CHAPTER XIV.

"GENERAL OBSERVATIONS."

THESE general observations seem to have been made chiefly with the view of exposing the falsehoods of Mr. M.'s own general principles and assertions." It has been observed, (that the inhabitants of) many countries, (Egypt, Italy, Sicily, and Spain, for instance,) at the period of their greatest degree of populousness, have lived in the greatest plenty, and have been able to export corn; but, at other periods, when their population was very low, have lived in continual poverty and want, and have been obliged to import corn."-Now, perhaps, our readers will imagine, that Mr. M. is going to demonstrate, in good earnest, that the evils of depopulation, poverty, and want, which have taken place in those countries, have been produced by the baneful principle of population, or that he is now going to prove the truth of his assertions, concerning the good effects of defective

human institutions, and the bad effects of the laws of God. But, if they do so imagine, they are very much mistaken; for, if they proceed a very little way farther, they will find him fully employed in undermining the main pillars of the edifice which he has been rearing with so much pains and care. Witness the following heads of a lecture, filling thirty-five pages of his work :-" In the numerous instances of depopulation which occur in history, the causes may always be traced to the want of industry, or the ill direction of that industry, arising from bad government, ignorance, &c., which first occasion a want of food,—and, of course, depopulation follows. The causes of the depopulation of Egypt and Turkey have already been adverted to; and, in the case of Spain, it was certainly not the numerical loss of people, occasioned by the expulsion of the Moors, but the industry and capital thus expelled, which permanently injured her population. When a country has been depopulated by violent causes, if a bad Government, with its usual concomitant, insecurity of property, ensue, which has generally been the case in all those countries, (which are less peopled now than formerly,) neither the food, nor the population, can recover itself, (not even by individual prudence, skill, and industry,) and the

(remaining) inhabitants will, probably, live in severe want"!!!

"It has appeared, I think, clearly, in the review of different societies, given in the former part of this work, that those countries, the inhabitants of which were sunk in the most barbarous ignorance, or oppressed by the most cruel tyranny, however low they might be in actual population, were (the most) populous in proportion to their (actual) means of subsistence; and, upon the slightest failure of the seasons, generally suffered the severities of want. Ignorance and despotism have no tendency to destroy the sexual passion; but, by reducing man to the condition of irrational animals, they effectually destroy the natural checks to it, from reason and foresight." "The improvident barbarian, who thinks only of his present wants; or the miserable peasant, who, from his political situation, feels little security of reaping what he has sown; will seldom be deterred from gratifying his passions, by the prospect of inconveniences, which cannot be expected to press on him under three or four years. But, though this want of foresight, which is produced by ignorance and bad Government,* tends thus rather to encourage the pro

*Ireland has, by Mr. M., been made the only exception. which is to be found in the whole world, solely by the wicked

VOL. II.

creation of children, it is fatal to that industry which is to support them; (their miserable parents are careless of an existence which they feel to be joyless and unhappy, and they are aware, that, were it possible for them to exert greater industry for its comfort and support, they would be deprived of the fruits of that industry, under some pretence or other.) Industry, therefore, cannot exist (to any extent) without foresight and security. The indolence of the savage is well known, and the poor Egyptian, Abyssinian, or Irish farmer,* without capital, who rents land which is let out, yearly, to the highest bidder, and who is constantly subject to the demands of his tyrannical masters, to the casual plunder of an enemy, (in the shape of an Arab, a mountain-dew inquisitor, or a tithe proctor) and, not unfrequently, to the violation of his contract, (either openly, by tyrannical power; or else covertly, by the expense, abuse, and chicane, of law,) can have no heart to be industrious; and, if he had, could not exercise that industry with success.

potatoes, in spite of the knowledge and freedom showered on her by the purest church, and the most economical, honest, and excellent Government on the face of the earth.

* The information before the public in various works, and in the "Edinburgh Review" in particular, concerning the late condition of the Irish peasantry, authorises us to add them to the reverend author's instances.

Even poverty itself, which appears to be the great spur to industry, when it has once passed certain limits, almost ceases to operate. The indigence which is hopeless, destroys all vigorous exertion, and confines the efforts to what is sufficient to bare existence. It is the hope of bettering our condition, and the fear of want, rather than want itself, which is the best stimulus to industry; and its most constant and best-directed efforts will, almost invariably, be found among a class of people above the class of the wretchedly poor."

We never experience our own feebleness in argument so forcibly, as when Mr. Malthus thus earnestly argues against his own principles and propositions; for, then, having truth superadded to his logical acquirements, he is allpowerful in the work of confutation; and we doubt not, but that our readers will agree with us in our opinion, after they have observed how the preceding extracts bear upon his main propositions, viz. that "the principle of population is the great cause of human unhappiness;" —that "human institutions, instead of aggravating, have tended, considerably, to mitigate, though they can never remove, the evils inevitably resulting from the laws of God;" that "the evils caused by human institutions, are, in reality, light and superficial, in comparison with those which result from the deeper