deavoured to soften some of the harshest conclusions of the first Essay." Why has he done so? It is true, that the recognition of the check of moral restraint was a departure from the main principle with a vengeance.-Should there not have been a departure from the conclusions also? But, if those conclusions are still just and well founded, why soften them ?—Surely, on their strength and harshness the main dependance must be placed, for success, in the attempt to convince the "swinish multitude" that they are the sole authors, not only of the vices they practise, but also of the miseries they endure! To soften them, (the conclusions,) therefore, is either a confession that they are not well founded, or an evidence that their author has, in the same degree, abandoned the great cause in which he is engaged.-Mr. M. hopes, "that, in so doing, he has not expressed any opinion respecting the probable improvement of society, in which he is not borne out by the experience of the past." This hope is, in this case, certainly well founded: especial care has been taken to avoid every thing tending that way. The invention of printing, and its consequences, as developing in the progressing reformation, and consequent beneficial tendency of Christianity; as also, the spread of science and useful knowledge, which insures mankind against another inundation of barbarism, &c..

&c., have been carefully passed over without notice. Why, then, should he imagine the possibility of such an enormous crime being laid to his charge? On the contrary, Mr. M. has led his disciples to the dungeons of Despair, in his eagerness to avoid the paths which conduct to the enchanting bowers of Hope. Nevertheless, if we are not "compelled to acknowledge, that the poverty and misery which prevail among the lower classes of society" are caused by ignorance and human institutions, it cannot be for want of abundant proofs, adduced and reiterated by him in the course of the preceding review. We will now return to these "general deductions," &c.

"That the checks which have been mentioned are the immediate causes of the slow increase of population, (in some countries, and of its decrease in others,) and that these checks result principally from an insufficiency of subsistence, (which insufficiency is, in almost all cases, effected by ignorance, tyranny, and other causes of a similar nature,) will be evident from the comparatively rapid increase of population (and happiness) which has invariably taken place," whenever there has been even a partial freedom from ignorance, &c.

"It has been universally remarked, that all new colonies settled in healthy countries, where room, and the power of producing (and

duly distributing) food were sufficiently abundant, have made a rapid progress in populalation;" because, in new colonies, almost the whole population are of the labouring classes, and have only to provide the means of subsistence and comfort for themselves alone; not having, as in old corrupted countries, to yield up a large proportion of the fruits of their labour for the support of immense masses of idleness in luxurious profusion. With respect to the rate of increase, it is not very material to the present inquiry, it being almost sufficient for every good purpose to know, that population and subsistence will always increase or decrease together in the same ratio, and that they will always increase, if no improper artificial causes of acceleration or prevention are applied to the population, which is the producing cause of the means of subsistence.

The evils of the tyranny and bad government which Spain and Portugal, France, Holland, and England, exercised over their colonies, fell principally on the Aborigines and Negroes, and did not so much affect the increase of the European Creole, and immigrant population. That "Mexico contained only 20,000 inhabitants in the time of Montezuma," few people, besides Mr. M., will be now induced to believe: but granting its truth, how will the assertion tally with Mr. M.'s own doctrines? Whether the

United States of North America double their population, from procreation alone, in twenty years, or whether they do not, Mr. M. has not produced data sufficient to determine the fact. But we are not calling on him to shew what is the possible maximum of the power of procreation under any given circumstances, but to shew that it is uniformly and irresistibly exerted, and that evil is, therefore, the necessary and inevitable result; or, in other words, that vice and misery are "the past and present effects of the principle of population."

"Whatever was the original number of British emigrants, which increased so fast in North America, let us ask, Why does not an equal number produce an equal increase in Great Britain? The obvious reason is--the want of food;" which want is caused by, either the natural incapacity of the soil, situation, and climate, to produce more food and necessaries, or any other articles which may be exchanged with foreign countries for food and necessaries; or else it is owing to the labourer being deprived of the surplus produce of their labour, for the support of war, idleness, or any other destructive measures which are effected through the ignorance of the people and misgovernment of their rulers. The consequence of all, or any, of which causes, must be the production of the natural check of moral restraint, or the

artificial checks of vice and misery, or of both species of checks combined. That "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 always appeared as rich and populous as ever," is an assertion not supported by the present, or, at least, late appearance of the cities and towns in these provinces; though of the countrypeasantry it may be correct: for Flanders was, generally speaking, merely the gamingtable of the European ecclesiastical and civil chiefs, and was seldom or never ravaged in any great degree by either of the hostile parties. -The vast expenditure of wealth, by great armies, in cantonments and winter quarters, must have operated greatly to the encouragement of agriculture, which must also have been considerably aided by the abundance of manure which was furnished from the blood and carcases of the crippled or broken tools and puppets of the gamblers.

The power of increasing their numbers, which is bestowed on mankind by their inconceivably good and great Creator, is not only sufficient to people the whole earth, completely, in the course of ages, but also to repair every breach in population occasioned by natural causes. That "Turkey and Egypt are periodically laid waste by plagues," is rather an hyperbolical as