o 
MALTHUS’S ESSAY ON POPULATION. 
pound interest, may astonish his younger 
sister both by the fact, and by the ex- 
act number of years in which.it would 
take place.) On the other hand, let the 
productiveness of the earth be increased 
beyond the hopes of the most visionary 
agriculturist, still the productions take 
up room: if the present crop of turnips 
Occupy one-fifth of the space of the tur- 
nip field, the increase can never be more 
than quintuple ; and if you suppose two 
harvests for one, the increase still cannot 
exceed ten: so that supposing a little 
island of a single acre, and its produc- 
tions occupying one-fifth of its absolute 
space, and sufficient to maintain two 
"men and two women, four generations 
would outrun its possible power of fur- 
nishing them with food. We may bold- 
ly affirm that a truth so self-evident as 
this, was never overlooked, or even by 
implication contradicted. What proof 
has Mr. Malthus brought, what proof 
can he bring, that every writer or theo- 
rist has overlooked this fact, which would 
not apply (with reverencc be it spoken) 
to the Almighty himself, when he pro- 
nounced the awful command, ‘ Increase 
and multiply?’ 
_ +» From page 17 to page 355, Mr. Mal- 
thus retails and details from others’ tra- 
vels, and from his own, facts of all na- 
tions and all ages, in all states of so- 
ciety, to prove that men have suffered, 
and are suffering, from igforance, filth, 
famine, diseases, large cities, unwhole- 
some employment, superstition, bad pas- 
sions, bad habits, bad laws, and bad 
government ; that all these have made 
men wicked, and poor, and miserable ; 
and that men in wickedness, and misery, 
_and dearth of subsistence, do not rear, 
even if they beget, as large families as 
happy and good people would do. Now 
We put it seriously to Mr. Malthus's 
good sense, whether or no, if he had 
simply stated this in one sentence of half- 
a-dozen, or half-a-score lines, any one 
individual in Europe would have felt 
theleastinclination tocontradict the state-- 
ment? The whole of these pages would 
_ make a sensible first sentence of an essay 
_ in anewspaper on the subject of popu- 
“Tation; (for it is right to begin with a 
_ statement which no one can, or can wish 
to controvert,) but 355 quarto pages to 
say it out in!—The Minerva press, and 
his Majesty’s law-printers are not more 
merciless to paper and printers’ ink. 
* Political Justice, b. viii, 
293 
This mighty discovery Mr. Malthus 
opposes to all good feelings and all good 
hopes, with this he triumphantly destroys 
all arguments for all amelioration of the 
state of the human race. It is brought 
in its full force against Mr. Godwin. 
This was the original mark and object 
of the work, and it is to this that Mr. 
Malthus owes his present high reputa- 
tion: long as the passage is we shall 
therefore give it at length. 
«* Let us imagine for amoment, Mr. God- 
win’s system of equality realised in its ut- 
most extent, and see how soon this diffiicul. 
ty might be expected to press, under so per- 
ect a form of society. <A theory that will 
not admit of application cannot Possiby be 
Just. 
«« Let us suppose all the causes of vice and 
misery in this island removed. War and 
contention cease. Unwholesome trades and 
manufactories do not exist. Crowds no 
longer collect together in great and pestilent 
cities, for purposes of court intrigue, of com- 
merce, and vicious gratification. Simple, 
healthy, and rational amusements, take sled 
of drinking, gaming, and debauchery. There 
are no towns sufficiently large, to have any 
prejudicial effects on the human constitution. 
The greater part of the happy inhabitants 
of this terrestrial paradise live in hamlets and 
farm houses, scattered over the face of the 
country. All men are equal. The labours 
.of luxury are at an end; and the necessary 
labours of agriculture are shared amicably 
among all. ‘The number of persons and the 
produce of the island we euppose to be the 
same as at present. The spirit of benevo- 
lence guided by impartiah justice, will divide 
this produce among all the members of so- 
ciety according to their wants. Though it 
would be impossible that they should all 
have animal food every day, yet vegetable 
food, with meat occasionally, would satisfy 
the desires of a frugal people, and would be 
sufficient to preserve them in health, 
strength, and spirits. 
«« Mr. Godwin considers marriage as a 
fraud, and a monopoly.* Let us suppose the 
commerce of the sexes established upon 
principles of the most perfect freedom. Mr. 
Godwin dees not think himself, that this 
freedom would lead to a promiscuous inter- 
course; and in this, I perfectly aeree with 
him. ‘The love of variety is a vicious, cor- 
rupt, and unnatural taste, and could not pre- 
vail, in any great degree, in a simple and 
Virtuous state of society. Each man would 
probably select for himself a partner, to 
whem he would adhere, as long as that ad- 
herence continued to be the choice of both 
parties. It would be of little consequence, 
according to Mr. Godwin, how many child- 
ren a woman had, or to whorn they belong- 
¢. Vili. p. 498. et seq. 
U 3 
