Ch. xi. Condition of the Poor comidercd. 379 



In another place he quotes a very sensible 

 passage from the Report of the Committee of Men- 

 dicity, which, alluding to the evils of over-popu- 

 lation, concludes thus, *' II faudroit enfin n^ces- 

 " sairement que le prix de travail baissat par la 

 " plus grande concurrence de travailleurs, d'ou 

 -' r^sulteroit une indigence complette pour ceux 

 " qui ne trouveroient pas de travail, et une sub- 

 " sistence incomplette pour ceux memes auxquels 

 " il ne seroit pas r6fus6." And in remarking upon 

 this passage, he observes, " France itself affords 

 •' an irrefragable proof of the truth of these senti- 

 " ments ; for I am clearly of opinion, from the ob- 

 " servations I made in every province of the 

 " kingdom, that her population is so much beyond 

 " the proportion of her industry and labour, that 

 " she w^ould be much more powerful and infinitely 

 " more flourishing, if she had five or six millions 

 ." less of inhabitants. From her too great popu- 

 " lation she presents in every quarter such spec- 

 " tacles of wretchedness, as are absolutely incon- 

 " sistent with that degree of national felicity 

 " which she was capable of attaining, even under 

 " the old government. A traveller much less 

 " attentive than I was to objects of this kind must 

 ** see at every turn most unequivocal signs of dis- 

 " tress. That these should exist, no one can 

 " wonder, who considers the price of labour and 

 " of provisions, and the misery into which a small 

 " rise in the price of wheat throws the lower 

 *' classes."* 



* Travels in Fiance, vol. i. c. xvii. p. 469. 



