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growth of an oak on a mountain top in Scotland is the same as it would be in the rich valleys of the New Forest. But the term check of course implies the prevention of that which would otherwise naturally take place; it is, therefore, very incorrectly applied to denote a relative difference, invariably fixed by the primary laws of nature, and the immutable decrees of Providence. From the deception caused by the wrong use of this term, we find writers supporting such positions as the following: "civilization does not weaken the principle of population;” (Monthly Review, June 1807, p. 137:) again, as suming a peopled portion of the earth, there is a point at which it's produce would be a maximum ; there is no point, however, at which the people upon it, however numerous, might not under advantageous circumstances go on increasing without number. Besides, while the soil is still capable of increasing its produce, yet if it be approaching somewhere near the limit of its capacity, the increase of its produce cannot possibly keep pace with the natural, or rather the possible, increase of the population upon it." (Christian Observer, July 1807, p. 452.)

These are, in truth, but natural corollaries from Mr. Malthus's premises, who asserts of population, "that a thousand millions are just as easily doubled EVERY twenty-five years as a thousand," and "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." (Malthus, vol, i. p. 8.) And again, "it is not the question in England, whether by cultivating all our commons

than at

we could raise considerably more corn present, but whether we could raise sufficient for a population of twenty millions in the next twentyfive years, and forty millions in the next fifty years;"* as if it were possible, that the people of England, one third of whom are asserted by this very writer to live in towns, and consequently not generally to keep up their own numbers, † could by any possible means increase so fast as to double their total amount in twenty-five years; which is assumed as the quickest possible rate in the agricultural state of society, where the employment and situation of the people is most favourable to population. After these passages, however, we cannot be surprised at the opinions which they have engendered, or that another writer‡ should state, that "the greater part of those reasoners, who are in the habit of misunderstanding and misrepresenting Mr. Malthus, would have some chance of attaining clearer views on the subject of population, if they would attend to the very simple proposition from which his doctrines are deduced; namely, that the human race have a tendency to increase faster than food can be provided for them." Mr. Malthus, in his Essay, does certainly intend to convey that idea. I cannot but think, however, that those reasoners who wish clearly to under

* See Malthus, book iii. c. 11. p. 222. vol. ii.

+ See Malthus, book ii. c. 7. The passage is as follows: " to fill up the void occasioned by this mortality in towns, and to answer all further demands for population, it is evident that a constant supply of recruits from the country is necessary; and this supply appears, in fact, to be always flowing in from the redundant births of the country." (Vol. i. p. 464.)

Edinburgh Review, vol. xi. p. 102.

stand, and fairly to represent, the principle of population, would have a better chance of obtaining their end, if, instead of blindly acquiescing in these assumed data, they proceed to inquire into the degree in which the principle of population naturally and really operates in the several stages of society. They will find this to be very distinct from its assumed "possible" operation, and in most cases to be very far from having a necessary tendency "to push the number of people beyond the point at which food can be acquired for them." This is a broad and distinct difference in principle, which it is the object of this first book to make out to the satisfaction of my readers. It is hoped that the proof of the propositions assumed in the following chapter will lead to a full and fair establishment of the truth. The object of the following books will then be to show the consequences which may fairly be deduced from the propositions thus established.

CHAPTER III.

Fundamental Propositions of this Treatise.

IN opposition to the hypothesis detailed in the preceding chapter, the object of this Treatise is to maintain the truth and practical consistency of the following principles, viz.:

I. Population has a natural tendency to keep within the powers of the soil to afford it subsistence in every gradation through which society passes.

II. This tendency can never BE DESTROYED, and can only be altered or diverted from its natural course, so as to induce a mischievous pressure of population against the ACTUAL supply of food, by grossly impolitic laws, or pernicious customs, either 1. Accelerating the progress of population considerably beyond its natural rate; or,

2. Depressing the productive energies of the soil considerably below its natural powers.

III. This tendency will neither be materially altered nor diverted from its natural course, so as to produce the evils mentioned in the last proposition, in a country whose government, laws, and customs, are founded in the main on principles of religion, morality, rational liberty, and security of person and property; although these principles may obtain only an imperfect influence. But

IV. This tendency will have its complete operation, so as constantly to maintain the people in comfort and plenty, in proportion as religion, morality,

rational liberty, and security of person and property, approach the attainment of a perfect influence.

The various modifications, to which the alternate increase of food and population is liable, are all comprised within these general principles, which exclude the necessity of "vice, misery," or such a modification of "moral restraint "as includes involuntary abstinence from marriage, as checks indispensably arising out of the principle of population. Their consideration and consequences, moreover, will lead the attentive reader of the following pages to a fifth proposition of great importance in political economy, viz.:

V. During the alternate progress of population and subsistence in the earliest and most advanced stages of society, a previous increase of people is necessary to stimulate the community to a farther production of food; and consequently to the healthy advancement of a country in the career of strength and prosperity. It results from this proposition that the incipient pressure of population against the actual means of subsistence, or, more correctly speaking, the excess of population just beyond the plentiful supply of the people's want, instead of being the cause of most of the miseries of human life, is in fact (under the modifications just stated) the cause of all public happiness, industry, and prosperity.

These five propositions contain an outline of the argument maintained in the following Treatise; and in them is involved almost every question fundamentally important to the religious, moral, and political interests of mankind. The method by which I propose to establish their truth is to take a brief, but

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