2 Systems of Equality. Bk. iii. 



stroy his whole system of equality, did not seem 

 to be aware that any difficulty would arise from 

 this cause, till the whole earth had been culti- 

 vated like a garden, and was incapable of any 

 further increase of produce. If this were really 

 the case, and a beautiful system of equality were 

 in other respects practicable, I cannot think that 

 our ardour in the pursuit of such a scheme ought 

 to be damped by the contemplation of so remote 

 a difficulty. An event at such a distance might 

 fairly be left to Providence. But the truth is, 

 that, if the view of the argument given in this 

 essay be just, the difficulty, so far from being re- 

 mote, is imminent and immediate. At every pe- 

 riod during the progress of cultivation, from the 

 present moment to the time when the whole earth 

 was become like a garden, the distress for want of 

 food would be constantly pressing on all mankind, 

 if they were equal. Though the produce of the 

 earth would be increasing every year, population 

 would have the power of increasing much faster, 

 and this superior power must necessarily be 

 checked by the periodical or constant action of 

 moral restraint, vice, or misery. 



M. Condorcet's Esquisse cVun Tableau Historique 

 des Progrh de t Esprit Humain was written, it is 

 said, under the pressure of that cruel proscription 

 which terminated in his death. If he had no hopes 

 of its being seen during his life, and of its interest- 

 ing France in his favour, it is a singular instance 

 of the attachment of a man to principles, which 

 every day's experience was, so fatally for himself. 



