Ch. xiv. General Observations. 253 



of a hair from the argument, which depends en- 

 tirely upon the differently increasing ratios of 

 population and food : and all that the most en- 

 lightened governments and the most persevering 

 and best guided efforts of industry can do is to 

 make the necessary checks to population operate 

 more equably, and in a direction to produce the 

 least evil ; but to remove them is a task absolutely 

 hopeless. 



But whether the habits and customs of an old state could be 

 so changed by an abundance of food, as to make it increase nearly 

 like a new colony, is a question of mere curiosity. The argument 

 only requires that a change from scanty to abundant means of 

 supporting a family should occasion, in old states, a marked in- 

 crease of population j and this, it is conceived, cannot possibly be 

 denied. 



