32 Excessively cheap Food not desirable. 



cently had cause to alter my opinion ; and 

 must now earnestly deprecate their becoming 

 the staple article of food for the lower classes in 

 Great Britain, lest similar results to those which 

 I witness in this country should follow. As a 

 security against famine, the potatoe is invalu- 

 able ; but as a mean for supporting the existence 

 of man, without that exertion he ought daily to 

 make for the preservation of his health and fa- 

 culties, it is certainly not desirable. 



Pood having been demonstrated by Mr. Mal- 

 thus to be the only limit to population ; a 

 country where the inhabitants would be content 

 to live wholly on this root might support num- 

 bers of people beyond any calculation : e. g. 

 Fifteen Irish are maintained by the produce of 

 the same extent of land required for the sup- 

 port of one English manufacturer; and, were the 

 most improved modes of cultivating this ve- 

 getable resorted to by the cottiers, the dispro- 

 portion would still be greater. A population 

 thus produced seems to exceed all capital, and 

 means of occupation at home. 



As the happiness of those individuals who are 

 not compelled to labor for their subsistence 

 depends on pursuit so with those who are ob- 

 liged to labor in order that they may live, it 



