496 APPENDIX. 



existence of these evils we had no more reason to conclude 

 that the principle of increase was too strong for the purpose 

 intended by the Creator, than to infer, from the existence of 

 the vices arising from the human passions, that these pas- 

 sions required diminution or extinction, instead of regulation 

 and direction. 



If this view of the subject be allowed to be correct, it 

 will naturally follow that, notwithstanding the acknowledged 

 evils occasioned by the principle of population, the advan- 

 tages derived from it under the present constitution of things 

 may very greatly overbalance them. 



A slight sketch of the nature of these advantages, as far 

 as the main object of the Essay would allow, was given in 

 the two chapters to which I have alluded; but the subject 

 has lately been pursued with great ability in the Work 

 of Mr. Sumner on the Records of the Creation; and I am 

 happy to refer to it as containing a masterly developemeut 

 and completion of views, of which only an intimation could 

 be given in the Essay. 



I fully agree with Mr. Sumner as to the beneficial effects 

 which result from the principle of population, and feel en- 

 tirely convinced that the natural tendency of the human race 

 to increase faster than the possible increase of the means of 

 subsistence could not be either destroyed or essentially di- 

 minished without diminishing that hope of rising and fear of 

 falling in society, so necessary to the improvement of the 

 human faculties and the advancement of human happiness. 

 But with this conviction on my mind, [ feel no wish to alter 

 the view which 1 have given of the evils arising from the 

 principle of population. These evils do not lose their name 

 or nature because they are overbalanced by good ; and to 

 consider them in a different light on this account, and cease 

 to call them evils, would be as irrational as the objecting to 

 call the irregular indulgences of passion vicious, and to 

 affirm that they lead to misery, because our passions are the 

 main sources of human virtue and happiness. 



I have always considered the principle of population as a 

 law peculiarly suited to a state of discipline and trial. Indeed 

 I believe that, in the whole range of the laws of nature 

 M'ith which we are acquainted, not one can be pointed out, 

 which in so remarkable a manner tends to strengthen and 

 confirm this scriptural view of the state of man on earth. 



