626 
POPULATION. | ' 
Of.the various answers to Mr. Malthus, 
the most,substantial in.argument, though 
far from, the most.attractive.in style, is the 
work. entitled the «Happiness of States,” 
published in 1815,;by Mr. S..Gray;..a 
work of which the leading principles were, 
some time after, developed ina more 
condensed and popular form. Far trom 
coinciding with the, uncomfortable doc- 
trine, that increase of numbers leads 
to increase of poverty, Mr. Gray main- 
tains that augmented population forms the 
basis of zndividual as well as of national 
wealth, 
_ What-a different aspect of society is 
exhibited. after the rise of towns and the 
general increase of numbers! If we com- 
pare such countries as Russia, Poland, 
Hungary, or the Highlands of Scotland, 
with the more thickly peopled districts of 
the Continent, such as the provinces of 
Holland, Zealand, Flanders, Normandy, 
or, on Our own side of the Channel, with 
such counties as Lancashire, Warwick- 
shire, the west riding of York (to say 
nothing of Middlesex) we find a sur- 
prising difference in the number, and 
comfort of the middle class. A return of 
annual income from the first-mentioned 
countries, would exhibit a few princely 
fortunes, witha long succession of names 
below the limit of taxation: in the other, 
it would show a number of gradations 
rising above each other in a manner al- 
most imperceptible. How different is the 
England of the present age from the 
England of feudal times, when our towns 
were in their infancy, and when the 
' Commons or middle class were too unim- 
portant to hold a share in the representa- 
tion, until brought forward by the crown 
as a counterpoise to the aristocracy. 
In what manner does the progress of 
improvement, the transition from penury 
to comfort, in general take place? It 
has a very close connection with increase 
of population: the assemblage of indivi- 
duals. in towns is productive of adagree of 
accommodation, comfort and refinement 
which. would be altogether beyond their 
reach in an insulated position: the ac- 
quisition of one comfort creates a desire 
for another, until society eventually at- 
fains the high state of polish which we at 
present witness in a few countries of 
Europe, ‘All this, says Mr. Gray, leads 
the consumer to make fresh demands on 
the producer; demands reciprocated by 
the latter on the former, in a different line 
of ‘business. ° Hence, the dependence of 
one class on another; hence, the pros- 
“ penity caused to agriculture by the suc- 
Lowe on the State of England. 
cess of trade, and to trade by the success . 
of agriculture... ~ 
The .well. known argument of Mr. 
Malthus is, that. population if unchecked, 
would proceed ina geometrical ratio (1, 2, 
4,8, 16,32, &c.), while the supply of food 
cannot, he thinks, be brought by the great- 
est efforts of, human skill.and industry to 
increase otherwise than in the arithmetical 
ratio of 1,2, 3, 4,5, 6, &c. is sup- 
position, however, is altogether gratuitous, 
the idea of a geometrical ratio applied to 
population being founded on a single ex- 
ample, that of the United States of Ame- 
rica, a country presenting a remarkable 
combination of advantages ;—-a. territory 
of yast extent; a river navigation of 
great importance ; a people enjoying un- 
restricted intercourse with the civilized 
world, and closely connected in language 
and habits with the most commercial and 
colonizing portion of Europe. Such an 
example is necessarily rare, and ought to 
be considered an extreme case; a more 
satisfactory result as to the ave in- 
crease of population ;would be obtained 
from a combination of cases, among 
which, assuming the United States as the 
example of the most rapid augmentation, 
we may take, as the second, England, 
in which, under circumstances more 
favourable than on the Continent of Eu- 
rope, but less so than on the other side of 
the Atlantic, population has doubled 
within the last century, and bids fair to 
double again in sixty or seventy years, 
As a farther example, we may ‘take 
France, where, though the records are far 
from accurate, the doubling of the popu- 
lation appears to require a term of from 
100 to 120 years. Other counitries exhibit 
a greater or less degree of slowness in the 
rafio of increase, and as these returns 
apply to them when exempt from ‘the 
visitation of war, pestilence, or any vio- 
lent check to increase of numbers, Mr. 
Gray’s inference is, that the average fur- 
nished by the whole may be . assumed 
as indicative of the natural progress of 
population, in preference to the. result 
afforded by acountry, the circumstances 
of which are altogether peculiar. 
After establishing that the natural 
ratio of increase is less than is advanced 
by Mr. Malthus, Mr, Gray proceeds to 
argue that such increase is. no farther 
limited by the difficulty of obtaining 
food, than by the difficulty of obtaining 
clothing or deine because the supply 
of food, though apparently restricted by 
a physical cause; is, on a closer exami- 
nation, found to depend on the amount 
of capital and iabour applied to raising it. 
Mr. 
