' APPENDIX. 475 



The second argument is no less powerfully supported by the 

 Principle of Population than the first. It appears, from a very 

 general survey of different countries, that, under every form of 

 government, however unjust and tyrannical, in every climate of 

 the known world, however apparently unfavourable to health, it 

 has been found that population, almost with the sole exception 

 above alluded to, has been able to keep itself up to the level of the 

 means of subsistence. Consequently, if by the abolition of the trade 

 to Africa the slaves in the West Indies were placed only in a toler- 

 able situation, if their civil condition and moral habits were only 

 made to approach to tbose which prevail among the mass of the 

 human race in the worst-governed countries of the world, it is 

 contrary to the general laws of nature to suppose that they would 

 not be able by procreation fully to supply the effective demand for 

 labour; and it is difficult to conceive that a population so raised 

 would not be in every point of view preferable to that which exists 

 at present. 



It is perfectly clear therefore, that a consideration of the laws 

 which govern the increase and decrease of the human species, tends 

 to strengthen, in the most powerful mannerj all the arguments in 

 favour of the abolition. 



With regard to the state of society among the African nations, 

 it will readily occur to the reader that, in describing it, the ques- 

 tion of the slave-trade was foreign to my purpose; and I might 

 naturally fear that, if I entered upon it, 1 should be led into too 

 long a digression. But certainly all the facts which I have men- 

 tioned, and which are taken principally from Park, if they do not 

 absolutely prove that the wars in Africa are excited and aggravated 

 by the traffic on the coast, tend powerfully to co»Jir?n the supposi- 

 tion. The state of Africa, as I have described it, is exactly such 

 as we should expect in a country where the capture of men was 

 considered as a more advantageous employment than agriculture 

 or manufactures. Of the state of these nations some hundred 

 years ago, it must be confessed, we have little knowledge that we 

 can depend upon. But allowing that the regular plundering ex- 

 cursions, which Park describes, are of the most ancient date ; yet 

 it is impossible to suppose that any circumstance which, like the 

 European traffic, must give additional value to the plunder thcs 

 acquired, would not powerfully aggravate them, and effectually 

 prevent all progress towards a happier order of things. As long 

 as the nations of Europe continue barbarous enough to purchase 

 slaves in Africa, we may be quite sure that Africa will continue 

 barbarous enough to supply them. 



