544 The Pojwlation Question. QMAY, 



ing it. Mr. Sadler's proofs are uniform and universal ; but the review- 

 er's are distracted and confined. Which of these, think you, honest Mr. 

 Napier, is the more likely to be true ? Having shewn that by " shifting 

 the line higher up or lower down, he can produce any statement he 

 pleases," the reviewer adds that "the phenomena, if they indicate any 

 thing, indicate a law the very reverse of that which Mr. Sadler has pro- 

 pounded." Why, goose-cap, if your theory be right, and Mr. Sadler's 

 wrong, " the phenomena," as you call them, instead of f ' indicating any 

 thing," should prove the truth of your theory. How is your theory, or 

 Mr. Sadler's, or any one else's to be proved, unless by the evidence of 

 population returns ? And now that you have those population returns, 

 why do you not shew that they prove your theory ? You tell us that if 

 they indicate any thing, they indicate something the reverse of Mr. Sad- 

 ler's theory ; but that is not enough ; they ought to be susceptible of 

 affording two distinct proofs instead of one hypothetical indication ; they 

 ought to prove, first, that Mr. Sadler's theory is false ; and, second, that 

 Mr. Malthus's is true. Shew us that, thou last of the race of the wise 

 men of Gotham, and we will acknowledge that you have some preten- 

 sions to enter upon the discussion. 



But we have wasted enough of words upon this creature of the Old 

 Blue-and-Yellow school, and shall content ourselves with a closing obser- 

 vation on the infidelity that marks the proceedings of that Review. This 

 question is essentially a question that goes to establish the right of the 

 poor to live. The political economists would invest the aristocracy with 

 the exclusive right to enjoy life, and taste of all the privileges which 

 Nature in her bounty has showered upon Man. Mr. Sadler vindicates 

 the Universality of Happiness. He says, or rather the obvious deduction 

 to be drawn from his pages is, that the distinctions which have sprung 

 up in the formation and distribution of society ought to have no penal 

 influence upon natural prerogatives : that man should alike throughout 

 all grades taste the sweet delights that are spread before him in that ban- 

 quet, which was not prepared by human hands; that the Affections, the 

 Hopes, the Sympathies, arid the multitudinous throng of Sensations that 

 fill the Heart, are no more called into existence for the rich man's sole 

 enjoyment, than are the glorious lights which, like beacons, take up their 

 eternal stations in the sky, placed there for the exclusive illumination of 

 the rich man's night ; that all that is given by God is given in common * 

 and that we who live in affluence making laws for our fellow men, have 

 no right to make a law, or urge a proposition, that has for its object the 

 annihilation of the Natural Rights of the Poor. What then must we think 

 of the Edinburgh Review, which professes the popular creed, when we 

 find it abetting the unnatural, and unjust, and oppressive views which 

 Mr. Sadler combats. Of course these views lead to political results. All 

 philosophy is political. The original principles of all branches of philo- 

 sophy are of application to various departments in the science of politics; 

 and the anti-humanity tenets of the Edinburgh Review, lead to the most 

 Disastrous and fatal political fallacies. We now leave Mr. Macauley, and 

 Old Blue-and-Yellow to the tender mercies of the public. We have 

 done our part. Should, another arm be raised in the contest, we shall be 

 found armed for the fight. In the mean time it will be curious to observe 

 how the Edinburgh will endeavour to escape the responsibility its errors 

 have already incurred. .That it'must, and will ultimately renounce MaL* 

 thus we entertain no .doubt ; but, for the delectation of amateur super- 

 fecunditarians, we shall carefully note the progress of the Second Apos- 

 tacy. .... . >, . . . . .. " .. . . i . : ^ 



