619 
are removed. (and the removal of thefe 
obftruétions is the very effence of rheir 
fyftem), that the increafe of the num- 
ber of men may furpafs their means of 
fubfiftence, and of courfe that this pe- 
riod is the limit when all further ame- 
lioration in fociety will be :mpoffible. 
But they look upon this period as being 
at fo remote a diftance that it cannot 
pollibly be allowed to have the leaft 
perceptible weight as an argument in 
oppofition to their fcheme. Now, if 
the principles laid down by Mr. -Mal- 
thus are juft; if the ratio which he 
lays down between the unreftriéted in- 
creafe of population and food be cor- 
rect, it is obvious that the period when 
the number of men furpafs their means 
of fubfiftence is already arrived; or, 
to adopt a favourite expreflion of Mr. 
Malthus, that the population is already 
prefling hard againft the limits of the 
means of fubfittence: that this pref- 
jure has exifted ever fince we have had 
any hiftories of mankind, does exift at 
prefent, and will for ever continue to 
exift unlefs fome decided change takes 
place in the phyfical conftitution df our 
nature. M.Condorcet proceeds to ar- 
gue on the organic perfectibility of 
man: we are forry that fo delightful a 
theory has met with a decifive and ut- 
ter overthrow. It would occupy too 
much fpace to enter into Mr. Mal- 
thus’s arguments, particularly as we 
are defrous of exhibiting, briefly in-. 
deed, the application of his principle 
to the theory of our countryman, Mr. 
Godwin. According to the beautiful 
fyftem which this ingenious vilionary 
propofes, Peace is to dwell upon earth, 
and good-will to be univerfally diffufed 
among men; the condition of every 
man is to be equal to that of his neigh- 
bour; benevolence is to be fubftiruted 
for felf-love, as the grand principle of 
_= 
action’; reafon and juftice are to hold - 
an unbounded fway ; moral ieftraint is 
entirely to fuperfede the neceflity of 
political regulations; and chains and 
dungeons are to be no more heard of. 
Mr. Godwin, as he attributes almoft 
all the vice and milery which now pre- 
vail in civil fociety to human inftitu- 
tions, by {weeping from the face of the 
earth all thefe ‘* fyitems of fraud and 
opprefion,”” flatters himfelr, of courte, 
that vice and mifery will be fwept off 
with them. Mr. Malthus confiders the 
mal-influence of human inftitutions as 
peiteétly infignificant, compared with 
‘‘thofe deeper-feated caufes of evil, 
Retrofpec? of Dometic Literature,— Political Economgé 
which refult from the laws of nature 3% 
from the principle, in fhort, of popu- 
Jation. The dificulty to Mr. Godwin’s 
fyftem arifing from an overcharged po- 
pulation did not efcape him; but, 
Itke Condorcet, he afferts that the evil 
is too remote to be dreaded. ‘‘ Three- 
fourths.of the habitable globe is now 
uncultivated. he parts already culti- 
vated are capai!¢ otf immeafarable im- 
provement: myriads of centuries of 
{till inereafing population may pafs 
away, and the earth be {till found fuf- 
ficient for the fubfiltence of its inhabit- 
ants.”’ In order to fhew the error of 
this opinion and the fragility of Mr. 
Godwin’s fyftem, Mr. Malthus fup- 
poles it to be realized in its utmoft ex~ 
tent. All the caufes of vice and mi- | 
{ery in this ifand are removed ; * war 
and contention ‘ceafe; unwholefome 
trades and manufattories do not exit ; 
crouds no longer colleét together in 
great and peltilential cities, for pur- 
pofes of court intrigue, of commerce, 
and vicious gratification ;  fimple, 
healthy, and rational amufements take 
place of drinking, gaming, and de- 
bauchery ; there are no towns fufi- 
ciently large to have any prejudicial 
effects on the human conftitution ; the — 
greater part of the happy inhabitants 
of this terreftial paradife live in ham- 
letsand farm-houfes, feattered over the 
face of the country; all men are equal ; 
the labours of luxury are at an end, and | 
the neceflary labours of agriculture are 
fhared amicably among all; the number | 
of perfons and the produce of the ifland 
we fuppotfe to be the fame as at prefemt ; 
the {pirit of benevolence, guided by im- 
‘partial juftice, will divide the produce 
among all the members of foctety ac- 
cording to their wants. Thongh it 
would be impoffible that they thould 
all have animal food every day, yet ve 
getable food, with meat occafionally, 
would fatisfy the defires of a frugal 
people, and would be fufficient to pre- 
ferve them in health, ftrength, ahd 
{pirits.”” 
The commerce of the fexes is to be 
eftablifhed upon principles of perfeé 
freedom; but Mr.Godwin is of epi= 
nion, and he is very probably right, that 
population would not be impeded by 
pramifcuous intercourfe, which, as it is 
the refult of a vicious and unnatural 
tafte, could not generally prevail; and 
as nobody could be deterred from 
fexual intercourfe in a ftate where 
* provifions and affitance would fpon- 
5 taneoufly 
