Ch. iv. Of Eiuighitlon. 59 



latecl, that no checks existed to population, and 

 that the different governments provided every 

 facility for emigration. Taking the population of 

 Europe, excluding Russia, at a hundred millions, 

 and allowing a greater increase of produce than is 

 probable, or even possible, in the mother-coun- 

 tries, the redundancy of parent stock in a single 

 century would be eleven hundred millions, which, 

 added to the natural increase of the colonies 

 during the same time, would more than double 

 what has been supposed to be the present popu- 

 lation of the whole earth. 



Can we imagine, that in the uncultivated parts 

 of Asia, Africa, or America, the greatest exertions 

 and the best-directed endeavours could, in so 

 short a period, prepare a quantity of land suffi- 

 cient for the support of such a population ? If 

 any sanguine person should feel a doubt upon the 

 subject, let him only add 25 or 50 years more, and 

 every doubt must be crushed in overwhelming 

 conviction. 



Tt is evident, therefore, that the reason why the 

 resource of emigration has so long continued to be 

 held out as a remedy to redundant population is, 

 because, from the natural unwillingness of people 

 to desert their native country, and the difficulty 

 of clearing and cultivating fresh soil, it never is or 

 can be adequately adopted. If this remedy were 

 indeed really effectual, and had power so far to 

 relieve the disorders of vice and misery in old 

 states, as to place them in the condition of the 

 most prosperous new colonies, we should soon see 



