +Supreme Being could not possibly have effected his purpose in any +other way than that which he has chosen, but as the revelation of +the divine will which we possess is attended with some doubts and +difficulties, and as our reason points out to us the strongest +objections to a revelation which would force immediate, implicit, +universal belief, we have surely just cause to think that these +doubts and difficulties are no argument against the divine origin +of the scriptures, and that the species of evidence which they +possess is best suited to the improvement of the human faculties +and the moral amelioration of mankind. + +The idea that the impressions and excitements of this world +are the instruments with which the Supreme Being forms matter +into mind, and that the necessity of constant exertion to avoid +evil and to pursue good is the principal spring of these +impressions and excitements, seems to smooth many of the +difficulties that occur in a contemplation of human life, and +appears to me to give a satisfactory reason for the existence of +natural and moral evil, and, consequently, for that part of both, +and it certainly is not a very small part, which arises from the +principle of population. But, though, upon this supposition, it +seems highly improbable that evil should ever be removed from the +world; yet it is evident that this impression would not answer +the apparent purpose of the Creator; it would not act so +powerfully as an excitement to exertion, if the quantity of it +did not diminish or increase with the activity or the indolence +of man. The continual variations in the weight and in the +distribution of this pressure keep alive a constant expectation +of throwing it off. + +"Hope springs eternal in the Human breast, +Man never is, but always to be blest." + +Evil exists in the world not to create despair but activity. +We are not patiently to submit to it, but to exert ourselves to +avoid it. It is not only the interest but the duty of every +individual to use his utmost efforts to remove evil from himself +and from as large a circle as he can influence, and the more he +exercises himself in this duty, the more wisely he directs his +efforts, and the more successful these efforts are; the more he +will probably improve and exalt his own mind, and the more +completely does he appear to fulfil the will of his Creator. + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of An Essay on the Principle of Population +by Thomas Malthus + diff --git a/old/prppl10.zip b/old/prppl10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..17f3f85 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/prppl10.zip |