ューマ
​ཀྱི་
་་་

ARTES
LIBRARY
18 17
VERITAS
SCIENTIA
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
TUEBOR
SI-QUÆRIS PENINSULAM-AMŒNAM
CIRCUMSPICE
THIS BOOK
FORMS PART OF THE
ORIGINAL LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
BOUGHT IN EUROPE
1838 TO 1839
BY
ASA GRAY
:


AN
CHIC
AN
10-123
AN
17
INQUIRY
INTO THE
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION:
INCLUDING
AN EXPOSITION OF THE CAUSES AND THE ADVANTAGES
OF A TENDENCY TO EXUBERANCE OF NUMBERS
IN SOCIETY,
A DEFENCE OF POOR-LAWS,
AND
A CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL VIEW
OF THE
DOCTRINES AND PROJECTS OF THE
MOST CELEBRATED LEGISLATORS AND WRITERS,
RELATIVE TO POPULATION, THE POor, and
CHARITABLE ESTABLISHMENTS.
By JAMES GRAHAME, Esq.
EDINBURGH:
Printed by James Ballantyne and Co.
FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY, EDINBURGH;
AND LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,
LONDON.
1816.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE.
Review of the Works of the most celebrated Writers on
Population, and the Increase and Treatment of the
Poor.-Doctrines and Remarks of Plato, Sir Thomas
More, Wallace, Condorcet, Smith, Malthus, Paley,
Craig, &c.-Project of abolishing Poor's-Rates.-His-
tory and Merits of the English and Scotch Poor-Laws.
-Project of reducing the Poor to a State of Domestic
Slavery. Doctrines and Remarks of Hume, Fletcher,
Wallace, Turgot, Lord Kames, Fielding, M'Farlane, &c.
(Opponents of Mr Malthus) Jarrold, Weyland, &c.
CHAP. I.
Of the Law of Human Increase.-Of Marriage and Poly-
gamy. Of the Moral and Political Duties relative to
Marriage and Celibacy.-Of the necessary Tendency of
Communities to Redundance of Population, arising from
the natural Progress of Society, and the Influence of
Wealth and Poverty on the Increase of Mankind,
1
79
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAP. II.
Of the Appearance of a Tendency to Redundance of Po-
pulation in the earliest Stages of Society.-Of Emigra-
tion, the original Remedy presented by Nature to this
Pressure, and tending to the Replenishment and com-
plete Cultivation of the Earth.-Adequacy of this Re-
medy, and historical Views of Emigration. Of the Re-
sources of Room and Produce possessed by the Earth,
for the Support of additional Numbers of Mankind,
CHAP. III.
Of the Causes which have obstructed the Progress and
Efficacy of Emigration, and retarded the Replenishment
and complete Cultivation of the Earth.-Irregularities
and Inequalities in the Progress of different Societies,
and their Effects on Population.-1st, Conquest and
Slavery. 2d, Hunting and other degenerate Modes of
Life-Influence of ill-regulated Emigration, unappro-
priate Institutions, and other Causes of National Dege-
neracy.-3d, Pastoral Pursuits-Emigrations of Shep-
herds-German Emigrations.-4th, Agricultural Life.
-5th, Commerce and Manufactures-Influence of
Commercial System on Agriculture and Resources-
Commercial Wars, and the Influence of War on Pro-
duce and Population-Commercial Colonies,
CHAP. IV.
Of the Positive Check by which Population is regulated in
the actual State of Human Societies. Of the Influence
of Luxury and Charity in relaxing this Check.-Of the
Treatment of the Poor in various Ages and Countries-
by the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews, and Modern
Nations. Of Infanticide, and certain other artificial
Checks on Population.
PAGE,
100
121
166
10
CONTENTS.
vii
CHAP. V.
Of charitable Establishments in general. Of the Princi-
ple of a System of Poor-Laws.-Relation between this
System and other Institutions of civilized Society-An
Order of Nobility, a Law of Entails, &c. Of Foundling
Hospitals, and other similar Institutions.-Tendency of
opulent and posthumous Establishments to Abuse,
CHAP. VI.
Of a Preventive Check on Population by Restraint of Mar-
riage in humble Life, and Abolition of all legal Esta-
blishments for Relief of the Indigent.—Comparison
between this Preventive Check and the Positive Check
unfolded in Chapter IV, and superior Advantages of
the latter. Of the Virtue and Happiness of the Poor as
affected by Marriage and Celibacy.-Recent Doctrines
of the Inefficacy of Marriage in restraining Licentious-
ness, and of the Utility and Respectability of Celibacy.-
Influence of Education on the Principle of Population,
and of the Marriages of the Poor on their Frugality
and Industry, and on the Resources of a Country,
CHAP. VII.
Of the State of ancient and modern Times, and of various
modern Countries, in respect of Population, Marriage,
and Celibacy. Of the Influence of War in modern.
Times on Marriage and Celibacy,
CHAP. VIII.
Recapitulation.-Increase of Numbers, the Cause oftener
than the Effect of Increase of the Means of Subsistence.
-Of the Increase of the Lower Classes of Society.-
Of Poverty and Mendicity, and the Means of bettering
PAGE.
205
233
257
viii
CONTENTS.
the Condition of the Indigent-Duties of Government
and of Individuals.—Of the Influence of Government
and Public Policy, on the Condition and Numbers of
the Inhabitants of a Country.
PAGE,
274. `
NOTES,
:
1
1
+
f
i
313
}
1
INTRODUCTION.
Review of the Works of the most celebrated Writers on Po-
pulation, and the Increase and Treatment of the Poor.-
Doctrines and Remarks of Plato, Sir Thomas More, Wal-
lace, Condorcet, Smith, Malthus, Paley, Craig, &c.—Pro-
ject of abolishing Poor's-Rates.-History and Merits of the
English and Scotch Poor-Laws.-Project of reducing the
Poor to a State of Domestic Slavery.-Doctrines and Re-
marks of Hume, Fletcher, Wallace, Turgot, Lord Kaimes,
Fielding, McFarlane, &c. (Opponents of Mr Malthus), Jar-
rold, Weyland, &c.
THE influence exercised by the principle of
po-
pulation on the welfare of individuals and com-
munities, has occupied, more or less, the consi-
deration of every political philosopher who has
extended his survey of systems of government,
actual or fanciful, from the principles of their
structure to the manner in which they operate
on the happiness of life. The chief end of go-
vernment being to promote, or at least protect,
the free operation of those principles of human
A
2
INTRODUCTION.
1
34
}
nature which conduce to the happiness of man-
kind, it has been very long and very generally
believed, that a certain test of the merit of any
government might be derived from the effects
which the principle of population exhibited among
its subjects. The tendency of mankind to multi-
ply has been always so active and so visible, and
the connections which this tendency creates are
so plainly and powerfully conducive to well-be-
ing, that, in the earliest infancy of political sci-
ence, it was impossible to overlook or reject these
propositions-that the greatest portion of happi-
ness must reside in that country where the ten-
dency to increase has the fullest and freest scope.
-that an increasing population is a symptom of
national felicity, and a stationary or declining
population a symptom of the agency of causes
that somewhere obstruct or limit prosperity.
These considerations, or rather the partial and
imperfect views that have been deduced from
them, have given rise to errors both in political
practice and in political theory. In practice,
politicians appear frequently to have misunder-
stood the relation between population and pros-
perity, and to have preferred the brief and sum-
INTRODUCTION.
3
mary methods by which government can operate
immediately on the former, to the more circuit-
ous but more beneficial access which it ought to
seek through the latter. Perhaps we ought ra-
ther to say, that they have confounded the poli-
tical with the natural relation between population
and prosperity. Considered in reference to the
principles and order of nature, increasing popu-
lation appears, no doubt, to be generally the cause
of increased happiness and improvement; but in
reference to the merit and influence of political
systems, it is the symptom rather than the cause
of this happy state. From their not perceiving,
or not attending to this distinction, have pro-
ceeded many of the irregular attempts of politi-
cians to enlarge population, without reference to
the means that are provided or can be employ-
ed for its support-attempts which, so far from
strengthening or enlarging the basis of public
prosperity, have encumbered and oppressed it
by the disproportioned weight of the superstruc
ture it has been condemned to sustain. They
have pursued the end which Themistocles made
his vaunt, with little discrimination of the means
in which his real excellence lay; and have la-
41
INTRODUCTION.
boured more successfully to convert small towns
into great cities, than to enable them to support,
enlarge, and perpetuate their greatness. The
government of China encourages marriage and
population, and at the same time represses all
the resources which commercial intermixture
with strangers, and the introduction of foreign
improvements, might bring to the support of
life. The Turkish government labours to sup-
port the population of towns, and yet sanctions
the depopulating system of polygamy, and op-
presses agricultural industry. Some of the go-
vernments of ancient Greece committed the still
more glaring inconsistency of tolerating infanti-
cide by law, and yet forcing population by re-
warding marriage and punishing celibacy. Such
irregular and unnatural encouragement of popu-
lation is, in general, as pernicious to a state, as
irregular and artificial excitation of the appetites
is to an individual. Laws against emigration have
been almost equally pernicious, and have always
produced the effect of ultimately cramping the
population which they proposed to preserve. It
was long before legislators found out that a free
export of corn is the best security of an ample
INTRODUCTION.
5
production of food; and it was still longer be-
fore they discovered that a free export of men
must be equally advantageous to the growth of
population.
The most celebrated theoretical projects of
government devised by philosophers, have been,
the Republic of Plato, the Utopia of Sir Thomas
More, the Oceana of Harrington, and the Per-
fect Commonwealth of Hume. It deserves to be
regretted that of these writers, it has been only
the first two, the two least competent to the dis-
cussion, by whom the connection between the
principle of population and national prosperity,
has been handled. Harrington and Hume were
much less fanciful and prejudiced than Plato or
Sir Thomas More, and were assisted in their
surveys of history and practice by more exten-
sive and more cultivated experience than their
predecessors enjoyed. Aware of the great po-
litical truth, that the best general policy of go-
vernment towards national industry and im-
provement, consists in leaving them perfectly
free and unregulated, they confined their atten-
tion, perhaps too exclusively, to the political
means of constituting a government on princi
#
6
INTRODUCTION.
ples that would prevent its interest from being
ever separated from the interest of the people.
They abstained from the delineation of schemes
or plans of civil policy, as a consideration more
dependent on varieties of circumstance and cha-
racter than on forms of institutions. Yet if the
plan of Hume had been as minute and particu-
lar as that of Harrington, I think he would have
judged it proper to interweave with his institu-
tions, some prospective regulations for the treat-
ment or prevention of those important cases that
arise from the conflicting interests of extreme
wealth and extreme poverty; from the tendency
which the progress of every great society exhibits
to multiply the mouths in one quarter, and at the
same time to commit the possession and admini-
stration of the mouthfuls to another-cases, on
the treatment of which the stability of govern-
ment itself may depend, and which, if left wholly
unprovided for, may beget crimes, of which the
frequency will secure the impunity, or civil con-
nections and dependencies that may break the
bands of the political union. Harrington may
be thought to have partially foreseen and provi-
ded for these cases by his project of an agrarian
INTRODUCTION.
7
law; a project which Mr Hume has condemn-
ed without suggesting any substitute for it. The
consideration of such emergencies necessarily
involves some regard to the principle of popu
lation; for it is the effects of this principle,
chiefly, that attach political importance to the
changes that occur in the distributions of wealth
in society. To explain this, it is only necessary
to observe, at present, that the effects of the
principle of population are very different in dif
ferent stages of national opulence and advance-
ment. The wealth of a poor and rude state is
more equally distributed than the wealth of a
rich and civilized nation. In the former, the
families that possess most wealth are always the
most prolific; and little connection or depend-
ence subsists between the several classes of the
community. In the latter, the rich are mono-
polists rather of the possession and management
than of the consumption of wealth; the poorest
families are invariably the most prolific; and
every rich man becomes the steward of a maga
zine, on the administration of which, multitudes
of poor depend for their support, their happiness,
and even their moral character. Agrarian laws,
8
INTRODUCTION.
+
and laws against luxury, recommended by so
many writers, and enacted, if not enforced, by
so many legislators, seem to have been the prin-
cipal means by which the ancients endeavoured
to lessen the dependence of the poor on the rich,
or to regulate the manner in which the rich
should employ their inevitable influence. All
these laws recognize, more or less clearly, the
tendency I have imputed to the progress of so-
cieties; but have invariably been found (like
laws against usury) to aggravate the disorders
which they pretended to cure.
Plato and Sir Thomas More were not content
with delineating the forms of institutions, but
ingrafted schemes of policy on their imaginary
systems, and trusted the purity and preservation
of them to a general reformation of human man-
ners and the prevalence of a certain stationary
excellence of human character. These schemes,
intended to regulate every known principle of
human nature which might affect the public
weal, could not avoid coming into contact with
the principle of population, which, each foresaw,
might enlarge the wants of individuals beyond
their ability to minister to these wants, and even
INTRODUCTION.
9
the numbers of the community beyond the re-
sources which its territories were capable of sup-
plying. They seem to have felt, rather than to
have clearly seen, the nature and weight of the
difficulty thus presented to the solution of their
legislative wisdom. The Greek philosopher pro-
posed to obviate the mischiefs that might arise
from this tendency to redundance of population
by a check; the English philosopher by a remedy.
Plato admitted distinctions of rank and wealth
into his republic, and proposed a general massa-
cre of all the children of those parents who might
happen to be unable to support them.* He ex-
pected that the original numbers, relations, and
proportions of the several classes of the society
would continue to subsist without change or pro-
gression. He did not contemplate the possibili-
ty of his society being ever composed of a small
number of idle and luxurious rich, with their
slaves, and of a comparatively numerous and
industrious body of poor; in which event his
system of butchering the children of the poor
would soon have permitted the slaves to be-
* De Repub. lib. V.
10
INTRODUCTION.
come by far the strongest and most numerous
class in the commonwealth-an evil which was
sensibly experienced by some of the states of
Greece. Sir Thomas More established a com-
munity of goods in his commonwealth, which,
he believed, would increase population and pub-
lic spirit, without tending to repress private in-
dustry. "In other commonwealths," says this
writer, "
every man knows that unless he pro-
vides for himself, how flourishing soever the
commonwealth may be, he must die of hunger;
so that he sees the necessity of preferring his
own concerns to the public: but in Utopia,
where every man has a right to every thing, they
do all know that if care is taken to keep the
public stores full, no private man can want any
thing." Thus, secure of subsistence, the increase
of the numbers of men would not be repressed
by the cares and anxieties that hinder the poor
in other countries from forming establishments.
He proposed that no family should fall short of
ten, or exceed sixteen persons; and in order to
remedy partial redundancies, he required that
the supernumerary children of one family should
be added to the stock of a less fruitful couple;
INTRODUCTION.
11
and for the remedy of general redundance, he
proposed emigration of a part of the society, and
the formation of colonies.* Plato appears a sage
in some of his institutions; a barbarian in his
administration: Sir Thomas More displays mis-
taken enthusiasm in his institutions; but in his
administration he is always humane, often en-
lightened.
The Utopia, admired in the age that witness-
ed its production, was assailed, shortly after, by
almost universal hostility and ridicule. Political
critics disposed of the whole work with the single
observation, that the institutions it recommend-
Utopia, book II. In many of his institutions, and parti-
cularly in his admission of the order of slavery into his com-
monwealth, the views of Sir Thomas More were plainly deduced
neither from his reason nor his experience, but from his ac-
quaintance with the learning and manners of the ancients,
whom he greatly admired. The employment he assigns to the
slaves arises from views more original. Their employments
were chiefly such as would exempt the free citizens, not from
industry, but from those operations which he thought most
likely to breed inhumanity and coarseness of manners-the
slaughtering of animals (for example) and preparations of their
flesh; operations which the Greeks thought not unworthy of
their kings. The servile condition was not hereditary in Utopia;
and being recruited principally by public delinquents, it sepa-
rated the respectable citizens and employments from such as
were corrupt and disreputable.
12
INTRODUCTION.
ed were founded in ignorance of human nature,
and that the administration adapted to these in-
stitutions was incapable of reduction to practice.
It was observed with justice, that community of
goods would infallibly be attended with at least
partial idleness, which, concurring with universal
participation of produce, would quickly discou-
rage all industry whatever, and diminish popu-
lation by diminishing the means of its support;
and that the faultless government described in
the Utopia could never prevent these evils, since
a faultless government was inconsistent with rea-
son and experience. The influence of govern-
ment, besides, though it may foster and protect
industry, can never create it, or supply by penal-
ties the private and ordinary motives from which
it springs. The more a man is forced to share the
profits of his industry with others, the less will he
be disposed to exert it.
At length, however, one writer, the learned
and ingenious Mr Wallace, after defending the
system of equality, and maintaining its tendency
to augment the numbers and happiness of man-
kind, declared against it on a new principle of
hostility, and disclaimed it on account of its ten-
6
INTRODUCTION.
13
dency to that excellence which every other wri-
ter denied it. Mr Wallace seems to have thought,
with Sir Thomas More, that most of the actual
governments in the world were constituted on
the principles of a general conspiracy of the rich
to defraud the poor of their just shares of the
produce of the earth, and to lessen their portions
by stinting their numbers. A system of impro-
ved government and social equality, he thought,
would ensure the fair distribution of the earth's
produce, and greatly promote the multiplication
of mankind. But after commending, on these
principles, the schemes of faultless government
and Utopian excellence and equality projected
by Sir Thomas More and other writers, he pro-
ceeded to condemn them all on account of" the
universal confusion and perplexity in which all
such perfect forms of society must soon termi-
nate, the sooner on account of their perfection,
from these primary determinations in nature, a
limited earth, a limited degree of fertility, and
the continual increase of mankind;" or, in other
words, from the principle of population. Under
a perfect government and a system of equality,
he maintained that mankind would multiply so
14
INTRODUCTION.
+
fast, that the earth would at length be overstock-
ed. Nay, though some extraordinary method
of supporting them might possibly be found out,
yet, if there was no bound to the increase of
mankind, which would be the case under a per-
fect government, there would not even be suffi-
cient room for containing their bodies upon the
surface of the earth, or upon any limited surface
whatsoever!" From these considerations, he con-
cludes that" it is more contrary to just propor-
tion to suppose, that such a perfect government
should be established in such circumstances, than
that, by permitting vice or the abuse of liberty,
in the wisdom of Providence, mankind should
never be able to multiply so as to overstock the
earth. There is no need of miracles," he conti-
nues, “for this purpose. The vices of mankind
are sufficient: and we need not doubt but Pro-
vidence will make use of them, for preventing
the establishment of governments which are by
no means suitable to the present circumstances
of the earth.”*
* Various Prospects of Mankind, Nature and Providence,
cap. IV.
INTRODUCTION.
15
Here, then, the latent but gigantic force of the
principle of population was first brought into
view; but though the mischief to which it was
competent was described in a clear and powerful
manner, it was represented as lying at an im-
measurable distance, and capable of being called
into action, or even clearly discovered, only
through the medium of a system of equality and
perfection, which, for our comfort, was pro-
nounced to be unattainable.
Condorcet, who entertained the hope of the
future realization of a system of equality and
perfection, perceived the disturbance which such
an order of things might receive from the opera-
tion of the principle of population, but trusted
that it might be defeated by the adoption of a
preventive check of human increase. He excluded
the evil of redundant population from the æra of
perfection, by contending that "men will then
know that the duty of propagation is fulfilled by
giving, not existence, but happiness, to a greater
number of beings; and that the object of this
duty is the general welfare of the human species,
of particular societies and families, and not the
puerile idea of encumbering the earth with use-
16
INTRODUCTION.
less and wretched mortals.
Accordingly, there
may then be a limit to the possible mass of pro-
vision, and consequently to the greatest possible
population; while this limit will not be preserved
by that premature destruction, so contrary to
nature and to social prosperity of a portion of
the beings who may have received life." *
Since the time of Mr Wallace, the consolation
which he derived from the impracticability of a
system of equality, has been withdrawn from us;
and the danger and mischief of the principle of
population has been brought much nearer to us,
through the medium of a system utterly opposite
to the doctrines either of equality or of perfec-
tion-the system developed in Dr Adam Smith's
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the
Wealth of Nations.
It is observed by Dr Smith, in this celebrated
work, "that the demand for men, like that for
any other commodity, necessarily regulates the
production of men, quickens it when it goes on
too slowly, and stops it when it advances too
* Outlines of a historical View of the Progress of the Human
Mind.
INTRODUCTION.
17
fast."* There is something disgustful and gro-
velling in the idea presented by this passage, as
well as something at once harsh and indefinite
in the language in which it is conveyed. It is
painful and humiliating to be told, that "such a
piece of work as man" is one of the commodities
of a manufacturing country; entirely dependent
for his production, like the spade or plough he
is to hold, on a certain commercial demand; and
deriving his call into being, and his right to the
inheritance of nature, from the need that his own
fellows may have of the ministry of his limbs and
labour. There is, besides, a want of precision
and due limitation of the term "demand for
men."
The author certainly does not include
all men in his observation, but only that portion
of the species destined to toil in the lower em-
ployments of life, and which, being treated in
the practice of the manufacturing system as a
mere assemblage of mechanical instruments of
labour, is regarded with corresponding respect
and consideration in the theory of the system.
*B. I. cap. VIII. vol. I. p. 122.
B
18
INTRODUCTION.
The rich, in that system, are regarded not as the
trustees and pensioners of the poor, but as their
task-masters, consumers, and breeders. The рко-
duction of those who are to fill the lower ranks
of society is held to be regulated not by the per-
mission or injunction of nature, but by the de-
mand of these consumers-the same commercial
demand which regulates the production of spits
and saucepans, chairs and tables, and all the
other commodities of life.
The observation above cited from the work of
Dr Smith, seems to have suggested to Mr Mal-
thus the most important and original of the ideas
developed in his Essay on the Principle of Popu-
lation. He agrees with Mr Wallace in his esti-
mate of the possible mischief of the principle of
population, but differs from him in computing
its actual distance from the present state of hu-
man society. An event at such a distance (he
observes) as Mr Wallace has assigned to a redun-
dance of population, "might fairly be left to
providence:" but, assuming that it is much near-
er, he recommends immediate recourse to human
efforts, to the restraints prescribed by Condorcet,
for the correction or mitigation of the evil. Wal-
INTRODUCtion.
19
lace would bound the increase of mankind only
by the limits to the nutritive capacity of nature;
but Mr Malthus assigns much narrower limits to
the species; and, assuming that the numbers
already press on these limits, and are forcibly
and severely repelled, he proposes an artificial
mode of preventing this pressure, and less vio-
lently reducing human increase within the boun-
daries assigned to it.
Mr Malthus is convinced of the existence and
efficiency of the principle assigned by Smith as
the regulator of population; but he is dissatis-
fied with the mode in which the limits prescribed
by this principle are preserved, and the numbers
of mankind prevented from exceeding them. He
has softened the harshness of the expression em-
ployed by Smith, by observing that "man, though
he may often be produced without a sufficient
demand for him, cannot really multiply and pros-
per unless his labour be wanted." * To this
mercantile demand for labour, which he consi-
* Essay on the Principle of Population, B. I. c. IX. vol. I.
p. 199.
20
INTRODUCTION.
ders the only "sufficient demand for men," he
ascribes such exclusive influence in the multipli
cation of the species, that he conceives the ab-
sence or weakness of it capable of negativing
and frustrating the plainest encouragements of
nature. He contends, that it is not the opportu-
nities of obtaining food for themselves and their
offspring, presented to men by nature and im-
proved by art, that can enable them to rear large
families; but only the demand, modified by ca-
price, convenience, or civilization, which other
men may have for the labour of the future popu-
lation. This exclusive reference of the state of
population to the mercantile demand for labour,
conducts to the seemingly contradictory con-
clusions, that in a country so poor and barren,
that great labour is requisite to procure food,
the population must be slender, while again, in
a country so rich and fertile that food can be
obtained with hardly any labour at all, the po-
pulation will be equally slender; the state of
the mercantile demand being the same in both
cases, however much the state of the natural de-
mand may vary. But it is only under the ex-
tremes of barbarism and refinement, or under the
INTRODUCTION.
21
influence of bad government, that the demand
or encouragement of nature is thus controuled
by artificial causes. The resources of nature are
withheld from the savage by his ignorance, from
the slave by his depression and insecurity, and
from the artizan by his exclusion from agricul-
ture, and his dependence for a share of its pro-
duce on the artificial wants of its possessors, which
he endeavours to supply.
Mr Malthus thinks it apparent that the prin-
ciple of population so far exceeds in vigour the
mercantile demand for labour, (which in his sys-
tem represents the nutritive capacity of nature,)
that population has everywhere a tendency to
exceed those limits within which alone it can
prosper; and that this natural evil is corrected
by a positive check, but ought to be corrected,
as Condorcet proposed, by a preventive one.
The positive check, it is said, has always kept
down the numbers of mankind to the level of
the existing demand for labour. The beings who
are produced without the sanction of this de-
mand, and beyond the limits which it assigns,
either perish in infancy, or are cut off in man-
22
INTRODUCTION.
hood by war, by pestilence, by famine,* (which,
in place of being termed the adversaries of na-
ture, are defined by this new philosophy "the
resources of nature,") or by those vices of man-
kind to which Mr Malthus assigns the merit of
being "active and able ministers of depopula-
tion." Redundance of population, it is said, is
constantly impending over the world; but the
positive check of vice, war, pestilence, and fa-
mine, generated by its approach, contributes to
keep its worst evils at a distance; and by sea-
sonably thinning the rows of mankind, prevents
the universal confusion and destruction of hu-
man society. This positive check destroys the
redundant part of the population after it has been
born. The preventive check recommended by
Mr Malthus, is a general extension among the
* The same idea is thus expressed by Dr Darwin, in his
Temple of Nature :-
"Human progenies, if unrestrain'd,
By climate friended, and by food sustain❜d,
O'er seas and soils, prolific hordes! would spread,
Ere long, and deluge their terraqueous bed:
But war and pestilence, disease and dearth,
Sweep the superfluous myriads from the earth."
INTRODUCTION.
23
poor of that abstinence from marriage which,
at all times, some of the members of society are
induced or compelled to practise. This would
prevent, it is said, the birth of that portion of the
species for which there is not a sufficient demand,
and would accord, better than the operation of
the positive check appears to do, with our ideas
of a being possessed of the distinguishing faculty
of reason.
In place of employing their wages to procure
a meagre maintenance for families, he thinks it
practicable and advisable that the poor, without
relaxing their industry or indulging sexual vices,
should devote the product of their labour to the
improvement of their own fare-to an appropri
ation of more of the comforts and luxuries of
life than, with the incumbrance of families, they
can expect to obtain. He states, that abstinence
from marriage, prompted by such motives, is
practised by some; and he supposes that it would
be more generally practised, if the poor could
be taught to place less dependence on the libe-
rality of society and the charity of the rich, than
the present institutions of this country enable
them to do. To enforce the celibacy of the poor,
24
INTRODUCTION.
he accordingly proposes a total cessation of pub-
lic relief, and a considerable retrenchment of
private charity. " I should propose,” he says,
86
a regulation to be made, declaring that no
child born from any marriage taking place after
the expiration of a year from the date of the law,
and no illegitimate child born two years from the
same date, should ever be entitled to parish as-
sistance." He suggests farther, that every cler-
gyman, before solemnizing a marriage among the
lower classes of people, should read an exhorta-
tion to the parties on the immorality of begetting
children without a fair prospect of ability to sup-
port them. But if, in the face of this humane
law and this wise exhortation, the poor should
still be guilty of producing larger families than
their own unassisted exertions can, at all times,
wholly support,-if, insensible to the wisdom of
that policy which would represent poverty as a
reason for neglecting the usual securities against
* Essay, vol. II. p. 396. Denmark is, I believe, the only
country where measures of this description have been adopted
for impeding the marriages of the poor. In that country, mar-
riage is a mere civil contract among the privileged orders;
the presence of a priest is necessary to its celebration among
the lower orders.
but
*
INTRODUCTION.
25
vice,* they should refuse to be diverted from the
high road of nature, and the track of their fore-
fathers, into a path which their pastors themselves
might be unwilling to tread; what is to be done
with a poor man and his family in this situation?
To this inevitable question Mr Malthus answers,
that "all parish assistance should be most rigidly
denied him; and if the hand of private charity
be stretched forth in his relief, the interests of
humanity imperiously require that it should be
administered very sparingly. He should be.
* See the Form of Matrimony in the Book of Common
Prayer.
+ There is a want of precision in this expression. Perhaps
Mr Malthus meant that you should give no more than may be
sufficient to hinder the poor man in despair from committing
robbery or murder on yourself. But if charity to this extent
be a matter of prudence on the part of individuals, it is a mat-
ter of duty and justice on the part of the commonwealth, which
surely is bound to endeavour, in some degree, to prevent the
consequences of despair which it always punishes so severely.
"In order to repress crimes," says an excellent modern wri-
ter, "punishment must be regular and certain; and that in
every case we may have a right to inflict punishment, the ir-
resistible temptation of extreme want must be removed.".
CRAIG'S Elements of Political Science, book II. cap. 6. vol. II.
p. 291.—Mr Craig's philosophy is not of that description which
would support laws only by terror, and protect property only
by fences of gibbets.
26
INTRODUCTION.
66
taught to know that the laws of nature, which
are the laws of God, had doomed him and his
family to suffer for disobeying their repeated ad-
monitions ;* that he had no claim of right on
society for the smallest portion of food beyond
that which his labour would fairly purchase."+
Not a farthing is to be spared to him from the
funds of society-no, not even from that fund
from which the public rewards a numerous body
of clergymen for preaching over the country the
precepts of charity and beneficence to the poor.
Society will continue, through one of its organs,
to tell the poor, "Be ye clothed, and be ye
fed ;" and while an immense expence is to be
* Although Mr Malthus has not been so candid as to admit
that the family of the poor man could not possibly be implica-
ted in the guilt attending the disobedience of these admoni-
tions, it is plain that he has foreseen this objection, from hist
elaborate metaphysical defence of the propriety of visiting the
faults of parents on their children !—a principle which (it de-
serves to be remarked) the same code that imputed it to the
terrestrial plan of the Deity, excluded from the judicature of
men.-Deut. xxiv. 16.
+ Essay, vol. II. p. 398.
Mr Malthus, in one part of his Essay, has twice quoted
that text of St Paul, “ If a man will not work, neither shall
he eat." The implied prohibition of charity in this text ap-
INTRODUCTION.
27
incurred in order to have this said, not a farthing
is to be spared in order to have it done, but the
poor are to depart as naked and hungry as be-
fore.
But if the parent, unable from his own means
to provide for his child, and denied all assist-
ance from the superfluity of others, should ei-
ther abridge its sufferings by a violent death, or
desert it from unwillingness to see it perish, in
place of robbing or stealing for its maintenance
-should society in this case abandon all claim
plies, of course, only to voluntary poverty; and it is employed
by St Paul only in reference to the remuneration of the teach-
ers of Christianity. Innumerable texts might be cited, not
only from the Christian Scriptures, but even from the sterner
code of the older law, in support of the duty of bounty to the
necessitous. In Deut. xv. 11. a striking prediction of the per-
petual subsistence of want on earth, accompanies a positive
precept of relief. Certainly neither the prophetic nor the in-
junctive part of this passage is contradicted or repealed by the
Christian Scripture. On the contrary, it receives the most com-
plete confirmation from Matt. xxv. 31. This passage, which
relates to all mankind, implies the perpetual subsistence of the
duty of charity, and consequently the perpetual occurrence of
objects for the exercise of this virtue. It will be observed,
too, that in the injunction to visit the sick and the prisoner,
there is no limitation of the causes of the disease or imprison-
ment.
28
INTRODUCTION.
on account of a child which it had refused to
support? or ought it to punish the parent for
the benefit of a community from which he had
never derived any advantage at all? Mr Mal-
thus has not left us without a solution of this
difficulty. "If the parents desert their child,"
he contends," they ought to be made account-
able for the crime. The infant is, comparatively
speaking, of no value to the society, as others
will immediately supply its place. Its principal
value is on account of its being the object of one
of the most delightful passions in human nature
-parental affection. But if this value be disre-
garded by those who alone are in a capacity to
feel it, the society cannot be called on to put
itself in their place, and has no farther business
in its protection, than, in the case of its murder
or intentional ill-treatment, to follow the general
rules in punishing such crimes; which rules, for
the interests of morality, it is bound to pursue,
whether the object in this particular instance be
of value to the state or not."*
* Essay, vol. II. p. 399.
INTRODUCTION,
29
There is one species of abuse of parochial in-
stitutions for the support of poor children, most
justly censured by Mr Malthus, but which be-
longs rather to the administration than to the
system of parish laws. I allude to the absurd
and immoral policy of parish officers in England,
in endeavouring to frighten the father of an ille-
gitimate child into marriage with the mother by
the terrors of a jail. It is not merely that the
parish has thus (as Mr Malthus insists) three or
four children to provide for in place of one.
Even supposing, as is generally believed, that in
most cases the woman's frailty is occasioned by
the treacherous promises of the man, this is not
sufficient (though Scottish legislators have thought
differently) to prove the justice or policy of mar-
rying the parties together. To compound the
virtuous union of marriage out of the profligate
promise of the man and the guilty concession of
the woman, is to encourage the frailty and arti-
fice of the one, and not to lessen the folly or
profligacy of the other, but only to inflict on him
an impolitic punishment. It is not enough to
say that the man is warned beforehand of the
state of the law or the practice of its officers:
30
INTRODUCTION.
this will not always either prevent the crime or
justify the punishment. The young should be
protected against their heedlessness and inex-
perience; and though the older should be pu-
nished, perhaps, for their imprudence or guilt,
it seems unwise to make marriage the penalty.
It is like recruiting the army from jails and bride-
wells; it degrades the institution. It is to make
mutual guilt the foundation, the unnatural bond
of perpetual union. It is to bind the parties to
an engagement which in all probability will be
violated, and which, if regarded at all, can be
expected to produce nothing better than a dis-
orderly domestic establishment, neglected worth.
less children, and general bad example.
Mr Malthus compares the increase of mankind
to the growth of trees in a forest, or shrubs in
the parterre of a nursery garden, of which, some
must perish or be eradicated, that the rest may
have room to thrive. But there is really no
analogy or resemblance between the subjects of
this comparison. The forest has no means of
enlarging its boundaries and thinning its rows
without destroying its produce, either by trans-
planting part of it to a distance, or by fetching
10
INTRODUCTION.
31
from a distance the means of its support. The
gardener, in thinning the rows of his parterre,
conforms, not to limits imposed on vegetation by
nature, (for he might rear elsewhere that portion
of the produce which he suffers to perish,) but to
the limits imposed by the mercantile demand
for his productions. No suffering is inflicted,
and no injustice committed, in confining vege-
tation even within the narrowest limits.
great deduction is made from the happiness of
the world, when human life is restrained, how-
ever slightly, from the expanse of which nature
would admit; and much mischief and injustice
may fairly be imputed to every institution that
tends to promote such restraint.
But a
Mr Malthus often reasons in metaphors and
allegories, sometimes beautifully and powerfully,
but at other times with an infelicity of invention
that makes his metaphor the foe rather than the
friend of an argument that pretends to contem-
plate a practical application. Take the follow-
ing example from his Essay in its original con-
dition. "A man," he contends, "who is born
into a world already possessed, if he cannot get
subsistence from his parents, on whom he has a
32
INTRODUCTION.
"just demand, and if the society does not want
his labour, has no claim to the smallest portion of
food, and in fact has no business to be where he
is. At Nature's mighty feast there is no cover for
him. She tells him to be gone, and will quickly
execute her own orders if he do not work upon
the compassion of some of her guests. If these
guests get up and make room for him, other in-
truders immediately appear demanding the same
favour. The report of a provision for all that
come, fills the hall with numerous claimants.
The order and harmony of the feast is disturbed;
the plenty that before reigned is changed into
scarcity; and the happiness of the guests is de-
stroyed by the spectacle of misery and depen-
dence in every part of the hall, and by the cla-
morous importunity of those who are justly en-
raged at not finding the provision which they
had been taught to expect. The guests learn
too late their error, in counteracting those strict
orders to all intruders issued by the great mis-
tress of the feast, who, wishing that all her guests
should have plenty, and knowing that she could
not provide for unlimited numbers, humanely
refused to admit fresh comers when her table
INTRODUCTION.
33
was already full." This allegory has received an
abundance of comment. One of the adversaries
of Mr Malthus, adverting to it, remarks, that he
has too hastily transferred to the government of
the world and the feast of nature, the principles
commonly observed in the management of a
diocese, and the etiquette that prevails at a visita-
tion dinner. Another writer pays an ironical com-
pliment to Mr Malthus on the force of his fancy
in discovering the simple majesty and justice of
nature under the disguise of a rich man's porter
unchaining a fat mastiff at a beggar. The Quar-
terly Reviewers, after stating that a certain de-
ceased statesman had been so much smitten with
the theory of Mr Malthus that he intended to
have brought into parliament a bill for abolishing
the poor's-rates of England, and thus clearing
in some degree the hall of nature's feast of the
presence of the unmannerly intruders, proceed
to remark, that "while such a plan remains on
paper, it is as harmless in the written letter as
the receipt for Sir Humphry Davy's new fulmi-
nating powder; but if either the one or the
other be made the subject of experiment, woe be
to all within reach of the explosion! The nume
C
34
INTRODUCTION.
•
"rous claimants at Mr Malthus's feast of nature,
who, as he tells us, have no right to the smallest
portion of food, and in fact no business to be
there, would very soon begin to ask the luckier
guests what better title they themselves could
produce, and resort to the right of the strongest.
You have had your turn long enough at the
table, gentlemen,' they would say, and if those
who have no places are to starve, we will have a
scramble for it at least.' Let any man in his
senses ask himself whether this would not be the
natural and inevitable consequence; whether, in
the present state of society in this country, such
a plan as that of Mr Malthus could, by any pos-
sibility, be carried into effect without producing
all the horrors of a bellum servile; whether the
legislators who should pass such an act would
not be pulled in pieces by an infuriated and
desperate populace; and whether such legisla-
tors would not deserve their fate ?”*
* Quarterly Review for December 1812, p. 327. Sir Wil-
liam Pulteney was the statesman alluded to. Mr Windham
entertained the same aversion to poor's-rates, and in general
adopted the views and principles of Mr Malthus. With the
greatest deference to the genius of Mr Windham, we may be
permitted to doubt if he who defended bull-baiting and pugi-
INTRODUCTION.
35
The rejected claimants at Mr Malthus's feast
of nature would likewise be apt to complain of
the administration of the more fortunate sitters,
and to enquire if, with better management, the
meat would not have gone a greater way. The
comparison of the condition and rights of guests
at a public entertainment to the claims and shares
of men in society, has already been stated and
disallowed by Dr Paley, who observes, that in
the entertainment (allowing the comparison to
hold in all points) " You would hardly permit
any one to fill his pockets or his wallet, or to
carry away with him a quantity of provision to
be hoarded up, or wasted, or given to his dogs,
or stewed down into sauces, or converted into
articles of superfluous luxury; especially if by
so doing he pinched the guests at the lower end
of the table."*
In discussing the merits of the English system
of poor's-rates, Mr Malthus has not sufficiently
adverted to the difference between the degree of
listic exhibitions, and opposed the diffusion of education among
the poor, was on all points fully qualified to appreciate the
means of promoting the welfare and happiness of the people.
* Mor. and Pol. Phil. B. III. part I. cap. IV.
36
INTRODUCTION.
regard that is due to a project that has only spe-
culative existence, and that which belongs to a
system already reduced to practice, and long in-
terwoven with the other institutions of a country.
But the establishment of the system of poor's-
rates was originally as necessary as its continu-
ance seems to be at present. It was occasioned,
in some measure, by the sudden subversion of
the monasteries, and the dissipation of the funds
by which they maintained their poor. This was
equivalent to a total exclusion of the poor from
relief; for, in imitation of the practice of the
Christians in the Apostolic times, the rich had
universally committed the distribution of their
alms to the church, upon which almost all the
poor of the kingdom were dependent. An ad-
ditional cause of the establishment of the poor's-
rates was the great and sudden multiplication of
the poor, occasioned partly by the too hasty dis-
mission of retainers in consequence of the aboli-
tion of the feudal usages, and partly by the
general ejection and oppression of the tenantry.
The suppression of monasteries, and the trans-
ference of their lands from ecclesiastics, who
afforded liberal terms and a ready market to
their tenants, to laymen, who did not practise
INTRODUCTION.
37
the same liberality, and often resided at a dis-
tance from their new acquisitions, tended to in-
crease the rents of much of the land of the king-
dom, and to impair the means by which the
tenants had formerly disposed of the produce.
At the same time, the absence of manufactures
at home, and the general demand for English
wool both at home and abroad, was attended
with a general extension of pasturage, and a
proportional neglect of tillage and expulsion of
tenants.* This evil was aggravated by the ab-
surd policy of the legislators, who endeavoured
to redress it by prohibiting the exportation of
corn, while the export of all the produce of pas.
turage was left perfectly free.
The most strenuous exertions appear to have
been made, both by the English government, and
in some instances by the sufferers themselves, to
obtain employment or temporary support for the
indigent, before the establishment of the poor's-
rates was resorted to. Acts of parliament were
passed, recommending strongly, but ineffectually,
voluntary assessments in every parish for this
* See Hume's History of England. Reign of Edward VI.
38
INTRODUCTION.
purpose.* Harrison speaks of emigrations of
the English in these times to " France, Germany,
Barbary, India, Muscovia, and very Calicut;'
and during the reign of Elizabeth, the first foun-
dations of our American colonies were laid. It
was not till a much later period that any encou-
ragement was afforded to these colonial establish-
ments, which were long exposed to a loud and
general outcry of depopulation; and no assist-
ance was afforded to defray the expence of emi-
gration to the poor. In the mean time, many
of the poor were driven by despair to the utmost
enormities. Strype relates that there were at
least three or four hundred able-bodied vagrants
in every county of England, who lived by theft
and rapine.† Harrison, computes that Henry
the Eighth, in the course of his reign, hanged
* It is in Mr Hume's account of some of these acts that there
occurs the only critical notice (I believe) which this subject has
received from his pen. He relates, that "some laws were made
with regard to beggars and vagrants; one of the circumstances
in government which humanity would most powerfully recom-
mend to a benevolent legislator; which seems at first the most
easily adjusted, and which is yet the most difficult to settle in
such a manner as to attain the end without destroying indus-
try." History. Reign of Henry VIII. cap. XXXIII.
† Annals, vol. IV. p. 290.
11
INTRODUCTION.
39
"'*
"three score and twelve thousand great thieves,
petty thieves, and rogues. In the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, the annual executions of thieves
amounted to about four hundred; and martial
law was at one time proclaimed against the va-
gabonds who infested the streets of London.†
At length, at the close of this great sovereign's
reign, the legal establishment of poor's-rates was
perfected.
The monastic system of charity, which this
establishment succeeded, while it relieved, tend.
ed also to create and perpetuate indigence; for,
the funds appropriated to the poor being always
realized, and the priests having few other uses
for their revenues, a demand for mendicity was
constantly presented. They who once received
assistance, would be tempted to claim it again;
and the monks had little interest in scrutinizing
the pretensions of claimants. But under the sys-
tem of poor's-rates, the fund is less in esse than
in posse; the issues from it can be recalled from
one quarter and applied in another, and the ap-
plication and amount of them may and should
* Description of Britain, B. II. cap. XI.
+ Hume's History. Appendix, III.
40
INTRODUCTION.
be strictly watched by those on whose property
they form a burden. Perhaps, if the rent of land
were higher, and written leases more common in
England, this just and proper vigilance would be
more rigidly exerted, and both proprietors and
tenants be rendered more diligent in asserting
and protecting their interests.
The establishment of poor's-rates relieved so
much distress at the time when it was formed,
as to rescue many men from desperate courses
and unhappy fates, and to diminish, most pro-
bably, the number of those dreadful insurrec-
tions against the government, which the wretch-
edness of the poor at that time appears to have
excited, or at least promoted.* Even now, if
it encourage some degree of that indigence
which is occasioned by idleness, it relieves
much honest and inevitable want and misery.
In many instances, it is known to constitute,
not the main support, but an occasional supple-
ment to the main support, of those who share
its benefit. It often supplies to hard-work-
* See Hume's Hist. Reigns of Henry VIII. Edward VI.
and Elizabeth. Among the grievances enumerated by the in-
surgents, the suppression of monasteries almost perpetually
occurs.
INTRODUCTION.
41
ing labourers that inadequacy of their wages
which almost always occurs at a certain period
of their lives.* In the conflict between the rich
and the poor for fixing the rate of wages, the
rich are assisted by the smallness of their own
numbers and the deliberation with which they
are enabled to act, and by the numbers, neces-
sities, and competitions of the poor: and the
wages of labour are always much lower than the
rich can easily afford to give. The same wages,
besides, that support a man with comfort before
his marriage, and after his children have become
capable of working for themselves, will often
(even with all the assistance of previous savings)
prove inadequate to support a young and grow-
ing family, with a wife debarred by her maternal
* See Quarterly Review for October, 1814. Art. VII-On
improving the condition of the poor. The Edinburgh Review-
ers, in their recent exposition of "the distresses of the coun-
try," have strongly reprobated this mode of supplying and
lowering the wages of labour. It must no doubt be productive
of great injustice as long as the poor's-rates are imposed on the
rent of land alone. While this abuse continues, all the wages
of labour in the country are lowered at the expence of the
landholder, and all the poor whom the manufacturers introduce
into the country are supported, not by them, but by him. It
is to be hoped that this abuse will not long be suffered to ad-
here to and pervert the poor-laws.
42
INTRODUCTION.
duties from enlarging the family income by her
labour. During this most chargeable portion of
his life, he obtains the supplemental aid of pa-
rish assistance; the infancy of his children is
considered equivalent to sickness in his family;
the country, which will afterwards supply its
emergencies by drafting his sons into the militia,
or pressing them into the navy, lends him some
assistance to rear its future defenders; and the
system of poor's-rates, amidst all the voluntary
and involuntary idleness which it supports, lends
at the same time a helping hand to many of the
hardest-working members of the community.
But I am persuaded that, in reality, much of
the idle want which it supports is occasioned,
not by the system itself, but by the law of set-
tlements,* which, by excluding the poor from
carrying their labour to the market they think
the best, often prevents willing industry from
finding advantageous employment. When the
* See Smith's account of these laws. Wealth of Nations,
B. I. cap. 10. vol. I. p. 211. The law of settlements, no doubt,
in the order of time followed the law of poor's-rates. The
former, however, was not the necessary effect of the latter,
but (as Dr Smith has shewn) the effect of the corrupt and
improper practices of parish officers, and of the confusion
thereby occasioned.
INTRODUCTION.
43
demand for one species of labour stagnates in a
parish, the labourers, unable to find employment
in their usual occupations, and requiring some
time to learn another, or to find employment in
it, are thrown by the law of settlements on pa-
rish support. These laws also increase the bur
den of poor's-rates by the litigation they give
rise to. From the calculations of Dr M'Farlane,
in his Inquiry concerning the Poor, it appears
that nearly 40,000l. a-year of the poor's-rates is
consumed in litigation respecting settlements
and removals.
For all the unavoidable want that exists in
England, and for all even of that idle want
which may arise from the law of settlements,
the poor's-rates afford a wise and proper relief.
It is idle to talk of introducing into England the
parochial system of relieving the poor that ob-
tains in Scotland, where the law of settlements
is unknown, and where the population being less
dense, the poor are less numerous. In fact, how-
ever, the principle of parochial assessment and
involuntary contribution lies at the bottom of
the Scotch system, and only waits till the cir-
cumstances of the country will call it into more
apparent action. Though the proprietors of land
44
INTRODUCTION.
in a Scotch parish assess themselves, they per-
form this duty by command of law, which would
supply their deficiencies, were such to occur.
In some parishes the bitterest feuds and disputes
attend this voluntary assessment.
Many circumstances contributed to the ex-
emption of Scotland from a system of poor's-rates
entirely similar to that which England found it ne-
cessary to establish. The Roman Catholic clergy
of Scotland were much more dissolute, and sup-
ported a far less numerous body of poor, than
their brethren in England. If the feudal system
had fallen as early and as suddenly in Scotland
as in England, and if a law of settlements had
been introduced into the Scottish code, the form
of voluntary contribution would long ago have
disappeared from Scotland, and the English sys-
tem would have been established by law. In
England, the severe enforcement of feudal privi-
leges, originating in the conquest, and exercised
by William the Conqueror and his successors.
down to John, dissolved the feudal cordiality
between the king and the nobles. The
The power
of the nobles prevailed in the first struggles;
but the early introduction of commerce into
England produced a similar breach of kindness
INTRODUCTION.
45
between the nobles and their retainers, which,
concurring with the destruction of the nobility
in the wars of York and Lancaster, and the vi-
gour and success of Henry the Seventh, brought
about the fall of the feudal system. In Scotland,
the monarchs were uniformly unfortunate in their
struggles with the nobility; and the long mino-
rities of so many possessors of the crown was pe-
culiarly favourable to the ascendant of aristocra
cy. The power of the Scottish nobles, neither
wasted by crusades nor impaired by commerce,
continued long to flourish, and, at a very late
period, derived a considerable accession from
the alliance between the religious opinions of
the nobility and people against those of the
crown. When the throne was transferred to
England, the Scottish vassals, though frequently
oppressed by the nobles, were so much disliked
by their monarchs on account of their religious
opinions, that no attempt was made to mitigate
their burdens. The feudal system of Scotland
declined by gentle gradations, and did not re-
ceive its final overthrow till the rise of manufac-
tures, and the demand for emigrants in America,
had furnished nearly sufficient vents for carrying
*
46
INTRODUCTION.
off, or means of affording employment to, the
disbanded retainers and small tenants.
Under the Scotch system, the poor in many
parishes are very inadequately relieved. The
statement we so often hear from Scotch clergy-
men, that it is sometimes necessary to press re-
lief on poor families, proves only that the nature
of charity is misunderstood-that it is not at all
considered as "blessing him that takes," or that
the relief actually offered is a great deal too small.
The evil would be much greater, were not the
defects of the system counterbalanced by the
general excellence of its administration. Yet
with all this excellence, and although there be
no law of settlements in Scotland, it is probable
that, in a short time, the distinction between the
English and Scotch systems will be completely
obliterated. As Scotland approaches somewhat
more nearly to the condition of England in point
of affluence and population, she seems to copy
the means by which England provides for the
treatment of poverty, which always increases in
proportion to affluence and population. The
system of parochial and compulsory assessment
for maintenance of the poor every day gains
INTRODUCTION.
4.7
ground in Scotland; and in a short time the
only distinction between the systems of the two
countries will be a difference of sums and num-
bers, not of rules or principles.
Notwithstanding all the advantageous circum-
stances in the situation of Scotland, this country,
soon after the Reformation, from the partial de-
cline of the feudal system, and a change of the
system of husbandry, was suddenly exposed to
the claims of a very considerable body of indi-
gent persons. Perhaps it had been well if some
establishment, similar to the English system of
poor's-rates, had been adopted (even temporarily)
for their relief. For, by leaving them entirely to
voluntary charity, there was formed in Scotland
an army, or rather many armies, of desperate
vagrants, by which the tranquillity of the coun-
try was long disturbed, and even the stability of
government menaced. Fletcher of Salton has
drawn a frightful picture of the disorders occa-
sioned by these vagrants, from which he serious-
ly apprehended the dissolution of civil society.
Indeed the magnitude of the evil may be guess-
ed from the severity of the Scotch laws, which
*Second Discourse on the Affairs of Scotland.
48
INTRODUCTION.
punished unlicensed beggary with branding for
the first offence, and death for the second. Mr
Fletcher imputes the then recent growth of in-
digence in Britain to the knavery or folly of the
Catholic clergy, in persuading the feudal lords
to manumit their slaves. He forgets that the
Catholic clergy obtained support as well as free-
dom for the poor; and that the emancipation was
accompanied with poverty, only when the church
was robbed of those endowments which the great
had given for the use of the poor along with their
freedom. Mr Fletcher, though an ardent lover
of liberty, was unable to suggest any other means
of remedying the evil, than the subjection of all
the vagrants to a system of domestic slavery,
which he proposed to revive, and which he jus-
tified by the practice of those ancient republics
he so highly admired. Upon reflection," says
Mr Fletcher, "I could not call to mind that any
ancient writer had so much as mentioned such a
thing as great numbers of poor in any country."
Hence, assuming the absence of mendicity, and
even much indigence in ancient times, he im-
putes it to the influence of domestic slavery.
Yet Greece must surely have been infested with
crowds of poor, at the time when Isocrates in-
..
<<
INTRODUCTION.
49
formed Philip that it would be easier to raise an
army from the vagabonds than from the cities.
Socrates speaks of the Athenian beggars and
their supplications; and Horace describes their
arts and impostures at Rome. Isocrates says
that the Athenian mendicants outnumbered the
free citizens of the place; and Solon extended
a toleration to infanticide, which only the ex-
tremity of indigence could have rendered neces-
sary. It was the swarms of poor and idle men
with which Greece abounded, that enabled the
younger Cyrus to attract so many Greeks to his
service, and to recruit his armies from Greece
when he invaded Persia. And although this
unsettled state of the population of Greece was
occasioned in part, no doubt, by the violence and
the fluctuations of political factions, which every
year sent multitudes of exiles from one city to
another, it is impossible to acquit the system
of domestic slavery of all share in the produc-
tion of the evil. If there be any one speculative
error which the experience of history refutes, it
is the doctrine supported by Fletcher and other
writers, that poverty and mendicity are exclu-
ded from a state of perfect vassalage. Nothing
was more common in Greece and Rome than to
D
50
INTRODUCTION.
expose the aged and infirm slaves to perish in
the fields and the highways. At Rome they were
commonly exposed on an island in the Tyber;
and an edict of the Emperor Claudius, imposing
some regulations on this practice, and forbidding
masters directly to kill their slaves merely for
age, shews that shorter methods were often taken
for ridding masters of the burden of their main-
tenance.* Plutarch relates, that Cato the Censor
invariably dismissed or sold his slaves when they
became incapable of farther service; and so far
was he from being ashamed of such sordid cruel-
ty, that he expressly recommended the practice
to all masters of families.
The project of Mr Fletcher, extravagant as it
may seem, neither originated nor expired with
himself. It was originally suggested by Busbe-
quius, in his Epistles on the Turks; and it was
for a short time reduced to practice in England,
as a remedy for the same evil to which Mr
Fletcher proposed to apply it in Scotland. The
statute 1. Edward VI. c. iii. (not long after the
suppression of monasteries) ordained that all idle
* See Hume's Essay on the Populousness of Ancient Na-
tions.
INTRODUCTION.
5.1
vagabonds should be made slaves, and fed with
inferior victuals; that they should wear a ring of
iron on their necks, arms, or legs, and should be
compelled by blows and chains to perform the
vilest work. But the spirit of the nation could
not brook the subjection even of the most aban-
doned reprobates to so servile a condition; and
accordingly the statute was, two years after,
repealed. The project of Mr Fletcher was more
recently revived and supported by Mr Wallace, in
his Dissertation on the Numbers of Mankind;-
a work in which much learning and acuteness
have been thrown away, in a vain attempt to
refute the doctrines of Mr Hume respecting the
populousness of ancient nations. Wallace, so
far from thinking with Mr Malthus, that the
modern provisions for the poor give them too
much encouragement to marry, charges the mo-
dern treatment of the poor with lessening the
population of the earth. He imputes that su-
perior populousness, which he believed ancient
times to have enjoyed, to the subjection of the
indigent to domestic slavery. The ancient ser-
vitude, he contends, by securing maintenance to
the poor and interesting the rich in their num-
bers, must have promoted the marriages and the
1
52
INTRODUCTION.
1
increase of the lower orders. So completely has
the learned author been deceived, both in his cal-
culations and in his reasonings, that, in reality,
it was the system of servitude which, more than
any other cause, repressed the increase of man-
kind in ancient times, and curtailed the popula-
tion of ancient states. It was found cheaper to
buy slaves than to rear them: for breeding the
children deprives the master for a considerable
time of the labour of the mother; it costs a
considerable expence; and the great mortality
that occurs in infancy (especially in such an in-
fancy as the child of a slave must pass through)
often renders these sacrifices unavailing. Ac-
cordingly, in the rich and governing states of
antiquity, the marriage of slaves was discouraged,
and the demand was supplied by draining away
the population of dependent countries. The
effect of slavery on national resources, and of the
subsistence of slavery amidst a free people on the
growth of the free population, will occupy our
attention in the Third Chapter and other parts
of the following Inquiry.
One of the earliest and ablest opponents of
public charities was the French minister Turgot,
whose views and reasonings, developed in the
1
INTRODUCTION.
53
article "Foundations," in the French Encyclo-
pedia, have been adopted by Mr Malthus and
almost all the later writers on this subject. M.
Turgot, though he admits that " the poor have
indisputable claims on the superfluity of the rich,"
contends that the funds of charity should be
wholly derived from voluntary contribution. "It
is precisely in those countries," he says, "where
charitable resources most abound, as in Spain
and some parts of Italy, that poverty is more
common and more general than any where else.
The reason is very obvious, and a thousand tra-
vellers have remarked it. To cause a consider-
able number of men to live gratuitously, is to
institute prizes for idleness and all the disorders
which result from it. It is to make the condition
of the indolent preferable to that of the indus-
trious." These and other ideas of the same
writer, I shall have occasion to consider in the
Fifth Chapter of the following Inquiry.
Many of the objections which have been re-
cently revived against the English system of
poor's-rates, were originally suggested by Lord
Kames in his Sketches of the History of Man.
* Appendix to the Life of Turgot, by M. Condorcet, Art. I.
*
54
INTRODUCTION.
Though his Lordship be exceedingly adverse to
the principle of the system, he could not avoid
inferring from many of the facts he has stated,
that the principal evils which are imputed to this
system arise from the careless or corrupt ma-
nagement of churchwardens, who are at no pains
to investigate the claims of those who crave
public support. He relates, that " in the parish
of St George, Hanover Square, a great reform
was made some years ago. Inhabitants of figure,
not excepting men of the highest rank, take it
in turn to be churchwardens; which has redu-
ced the poor's-rates in that parish to a trifle."*
The importance of this reduction may be guess-
ed from a statement in Dr M'Farlane's Inquiry,
that the poor's-rates of this parish formerly ex-
ceeded the rates levied in some of the largest
counties in England. Besides the mal-admini-
stration of churchwardens, Lord Kames adverts
at considerable length to the indolence and im-
morality of the poor, who, he says, are encou-
raged by the poor's-rates to claim the assistance.
of which they really do not stand in need. Yet
in the same work his Lordship has strenuously
* B. II. sec. 10.
INTRODUCTION,
55
opposed that diffusion of education, which would
be most likely to improve the moral habits of
the poor. Many of those who agree with him
in charging the poor's-rates with subverting the
industry of the poor, may be surprised to find
him blend charity-schools in the same reproach,
and place them on the same footing with the
poor's-rates. "Knowledge," he contends, "is
a dangerous acquisition to the labouring poor;
the more of it that is possessed by a shepherd, a
ploughman, or any drudge, the less fitted is he
to labour with content."* The defenders of the
system of poor's-rates will, perhaps, not condemn
a theory which places it on a level with the esta-
blishment of charity schools.
The ingenious Mr Fielding preceded Lord
Kames in reprobating the poor-laws of England,
to which he has ascribed many of the vices and
crimes of the lower orders in that country. But
the remainder of his catalogue of the causes of
crimes is ample enough to account for the thick-
est harvest of villainy ever exhibited in any coun-
try. It is the more surprising to find such men
* B. II. sec. 10.
+ Essay on the Increase of Robbers, &c.
56
INTRODUCTION.
as Lord Kames and this author maintaining that
the relief of the indigent ought to be entirely a
voluntary burden, while they were so fully ac-
quainted with the English statutes, from which
they must have seen that it was not till voluntary
assessment for this purpose had been long tried,
and anxiously, but vainly, pressed on the public,
that legal assessment was resorted to. Fielding
concurs with Lord Kames in imputing much
of the mischief of the system to the carelessness
and want of discrimination manifested by the
overseers of parishes in estimating and appropri-
ating the poor's funds. It naturally excites dis-
trust of the reasonings employed by the adver-
saries of the poor-laws, that they are by no means
agreed with respect to the evils they impute to
them, but seem to have commenced, rather un-
fairly, by assuming the mischievous tendency of
the system, and then to have exercised their in-
genuity in discovering the consequences of this
tendency.* Some writers contend, that the re-
}
* A striking instance of erroneous assumption of a fact, and
inconclusive reasoning with regard to the cause of it, occurs
in the writings of a Mr Shaw, cited by Fielding in his Essay.
Shaw assumes that the English provide less liberally for their
poor than any other people, and ascribes this to the vast num
INTRODUCTION.
57
liance on foreign support, which these laws teach
the poor to entertain, infects them with servile
and dependent habits of mind. Fielding, on the
contrary, maintains, that the confidence and se-
curity which these laws confer, render the poor
intolerably insolent and overbearing to their su
periors. As Lord Kames considered it a re-
proach to the poor-laws that they produced
effects similar to those which result from charity-
schools, Fielding has not scrupled to blame them
for co-operating with the political privileges of
the English in promoting habits of insolent se-
curity and independence in the poor. It has
been said, that the economy of the Scotch pro-
ceeds from their want of poor-laws constituted
on the English system. But the Irish, who have
bers of sects and medley of religions in England-the very
circumstance, of all others, which has contributed to swell the
channels of private charity in England to so great and unrival-
led a degree.
† Covent Garden Journal, No. XLIX. Some of the obser-
vations of Fielding in this paper are transcribed from a paper
in the Spectator (No. CCXXXII.), where Sir Andrew Free-
port maintains, very wisely, that the public should be taxed
only to make good the deficiencies of the industry of the poor,
and that any farther exaction or distribution of alms is pro-
ductive of mischief.
58
INTRODUCTION.
?
no poor-laws, have been always distinguished by
prodigality and improvidence. It would perhaps
be more correct to say, that the economy and
poverty of the people of Scotland has repressed
the extension of poor-laws among them.
Dr M'Farlane, in his Inquiries concerning the
Poor, has in part adopted the views and repeated
the reasoning of Lord Kames, with regard to
the poor's-rates. Though he considers the sys-
tem radically defective, he admits that the chief
mischiefs imputed to it arise from imperfect ad-
ministration. "It is affirmed," he states, "that
by the manner in which the poor funds are com-
monly administered, an encouragement is actu.
ally given to idleness. When a large provision
is made for the poor, on which they know they
may depend, and this is bestowed indiscrimi-
nately, no distinction being made between de-
serving and undeserving poor, the chief restraint
on sloth and profligacy is removed."* He blames
the careless prodigality of those who administer
the poor's-rates; the bad constitution of bride-
wells, where frequently no work is permitted for
the inmates; and the inactivity of the police in
* Inq. I. cap. IV.
4,
INTRODUCTION.
59
the execution of the laws against vagrants. This
latter censure, I suspect, will continue to be
applicable as long as police officers are reward-
ed only for the detection, and not for the pre-
vention of crimes. To execute the laws against
vagrants, at present, would be to destroy the
seeds of that harvest by which police officers are
supported. "Were these laws more strictly exe-
cuted," says Dr M'Farlane," there is reason to
believe that most of the disorders now com-
plained of might be corrected, and the poor
funds relieved of the heaviest burden to which
they are liable." It is painful to find so bene-
volent a writer sometimes betrayed into support
of the most illiberal principles. While he would
willingly commit the relief of the poor to the
unregulated virtue of the rich, and is indignant
that the freedom of the rich should be so much
fettered as it is by laws, he is disposed to deny
the efficacy of any other prompters but statutes
and police officers to the industry and virtue of
the poor.
"If idleness, profligacy, and a relax-
ation of the laws," he observes, "be the chief
causes of the increase of the poor, and of the
expence of their maintenance, it follows that
3
60
INTRODUCTION.
"labour and industry, under a vigorous and spi-
rited execution of the laws, with some few
amendments, must be the remedies." He shortly
after subscribes to the creed of Lord Kames
with regard to education, which he insists, "ra-
ther serves to render the poor discontented with
their humble station;" and in support of this
pernicious error, he is not ashamed to quote
with approbation, a good deal of the exploded
nonsense of Dr Mandeville's satirical Essay on
Charity-Schools.
Though Dr M'Farlane strongly contends that
the poor's-rates are every where mismanaged,
and in many places quite unnecessary, he is far
from thinking that they could be universally dis-
pensed with. He thinks that the universal abo-
lition of them would be impracticable if it were
attempted, and would be unjust if it were prac-
ticable. He even admits expressly that in some
districts the system is wise and necessary.
those parishes," he says, "where there are large
tracts of country the property of gentlemen or
noblemen of fortune who reside at a distance
from their estates, so that their lands are wholly
inhabited by tenants or poor people, there a tax
appears to be both reasonable and necessary.
" In
INTRODUCTION.
61
"The whole riches of the country are drained by
the proprietors of lands,”* &c.
Dr M'Farlane expresses much disapprobation
of all charitable houses, whether founded by
public or private bounty. That they are attend-
ed with certain unavoidable defects is undeni-
able; and there is too much truth in the author's
remark, that what a poor man saves or does not
consume in one of these establishments, is not
saved to himself, but to the public, in which he
is little interested; and consequently, that the
surplus of what is allowed to the pauper is fre-
quently destroyed or lost. But the advantages
of these institutions greatly surpass their defects.
The Doctor, however, carries his enmity to them
so far, as to reprobate even that description of
public charities, which no other respectable au-
thor has ever mentioned without commendation.
"Infirmaries, or hospitals for the reception of
the diseased," he maintains, " in the same man-
ner, increase the number of the poor. When
they are discharged as incurable, or in a weak
state, they are often compelled to beg for sub-
sistence to their own homes," &c. This is, pro-
*Inq. III. cap. III. § 4.
62
INTRODUCTION.
perly, not an objection to hospitals, but to that
imperfect and inadequate constitution of some
of them, by which the patients, when cured, are
turned adrift to endure their accustomed hard-
ships, before they have recruited their strength
and regained ability to resume their labours. In
the hospital at Barcelona, when it was visited by
Mr Townsend, there was a separate habitation
provided for the residence of convalescents;*
and similar attention, it is believed, is now paid
to this useful and humane consummation of hos-
pital charity in some of the infirmaries of Great
Britain.
Dr M'Farlane also expresses great and well-
founded disapprobation of the comparatively
sumptuous fare often provided for the poor in
parish workhouses, where they are maintained
in greater comfort than the hard labour of the
industrious and able-bodied is capable of procu-
ring. But in considering the merit of charitable
institutions, the question is not whether the poor
be or be not too well provided for—that consider-
ation belongs to the merit of the management,
not to the merit of the principle-but whether it
Travels in Spain, vol. I. p. 132.
INTRODUCTION:
63
is better that the destitute and indigent should be
supported and preserved from temptation, or that
they should be abandoned to the sufferings and
crimes that are generated by unpitied wretched-
ness, by the rage of want, and the malignity of
despair. Public foundations promote charity, by
shewing how the contribution of a small sum
may be rendered most extensively useful, and
by obviating the excuse pleaded by many, that
they have not time or opportunity to discover
proper objects of benefaction. A guinea contri-
buted to an infirmary (observes Dr Paley) pro-
cures, for one patient, at least ten times as much
relief as the patient or his family could have pur-
chased with the money. The spirit, as well as
the practice of charity, is encouraged by institu-
tions which place the poor and the diseased in a
situation in which it is most probable that they
will be seen and visited by the rich. Medical
hospitals, too, by contributing so materially to
the improvement of medical science, more than
repay to the public the benefit of their establish-
ment.
In the conclusion of his work, Dr M'Farlane
proposes various measures for relieving the dis-
tresses, and improving the condition and cha-
64
INTRODUCTION.
racter, without increasing the numbers of the
poor. Every one of these projects (except the
proposal of compelling those who receive chari-
ty to wear badges) displays great judgment and
benevolence, and appears to combine very hap-
pily the grand requisites of efficacy and modera-
tion. Some of the regulations he suggests for
workhouses, and the improvement of their in-
mates, have been successfully reduced to prac-
tice in Spain;* and his scheme, in general, cer-
tainly well deserves the consideration of the in-
habitants of Scotland at this period, when their
system of treatment of the poor is evidently and
rapidly approaching to a change.
Mr Malthus is, I believe, the first English wri-
ter who has grounded his disapprobation of the
English poor-laws on the simple principles of
the system, without reference to the mode in
which it is administered. He has even underta-
ken to justify the administration, that his cen-
sure may fall with more unbroken force on the
* See Mr Townsend's Account of the Workhouse at Cadiz,
Travels in Spain, vol. II.; and of the Workhouse at Granada,
vol. III. Mr Townsend, however, prefers the institutions of
the workhouse at Bradford, in Wiltshire, to any of those he
visited in Spain.
INTRODUCTION.
65
principle. I shall endeavour, in the Fifth Chapter
of the following Inquiry, to explain the reasons
on which I conceive the vindication of the prin
ciple to depend.
Thus have we traced the progress of some of
the most celebrated of the speculations which
the genius of Mr Malthus has finally blended in
one broad, profound, and formidable system,
swelled by accessions from the most opposite
sources, and at once combining the strength
and rejecting the peculiarities of its tributary
springs. Wallace seems to have been the first
who comprehended the latent energies of the
principle of population, and the abstract possi-
bility of these energies being exerted with a vi-
gour disproportioned to the other powers of na
ture. But he assigned a sphere so wide to the
safe operation of the principle, that the danger
he described seemed to be no more than such a
metaphysical possibility as the lever of Archi-
medes that could disturb the world. Dr Smith
assigned narrower limits to the principle of po-
pulation, and, in describing the mercantile de-
mand for labour, exhibited another principle,
which every day tried its strength with the
former, and easily succeeded in regulating and
E
66.
INTRODUCTION.
}
controuling it. He extended his views no far-
ther; but regarding the bulk of mankind, through
the medium of the manufacturing system, merely
as instruments of manufacture, as articles of com
mercial use, he was perfectly satisfied with the
commercial check which he assigned to the ex-
tent of their production. He regards men, not
as the heirs of nature, but as the instruments of
trade, and is satisfied that a commercial demand
should regulate the production of the beings, for
whom commerce and manufactures have occa-
sion; that is, beings who (according to his own
ideas of the vital franchise of the manufacturing
system) acquire their title to existence "at the
expence of their intellectual, social, and martial
virtues."
#
* Wealth of Nations, B. V. cap. I. vol. III. p. 183. See the
complete portrait presented by Smith, in this part of his Inquiry,
of that state of being to which a working manufacturer is ge-
nerally reduced a state in which he is rendered incapable of
judging justly even of the ordinary duties of life, of conceiving
a single noble, generous, or tender sentiment, of adorning his
country by talent or virtue in time of peace, or defending it
by his strength or bravery in time of war. Such is the order
of beings to which the perfection of the manufacturing system
is said to reduce the poor; and it is the production of beings.
of this description which the demand of the manufacturing
system is said to regulate.
靠
​INTRODUCTION.
67
If the aspect in which Mr Malthus regards his
fellow creatures be somewhat more dignified, the
condition in which he would place them, and the
regulations to which he would subject them, pre-
still more disheartening and revolting
appearance. He considers men as moral beings;
he surveys their situation in a moral light, and
he suggests a moral remedy for what he con-
ceives an unmixed and hitherto unremedied evil
of that situation. But his morality is unsound,
and his remedy would produce far greater evils
than those which it would vainly attempt to re-
move. The principles of his system would justify
the selfishness of a boat's crew, who, escaping
from a shipwrecked vessel, should refuse admis-
sion to some of their shipmates, not because the
boat was already filled, or the provisions insuffi-
cient for all, but because there was no farther
demand for hands to navigate the boat, and be-
cause those already aboard would enjoy greater
comfort and abundance on their passage than if
other mouths were introduced to a share. In
short, the doctrines of Mr Malthus appear to me
neither morally nor politically sound, or just, or
wise. From the propagation of them, there
seems reason to apprehend no other practical re-
68
INTRODUCTION.
sult than an additional encouragement to a licen-
tious celibacy, already too prevalent—an increase
of the shamelessness, and perhaps of the extent
of libertinism, which, in place of being consider-
ed (as heretofore) the disease to be cured, will
now appear, like inoculation, a substitutional
and preferable disorder, and if not a radical cure,
at least a palliative remedy.
Mr Malthus himself must have observed the
abuse to which his doctrines are liable, from the
argument which they have already suggested in
defence, or at least palliation, of the slave trade;*
and which he has taken such pains to refute in
the Appendix to the third edition of his Essay.
No person can read this elaborate refutation with-
out perceiving that it never can adequately coun-
teract the mischief of the argument derived from
the author's principles, which it endeavours to
obviate. In labouring, as he has done, to shew
that the loss of men occasioned by the slave trade
* The slave trade has been defended on the principles of Mr
Malthus, in England (among others) by Mr Heron, in his
"Letter to Mr Wilberforce;" and in France, under the con-
sulate of Buonaparte, by the author of the Examen de l'Escla
vage, &c.
INTRODUCTION.
69
in Africa must have been speedily recruited by
the vigour of the principle of population; that
the recruits must have started up so quickly that
the victims could hardly be missed; and that (as
a severe mortal epidemic is generally succeeded
by an uncommon healthiness) the occasional
drain of men from Africa by the slave trade must
have given additional scope and developement
to the principle of population in that country,
and enabled many to live, who would other-
wise have never been born, or have perished,
he certainly has lessened some degree of the ab-
horrence with which many persons contemplated
that infamous traffic, and has placed some farther
materials at the disposal of the active and inte-
rested supporters of that sophistry which has dis-
turbed and perverted the ideas even of honest
men on the subject. In truth, the wretchedness
and the insecurity created by the slave trade in
Africa, and the discouragement it laid on regular
habits of life and settled industry, was more than
sufficient to prevent the principle of population
from being called into such activity as to supply
the horrid void created by the traffic.
But it is still more unpardonable to find Mr
Malthus himself, on some occasions, lend a con-
!
770
INTRODUCTION.
siderable degree of sanction to the abuse to which
his doctrines are liable. He ought to be sensible
of the mischief of such an unqualified position,
as that "France has not lost a single birth by
the Revolution."* Can it be believed that the
ravages and murders of the war of La Vendee de-
prived France of nothing but what the principle
of population could instantly restore? But even
supposing that this strange proposition were arith-
metically true, it does not follow, as Mr Malthus
seems to think, that the state of France, in re-
spect of population, has been unaltered by that
great event, and that it has given her cause to
mourn only the actual destruction of life by the
bayonets of her enemies or the proscriptions of
her leaders. For it clearly appears, from a do-
cument which our author himself has cited, that
the supply of men (adequate or not) by which
this loss has been recruited, has proceeded in a
surprising degree from the depravation of the
moral character of the French people. The pro-
portion of illegitimate births has been raised in
France to of the whole number of births, from
II
* Essay, vol. I. p. 440.
INTRODUCTION.
71
47)
, which it was before the Revolution.* Ille-
gitimate children are not the most carefully rear-
ed; and under the prevalence of better moral
habits, France would probably have been far
more populous than the Revolution has left
her. The improvement which the agriculture of
France has received from the amelioration of the
condition of its cultivators and the increase of
the capital employed on land, would have greatly
augmented the population of that country, if
these changes had proceeded from any other
parent than the Revolution.
The doctrines broached by Mr Malthus have
already given rise to a great deal of controversy.
The most distinguished of the works written
professedly to counteract them have been Dr
Jarrold's "Dissertations on Man," &c. the ano-
nymous "Reply to the Essay on Population,"
and Mr Weyland's recent treatise on "The
Principles of Population and Production," &c.
Jarrold maintains that there is no redundancy or
unnecessary waste of creative power evinced in
the principle of population, which always adapts
* Essai d'une Statistique Generale, par M. Peuchet. Paris,
1800, p. 28. Malthus, Essay, B. II. cap. VIII,
72
INTRODUCTION.
its vigour to the opportunities afforded for its
exercise. It was strongest at the creation, when
an empty world was to be filled; but when re-
plenishment had considerably advanced, its power
was contracted, or at least the safety of its ope-
ration preserved by the abridgment of the dura-
tion of human life. He contends, that enlarge
ment of population must be accompanied with
diffusion of knowledge and civilization, which,
by the pursuits and ideas, the habits of body
and mind promoted by them, weaken the prin-
ciple of increase, and keep its vigour on a level
with the means of subsistence. The pursuits and
ideas engendered by civilization dispose some
to marry late, and others to prefer celibacy to
marriage; and the habits of luxury which it dif
fuses occasion sterility in others. Thus as men
multiply, the tendency to farther multiplication
is lessened, without any demand for the checks
of war and vice, which arise entirely from bad
government and bad morals. The anonymous
author of the Reply, &c. has commented at great
length, and with a great deal of acuteness, on
Mr Malthus' comparison of the increase of po-
pulation to a geometrical series, and the increase
of food to an arithmetical series. Mr Malthus
INTRODUCTION.
73
has insisted that if free scope were permitted to
the principle of increase, population would in
two centuries be to the means of subsistence as
256 to 9; and that through the whole of the
progress, the distress for want of food would be
constantly pressing on mankind. But the author
of the Reply very justly observes, that the relation
between the arithmetical and the geometrical
series could commence only after the earth had
been fully peopled and universally cultivated; for
until then, the increase of produce might be fully
proportioned to any increase of numbers what-
ever. This is confirmed by the example of the
American states, which have raised and export-
ed a surplus produce, while they were doubling
their population every twenty-five years. He
maintains, that until the earth has been fully cul-
tivated, the means of subsistence must always
exceed the utmost efforts of the principle of po-
pulation; and that increase of numbers tends to
increase food, by creating a pressure that stimu-
lates men to improve industry and increase pro-
duce. He ridicules the apprehension that an in-
creasing population would starve unless a previ-
ous increase of food were procured for it, by
comparing it to an apprehension that increasing
74
INTRODUCTION.
numbers would be obliged to go naked unless a
previous increase of the manufacture of clothes
should precede their births. He censures the
unfairness of the distribution which Mr Malthus
has made of the checks on population, in confi-
ning vice to the rich, and leaving misery and
moral restraint to the poor. Mr Weyland has
combined the views of the two former writers,
and more particularly enforced and illustrated
the ideas of Dr Jarrold, respecting the modifica-
tion which the principle of population receives
from the spontaneous operations of men as so-
ciety advances. He maintains that population
has a natural tendency to keep within the powers
of the soil to afford it subsistence; that subsist-
ence, when not checked by vices or bad govern-
ment, is always adequate to support actual num-
bers and increase; that population presses most
on food in countries where population is most
slender and resources least cultivated, in savage
tribes, where vice, in restraining a salutary in-
crease, cannot be regarded as intended to repress
a mischievous tendency to exuberance; and that
population presses least on subsistence in those
countries where numbers are greatest and re-
sources most nearly exhausted, in rich and civi
INTRODUCTION.
75
lized nations. The pressure sustained in savage
life is intended to urge to improvements, by.
shewing the penalties of neglecting them. He
denies the necessity of an additional preventive
check in civilized society, where voluntary celi-
bacy to a certain extent arises and increases with
the progress of riches, improvement, and num
bers; and maintains, that the necessary tenden-
cy of the progress of civilized societies is to a
point at which the extension of luxury, celibacy,
and unhealthy modes of life, will prevent the
society from reproducing its own numbers; and
that this point must be attained in every country
before it has been completely cultivated and re-
plenished. Concurring with Sir James Steuart,
(the father of political science in this country,)
in thinking that "the multiplication of people is
the efficient cause of the increase in agriculture,"
and believing that the point of non-reproduction
is attained by states long before the resources of
their territories are exhausted, Mr Weyland con.
tends, that in an advanced state of society, it
would sometimes be desirable and advantageous
to establish, in country villages and situations
adapted for child-bearing, a set of healthy breed.
ers to recruit the community. The principle on
9
76
INTRODUCTION.
which the expences of this establishment should
be defrayed, he deduces from another maxim of
Sir James Steuart, that in the competition for
employment, the unmarried injure the married
poor, by accepting lower wages than the others
can subsist on; and accordingly Mr Weyland
proposes, that such an establishment should be
supported "by subtracting from the surplus
earnings of the bachelor and childless labourer,
all that is over and above what is necessary to
enable them to live in comfort, and to make a
saving by frugality for their declining years."
Mr Weyland defends legal provisions for the
support of the poor, as tending to enable them
to recruit that deficiency of population which is
threatened by the circumstances that attend the
advancement of society. The burden they im-
pose must constantly increase in weight, because
the tendency to deficiency also goes on increa-
sing; but the same progression of society which
increases the burden, multiplies the numbers of
those who are able to sustain it. Such is a brief
abstract of the doctrines of these writers, some
of whose opinions I shall have further occasion
to notice in the following Inquiry.
There are two quarters from which some fur-
INTRODUCTION.
77
ther views, the most profound and interesting,
of this important subject, may yet be expected
-the Edinburgh Review, and the conclusion of
Mr Steuart's Dissertation on the Progress of
Metaphysical, Ethical, and Political Philosophy,
since the Revival of Letters in Europe." The
Edinburgh Reviewers have already approved and
professed the principles of Mr Malthus; and
they have promised to the public a more ample
discussion of his system than they have yet found
leisure to bestow. It is impossible not to wish,
and it seems reasonable to expect, that a subject
which appears so prominent in the recent pro-
gress of human knowledge and inquiry—so long
an object of experiment, yet so new as a depart-
ment of science, and in which the principles of
moral and political philosophy are so intimately
blended-should receive some portion of the
light that is shed on every subject which the
survey of Mr Steuart embraces. The degree of
notice, however, which he may be induced to
bestow on it, or the views it may suggest to him,
it would be foolish and presumptuous to anti-
cipate.
INQUIRY
INTO THE
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
CHAPTER I.
Of the Law of Human Increase.-Of Marriage and Polyga-
my. Of the Moral and Political Duties relative to Marriage
and Celibacy. Of the necessary Tendency of Communities
to Redundance of Population, arising from the natural Pro-
gress of Society, and the Influence of Wealth and Poverty
on the Increase of Mankind.
ALL the most distinguished modern writers who
have treated of the principle of population, have
been or appeared so sensible of the connection
between this fundamental principle of human
society, and the doctrines of that religion with
which our ideas of the origin of society are in-
terwoven, that they have endeavoured either to
support their systems on the basis of apparent
harmony with religion, or at least to vindicate,
80
INQUIRY INTO THE
and, if possible, explain away, any apparent dis-
sent they might exhibit to the notions common-
ly entertained of its doctrines.* I am happy to
avail myself of the authority of such examples,
in referring, though but for a moment, to the
highest authority recognized by human reason,
on a subject where the light afforded by political
science is more scanty, and sometimes more
delusive, than in any other branch of human
knowledge or speculation. It would be hard,
indeed, that the advocates of one side of the
question should be precluded from reference to
an authority appealed to and employed by their
adversaries, merely because the latter justly
doubted the force of their own appeal, while, by
resorting to it, they had acknowledged its legiti-
macy.
It is recorded, then, by the earliest history of
mankind, the ancient Scriptures, that the in-
crease of men, to the replenishment of the earth
with human beings, and the complete deve-
lopement of the principle of life in the most
admirable of its forms, was the earliest com-
*See Malthus's Essay, passim, particularly Appendix to
vol. II. p. 506. See also Edinburgh Review for August, 1810,
p. 473. See (on the opposite side of the question) Quarterly
Review, for Dec. 1812, p. 324; Jarrold's Dissertations on
Man, p. 246; and Weyland on the Principle of Population,
passim.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
81
mand (immediately preceding the appointment
of food) announced to the first parents of the
species at the creation; and that the same com
mand was afterwards repeated, with the same
priority, to other ordinances, when a new period
of human progression began to run after the
deluge. The doubt that has been sometimes
expressed of the necessity or utility of a positive
precept to enforce an object so powerfully secu-
red by the constitution of human nature, may be
lessened, if not wholly removed, by a survey of
the profligate enormities arising from the depra-
vation of human passions, that prevailed so sig-
nally even in the earliest ages of the world, and
have ever since been so banefully prolific of vice,
disease, and bloodshed; and of the perversity so
frequently exhibited in human reasonings, and
interwoven into human opinions, systems, and
conduct;-that perversity, for example, which
has led some to practise celibacy through fana-
ticism, and others more recently to defend it by
false philosophy. This survey reveals to us the
existence of active principles capable of pervert
ing the feelings of human nature, and even coun-
teracting, in some degree, the grand design of
its author-principles, to counteract which, the
authority of positive precept is not unnecessarily
superadded to the force of reason and natural
feeling. Powerful, too, as the principle of po-
F
82
INQUIRY INTO THE
pulation may appear, it has never yet produced
the replenishment of the earth; and after the
lapse of six thousand years, has left unaccom-
plished the greater part of a task, which, accord-
ing to every human calculation, its powers were
sufficient to have completed in a very few cen-
turies.
It is not merely animal propagation that is
enjoined by the precept of increase, but the nu-
trition, education, and establishment of men
capable of performing the purposes of moral and
social being. The precept implies whatever is
necessary to make it effectual; and as marriage
has been universally found the most effectual
means of multiplying and at the same time im-
proving the human race, it seems a part of the
fundamental ordinance of increase. It is an
ordinance, too, confirmed by the Jewish law,
perfected by the Christian institutions, and ob-
served in every condition, rude or civilized, in
which men have been found. Except in the
Jewish Scriptures and a Greek tradition, there
has not been preserved, in any nation of the
world, the faintest trace of the first institution
of marriage. Nothing can be wilder or more
erroneous than the notion which some have en-
tertained of the hostility of the principles of
Christianity to marriage and population. This
monstrous notion was fostered by the absurd
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
83
and immoral institutions of the church of Rome
in the middle ages-institutions very dissimilar
to those which were established in the Aposto-
lical æra.
Women received a due considera-
tion from the primitive church, and were even
employed in the ministerial offices of religion.
But in the middle ages, they were treated with
contempt by the church, and instead of being
allowed to approach the altar during the cele-
bration of mass, were required to make their
offerings at a distance. It was then that the in-
tercourse of the sexes, even under the protection
of matrimony, was represented as involving some
degree of criminality, as beneath the option of
the wise, and only tolerated by Providence to the
weak; that married persons were condemned to
sleep in separate apartments for the first three
nights after their nuptials, unless they purchased
a dispensation or indulgence from the church ;*
and that the laity were forbidden to marry oftener
than once, and the clergy condemned to celibacy.
These regulations, though defended by errone-
ous views of Scripture, were really (as Doctor
Robertson and other writers have observed) the
fruits of the ecclesiastical policy of Rome, which
endeavoured to extend the dominion of the
J
* Spirit of Laws, B. XXVIII. cap. XXXIV.
84
INQUIRY INTO THE
church by interweaving it with every important
concern of life, and by detaching the clergy from
every reputable private interest, to concentrate all
their passions in the interest of their order. Yet
it was slowly and with great difficulty that the
church of Rome succeeded in giving a currency
to such notions, and in founding such institu-
tions. She was more successful in managing the
passions of the laity, than in repressing and ex-
tinguishing those of the clergy. Pope Pascal, in
a letter to Archbishop Anselm, complains that
the greatest and most respectable portion of the
English clergy were not only married, but them-
selves the sons of priests. So late as the year
1287, we find many of the beneficed clergy ma-
king their wills directly in favour of their wives.'
**
Christianity, apparently, could not have esta-
blished a rule more calculated to increase the
population of the world, than that which forbids
polygamy and concubinage. For, granting that
in a society where every fifth or sixth man has
five or six wives or concubines, and the other
four or five live in a state of celibacy, (which is
always the case where polygamy prevails,) it were
possible that as many children should be produ
ced as in a society where every man has a family,
* Whittaker's History of Manchester, B. II. cap. XII. § 2.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
85
it is certain that fewer children will be reared to
maturity and established in life, where twenty or
thirty are to be supported by one man, than
where they are to be divided into five or six
families.* And even supposing, as has been
somewhat hastily believed by Montesquieu and
other writers, that in the southern climates of
Asia the number of women exceeds that of men,
this would only explain one of the probable
causes, without demonstrating any of the advan-
tages of polygamy. But perhaps such a dispro-
portion between the numbers of men and women
in these countries is more likely to have been
the effect than the cause of polygamy, which
must induce poor parents to exert greater care
in rearing female children for the seraglios of the
rich, and even to preserve them from the de-
struction to which their poverty would otherwise
have doomed all their offspring. It has been
observed by travellers in the Turkish dominions,
that the Christian families settled there rear
greater numbers of children than the Mahometan
families, among whom polygamy prevails.t In-
dustry must stagnate in a country where the bulk
of the labourers have only themselves to provide
* See Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy, vol. I. p. 315.
+ Eton's Survey of the Turkish Empire, cap. VII. p. 275.
86
INQUIRY INTO THE
for; and diminution of produce must necessarily
be attended with a proportional restriction of
population. Mr Park observed that among the
Mandingoes of Africa, who practise polygamy,
the parental and filial relation is remarkably
strong between the mother and her child, but of
very slender force between the father and his
children. This, he thinks, may be easily ac-
counted for. The system of polygamy, while it
weakens the father's attachment by dividing it
among the children of different wives, increases
the mother's tenderness by superadding a jea-
lousy, which must tend, however, to render her
affection less beneficial to her offspring.
It is not by mere animal propagation alone
that the law of increase is obeyed. To have
voluntarily become to any being the occasion of
its existence, produces an obligation to render
that existence happy. Only the letter of the law
is observed, and the spirit is disregarded, by him
who does not proportion his exertions to cherish
and support, to the increase of the numbers whom
he renders dependent on his virtues. Whoever
shall refuse to support his own family is pro-
nounced to be "worse than an infidel." He, of
course, is very little better, who rears a family
which he knows with certainty that he cannot
support, or which he intends to desert. He has
no right voluntarily to render his marriage a tax
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
87
upon others to encumber other men with his
children, and so far to disable them from main-
taining their own.
As society advances, this duty sustains a con-
siderable change, and acquires additional diffi-
culty and importance. In some of the earlier
stages of society, a numerous family of children,
instead of a burden, is a source of opulence as
well as defence and security to parents. The
progress of society, in affecting the ability of
men to procure sustenance for their offspring,
necessarily affects the duties which are con-
nected with the exercise of this ability. As
a country increases in population, and the rea-
diest means of support which it affords are en-
grossed, it becomes more difficult than at first to
provide for additional families. Exertions more
laborious and more complicated become neces-
sary for this purpose; sometimes it is requisite
to emigrate to a foreign country, sometimes it is
sufficient to improve industry at home. But as
necessity is the parent of labour, and as the oc-
currence of motives to increased industry must
always precede the exertion of it, it follows that
the pressure of the difficulties arising from scar-
city of food will precede the privations, exer-
tions, and improvement necessary to alleviate
this pressure and multiply sustenance; and con-
sequently, that after society has reached a cer-
88
INQUIRY INTO THE
0
tain point, its farther progress will be accompa
nied by a constant tendency to redundance of
population. This tendency is promoted by the
distinctions of wealth and poverty that accom-
pany the progress of every great society, and
hinder the pressure arising from scarcity of food
from being divided with equality.
The increased difficulty of supporting a family
promotes the temptations to an indolent celiba-
cy, as well as the danger of improvident propa-
gation. And although the conduct of one who
begets a family without sufficient previous assu-
rance of possessing, and resolution of exerting
ability to support it, may be traced to a selfish
improvidence, and may be productive of much
misery to himself and his immediate circle, or
of an unjust burden on the other members of
the community, we must not so far mistake re-
verse of wrong for right as to suppose that the
opposite conduct of him who refuses to marry,
lest he should be obliged to share with others
what he is more disposed to engross to himself,
or because he doubts his ability to support his
progeny in what he considers an adequate man-
ner, proceeds always from a nobler motive, or is
productive of a better result.
Whoever lives for himself alone, and reaps the
enjoyments of the existence he has received,
without transmitting or multiplying its advanta-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
89
ges, may soon count up all the good he does or
can do. But the evil which his selfishness or
timidity may have done, in intercepting the ex-
istence of beings who would have added to the
happiness of the world and augmented the active
energies of their country, is an evil which he can
never be able to compute, and which he will not
find it easy to compensate to the world by any
enhancement which his own gratifications may
receive from his celibacy. Amidst the great
diversity of human character and moral senti-
ments in different ages and countries, the senti-
ments of all mankind seem to have concurred in
honouring marriage with respect, and regarding
celibacy (except when redeemed by unusual ex-
cellence of character, or consecrated by super-
stition) with derision, and even dislike.
While unnecessary celibacy appears to be ca-
pable of producing at least as extensive mischief
as can result from improvident propagation, our
apprehension of the latter evil may be still farther
mitigated, by the reflection that many cogent
motives concur to diminish the temptation to
commit it, and consequently the probability of
its actual occurrence. Very few men are dispo-
sed to rear families without considering and pro-
viding for their sustenance, as far as the interest
of society requires that they should do. Nature
herself has placed a limit to the danger of this
90
INQUIRY INTO THE
mischief, by rendering the power of supporting a
family nearly coeval with the capacity of beget-
ting it. The law of marriage, too, has still farther
lessened the danger of improvident propagation.
Scarcely any man will consent to form the last-
ing union of marriage, without some rational
prospect of ability to support a weight to which
law and religion bind him for ever, and to make
himself dear and respectable to those with whose
sentiments and conduct his own happiness is to
be indissolubly connected. Every encourage-
ment is afforded in England to the exercise of
discretion, by that excellent, though much-tra-
duced law, which prohibits the formation of mar-
riage before the age of majority, unless authori
sed by the consent of parents or guardians.
The advantage that may result from the ope-
ration of the restraint thus imposed on indivi-
duals must not be confounded with the effect of
its extension (which has been lately proposed)
to classes of men. A restraint that would pro-
duce the effect of a general prevention of mar-
riage among the members of any class (especial-
ly of any of the lower classes) of society, would
be extremely injurious to human happiness. The
prudent abstinence or delay of an individual, by
hindering him from encroaching on the stock of
others, may enable his class even to multiply its
numbers, and is therefore quite distinct from that
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
91
general abstinence which would have the effect
of extirpating, or greatly thinning, the class in
which it might prevail. One of the classes of
society may, from particular circumstances, be
so depressed and indigent as imperiously to re-
quire amelioration; which will be most effec-
tually promoted by an increase of the virtuous
exertions of its own members, and of the judi-
cious and discriminating bounty of the members
of happier classes.* To extirpate, either par-
tially or totally, is a wretched way of obviating
the difficulty. It is a sordid attempt, not posi-
tively to enlarge enjoyment, but to enable a few
to engross the more of it, by intercepting the
existence and the claims of others.
Even with individuals, there must be some li-
mit to the provident caution relative to the sup-
port of a family, that should precede a marriage.
It cannot be the same in all ranks and classes;
otherwise the course of nature would be invert-
ed, the lower classes would be empty, and only
* Such bounty is not confined to pecuniary alms. The most
extensively useful acts of beneficence are those by which the
poor are provided with information and materials for improving
their own condition. "In our endeavours to facilitate the ex-
ertions of the poor for this purpose," says Mr Rose, in a tract
which I shall hereafter have occasion to notice, "benevolence
is patriotism, and the indulgence of private feeling an exercise
of public virtue."
92
INQUIRY INTO THE
the higher would be filled-in place of the lower
being (as they should be) redundant, and re-
cruiting from their abundance the ranks above
them. A poor man can scarcely ever, before
marriage, possess a perfect certainty of support-
ing, unassisted, all his future offspring; but must
be content to repose some degree of trust in the
bounty of Providence, or, more remotely, in the
assistance of his neighbours, and to be stimula
ted to industry by the immediate pressure of ne-
cessity. The well-being of society plainly re-
quires that the degree of forethought and cau-
tion which every individual should exercise be-
fore introducing a family into the commonwealth,
should decrease in proportion to the lowness of
his class in society-that is, that the caution
which begets reluctance to produce a family,
should be strongest where there is most ability
to rear a family, and should decrease in propor-
tion as this ability becomes narrower. Accord-
ingly we find that this caution prevails in the
highest degree, where it is positively least neces-
sary to the comfort of those who admit it, but
where, at the same time, it is least prejudicial to
society. There are (comparatively and propor-
tionally) more marriages prevented by inability
to support an equipage, or to entertain guests
with expensive wines, than by doubts of ability
to procure blankets or bread. It is they who
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
93
combine wealth with unbounded indulgence,
whose desires, diversified by the infinite combi-
nations of appetite and imagination, are enlarged
beyond all proportion to the magnitude of their
fortune or the eminence of their station-it is
they who never deny any one gratification to any
one appetite, who are most apt to plead poverty
as an excuse for starving their virtues and eva-
ding the cost of every sacrifice to duty. It is not
sometimes, but exceedingly often, that we find
young men of easy, and even considerable for-
tunes, aspiring to a station of which celibacy is
the condition of their tenure; contending to
cope with the profusion, and to partake the so-
ciety of their superiors, at the expence of a re-
nunciation of matrimony, to which no virtuous
motive could induce them to submit; and pre-
ferring an unequal association with the great to
the dignity and happiness of connubial and pa-
rental relationship. Thus idle but not free, and
rich only to the effect of mixing with others with
whom they cannot associate on equal terms, they
plead inability to marry without quitting their
rank, as an excuse for living in celibacy.
In the middling ranks of life, the main consi-
deration with most men before marriage, is their
ability to communicate to their children the same
advantages of education and improvement they
have themselves possessed. Even this prudential
(94
INQUIRY INTO THE
and honourable consideration may be, and some-
times is, carried too far. Unwillingness to prac-
tise economy, and a secret reluctance to protract-
ed industry, frequently multiply the difficulties
which the prospect of matrimony suggests. We
ought not to deny the extension of every bless-
ing of life, because we doubt our ability to com-
municate some of its advantages. The poor have
least occasion for considerations of this kind.
They possess so little, that the odds are ten to
one in favour of their transmitting every advan-
tage they have enjoyed. Like their superiors,
no doubt, they weigh the probability of being
able to provide for their children; but happily
they weigh it in coarser scales than the rich em-
ploy. If their means be confined, their ideas are
equally limited in their range, and their caution
even more than proportionally diminished in se-
verity. It has been said, that " He that obser-
veth the winds, shall not sow; and he that re-
gardeth the clouds shall not reap." It is happy
that a forethought, so liable to paralize exertion,
should have the least influence with those on
whose exertions the great business of society de-
pends-with those by whose labour the sowing
and reaping is mainly accomplished. In the
lower ranks, marriages are frequent and fruitful.
In all the classes and professions that connect
the lower with the higher ranks, and in all those
11
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
95
stations in which men are habituated to regard
themselves only in the relation they occupy to
their superiors, marriages are late, and celibacy
is common. In the higher ranks, marriages,
whether common or not, are extremely unpro-
ductive.
In every class, as it rises in the scale of social
distinction and in its own political estimation,
the fastidiousness of that foresight which pre-
cedes marriage, is found to increase in a propor-
tion far exceeding the just rate of its compara-
tive dignity. The Protestant inhabitants of Ire-
land, from the accidental circumstance of their
political pre-eminence over their Catholic fellow-
subjects, (this at least is the cause assigned by
late writers,) are found to increase their numbers
much more slowly than the remainder of the po-
pulation increases. This diversity in the growth
of different classes, which, from the peculiar cir-
cumstances of Ireland alone, can be regarded in
that country as an evil, is the offspring of a prin-
ciple essentially connected with the healthful
state of every society. The principle to which
I allude, is, that the lower ranks of society should
be, in proportion to their depression, more crowd-
ed than the higher ranks; and that the thinness
of the ranks should increase even more than in
strict proportion to their elevation.
96
INQUIRY INTO THE
}
The population of a great state is, and ought
to be, mainly replenished by the marriages of the
lowest ranks; and it is essential to the moral and
political prosperity of a country that the lower
ranks should be always full. The tendency to
increase, impressed by nature on the members of
every class of society, is accordingly found to be
strongest in the lowest, and to relax in every class
as it ascends towards the summit. It has long
been observed, that poverty rather promotes than
impedes propagation; that there are no beds so
barren as those of the rich and luxurious, and
none so fruitful as those of the poor. The steri-
lity of the rich, by leaving vacancies in the upper
regions of society, encourages competition among
the lower orders for translation to that envied
sphere; and the multitude of the poor, by quick-
ening the competition, improves the exertions of
the competitors. The void, on the one hand,
should be so considerable as not to be too easily
filled up; and the excess, on the other hand,
should be so great as not only to quicken com-
petition, but to provide for the tear and wear of
so great and complicated a machine as a com-
munity of men. If that ready service of men,
which the uncertain nature of public occasions
requires, were created by the overflowings of the
higher classes, then the demands of nations for
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
97
the materials of defence, for the replenishment
of armies and the supply of fleets, would require
a far greater expence than is necessary when
those supplies are obtained from the overflow-
ings of the lower classes. The immediate ex-
penditure of that small sum of money which suf-
fices for the wages of common soldiers and sail-
ors; the erection of a few hospitals for the re-
ception of those who may be disabled by wounds,
and the establishment of a charitable fund that
will afford a certain maintenance to those whose
military service, without maiming their limbs,
may have deprived them of their places in civil
society, ensure the constant readiness of the poor
to undertake the labour and danger of defending
a nation, with very little share of the glory that
attends such self-devotion-a readiness which
twenty times the wealth of any country in the
world would not buy from any class above the
lowest of the poor.
The natural order of things is, that the higher
ranks should be frequently and extensively re-
cruited from the lower. National improvement
and happiness are then in a progressive state.
The fuller the lower ranks, the more keen and
extensive will be the competition for translation
to a higher order, the more lively will be the
hope and animation diffused through society,
and the greater will be the excellence infused
G
98
INQUIRY INTO THE
into the higher ranks. When the lower ranks
are thin, the tide of national greatness is on the
ebb; the lower orders are recruited by the de-
cline of their immediate superiors, and the pace
of improvement becomes retrogressive. The
accessions which the higher ranks receive from
the lower are accessions of merit; those which
the lower receive from the higher are accessions
of worthlessness and incapacity.
As the well-being of society requires that its
ranks should be full in proportion as their situa-
tion is low and their members are poor, it plainly
requires that that caution which would contri-
bute to keep any rank thin should decrease in
proportion to its depression in the social scale;
or, in other words, that the poorer and less able
to feed a numerous family the citizens of any
class may be, the less reluctant should they be to
undertake this duty. This useful principle, no
doubt, is attended with apparent disadvantages.
It tends to increase the mouths in that quarter
where the mouthfuls are fewest; and to pro-
mote that tendency to redundance of population
which invariably attends the advancement of
every community, and the increase of its num-
bers. This tendency to redundance of popula-
tion, arising at an early period of the progress of
society, and promoted by those distinctions of
wealth and poverty which accompany the higher
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
99
degrees of social advancement, presents at first
sight the aspect of unmixed and irresistible hosti-
lity to human happiness, and, apparently, threat-
ens ultimately to involve human society in uni-
versal confusion and destruction. But it seems
to be the characteristic of every system of nature
which our faculties can embrace, to exhibit an
apparent tendency to disorder, which is correct-
ed by an opposite principle, or even by the fuller
extension and developement of the very princi-
ple which threatens the disorder. It is in this
manner that the apparent tendency of the plane-
tary system to disorganization is corrected; the
law of force, by which it is governed, containing
in its own principles the antidote to the disorders
which it occasionally threatens to produce.* It
is by a similar constitution that the disorder and
confusion in which the principle of population
threatens to involve human society is corrected
and restrained.
See the account of Laplace's System of the World in the
Edinburgh Review for January 1810.
4
100
INQUIRY INTO THE
:
CHAPTER II.
Of the Appearance of a Tendency to Redundance of Popula-
tion in the earliest Stages of Society.-Of Emigration, the
original Remedy presented by Nature to this Pressure, and
tending to the Replenishment and complete Cultivation of
the Earth.-Adequacy of this Remedy, and historical Views
of Emigration.-Of the Resources of Room and Produce
possessed by the Earth for the Support of additional Num.
bers of Mankind.
THE tendency exhibited by the law of human
increase to create a redundance of population,
may be (and actually has been) considered in
two different lights-either as the antidote to
other disorders, or as itself an effect which re-
quires a remedy. Some philosophers have re-
garded this tendency as a mark of the foresight
of Nature, which has provided a ready supply
for that waste of human life, which, it was fore-
seen, would result from human vices and pas-
sions, and their grand offspring, disease and war.
Others again, of whom Mr Malthus is the leader,
regard the vices and follies of human nature, and
their various products of famine, disease, and
war, as benevolent remedies, by which nature
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
101
has enabled human beings to correct the disor-
ders that would arise from that redundance of
population which the unrestrained operation of
her laws would create. It is perhaps a juster
view, which will regard the apparent tendency
to redundance as a consequence equally neces-
sary and beneficial of nature's laws, and which
only the irregularities of human institutions have
rendered instrumental of a mischief which nature
has foreseen, and for which she has provided a
remedy. This view seems to be strongly con-
firmed by consideration of the remedy which
nature has actually provided.
All history concurs to prove that since the
very beginning of the world, every particular
society of men that has been formed has been
sensible of a tendency of its population to exceed
the numbers which the produce of its territories
seemed to be able to maintain.* The evils 'which
would result from the developement of this ten-
dency are corrected by a remedy supplied by
nature, and which varies according to the varie-
ties of the condition of society in which its assist-
ance is required. The same remedy which is
* See the observations on the unsettled state of population
in the early ages of the world. Mitford's History of Greece,
cap. I. § 1.
102
INQUIRY INTO THE
1
calculated for an early stage of society will not
be adapted to the circumstances and occasions
of a later period. But in every period of society,
in the very earliest as well as the latest, a ten-
dency to redundance of population must be ex-
pected to appear. The earth could never have
been even moderately replenished, if, in the very
beginning of human society, the members of the
few scattered tribes that formed the elements of
the human race had not multiplied far beyond
the nutritive capacities of their respective dis-
tricts. Hence the increase of particular societies
beyond the quantity of food which their territo-
ries were capable of supplying, is not only quite
consistent with the meaning of the law of human
increase, but the obvious and necessary conse-
quence of that law, which could never have been
realized without the occurrence of such a redun-
dance of population at a very early period, and
the consequent dispersion of the species over the
face of the earth.
Thus one of the main propositions which Mr
Malthus has adduced, so many interesting facts,
and so many nice and ingenious comments on
these facts, to prove-that the population of every
country has a tendency to increase beyond the
quantity of food with which the country actually
supplies its inhabitants, appears to be a proposi-
tion which his adversaries should be as little will-
7
عليكم
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
103
ing as they can be able to controvert. It is in
his application of this deduction that his chief
error lies. He has imputed to the operation of
the natural principle of increase all the accidental
mischiefs which he has been able to trace to the
disproportion that anyhow may have existed be-
tween the number of mouths in a country, and
the quantity of food actually raised in it. But
the natural principle is fairly chargeable only
with those mischiefs that can be (if any can be)
shewn to have arisen from a fair competition
between the productive powers of population and
the productive capacities of the earth. The
mischiefs and calamities which Mr Malthus has
so learnedly collected and so eloquently descri-
bed, were, beyond doubt, immediately occasion-
ed, in some measure at least, by the disproportion
between actual population and actual produce.
But this disproportion, in every case he has men-
tioned, has originally sprung, not from the free
unfettered scope of the natural principle, but
from accidental causes, from human vices, and
irregularities which have exerted an unhappy in-
fluence on the operation of the natural princi-
ple-sometimes almost wholly restraining it, and
often repressing part of its agency (particularly
the remedial part), and disproportionally pro-
moting the vigour of the rest. These causes will
"
104
INQUIRY INTO THE
be the subject of examination in the next chapter
of this Inquiry.
Emigration, as we have seen, is the natural
vent and remedy of redundance of population in
the early stages of society, and indeed in every
period, until the whole habitable world be fully
peopled and cultivated. A remedy somewhat
different might be necessary when the ultimate
period of the total replenishment and complete
cultivation of the earth had arrived. That pe-
riod, however, has never yet been either reached
or approached; nor have we any reason to sup-
pose that its attainment will be the destiny of
any future age very nearly approaching to the
present æra. Yet it is impossible not to perceive
that until this ultimate period shall have arrived,
there cannot be a multiplication of human beings
beyond the means assigned by nature for their
support.
Emigration being the simplest and most ob-
vious vent of redundant population, would natu-
rally be the chief resource of the earliest periods.
Improvement of cultivation is the resource of a
comparatively later period, and the effect of that
civilization which keeps pace with the numbers
of mankind. It may perhaps be the chief re-
source intended for that ultimate period when
the increasing numbers of mankind shall have
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
105
replenished the earth, and afforded the highest
scope to civilization.
These considerations suggest a distinction be-
tween the various kinds of emigration, which,
occurring in different stages of society, have been
attended with very different effects. In the ear-
lier ages of the world, before improvement had
made much progress, emigration appears to have
been exceedingly prevalent. Instead of labori-
ously improving nature in one district, it was
found easier to take what she offered with little
trouble in another; it was easier to follow the
beaten track in a new country, than to improve
the mode of life and labour in an old one. The
strong motives to emigration thus presented in
early times, and the peculiar facilities of accom-
plishing it, appear to have operated with such
force and universality, that the earth swarmed
with innumerable colonies, at a time when scarce-
ly one country had drained its morasses, removed
its forests, or improved its tillage. The Cartha-
ginians in their voyages to Britain in quest of tin,
found this island peopled, though slenderly, with
inhabitants, as the Phoenicians, whose mercan-
tile tracks they followed, are said to have done
only a short time after the deluge.* Yet at the
* Whitaker's History of Manchester, vol. I. book I. cap. XI.
$2.
106
INQUIRY INTO THE
earliest of these periods, perhaps not one, and at
the later, probably not more than two countries in
the world were so cultivated as to produce one-
third of the quantity of food to which they were
adequate. Emigration, in its earlier efflux, thus
appears to have spread with greater wideness and
rapidity than depth. But as emigration, from
the extent to which it had been prosecuted, be-
came more difficult to the inhabitants of the
parent and central states, they were driven to the
substitutional expedient of some degree of im-
provement, by which they postponed farther
discharges of people for a time, and by which,
when compelled at last to emigrate, they carried
the means of subsistence and the arts of im-
provement into countries already partially peo-
pled. The inhabitants of those countries, in their
turn, carried the same arts along with them into
their migrations: And thus a secondary and
richer tide of emigration of men and of arts more
or less generally overspread the earth. The ear-
lier settlements afforded immediate shelter and
local experience to the new comers, and in re-
turn presented abundant disciples of the newly
imported improvements. Of this description, in
general, were the settlements planted by the
Phoenicians, whose superiority in arts and manu-
factures enabled them to subsist in countries al-
ready peopled, and who frequently obtained lands
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
107
from uncivilized tribes on the condition of clear-
ing them from wood.*
That the useful arts and improvements of life
were more frequently imported into ancient
countries than discovered by their inhabitants,
seems to be very probable, from the vast num-
bers of gods and demi-gods with which ancient
history and mythology abounded, and to whose
beneficence the communication of these arts was
referred. The Greeks ascribed the cultivation of
the vine to Bacchus, and corn and the plough
to Cerest and her pupil Triptolemus, whom
she was supposed to have deputed to teach her
invention to all mankind. It is remarkable, that
the Egyptians ascribed the same mission to Osi-
ris. The domestication of bees for their honey,
* Mitford's History of Greece, vol. I. cap. VI. § 2.
+ The number of useful arts ascribed by the ancients to wo-
men, seems to confirm the notion that these arts were more
frequently imported into countries than invented by their in-
habitants. It is exceedingly improbable that the useful arts
should have been invented by any tribe before it had ascended
above that stage of barbarism, in which the arts that minister
to life are engrossed by women, and only the arts of war and
hunting practised by men. In that barbarous state of society,
women are slaves, and slaves are rarely known to invent. A
stranger visiting one of these barbarous tribes with the inten-
tion of teaching a useful art to its members, would find no other
disciples than the women. Hence, perhaps, the ascription of
so many useful arts to females.
108
INQUIRY INTO THE
and the manufacture of cheese, imported from
Africa by Aristæus, obtained him from the early
Greeks the reputation of descent from Apollo.
Scythos, the son of Jupiter, was said to have
been the inventor of the bow and arrow; and
Apollo Smynthius gave to mole-catching as ex-
alted an origin as medicine received from Æscu-
lapius. Spinning was ascribed by the Greeks to
Minerva, and by the Egyptians to Isis, whom
they likewise honoured as the inventress of ba-
king. The first inventor or teacher of a useful
art might be entitled to the gratitude of his coun-
trymen; but it is only, or at least chiefly, from
strangers, that we can expect to find him receive
divine attributes and honours.
Though the perfection of the arts is undoubt-
edly due to the northern nations, the original
invention of them has been pretty generally as-
cribed to those southern countries which are
commonly believed to have been the nurseries
of mankind. Of many of the arts it is impossi-
ble to discover the progress, otherwise than from
tradition. Alphabetical writing is perhaps the
only art which affords traces of its own progress
and derivation; and every known alphabet in
the world has been traced to the neighbourhood
of Babylon. The early civilization of Greece
and Carthage is traced to their connection with
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
109
the Phoenicians,* who claimed immediate descent
from one of the earliest tribes of mankind, settled
in Canaan. From Greece, the grand nursery of
laws and arts, they were transplanted to Rome,
whose arms diffused some portion of them through-
out the whole circle of her dominion, and whose
genius was destined to be the preceptress of the
world, first in war, then in the arts of civil life,
and more lately in the knowledge of religion.
The ancient history of Britain illustrates very
strikingly the effects of the primary and second-
ary emigrations. The rudeness of the earliest in-
habitants, slightly affected by the visits of the
Phoenicians, was considerably improved by the
arts and industry of the later Belgic settlers, and
still more highly by the knowledge imported by
the Roman colonists. The original Britons seem
to have done little more than inhabit the open
portions of the island. The Belgae introduced
agriculture and practised trade. The benefits
of more improved industry and improved govern-
ment were communicated by the Romans, whose
early departure would have been succeeded by
the barbarous ascendancy of the Scots and Picts,
* See Note (A) at the end of the volume.
† See the interesting Account of the Belgic Roads and
Traffic in Britain. Whitaker's Hist. of Manchester, vol. I. b. I.
cap. III. sec. 3.
110
INQUIRY INTO THE
if the Saxon conquest had not occurred to intro-
duce still farther improvement of the condition
of Britain. The Saxons, adopting the arts plant-
ed in the country by the Romans, and superadd-
ing the system of Tytheings and the other impro-
ved institutions of civil polity which they import-
ed from Germany, carried the improvement of
Britain even to a higher pitch than it had attain-
ed under the Roman dominion.
The later emigrations by which the arts were
thus diffused, have proceeded much more slowly
than the earlier ones; their progress has met with
innumerable obstructions; and (whether from
the insolence of the civilized intruders or the bar-
barism of the rude original settlers) they have
often produced war and conquest instead of ami-
cable intermixture. To render the mixture of a
rude and an improved people advantageous to
the former, the disproportion between their at-
tainments and conditions ought not to be so great
as to invite the usurpation of the one, or occasion
the corruption of the other. The Indians have
suffered almost as much from the vices imported
and disseminated by the English, as from the ty-
ranny established by the Spaniards. A nation
must be brought by gradual stages to civilized
life, and trained up in its habits of industry and
reflection, before being introduced to the know-
ledge, arts, and pleasures of matured civiliza-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
111
tion. All barbarous nations manifest an indo-
cility towards laborious arts that differ widely
from their usual modes of life, which only the
Jesuits in Paraguay, and the Quakers in North-
America, have been able to overcome by the
patient and amicable contest they maintained
with the difficulty. Traders, impatient of the
slow process necessary to effect an improvement
of savage life, content themselves with exchan-
ging whatever it is most easy to make the savages
prize (generally instruments of war or debauch-
ery, or useless toys) for any valuable product al-
ready existing in the country, at the expence of
fostering the barbarous habits on which the pro-
duction may depend. Notwithstanding the ob-
structions to which the secondary emigrations
have thus been exposed, they have, though slow-
ly, continued to operate long after the original
torrent of dispersion had much relaxed in vigour ;
and the degree to which they may yet be prose-
cuted, and the benefit they may yet be capable
of producing, must depend on the limits assign-
ed by nature to the improvement of the human
species.
It is not difficult to answer the objections
which have been urged to the efficacy of emi-
gration in providing for the excess of human in-
crease. Mr Malthus contends, that the remedy
of general emigration is extolled only because it
112
INQUIRY INTO THE
¡
is not tried; and that if it were tried, "we
should soon see the phial exhausted, and when
the disorders returned with increased virulence,
every hope from this quarter would be for ever
closed."* It is just as easy to answer that the
prophecies of Mr Malthus assume this tone of
confidence, only because the measure whose re-
sult they predict is not likely to be speedily put
in practice. But a better answer will readily
suggest itself. Emigration has already been par-
tially tried; and the consequence of it has been,
that all the innumerable millions of human be-
ings that have inhabited the presently civilized
countries of the world, and all the improvements
that have multiplied and embellished life in these
countries, have owed their existence to it. Had
emigration been only a little less extensive than
it actually has been-had Great Britain and Hol
land, for example, been unoccupied at this day-
the non-existence of the millions of millions of
human beings which these countries have sup-
ported within themselves, would not have been
the only blank created by this slight deduction
from the inhabited surface of the world. The
arts and improvements which the genius of these
countries, and their competition with each other
and with other nations, have produced, have en-
* Essay, vol. II. p. 147.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
113
larged the productive powers of nature, and mul-
tiplied the inhabitants of every other civilized
country on the face of the earth. The rise of a
new nation not only affords an immediate vent
to the superfluous population of other countries ;
but, by exciting the industry and enlarging the
commerce of other countries, by extending the
limits of improvement, and pushing competition
to the discovery of new modes and higher degrees
of excellence, multiplies the numbers and increases
the happiness of every society in the world. Emi-
gration, in its earlier beginnings, produced only an
addition to the numbers of mankind correspond-
ing to the addition made to the inhabited surface.
In its farther progress, it has re-acted beneficially
on the previously occupied portions of the earth,
by the introduction of commercial intercourse
and national competition and improvement. The
farther re-action, the more diffusive benefit which
the ulterior progress of emigration may produce,
we are as little entitled to limit as we are able to
foresee. Nor, because emigration is compara-
tively stationary at present, are we entitled to
predict the perpetual cessation of its influence.
The stream of population, as it rolls on, proceeds
and expands more slowly than at first, but still
continues to enlarge. According to the estimate
of some philosophers, the vigour of the principle
of population is such, that in a very few centu-
H
114
INQUIRY INTO THE
ries from the creation of a single pair of human
beings, every acre of ground on the globe might
have been occupied and cultivated. Yet many
thousand years elapsed, and many countries were
partially peopled, before more than one or two of
them had bestowed any thing like adequate culti-
vation on their territories; the colonization and
improvement of North and South America are
events that belong to modern times; and at the
present day, three-fourths of the habitable globe
remain unpeopled. Perhaps the missions by which
religion, science, and commerce have lately vi-
sited some of the most extensive and fertile but
most barbarous portions of the earth, may con-
tribute to afford hereafter new vents to superflu-
ous population, and additional means of multi-
plying and supporting all the inhabitants of the
world.
A modern writer of great piety, learning, and
ingenuity, though somewhat prone to inquiries
too vaguely speculative, in his endeavour to vin-
dicate all the ways of nature to men, has hazard-
ed a speculation which, if solid, might warrant
the hope that many parts of the earth, yet unin-
habited, will be hereafter replenished. He sup-
poses that beasts of prey, which appear to have
existed in all countries before they were inhabit-
ed, and still subsist in the districts that are still un-
inhabited, were intended to prevent the animals
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
115
5
destined for the support of men from becoming
inconveniently numerous, before the territories
were occupied by human beings, their destined
masters and consumers: "Dr Priestley suppo-
ses," says this writer, "that the work of creation
continued through many ages, and did not cease
till after the deluge, and that animals received
existence as they became useful; and that in
this way, the stocking the different continents
with animals suited to them may be accounted
for. The idea struck me as extremely ingenious,
and as removing many difficulties; but I would
make this addition to it, that as animals received
their existence as their want was felt, so they will
be continued no longer than their usefulness re-
mains: consequently beasts of prey must become
extinct, as soon as the world is occupied by the
human race.”* Some confirmation of the views
thus ascribed to nature may be gathered from a
passage in the ancient Scriptures.†
* Jarrold's Dissertations on Man-Of the Increase of Ani-
mals, p. 242. Dr Jarrold, however, is so far from thinking
that the whole earth is destined to be inhabited, that he has
adopted the strange theory that the uninhabited portions are
intended to restore the salubrity of the atmosphere, after the
decompositions to which it is subject in the inhabited and cul-
tivated regions.
+ Exod. chap. XXIII. v. 28, 29, 30.
116
INQUIRY INTO THE
This theory, to be consistent, should refer the
creation of fish of prey to the same view, and
anticipate from their total or partial extirpation
a prodigious increase of the resources for the
maintenance of mankind, and consequently of
the numbers of the species.
Mr Townsend (whose writings present an out-
line of the theory of Mr Malthus, which they
shortly preceded) has compared the situation of
a people, with respect to increase and subsist-
ence, to the situation of that colony of goats
which was planted in Juan Fernandes by the dis.
coverer of the island, and increased so fast that
the numbers soon rose above the level of sub-
sistence, the weaker members of the flock pe-
rished miserably, and the others lived nearly as
miserably, except when thinned by the ravages
of dogs or the wants of navigators.* This com-
parison seems as faulty as Mr Malthus' compari-
son of human increase to that of trees in a forest
or plants in a shrubbery. The exorbitant in-
crease of the goats arose from the absence of the
superior beings for whose use they were destined.
With the addition of every goat to the flock
from the very beginning, the means of subsist-
ence were narrowed; but in a human society, it
is only after the numbers have become consider-
* Travels in Spain, vol. II.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
117
able, that the resources of the country are fully
opened and secured to every member; and if
one pair or twenty pairs of men and women were
settled in Juan Fernandez, to send a reinforce-
ment to their numbers would be the most effec-
tual means of improving and augmenting the re-
sources even of the original settlers. The goats on
that island had no means of improving the pro-
ductive powers of the soil, of collecting and pre-
serving food, or of relieving themselves by emi-
gration; the limit to their increase did not de-
pend on their own improvements, but, from the
moment when the first pair was planted in the
island, might have been measured by rule and
line with unerring precision. But in a human
society, where the channel of emigration is ready
to carry away superfluous numbers, where the
same increase of numbers that reduces subsist-
ence begets improvements that enlarge it, and
where the limit to improvement must be reach-
ed before the limit to subsistence be known, it
is impossible that there should be any fixed im-
moveable point, beyond which we can pronounce
increase of numbers not desirable or not practi-
cable.
That the resources of the world in general, and
of every country in particular, are susceptible of
immense extension beyond their present actual
produce, can hardly be disputed. The discovery
118
INQUIRY INTO THE
and employment of the potatoe has, of late years,
greatly extended the nutritive produce of every
country in which it has been adopted, and may
perhaps yet rear swarms of men in those arid sandy
countries where the principle of life has been
hitherto less active than in the other portions of
the earth. Fielding, who bestowed much con-
sideration on the means of ameliorating the con-
dition of the poor, and whose views of mankind
must exempt him from every suspicion of enthu-
siasm, or visionary hope of unattainable excel-
lence, has maintained the practicability of greatly
enlarging the means of human maintenance, and
consequently the numbers of mankind, by im-
provement of fisheries, and " filling the mouths
of the poor, if not with loaves, at least with
fishes."* It has more lately been calculated that
by dint of a little attention to the British fishery,
and the suppression of the monopoly by which,
in many places, it is engrossed, an adequate sup-
ply of fish might be afforded to the inhabitants
of all the inland districts of Great Britain and
Ireland at L.17 a ton, when the price of butcher's
meat is L.70 a ton. "There are indeed no
bounds," as a modern political writer has obser-
ved, "to the possible accumulation of animal
* Fielding's Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
119
4
"food; and its efficiency, as a resource in the
failure of other nutriment, is only limited by its
very perishable nature; an inconvenience, how-
ever, very easily removed. So that we may per-
haps be justified in expressing our belief, that if
the proposed imposition of a duty on foreign
grain were accompanied by a repeal of the tax
on salt, the growing population of these islands
might be supported, for centuries to come, in
the enjoyment of increasing abundance."
But in the midst of views so pleasing as these
considerations suggest, we are confronted by the
apprehension enforced by Mr Wallace, that if
free and unrestricted scope were permitted to
the principle of human increase, the numbers of
mankind would multiply to such an extent that
the limited surface of the earth would be insuffi-
cient to contain them; an apprehension which
Mr Malthus' comparison of the increase of man-
kind to the increase of numbers in a geometrical
series rather tends to confirm. To this it has
been answered, (but more ingeniously, I think,
than satisfactorily,) that as human life has once
already been greatly abridged, a still farther
abridgment of its duration might occur to coun-
terbalance the enlargement of the numbers of
*
Quarterly Review, for October, 1813, p. 175.
120
INQUIRY INTO THE
human beings.* It would be more pleasing, and
perhaps more reasonable, to expect that volcanic
islands, as healthy and fertile as the Philippine Isles,
might hereafter be raised from the bottom of the
ocean, and increase the habitable surface of the
globe. These, however, are at best but limited
remedies to an unlimited evil. It seems a more
satisfactory and quite a sufficient answer, that the
difficulty apprehended is so remote that (to use
a phrase of Mr Malthus) "we may fairly leave
it to providence." Our perception of the pro-
bability that all the coal in the earth may be ex-
bausted (an event perhaps nearer to us than the
replenishment of the earth with men,) neither
excites anxiety nor diminishes consumption of
fuel. The difficulty arises from tacitly assuming
the eternity of the present system of the world
and constitution of human nature-an assump-
tion equally unsupported by natural theology
and revealed religion. Before the total reple-
nishment of the earth can arrive, the improve-
ment of mankind must have attained a height
and a diffusion, which may form the ultimate
object of this subordinate branch of the plan of
nature.
* See Note (B) at the end of the volume.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
121
J
CHAPTER III.
Of the Causes which have obstructed the Progress and Efficacy
of Emigration, and retarded the Replenishment and com-
plete Cultivation of the Earth.-Irregularities and Inequa-
lities in the Progress of different Societies, and their Effects
on Population.-1st, Conquest and Slavery.-2d, Hunting
and other degenerate Modes of Life-Influence of ill-re-
gulated Emigration, unappropriate Institutions, and other
Causes of National Degeneracy.-3d, Pastoral Pursuits-
Emigrations of Shepherds-German Emigrations.-4th,
Agricultural Life.-5th, Commerce and Manufactures-
Influence of Commercial System on Agriculture and Re-
sources-Commercial Wars, and the Influence of War on
Produce and Population-Commercial Colonies.
F
If the progress of the several states into which
emigration originally subdivided mankind had
been universally the same, or nearly the same, in
knowledge, industry, and general improvement,
the law of increase might have operated in a re-
gular and natural course, to the complete reple-
nishment and complete cultivation of the earth;
colonies of the first and second description would
have emanated gradually and progressively from
the parent states to the neighbouring settlements,
!
122
: INQUIRY INTO THE
and the commixture of the new and old settlers
would have been facilitated by similarity of man-
ners and climate. But the inequalities which
even at an early period began to appear and
operate; the superior progress of some states,
and the degeneracy of others; the degrading
and hostile superstitions which vitiated human
character and promoted national animosity; the
vices, the dissentions, the wars and conquests
that ensued, quickly diversified the face of so-
ciety, interrupted the regular operation of nature,
and gave a premature influence to some causes
which nature would have postponed to a later
period, and gave being to other causes, which,
except for the vices and irregularities permitted
by nature, would never have existed at all. To
attempt a description of the varieties of situation,
the combinations of circumstances, in which and
by which the regular progress of nature has been
interrupted, would lead into an endless detail.
The five general classes which I am now to de-
scribe will be found, I believe, to contain the
most interesting and the most important of these
combinations.
(I.) In some countries a premature advance-
ment, with its attendant inequality of condition,
bound the members of the society together by a
band not easily broken. The arts of war, the
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
123
spoils of conquest, and the taste for luxury and
splendour fostered by dominion, advanced the
civilization and increased the numbers of these
communities, at the expence of their weaker
or degenerate neighbours; and contributed to
check and almost supersede the resource of emi-
gration where it seemed most likely to be adopt-
ed, by proposing improvement in place of it, by
dissolving those feudal and patriarchal relations
under which the poor were enabled to emigrate
with facility, because they moved under the ban-
ners of the rich, by rendering emigration difficult
and degrading to all from the change of life and
habits it required, odious to the rich and imprac-
ticable to the poor. The citizens of the govern-
ing state confined themselves, in a great mea-
sure, to the refined arts which adorn life, or to
the art of war, which maintains and enlarges
their superiority; and imposed the chief weight
of the laborious arts by which life is supported,
partly on their domestic slaves, and partly on
their conquered and tributary dependencies.
Thus the leisure which begot refinement in the
governing state, required a servitude which re-
pressed refinement in the dependent countries.
Even those of the governing countries of ancient
times, whose foreign policy was most liberal, stu-
diously repressed in the neighbouring nations all
improvement except that which their own hands
124
INQUIRY INTO THE
had planted, and which frequently was not adapt
ed to the condition or inclination of the nation
into which it was forcibly introduced. The sys-
tem of universal vassalage pursued by some coun-
tries, has always, even on the most liberal and
generous plan, tended to aggravate and diffuse
the influence of tyranny in repressing popula-
tion. A dependent state, if not oppressed by its
victors, has been generally oppressed by its vassal
sovereigns. There is no government more pro-
fligate, tyrannical, and injurious to mankind, than
that which is exercised by the ruler who is a
sovereign at home and a vassal or slave abroad.
All the great empires, and even all the consi-
derable states of antiquity, appear to have swarm-
ed with slaves at home, and to have possessed
numerous dependencies abroad. The civiliza-
tion and supremacy of Greece, Carthage, and
Rome, whether originally derived from peculiar-
ity of local situation, improved government, or
inheritance of Phoenician improvement, was ac-
companied by, and partly founded on, the con-
quest and slavery of other nations. The domestic
slavery of Greece and Rome drained away the
population of many dependent states; and the
severe and cruel bondage of the Spanish nation
was one of the sources of Carthaginian great-
ness. Both Greece and Rome, in their infancy,
discharged their redundant population in colo
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
125
nies; but in their maturity they appear to have
planted no other colonies but garrisons. Indeed
Rome, in the zenith of her greatness, so far
from sending colonies of husbandmen to culti-
vate distant lands, summoned from a distance
the labour of slaves to cultivate the lands of
Italy.
The disproportioned elevation of one country,
and its unrivalled superiority to all the rest of the
world, must necessarily increase both the difficul-
ty and the disagreeableness of emigration to its
inhabitants. The rich are unwilling to forsake
the seat of empire and the pleasures of civilized
life; and the poor, unable to relieve themselves
by emigration, are sometimes driven to sell their
liberty and become slaves to the rich-a practice
which is said to have been very common in Greece.
The subsistence of slavery, too, in the bosom of
any country, cramps the increase of the free po-
pulation, by vitiating the character of the free
poor, by placing them in a comparative elevation
neither acquired by merit nor tending to promote
it, and thus superadding to their other failings a
proud and indolent reluctance to services which
they share with slaves. In such countries we
may expect to find the free poor idle and vicious,
averse to marriage, or prone to infanticide. It
is before the era when nations receive their
7
126
INQUIRY INTO THE.
highest improvements and civil government at-
tains maturity, that they find emigration least
difficult and unpleasant. Before the feudal rela-
tions and partial confederacies of the infancy of
society have been completely dissolved by the
maturity of the supreme civil institutions of a
country, the poor are led out to emigration in
numerous bodies, and headed and supported by
the same leaders to whom they yielded depend-
ence at home. The chief who finds his horde too
numerous sends a portion of his dependants to
form a new settlement in domains that will con-
stitute a seat of empire to a branch of his own
family the rich shepherd disburthens his tribe
by committing a portion of his servants and
cattle to his sons when they attain manhood,
who travel with them in search of wider limits
and a freer range. But in that more advanced
state of manners and government in which the
subordinate political relations between the rich
and the poor are dissolved, when a rich man has
more to lose by quitting his country than he can
gain by putting himself at the head of a body of
poor emigrants to a new colony, the season of
emigration has passed away, and the opportuni-
ties of relieving a state by such discharges are
greatly obstructed. It is of man in an improved
and civilized state that Adam Smith speaks when
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
127
he observes, that " Man is, of all species of lug-
gage, the most difficult to be transported."*
The nations whose slavery contributed to the
premature elevation of others, seem to have been
treated in three different ways. Either (1st) the
inhabitants were, in process of time, incorpora-
ted with the citizens of the ruling state; or (2d)
they continued distinct, and were treated with
oppression; or, (3d) though continuing distinct,
they were treated with as much humanity as is
consistent with servitude. In the first case, emi-
gration is restrained by the same causes that re-
strain it in the ruling state; in the second, the
check which tyranny gives to population renders
emigration unnecessary; and in the third, if it
should be requisite, it would be forcibly prevent-
ed by the mean and mischievous avarice of any,
even the mildest government of slaves that the
world has ever seen. But it has rarely happened
that the population of an enslaved country has
multiplied exceedingly. The masters, by whom
the expence of rearing the children is finally de-
* How much this difficulty may be lessened when a man of
rank and fortune consents so far to sacrifice his comfort and
convenience to his patriotism, as to accompany a body of emi-
grants and assist them in the formation of a new settlement, is
strikingly evinced by the history of the colony carried out by
Lord Selkirk to Prince Edward's Island.-See that noble au
thor's work on the State of the Highlands and Emigration.
5
128
INQUIRY INTO THE
frayed, generally think it cheaper to recruit the
population by purchasing and importing slaves,
and accordingly discourage breeding by every
means in their power.
The policy of Pharaoh towards the unhappy
Jews has been more common than the disap-
pointment which it experienced. "Come on,
let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply,
and it comes to pass that when there falleth out
any war, they join also with our enemies."* His
unwillingness to permit them to emigrate even
when he could no longer retain them with safety
to himself, is strikingly characteristic of the po-
licy and feelings of a ruler of slaves. The Spar-
tans prevented the Helots from multiplying by
downright massacre. Some tyrants, more appre-
hensive of the power of knowledge than of the
power of numbers, have endeavoured to repress
the improvement rather than the increase of their
slaves. The Spanish merchants applied (happily,
by the interposition of the clergy, without suc-
cess,) to the Pope for a Bull, declaring the inha-
bitants of South-America an inferior species of
men. In North-America, where the most de-
grading slavery subsists by the side of the most
licentious liberty, Mr Jefferson has endeavoured
to palliate the oppression committed by his coun-
* Exod. i. 10.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
129
trymen, by contending that the negroes are an
order of beings essentially distinct from the
whites, and unalterably inferior; and conse-
quently that all attempts to improve them into
civilization must be fruitless.* The Spartans
added indignity and degradation to the more
sanguinary cruelties they exercised on their
slaves. They prohibited the Helots from learn-
ing any liberal art, and from even copying the
dress or manners of freemen.
The practice of reducing prisoners of war and
weak neighbours to slavery, seems to have origi-
nated in the remotest antiquity, and to have pre-
vailed with some nations so far, that the rank of
their captives was thought insufficient to exempt
them from this ignominy. The Egyptians long
held the Jews in captivity; the Jews themselves,
though forbidden to steal and sell slaves, were
allowed to purchase them from foreigners; and
such antiquity of the traffic proves the still greater
antiquity of the condition of slavery. The story
of the captive monarchs harnessed to his car by
Sesostris, which was related by ancient writers
as a proof of the extent of his conquests rather
than of the haughtiness of his character, displays
at least the manners and ideas of times when the
*See Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, Query XIV. p. 146.
I
130
INQUIRY INTO THE
infliction of such horrible indignities was consi-
dered neither improbable nor disgraceful. In-
deed the insolence ascribed to Sesostris was hard-
ly more barbarous or revolting than the similar
insolence indulged by the Roman generals in
their triumphs; while the royalty of the former
suggests some apology for an arrogance which
in the others appears more naked and inexcusa-
ble. Homer makes Hector lament that Andro-
mache may be condemned by the victorious
Greeks to become, if not a hewer of wood, at
least a drawer of water;* and in the Hecuba of
Euripides, the widow of Priam deplores her
wretched fate in being chained like a dog at the
gate of Agamemnon. Barbarous as this practice
appears, it was a mitigation of the barbarity of
less civilized nations. The wars of hunting tribes
are generally prompted by hunger, and intended
for extermination; and hunters almost univer-
sally butcher their captives. Shepherds are ac-
tuated oftener by hopes of conquest than by
hunger; the labours of pasturage and tillage ad-
mit of delegation to servants; and accordingly
shepherds and husbandmen have generally redu.
ced their captives to slavery.
«To bear the victor's hard commands, and bring
"The weight of water from Hyperia's spring."
Iliad, B. VI.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
131
(II.) In some countries a degenerate mode of
life and labour-a lazy adherence to hunting (for
example) when the state of the population re-
quired a more productive industry, or a barba-
rous transition to it from tillage or pasturage,
has repressed the growth and consequently pre-
vented the proper spread of the society-forcing
the natives to enlarge their territories without
any enlargement of their numbers, and even to
emigrate from their domains, not because they
were full of men, but because they were emptied
of game. Fishing tribes, in like manner, though
rarely populous, are prone to emigrate. The
uncertainty of sea fisheries, and the general ig-
norance of the inland fishermen of the preserva-
tive powers of salt, render the sustenance of these
tribes extremely precarious. Inland fishermen
who are not also hunters, and fishing tribes on
the sea-coast which have not improved naviga-
tion and created commerce, are invariably the
rudest and poorest of savages.
Though incapable of fully peopling their own
territories, hunting tribes always resist the intru-
sion of other inhabitants whose wants they ap-
prehend may interfere with their own. The state
of life in which they are placed, by requiring
frequent changes of station and generating dis-
putes respecting violations of unoccupied terri-
tory, not only produces perpetual war among
132
INQUIRY INTO THE
themselves, but often forces warlike habits and
pursuits unfavourable to improvement, on the
more industrious nations who are unfortunately
situated in their neighbourhood. Their jealousy
of strangers who attempt to visit their territories,
which amounts to a virtual prohibition of com-
merce, prevents the superfluities of other coun-
tries from relieving the pressure of their occa-
sional necessities; and this jealousy increasing
in proportion to their poverty, excludes the most
effectual and the most amicable remedy that such
poverty admits. The scarcity of provisions in the
countries traversed by Bruce and Park, and the
suspicions entertained by the natives that these
strangers were the precursors of more numerous
visitors, seem to have created many of the dan-
gers and obstacles that obstructed their progress.
The wars of such tribes being generally wars of
extermination, and tending to breed perpetual
alarm and vigilance and universal hostility, are
exceedingly unfavourable to the growth both of
population and of improvement. Men, so cir-
cumstanced, have neither sufficient leisure to
discover, nor sufficient tranquillity and security
for the practice, of modes of labour that promise
only a distant return. They destroy the inferior
animals, without knowing how to subdue and
multiply them; and if they practise any sort of
tillage, their ignorance of the uses of iron pre-
1
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
133
vents them from improving it, or enlarging the
surface to which it is applied, by clearing their
forests.
In some countries of the torrid zone, a dege-
neracy even exceeding that of hunting tribes is
found to prevail. A tyrannical distinction of
ranks, with general poverty, ignorance, and vice,
-nature, whether bountiful or parsimonious, un-
improved-and men neither refining nor increa-
sing, are the principal features in all the portraits
of these regions. When strangers visit these
shores, they are either repelled by the ferocious
or treacherous hostility of a warlike tribe, or ad-
mitted to a thievish and licentious intercourse
with a nation voluptuous and profligate. The
chiefs of the societies, proud, indigent, and dis-
contented, are prone to war; the people, indo-
lent, oppressed, and unhappy, are frequently de-
voted to superstition, and always the blind in-
struments and objects of the cruelty and ambi-
tion of their chiefs or priests. The territories of
the society are either neglected or ravaged in
war, and inadequately cultivated in peace
inhabitants confine themselves to the least irk-
some and tardy, which is frequently the least
productive mode of maintenance; the sponta-
neous produce of the soil, and the appropriation
rather than pursuit of the numerous fish with
which their seas and rivers abound, but which
the
4.
134
INQUIRY INTO THE
they are unable to preserve, form their principal
means of subsistence; modes of more improved
labour, if ever known, are forgotten; and a scan-
ty, wretched population, continues to starve and
degenerate amidst neglected capacities of plenty,
increase, and improvement.
Some tribes of barbarians have been confirmed
in these savage habits by the injurious and illibe-
ral conduct of civilized traders. It has been
justly observed by the Edinburgh Reviewers,*
that by our exclusive demand for furs from the
Indians we have held out to them a premium for
the preservation of their barbarous pursuits and
modes of life. In return for this confirmation of
their barbarism, they have received the means,
not of improving, but of corrupting it, in the
instruments of new and destructive vices. The
vices of civilization are quickly taught and pro-
pagated, long before its virtues can be commu-
nicated. Some tribes are ruined by evil com-
munications with the strangers; and others,
apprehensive of a similar fate, obstinately resist
all communication whatever.
It is more easy to account for the extreme
barbarism into which many nations and tribes
have degenerated, if we suppose them to have
* Edinburgh Review, for Oct. 1802, p. 147.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
135
originated from emigration, than if we suppose,
with some philosophers, that they were originally
created in the territories they now occupy. One
of the causes of the degeneracy of such colonies
may have been, that the colonists (whether con-
sisting of emigrants from an over populous tribe,
or fugitives from a conquered country,) import-
ed into their new territory modes of labour and
culture not adapted to its soil and productions.
They may have relied on the cultivation of rice,
for example, in countries where rice will not
grow. It is in the shepherd state that inland mi-
gration is most safe and easy; and from a state
in which agricultural and pastoral pursuits are
combined with some acquaintance with naviga-
tion, that the formation of transmarine settle-
ments is most practicable. Colonists from a
country in which agriculture was in its infancy,
importing into their new territory a husbandry
for which it might be unfit, if they were desti-
tute of flocks of cattle, would be apt to degene-
rate into hunters, or to content themselves with
subsisting on the spontaneous vegetable products
of the soil, as many savage tribes are known to
do. What infinite varieties of situation may there
not have arisen from the mercantile voyages, and
shipwrecked colonies perhaps, of the Phoenicians
and Carthaginians, or from fugitive emigrations
136
INQUIRY INTO THE
from Troy, Tyre, and Carthage alone? In the
infancy of navigation, when the use of the com-
pass was unknown, it is easy to suppose that ships
of war or of commerce might be driven beyond
the tracks with which they were acquainted to
regions from whence their ignorance would pre-
vent them from finding the way back. Thus
new settlements might be founded with very
imperfect materials; and more distant ones cre-
ated by the vain efforts of the exiles to return to
their homes.'
National degeneracy may be expected to en-
sue when a small and slenderly improved tribe
occupies a larger and more productive territory
than that from which it has emigrated. Here
the bounty of nature long continuing to afford a
"facilem victum" to all the inhabitants, super-
sedes and obliterates the little art which the
people may have once possessed; and vice, ari-
sing from premature leisure, accelerates the de-
scent to barbarism. The members of a rude tribe
emigrating to a much hotter climate than that
which they quitted, if not restricted by laws with
respect to marriage and the age for contracting
it, would find themselves impelled to it at an age
too early for the procreation of a healthy vigo-
rous offspring, while they wanted the experience
requisite to teach them the necessity of restraint.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
137
The vicious and effeminate indolence and dege-
neracy exhibited by some tribes may perhaps be
traced in some measure to this source.
The settlement of a small tribe in a country
where it was surrounded by hostile and barbarous
nations, would conduce to the establishment of
a government on the principles of military des-
potism, that would soon quench every improve-
ment which the emigrants might have originally
imported. The limitations imposed on the rulers
of the Jews and the Romans, amidst all the dan-
gers to which their civilization was exposed, con-
tributed to prevent it from sinking to the level
of their barbarous neighbours. The arts and in-
dustry which once so highly distinguished the
Moors, have long been blasted by the barbarous
despotism of the governments to which they
have been latterly subjected.
The transplantation of institutions from one
state to another, which had not attained a con-
dition or degree of advancement adapted to
them, may have contributed sometimes to repress
improvement. A matured system of distinction
of ranks, imported from an old settlement into a
new colony, will prove an almost insuperable bar
to the improvement of society. The Jewish in-
stitution of tribes and succession, (which among
that people was justified by a peculiar object,
and softened in its influence by the prospect
138
INQUIRY INTO THE
of future relaxation,) if transported to another
country, would become the parent of institutions
the most fatal to improvement. The derivation.
of the establishment of castes in India from the
Jewish institutions, receives some support from
the view entertained by Sir William Jones, and
deduced from a Persian historical fragment, that
the Afghauns, the original occupiers of Cabulis-
tan, were the descendants of the ten tribes which
revolted from Rehoboam.* In many half-civi-
lized countries, it is customary to burn or inter
some articles of a man's property along with his
body; to devote some of his utensils to his ser-
vice, and some of his slaves to his dignity, in a
future state of existence. This custom would
be attended with the most destructive conse-
quences, if transplanted into an infant colony,
and practised there to any considerable extent,
especially in a climate unfavourable to life. Per-
haps the importation of this custom by the ori-
ginal colonists of the Nicobar Islands, (where
every moveable thing, living or dead, which a
man possessed, is buried with him,) may have
contributed, with other causes, to the degeneracy
of the natives. We learn from Mr Turner's
History of the Anglo-Saxons that a practice some-
*See Asiatic Researches, vol. II.
FRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
139
what similar contributed to the perpetuation of
piracy among the Danes and Norwegians, who,
in transmitting to their children their barbarous
pursuits, withheld those acquisitions which might
have rendered such pursuits unnecessary, by
commanding that every man's gold, silver, and
other valuable property, should be buried in his
grave.
The influence of superstition on the progress
and condition of societies seems to have been
modified by a great many circumstances. Ora-
cles and auguries which did not repress the ener-
gies or retard the improvement of the Greeks
and Romans, would exert more influence in
countries subject to sudden and violent convul-
sions of the elements, and where the prognostics
afforded by the motions of the inferior animals
are so valuable and important. Brute worship
has been traced to the perversion of hierogly-
phical writing—a derivation the more probable,
if we suppose the art to have been imported by
colonists into the countries where it was pervert-
ed. A religion that diffuses a spirit of frivolity
among a people, instead of regulating and curb-
ing their licentious propensities, that multiplies
holidays and promotes idleness, must be exceed-
ingly unfavourable to population and improve-
ment; especially in an infant colony, where in
general so many difficulties are to be overcome,
140
INQUIRY INTO THE
and so many labours and privations to be sus-
tained, and where order and happiness depend
much more on morals than on laws. Unfortu-
nately such systems are easily introduced; men
being always very ready (as the Abbé Raynal
observes) to practise that kind of devotion which
exempts them from labour. The Hindoos are
enjoined by their religion to observe upwards of
ninety festivals in the year; and some of these
occupy the worshipper exclusively during four
or five days. Professing to respect the doctrines
of this religion, their industry will be subverted
if they obey its injunctions, and their moral cha-
racter (the basis of all steady industry) impaired
if they disregard them. An order of priesthood
imported into a new settlement would be apt to
become hereditary, or to be united with the
office of civil magistrate; in either of which
cases it threatens to become the enemy of all
change and improvement.
(III.) An adherence to pastoral life, when the
state of population required the more productive
pursuit of tillage, has also been attended with
very unfortunate effects. It is the nature of pas-
turage to produce food for a greater population
than its labours can regularly employ; the man-
ners of pastoral life do not, like those of agricul-
ture, generate settled habits or local attach-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
141
.
ments; and the daily pursuits and exercises of
shepherds are admirably adapted to diffuse
among the wandering tribes the spirit of emigra-
tion and conquest."* Pastoral life is so well
adapted to emigration, that probably the earliest
migrations of mankind were made by shepherds,
who drove their most valuable property before
them. But after the population of the world has
been considerably augmented and diffused, the
most unhappy consequences result from the ig-
norance or perversity of tribes in adhering to
pastoral pursuits, while all the circumjacent ter-
ritories are fully occupied by inhabitants. Shep-
herds so situated find it exceedingly difficult to
emigrate in peace, and obtain amicable settle-
ments; and unless they resort to agriculture
when their numbers become disproportioned to
their territories, they will be apt to emigrate as
warriors, and to make a void for themselves in
the neighbourhood, instead of seeking it at a
distance.
From districts inhabited by tribes either en-
tirely pastoral, or by tribes in which a recent
and imperfect acquaintance with agriculture had
* See Gibbon's picture of the life and manners of the Scy-
thians or Tartars. History of the Decline and Fall, &c. vol. IV.
p. 346.
142
INQUIRY INTO THE
not effaced the habits, or even wholly superse-
ded the pursuits of pastoral life, there arose an
emigration, not of peaceful colonists but of war-
riors, which finally subverted the Roman empire
and desolated the finest countries in the world.
In addition to the causes already enumerated,
these emigrations have been imputed in some
measure to the intemperate thirst of the barba-
rians for strong liquors, that urged them to in-
vade the provinces possessed of these envied
luxuries, which their own countries did not pro-
duce, and which their ignorance of commerce
left them no other means of acquiring than their
swords.* It was the retarded improvement and
barbarous pursuits of these tribes (partly occa-
sioned by the Romans themselves) that produ-
ced their belligerent emigrations, which Mr Mal-
thus erroneously traces" to the simple cause of
the superiority of the power of population to
the means of subsistence." But there are other
causes, besides want of subsistence, that have
proved themselves sufficient to impel the nations
* Gibbon's Hist. vol. I. p. 359.-The Romans prohibited
all trade with the barbarians, and, instead of corrupting them
at home, invited them to seek for pleasures in Italy. They
made laws against sending wine or oil or gold to the barbari-
ans, and prohibited the exportation of iron on pain of death.
See Montesq. Spirit of Laws, B. XXI. cap. 11.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
143
of Europe to precipitate themselves by a simul-
taneous movement in a torrent of invasion of
distant territories. The armies of the crusaders
were probably as numerous as the armies that
invaded the Roman empire, and collected from
as many nations as the latter were derived from;
but surely it is impossible to trace the expedi-
tions of the crusaders to the superiority of the
power of population to the means of subsistence.
Had this been the source of the German emigra-
tions, it would have been utterly unnecessary for
that people, by political regulations, to have pro-
moted an effect for which nature was constantly
supplying an adequate cause. But we know that
the Germans, addicted to war and delighting in
enterprise and adventure, considered emigration
as a martial and agreeable exercise rather than a
measure of necessity, and endeavoured to pro-
mote it and the habits favourable to it even by
the influence of laws. Of this nature was the
law noticed by several historians, of not permit-
ting their cultivated lands to remain longer than
a year under the same possessors.* The tenden-
Cæsar. De Bello Gallico. VI. 22. Tacitus. De Morib.
Germ. S. 26.-Cæsar has recorded another principle of the
military policy pursued by the old German states, that must
have been exceedingly unfavourable to the enlargement of
their resources. It was the custom of every state to preserve-
1
144
INQUIRY INTO THE
cy
of this law to create those roving desultory
habits so favourable to the supply of armies, did
not escape the early legislators of the modern
nations of Europe; and there is not a branch of
the feudal code in which some traces of it do not
appear. Among some of the Tartar tribes at
present, the younger son always succeeds his fa-
ther as heir-at-law-an institution which has been
traced to the primitive custom of sending the
elder sons abroad to form new settlements as
soon as they attain manhood. The law of Bo-
rough English, which still subsists in some dis-
tricts of England, is supposed to be a relic of
the original settlement of some shepherd tribes
in Britain. A similar and very injurious relic of
pastoral manners and migration has long survi-
ved in Spain, where the laws of the Mesta have
preserved (to the destruction of agriculture in
many places) the peculiar privileges of the tra-
velling flocks of Merino sheep. The law or usage
which formed the class of adscripti glebae, in the
feudal times, and attached the members of this
class to the land for ever, was not inconsistent
with the feudal policy respecting emigration.
around its domains a vast extent of waste territory. De Bell.
Gall. IV. 2. VI. 22. Every chief, in like manner, preserved a
waste round his domains. To this practice some writers as-
cribe the origin of Commons.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
145
It extended only to slaves; and its prevalence
among the ancient Germans did not prevent
that people from deluging all Europe with their
emigrations. Indeed the greater part of the feu-
dal code is plainly the result of a military and
colonizing spirit; and the feudal institutions
were, in some measure, the cause (instead of
being the effect as some lawyers have imagined)
of the invasion of the Roman empire by the bar-
barians. These institutions (as Mr Whittaker has
shewn) had obtained a very general reception
throughout the north of Europe many centuries
before the subversion of the Roman empire; in-
somuch that the introduction of them into Bri-
tain appears to have been coeval with the plant-
ation of the island.
It certainly was not want of subsistence at
home that prompted the Helvetii to undertake
the emigration related by Cæsar; since, prepa-
ratory to their enterprize, they raised without
difficulty as much corn in one year as supported
them for two. Yet want of room was the pretext
by which the Helvetii justified their expedition;
and the same excuse had been pleaded long be-
fore by Brennus and his Gauls when they invest-
ed Clusium, though, according to Plutarch and
other writers, it was rather want of wine than
want of room that occasioned their hostile irrup-
tion into Italy. That it was the way of life ra-
Κ
146
INQUIRY INTO THE
ther than the redundance of population that gave
rise to the emigration of these barbarians, ap-
pears the more probable from the opinion, in
which all the best modern authorities concur,
that the northern countries were not more, and
on the contrary were really less populous when
they subverted the Roman empire, than they are
at the present day, when their limits are found
to be quite sufficient for the support of their in-
habitants.* By the assistance of agriculture and
commerce, Denmark and Norway at present sup-
port in peace a much more numerous population
than they possessed in the ninth and tenth cen-
turies, when the Danes and Norwegians harassed
all Europe with their invasions. Even in the pre.
sent times we know that many of the Tartar na-
tions, unimpelled by increasing population or de-
creasing food, despising and neglecting a healthy
and fertile country, prefer the fatigues, the losses,
and the dangers of a life of wandering and pre-
datory war, to the increase of wealth, of securi-
ty, and of numbers, that regular industry and
settled habitations would afford. They are igno-
rant of agriculture; and though acquainted with
pastoral pursuits, they are so far averse to them
that they commit the management of their cattle
* See Note (C) at the end of the Volume.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
147
to slaves, and confine themselves to the occupa-
tions of hunting and war. Happily, however,
the improvements of Europe banish every appre-
hension of a renewal of those barbarous irrup-
tions that attended the dissolution of the Roman
empire.* Civilization, diffused by printing, and
defended by gunpowder, is no longer in danger
of being either extinguished or suspended by the
efforts of barbarians.
(IV.) In some countries which have escaped
the evils of a retarded transition from hunting
and pastoral life to agriculture, the neglect (ari-
sing either from internal misgovernment or ex-
ternal bad neighbourhood) to superadd some de-
gree of commerce to this last pursuit, has been
productive of very serious disadvantages. When
every man works only for himself and his own
family, and considers nobody else interested in
his labour, there will be little surplus produce,
and no means of making partial abundance or
success compensate partial failure or sterility, or
the peculiar products of one district encourage
the different capacities of another. Commerce,
by furnishing motives for a surplus produce, sti-
mulates industry, and by exchanging the surplus
* See Note (D) at the end of the Volume.
148
INQUIRY INTO THE
*
produce of one place for that of another, increa-
ses the enjoyment and the population of both.
By introducing into the state an order of citizens
bound by their interest to become the guardians
of public tranquillity, it also affords that addi-
tional and most perfect stimulus to industry,
which operates only where laws are equal and
property secure. If commerce, accompanied
by the arts which it rears and spreads, by ren-
dering property more useful and secure, sweep
away the rude hospitality and generosity that
grow up in societies where superfluities of pos-
session cannot be sold or exchanged, it enables
the liberal intercourse of mankind to be carried
on without the aid of these virtues, and even to
prosper by their fall; and it amply supplies their
loss by the developement which it gives to in-
dustry and talent. It is commerce that lays the
* When commerce first arose in modern Europe, the culti-
vators of the land were slaves or bondmen. They are now
(partly through the influence of commerce) freemen and deal-
ers on their own account. To them there has thus devolved
an interest in liberty and justice, that deprives trade of its ex-
'clusive pretension to this interest, and renders the benefit it
has produced less obvious. It will, however, always continue
to promote liberty by affording the means of independent ex-
istence to the industrious, by facilitating the intercourse be-
tween different portions of the community, and their combina-
tions to repel injustice and assert their interests.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
149
foundation of the law of nations; and it is only
in countries where it has found a liberal and ge-
neral reception, that the people subdue their pro-
pensity to plunder shipwrecked vessels, acquire
that
permanent respect for the rights of strangers
which is founded on their own interests, and ex-
tend their ideas and practice of good faith.
In merely agricultural countries, the elder sons
step into the places of their fathers, while the
younger become labourers; the lowest order is
thus recruited from the overflowing of a higher
class, and life knows no progression. Commerce,
on the other hand, besides increasing the com-
forts of all classes, affords scope to talent, ena-
bles dexterity to supply the want of capital, and
animates society by introducing changes of con-
dition, and enabling every man by his industry
to obtain a share of the wealth of his neighbours,
and to find the means of repaying it without re-
ducing himself to a state of dependence. The
Romans, until their rivalry to Carthage gave
them a marine, despised commerce: their igno-
rance of it probably first begot their laws against
usury, which in return contributed to repress it;
because the risks of trade require that the inte-
rest of money advanced to merchants should be:
unusually great. It was during the prevalence
of this policy that the most dangerous schisms
arose at Rome between the rich and the lower
150
INQUIRY INTO THE
orders-the latter endeavouring to obtain by an
Agrarian law the distribution of property, which
commerce would have peaceably afforded.
Those philosophers who have decried com-
merce as an unnatural and artificial pursuit, seem
to have very imperfectly considered the inequa-
lities established by nature between different
portions of the earth, and of which she intended
commerce to be the remedy. Commerce ena-
bles every useful art to chuse the most conveni-
ent seat for its cultivation, by carrying its pro-
ductions to other quarters where they are want-
ed, and bringing to the artists the food which
their own settlements may not afford. It tends
to wear off those prejudices which breed animo-
sity and distinction between nations, and unites
them by the strongest of all ties-mutual depend-
ence for mutual relief.* It not only refines the
moral characters of men, but tends to improve
their physical constitutions and habitudes, by in-
terchanging peculiar productions and thus cor-
* See Robertson's Disquisition on the Moral Influence of
Commerce. Hist. of Charles V. View of the State of Eu-
rope, § 1. This moral influence is almost peculiar to the
commerce of modern times, in which barter being less direct,
greater honour and confidence is necessary than ancient com-
merce appears to have produced. The Carthaginians were
reputed the most commercial and the most faithless of nations.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
151
recting in part peculiarities of climate.* It in-
creases at once the facility and the safety of emi-
gration. Ancient Persia appears to have been
rendered extremely populous by the general re-
ception of that dogma of the Magi, that the most
acceptable services to God of which a man was
capable, were to beget a child, to till a field, and
to plant a tree. If commercial enterprize had
been substituted for the last of these duties, Per-
sia would have been more enabled to enlarge and
support her population. In merely agricultural
countries, besides, the art, though it can never
be overvalued, is apt to attract a species of con-
sideration very unfavourable to its improvement.
Its paramount importance, and the universal and
almost exclusive interest it possesses, is perhaps
the cause why a connection is formed between
it and the national religion, which consecrates
its existing rules, and attaches impiety to the
idea of deviating from them. It affords a strong
presumption against the improvement of agricul-
ture in China, that with a population not above
one-third greater than that of France, in propor-
* The Abbe Du Bos relates (on the authority of an emi-
nent Dutch physician) that scorbutic complaints have sensibly
diminished in the northern countries of Europe since the in-
troduction of spices and other southern productions.-Reflex-
ions sur la Poesie et la Peinture, vol. II. p. 160.
152
INQUIRY INTO THE
1
tion to the extent of country, it suffers continual
scarcity; while France, with extensive forests
and a system of agriculture by no means the best,
has a full supply of corn for her own inhabitants,
and often a surplus for foreign markets. But
presumptions on this point are rendered super-
fluous by the information we have received from
an actual observer, Mr Barrow, who represents
the Chinese husbandry in general as extremely
superficial and inadequate, and many tracts of
the finest land in China as wholly neglected.
Some of the countries which I have termed
merely agricultural, have possessed internal com-
merce, and manufactures adapted to home con-
sumption. But these pursuits have generally
languished in such countries, and been arrested
in their progress at a point far below the im-
provement of which they are susceptible. This
seems to have arisen partly from the neglect of
foreign commerce and the consequent bar to
the introduction of foreign improvements,* and
partly from the circumstances to which the wilful
neglect of foreign commerce has generally been
ta
* Mr Barrow relates that a Chinese merchant, whom many
years observation had slowly convinced of the superiority of
our vessels, began to construct one on the English model, but
was interrupted by the government, and severely fined for pre-
suming to adopt the modes of a barbarous people!
FRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
153
+
owing peculiar institutions, with the habits,
rules, and prejudices connected with them; the
limitation (for example) of divine residence or
protection to a certain country, the worship of
animals which are peculiar to a certain district,
or hostile to the brute deities of other countries,
or the establishment of castes which perpetuate
distinctions, make professions hereditary, and
forbid the intermixture of labourers and division
of labour. In countries where such institutions
prevail, talent is not allowed to seek its proper
sphere, or extricate itself from the blind disposi-
tion of chance; exertion is not encouraged by
the hope of distinction and promotion; and
improvement, after advancing more or less ra-
pidly for a short period, soon becomes stationary
at a pitch, in general very little above mediocrity.
To the influence of such institutions, and the
casual and temporary appearance of talent in
some departments, may have been owing the
unequal progress which some nations have made
in the arts-the refinement of one art in the same
country where all the rest are in a state of in-
fancy. If we might deduce the views of founders
from the effects of their institutions, we should
be disposed to impute the establishment of castes
to the policy of some tyrant, who meant to pre-
vent his subjects from attempting to better their
condition, either by subverting his institutions
154
INQUIRY INTO THE
or by quitting his dominions. No institution has
tended more effectually than this, to repress im-
provement and emigration. Despotic govern-
ments (as Montesquieu has observed,) being
founded, not on laws, but exclusively on man-
ners and habits, it becomes a fundamental maxim
of the policy of all despots that innovation of
every kind should be repressed. It is under des-
potic governments that castes are most likely to
arise, and arts and manners to remain stationary.
The replenishment of a merely agricultural
country is often repressed by famine, which the
absence of commerce deprives of any other re-
medy but that of public granaries; but from the
precarious preservation and improvident manage-
ment of public stores, this remedy has always
proved inadequate. Famines occur in China,
with fatal regularity, every three or four years,
and thin the population by ravaging whole pro-
vinces. When complete replenishment takes
place, the exuberant population, surrounded by
strangers and enemies, is in a great measure dis-
abled from relieving itself by emigration.
(V.) But as a country may be too martial for
its happiness, it may also be too commercial;
and this evil has marked some nations for its
victims. The happiest state of society seems to
be that in which the agricultural population is
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
155
abundant, and the commercial and manufactu-
ring population comparatively slender; when
manufactures afford scope to that talent which
would be buried in agriculture, and a vent to the
excess of agricultural population. But the per-
fection of the commercial and manufacturing
system produces evils which almost counter-
balance the benefits that attend its original in-
stitution and early and moderate progress.
In times and countries in which commerce is
carried on with moderation, it produces many
small, capitals, which the owners, afterwards
transferring to agriculture, render subservient to
the improvement and extension of cultivation.
But extended commerce absorbs the many small
capitals into a few overgrown ones, which, ob-
taining a higher rate of profit in commerce than
in any other application, are rarely directed to
the improvement of agriculture.
Such is the influence of that extreme division
of labour which attends the perfection of the
commercial and manufacturing system, that more
plentiful and consequently cheaper manufacture
is produced by the same labour combined in one
establishment, than when exercised by separate
and independent practitioners. Under the form-
er plan, the capital that sets the labour in motion,
and all the profits that are derived from it, belong
to one man; the other members of the esta-
156
INQUIRY INTO THE
blishment are converted into mere machines, and
receive only the wages of their drudgery: Under
the latter, there is more circulation and less accu-
mulation of the capital employed; the produce
actually raised is smaller and dearer; but a
greater number of individuals are placed in a
condition favourable to the developement of their
faculties, to the improvement of their subsist-
ence, and the support and increase of their fa-
milies. Mr Quincy Adams, in his Letters .on
Silesia, describes the principal manufactures of
that country as constituted on the latter of these
two plans; that is, spread over the country
among independent workmen, and not organized
into a few great establishments. He also de-
scribes Silesia as doubling its population within
a shorter period than any other district of the
old continent.
The great capital which the perfection of the
commercial and manufacturing system renders
necessary to those who seek for any thing be-
yond a bare subsistence from commerce or ma-
nufactures, ultimately deprives these arts of the
power of drawing the talent generated in humble
life into the higher ranks of society. It is the
interest of the world that commercial enterprize
should be widely diffused, and not dammed up
to an unnatural depth in a few places. But
almost every great commercial country (from the
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
157
time of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians down-
wards) has considered it as its particular interest
that commerce should, as far as possible, be con-
fined to its citizens, and reared among them to
an enormous height, at the expence of restrain-
ing its general diffusion, and draining for its
support the vigour that should animate the other
parts of the system. Governments too often
regard commerce only as a source of revenue;
they load it with duties, and fetter it with regu-
lations that limit the channels through which it
may flow, in order to render it more accessible
to the operations of finance.
The perfection of the mercantile and manu-
facturing system is attended inevitably with the
decline of the healthy and happy order of pea-
santry: it removes men from the land which
supports them, multiplies and enlarges towns,
and thins the country. If by this arrangement
the growth of population be increased, the bulk
of the inhabitants, at the same time, are doomed
to modes of life and employment in which an
increased mortality partially supersedes the vent
of emigration.
Gibbon relates that when the French Princes,
taken prisoners by Bajazet at the battle of Nico-
polis, were afterwards ransomed from captivity,
some merchants of Genoa gave security for pay.
ment of the ransom-" a lesson," says the histo-
158
INQUIRY INTO THE
rian, "to these warlike times that commerce and
credit are the links of the society of nations.'
But another lesson was also taught; a lesson of
less evident advantage-the dangerous union that
government is capable of contracting with mer-
chants. The consequence of this union is, that
commerce is made to encourage war, by obvia-
ting the great bar to it in modern times-ex-
pence. Merchants generally are able and willing
to advance funds to government; and the loans
and funding establishments which are provided
for their repayment, by rendering the people less
immediately sensible of the pressure, deceive
them as to their real situation, enable them to
gratify their passions at the expence of posterity,
and make wars more wantonly undertaken and
unnecessarily prolonged.t
War, besides the immediate destruction of life
which it occasions, diminishes produce and re-
presses population, by suspending the commer.
cial intercourse and mutual contributions and
competition of nations, and diverting so much
of the surplus produce of the land and the super-
fluities of the rich from feeding the industry and
augmenting the numbers of the poor. The na-
* Hist. of the Decline and Fall, &c. vol. XI. p. 454.
† See Smith's account of the origin and effect of public
debts. Wealth of Nations, vol. III. p. 400, 1, 2. 427, 8.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
159
tional debts which it creates, by requiring the
imposition of perpetual taxes, operate as a partial
and most mischievous subjection of the land
owners and the labourers to a state of servitude
and vassalage to the public creditors. The wars
of infant societies, or of countries in which com-
merce has not been matured and extended, ge-
nerally lessen the value of landed property. The
restoration of peace reanimates the community,
by multiplying demands for property and pro-
duce, and increasing their value. But in a rich
and commercial country, war often communi-
cates a temporary rise to the value of property and
home produce, by excluding the influx of foreign
produce. With the return of peace the influx
of foreign commodities is restored; property
falls in value, and the demand for the labour of
those by whom produce is reared lessens with
the fall in the value of produce. Thus the real
and natural benefit resulting from peace is often
obstructed, though but temporarily, by the arti-
ficial state of things in commercial countries;
the holders of property are impoverished, and
the poor are pinched amidst the return of plenty.
This mischief originates with war, the greatest
calamity which a mercantile country can under-
go, and which the jealous and monopolizing spirit
of mercantile societies has been too apt to cre-
ate. Commerce, by bringing provisions from
11
160
INQUIRY INTO THE
abroad to feed manufacturers at home, rears a
population which is made to depend on foreign
supplies, and is always cruelly affected by the
interruption of these supplies in war.*
The causes that obstruct emigration under the
perfection of the commercial system are very
similar to those described in the first class of
cases. Most commercial countries in the com-
mencement of their mercantile career, establish
colonies which afford a market to their trade and
a vent to their superfluous inhabitants. But this
resource has always been very speedily exhaust-
ed of the greater part of its vigour. The horrid
practice of peopling colonies by stealing slaves,
instead of hiring and importing free men, has
every where contributed to deprive the popula
tion of the parent state of much of the resource
of its colonies. Nor has this loss been ever com-
pensated by the profits of the colonial proprie-
tors, or the cheapness or productiveness of the
* To prevent this inconvenience, Mr Malthus and Mr Wey-
land have proposed, and strongly recommended, a system of
restriction of the corn trade. The principle of this system
(which would repress population as severely as any check
could do,) have been most ably canvassed and completely ex-
ploded by Dr Adam Smith, the Edinburgh Reviewers, and,
more recently, in a pamphlet by Mr Dugald Bannatyne, pub-
lished at Glasgow.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
161
labour of their slaves. Reason so plainly dis-
covers that they who can acquire no property,
can have no other interest than to eat as much
and to labour as little as possible; and universal
experience has demonstrated so fully that the
work done by slaves, though it seem to cost only
their maintenance, is ultimately far dearer than
the work performed by free men, that some phi-
losophers have been unable to assign any other
excuse for the employment of slaves, than the
domineering arrogance of the rich, which leads
them to sacrifice their own interest to the plea-
sure of commanding service, instead of buying it
on more equal terms from their inferiors. The
general policy of cramping the trade and secu-
ring the perpetual subordination of colonies, by
which the rich colonists are induced to consider
themselves only as temporary settlers, and their
residence as a state of exile and degradation,
whence they will rejoice to return when they
have accumulated the wealth which the mother
country does not want, but which the colony
would be greatly benefited by possessing, has
still farther impaired the resources which a more
liberal policy might have procured for the parent
state and for other nations. Spain and Portugal,
in their colonial policy, have pursued this system
farther than any other countries; and conse-
L
162
INQUIRY INTO THE
f
quently their colonies (without the slightest ad-
vantage to themselves) have been more depress-
ed than any other settlements in the world. Their
regulations restrictive of the commerce and in-
tercourse of their colonies, and discouraging the
inhabitants of the mother countries from settling
in them, are not the least odious branches of the
system by which Spain and Portugal have so
long "caused the sun shine on half the world in
vain." The monopolizing spirit of commercial
nations, the reluctance to admit foreigners to a
participation of their improvements, the mean
and mischievous principle of commercial policy,
which, assuming that wherever there is a gain
there must also be a loss, teaches a government
to count the gain of a neighbour the loss of its
own subjects, have produced in many countries
the most cruel and unjust laws against emigration.
Merchants and manufacturers are almost always
averse to the emigration of the poor, which they
fear will carry their improvements to foreign
countries, and reduce wages at home; and when
they obtain the ear of government, they get laws
passed to restrain and punish it.
Legislators have often been so far overawed
by the clamour or deceived by the sophistries of
great merchants and manufacturers, as to forget,
or at least disregard, that great political truth,
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
163
that the same causes which drive men abroad
will prevent them from multiplying should they
remain at home. They seem to have considered
the emigration of manufacturers as a wilful and
unnecessary desertion of their country; forget-
ting that attachment to home and country will
always, with the generality of mankind, outweigh
the inducements that a foreign land can afford,
as long as they can live at home in comfort and
safety. The Abbé Raynal, in his History of the
British Settlements in America, expresses an in-
dignant censure of the laws by which mercantile
societies have endeavoured to restrain emigra-
tion, and which he traces to the interest of the
monopolists of trades in lowering the wages of
labour. "They restrain men," he says, " from
attempting to exist in regions where heaven and
earth offer them an asylum. It has been thought
better to stifle them in the cradle than to let them
seek subsistence in a climate that is ready to give
them succour."
Finally, the great inequalities of condition
generated by the perfection of the mercantile
system, draw tight the bands that bind the mem-
bers of particular societies together. Emigration
is unnecessary to the rich, nearly impracticable
to the poor, and (from the hostility of barbarous
neighbours, and the other difficulties which in-
164
INQUIRY INTO THE
}
fant settlements are known to be exposed to*)
unacceptable and dangerous to every class in the
community.
In surveying the progress of commercial so-
cieties, it is impossible not to be struck with the
constantly increasing tendency they exhibit to
inclose a vast portion of mankind in towns, and
to withdraw the poor from rural life and those
employments in which they exhibit most virtue
and enjoy the greatest happiness. The earliest
dawn of improvement in society must necessa-
rily have been attended with an increase of the
subdivision of property and multiplication of
husbandmen; refinement of culture rendering a
smaller portion of soil equivalent to the produce
formerly obtained from a larger. The higher
advances that accompany the commercial state,
tend on the contrary to enlarge possessions and
diminish the number of proprietors and labourers
* See Lord Selkirk's striking account of the difficulties ex-
perienced by emigrants from an old and fully-cultivated coun-
try to a new and unimproved one, and of the best means of
obviating these difficulties. Lord Selkirk on Emigration, § 12.
This strongly enforces Dr Robertson's view (Hist. of America,
vol. I. p. 117,) of the impolicy of attempting to found a colony
by transportation of criminals. The industry, sobriety, patience,
and subordination necessary to overcome the difficulties and
supply the imperfection of laws in a new settlement, cannot be
expected from settlers of this description.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
165
of the soil. The multitude of cultivators gives
place to the extension of agricultural capital and
science; and in the same progress, artizans are
multiplied, the peasantry thinned, and produce
increased. Is it possible that, without decline of
improvement or diminution of numbers, a more
natural balance of society might be restored,
towns diminished, and the peasantry enlarged?
There are two events, of which the concurrence
might perhaps promote this end-the general
diffusion of commerce, which would lessen its
bulk in particular places, and the acmé of agri-
cultural improvement, which, leaving no farther
discoveries for science to make or capital to try,
might render subdivision of land and multipli-
cation of labourers the only effectual means of
farther enlarging the productive powers of the
soil.
166
INQUIRY INTO THE
CHAPTER IV.
Of the Positive Check by which Population is regulated in the
actual State of Human Societies.-Of the Influence of Lux-
ury and Charity in relaxing this Check. Of the Treatment
of the Poor in various Ages and Countries-by the Greeks,
the Romans, the Jews, and Modern Nations.—Of Infanti-
cide, and certain other artificial Checks on Population.
In this manner, the progress of human society,
under the law of increase, to the goal appointed
by that law, has been retarded; the resources of
enlarged limits and improved industry for the
subsistence of increasing population have been
only partially employed, while much of their be-
nefit has been neglected; and long before the
original remedy to excess of numbers, afforded
by nature, has been carried to the extent of which
it is susceptible, such circumstances have arisen
as have greatly obstructed, and most probably
will long continue to obstruct, its efficacy. In
the mean time, the law of increase follows men
into their particular communities, in some of
which it produces tendencies to partial redun-
dance, which the original and general remedy
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
167
of emigration is no longer at hand to correct.
But for these partial tendencies, nature has pro-
vided partial and corresponding remedies: no
country of the world has ever exhibited the mon-
strous spectacle of a crowded population strug-
gling with general and permanent famine; and
on the contrary, it is always in the most crowd-
ed societies that the quantity and quality of sub-
sistence obtained by individuals is the greatest
and the best. Besides the general remedy af-
forded by nature to the general excess of the
multiplication of mankind over the earth, she
has provided a particular antidote to that rela-
tive excess of the inhabitants of any particular
community beyond the sustenance which the
private resources of that community are capable
of affording them.
This antidote (whose efficacy is undeniable and
whose merit has only been lately arraigned) con-
sists of the variable probation of that noviciate
of infancy, which every candidate for admission
into every human community is compelled to
undergo. There is established near the thresh-
old of life, an ordeal, which can be passed only
by those whose vigour is adapted to the exigen-
cies of the after part of their career, and sufficient
to sustain the peculiar difficulties which that ca-
reer will present. Of course, in every country,
a greater number of the children of the poor than
168
INQUIRY INTO THE
of the rich perish under this ordeal, because there
are more children of the poor than of the rich
born and brought to it. Besides, the ordeal is
naturally severer to the poor than to the rich;
and it is proper that it should be so. It is, to
every individual, a faithful rehearsal of his pro-
bable part in the great drama of after life. Many
delicate children of the rich are helped through
the probation that would prove fatal to the same
degree of delicacy in the poor. The rich can
support their children though their health be
weak; but a poor man could not afford, without
the cruellest privations, to support an utterly
decrepit child; and delicacy of health would be
an intolerable addition to the hardships of hum-
ble life. The severity of the ordeal, in different
countries as well as in different ranks, is propor-
tioned to the after station and circumstances of
the patient. In times and countries where even
hard labour will obtain only scanty fare-where
(from some of the causes already described) the
quantity of food actually raised admits only a
slender population, and the pursuits of life re-
quire a strong and hardy one-the severity of
the ordeal will be at its height; only that degree
of strength will escape which can struggle with
such difficulties, and of course only that number
will be reared to maturity, which the productions
of the time or country will be adequate to sup-
J
Ą
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
169
port. This affords the explanation of the com-
mon remark of travellers, that among poor and
savage nations, no decrepit inhabitants are to be
seen. The maturity of those who would fall into
decrepitude, is arrested as certainly by the check
of nature, as, among some tribes of the ancient
Germans, it was arrested by the artificial check
of drowning all the sickly and delicate children
of the community.
The operation of this ordeal, as constituted
by nature, is confined to the period of infancy.
There are other positive checks, no doubt, such
as vice, war, and unhealthy employments, which
operate on manhood: but these cannot be re-
garded as the appointment of nature. Vice,
though it check increase, does not arise from a
tendency to exuberance of population; and war
has never been prompted by hunger in any coun-
try, except when the want of food arose from the
grossest degeneracy and barbarism; and when
the same folly that caused the famine prompted
the ill-chosen expedient of war. Unhealthy em-
ployments must be regarded as an artificial and
not a natural check. They sometimes appear to
supersede, to a partial extent, the check of na-
ture, by creating voids that constantly occur and
require constantly to be filled up, and transfer-
ring the severity of the ordeal to a later period
of life than that at which nature has fixed its
170
INQUIRY INTO THE
operation. It is thus that artificial arrangements
often disguise and alter the operation of the
principles of nature.
As countries increase in wealth and civiliza-
tion, the natural springs of the severity of this
ordeal become proportionally relaxed. Wealth
implies food, or ability of the holder to procure
it; and as the ability of a country increases in
this respect, it seems naturally to follow that the
difficulty with which children are reared should
be proportionally lessened, and consequently the
numbers that pass the ordeal and attain maturity
proportionally increased. But as the wealth and
civilization of a country increases, there also
arises and increases a tendency of wealth to cen-
tre in the hands of a few. In a savage state there
is little scope for the operation of inequalities of
talent and skill; in a civilized country there is
much; and of course, in the former, the scanty
wealth of the country is more equally divided,
while, in the latter, the abundant wealth of the
country is divided with great inequality. When
we speak of a rich country, we speak of a country
containing a handful of immensely rich men, a few
thousands of persons in possession of considerable
wealth, twenty or thirty times as many possessed
of a moderate competence, and ten, twenty, or
thirty millions of labouring poor. A hasty view
of a society so constituted might lead an inquirer
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
171
unacquainted with its internal springs and struc-
ture, to believe that the increasing wealth of a
country would add very little to the ability of
the great bulk of its inhabitants to rear families.
He might suppose that only the upper ranks
swarmed with men, and that the lower had their
necessary complement recruited by the overflow-
ings of the classes above them. But the reverse
is the real state of the case. The rich, who are
the few, rear even a smaller number of children
than corresponds to the proportion that their
own members bear to the members of the socie-
ty; and the poor rear so many as not only to
crowd their own ranks, but to recruit and en-
large the ranks above them. In spite of every
apparent impediment, nature, with more or less
success, asserts her rights; and as the wealth of
a country increases, the ability of the bulk of its
inhabitants to rear families increases also. A
more profound and minute survey corrects the
error of our first impression, and discovers to us
that if the primary division of property be more
unequal, the final distribution and consumption
is far more equal in improved than in rude na-
tions. A great scope for the inequalities of skill
is necessary to make a country very rich, and to
produce those extreme inequalities of fortune
which only a rich country exhibits. But even
that narrow scope for inequalities of skill which
172
INQUIRY INTO THE
a rude state of society presents, is quite sufficient
to produce an extreme inequality and distinction
of ranks and rights. Accordingly, in many of the
most savage and the poorest nations in the world,
a most tyrannical distinction of rank prevails;
and if the arithmetical inequalities of wealth be
less striking, yet, such as they are, they are
more strictly preserved and enforced, than the
distinctions that obtain in civilized states. It is
impossible to read the accounts of voyages to the
South Sea islands, without being struck with the
inconsistency between their descriptions of the
general poverty and almost perpetual famine that
prevails among the bulk of the natives, and their
admissions of the liberal supplies of animal and
vegetable food that a few paltry presents easily
obtained for the ships. Mr Malthus has obser-
ved this apparent contradiction, and accounted
for it, by reminding us that the supplies were
furnished by the Chiefs of the islands, whose su-
periority of situation and of rank both enabled
and disposed them to consider the lives of the
inferior orders of so little value, that they freely
and readily exchanged their own superfluous food
for the commodities of the strangers, while their
vassals and slaves were perishing from want.
But in wealthy and civilized countries, the
rich are not equally independent of the poor,
and their superfluous wealth is not preserved
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
173
with equal strictness from ministering to popu
lar want. Through various channels, the far
greater part of the wealth which the rich draw
from the poor necessarily returns to them again;
and to that extent, the utmost that the rich ac-
quire is the privilege of managing the hoards and
granaries of the nation. But after this necessary
dispersion, by which the rich reward the produc-
tive labour of the poor, there is a very consider-
able residue, which lies at the absolute disposal
of the rich, and which they may either hoard or
spend as they please. If they spend it, it travels
of course to the poor; and it travels to them in
one of two ways—either as the price of articles
of luxury or as the dispensation of charity.
The principle of luxury is certainly less lauda-
ble than the principle of charity; but it has been
contended, and not without reason, that the effects
of the distribution of wealth produced by luxury
have been much more beneficial to mankind, than
the effects that have resulted from charitable dis-
tributions. The former have certainly enjoyed
the longest and most extensive operation. The
advantage, in principle, possessed by the chari-
table distribution, it is said, is often balanced by
the disadvantages to which its administration is
so subject, that they are regarded as its necessary
effects. Yet the modes of luxury, and the conse-
quences which it produces, are not always such
8
174
INQUIRY INTO THE
as can merit approbation, or redeem the selfish-
ness of the principle on which they are founded.
Many of the employments which luxury affords
to the poor are so destructive of comfort and
health, as almost to counterbalance the wages
they confer by the misery they occasion. The
effect, too, of some of the luxurious operations
which the poor are hired by the rich to perform,
is to lessen the food of a country, by devoting a
great portion of it to wasteful banquets and un-
natural preparations.* Many of the modes of
luxurious expence are attended with this addi-
tional disadvantage, that they bring a great num-
ber of persons belonging to nearly the lowest
order in society, into an immediate and habitual
contact and familiarity with the vices of the great.
This facilitates and abridges the progress of lux-
ury and dissipation, from that sphere in society
* "Cookery," says Lord Kames, "depopulates like a pes-
tilence; because, when it becomes an art, it brings within the
compass of one stomach what is sufficient for ten in days of
temperance; and is so far worse than a pestilence, that the
people never recruit again. The inhabitants of France devour
at present more food than the same number did formerly. The
like is observable in Britain, and in every country where luxury
abounds.”—Sketches of the History of Man, B. I. S. 2. The
abominable practice by which the Romans endeavoured to
avoid repletion at supper, was perhaps the most direct conspi-
racy for the destruction of food that luxury ever invented.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
175
where they are comparatively harmless, to that
wider circle where their operation is most perni-
cious and destructive; and vice attains its acmé
in an order where the grossness of poverty is
united with the levity that usually belongs only
to affluence. A demand is created for luxurious
and vicious establishments adapted to the re-
sources of the poor; and these establishments,
once created, soon multiply the vices to which
they owe their being.
The operation of luxury appears to be inevi
table, and the benefit with which it is attended is
certainly great. While it enables the lower ranks
to multiply their numbers, by conveying to them
an additional share of the wealth of society; it
thins the upper ranks by celibacy and sterility,
and thus affords increased room to the others, and
maintains that change and progression of condi-
tion so conducive to the happiness of society.
It has been supposed, erroneously, that charity
impairs these advantages without producing any
equivalent substitute in return. The charitable
distribution, it is said, is supported by deduc-
tion from the luxurious distribution; and what
is granted to one is taken from another, at the
expence of disturbing the order of society, and
disappointing the expectations of individuals.
But the benefit of charity consists in amending
distribution, and making an important addition
176
INQUIRY INTO THE
in one quarter at the expence of what is but a
slight deduction from another. A sum with-
drawn from luxury is withdrawn from a vast va-
riety of channels without creating any percepti-
ble diminution. Applied in charity, it makes an
important addition to the comfort of the few
who receive it; it is generally spent by them in
the encouragement of the most useful and pro-
ductive industry, and often enables themselves
to regain that capacity of useful exertion of which
misfortune may have deprived them.
In ancient times, before the rise of commerce
and manufactures, and the establishment of set-
tled and regular government, it was a general
practice among the rich to hoard their treasures;
and both in this and in other countries the dis-
covery of such concealed hoards formed the
source of a considerable revenue to the sove-
reign. In the most civilized periods of ancient
history, and among the half-civilized ancestors
of modern Europe, those of the rich who actual-
ly spent the whole or part of their private hoards,
seem to have confined their expence almost en-
tirely to luxuries; or if they perchance distribu-
ted gratuitously any part of it to the poor, it was
given neither from the genuine impulse of chari-
ty, nor under the direction of a wise, judicious,
benevolent discrimination. The luxurious ex-
pences, too, of the great in ancient times, seem
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
177
to have been less beneficial to the poor than the
modern direction of luxury is found to be. In
modern times, the luxury of the great keeps a
vast body of poor artisans variously and inces-
santly employed in their service. The luxury of
the ancients afforded some employment to mer-
chants, but not to any artisans, except such as
were the slaves of the rich ;* and from the no-
tions generally entertained of its prejudicial ef-
fects, proceeded those sumptuary laws which
distinguish ancient from modern political sys-
tems. Luxury is the symptom, and not the
cause of inequalities; but the ancients, appa-
rently mistaking it for the cause, only aggrava-
ted the evil by their attempts to repress it. In
the ancient eastern empires where polygamy was
practised; the selfish expence attending a popu
lous haram absorbed the wealth of the rich, and
hindered it from flowing to feed the industry of
the poor and augment the population of the state.
The unproductive concubine and her fellow-slaves
engrossed the subsistence of industrious mecha-
nics; the growth of poor families was checked;
and this loss (as we have already seen) is not
capable of being compensated by that increased
* "I do not remember a passage in any ancient author,"
says Mr Hume, "where the growth of a city is ascribed to the
establishment of a manufacture.”—Essays, vol. I. part II. 11.
M
178
INQUIRY INTO THE
productiveness of the upper ranks, which poly-
gamy was once erroneously supposed to induce.
In Greece, the fortunes of the rich, devoted
almost exclusively to luxury, appear to have ex-
cited all that unmixed envy and hatred which
attends wealth unaccompanied by charity. The
ancient maxim, that Armatis omnia dat qui justa
negat, was derived from experience; it is per-
fectly conformable to the vindictive spirit of ir-
ritated poverty, and will always be verified and
enforced when the poor are allowed to judge of
the merit of their superiors. Plutarch, in re-
counting the life of Solon, traces the revival of
political dissensions, on one occasion at least, in
Athens, to the extreme inequality between the
poor and the rich, and the severity with which
the latter, who were generally creditors of the
others, exacted payment of their debts, and fre-
quently compelled their debtors to submit to
bondage or to sell their children. It is common-
ly supposed that the institution of Ostracism in
Athens arose solely from political views, and was
intended solely for the cure of political dissen-
sions. But the motives that influence a people
in approving a public measure, are not always
the motives that have induced their political
leaders to propose it. The Tory ministry of
Queen Anne, in proposing the cessation of the
continental war, were actuated by motives very
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
179
different from that abhorrence of its burdens
that produced the clamorous approbation with
which the people hailed the proposal. But what-
ever motives may have prevailed with the dema-
gogue who first suggested Ostracism to the peo-
ple of Athens, it is at least exceedingly probable
that the popular approbation of the suggestion,
and the frequent resort to this easy method of
gratifying the envy of the low against the great,
was in some degree occasioned by the utter ne-
glect of charity manifested in Athens. This view
receives some confirmation from the remark of
Plutarch in the Life of Themistocles, that Ostra
cism "was not intended so much to punish the
crimes of great men, as to pacify and mitigate
the fury of envy, who delights in the disgrace of
superior characters, and loses a portion of her
rancour by their fall." Some of the wealthy
Athenians endeavoured, by distribution of their
luxuries and by costly and gratuitous public ban-
quets, to avert from themselves, and even obtain
the direction of the popular envy and turbulence,
till Pericles invented the more injurious resource
of bribing his countrymen with the contents of
their own treasury. Thus, in the decline of
Athens, the poorer citizens were often largely
supplied with donations from the public treasury
of the state; but this treasury was supplied only
in a slight degree by contributions of the rich,
180
INQUIRY INTO THE
and chiefly by the produce of mines wrought by
slaves, and the plunder of enemies and even of
allies; and the strings of the public purse were
held not by the great, but by that very class
which so liberally supplied its private wants and
its costly pleasures and amusements from the
public money. Greece, it is well known, swarm-
ed with vagrants; and in Athens particularly,
the beggars at one time are said to have outnum-
bered the free citizens.
In the infancy of the Athenian commonwealth,
Solon, who could not compel the rich to relieve
the distresses of the poor, could at least autho-
rise the poor to lighten their own distresses by
the infanticide to which his laws extended tole-
ration. The only charitable establishment (if
so it may be called) to which he succeeded in
giving a permanent foundation, resembles more
the fruit of military policy than of national ge-
nerosity. He deducted from the soldiers a por-
tion of their pay, and employed it for the educa-
tion of the children of those who had fallen in
battle. Pisistratus afterwards procured a law,
that every citizen maimed in war should be main-
tained at the public expence. Solon appears to
have made a more extensive attempt, in the con-
stitution of the Areopagus, (of which he was the
restorer, if not the founder,) to unite by friendly
ties the different orders in the commonwealth,
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
181
by checking the selfish and odious luxury of the
rich, and repressing the disorderly idleness and
dangerous indigence of the poor. That tribunal
was authorised to call every citizen to account
for the means and the mode of his livelihood;
to suppress luxury and to punish idleness; to
compel the rich to give employment or relief to
the indigent, and the able-bodied poor to labour
for their own maintenance. The Areopagus, be-
ing also a tribunal for the trial of offences of every
kind, appears to have united, in a very unusual
manner, the province of judge and of censor;
and, if we may credit Isocrates, its administra-
tion was for some time productive of the most
admirable order and harmony in Athens. One
of the main objects of Solon, in the constitution
of this tribunal, was to repress the disorders of
the democracy; but, like the other checks which
he devised for this purpose, the censorial power
of the Areopagus was partly abridged and partly
perverted by the progressive ascendancy of the
democratic interest. The people preferred the
disease of idleness and poverty with the remedy
of political power, to the humbler enjoyment and
*
* Plutarch relates, that the project of Ephialtes for the abo-
lition of the Areopagus, proceeded from the ambition of that
demagogue to ingratiate himself with the populace.-Life of
Cimon.
182
INQUIRY INTO THE
independence of private exertion. Foreign tri-
bute and plunder, acquired by every crime, sup-
plied the honest gains of domestic industry; and
as robbers are always poor, indigence increased
so widely, that (according to Isocrates) the needy
were at one time more numerous than those that
possessed a competence. The rich indeed sur-
rendered their superfluities; but they were not
surrendered in charity, or received with gratitude.
They were not even appropriated, as Solon could
have desired, by an authority superior both to the
givers and receivers; but they were wrung from
the rich, by the omnipotent insolence and injus-
tice of a hungry seditious rabble.
The institutions of Lycurgus at Sparta, were
considerably different from those of Solon at
Athens. Lycurgus, though he supported and
confirmed monarchical government, established
an equality of landed property, and promoted,
as far as possible, a general equality of fortune
among the free citizens, by prohibiting luxury
and expence, and admitting only a description
of money which it was very inconvenient to
hoard. Plutarch, in his life of this legislator,
ascribes these projects of equalization to his ear-
nest desire" to root out the evils of insolence,
envy, avarice, and luxury, and those political dis-
tempers still more inveterate and fatal, pauperism
and affluence." He appointed all the infants
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
183
born in the state to be inspected by a council of
ancient men, and such as were not apparently
healthy to be put to death; he restricted the
number of the citizens, condemning the excess
to emigration. The danger of such excess must
have been considerably lessened by the exercises
and trials of the youth, which formed so tremen-
dous an ordeal in the threshold of life, and by
the temperance and simplicity of Spartan habits,
under which so little was required to support life
in manhood. There could be no room for cha-
rity, under institutions by which all the citizens
were placed on a footing of equality, and only
slaves laboured for the general maintenance.
The free citizens were positively prohibited by
Lycurgus from alienating their estates, and from
practising any mechanical art or any sort of pro-
ductive labour. But the labour of slaves is al-
ways, comparatively speaking, extremely unpro-
ductive; and, whether from this cause or from
the division of land into a certain number of
permanent lots, or from the immunities granted
to marriage and the penalties imposed on celi-
bacy, a tendency to redundance of population
appears to have been frequently experienced.
Sparta, while her constitution retained its purity,
planted several colonies; and was afterwards bur-
dened with poor, when her constitution declined,
when relaxed discipline suffered population to
184
INQUIRY INTO THE
increase more rapidly, and when the laws against.
manufactures prevented the increasing popula-
tion from acquiring land or from subsisting in-
dependently of it. The way of life of the Greeks
must have rendered colonization extremely diffi-
cult to them. They lived for the most part in
fortified towns, and governed rural districts cul-
tivated by slaves. To plant a colony it was ne-
cessary to invert the natural progress of society;
to begin by building a fortified town, and to ob-
tain an adjacent territory large enough for the
unproductive cultivation of slaves.
Charity was in general as foreign to the theory
as to the practice of the Greek politicians; and
accordingly the horrid relief of abortion was re-
commended by the political lucubrations of Aris-
totle; and infanticide received the same admis-
sion into the imaginary republic of Plato, that it
had obtained in the actual administration of So-
lon. Aristotle recommended abortion to all classes
indiscriminately; but the infanticide projected by
Plato was chiefly confined to the children of the
poor, and involved only the deformed offspring
of the rich. The utter insensibility of Plato to
the finer charities of human life is perhaps more
apparent in his projected treatment of the chil-
dren he would spare, than in his more humane
massacre of the rest. The former were to be
reared, not by their parents, but by public nurses
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
185
inhabiting a distinct quarter of the city; while
the others were to be buried alive in some ob-
scure and unknown cemetery.*
The only effectual attempt that appears to
have been made to check the practice of infanti-
cide in Greece, bears marks of the harsh uncha-
ritable spirit of antiquity. In some of the cities
of Greece, particularly in Thebes, parents were
forbidden to destroy their children, and com-
manded to bring such as they intended to aban-
don, to the government, by whom they were
sold as slaves to defray the cost of their main-
tenance. This practice obtained a footing at
Rome, where it subsisted till the reign of Justi-
nian, who, by an edict, declared that all found-
lings should be free. In Crete, any person who
was afraid of having too many children was al-
lowed to divorce his wife; and in Rome, by the
institutions of Numa, any husband who had what
he deemed a sufficient number of children, was
authorized to grant a lease of his wife to any other
citizen who wished to have a family.
The Romans seem to have been somewhat
better acquainted than the Greeks with the na-
tural claims of the indigent on the wealthy.
*See Note (E) at the end of the volume.
+ See Beckmann's History of Inventions and Discoveries-
Account of Foundling Hospitals.
186
INQUIRY INTO THE
Rome, like other great cities, appears to have
contained mendicants, whose appeals to compas-
sion must have been frequently successful, since
(as we learn from Horace*) the appearance of
poverty and decrepitude was sometimes coun-
terfeited by impostors. Yet charity was neither
judiciously nor extensively administered by the
Roman citizens, and there is not one popular
word in their language, that expresses the idea
we entertain of that virtue. Seneca and other
Roman philosophers recommended poverty as
the most innocent and happiest condition of
man; because, incapable of fancying the preva-
lence of a virtue that was entirely unknown,
they considered superfluous wealth only as the
minister of vice, and seem never to have con-
templated the possibility of its becoming an in-
strument of charity. The perpetual clamour
of the poorer Romans for the injustice and ab-
surdity of an agrarian law, demonstrates the ge-
neral neglect of the rich to make a voluntary
* Epist. XV. 1. 58, &c. Amputation of limbs was unknown
at this time; otherwise, the trick of a pretended broken leg,
described in this passage, would have given place to the modern
device of a pretended artificial limb, or perhaps to some of the
impostures described by Le Sage in his Diable Boiteux, cap.
XVIII.
+ See Note (F) at the end of the volume.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
187
distribution of their superfluities; and, under
the direction of abler and less sincere politicians
than the Roman tribunes, might have introduced
something similar to ostracism into the law of
Rome.
There were two sorts of donations which the
poorer Romans were accustomed to receive-
the ordinary, which consisted of periodical dis-
tributions of corn by the state, and the extraor-
dinary (commonly termed donatives), which ori-
ginated with ambitious individuals, and continued
to increase in frequency during the reigns of the
emperors. Devoted to war, Rome was compelled
to adapt many of her institutions to the encou-
ragement of military service. By the regulations
of old Rome, no citizen was admitted a candi-
date for any civil employment till he had served
ten years in the army. The prospect of future
emolument from civil employments was neces-
sarily confined to a very small portion of the
army: the rest, beside the scanty pay which
supported them in the field, had no hope of re-
muneration but from plunder, which if they fail-
ed of obtaining, they were in danger of starving
during the intervals of war. To alleviate the
indigence of these persons, and to repress the
seditions to which this evil gave rise, recourse
was had to periodical distributions of corn, which
corresponded (as some writer has observed) to
188
INQUIRY INTO THE
the half-pay allowed to officers in modern Eu-
rope, and was considered rather as wages than
as alms. The law of the Gracchi, which first
authorized this distribution, appointed the corn
to be sold to the poor at an inferior price; but
by the Clodian law, the distribution was rendered
gratuitous. The portion received by each person
appears to have been very small; and the whole
amount of the distribution was certainly not ex-
tensive, since, at the zenith of Roman greatness,
the number of those to whom its benefit was
extended was limited by Julius Cæsar (though
no ruler of the empire was more anxious to con-
ciliate and gratify the poor, and to encourage
population and marriage,) to one hundred and
fifty thousand.* The successors of Constantine
!
* It appears also from the reasonings of Mr Hume, and the
authorities he has cited in his Enquiry respecting the populous-
ness of ancient nations, (Essays, vol. I. part II. 11.) that much
of the benefit of the distribution was abridged by the mean-
ness of the rich in claiming a share of it for themselves, and
also in introducing their slaves as claimants; and that the por-
tion allotted to each individual was insufficient for the mainte-
nance of a family. Cæsar, in restricting the donatives, must.
have conceived that they were not very beneficial to the poor;
for he was always very desirous of gratifying the lower orders,
and frequently endeavoured to procure the division of the con-
quered lands among the poor. See Plutarch's Life of Cato
the Younger.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
189
appointed this ordinary distribution to take place
every month, and to consist of bread and bacon,
which only those received who were provided
with tickets from the magistrate. These ordi-
nary distributions were principally, if not entirely,
confined to the citizens of Rome; and the funds
from which they were defrayed were supplied
principally by the plunder or tribute of con-
quered countries. One of the most beneficial
regulations for the Roman poor, was that which
granted immunities from certain burdens and
taxes to the parents of a certain number of child-
ren; but much of the benefit of this immunity
must have been impaired by the unjust extension
of it to parents of all ranks.
It would be difficult and tedious to trace with
precision the effects that resulted from the rela-
tion of patronage and clientship that so long
subsisted between the richer and poorer Roman
citizens. It seems not to have been generally
productive of political benefit, or mutual good
offices or good will. The patrons originally made
frequent loans of money to their clients; but
they seem very rigorously to have exacted re-
payment, with an exorbitant usury, (only the
more exorbitant when it was prohibited,) which,
from the want of commerce and manufactures,
it is difficult to see how the clients could always
afford. Many of the contests between the patri-
190
INQUIRY INTO THE
cians and plebeians, recorded in Roman history,
relate to the rights of creditors, and the condi-
tion of debtors. In the infancy of the republic,
the patrons were accustomed to purchase, by
small donations to their clients, that protection
which the weakness of the laws could not confer.
But in the maturity of the Roman institutions,
the practice was reversed, and the clients pur-
chased with presents the protection of their pa-
trons. There was, however, one species of chari-
table assistance derived by the poorer Romans
from this connection with the great-I mean the
assistance they received in conducting law-suits
which their own poverty would otherwise have
prevented them from prosecuting. Political
grievances were more regarded at Rome than
the more serious wants and ills of mortal condi-
tion. The poor suffer far greater privations from
inability to obtain bread and medicine, than from
the expences of litigation; but it was only the
privations imposed on them by these expences,
which the rich had the kindness to supply. The
distributions occasionally made by the Roman
emperors to the people, seem to have consisted
of indiscriminate and irregular largesses, prompt-
ed not only by the bounty, but by the guilt and
fear of despots, who had taught the people to
regard them as the authors and to demand from
them the remedies of national sufferings. The
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
191
public establishments, by which the great some-
times destined their fortunes to the permanent
advantage of their country, consisted, not of
hospitals or alms-houses, but of public baths,
theatres, and other places of recreation and
amusement.
In the decline of the Roman empire, the dawn
of Christianity was attended with a benevolent
but fruitless attempt to establish a legal and per-
manent provision for the distresses of the poor.
The humanity of Constantine, shocked by the
frequent commission of infanticide, induced him
to address an edict to all the cities of the empire,
directing immediate and sufficient relief to be
given to those parents who should produce be-
fore the magistrate the children whom their own
poverty would not allow them to educate.* But
it is more difficult to eradicate than to prevent
vices and crimes. The promised relief was too
vague; the infancy of Christianity had discon-
nected instead of uniting the different classes of
society; and the selfishness and hard-hearted-
ness of the great, which made the provision ne-
cessary, also rendered it unavailing.
In the earlier ages of modern European his-
*Codex Theodosian. L. XI. tit. 27. Gibbon's Hist. cap.
XIV. vol. II. p. 251.
192
INQUIRY INTO THE
tory, a great deal of money and food was distri-
buted directly by the rich to the poor. But this
distribution was by no means either generally or
correctly proportioned to the distress of its ob-
jects; and though much helpless indigence was
relieved by the liberality of the church, yet by
far the greater part of its bounty was confined to
such as were able to offer feudal service and
active adherence in return. Much of the influ-
ence of the Catholic clergy in the middle ages
has been imputed to the number of vassals and
retainers who were supported by their liberality.*
The degree of real charity, however, of which
these times can boast, arose from the influence
of that religion to which all the national or secta-
rian practice or reverence of this virtue that has
ever adorned the world may, more or less di-
rectly, be traced. The scrupulous concern with
which the followers of Zoroaster are said to mi-
nister to the relief of the diseased and indigent,
has been added to the arguments by which it is
proved that their teacher borrowed his institu-
tions from the Mosaic code ;† and the reverence
for charity professed by the Mahometans, has
arisen from the evident transplantation of the
* See Wealth of Nations, vol. III. p. 214, et seq.
+ Johnson's Idler, No. IV.
10
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
193
Christian precepts to that effect, into the pages
of the Alcoran. Experience fully shews that
charity has never found either wide or perma-
nent channels in any country in which it has not
sprung from the fountain of religion. But the
religious systems of heathen antiquity encoura-
ged charity neither by story nor by precept, nor
by that public and social worship which is so
admirably calculated to correct the harsh senti-
ments that arise from the inequalities of life.
They were systems very ill adapted to the con-
dition, duties, and wants of the poor, and recom-
mended principally to the rich by the pomp and
gaiety of their rites, and the laxity of their moral
restraints. The devotion that accompanied them.
was in general the effusion rather of gratitude
than of supplication, and consequently more ap-
propriate to the rich than the poor. The Jewish
code of religion and civil polity, on the other hand,
not only inculcated charity by general precept,
but enforced it by special laws. In every seventh
or sabbatical year, the spontaneous produce of
the land was assigned by law to strangers, or-
phans, and the poor. Some insolvent debtors
were discharged in that year; and all insolvent
debtors in the year of the Jubilee. Another
law (which has been transferred to the criminal
code of Scotland) contributed to enforce relief
of the poor, by exempting from the usual punish-
N
194
INQUIRY INTO THE
ment the thief whose depredation was prompted
by extreme necessity. These institutions, toge-
ther with the regulations prohibiting proprietors
from gleaning their lands, and appointing the
gleanings to be left to orphans and the poor,
form a complete and important body of poor-
laws in the Jewish code.
In the civilized countries of more modern
times, the rich have been enabled by the matu-
rity of civil liberty to indulge themselves in the
secure display and expenditure of their treasures;
and, in Europe especially, the general habit of
expence concurring with the influence of impro-
ved religion, has enhanced the discrimination as
well as the benevolence by which expenditure is
regulated. The improvements of science have
contributed to the extension of charity; and our
hospitals and infirmaries display an enlargement
of knowledge, only paralleled by the enlargement
of beneficence which they equally indicate. Even
amusement has been enlisted into the service of
bounty, and gaiety dignified by subservience to
beneficence. Nay, the propensities of avarice
and parsimonious accumulation, which in ancient
times were so apt to lock up from use the trea-
sures of the rich, and to repress the industry and
the population of nations, have now been almost
entirely divested of their mischief. The wealth
that was uselessly hoarded in coffers before, is
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
195
now preserved in bonds and banks, which give to
the owner the full security of his property, and to
the country the benefit of the borrower's appli-
cation of it. There is not one privation result-
ing from honest indigence, which modern charity
has not endeavoured to supply. Food, medicine,
and knowledge, are offered to the indigent, the
infirm, and the ignorant in every civilized coun-
try; and in most countries, law has added secu-
rity and tranquillity, to the other bounties of
society to the poor, by giving to their most
pressing claims for relief, the sanction of legisla-
tive enforcement. Christianity, in abolishing
domestic slavery, has subverted the institution
most effectually calculated to relax the industry
of the poor, and to harden the hearts and repress
the charity of the rich-the institution which,
more than any other known cause, contributed
to intercept the resources and impair the moral
character and happiness of ancient nations. The
arts, which have diffused and immortalized civi-
lization, have increased the influence and the
wisdom of public opinion; and by enabling men
to rely on it with more security and to regard it
with more respect, have rendered them more
sociable and humane. The contributions, so
frequent of late years, and so honourably cha-
racteristic of modern times, for instructing the
ignorance of distant nations, and ministering to
1
196
INQUIRY INTO THE
the wants of strangers and even of enemies in
captivity, shew how deeply charity has taken
root in modern character, how many new rela-
tions between mankind it has established, and
how many selfish principles and malignant pas-
sions it has mitigated or overcome. The external
pageantry of the Greek, the Roman, and the
Gothic æras, has given place, in a striking degree,
to pursuits and objects which evince the moral
superiority not less of the candidates than of
the dispensers of fame-which claim approbation
more from reason and sentiment than from the
senses and the present æra will leave, in its
infirmaries, hospitals, and dispensaries, and in
the memory of its other charitable establishments
and exertions, more pleasing and more dignified
reliques of human nature, than the ruined tem-
ples, pyramids, and amphitheatres of former ages.
Ancient romance never devised an errantry so
illustrious or enterprizing as that of Howard and
Clarkson; nor has ancient poetry ever fancied
such a hero as "the Man of Ross."
The rich in general devote the superfluities of
their incomes either to luxury or to charity. In
every wealthy country in these days, much money
is distributed in both ways. It is plainly not
consistent with the interest of society, that too
much should be distributed in either way. So
much may be spent in luxury as to interfere
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
197
with the relief to which by nature the distresses
of the poor are entitled; or so much may be
spent in alms, as to repress industry and exertion.
Charity has been compared to artificial means of
conveying water to grounds deprived of their
natural moisture, which, if carried too far, in-
stead of fertilizing the soil, will convert it into a
marsh, and render it utterly unproductive. The
danger of an excess of charity, however, is con-
siderably diminished in times when the poor are
not rendered servants and soldiers to those who
feed them, and when public bounty, if secured by
law, is also, or ought to be, restrained and regu-
lated by the diligent discrimination of the officers
who administer the law. The charity and the
luxury of the rich thus contribute to correct the
unequal distributions of property, to open to the
poor the increasing resources of society, and to
convey the means of relief and reanimation to
the quarters where pressure may happen to be
most severe and according to the proportion
which these disbursements bear to the general
wealth of the country, will be the gentleness or
the severity of the ordeal through which the
members of the lower classes must pass, the
ability or inability of poor parents to rear large
families, and the abundance or scantiness of the
population of the lower ranks of society.
198
INQUIRY INTO THE
While the diffusion of luxury tends to mitigate
the pressure of the positive check on the lower
orders of society, it necessarily tends somewhat
to increase the difficulties of the middling classes,
by enlarging the ordinary requisites to the form-
ation of establishments and rearing of families,
without a proportional enlargement of their
powers to command these requisites. Impelled
by the influence of fashion more to copy the life
than to struggle for the station of the great, they
are driven to practise a celibacy which is gene-
rally marked by the selfishness and sensuality
from which it springs. Thus while luxury tends
to multiply, in one quarter, the numbers of a
society, it operates, in another, unfavourably for
multiplication, by increasing the requisites to
subsistence, and adding to the consumption of
every mouth in proportion as the number of
mouths is multiplied. It thus introduces, to a
certain extent, a preventive check into refined
societies.
In some countries, the perversity of institu
tions, or the depravation of human character,
has superadded a positive artificial check to the
influence of the ordeal of nature, instead of en-
deavouring to mitigate its severity. This artifi-
cial check consists of the barbarous practice of
infanticide and exposure of children, which have
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
199
several times already presented themselves to our
observation. Happily such practices are now
confined to those communities of the world which
have not yet been visited by the influence of
modern improvement.
The only civilized country of modern times
which has been accused of tolerating the prac-
tice of exposing children is China. Mr Malthus
has adopted the common opinion, that this prac-
tice is occasioned by scarcity of food, and has
maintained that marriage is encouraged in China
by the liberty thus extended to parents of mur-
dering their offspring with impunity. A very
different view, both of the practice and of the
causes of it, has been presented by one of the
best of the writers who have described the con-
dition of China. "The crime, when committed
in China," says M. Grosier, in reference to the
charge of murdering their children imputed by
some writers to the Chinese, "is commonly ow-
ing to the fanaticism of idolatry; a fanaticism
which prevails only among the lowest of the
people. It is either in obedience to the oracle
of a bonze, to deliver themselves from the
power
of magic spells, or to discharge a vow, that these
infatuated wretches precipitate their children
into the river; they imagine that by doing so
they make an expiatory sacrifice to the spirit of
the river. All nations of antiquity, almost, have
200
INQUIRY INTO THE
"disgraced themselves by the like horrid prac-
tices; but the Chinese are far from countenan-
cing this barbarity on that account. Besides,
these criminal sacrifices are never practised but
in certain cantons of China, where the people,
blinded by idolatry, are the dupes of prejudice,
fanaticism, and superstition. It often happens
also that the bodies of those children which are
seen floating on the water have not been thrown
into it till after their death; and this is likewise
the case with those which are found in the streets,
or lying near the public roads. The poverty of
the parents suggests this dismal resource, because
their children are thus buried at the expence
of the public. Exposing of children in public
places is a custom tolerated in China; and go-
vernment employs as much vigilance to have
them carried away in the morning as it bestows
care on their education. This is certainly giving
people intimation to expose their children in the
night time, and no doubt encourages the prac-
tice." If the views entertained by this writer
be well founded, it would appear that of the
children who are found dead in the roads and
ditches in China, not many have been previously
exposed alive; and that those who are actually
exposed alive have not been abandoned to de-
struction, but surrendered to public charity.
The views of Grosier have been confirmed by
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
201
the more recent observations of Mr Barrow.
From the calculations of Mr. Weyland, deduced
from the information collected by Barrow, it
appears that the proportion of children exposed
to the number of births, is as 1 to 1000-an
amount of evil which must appear inconsiderable
to any one who reflects on the tendency of many
of the institutions of China to repress produce
and disappoint the fair expectations of men, and
on the extent to which the abandonment of child-
ren and suppression of births prevail in other
countries, where laws and morals prevent it from
being so prominent as in China.
The notion entertained by Mr Hume and
adopted by Mr Malthus, that toleration of in-
fanticide tends to encourage marriage, and that
men will marry with the view of murdering
their offspring, seems an unfounded imputation
against human nature. In every country where
either infanticide or the abandonment of child-
ren has been frequent, it will be found, I believe,
that marriage has been unnaturally and unneces-
sarily encouraged by municipal laws. In Greece,
bachelors were subjected to the most hateful in-
dignities; and in China, it is accounted infamous
to die without posterity.
Abandonment of infants has never been im-
puted to any people among whom women have
202
INQUIRY INTO THE
been treated with the consideration and allowed
the influence they deserve. Women are treated
like slaves by savages, and are bought and sold
in China. The Greeks treated them as domestic
servants, and tolerated infanticide. In the latter
ages of Rome, women were so far degraded that
concubinage was deemed respectable and recog-
nised as such by law. It was not till then that
infanticide became common in the Roman em-
pire. The same stupidity or voluptuousness that
causes the degradation of women represses the
activity and skilful industry of men.
In
Nothing shews more clearly or more pleasingly
the superiority of civilized to savage life, than
the different treatment of the sickly and deformed
children that are born in these two states.
civilized countries they are treated with superior
kindness and attention; by savages they are
generally put to death. Savage tribes, as they
approach nearer to the condition of mere ani-
mals, seem to catch more and more of that in-
stinct of beasts of prey that begets hatred and
hostility to weakness and disease.
1
Infanticide, though the most common, is not
the only artificial check by which societies have
endeavoured to repress the growth of population.
A strange sort of polygamy is imputed by some
writers to the inhabitants of Thibet, where, it is
7
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
203
said, a plurality of husbands is firmly established
and generally respected.* If this account be
correct, a complete exposition of the practice,
and of its effects on population and morals,
would be exceedingly interesting. This singular
institution is supposed to have sprung from the
same view from which has proceeded the prac-
tice of partial emasculation, ascribed by Vaillant
and other travellers to the Gheyssiquas, one of
the Hottentot tribes-the view of preventing the
too abundant propagation of the species. Mon-
tesquieu relates that the same kind of polygamy
prevails in the tribe of the Nairs on the coast of
Malabar, and imputes it to a political view of
preserving among the men a military spirit, by
diminishing their attachment to their families.
Ill judged and pernicious as the direct artifi-
cial encouragements to population that have pre-
vailed in some societies may appear, they are
infinitely preferable to the opposite system of
directly repressing the expanse of population by
the artificial checks we have latterly considered.
The former has been the policy of active and
enterprizing, or at least partially civilized states;
* Philosophical Transactions, vol. LXVII
204
INQUIRY INTO THE
while the latter has never gained admission into
a state of society more respectable than that
which subsists among the Hottentots and in
Thibet.
;
J
}
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
205
CHAPTER V.
Of charitable Establishments in general. Of the Principle of
a System of Poor-Laws.-Relation between this System
and other Institutions of civilized Society-An Order of
Nobility, a Law of Entails, &c. Of Foundling Hospitals,
and other similar Institutions. Tendency of opulent and
posthumous Establishments to Abuse.
In considering the positive check by which, in
the actual state of human societies, redundance
of population is prevented, we have seen that
the inequalities attending increase of wealth in
a country, which might be expected to aggravate
the severity of the check, have been corrected
by the operation of two principles, luxury and
charity, by which the severity of the check has
been relaxed and mitigated. In ancient times,
the subsistence of domestic slavery and other
causes contributed to impair the benefit which
the poor might have derived from the luxury of
the rich, and to increase the natural invidious-
ness and odium with which luxury, however
liberal or well regulated, is always attended.
Hence arose sumptuary laws and other regula-
206
INQUIRY INTO THE
tions for the restraint of luxury, which, if they
could have been rendered effectual, would only
have increased the sufferings of the poor, with
the gain, perhaps, of soothing their envy and
jealousy. It has been the general fate of luxury,
in modern times, to be defended in books and
condemned in the world. The institutions of
charity have experienced a different fate. They
have been revered and admired in the world, and
reprobated (though but lately) only by specu-
lative philosophers. Although the principle of
charity has been universally respected, the insti-
tutions to which it has commonly given rise, and
particularly all those which have been rendered
permanent by their founders, or imposed on so-
ciety by law, have been, of late years, very loudly
arraigned of impolicy, injustice, and even im-
morality. They have been accused of subvert-
ing the industry of the poor, of encouraging the
idleness and vice from which indigence frequent-
ly springs, by softening their natural punish-
ment, and even of corrupting and obliterating
the sentiment of charity, by placing the duties
to which it prompts under the controul of law,
instead of leaving them to the controul of con-
science. In this Chapter, I propose to consider
some of these objections, and to state the prin
ciple on which I conceive that the justification
of these institutions depends.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
207
It is essential, no doubt, to the welfare of
every community, that every individual member
who belongs to it (at least every member of the
middling and lower classes of the society) should
primarily rely for his support on his own industry
and activity. But it is also the interest of every
society, and more especially of societies where
great inequalities exist, that this duty should be
regulated by principles analogous to those which
bound and regulate all the other virtues. The
private affections and domestic attachments of
every citizen ought to be circumscribed in their
influence, by his regard for public interest; and
in the same manner, his immediate dependence
on his own private exertions should be bounded
by his reliance on public protection and support.
Such reliance will either never exist, or be im-
properly directed, if it be not partly founded on
legislative provisions. It is neither true nor rele-
vant to say, that you destroy the virtue of charity
when you enforce it in part by law. It might as
rationally be said that you impair honesty by law,
you compel men to pay their debts, or that
you destroy religion by law, when you compel
men to support the clergy. All the reasons and
principles which support that discipline by which
the virtues requisite to the preservation of civil
and ecclesiastical establishments are brought un-
der proper regulation, may be extended to those
when
208
INQUIRY INTO THE
establishments that regulate the practice of the
duties on which the peaceable co existence of
wealth and poverty in the same community de-
pends. What is lost, or supposed to be lost, in
theoretical perfection, is more than compensated
by what is gained in practical security.
You
will not recruit your army or man your navy (at
least with any other than idle worthless rogues)
by telling the poor that, when disbanded from
public service, they may supply the deficiencies
of their lawful exertions by soliciting the charity
of the rich; you must secure them, to a certain
extent, that these deficiencies will be supplied.
Legislative provisions to this effect add as much
to the comfort of the rich, and of all those who
are most interested in the stability of the institu-
tions of society, as they do to the happiness of
the poor. They render the one as secure of
ready service as the other of support; they mul-
tiply the bands by which the interests of all the
members of society are connected, and bind men
to each other and their country by affection as
well as by duty. It is the duty of government,
which represents both the rich and the poor, to
confirm a security so beneficial to both. The
rich man who should complain of the injury done
to the purity of his benevolence by the law that
obliges him to make some contribution for the
support of the poor, would as justly merit the
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
209
charge of hypocrisy or absurdity,as the husband
who should refuse to execute a marriage con-
tract, on the plea that affection rendered all legal
obligation unnecessary. The municipal laws that
compel husbands to support their wives and pa-
rents their children, are not found to impair
parental or conjugal affection; and although the
law, in enforcing these obligations, justly refuses
to take the duty out of the husband's or parent's
hand until he himself has rejected it, there is
hardly a marriage contracted in the better walks
of life, without some positive provision being
made, in contemplation of the possible neglect
of this duty by the husband or father, corrobo-
rative of the law, and facilitating the legal re-
medy competent in that event to the wife and
the children. Though the virtue of all sacrifice
must consist in the voluntariness of the oblation,
the legislator of the Jews established sacrifices
by law; and so far was he from conceiving that
he thereby superseded the virtue of the offerer,
that he termed one of the offerings a free gift,
and declared it acceptable only from "every
man that giveth it willingly with his heart."
Legal establishment of contribution for main-
tenance of the poor, resembles, in some respects,
legal establishment and regulation of contribu-
tion for support of the political exigencies of the
state. It is as idle to charge the one with super-
210
INQUIRY INTO THE
seding charity, as it would be to charge the other
with superseding patriotism. Reliance on the
ready access that taxation gives to public re-
sources, is as likely to render government regard-
less of economy, as reliance on legal access to
public support, is to render the poor regardless
and independent of industry. The opposite sys-
tem of rendering contribution for the support
of government a voluntary act, was one of the
first and one of the most impolitic essays of the
revolutionary government of France. It bred
among the people a malignant inspection into the
contributions of their neighbours; it introduced
among some a rivalry of contribution, in which
false shame or false glory, against their feelings
and judgments, taxed individuals to the detriment
of their families and the wrong of their creditors;
and, finally, by inviting the indigent to judge of
the wealth and the patriotism of the rich, smooth.
ed the way to that utter subversion of property
which speedily ensued.* But it may be said,
that the duty which obliges subjects to lend pe-
cuniary support to government, and to remune-
rate public service, arises from civil compact,
and is therefore of a different kind from that
moral obligation which lies on the rich to relieve
* See Burke's Letters on a Regicide Peace.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
211
the poor; and that accordingly, the consider-
ations which justify legal regulation of the one,
will not justify the same regulation of the other.
This is more plausible than cogent. If the sub-
jects in general derive advantage from the public
services which their contributions remunerate-
do not the rich in particular derive peculiar ad-
vantage from that system, which, while it pro-
duces enjoyment and affluence, also engenders
misery and indigence-from the laws which de-
fend the inequalities enjoyed by the rich, which
endeavour to prevent the poor from violating
those inequalities, and which therefore ought so
to provide that the great motive, extreme neces-
sity, which no laws can restrain, should never
operate to produce such violation ?* We have
seen that emigration is the natural remedy of
that tendency to redundance of population which
generates, or at least aggravates and increases
poverty and want when emigration is obstructed.
It is the rich who immediately derive the great-
est advantage from this obstruction, which mul-
tiplies labourers, and cheapens and improves
labour. But the multiplication of labourers mul-
tiplies the numbers of the poor, and increases
See the passage cited in the Introduction, from Craig's
Elements of Political Science.
212
INQUIRY INTO THE
the degrees of indigence; and it is just that the
sufferings created by the system should be re-
lieved from the overflowings of that prosperity
which springs from the same parent.
In the earlier stages of society, every man
tilled his own ground or tended his own flocks,
and at the same time manufactured for himself
every article requisite for his own ease or com-
fort. As society advanced, the manufacturers
of utensils were separated from the raisers of
food; the possession of the land and cattle was
confined to the latter, who exchanged food for
the manufactures now engrossed by the former;
and by this division, labour was improved and
produce increased. Originally, many hands and
few machines were employed; the number of
manufacturers bore but a small proportion to that
of the raisers of food; they were but an incon-
siderable body of deserving pensioners on the
general stock, which they contributed to aug-
ment by their abstraction from the occupations
of the rest of society. But as society advanced,
manufactures were extended and improved, la-
bour was rendered more productive, machines
superseded hands, the numbers employed in
agriculture were lessened, and the manufacturers
augmented. The same soil still maintained both
classes; but the immediate raising, possession,
and distribution of its produce was confined to a
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
213
few, who became the channels by which suste-
nance is conveyed to the rest. They who have
no land of their own, and whose labour is not
wanted for cultivation of the land appropriated
by others, obtain in return for their manufac-
tured articles, a share of the produce from the
cultivators, whom they encourage to extend their
culture, and enable to improve its productive
powers. In every crowded society where pro-
perty has long been established and labour di-
vided, employment becomes, to the bulk of the
members, the medium by which they obtain a
share of the produce of land. This artificial
medium may be, and often is obstructed, while
the divisible fund to which it affords access is not
nearly exhausted ;* in other words, the commer-
cial demand for labour and for men may, from
artificial causes, be so weakened as to fall short
of the demand or permission presented by nature
to increase. The proprietor of land sometimes
finds his interest to consist in diminishing the
*«The riches of a state," says Montesquieu, "suppose
great industry. Amidst the numerous branches of trade, it is
impossible but some must suffer, and consequently the mecha-
nics must be plunged in temporary indigence. Whenever this
happens, the state is obliged to lend them a ready assistance,
whether it be to prevent their sufferings or to avoid a rebel-
lion."-Spirit of Laws, B. XXIII. cap. XXIX.
214+
INQUIRY INTO THE
number of his labourers, and augmenting, by dint
of mechanical improvements, the surplus pro-
duce of his land at the expence of lessening the
gross quantity actually raised. He raises less,
but brings a given quantity more cheaply to
market; by dismissing his labourers, he aggra-
vates the pressure of the manufacturing classes;
and while he multiplies the numbers who depend
on land without possessing or being attached to
it, he diminishes the sustenance actually obtain-
ed from land. Sometimes he abandons tillage
for pasturage; and while he lessens the number
of his labourers, he produces a species of food
less accessible than corn to the poor. Yet it
seems consistent with reason and nature that
every man, whether manufacturer or agricultu-
rist, should be entitled to a share of the existing
resources of the country in which he lives and is
willing to labour. If they who are in possession
of the land neither voluntarily raise as much as
it can produce, nor suffer him to cultivate any
part, nor find it convenient to give him as much
for his labour in any other department as will
keep him from starving, there seems little hard-
ship or injustice in compelling them to bestow
gratuitously a pittance for his support.
Sometimes a manufacturing population is cre-
ated or augmented without exclusive reference
to the resources of the country in which it sub-
7
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
215
sists; deriving much of its support and encou-
ragement from customers abroad. On the oc-
currence of a war this support is withdrawn ;
and those of the manufacturers for foreign mar-
kets who cannot find civil employment at home,
are transformed to soldiers, and compelled to
fight either for or against their country. If their
country employ them, they form or complete
the military establishment, and their pay sup-
ports them. If there be more than the service
requires, the competition will lower the wages;
and the public, which derives advantage from
the numbers, in adjusting the wages of those
who are accepted, ought to make some compen-
sation to those who are rejected, for the disad-
vantages they sustain from the same cause.
Almost every society has judged it expedient
to protect the coherence and stability of its pub-
lic institutions and policy against the encroach-
ments of rulers and the levity of multitudes, by
some establishment of the nature of an order of
nobility—an establishment calculated to produce
the effect of perpetuating some of the naturally
fleeting distinctions between men, and of ab.
stracting some portion of the members and the
wealth of the community from that busy rotation
of advancement and decline to which by far the
greater part continues to be subject. The prin-
ciple of nobility, apparent in the order of Eupa
1
216
INQUIRY INTO THE
tridai among the ancient Greeks, was farther
developed in the order of Patricians among the
ancient Romans. The decline of these orders
but shortly preceded the decline of the respect-
ive states to which they belonged. Democracy
overthrew nobility in Greece; and the alterna-
tions of democracy and despotism contributed
to subvert it in Rome. It has revived with in.
creased lustre in modern Europe, where its most
dangerous enemy is that fluctuation of property
which accompanies the extension of commerce.
To support the inversion of nature accomplished
in the institution of hereditary nobility, and to
prevent the mischiefs that might arise from dis-
connecting political power with independence
of fortune, it has been found necessary to per-
petuate wealth in the possession of those with
whom honour is perpetuated.
In modern Europe, nobility was originally ter-
ritorial; which was equivalent to lineal nobility
at a time when the sovereign, the fountain of ho-
nour, was the sole fountain of acquisitions and
changes of property. When alienation was intro-
duced, though yet unfrequent, it was found ne-
cessary to suppress the disputes about titles and
the multiplication of titles that would arise from
the division of estates, by making nobility ex-
pressly lineal. As alienation became more fre-
quent, the preservative of entails was devised.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
217
The principle had been long familiar to the Ger-
mans and Saxons, and had given rise to such
limitations of conveyances, as were sufficiently
adapted to the rarity of their occurrence in times
when commerce and luxury were unknown. It
was only when the effects of commerce came
into competition with the feudal institutions, that
a system of strict entails became necessary.
Though the system of entails be peculiar to
modern times, the principle seems to have been
recognised in every state which has admitted the
establishment of nobility. Many of the Greek
and Roman institutions were strongly and direct-
ly calculated to prevent dissipation of the for-
tunes of great families. By the laws of Lycur-
gus, the lot of land originally assigned to a citi-
zen of Sparta (the metropolis of aristocracy in
Greece) could never be alienated by himself or
his descendants. By the laws of Solon, a prodi-
gal who endangered the stability and transmis-
sion of his estate, was branded with perpetual
infamy. By the laws of Rome, he was regarded
as non compos, and committed to the care of tu-
tors or curators by the Pretor. Some of the Jew-
ish institutions (which in several places recognise
the existence of nobles) were framed with a view
to the preservation of families and estates. The
most remarkable of these institutions is the law
which commanded the surviving brother of a
218
INQUIRY INTO THE
childless man to marry his brother's widow, and
gave to the first-born of this marriage the inhe
ritance of the deceased, "that his name be not
put out of Israel." Kinsmen were enjoined to
buy back the lost estate of their relative; and
such encouragement was given to the restoration
of declining families, by the law of redemption,
that purchases of land were in reality little else
than mortgages. The right of primogeniture
was carried so far, that although a father might
cause his son to be stoned to death by accusing
him of stubbornness, he could not disinherit his
eldest son, or even reduce him to a level with his
other children. The whole system of Jewish in-
heritance was constituted on the principles of
entail, though without the strict and severe re-
gulations adopted in modern Europe.
To establish an order of hereditary nobility, is
to open a cheap and infinite, and yet dignified
fountain of public recompence-to promote the
virtues that first elevated some to distinction, by
planting the heights they attained with success-
ors to whom their glory will be honour or re-
proach-to prompt and yet regulate patriotic
ambition, by displaying, perpetuating, and yet
bounding its reward. The hereditary constitu-
tion of the order tends to repress the factions
engendered by jealousy and inequality, and se-
cures to public policy that consistency to which
PRINCIPLE OF population.
219
the elevation of rash and ignorant men (by com-
merce or otherwise) to wealth and affluence, is
exceedingly unfavourable. It is only in small
states, where the inhabitants are stationary in
their condition, where there is little commercial
enterprise, where consequently there is little vi-
cissitude of fortune, and little of that jealousy
which attends sudden and striking inequalities
of condition, that an order of nobility can be
considered unnecessary.
But with all their beneficial results, these in-
stitutions have plainly the effect of partially re-
pressing public industry, by making a partial de-
duction from the extent of its ordinary hire and
reward, and of so far impeding the healthful pro-
gression of society and baulking the endeavours
of the poor. By securing folly and indolence
from the loss of wealth, and restraining talent
and industry from the acquisition of it, they pre-
vent property from being improved and employ-
ed with the greatest advantage to the public.
No doubt, the advantages that result from these
institutions are diffused through all the classes
of society; but their immediate and visible in-
fluence is confined to the rich; in their opera-
tion on a numerous body of poor, they are so
diluted by diffusion as to be slightly felt by in-
dividuals; and their influence being chiefly pre-
ventive of mischief, is rarely observed; while
220
INQUIRY INTO THE
the concomitant disadvantages, though substan-
tially insignificant, are yet to the poor always
glaringly apparent. In most countries too, I
fear it is beyond question that these artificial in-
stitutions have been extended beyond the limits
of the principle on which their justification de-
pends. They may be compared to artificial
lakes and reservoirs of water, which, in a mode-
rate extent, are subservient to utility as well as
to ornament, and enable us to supply, by artifi-
cial irrigation, the wants that are created when
heaven withholds its supplies; but which in ex-
cess tend to weaken the streams that feed the
health of a country, and convert its pastures into
deserts. One of the wisest of the old laws of
Spain was that which confined entails to the es-
tates of nobility; creating this restriction by the
patent of nobility, and vacating it when the dig
nity expired.* The extension of the privilege
*One solitary example of the opposite measure of vacating
the dignity in consequence of the loss of the estate, occurs in
an act of parliament in the reign of Edward IV., degrading
George Nevil, Duke of Bedford, from the order of nobility,
because he was destitute of an estate sufficient to support his
dignity. In Denmark, two of the three classes of the nobles
that belong to that kingdom, derive their nobility from their
estates, which are unalienable and descend according to the
law of primogeniture.
Montesquieu, who considered entails extremely useful in
monarchies, recommends that the privilege of creating them
be confined to the nobility.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
221
of entails in Great Britain to the estates of un-
titled gentry, and the law which in England
withdraws all land from commerce by protect-
ing it from the grasp of creditors, extends the
civil disadvantage without any perceptible addi-
tion to the political benefit. But whether these
institutions be unnecessarily extended or not, it
is the interest and the duty of the rich to reme-
dy those evils which, at least in part, may arise
from establishments that perpetuate civil as well
as political inequality; and to vindicate the jus-
tice of society and avert the despair of the indi-
gent, by sending down the gentle stream of cha-
rity some portion of what has been defended
from the rude torrent of change.
Many of the other institutions and laws of so-
ciety, though productive in the main of general
good, are frequently instrumental of particular
evil. Of the same nature with entails, though
perhaps more injurious because imposing a more
unnatural restraint, are those frequent trust-
rights (beyond what the situation of minors and
creditors requires) calculated for the preserva-
tion of personal property in particular families,
by forcing it sluggishly to flow through a line of
consumers and possessors who are not allowed
to exercise the rights or incur the risks of pro-
prietors. The law, too, which authorises impri-
sonment for debt, amidst all its beneficial influ
R
222
INQUIRY INTO THE
ence on credit and security in general, inevitably
produces, in some instances, the mischief of ren-
dering misfortune irreparable, and converting
temporary distress into irretrievable indigence
and beggary. It is but just and fair that society,
which reaps the general benefit, should be taxed
to mitigate the particular mischief.
If it be the moral obligation of charity which
should prompt to the relief of helpless indigence,
it is the civil obligation of justice which must
regulate the amount of particular contributions.
Without a legal establishment to define and en-
force this regulation, an endless source of dispute
and malignity would arise; greater scope would
be afforded to jealousy than to merit; a bribe
would be given to the sordid and the selfish at
the expence of the just and the generous; and
either the fluctuations of caprice and the occa-
sional imperfection of the relief would produce
the most horrible disorders, or there would be
formed, between ambitious wealth and depend-
ent poverty, connections and relations distinct
from the constitutional union, and perhaps ulti-
mately subversive of it.
In defending the principle of establishments.
for relief of the afflictions to which the indigent
are exposed, I am far from intending to vindi-
cate the mode in which the administration pre-
scribed by these systems is conducted. But the
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
223
errors of the management established under a
system ought to be distinguished from the merits
of the system on which the principle itself de-
pends. If the management of the poor's-rates,
or the management of any other system of pub-
lic charity, be imperfect, let it be rectified; but
the fountain itself ought not to be closed up be-
cause some of its channels have been suffered by
neglect to become impure. That the admini-
stration of the English poor-laws is liable to many
strong objections, it is impossible to doubt; and
the mischiefs to which these objections apply,
have fully confirmed the ancient adage, that the
corruption of the best things always produces
the worst evils. The unfair and unequal distri-
bution of the burden, has been pointed out in the
Introduction. An objection still more serious
and important, has been urged by Mr Malthus
against the vain and unjust attempt, in the ad-
ministration of the poor's-rates, to render the
labourer entirely independent of the actual state
of the country in regard to plenty and scarcity,
and to enable him to consume as much corn in
the one state as in the other. The obvious ten-
dency of this indiscriminating policy, is to repress
the frugality which scarcity demands, to with-
draw the "soul of goodness in things evil," which
should contribute to correct them, and, by raising
the money-price of corn over the country, to
224
INQUIRY INTO THE
depress the condition of all those who do not
receive parish relief. This is, likewise, to attempt,
by charity, what charity can never effect-to
abolish the evils of life, instead of mitigating
their severity. The severity of private misfor-
tune and the pressure of general scarcity, whe-
ther arising from magnitude of population or ac-
cidental deficiency of resources, may be so far
softened by charity as to prevent the destruction
of life, or the ebullition of violence and crime ;
but farther than this, public charity can advance
neither with safety nor with justice. It is pos-
sible, surely, to cure, or at least greatly to pal-
liate, these imperfections of the English poor-
laws, without abolishing the system on which
they have grown, and without a reformation so
violent as Jack's reform of his coat, where the
body of the cloth itself was injured by tearing
away every strip of useless embroidery. In the
Introduction, I have cited, from the admission
of one of the most vehement adversaries of the
poor's-rates, a case which shews the very effec-
tual manner and important degree in which a
defective administration of poor-laws may be
amended. The result of some late investigations
prosecuted by one of the legislative bodies of this
kingdom, has shewn that private alms are liable
to the same mismanagement that sometimes at
tends public charities.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
225
To all the statements and arguments by which
Turgot* and other writers have endeavoured to
shew that establishments for relief of the wants
of the indigent augment the evils they are in-
+
* The objections to hospitals in general, stated by Turgot
in his Essay on Foundations, (and more recently repeated and
enlarged by Lord Kames, M'Farlane, Malthus, and Dr Dun-
can,) have been fully examined and confuted by the learned
Dr Parr. "In all foundations (says Turgot) there is one
irremediable defect-the impossibility of securing their exe-
cution. Zeal does not communicate itself from age to age,
and there is no community that does not in the end lose the
spirit it set out with.” "Granted (replies Dr Parr). "But
may not reflection perpetuate what zeal began? May it
not guide us safely where zeal has erred? May not a more
enlightened age, acting up to the spirit rather than the letter,
preserve and even multiply the benefits which owe their rise
to views less exact and less enlarged?" Again, "Can the
servants of a foundation (demands Turgot) without enthusiasm,
conduct it with the same exactness?" "I have no reason to
believe (Dr Parr answers) that enthusiasm ever acted upon the
servants of these hospitals, or that the influence of it would
ever have been desirable. Fidelity and diligence in their of
fice are the most proper qualifications of servants; and for
them we have a better security in common sense which un-
derstands and obeys fixed rules, than in enthusiasm which
might violate them with good intentions and very bad effects."
-Parr's Spital Sermon.
&
The danger of the evaporation of charitable zeal, suggested
to Dr Johnson views perfectly opposite to those which Tur-
got deduced from it. Johnson describes it as a reason for
endowing hospitals with a solid and permanent fund of sup-
port. See Johnson's Idler, No. 4.
P
226
INQUIRY INTO THE
tended to cure, it may be answered, that the
objections really prove no more than that some
portion of evil is inseparable from every human
establishment, or, at the most, that establishments
are sometimes ill administered and ought to be
reformed. Mr Malthus says that the worst con-
sequence of sickness is the necessity of taking
medicine; and others lament the ignorance and
presumption of the doctors who suggest the me-
dical prescriptions with which we comply, and who
are accused of sometimes creating one disorder
while they endeavour to cure another. Yet it
never can be meant by these querulous reason-
ers, that we ought to refuse medicine altogether,
and commit to nature the disorders of which art
or accident is the parent. One writer accuses
hospitals and alms-houses of multiplying the
poor; another accuses the establishments for
reception of foundlings of promoting both po-
verty and vice; by a third parochial alms are
charged with encouraging idleness and improvi-
dence; and by others, the establishments for
enabling the poor to appeal to courts of justice,
without the expence that in general must attend
such appeals, are charged with promoting the
feuds and disputes they are intended to compose.
I am not aware that any writer has yet accused
lunatic asylums of multiplying cases of lunacy.
When these charges are investigated, it will
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
227
generally be found that the evils they instruct,
arise principally from errors of administration,
and very little, if at all, from errors of principle
or system. Foundling hospitals are the only
establishments of which the fundamental princi-
ples must support the whole weight of the charges
to which they may be exposed. But these charges
are more specious than solid. Foundling hospi-
tals, although they may multiply illegitimate
births, do not multiply instances of illicit inter-
course. They only prevent the means some-
times employed to intercept the effects of that
intercourse, or to put an end to the existence of
the children produced in consequence of it. They
no more promote vice than infirmaries promote
disease. What some writers have mistaken for
the extension of the evil, is merely the clearer
exhibition of it arising from the extension of the
remedy.
The leading objections that have been stated
to the establishment of foundling hospitals lie
within a narrow compass, and admit, I think, of
a short and simple answer. It has been urged
that these establishments necessarily multiply the
vices by which they are peopled, by withdrawing
some of the prospects of disgrace, expence, or
atrocious guilt, which are supposed to form most
important barriers of female virtue and prudence
-that they dissolve the useful and happy ties of
}
228
INQUIRY INTO THE
parental and filial relation; and that, after all,
the mortality that has always prevailed among
children removed so early from maternal care,
demonstrates that little good is gained at the
expence of so much mischief. From the appre-
hension suggested by the first of these consider-
ations, I have always been saved by the convic-
tion, that it is not by gaining their reason, but
by inflaming and corrupting their feelings, that
women are brought to provide objects for found-
ling hospitals; or if their judgments be pervert-
ed, this perversion is accomplished not by such
influence as foundling hospitals are capable of
exercising, but by the real influence of gold, or
by false hopes of matrimony, or that vague reli-
ance on chance on which minds wavering between
duty and temptation are so apt to repose. That
in Naples, and some other Christian towns where
sexual vices greatly prevail, there are more
foundling hospitals and magdalen receptacles
than elsewhere,* certainly does not prove that
the hospitals are the cause of the evil which they
attempt to remedy, and of which they assuredly
intercept the worst effects. In civilized coun-
tries, where there are many diseases, there will
*See Edinburgh Review for July 1813.-Account of Eus-
tace's Classical Tour in Italy.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
249
be many physicians; and in a Christian country,
where one evil predominates, the species of cha-
rity by which it is mitigated will proportionally
prevail. But it is neither reliance on the doctor's
skill that creates the disease, nor expectation of
sharing the charity that creates the evil to which
it is applied. It is not by subverting their found-
ling hospitals, but by disseminating education,
that the Neapolitans can hope to infuse a stricter
morality into their national character.
The principal ties which foundling hospitals
dissolve, are such ties as may be expected to
subsist between a dubious sire, an infamous mo-
ther, and a disgraced offspring. The chances of
an hospital, were they even as unfavourable as
they are represented, are preferable to the chances
of tender laborious ministration, moral example,
or even regard for life, from a mother who be-
holds in her infant the badge and heir of her dis-
grace, and who is supposed to have been capa-
ble, in giving it life, of being influenced by the
chance of sending it to the hospital. But the
malignant effects of foundling hospitals on infant
life, I suspect, have been greatly over-rated.
They collect the scattered portions of that class
of beings in which mortality is most frequent
and extensive. They are filled with the worst
patients of this worst class-with the children of
anothers who have been anxious to conceal their
4
230
INQUIRY INTO THE
disgrace as long as possible, and consequently
obliged to neglect many of the usual precautions
necessary in the case of pregnancy. The morta-
lity of a foundling hospital, like that of an in-
firmary, may fairly be ascribed in a much greater
degree to the state of the inmates than to the
influence of the place. Many of the inmates
both of foundling hospitals and infirmaries, are
hurried thither when near death, in order to save
the expence of burial.
If, in general, it be meant merely that esta-
blishments for affording relief multiply claims for
relief, the advocates for such establishments nei-
ther can deny nor need lament the charge. But
if it be meant that these establishments multiply
the evils from which the relief is demanded, this
is a proposition which the adversaries of public
charities will find it difficult to establish,-at least
to such an extent as ought to endanger the sta-
bility of the principles on which the establish-
ments themselves are founded. If it be better
that ten guilty persons should escape than that
one innocent man should suffer, then, by parity
of reasoning, it is better that relief in ten cases
should be misapplied, than that in one instance
it should be unjustly withheld. One of the main
advantages of establishments is, that they secure
the application of bounty and divide the burden
of the expence with fairness. They encourage
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
231
many persons to give alms, by obviating the
common excuse of inability to find proper ob-
jects or to superintend the application of charity.
Establishments for the dispensation of medical
charity not only produce this effect, but farther
conduce to the benefit of society by promoting
the improvement of medical science. Lunatic
asylums relieve many poor families from a heavy
expence, and save their feelings from the pain,
and their characters from the taint of daily inter-
course with beings in a state of the most horrible
misery and degradation.
On the principles of the reasoning by which
charitable establishments have been attacked, it
might be argued, plausibly enough, that the in-
vention of insurance-offices and fire-engines, and
the improvement of the methods of extinguishing
fires, would multiply their occurrence, by ren-
dering citizens indifferent to precautions against
an evil which so effectual a remedy may be em-
ployed to arrest. Yet it is in those communities
where such precautions are most frequent, that
conflagrations are comparatively least extensive
and destructive. As towns increase and society
advances, the danger of many evils and vices is
proportionally increased. Remedies grow out of
disorders; and although by unskilful application
they sometimes inflame them, it would be foolish
and inhuman to abolish the remedy altogether.
232
INQUIRY INTO THE
Such abolition would resemble the conduct of
some eastern despots, who are said to have fre-
quently issued orders for cutting off the heads
of all the physicians in their dominions, because
some of them, by carelessness or ignorance, had
injured their patients,
The opulent endowment of charitable esta-
blishments (especially when the gift has been
posthumous) has very generally terminated in
corruption and abuse of the purposes of the in-
stitutions. The bounty of a testator (unless he
should happen not to know any relatives or de-
pendants) is displayed at the expence of others;
he endeavours to be generous from the grave;
and without incurring a single privation that can
dignify his bequest with the qualities of charity,
he equally withdraws the merit of this virtue from
the agency of those who must fulfil his intentions,
and affords a temptation to the avarice, prodiga-
lity, and injustice of those who are to administer
bounty without the natural reward of the appro-
bation it should receive. The founder of a cha-
ritable establishment should do no more than de-
fray the cost of the buildings and other materials
that will constitute the capital of the establish-
ment, adding only such a farther and moderate
endowment as will enable the establishment to
demonstrate its advantages and invite the boun
ty of the public.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
233
CHAPTER VI.
Of a Preventive Check on Population by Restraint of Marriage
in humble Life, and abolition of all legal Establishments for
Relief of the Indigent. Comparison between this Prevent-
ive Check and the Positive Check unfolded in Chapter IV,
and superior Advantages of the latter. Of the Virtue and
Happiness of the Poor as affected by Marriage and Celi-
bacy-Recent Doctrines of the Inefficacy of Marriage in
restraining Licentiousness, and of the Utility and Respecta-
bility of Celibacy. Influence of Education on the Principle
of Population, and of the Marriages of the Poor on their
Frugality and Industry, and on the Resources of a Country,
E
We have now considered the original remedy
presented by nature to redundance of popula-
tion, and the causes which have, in some mea-
sure, obstructed the efficacy of this remedy and
interrupted the regular course of nature. In
the Fourth Chapter, we inquired how, in the
actual state of human societies, the population
of every community is prevented from exceed-
ing the means of subsistence. It is prevented
by the ordeal or positive check of nature, which
conforms its severity, and consequently adapts
the number of those who escape it, to the phy
234
INQUIRY INTO THE
sical or moral resources of the time or place in
which it operates. The positive check or ordeal,
we have seen, is considerably affected by luxury,
and still more so by charity, some of the modes
and institutions of which have occupied our con-
sideration in the preceding Chapter.
This substitutional and subordinate remedy
is certainly less perfect and less happy than the
grand original remedy which it supplies; but it
is a far better remedy than the artificial one of a
general abstinence from marriage by the poor,
enforced by a general denial or retrenchment of
charity by the rich, which some philosophers
have lately proposed under the title of a pre-
ventive check. The latter restrains the produc-
tion of children, brings fewer to the ordeal, les-
sens of course the ordeal's severity, and thus ena-
bles many to pass who would otherwise have
been stopped. The former operates after pro-
duction, through the severity exercised by the
ordeal on those who undergo its discipline.
More are brought to the ordeal; of course more
perish; but then less debility and decrepitude
will be found in those who pass through it,—as
the condition of savage tribes sufficiently shews.
Supposing in the end that equal numbers would
survive both checks: under the preventive check
the deaths might be fewer; under the positive
check the survivors will be stronger, and will
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
235
have a better chance of happy life. Under the
preventive check, the numbers exposed to the
evil of death are fewer; under the positive check,
the numbers receiving the chance of life here,
and the prospect of it hereafter, are larger. We
have seen, besides, that it is not unreasonable to
hope that the causes which at present obstruct
the natural vent of emigration, may hereafter
cease to operate, or at least be obviated in a con-
siderable degree, and that the stream of life may
thus find a wider channel than it is at present
confined to in most countries. Such a hope for-
bids an endeavour to reduce our wants to the
level of our present imperfect condition; to re-
press those energies which may yet find a wider
sphere of exertion, or to remove that pressure
which indicates the imperfection of present re-
medies, and which, by drawing our attention,
may guide our discovery to the best means of
re-opening the happier vent for redundant num-
bers originally afforded by nature.
In considering the value of the preventive
check recommended by Mr Malthus, and allow-
ing it all the merit it can possibly lay claim to,
it is impossible not to perceive, that what might
be saved in life by its operation, would be lost,
and more than lost, in happiness and worth.
There are two parties whose virtue would be
the first sacrifice to an attempt to reduce it to
236
INQUIRY INTO THE
practice-the rich and the poor. In his attempt
to banish the apparent evils of society, Mr Mal-
thus would root out the virtues which grow by
their side, and which more than compensate
their political inefficacy, by the exaltation they
bestow on the moral dignity of our nature. Un-
der the system which he teaches, the rich, so far
from selling any part of their possessions and
giving to the poor-so far from throwing their
superflux as an alms to their suffering brethren,
and " shewing the heavens more just," are re-
quired only to harden their hearts against cala-
mity, and to prevent the charitable visitings of
their nature from keeping alive in them that
virtue which is often the only moral link between
them and their fellow-mortals. They are so to
embitter the pressure of indigence by the stings
of contumely, that men may be driven by their
pride to prefer even the refuge of despair to the
condition of dependence.*
But Mr Malthus and his disciples would not
absolutely pluck the hearts from the bosoms of
the rich; they would only (like the medical
innovator in Moliere's play) make a change
of their natural position and operation. The
* "Hard as it may appear in individual instances,” says Mr
Malthus, "dependent poverty ought to be held disgraceful."
See Note (G) at the end of the volume.
.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
237
hearts of the rich, under the new system, are
still to be alive, though in a new way, to ca-
lamity;-not to that calamity which is before
their eyes, but to that which they apprehend at
a distance, and which requires no present relief.
In contemplating the situation of the poor, the
rich are to be affected not by the sufferings that
strike their senses, and the benefit that would
result from relieving them, but by that suffering
which their fancy attaches to the future growth
of indigence, and that benefit which their rea-
son or their avarice can derive from denying a
little relief at present, that somewhat more may
not be wanted hereafter. Humanity, in this
new apparel, will prove of inestimable conveni-
ence to all whom fortune has exposed to the
cruel burden of solicitations for charity-it will
assort with every variety of character, and serve
admirably to “reconcile the old quarrel between
speculation and practice." It will soften the
brutality of Bond, and dignify the humble re-
nunciation of good works by the meek Bishop.*
Bond, instead of " damning the poor," will bless
the virtue that restrains himself from swelling
the plethory of public charity-even the Bishop
will not be unwilling to co-operate with Provi-
* Pope's Epistle on the Use of Riches.
238
INQUIRY INTO THE
dence in starving the poor; and the rich, in
general, will hear with docility that their own
imprudent generosity is the cause of public dis-
order, and somewhat more attention to their
own interests the only cure of it.
The virtue of charity, no doubt, when its
sympathy with present and particular distress is
absorbed in its regard for remote and general
calamity, deserves the praise of greater abstract
perfection, than when it melts at visible distress
and flows in present and particular relief. But
the abstract perfection of the virtue, is its practi-
cal defect. It has been aptly compared by Pope,
to the increasing sphere of a circle in the water,
which enlarges till it comes at nothing at all.
Sublimity and perfection of speculation has, both
in morals and in politics, been the general cause
and the general apology of deficiency of practice.
In every age, the doctrines that exalt the invisi-
ble above the external and visible virtues, have
first created fanaticism, and then changed it into
hypocrisy. With regard to charity, particularly,
it is an ancient observation, that they who are
least addicted to the exercise of it, and least sus-
ceptible to the feelings that constitute and pro-
duce it, are invariably the most fastidious in their
definition of its limits, and the most lofty in their
conception of its character. They readily pro-
fess an undeterminate benevolence for all man-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
239
kind, which is never allocated on any of the in-
dividuals of the species; and gladly prefer the
barren heights of universal philanthropy, to the
humbler but more productive region of particu-
lar beneficence.
The inequalities of life, while in their imme-
diate operation they separate men from each
other, afford scope to those reciprocal virtues of
bounty and attachment, which re-unite them by
a nobler band than that commercial interest
which would be the only connecting medium in
a state of equality.* It would be more easy to
make an equalizing reduction of the virtues of
society, than to level those inequalities of condi-
tion of which they are the offspring and the cure.
Under the system of Mr Malthus, it would be
only the profusion and vice, and in no part the
generosity or virtue of the rich-only their lux-
ury, and in no part their charity, that would
correct the unequal distribution of property:
no other connecting principle would subsist be-
tween the rich and the poor, than that which
arises from the reciprocal dependence of luxuri-
ous enjoyment and laborious ministration. To
reduce his scheme to practice, would be to with
* St Paul, in exhorting to charity, maintains that one man's
abundance should supply another man's want, "that there
may be equality."-2 Corinth. viii. 14.
240
INQUIRY INTO THE
draw from the rich and the rulers, the virtues
that avert the envy of the poor, and to sweep
from the earth, as so many temples of vice and
folly, "those hospitals and charitable institutions
whose turrets pierce the skies, and, like so many
electrical conductors, avert the very wrath of
heaven."*
But it is in its influence on the character and
condition of the poor, that the preventive check
recommended by Mr Malthus and his disciples
would display its most certain, immediate, and
important operation; and of course it is the na-
ture of this influence that deserves the most at-
tentive consideration, in an attempt to estimate
the value of the check.
That the worth or happiness of the poor would
be promoted by abstinence from matrimonial
connections, is a proposition totally incompati-
ble with the notions commonly entertained of
the meaning of worth and happiness, and of the
comparative effects of matrimony and celibacy.
A celibacy exempt from vice has been esteemed
a state of so difficult attainment, that many have
{
* Burke's Letter, descriptive of London, to Mr Michael
Smith. "Down then with foundling hospitals," says Lord
Kames in his Sketches of the History of Man, "Down then
with foundling hospitals, more noxious than pestilence or fa-
mine !"
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
241
regarded marriage in no other light than as the
preventive of vice-the regulation of that indul-
gence of which a certain portion is inevitable.
This seems to be the view still entertained by
the Catholic church, and even by some of the
church establishments derived from that parent
stock; and whatever we may think of its sound-
ness or rationality, it is impossible not to observe
that this idea of the difficulty of a virtuous celi-
bacy has originated with the most austere and
temperate of men. In some Roman Catholic
countries, the lower clergy are as much deterred
by poverty as they are restricted by religion
from marriage; and yet if their celibacy, aided
by so many strong motives, be always or even
generally virtuous, their lives are greatly belied.
The relations and ties created by marriage,
however embarrassing they may prove to many
of the poor, add at least as much to the worth of
their character, as they can possibly detract from
the ease of their circumstances. They open their
hearts, and render them more benevolent by mul-
tiplying the objects of their benevolence. They
increase their pride, and, through that, their vir-
tue; they soften the ruggedness of their nature,
and form the pledges of their industry and tran
quillity. Coarse as the feelings of the poor may
be, the gratifications of which they are suscepti
Q
242
INQUIRY INTO THE
ble are not bounded by their senses; and an
abridgment of their affections, though accompa-
nied by an increase of their animal comforts,
would detract as much from their happiness as
from their worth. It is, principally, the enjoy
ments of the rich that are multiplied by the ad-
vancement of society, which leaves the poor as
much dependent as in its earliest stages on the
pleasures and endearments of domestic relations:
and, happily for this arrangement, the celibacy
and sterility which the same progress extends
among the rich, by devolving more of the pro-
creation of families on the poor, conduce to an
equalization of the enjoyments of all the classes
of society.* Marriage, therefore, more than
compensates to them all the inconveniences that
can be imputed to it. But it is exceedingly
doubtful how far it deserves the imputation of
those inconveniences which Mr Malthus has de-
duced from it. It is too well known that mar-
riage is not the only way in which men gratify
their passions, nor the only way in which such
gratification is attended with expence. Neither
reason nor experience authorises the belief that
it is possible to restrain the poor entirely from
* See Jarrold's Dissertations on Man; and Weyland on the
Principle of Population, B. III. cap. 6.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
243
those connections which nature has so strongly
induced them to form, and which they enjoy in
a regulated degree, without injury to their moral
character and with great benefit to their hearts
in the shape of marriage. It is better surely
that the indulgence so forcibly enjoined by the
law of nature, should be tasted in this unrepro-
ved manner, than with that excess of degree and
that taint of the moral character with which de-
bauchery is attended, especially in humble life.
Men of refined feelings but lax moral practice
may hold some intercourse with vice, without
suffering it entirely to corrupt their minds. But
with the poor there is no such distinction be-
tween character and conduct; their minds are
always as gross as their vices, which to them are
the infallible forerunners of utter corruption of
character.
I have said nothing of the influence on human
happiness of that passion which precedes matri-
monial connections, improved, as it is by civil-
ization, into the most enchanting of "those
painted clouds that beautify our days." It would
be difficult to add any thing to the admissions of
Mr Malthus on that point. "Virtuous love,"
he says, "exalted by friendship, seems to be
that sort of mixture of sensual and intellectual
enjoyment, particularly suited to the nature of
man, and most powerfully calculated to awaken
244
INQUIRY INTO THE
the sympathies of the soul, and produce the most
exquisite gratifications."*
But liberal as Mr Malthus has been in his ad-
missions of the happy influence shed on human
life by the passion of love, he has not extended the
same liberality of regard to marriage. Those who
are acquainted with the general principles of his
work, without having fully perused its contents,
may be surprised to learn that in an attempt to
controvert its principles, it is necessary to com-
bat doubts of the moral efficacy of marriage in
lessening the licentious intercourse of the sexes.
"Even with respect to the vices which relate to
the sex," he says, " marriage has been found to
be by no means a complete remedy. Among
the higher classes, our Doctors Commons, and
the lives that many married men are known to
lead, sufficiently prove this; and the same kind
of vice, though not so much heard of among
the lower classes of people, owing to their in-
difference and want of delicacy on these subjects,
is probably not very much less frequent.Ӡ
That the lower orders exhibit less delicacy of
feeling and taste than the higher, I have as little
inclination as ability to deny. But that the mar-
riage vows of the lower orders are observed with
* Essay, vol. II, p. 309,
+ Essay, vol. II. p. 356.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
245
the same laxity that unfortunately prevails in
higher life, is refuted both by reason and experi-
ence. To blend the conduct of the poor and the
rich, in this manner, in the same indiscriminate
censure, is not to palliate the guilt of the rich,
but to load it with additional aggravation, by de-
priving it of its only excuse-the difference be-
tween their education and habits and those of the
poor. The effect of this difference is thus de-
scribed by a distinguished historian and philoso-
pher, in his picture of the barbarous neighbours
of the Roman empire. Although the progress
of civilization," he observes, " has undoubtedly
contributed to assuage the fiercer passions of
human nature, it seems to have been less favour-
able to the virtue of chastity, whose most dan-
gerous enemy is the softness of the mind. The
refinements of life corrupt while they polish the
intercourse of the sexes. The gross appetite of
love becomes most dangerous when it is elevated,
or rather, indeed, disguised, by sentimental pas-
sion. The elegance of dress, of motion, and of
manners, gives a lustre to beauty, and inflames
the senses through the imagination. Luxurious
entertainments, midnight dances, and licentious
spectacles, present at once temptation and op-
portunity to female frailty. From such dangers,
the unpolished wives of the barbarians were se-
cured by poverty, solitude, and the painful cares
246
INQUIRY INTO THE
"of a domestic life."* While the refined and
luxurious habits of the rich thus beget a softness
of mind unfavourable to chastity, the more gay
and lax morality which their mode of life pro-
duces, prevents their judgment from always cor-
recting the errors of their feelings. But, above
all, the extreme prevalence among the rich of
that prudential regulation of marriage which
Mr Malthus is so desirous of extending to the
poor, contributes to impair those feelings with-
out which observance of the marriage vow can-
not reasonably be expected. If the poor were
as cautious and provident in the matter of mar-
riage-settlements as the rich-if their life were
as luxurious as Mr Malthus thinks it should be-
if they were as often as the rich to chuse their
partners by the light of tapers at a ball, or by
the more delusive light of an imagination in-
flamed by the graces of motion, manners, and
drapery, we should hear a great deal more, in
practice, of the inefficacy of marriage to restrain
the incontinence of humble life. As it is, we
hear of it only in the pages of Mr Malthus-
where long may it continue to be confined.
In endeavouring to subvert the respectability
of marriage, Mr Malthus has proceeded on the
* Hist. of the Decline and Fall, &c. vol. I. p. 368.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
247
philosophical maxim, that one prejudice is most
effectually attacked by establishing another in
opposition to it: And accordingly he endeavours
to transfer to celibacy the honours which matri-
mony has so long, and he thinks so unfairly,
usurped. But I believe he has to deal with very
stubborn materials, when he attempts to create
a reverential prejudice in favour of old maids;
and I suspect his very chivalrous but very inju-
dicious panegyric on that sisterhood will contri-
bute but little to rescue maidens in years from
the unjust ridicule they have been so long ex-
posed to. If he had contented himself with
merely combating the absurdity and cruelty of
that prejudice which has devoted the members
of the sisterhood to the persecutions of sarcasm,
and even of superstition, which they have been
frequently unable to avoid in any other manner
than by declaring their celibacy at once volun-
tary and perpetual, he might not unreasonably
have expected the assent and sympathy of every
reader. But when he attempts not only to mend
the course of the stream, but to force it to roll
backwards, and seeks to win a triumph for old
maids by rashly forcing them to contest the palm
of social utility with married women and mothers,
he really aggravates the evil which he pretends
to deplore, and exposes himself, his subject, and
argument to derision. With an inconsistency
his
'
248
INQUIRY INTO THE
""
so glaring that we might almost suspect him of
irony, he endeavours in the same breath to awa-
ken our compassion for "the neglected old maid,
and to excite our respect for the free virtue to
which the single blessedness of her condition
ought to be imputed. "If the subject be fairly
considered, and the respected matron weighed
in the scales of justice against the neglected old
maid," says Mr Malthus," she will appear ra-
ther in the character of a monopolist than of a
great benefactor to the state. If she had not
married and had so many children, other mem-
bers of the society might have enjoyed this satis-
faction; and there is no particular reason for
supposing that her sons would fight better for
their country than the sons of other women.
She has therefore rather subtracted from than
added to the happiness of the other part of so-
ciety. The old maid, on the contrary, has exalted
others by depressing herself. Her self-denial has
made room for another marriage, without any
additional distress; and she has not, like the
generality of men, in avoiding one error fallen
into its opposite. She has really and truly con-
tributed more to the happiness of the rest of the
society arising from the pleasures of marriage,
than if she had entered into this union herself,"
&c. From all which he concludes, that " on a
fair comparison, therefore, she seems to have a
:
FRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
249
"better claim to the gratitude of society than
the matron."* If such extravagant notions were
not plainly the result of an error commonly called
systematizing, it would be difficult not to impute
them to that readiness to controvert established
opinions, and to play "the trick of singularity,"
which some persons assume because it is thought
to indicate a superior soul, born, not to take its
form and pressure from the age in which it lives,
but to model the ideas and sentiments of society
at its pleasure. The respectability of matrons
stands in need of no defence from my pen; and
still less, if possible, of any of those silly topics
of ridicule and depreciation which are so often
unjustly employed in reference to old maids.
Society will, and must always be, most grateful
to its visible benefactors, and acts wisely in dig-
nifying with peculiar respect the discharge of
those duties on which so much of the worth of
character and the happiness of life depends. The
respect entertained by society for married wo-
men is the necessary consequence of the senti-
ments arising from the filial relation; the wider
circle of the community reflecting in a modified
degree the regards paid to the matron by her
family group.
* Essay, &c. B. IV. cap. VIII. quarto edit.
250
INQUIRY INTO THE
It is observed by the writers of a celebrated
Journal, by which the principles of Mr Malthus.
have been adopted and professed, that "the
actual increase of the funds for the maintenance
of labour does not depend simply upon the phy.
sical capacity of any particular country to pro-
duce food and other necessaries, but upon the
degree of industry, intelligence, and activity,
with which these powers are at any particular
time called forth."* It is not by merely in-
creasing the animal comforts of the poor, by
confining the interest of the poor man's exer-
tions to himself alone, and breaking those ties
that unite the happiness of many objects of his
affection with his own virtue, that the industry,
intelligence, and activity of a country will be
effectually awakened. Necessity, to a certain
extent, is every where the mother of activity;
and where the necessity itself arises from an
honest source, the activity which it begets will
be honestly directed. The effect of celibacy on
the industry of the poor, resembles the effect
produced by the absence of political freedom.
It might be thought that by detaching the poor
entirely from public interests, their energies
would be more concentrated in pursuits of pri-
* Edinburgh Review, for August 1810, p. 467.
11
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
251
vate advantage, and their labour rendered more
productive by the removal of views, pursuits, and
discussions, which unprofitably engross a portion
of time and attention. But experience has ever
refuted this error. Unmixed and unchecked
government, however well constituted, has the
same tendency to abuse that celibacy has to vice.
Independence confers a dignity and happiness
similar to that which arises from connubial and
parental relationship. The cheerful security and
enterprizing spirit that accompany the conscious-
ness of freedom; the general acquaintance and
mutual competitions that prevail among the citi-
zens of a free state, have always distinguished
the industry of the people who have possessed
this blessing over the industry of those who have
wanted it, and fully proved that it is by multi-
plying, not by lessening the relations of indivi-
duals to society that their industry will be im-
proved. In the same manner, the connections
which the poor form by marriage, and the incite-
ments which these connections afford to their
exertions, must be strongly calculated to awaken
and draw forth those powers on which the in-
crease of the funds for the maintenance of in-
creasing population chiefly depends.
It has been supposed by some writers that the
diffusion of education among the poor would
lessen their inclination to marriage. This sup-
252
INQUIRY INTO THE
position will not be readily admitted by any who
are' persuaded that the dissemination of educa-
tion increases the industry of the poor; and
experience lends it no support. The countries
where knowledge and civilization have been most
diffused, have invariably been the most populous
in proportion to their means of subsistence.
Education is more generally diffused, and the
tendency to marriage is at the same time stronger
in Scotland than in England. The more the poor
are sensible of the pleasures derived from educa-
tion, the more will they be estranged from the
expence and debasement of gross and vicious
recreations; and the more their affections are
enlarged by gratitude to their teachers and the
liberal friendships and relations that arise from
common study, the better citizens and subjects
will they be. They who insist that the characters
of men are formed not by their education but by
their circumstances, seem to forget that a man's
education or opportunities of obtaining it, are
by far the most important circumstances in his
condition of life. The apprehension that the
education of the poor would impair their respect
for their superiors, must be quite groundless,
while the dependence from which the submis-
sion proceeds still remains. To teach men a
well-founded respect for themselves, is the best
way to increase their respect for others; and as
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
253
men covet less the real happiness of others, than
their supposed means of attaining it, the more
they are alive to the pleasures of literature, the
more will they respect the power and leisure that
wealth confers. "The poor but learned pate"
has always "duck'd to the golden fool." The
apprehension that the poor would be disqualified
by education from humble employments and dis-
posed to sacrifice marriage to ambition, is equally
vain. The fastidiousness created by education
must cease when education ceases to be a distinc-
tion. The diffusion of knowledge, by multiply-
ing the pleasures of life without increasing the
expences of living, should increase the numbers
of a people; while, by awakening their faculties
and contributing to preserve their freedom, it
must improve their industry and increase the
means of subsistence. While charity, public and
private, continues liable to abuse, the education
of the poor, by stimulating their pride and acti-
vity, will form the best safeguard of their indus-
try against the seductive prospect of foreign sup-
port. An extended education prolongs and aug-
ments the dependence of children on their pa-
rents; it consequently strengthens their mutual
attachment, and by making the parental relation
more happy, ought to make it more desirable.
The diffusion of religious knowledge, by mitiga
ting the unavoidable evils of life, and making
254
INQUIRY INTO THE
existence desirable, without reference to its pre-
sent comforts, but by the future hopes it pre-
sents, should diminish the reluctance of the poor
to marriage and augment the population of coun-
tries.
The frugality enforced on the poor by mar-
riage, produces an effect on population similar to
that which Dr Smith has, with great penetration,
ascribed to taxes upon articles of luxury. He
observes, that it is the sober and industrious
poor, those of them who exercise self-denial and
practise frugality, by whom the population of a
country is recruited, and the demand for useful
labour supplied; and that taxes on the luxuries
of the poor, which oblige them to abstain from
the indulgences so taxed, enable them by this
forced frugality to rear even larger families than
before.* Every pressure on the poor, whether
arising from lessened demand for labour or scar-
city of provisions, must produce either profusion
or frugality. The dissolute prefer the indul-
gences to which they have been accustomed to
the growth and happiness of their families; and
without increasing their exertions, persist, in
spite of every difficulty, to live in the same man-
ner as they had previously done. The sober and
* Wealth of Nations, vol. III. p. 234, 235.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
255
frugal contract their mode of living, enlarge their
exertions, and are rewarded for a few privations
by witnessing the augmentation and diffusion of
their real happiness and their moral worth. In
which of these two classes is it that Mr Malthus
and his disciples contemplate the probability of
an extension of the preventive check which they
so strongly recommend? It is ridiculous to ima-
gine that the dissolute would be restrained from
marriage by any consideration of morality. Nor
is it advisable that this restraint should be im-
posed on the frugal, who are most able to rear
families, and most likely to produce sober and
honest citizens. The dissolute may perchance
be reclaimed by marriage. If they should, they
will be enabled with frugal habits to rear a fami-
ly; and if they should not, their want and vice
will repress the growth of families which could
not be expected to add to the worth or industry
of the country.
The frugal habits and rigid system of tempe-
rance and privation, which enable the labouring
poor to contract their own expences and to rear
families which with a greater degree of indul-
gence they would be incapable of supporting, are
not contemplated with much hope or with much
admiration in the theory of Mr Malthus. He
maintains that the countries where these habits
prevail, and where the people are contented to
256
INQUIRY INTO THE
be supported on a meagre and temperate fare,
are always, and necessarily must be, subject to
famines.* But the only countries he refers to
in support of this position are, China, where the
absence of commerce makes every scarcity a
famine, by preventing partial abundance from
supplying partial failure; Arabia, where the
same contempt of industry and predatory life
that enforce temperance must often produce fa-
mine; and India, where the abstemiousness of
the people arises not from their virtue, but from
their servitude, insecurity, and indolence, and
the barbarous state of the arts. It is scarcely
necessary to remark, that virtuous temperance is
something very different from the abstinence en-
forced by bad government or bad habits; and
that the active virtue which prompts to the one,
will repel the famine that is invited by the vices
to which the other owes its being.
1
* Essay, vol. II. p. 69.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
257
CHAPTER VII.
Of the State of ancient and modern Times, and of various
modern Countries, in respect of Population, Marriage, and
Celibacy. Of the Influence of War in modern Times on
Marriage and Celibacy.
THE advantages imputed by some writers to the
more general extension which they have recom.
mended of the preventive check on population,
by prudential abstinence from marriage, are al-
most wholly the suggestions of speculation, and
have not been enforced by any satisfactory ap-
peal to experience. The appeal of Mr Malthus
to the changes in the general condition of the
world,* is extremely unsatisfactory.
He ob-
serves with justice, that the positive checks of
pestilence and famine have been greatly relaxed
in modern times, and (with less correctness per-
haps) that the check of war has been equally
relaxed. But it is plainly too much to deduce
* Essay, vol. II. p. 74.
R
258
INQUIRY INTO THE
from this proposition, that the preventive check
has been proportionally extended, and that the
superior virtue of modern times has been the
cause, and the superior happiness of modern
times the effect of this supposed extension. This
deduction seems to proceed on the assumption
(which though Mr Malthus has not adopted it,
he is evidently very partial to,) that the ancient
world was more populous than the modern, and
that the redundant portion of the species which
of old was destroyed by the positive check, is
now in part intercepted by the operation of this
preventive one.* This notion accords very ill
with the numerous ancient laws against celibacy,
and with the effects that must necessarily have
resulted from the universal prevalence of domes-
tic slavery in ancient times. But it has already
been shewn,† that, so far from having been more
* He states (Essay, vol. II. p. 3,) that the average propor-
tion of births to marriages in modern Europe is about 4 to 1.
What was the average proportion in ancient Europe, he has not
been able to say. Nobody is so unacquainted with the bills of
mortality, and the havoc of life that every where occurs in in-
fancy, as to infer from the preceding statement of the modern
average, that three-fourths of the people born in modern Eu-
rope live unmarried. The celibacy of those who die young
belongs to the positive, and not to the preventive check.
+ See the authorities cited in Note (C) at the end of the
volume.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
259
populous, the world in ancient times was really
much less populous than it is at present.
The superior population of modern times is
sustained by the enlargement that has taken place
of the inhabited surface of the earth, by the mul-
tifarious improvements that have augmented the
productive powers of nature, and by the increased
equality of distribution which the extension of
luxury and the growth of charity have occasion-
ed. The policy of ancient and modern states
has differed widely on many points of essential
importance in regard to population. The great
aim of modern states is wealth; and in encoura-
ging individuals to amass it, and protecting its
expenditure, they have promoted without forcing
population. They have encouraged private ac-
cumulation of wealth, and made it the reward of
merit. The British nation rewarded the Duke of
Marlborough (says Dean Swift) with the wealth
that would feed a city; while the Romans re-
warded a conqueror of the world with two-pence
worth of laurel. The great aim of ancient states
was to preserve a military simplicity of manners
and hardihood of institutions: they vainly at-
tempted to force population while they discoura-
ged accumulation of wealth; and in proscribing
luxury, they proscribed all the encouragement
which commercial and manufacturing industry
can afford to agriculture, the basis of population.
260
INQUIRY INTO THE
The abolition of slavery in civilized countries,
the institution of leases, and the improvement of
the science of political economy, have greatly
enlarged the resources of modern states. The
ancients, by committing the cultivation of lands
to slaves, by forbidding the export and promo-
ting the importation of corn, discouraged agri-
culture in those countries where it would other-
wise have been most highly improved. The
moral superiority of modern times and civilized
countries, has contracted the operation of posi-
tive checks on population, not so much by in-
troducing preventive ones, as by enlarging the
resources by which population is maintained.
The discovery of coal and its uses must greatly
have promoted the increase of mankind, by
giving up to cultivation the ground which, for
the supply of fuel, was formerly occupied by
forests. At what period the art of preserving
animal food by salt was discovered, I have not
been able to ascertain; but there is reason to
believe that this art, so conducive to the increase
of mankind, has been applied much more skil-
fully and extensively in modern than in ancient
times. The progress of civilization in modern
times has increased the respect and gallantry
with which women are treated, and rendered the
sex more prolific as well as more happy. The
means of subsistence have also been enlarged by
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
261
the disappearance of those prejudices that in so
many countries have prevented various animal
substances from being used as food. In rude
nations, the wants of men, deprived of the re-
sources of those multifarious employments, and
that everlasting succession of duties and amuse-
ments which civilized life presents, are apt to
foster the vices, diseases, and passions, on which
the most terrible of the positive checks are found-
ed.* The same stirring and craving of the facul-
ties which in rude life causes the mind to recoil
on itself, and conducts the savage to the excita-
tion of gambling or the stupefaction of debauch-
ery, to want, disease, and war, has, when regu-
* See Observations on the Origin and Universal Prevalence
of a Passion for ardent Spirits among rude Nations. Condorcet
on the Mind, p. 54. Robertson's History of America, vol. I.
p. 344. To the same causes the origin of that excessive gam-
bling practised by some barbarians is due. The ancient Ger-
mans used to stake their fortunes and freedom on the event of
a game of hazard. Lewis and Clarke, in the account of their
recent Travels to the Source of the Missouri, describe a tribe
of Indians who play whole nights and game away their clothes
at guessing in which hand a stone is held. The Chinese, con-
demned by the absurdity of their institutions and the jealousy
of their government to a stiffness of ceremony that subdues all
spirit of enterprize and activity, and stupid formalities that
encumber social intercourse, are immoderately addicted to
games of chance, and perhaps at present the most desperate
gamblers in the world.
262
INQUIRY INTO THE
lated by civilization, prompted the mind to its
grandest as well as its most useful flights, and
not only exalted and diversified human life, but
multiplied the means of supporting it. In mo-
dern nations, on the other hand, there has arisen
a new modification of the positive check from
the influence of those unhealthy employments
which swallow up so many of the lower orders,
and which were utterly unknown to ancient
times. But if the progress of some of the arts
has opened new sources of destruction, the pro-
gress of science has closed up others, and re-
moved the severest scourges of life, by affording
the means of repressing pestilential and conta-
gious diseases. The stoutest assertors of the su-
periority of the ancients have never, I believe,
pretended that they excelled the moderns in any
of the arts that tend to increase subsistence and
population. Though the construction of canals
ascends to very remote antiquity, their efficiency
in encouraging industry and exchanging plenty,
must have been very narrow before the invention
of lockage, with which the ancients were utterly
unacquainted.
That celibacy does actually prevail to some
extent in modern times and civilized countries,
(whatever may have been the extent to which
ancient times and rude countries may have car-
ried it,) is unquestionably true, It never pre-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
263
vails extensively in any country except in the
decline or temporary ebb of its greatness, when
the pace of society is retrogressive, and when
many, endeavouring to preserve themselves in a
rank from which they are gradually sinking, seek
to contract their expences by avoiding marriage.
The celibacy that occurs in modern and civilized
countries seems to be occasioned, in a very great
degree, by positive checks, and especially by vice
and war.
The effect of vices in checking mar-
riage and population is undeniable; but Mr Mal-
thus allows very little influence to the wars of
civilized nations, who do not, like savages, ex-
terminate their enemies. He thinks that the
absence of those who are employed as soldiers
and sailors will be supplied by the marriages of
others, who, if men had been more plentiful,
would not have found partners to their mind,
and would have lived in a state of celibacy. But
here it is that his own preventive check inter-
feres with the greatest force, and destroys this
imaginary remedy of the positive check of war.
He totally omits to consider, that in the civilized
countries of modern times, the absent warriors
are supported by the inhabitants at home; and
that all the labour and the food which is em-
ployed for this support, is withdrawn from en-
couraging marriage and population at home. If
the men who remain at home are encouraged to
ས་ག་་་
264
INQUIRY INTO THE
In every country there
marry by extension of their choice, they are at
least proportionally discouraged from marrying
by the addition to the expence of living created
by the burdens of war. Thus war occasions ce-
libacy, both by draining the country of men, and
by imposing burdens on those who remain at
home; and of course it condemns more women
than men to that state.
are found to be more women than men unmar-
ried; and this is sufficiently accounted for by
the exemption which women enjoy from the de-
struction of war, and from the severities of many
dangerous and unhealthy employments. Many
causes affect a woman's chance of marrying much
more strongly than they affect the probability of
a man's marriage. A single act of unchastity
will more certainly debar a woman from marriage
than years of incontinence will debar a man.
The vice of one man may obstruct the marriages
of a dozen women, and yet not prevent his own.
The lowness of wages, too, in any particular
place, more certainly affects the condition of the
women than it affects the condition of the men.
A man deterred from settling in his native dis-
trict by the lowness of wages, seeks another
market for his labour, where he will be the more
readily admitted (at least in England) if he has
no family. The absence of such persons from a
parish, though it may enable some to marry and
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
265
maintain families with greater facility than be-
fore, necessarily leaves many women unprovided
with husbands. Many persons who are driven
from country parishes by want of employment
or the lowness of wages, flock to the metropolis,
where, removed from the check of public obser-
yation, and corrupted by the facilities and the
temptations afforded to vice, they never com-
pensate by marriage in their new settlement, the
celibacy they have created in the place they de-
serted. In country towns, where there is no
trade and little demand for industry, we often
find that all the men at home are married, but
that still the place is thronged with unmarried
women.
The appeal which Mr Malthus has hazarded
to the condition of some of the particular por-
tions of the modern world, is scarcely more satis-
factory than the general appeal we have already
considered. Some of his disciples have referred
to the situation of the Scottish peasantry, as
exemplifying the prevalence and the benefit of
the preventive check: but Mr Malthus himself
seems not to be much disposed to abide by this
reference. On the contrary, he thinks it de-
ducible from the Statistical Account of Scotland,
Essay, vol. I. p. 485.
1
འ་
266
INQUIRY INTO THE
that there is a stronger tendency to marriage in
this country than in England, where he has most
strongly urged an extension of the preventive
check, According to his own stricter estimate,
he thinks the tendency to marriage nearly equal
in the two countries. If this be correct, the
tendency to marriage must be uncommonly
strong in Scotland, which is drained every year
of such multitudes of its male population, who
settle and marry in England and other countries.
But Mr Malthus has endeavoured to shew
that the smallness of the mortality of the inhabi-
tants of Norway* is owing to the operation of a
preventive check that hinders marriage. From
the want of that division of labour, and conse-
quently of property, which commerce and manu-
factures create, the lowest of the poor in Nor-
way (according to the statement of Mr Malthus)
are deprived of that share of the conveniences
of life, and that prospect of obtaining them, by
which they are encouraged to marry in other
countries. Yet only a few years ago, the High-
lands of Scotland presented as little division of
labour and of property as Norway does at pre-
sent; and this, it is well known, did not prevent
marriages from being more abundant and more
* Essay, B. II. cap. I.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
267
fruitful in the Highlands than in any other quar-
ter of Great Britain. But supposing that Mr
Malthus has correctly described the cause, and
is not mistaken in asserting the effect, the advan-
tage has yet to appear. Our estimate of the
supposed advantage would depend, in some mea-
sure, on our acquaintance with the degree in
which the licentious intercourse of the sexes,
and the means often adopted to hide the conse-
quences of it, prevail among the lower orders in
Norway. Now, both in Denmark and Norway, the
favour which illegitimate children receive from
the law (being entitled to half the portion which
the law allots to legitimate children, and to the
whole if there be no legitimate offspring) would
seem to imply a very general prevalence in these
countries of a system which obtains such unusual
toleration. The smallness of the ascertained
mortality is not sufficient to prove the unmixed
advantages of the preventive check in such a
country as Norway, where, the towns being few
and inconsiderable, the great bulk of the inha-
bitants being devoted to the healthy occupation
of agriculture, and very few being employed in
unwholesome manufactories, the mortality must
be reduced by causes quite foreign to the regu-
lation of marriage. The weight that is due to
these considerations is strikingly enforced by a
description which Mr Malthus has given in an
268
INQUIRY INTO THE
other part of his work of the dreadful mortality
that prevails in the best regulated and healthiest
manufactory (if it may be so called) in Europe-
the charitable establishment called the Maison des
enfans trouvés, at Petersburgh. There, as he re-
lates, "there is a considerable mortality among
those which are returned from the country, and
are in the firmest stages of health. I was in
some degree surprised at hearing this, after ha-
ving been particularly struck with the extraordi-
nary degree of neatness, cleanliness, and sweet-
ness, which appeared to prevail in every depart-
ment. The house itself had been a palace, and
all the rooms were large, airy, and even elegant."*
After relating the uncommon attentions bestow-
ed (under royal superintendance) on the comfort
and health of the young persons, he adds, that
"the mortality which takes place, in spite of
these attentions, is a clear proof that the consti-
tution in early youth cannot support confinement
and work for eight hours in the day." The mor-
tality that prevails in manufactories less humanely
regulated, is too well known in this country. +
* Essay, vol. I. p. 362.
† See an account of the causes of that mortality in Dr
Aikin's Description of the Country round Manchester, p. 219,
&c. Perhaps the most interesting account of the moral and
physical effects of manufactories on the poor who are employ-
ed in them, is that contained in Espriella's Letters from Eng-
land.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
269
Destitute as Norway is of these horrid housefuls
of "pale unwashed artificers," it is little to be
marvelled at, that the comparative mortality of
her population should be greatly short of the
average state of mortality in England and other
manufacturing countries. Nor can this difference
be admitted to prove the advantages of the sup-
posed preventive check in Norway, or the disad-
vantage of neglecting it in other countries.
But much of the foregoing reasoning, which
proceeds on the assumption that Mr Malthus's
statement of the paucity of marriages in Norway
is correct, was perhaps unnecessary after the clear
and forcible argument of Dr Jarrold and other
writers, by which the correctness of this state-
ment has been disputed if not disproved. The
statement in question is deduced by Mr Malthus
from a comparison of the number of annual mar-
riages with the extent of existing population.
But it is well known that longevity is greater
and more universal in Norway than in any other
European country; and as every couple already
married in Norway is expected to live longer
there than elsewhere, the number of annual mar-
riages of after couples, when compared with an
existing population in which so many old couples
are enumerated, without being positively smaller,
bears a smaller proportion to the whole popula-
tion than in other countries. In those other
.270
INQUIRY INTO THE
countries where the old couples do not live so
long, the annual marriages, without bearing a
higher proportion to the marriageable popula-
tion, bear a higher proportion to the whole po-
pulation of the country. If, in two states con-
taining equal numbers of young and middle-aged
persons, one should contain a greater number of
old people than the other, the proportion between
every marriage and the whole population will be
smaller in the former than in the latter.
After all, no doubt, the badness of the civil
and economical laws of Norway (where a right
of redemption of family property by the heirs to
the third generation still exists, and a monopoly
of the commerce of grain existed till within a
few years,) must have contributed to repress
marriage in that country. But certainly this will
neither demonstrate the advantage of the check,
nor justify the eulogium pronounced by Mr Mal-
thus on the prudence of those peasants who in
such circumstances abstain from marriage.
So inconsistent are the ideas of Mr Malthus
respecting the advantages he imputes to the pre-
ventive check with the results of experience, that
in his endeavours to enforce them, he finds it ne-
cessary to impeach the result of that experience
to which he has at other times appealed. In con-
formity with the opinions of Dr Smith and other
writers, he has repeatedly described the inhabit-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
271
ants of North-America as placed in that singu-
larly happy situation where, in the general earli-
ness and fruitfulness of marriage, the free scope
of the principle of population, unrestrained by
checks and not immediately threatened with re-
dundance, produces almost all the unmixed hap-
piness which it is capable of affording. Yet in
extolling the happiness he has imputed to the
general prevalence of increased restraint on mar-
riage, he has not scrupled to maintain, that in
the society where it should find admission, it
would produce more happiness than arises from
the facility and universality of marriage in North-
America.*
There was, however, one country at least in
* Essay, vol. II. p. 329. Dr Franklin recommends general
earliness as strongly as Mr Malthus has pleaded for general
lateness of marriage. "Particular circumstances of particular
persons," he says, may possibly sometimes make it prudent
to delay entering into that state; but in general, when nature
has rendered our bodies fit for it, the presumption is in nature's
favour, that she has not judged amiss in making us desire it."
-FRANKLIN's Essays.
See also Lord Kames' Sketches of the History of Man, B. I.
S. 6-Note.
A distinguished member of the government of Ireland has
lately stated, in a review of the condition of that country, that
in all those counties where marriages are early, the most re-
markable chastity prevails among the lower orders.-Speech of
Mr Peel in the House of Commons, 26th April, 1816.
272
INQUIRY INTO THE
the ancient world, in which it is certainly known
(though unnoticed by Mr Malthus) that a pre-
ventive check to population, in the shape of a
general reluctance to marriage, did for some
time prevail; but happily the condition of this
country at the time is known with equal certain-
ty. An alteration of the original law of marriage
introduced perfect liberty of divorce into the
Roman empire, and produced a general reluc-
tance among men to contract a union which,
thus freed from its most sacred and peculiar
bands, was found no longer to contribute to
happiness or virtue. This reluctance proceeded
to such a height that the Emperor Augustus
thought it necessary strongly and publicly to
press the Romans to marriage.† Abstinence
* Of this liberty very ample advantage seems latterly to have
been taken by the Romans-especially the Plebeians. Lucan
makes Cornelia say, when she laments her separation from
Pompey, that she is treated like a base Plebeian wife whose
cruel husband has divorced her.-Pharsalia, B. V.
+ Gibbon's Hist. of the Decline and Fall, &c. vol. VIII.
p. 62. The same cause and the same effect were exhibited
some time ago in France when the revolutionary government
established liberty of divorce. According to the notions of Mr
Malthus, this innovation should have multiplied marriage by
admitting an easy emancipation from its burdens. But it pro-
duced a directly contrary effect. Marriage ceased to be re-
spectable; and some portion of the honour it lost was transfer-
red to concubinage. The proportion of illegitimate births rose
from tor of the whole population.
47
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
273
from marriage on account of its tendency to
produce moral unhappiness, is as fair a moral
check as similar abstinence (as in the supposed
case of Norway) prompted by the dread of phy-
sical discomfort. But never was Rome more
dissolute than under the operation of this check.
Licentious love and the horrid practices em-
ployed to conceal or evade its consequences,
prevailed to such a degree, that the necessary
impunity of abortion has led many of the com-
mentators on the Roman law to doubt if it were
actually considered as a punishable offence. Jus-
tifications of the practice were common; and as
maxims are easily made by those who are in want
of them, it was currently said that visceribus suis
vim inferre was the natural right of women. Fi-
nally, the population (as in France since the Re-
volution) was more depraved than actually di-
minished; the prophetic expression of Horace,
Vitio parentum rara juventus, was not realized;
for an unusual species of concubinage, with all
the forms of matrimony except the bond, be-
came so frequent, that it was actually acknow-
ledged and approved by the laws.*
*Hist. of the Decline and Fall, &c. vol. VIII. p. 67. There
was not in France, as in Rome, an express law in favour of
concubinage; but there was (which is nearly the same) an act
of the revolutionary legislature, placing illegitimate on the
same footing with legitimate children.
S
i
274
INQUIRY INTO THE
CHAPTER VIII.
Recapitulation.-Increase of Numbers, the Cause oftener than
the Effect of Increase of the Means of Subsistence. Of the
Increase of the Lower Classes of Society.-Of Poverty and
Mendicity, and the Means of bettering the Condition of the
Indigent-Duties of Government and of Individuals.—Of
the Influence of Government and Public Policy, on the
Condition and Numbers of the Inhabitants of a Country.
I AM far from thinking that the operation of the
positive check of nature in the actual state of so-
ciety, which I have endeavoured to vindicate, is
not productive of evil, or that a tendency to re-
dundance of population in any particular state
where emigration is not practicable, abstractly
considered, is not an evil of considerable magni-
tude. What I have chiefly contended for is, that
the worst part of the evil springs from the irre-
gularities of human institutions which have inter-
fered with a principle essential to the progress
and well-being of the world in general, and of
every particular society; that the degree of evil
thus arising is corrected by nature in the manner
most consistent with human happiness and im
provement; and that the artificial remedy lately
اليا
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
275
proposed would not only produce far greater un-
happiness, but tend still farther to derange the
beneficial principle from which the evil is unfor
tunately caused to flow. Since the commence-
ment of human society, the tendency to redun-
dance has been productive of suffering. Its first
effects were the exile of citizens and the separa-
tion of friends; but through this immediate evil
the benefits of emigration were obtained. Its ul-
terior effects (modified by the circumstances we
have already considered) have been the immedi-
ate evils of indigence and inequality, from which,
in like manner, the benefits of improved industry
and the virtue of charity have been enlarged. In
the ancient Scripture, we find emigration enjoined
and exemplified during the infancy of the world;
but charity supplies its place in the new, which
was adapted to a more matured state of society.
Yet charity does not supersede emigration; and
indeed the most dignified and useful application
of the one may consist in promoting and facili-
tating the other.
It is a maxim received by one class of political
philosophers in this country, that population not
only depends on subsistence, but cannot increase
without a previous enlargement of the means of
subsistence. Experience, however, has shewn
that, as the law of increase preceded the appoint-
ment of food, so population (except when unna-
276.
INQUIRY INTO THE
turally forced by absurd laws against celibacy)
always provides subsistence for its own wants;
and that increase of the means of subsistence
does not always precede, but generally follows
increased population. In general, it is not be-
cause men have the means of supporting fami-
lies, that they resolve to rear them; but because
they have already begotten families, or are dis-
posed to do so, that they endeavour to provide
the means of supporting them. It has been truly
said, that "when goods increase, they are in-
creased that eat them." But as it is not the
food that creates those who are to consume it,
but the consumers who create, or at least raise
the food; and, as food will not be raised except
when there is a demand for the use of it and
mouths to consume it, increase of men seems to
be more the cause than the effect of increase of
the means of subsistence. Believing in an oppo-
site order, these philosophers are eager to pre-
vent an increase of population, which they plain-
ly foresee is not likely to be preceded by an in-
crease of the means of subsistence. They appre-
hend that the increasing numbers of a commu-
nity must be forced to starve unless food shall
be previously procured for them; but (as one
of the writers cited in the Introduction observes)
it might have been as rationally apprehended
that the increasing numbers of a community
6
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
277
would be forced to go naked unless clothes were
previously made for them.* These philosophers
are startled at the idea of the lower ranks of a
community being crowded, or even completely
filled, and seem to apprehend an overwhelming
deluge of barbarism and misery from this occur-
rence, to which in practice society has been
principally indebted for the elegance and civili-
zation it exhibits at present. The more the
ranks of labour are crowded, the more is labour
divided and improved, competition excited, ex-
cellence attained, and resources enlarged.
Wherever it has happened that the productive
powers of the lower classes have been cramped,
(as in some of the South Sea islands and among
* Apprehensions of this nature might with much greater
reason have been admitted by the political philosophers of the
ancient world, whose views were limited to a state of society,
in which the greater part of the productive labour was aban-
doned to slaves. The insignificance of the resources of society
when thus administered, is strikingly apparent from an obser-
vation of Aristotle (noticed by Adam Smith) on the ideal com-
monwealth of Plato. Speaking of the project of Plato to main-
tain five thousand idle warriors in his republic with their women
and servants, Aristotle contends, that to support such an enor-
mous burden would require a territory of infinite extent and
fertility. Yet in modern times we have seen the efforts of the
free labourers of countries by no means remarkable for extent
or fertility, support with ease even ten times this number of
unproductive members.
278
INQUIRY INTO THE
some Tartar and Hottentot tribes)-wherever
the upper ranks have been comparatively the
most prolific, and have recruited from their over-
flowings the ranks below them, the society has
been barbarous, poor, and unhappy. It is the
opposite tendency that has universally been the
parent of civility, affluence, and enjoyment. Per-
haps the most striking illustration of this remark
is the fact noticed by Dr Smith,* that old fami-
lies of considerable estate (preserved by manners
not by laws) are very rare in commercial coun-
tries, rather more frequent in such imperfectly
civilized countries as Wales and the Scotch High-
lands till lately continued to be, and most com-
mon only among such rude nations as inhabit
the pastoral districts of Tartary and Arabia.
This is only in other words to say that the rich
are prolific, and rich families permanent in pro-
portion to the barbarism of a country, and that
the lower orders multiply and the vacancies in
the higher ranks increase in proportion to the
progress of improvement and civilization. In
the feudal ages when old families were nume-
rous, when Europe swarmed with a multitude of
poor nobility and unprovided younger brothers,
when the upper regions of society overflowed
* Wealth of Nations, vol. II.
p. 129,
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
279
and all progression from the lower was arrested,
the now rich and polished kingdoms of Europe
were almost as poor and barbarous as the hordes
of Tartary and Arabia.
It has been said that the mass of poverty which
resides at and near the bottom of every crowded
community, is the hotbed of most of the vices and
crimes that infect and disturb society. It too
frequently is so; but it is also the nursery of
many virtues that shed the happiest influence
through every region of society. Poverty, in
affording scope to charity, promotes the virtue
of the rich. The serious habit which it breeds
in the poor is the natural source of religious
contemplation, and, if not the most enlightened,
at least the most vigilant guardian of the purity
of religion and the strictness of morality. "None
would have recourse to an invisible power," says
Dr Johnson," but that all other subjects have
eluded their hopes, None would fix their atten-
tion upon the future, but that they are discon-
tented with the present." The religion of the
rich, if it be liberalized by philosophy, is relaxed
by prosperity and pleasure. The religion of the
poor, if it be sometimes darkened by ignorance
and superstition, is braced by exercise in the
cares and sufferings of humble life. The specu-
lative or doctrinal part of religion, and morality,
which is one of the most important of the prac
280
INQUIRY INTO THE
1
tical parts, mutually support each other; and
each is affected by the changes which the other
undergoes. But practical morality is always mo-
dified and affected by political considerations,
and is braced or relaxed according to the nar-
rowness or the latitude of the liberty which views
of policy admit. Many vices which in the rich
are only moral evils, are in the poor politically
as well as morally mischievous. The compara-
tive impunity with which the rich may indulge
certain vices and gratifications which would be
ruinous to the lower orders, disposes them to
embrace what is termed a loose or liberal system
of morality, while the others are compelled to
embrace a system of morality more strict and
austere.* The careless dissipation which is
treated with so much indulgence in the rich
(as Adam Smith has observed) not only is ab-
horred by all the wiser and better sort of the
poor themselves, but, when practised by any of
their number, is condemned in the strongest
+
!
* Wealth of Nations, B. V. cap. 1.
When a needy wretch displays unsuitable vices, (says Ho-
race,) his rich neighbour
Sæpe decem vitiis instructior, odit et horret:
Aut si non odit, regit; ac, veluti pia mater,
Plus quam se sapere et virtutibus esse priorem
Vult et ait propé vera; Meae, contendere noli,
Stultitiam patiuntur opes; tibi parvula res est.'
Epist. XVIII.
"
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
281
terms by the unanimous voice of society. Nor
is this distinction unjust; for, while the disorder
and extravagance of years will not always ruin a
man of fortune, the dissipation of a few days will
almost infallibly ruin a poor workman and drive
him to the most atrocious crimes. These systems
of morality re-act on the respective systems of
doctrine received by the rich and the poor; each
party accommodating the strictness of the sanc-
tions it admits to the severity of the duties to
which these sanctions are to be applied. The
rich desire to narrow the empire of religion, and
suffer it as little as possible to interfere with their
pleasure; the poor endeavour to enlarge its em-
pire, to extend its sanctions to every duty and
its consolations to every care.
It has been objected (but with very little wis-
dom) to the austere system, that it teaches its
votaries to extend the sanctions of religion and
morality beyond their real limits, and to pride
themselves on restraints which necessity and po-
licy prevent from being voluntary. This exten-
sion, when it does take place, is useful in con-
firming the rules of prudence, and in multiplying
the inducements to obey these rules. It is kind
in affording a solace to the sufferings of the poor,
and in enabling them to derive satisfaction even
from their necessary privations.
The superstition of the poor does no more than
*
282
INQUIRY INTO THE
counterbalance the levity of the rich; while their
distresses, and the charitable relief they demand,
enable the rich to pride themselves on the prac-
tice of at least one religious precept, teach them
to entertain some reverence for the doctrine that
dignifies their benevolence, and strengthen and
multiply the bands of society. Thus the mass of
poverty which resides in every great community
contributes to preserve and enlarge the benefits
of religion, both by maintaining the strictness of
its doctrines and by furnishing objects for the
exercise of its precepts.
Some of the preceding observations must of
course be restricted to those degrees of poverty
which are superior to the extremity of indigence.
The condition of persons in a state of positive
and constant mendicity is a condition which ge-
nerally exhibits very little virtue, and promotes
only a very inferior description of bounty in the
rich. Yet it must not be forgotten that it is in
the dispensation of this bounty to persons for
whom there is no legal provision, that almost the
only personal intercourse between the rich and
the indigent occurs. It has been very forcibly
objected to this description of bounty, that it
tends to multiply more extensively than it re-
lieves the evils of mendicity. Although it be
very difficult to ascertain the proper limits of this
objection, or the precise conclusions to which it
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
283
should lead, it is not difficult to see that on many
occasions it has been pushed a great deal too far.
From the late official minutes of evidence on
the state of mendicity in London and its envi-
rons, it appears that the police magistrates and
thief-takers who have been examined on the sub-
ject, have in general concurred in ascribing the
recent growth of mendicity entirely to the libe-
rality of the rich and the imposture of the per-
sons who live by their benefactions. But I can-
not see that this opinion is warranted either by
reason or by the facts they have stated. Nor do
I entertain greater reverence for the opinion
which many of them appear to have formed, that
bounty to beggars converts them into thieves
and robbers. It seems at once more rational and
more pleasing to believe that it often prevents
them from becoming such.
Mendicity frequently arises from improper ad-
ministration of the funds destined to parochial
relief, or (especially in great cities) from the
sickness or other misfortunes of strangers not
entitled to parish assistance, and not able or not
qualified to obtain the benefit of public hospitals
or dispensaries. From the late minutes of evi-
dence, it appears that many parishes commit the
management and subsistence of their poor, and
the transmission of vagrants from one district to
another, to mercenary contractors. With the
284
INQUIRY INTO THE
.
contractors for feeding them, the paupers fre-
quently agree to dispense with their daily allow-
ance of provisions, in return for a small pittance
of money to buy articles of comfort not compre-
hended within their allowance; and they support
life by begging in the streets. The contractors
for passing beggars from one parish to another
appear frequently to pocket the full allowance
for the time appropriated to the journey, but
dismiss their charge before or soon after it be-
gins. In this manner the order of mendicants
is swelled by much honest want as well as by
much roguery and imposture.
Wherever there is much honest and genuine
distress to which the bounty of the rich is ex-
tended, there will be some impostors glad to
counterfeit a garb which charity can render be-
neficial. The success of counterfeit commo-
dities proves the number of genuine articles.
There is no such crime as coining where gold
and silver are unknown; and forgery prevails
only where abundance of genuine paper-money
is in currency. In London, where there is much
genuine distress, there will of course be many
impostors (generally thieves) who assume a garb
which not only obtains pecuniary relief of their
* See Observations of the Quarterly Reviewers on the Mi-
nutes of Evidence.-Quart. Rev. No. XXVII. Art. 6.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
285
fictitious distresses, but enables them, under the
colour of an honest avocation, to reconnoitre the
opportunities of practising their secret profes-
sion. This is the description of beggary that
will oftenest come into contact with thief-takers
and police magistrates, who are by no means less
liable than other men to the frequent error of
mistaking the exception for the rule. The work
of Mr Colquhoun on the police of the metropo-
lis (though otherwise so valuable and important)
shews how exceedingly apt men are to magnify
disorders which they are, or hope to be, employ-
ed in curing.
The notion of Rousseau, that even impostors,
who solicit our charity with a fictitious tale and
a counterfeited appearance of distress, are as
fairly entitled to the reward of their imposture
as players are to the wages of their art,* is too
palpably sophistical to merit even the praise of
ingenuity. He might as rationally defend the
right of the pickpocket to the acquisitions of his
dexterity, by assimilating them to the gains of
the juggler who is hired to amuse us with avow-
ed deceptions. The multiplication of such im-
postors seems to be one of the principal evils
instructed by the late investigation. But this evil
* Pensees de J. J. Rousseau, p. 137.
286
INQUIRY INTO THE
ought not to be magnified beyond its due limits.
We are told that there are several thousand beg-
gars in London, and that begging is often prac-
tised by able-bodied impostors. We know also
that there are more than a thousand men hanged
in England in the course of a century, and that
innocent men have sometimes perished in this
manner. But it no more follows that there are
upwards of a thousand innocent men hanged
every century in England, than that there are
several thousand able-bodied impostors in Lon-
don who engross the whole practice of begging.
I would not willingly contribute to hide the
real amount of the evil, which (whatever be its
amount) is occasioned, not by charity, but by
the causes formerly enumerated, and in some
measure by an indiscriminate liberality, which,
in disregarding selection, is destitute of that fea-
ture which is peculiar to charity, and distin-
guishes virtue of the mind from virtue of the
nervės. When inquiry and visitation precede
relief, only the really deserving are relieved, and
only then is true charity practised. It is some-
times as proper to distinguish the virtues from
each other, as to discriminate them from vices.
A melting eye and a ready hand is infinitely
preferable to an eye incapable of melting and a
hand incapable of giving. The mischief of the
first is, that an impostor may be encouraged; of
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
287
the second, that an honest man may be driven
to villainy or forced to starve.*
Much may be done, both by governments and
by individuals, towards the suppression of public
mendicity, and melioration of the general condi-
tion of the poor. Of all modes of charity, that
which should be applied to facilitate emigration
would be perhaps the most extensively useful.
But although the example of Lord Selkirk has
shewn that the successful interposition of this
description of charity is not impracticable, the
superiority of understanding, benevolence, and
fortune which it would require, must render it
comparatively rare. Much would be gained by
the improvement of the administration of poor's-
rates, and by the suppression of all lotteries, and
* It is recorded of the great and good Judge Hale, that
when he resided in the country he endeavoured to relieve
beggars by finding work for them. "But when he was in
town," says Bishop Burnet," he dealt his charities very libe-
rally among the street beggars; and when some told him that
he thereby encouraged idleness, and that most of them were
notorious cheats, he used to answer, that he believed most of
them were such, but among them were some that were great
objects of charity, and pressed with grievous necessities; and
that he would rather give his alms to twenty who might be
perhaps rogues, than that one of the other sort should perish
for want of that small relief which he gave them."-Burnet's
Life, &c. of Sir Matthew Hale.
288
INQUIRY INTO THE
all the other establishments that promote gaming
and other pernicious vices among the lower or-
ders of society. A lottery has been reprobated
by the best and wisest statesmen, as a profligate
and prodigal scheme, which, in selling the morals
of the people for money, subverts the foundation
of that steady industry on which national wealth
must ultimately depend. It is the unlicensed lot-
teries, no doubt, that spread a spirit of gaming
among the poor; but these infamous establish-
ments will continue to subsist as long as any lotte-
ries whatever are tolerated. As long as the legal
criminality of the practice is made to depend on
a license, men will not readily impute to it any
great moral criminality-as the general patron-
age which smuggling and poaching every where
receive, sufficiently shews. A patronage more
injurious to the poor, more pernicious to their
interest or destructive of their character, it is not
easy to conceive. By the practice of smuggling,
the fair traders and the manufacturers of the
licensed articles are impoverished, and a consi-
derable body of citizens are formed into an order
accustomed to despise settled industry and obe-
dience to law, and after all remunerated on a
principle so illiberal that three-fourths of the
order are invariably plunged in ruin and beg-
gary. Nearly the same effects result from poach-
ing. It lies with government and the rich to
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION,
289
suppress these evils. While the rich continue
willing to bribe the poor to break the law, by
purchasing contraband articles or game, the poor
will be willing to accept the bribe by manufac-
turing and importing these articles and killing
the game. We may surely rate the morality of
the people of this country so high, as to admit
that there must be some great defect in laws
which both rich and poor thus concur to violate.
A reform of these abuses would not only prevent
the people from feeling in so many instances
that their interest may be distinct from their
obedience to law, but relieve the country from
the burden of so many unprofitable subjects,
whether officers that watch the smugglers, or
smugglers and poachers that recruit the classes
of beggars and thieves.
The same selfishness of the rich that induces
them to patronize smuggling, sometimes leads
them still farther to injure the poor by violation
of a duty which is the more strictly incumbent
on every man in proportion to the magnitude of
his fortune-the duty of residence at home, and
of spending among the poor of his country, that
income which is raised by their labour and de-
fended by their blood. The rich man who at
the close of a war removes his residence and esta-
blishment to a foreign land, and encourages the
industry of strangers and perhaps former enemies
T
1
290
INQUIRY INTO THE
ì
of his country in preference to her own labour-
ing poor at home, swelled too as the numbers of
the latter must be by reduction of the establish-
ments of war, contributes with cruel ingratitude
to impoverish his own fellow-citizens and bene-
factors, and to repress the population of a coun-
try to which he is so highly indebted. His excuse
generally is, that living is dear and taxes heavy
at home and for this reason he deserts his post,
and increases the expence of living and the
weight of taxes to those who are far less able
than himself to endure the burden. While arti-
zans are punished for leaving their country, a tax
should be imposed on those who thus withdraw
from them the usual encouragements to remain
in it.
Much may be accomplished in behalf of the
poor by the institution of such societies as that
which originated in Edinburgh for the suppres-
sion of public begging, by private and therefore
well-directed relief. The establishment of banks
for accumulating the savings of the poor, pro-
mises also to be of great service in this respect.*
* See the pamphlets on Saving Banks recently published,
and particularly "Observations on Banks for Savings, by the
Right Hon. George Rose." One of the late writers on the
Saving Banks endeavours by strict calculation to shew that the
poorest labourer in this country, by committing the savings of
his industry to one of these institutions, may be enabled with-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
291
These establishments are rapidly extending them-
selves through the country; and, with the more
fundamental institutions which disseminate edu-
cation among the poor, (not by making it gra-
tuitous, but by making it cheap,) and awaken
their capacities of "large discourse, looking be-
fore and after,” which enable them to co-operate
with their benefactors, and to appreciate and
appropriate the assistance that is offered to them,
they promise fair to reduce mendicity and un-
necessary poverty within the narrowest limits.
Whatever these institutions leave unattained,
must be expected from some attempt to reduce
out imprudence, and without the risk of wanting parish assist-
ance, to marry at the age of twenty-five. The views suggested
by calculations of this nature, which depend on moral agency,
and which are liable to be disturbed by every accident, must
be received with considerable deductions. The views of Mr
Rose are much more sound and moderate. See his Tract,
p. 22, and the Tables subjoined to it.
Among the advantages ascribed to Saving Banks, not the
least important is the effect they will produce on the morals of
the poor, by providing an honest and useful employment for
the sums originally squandered by workmen in the alehouse.
"It is a trite observation," says Mr Rose, "that drunken men
are generally the best workmen : no one, however, will believe
that drunkenness can advance skill; the plain fact is, that such
workmen earn a great deal more than is necessary for their
ordinary maintenance, and not knowing how to dispose of the
remainder, they spend it in drunkenness and dissipation of the
worst kind."
292
INQUIRY INTO THE
to practice the projects described in the work of
Dr M'Farlane.
There is no reason to apprehend, even from
the utmost possible success of these institutions,
such a disappearance of want and suffering from
the face of society as might leave charity to lan-
guish without proper objects of its exercise. It
will always be necessary that the rich should
contribute to support the establishments calcu-
lated to cheapen the education and promote the
frugality of the poor; and the effect of these
establishments will not be to level the inequali-
ties, to extinguish the vices, or to intercept the
misfortunes which create objects and occasions
of bounty. There will continue to be mouths
without mouthfuls in one quarter, and the power
of supplying these wants in another. There will
continue to be men who cannot or will not incur
the labour and disgust of visiting the jails, the
garrets, and the cabins, where the proofs of ge-
nuine wretchedness are to be found. By filling
the hands of more actively charitable persons
they may discharge their pecuniary debt to po-
verty, but much of their moral debt will remain
unpaid. It may be happy for such persons that
poverty and wretchedness (real and fictitious)
will still present themselves to their eyes in the
garb of mendicity, and appeal to their compas-
sion by sensible representations of distress. They
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
293
must not be blamed for refusing utterly to disre-
gard the appeal. It is not necessary that be-
cause their compassion has not a wide range, it
should be denied a narrower one; that because
they withdraw their humanity from the strongest
and most useful appeals, they should offer such
violence to it when appeals chance to present
themselves, as might extinguish the principle al-
together. The pecuniary value of the alms which
an individual gives to a beggar, is generally
trifling; but in the act of donation there is a
recognition of fellowship and humanity, highly
beneficial to the giver and grateful to the re-
ceiver.
Although it be dangerous and impolitic to in-
terfere with the direct and immediate agency of
nature in the diffusion of life, no moral remedy
or palliation of the evils of society should be
neglected, which is consistent with the freedom
of nature's operations. When the labouring poor
are exposed to a degree of scarcity and distress,
to which the ordinary exertions and the ordinary
bounty of society are unequal; before the spring
of national energy acquires from depression that
resilient vigour which will drive it to the disco-
very of new resources, extraordinary exertions of
active and passive virtue may break the force of
the evil, and give time to men's minds to rally
against it. Fortitude, on the part of the poor,
294
INQUIRY INTO THE
corresponding to the emergencies of their situa-
tion, backed by such discriminating charity, on
the part of the rich, as the immediate pressure
demands, will go far to alleviate the distress of
the most numerous population in the most cala-
mitous times.* Such charity, to be most effectual,
should be administered rather frequently than in
large sums at a time; for this latter mode is apt
not only to excite expectations which it is im-
possible to realize, but to occasion temporary
suspensions of that industry from which the main
and ultimate relief must be derived. The whole
of the bounty, too, should be expended in pro-
'curing necessaries to the poor; and no part of
it in debauching them by luxuries, or in afford-
ing them gratuitous amusements inconsistent
with the actual situation of their affairs, and with
the feelings and habits which that situation should
* A remarkable instance of the efficiency of charity when
well administered, occurred a few years ago in the parish of
West Calder, in Mid-Lothian. The poorer inhabitants (who
are uncommonly well educated, industrious, and economical)
being severely pinched by a temporary scarcity, the heritors.
assessed themselves, for their relief, to the extent of five
pounds a-piece. This sum was committed to the minister,
who bought a magazine of meal, which he gave to the poor as
they wanted, and received repayment as they could afford it.
The pressure was ultimately removed, and each heritor recei-
ved back his contingent, under deduction of half-a-crown.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
295
beget. Difficulty and distress naturally breed a
serious habit in the poor; and a serious habit is
the best accompaniment and the surest indica-
tion of popular virtue.* The industry and virtue
of the Athenian populace was corrupted by their
own public treasury, which they replenished from
the produce of public property and by profligate
and predatory wars, and which they liberally, or
rather wastefully, appropriated partly to super-
sede their private industry, instead of merely
supplying its deficiencies, and partly to the main-
tenance of those theatrical exhibitions to which
historians have not scrupled to say that Athenian
liberty was sacrificed. The Roman emperors in
times of distress, by their indiscriminate largess-
es, by their error in paying at once the principal
instead of the interest of the largess, and by their
folly in misapplying a great deal of the bounty
in the establishment of gratuitous public amuse-
ments, which bred gay thoughtless habits, and
fostered a taste for idleness and expence, con-
tributed to impair the virtues that would best
have accorded with the situation of the public;
and thus rendered increase of population a source
of unmixed evil to the empire.
It is by such perverse policy, not unfrequently
the fruit of ill-regulated benevolence, that human
* See Note (H) at the end of the volume.
Ꮞ
296
A
INQUIRY INTO THE
institutions, while they promote an excess of some
of the tendencies impressed by nature on man-
kind, sometimes obstruct the operation of the
remedies by which nature intends to counteract
and cure those tendencies. It is from the ope-
ration of an artificial cause of this description
that the unusual increase of the population of
Ireland has been productive of so much unmix-
ed and unmitigated suffering; that the hardships
occasioned by increase of numbers have not ge-
nerated a proportional increase of that virtue and
activity which would have removed much of their
weight, and lightened the burden of the rest.
The peculiarly rapid increase of the Irish popu-
lation ought not to bear the blame of the peculiar
wretchedness of the Irish people.
It is the doctrine of some modern politicians,
that not only the misery of the Irish, but also
the uncommon increase of their numbers, which
of course aggravates their sufferings, are wholly
produced by the misconduct of their rulers. But
the redundance of Irish population, and the suf-
ferings of the Irish people, though, no doubt,
related in their influence and operation, are
quite distinct effects, and in their original, may
be traced to quite distinct causes. The adop-
tion of the potatoe as the common food of the
Irish people; the prodigious increase of the
power of producing food thus communicated to
+
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
297
*
12.
A
the earth; and the tendency to subdivision of
farms and improvement of surface promoted by
this sort of cultivation, in which the attention of
the cultivator is directed to a small portion of
good land, instead of a comparatively large por-
tion of poor land, as in most other countries,
sufficiently accounts for the unusual scope given
in Ireland to the principle of increase. The
causes of the sufferings of the Irish, and of that
depression of the Irish character which has pre-
vented them from finding the proper accompa-
niments of an increasing population, have been,
(according to the best authorities) the barbarous
tyranny exercised by the English government in
the earlier stages of its connection with Ire-
land-the unnecessary and revolting severity
of those persecuting laws that were passed against
the Irish Catholics in the reign of Queen Anne §-
the fetters imposed by William the Third on the
commercial and manufacturing industry of that
* Mr Young states, that in Ireland the same portion of land
in potatoes will yield four times as much nourishment as could
be obtained from any wheat crop it could produce.- Young's
Tour in Ireland, vol. II. p. 120.
+ Edinburgh Review, for July 1808, Art. IV.*
See Hume's History of England. Reign of Elizabeth.
See Burke's first Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe.
298
INQUIRY INTO THE
country in the unjust restrictions of its trade*-
the non-residence of wealthy proprietors, who
delegate their interest in the lower orders to
mercenary and temporary managers, and main-
tain abroad the establishments that should feed
the industry of their own countrymen-and the
unhappy remains of the distinctions between Ca-
tholic and Protestant, which, however slight in
themselves, recal the memory of former oppres-
sion, and by the irritating circumstance of the
apparent minority by whom they are imposed,
must always produce a degree of discontent much
more than proportionate to their intrinsic im-
portance. A system of misgovernment and op-
pression, long since abandoned, has bred among
the people of Ireland a tendency to mistake the
cause of their sufferings, and consequently the
remedy of which they admittedt-it has bred
a habit of considering their government as the
* These restrictions, reprobated in many of Dean Swift's
works, are enumerated in his "Considerations about Main-
taining the Poor," as one of the causes of the increase of indi-
gence in Ireland. The principal causes described by him are,
the laziness of the natives, the want of work to employ them,
the enormous rents they are obliged to pay, their early mar-
riages, the ruin of agriculture, the mortal damp upon all kinds
of trade, "and many other causes too tedious or invidious to
mention."
† See Note (K) at the end of the volume.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
299
source of every evil, and of resorting to indolent
clamour or furious rebellion against this imagi-
nary cause of hardship, in place of that active
exertion which is the natural consequence and
the natural remedy of the only hardships to which
the Irish are exposed. Their rulers and their
rich men ought to facilitate this exertion, by
withdrawing every unnecessary cause of irritation,
by diffusing knowledge among them, and by
employing to animate their industry the incomes
that are drawn from the soil they inhabit and
cultivate.
The influence of modes and forms of govern-
ment on population, fully considered, would lead
into a very wide and diversified field of inquiry.
Experience and theory alike demonstrate that
population is far more affected by the policy and
principles pursued by a government than by the
form from which it may derive its name. There
have been commercial monarchies and military
republics; and if the example of Greece de-
Adam Smith remarks, that a republican government will
sometimes preserve trade in a country where it would not
otherwise have continued-as in Holland, where the influence
of mercantile families in the government, and the respect they
derived from this circumstance, retained them and their capi-
tals in a country where the employment of the capital was not
the most profitable, and consequently preserved the trade
which their capitals supported.-Wealth of Nations, vol. III.
p. 393, 394. The republican government of Athens contri-
300
INQUIRY INTO THE
monstrate that the useful arts and improvements
of industry are most likely to originate with a
people possessing republican government, the
history of Russia demonstrates how quickly and
effectually they may be imported and dissemina-
ted by the influence of monarchical power and
example. Cordorcet has recorded, that Turgot
considered a good monarchy more likely to be
productive of happiness than a republic, because
(among other reasons) a monarch may often act
in conformity with the opinion of enlightened
men without waiting till it has converted the ge-
neral opinion of the country. Mr Hume has
observed, that no form of government, in mo-
dern times, has made such rapid advances to
perfection as monarchy-an observation which
Mr Dugald Stewart confirms and explains by the
influence which the increased diffusion of know-
ledge exercises on the policy of even the most
absolute governments, " by teaching princes to
regard the wealth and prosperity and interest of
their subjects as the firmest basis of their gran-
deur-in directing their attention to objects of
national and permanent utility." Population has
thriven almost equally well in the republic of
buted to preserve an energy in the national character, which,
otherwise, the universal corruption of morals would have ex-
tinguished.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
801
Holland and the monarchy of England. But
the diffusion of knowledge, and that well-pro-
portioned mixture of spirited independence and
contented industry which has been fostered by
the governments of these countries, and contri-
buted to augment their population, cannot be
looked for under either of the extremes of de-
mocracy or despotism. In the ancient repub-
lics the right of citizenship was so valuable, that
it was the interest of the people themselves that
the free population should not be numerous, and
of the great that so powerful a body as the people
should not be strong. For some time the mili-
tary policy of the Romans overruled these inte-
rests; and they multiplied their armies by assu-
ming the vanquished into the privileges of the
state. When they afterwards departed from this
principle, the free population of Rome decreased
so much that the manumission of slaves was re-
sorted to in order to recruit it. In some of the
Greek republics, the number of free citizens was
limited by fundamental laws of the constitution;
and the Papian law at Rome, which annulled a
freeman's oath to his patron not to beget a fami-
ly, implies the frequent extortion of such oaths
by the great. The lazy pride and fastidiousness
generated in the free poor by the subsistence of
domestic slavery in the bosom of these republics,
must have been exceedingly unfavourable to in-
302
INQUIRY INTO THE
;
dustry and population. Some of the ancient des-
potic monarchies are said to have been exceed-
ingly populous. The monarch dreading the
great, and them only, perhaps, withheld his ty-
ranny from pressing on the mass of the people.
In some of those empires the monarch and his
nobles appear to have been supported by their
own domains, and to have made no other exac-
tion from the mass of the people except military
service. In general, however, we must believe
that the insecurity of property and the indolence
and effeminacy of character that settled despot-
ism creates, must be much more unfavourable to
the growth of population and subsistence, than
the worst evils that can result from the coarser
vices of licentious liberty-provided these vices
be not so violent as to produce perpetual fluctua-
tions of government, and occasionally to intro-
duce the severity of despotism without the miti-
gations which it receives from stability. Our in-
formation respecting the despotic empires which
are said to have been so populous is exceedingly
imperfect; and in many instances the population
may have been swelled by importation of slaves
from conquered countries. The estimates of the
population of these empires seem to be generally
derived from the numbers assigned by history to
the armies they sent forth to conquest. But even
supposing (though it be very doubtful) that the
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
303
reports of the strength of the armies were always
correct, these reports afford very uncertain data
in computing the population of ancient empires,
in which every able-bodied subject was frequent-
ly compelled to join the army, and generally car-
ried along with him his wives, children, and slaves.
The bulk of the population seems to have con-
sisted either of husbandmen, who, under the rude
condition of ancient tillage, could always leave
their homes without difficulty between seed-time
and harvest, or of shepherds, who at all times are
ready for the field. The artisans and manufactu-
rers were generally slaves of the great, and follow-
ed their masters on all occasions. It has often hap-
pened that despotic monarchs, either from their
ignorance of the particular state and distribution
of the resources of their realms, or from the timi-
dity of their policy, have found themselves unable
to impose direct taxes on their subjects, and have
farmed portions of their empire to Satraps or
Bashaws, who derive their tributes and enrich
themselves from the most ruinous extortions. In
some of the ancient monarchies these offices ap-
pear to have been hereditary, and were therefore
perhaps less pernicious in their effects on the
subjects. In the provinces belonging to repub-
lics such offices are never hereditary, and the in-
habitants in general are cruelly oppressed. Un-
just prosecutions with the view of extortion or
304
INQUIRY INTO THE
forfeiture, the venality and corruption of justice,
the monopoly and sale of modes of labour and
branches of trade, are employed to supply in a
manner rarely adequate to the exigencies of go-
vernment, and always destructive of the prospe-
rity of the people, the resources which direct
and universal taxation alone can properly and
beneficially produce. A limited monarchy, where
the people are permitted through their repre-
sentatives to tax themselves, and where, though
cheered by this ray of political freedom, they are
obliged to seek their happiness not in mixture
with political affairs, but in the bosom of their
families, seems most favourable to the growth of
a great and happy population. A limited mo-
narchy, too, while it affords sufficient scope to the
influence which the private virtue of a sovereign
can exercise on public happiness, also sufficiently
obviates that dependence of the merit of govern-
ment on the private characters of princes, which
is dangerous only when it comes to be exclusive.
In despotic governments, women are generally
slaves, and domestic life is neither so happy nor
so well regulated as to promote the growth of
numerous families. But climate sometimes alle-
viates the mischiefs of despotism; and in survey-
ing the population of an enslaved country, we
should consider how much it owes to salubrity
of air, fertility of soil, and the species and quan-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
305
tity of food which the climate may render suit-
able to life. The tyranny of Charles XII., (as
Mirabeau has observed) which rendered Sweden
nearly a desert, would have been hardly felt in
the happy climates of Naples and Sicily.
It is in the regulations of finance, and the im-
position and distribution of taxes, that the influ-
ence of modern governments on population has
been most apparent. The influence of taxes in
general on population has been explained with
great clearness by Dr Paley in his "Principles
of Moral and Political Philosophy." He seems
to think that the noxious tendency of taxes arises
principally from the inconvenient and unequal
principles on which they are constructed; and
that under certain modifications, and to a certain
extent, they may operate in favour of population.
He contends that a tax on income, unless it rise
upon the different classes of the community in a
much higher ratio than the simple proportion of
their incomes, will interfere with the general con-
veniency of subsistence, and prove exceedingly
detrimental to population. "The point to be re-
garded," he observes, " is not what men have,
but what they can spare; and it is evident that
a man who has a thousand a-year, can more ea-
sily give up a hundred, than a man with a hun-
dred pounds a-year can give up ten; that is,
those habits of life which are reasonable and in-
U
306
INQUIRY INTO THE
nocent, and upon the ability to continue which
the formation of families depends, will be much
less affected by the one deduction than by the
other."*
!
Another strong objection that has been urged
to a tax strictly proportioned to income is, that
most of the proprietors of small revenues, and
particularly the members of trades and profes-
sions, have no other capital than that which arises
from the very savings of income which the tax
withdraws. The tax, therefore, so far impairs
their capital, while it attacks only the revenue of
richer persons; and, so far, it lessens the fund
by which employment is afforded to productive
labour, and food procured for increasing popu-
lation.
Tithes, and all other taxes constituted on the
same principles, are not only oppressive on par-
ticular persons by their inequality, but injurious
to the general resources and population of states,
by repressing extension and improvement of agri-
culture.t
* Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy, B. VI. cap. 11.
vol. II. p. 409. Paley has here refuted with great clearness
the absurd sophism, that nothing is lost to a country by the
sums exacted in taxation.
+ Wealth of Nations, B. V. See the exposition by Smith,
in this part of his work, of those taxes which are more injurious
to the people than beneficial to the sovereign.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULation.
307
Of all taxes, those which strike directly at the
quantity of food in a country, and increase the
difficulty of raising or preserving it, seem to be
the most inexcusable exertions of power, and the
cruellest restraints on population. A tax on salt
is a tax on the life of the poor; for
you take their lives,
When you do take the means by which they live."
By the abolition of domestic slavery in mo-
dern times, governments have acquired a more
general and constant interest in the increase of
their subjects, than ancient governments could
possess. In a country where all are free, that
which constitutes the strength of the state in
peace, also constitutes its safety in war; but in
countries where part of the population is en-
slaved, however useful the slaves may be in peace,
they are converted by war into a source of im-
minent danger. If governments should ever be
so improved as greatly to diminish the frequency
of wars and the pressure of public expences, and
to suffer the bulk of surplus produce to descend
in peace on the country from which it rises, one
of the heaviest and most destructive checks on
the increase of population and subsistence would
be removed.
The influence which the character and policy
of government may exercise on population, has
308
INQUIRY INTO THE
attracted the notice of Mr Malthus in several
quarters of his work. But he neither, on any
occasion, allows it the importance which it de-
serves, nor always states correctly the effect that
it produces. The influence of government has
generally very little direct effect on the amount
of population; it directly affects the condition of
population, and thus indirectly the amount, by
affecting the exertions and produce by which it
is supported, and the vents by which it is relie-
ved. Some of the richest and most fertile coun-
tries in the world have been gradually reduced
to the most miserable state of depopulation by
the absurd and tyrannical policy of their govern-
ments. This fate has befallen some of the finest
provinces of the Turkish empire, the dominions
of the Pope, and, still more signally, the once
flourishing kingdom of Sicily; but has been most
conspicuous in the kingdom of Siam, which is
described by Lord Kames as at once the most
fertile and the least happy and least populous
country in the world.* The arbitrary govern-
* Sketches of the History of Man. The keeper of the King
of Siam's menagerie is authorized to let loose the elephants
into the gardens of all those within a given distance of the ca-
pital, who fail to pay him a certain yearly tax or fine. Every
subject in rotation works six months for the king; and nobody
endeavours to excel in his business, lest his excellence should
tempt the sovereign to employ him for life.
Y
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
309
ment of China, long mitigated by the patriarchal
principles on which it is constituted, has not pre-
vented a considerable growth of population. But
this government has been gradually matured into
a rigid despotism, disguised, though no longer
softened, by the manners, habits, and customs, to
which these patriarchal principles gave rise; and
improvement, resources, and population, have
long been retrogressive in China. The intolerance
of Louis the Fourteenth gave for a time a severe
check to the population of France, not by the
numbers compelled to emigrate, but by the
quantity of moral worth and vigour of character
that so many conscientious emigrants carried
away. In Spain, the same policy that created
so fatal a void by the expulsion of the Jews and
Moors, has continued to prevent the void from
being filled up; and to this it is owing that, in-
stead of being the best, Spain is now one of the
worst peopled countries in Europe.* The history
of the Moors, too, illustrates in a very striking
manner the mischievous influence of bad govern-
ment. The brutal despotism of the Barbary
powers has formed a deplorably rude, poor, and
* See Townsend's dissertation on the causes of the depopu
lation of Spain, (Travels in Spain, vol. II.) which affords an
admirable view of the influence of defective systems, political
and commercial, in repressing population.
310
INQUIRY INTO THE
unhappy people, out of the same materials from
which so much of the industry, wealth, and
knowledge of the Spanish monarchy was derived.
He
In one of his general views of the influence of
government on population, Mr Malthus seems to
have committed an oversight which has been en-
larged and transmuted by some of his disciples
into one of the boldest speculations ever hazard-
ed even by the adventurous intellect of this rea-
soning age. He has shewn very clearly, by re-
ference to particular cases, that a great many
(certainly, however, not all) of the countries that
have been oppressed by despotical governments,
have been very populous in proportion to the
means actually raised for their subsistence.
has accounted for this circumstance by obser-
ving, that "Ignorance and despotism seem to
have no tendency to destroy the passion which
prompts to increase; but they effectually destroy
the checks to it from reason and foresight." Rea-
soning from the same premises, some of his dis-
ciples have gone the length of concluding, that
good government is comparatively adverse to
any considerable growth of population; and that
the tyranny of the rulers, and the misery and
depression of the subjects, are the best securities
of an ample production of human beings. This
extravagant doctrine is refuted by the universal
experience of mankind. The novelty of it, as it
8
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
311
has been lately professed, consists, however, less
in its result than in the reasonings on which it is
built. Fletcher and Wallace many years ago con-
tended for the efficacy of servitude in multiply.
ing the human species. Fletcher defended with
triumph a doctrine which he thought reflected
honour on the institutions of the ancients. Wal-
lace believed it not less implicitly, but received
it with less satisfaction; for he spends some su-
perfluous sorrow in " the melancholy reflection,
that when the world was best peopled, it was not
a world of freemen but of slaves.”*
:
The real benefit for which population is in-
debted to good government, consists, not in con-
tracting its growth, but in enlarging that growth
by enlarging the means of supporting it, or ra-
ther suffering those means to enlarge themselves;
and the real and principal mischief which misgo-
vernment inflicts on population consists, not in
enlarging its growth by destroying preventive
checks, but in really defeating its growth by im-
pairing the efforts and contracting the means by
which this growth is supported. It is an excel-
lent observation of Mirabeau, in his View of the
Prussian Monarchy, that lakes, tanks, and ponds
are a loss to a country where freedom and wealth
* Wallace on the Numbers of Mankind, p. 92.
1
312
INQUIRY, &c.
reside, but advantageous to a people who are
poor and enslaved, by increasing their means of
subsistence without requiring the employment
of that capital which they cannot or dare not
bestow. Under a bad
Under a bad government, redundance
of population, or an excess of numbers beyond
actual produce, occurs and presents itself long
before the country has been peopled to the full
extent of its resources; the country overflows
without being full; and this redundance is fre-
quently confounded with positive magnitude of
population. In a well-governed country, the
population, though numerically greater, is rela-
tively less redundant; the resources for support-
ing increasing population being more success-
fully and extensively cultivated, and the means
of relieving its tendencies to excess less obstruct-
ed and impaired. The influence of ill-regulated
and oppressive government on population, ap-
pears frequently to resemble the effect of opera-
tions that impede or divert the natural progress
of a stream, and increase the depth and quantity
of the waters at particular places, by restraining
their general expanse and diffusion.
NOTES.
•
NOTES.
Note (A.) p. 109.
BURKE, in his "Essay towards an Abridgment of English
History," ascribes the early superiority of the most celebrated
nations of antiquity to the advantages of the situation of their
territories. Throughout the whole immense region inhabited
by the northern barbarians, which was exposed on every side,
"there was for many ages a perpetual flux and reflux of bar-
barous nations. None of the commonwealths continued long
enough established in any particular spot, to settle and subside
into a regular order; one tribe continually overpowering or
thrusting out another." But "Spain, Greece, and Italy are
peninsulas. By these advantages of situation, the inhabitants
were preserved from great and sudden revolutions, to which
the northern world had been always liable; and being con-
fined within a space comparatively narrow, they were restrain-
ed from wandering into a pastoral and unsettled life. It was
upon one side only that they could be invaded by land. Who-
ever made an attempt upon any other part, must necessarily
have arrived in ships of some magnitude, and must therefore
have, in a degree, been cultivated, if not by the liberal, at least
by the mechanic arts."-B. I. cap. 1.
It is certain that the Spaniards were, at a very early period,
visited by the Phoenicians, and improved by their intercourse
with them. Greece was colonized by the Phoenicians, and
316
NOTES.
Italy by the Greeks. The Phoenicians are allowed to have
formed one of the oldest nations in the world, and much of the
early improvement of the world is traced to them. The arts
they invented were communicated to all the nations connected
with them by vicinity, intercourse, or descent.
All that local situation can do for the rise of the arts, is to
afford aptitude of soil for their reception and preservation,
after they have been invented and communicated. But such
has been the influence of accident, if not on the discovery, at
least on the diffusion of inventions, that a soil adapted to their
reception seems to have been the most essential requisite to
the civilization of ancient countries.
Hume maintains that the rise of arts and sciences depends
on forms of government. He denies that they ever originate
in a monarchy, and confines their origin to republics. If
limited monarchy be allowed to be equivalent to a republican
constitution, the correctness of this view seems to be undenia-
ble; otherwise, the example of Phoenicia is sufficient to refute
it. The arts are most likely to arise (Mr Hume observes) in
a country consisting of a number of small and free states con-
nected with each other. He confines the illustrative applica-
tion of his theory to Greece; but he might also have appealed
to the example both of the ancestors and some of the contem-
poraries of the Greeks. Phoenicia, no doubt, was governed by
kings; but monarchical power among the Phoenicians (as
among their fathers the Canaanites) was extremely limited;
and the small territory, divided into several distinct empires
connected by friendly ties, presented the highest encourage-
ment to the arts, by affording the security of settled govern-
ment and the energy of freedom, and by promoting the skill
and industry which competition always begets. Of the nume-
rous seeds that were scattered by the Phoenicians, those that
fell into the bosoms of the Greek and Carthaginian republics
were most rapidly and most highly productive. The example of
Rome has been cited both by the followers and the adversaries
NOTES.
317
of Mr Hume; but it was the military policy of that republic
that prevented it from exemplifying his observations as fully
as it would otherwise have done. The arts, it is true, flourish-
ed most after the republic was subverted, and arbitrary power
began to prevail. But this vegetation was due to the seeds
implanted by republican institutions; and it lasted only a short
time after the final suppression of liberty. The rise must be
distinguished from the perfection of the arts, to which a change
from freedom to arbitrary power has often a tendency to give
prodigious encouragement, by suddenly confining and concen-
trating the energies that were previously diffused in public
pursuits. Had limited monarchy succeeded the Roman re-
public, the glories of Roman literature would not have termi-
nated with the Augustan age.
The views of Mr Burke go farther back than the theory of
Mr Hume, and account for the rise of free government in
empires protected by their local situation from sudden and
incessant attacks, and consequently exempted from the neces-
sity of constituting their governments on the principles of mi-
litary despotism.
Note (B.) p. 120.
It is (among other reasons) because the earth has not been
completely replenished, and because it was but slenderly peo-
pled at the time when the duration of life is supposed to have
been contracted, that I doubt the solidity of the speculations
entertained by some philosophers, of the relation between this
event and the state of population in the world. The learned
antiquary and philosopher Derham, and after him Dr Jarrold
and other writers, have conceived that the primeval longevity
of mankind was intended to promote population; and that
as the numbers of mankind increased, room was made for the
new comers by abridgment of life. But they who entertain
this speculation are bound to acknowledge a circumstance that
tallies
very ill with it-that the lives of some men who imme-
318
NOTES.
diately preceded the deluge, were greatly longer than the lives
of many who, living after that event, had a more empty world
before them. Farther, according to the opinion of Derham,
the duration of life was reduced to 70 or 80 years immediately
after the time of Moses, and has ever since continued of the
same length-a strange limit to the operation of so powerful a
principle; and a strange time for calling its utmost force into
action, when so small a portion of the globe was inhabited.
Again, Dr Jarrold's idea that the abbreviation of life was in-
tended to avert vice and misery, the consequences of redun-
dant population, is utterly unsupported either by antediluvian
or by post diluvian history. Men seem to have been as profli-
gate as they are capable of being, both before and after the
flood; and the greatest improvements of their character and
condition did not arise till many centuries after the supposed
restriction of longevity had reached its utmost limits. Lastly,
it seems to be established as clearly as the point admits of, that
the antediluvians did not multiply their numbers with the ra-
pidity or to the extent exhibited by human increase since the
date of the supposed abridgment of life. Noah was only the
ninth in descent from Adam. See Cockburn on the Deluge,
p. 81, &c.
Perhaps the superior longevity ascribed by some (though
denied by others) to the parents of mankind, may have been
intended to counterbalance the difficulty attending the first.
acquisitions of knowledge-a difficulty which being withdrawn.
from the successors of the earlier inhabitants, no longer de-
manded the counterpoise of primeval longevity. According to
some writers, the abbreviation of life (whether preceded or not
by improvement of the arts) was necessarily attended with a
circumstance which rendered art more productive, and facili-
tated labour. They ascribe the shortening of life to the ope-
ration of the deluge on the atmosphere, which, by the same
chemical change, was rendered at once less favourable to ani-
mal life, and more favourable to vegetation.
NOTES.
319
Heathen testimony seems to confirm the notion commonly
derived from the scriptural account, both of the fact and the
time of the abbreviation of human life. According to the
Greek and Roman mythology, it was in consequence of the
bold discoveries and attainments of Prometheus, the son of
Japetus (or Japheth) that diseases were sent to the assistance
of time in the siege of life;
Semotique prius tarda necessitas
Lethi corripuit gradum.”—HORAt.
Note (C.) p. 146.
"It has been a question often agitated without solution,"
says Dr Johnson, "why those northern regions are now so
thinly peopled, which formerly overwhelmed with their armies.
the Roman empire? The question supposes what I believe is
not true, that they had once more inhabitants than they could
maintain, and overflowed only because they were too full.”
That the victors, he continues, "bore no great proportion to
the inhabitants in whose countries they settled, is plain from
the paucity of northern words now found in the provincial lan-
guages."-Journey to the Western Islands, &c. Johnson's Works,
12mo, vol. IX. p. 253, 255. Gibbon, to whom the subject
peculiarly belongs, entertains the same opinion. "The innu-
merable swarms that issued, or seemed to issue, from the
great storehouse of nations, were multiplied by the fears of
the vanquished, and by the credulity of succeeding ages.".
History of the Decline and Fall, &c. vol. I. p. 360. Gibbon
refers to Hume's Essays, (vol. I. part II. Ess. XI.) where the
same opinion is professed, and most learnedly supported and
satisfactorily proved. He also refers to Robertson's History of
Charles V. (vol. I. p. 3. et seq.) and concludes that the ba-
lance of authority, as well as the balance of reason, is adverse
to the notion of the larger population of ancient times.
320
NOTES.
One of the sources of the general error on this subject,
seems to have been an imperfect consideration of the ancient
laws for encouraging population-laws which, as Mr Hume
justly observes, really indicate thinness, and not abundance of
inhabitants. It was at the time when the depopulation of Spain
was greatest, that Philip the Fourth (as Mr Townsend relates)
vainly offered by a special edict the most tempting premiums
for marriage.
Note (D.) p. 147.
It perfectly accords with the general views entertained by
Mr Malthus of human nature and improvement, to represent
the disorders that accompanied the fall of the Roman empire
as the effects of ordinary natural causes, and to confine his
survey of their consequences to the naked horror of their im-
mediate mischief. A survey, at once more minute and more
extensive, enables us to trace these mighty effects to the arti-
ficial causes of laws and manners, and to extract consolation
for their immediate evil from the extensive and splendid ad-
vantages which ultimately resulted from them, and which not
only atone for the past mischief of their origin, but seem to
prevent the possibility of its future recurrence. In consider-
ing the inundations of the barbarians, and the disorders that
attended them, says Mr Burke, "we are almost driven out of
the circle of political inquiry: we are in a manner compelled
to acknowledge the hand of God in those immense revolutions,
by which at certain periods he so signally asserts his supreme
dominion, and brings about that great system of change which
is perhaps as necessary to the moral as it is found to be in the
natural world."-Abridgment of English History, B. II. cap. I.
The benefit of the change that resulted from the barbarous
irruptions, and the wisdom of the agency that impelled the
effusions of barbarism to the destruction of its source, have
been ably vindicated in an admirable work of Madame de
Staël. She represents the forcible intermixture of the northern
NOTES.
321
barbarians with the cultivated and degenerate nations of the
south, as the ultimate and efficient means of quenching the
restless spirit and obliterating the barbarous manners that bred
such disorders, by communicating to the barbarians the reli-
gion, the settled habits, and the improved life of the southern
nations-of bracing the character and reviving the energies of
the southern nations, by communicating to them the sterner
ethics of their conquerors-and of elevating the human cha-
racter, by combining the vigour and enthusiasm of its infant
condition with the experience and improvement of its maturi-
ty. According to this view, the temporary disappearance of
cultivation which followed the intermixture, was but the sub-
sidence of the flame of civilization under the aggregation of
the materials provided for its future increase. See the ample
and ingenious developement of this view in the work of Ma-
dame De Staël, De la Literature considerée dans ses Rapports,
&c., or the account of this work in the Edinburgh Review for
February 1813.
A faint and partial outline of this beautiful view had been
previously traced by the genius of Whitaker. In describing
the situation of Britain during the short interval that elapsed
between the recal of the Roman forces and the settlement of
the Saxons, this writer remarks, that "the period was not now
very remote, in which the Roman empire, having done the
great work for which it was erected by Providence, having
long connected the central nations of the globe with a chain of
amity, was absolutely to be demolished for ever.
The period
was now hastily approaching, in which the Divinity, who had
already converted to Christianity all the nations which lay
within the pale of the Roman empire, designed to bring the
uncivilized nations of Europe into the one in order to convert
them to the other."-History of Manchester, vol. I. book I.
cap. XII. § 5.
The benefit arising from this great process of intermixture,
was for some time interrupted by the agitation of the elements.
X
322
NOTES.
that had bred the storm, and the remains of that universal
spirit of military enterprize which had produced the intermix-
ture; till the Crusades swept away the relics of the tempest,
and providing a distant vent for its surviving fury, completed
the tranquillity of Europe. In their stormy efflux, the Cru-
sades, carrying away the unquiet and warlike spirits that inter-
rupted the peace of Europe, enabled civil life and pursuits to
take root and predominate over military manners; and in
their gentler reflux, they brought back only as much of the
military and chivalrous spirit as improved the honour, the
energy, and the dignity of civil life and character.
In the interval between the first and second of these great
events, the policy of the feudal system contributed to prevent
the degeneracy and depopulation of European states. This
happy effect was produced by the general relation and mutual
dependence established by the feudal system between the rich
and the poor, and not by the particular usages that every
where diversified the system. The numerous, heavy, and un-
certain duties imposed on vassals, and particularly the casu-
alties (as they were termed) of ward and marriage, must have
contributed to repress population in no inconsiderable de-
gree. The last-mentioned duty or casualty came in general to
have the effect of a heavy tax on the marriage of vassals. (See
Stair's Institutions of the Law of Scotland, B. II. tit. IV. § 47.)
In countries where commerce has not introduced the luxuries
of life, some institution of the nature of the feudal relation be-
tween the rich and the poor, seems necessary to maintain po-
pulation in that extent in which alone the benefits of industry,
competition, and division and improvement of labour can be
expected. The feudal system, no doubt, contributed to nou-
rish the seeds of discord, by maintaining a great body of idle.
warlike men; but it necessarily fostered the peaceful industry
and productive labour by which the population it demanded
was supported. It finally concurred in promoting the efflux
of the Crusades, by which the idle and disorderly part of the
NOTES.
323
population was carried away, and peaceful industry and culti-
vation, already planted, were permitted to advance with unre-
strained vigour under the patronage of commerce, which had
already begun to revive. With all its faults, the feudal system
has been the parent of the constitutional liberties of every
country of Europe, by the legitimate channels it created of
communication and mutual influence between all the classes of
society. It prevented the intercourse between the high and
the low from degenerating, in rude ages, into the relation be-
tween master and slave; and preserved forms and sentiments
of freedom to be matured and improved by more enlightened
agés.
The notions entertained by Dr Brady, Mr Hume, and Dr
Robertson, of the oppressive influence exercised by the feudal
system on the lower orders of society, have been combated
with great force and apparent success by the learned author of
the View of Society in Europe. "These writers," he observes,
"dwell on what they term the aristocratical genius of the
times, and seem to take a pleasure in painting the abjectness
of the people. It is remarkable that these notions are contra-
dictory and inconsistent. The nobles had immense influence;
but in what did this influence consist? Was it not in the num-
bers and attachment of their vassals?" It was the great emu-
lation of the chiefs to excel in the number and the courage of
their retainers, who constituted their greatness, and could at
any time impair it by offering their services to an enemy.
When the cordiality between the chiefs and their retainers
decayed-when the nobles exacted with severity, as legal
rights, the multiplicity of services which had been originally
only voluntary effusions of the zeal of their vassals, the baro-
nial authority was reduced to a tottering condition; and it was
then that, in England, the Crown interposed and effectually
humbled the nobles and subverted the feudal system. There
had, long before, occurred a decay of cordiality or courtesy
between the Crown and the nobles, which the frequent renew-
324
NOTES.
ļ
als of the Magna Charta tended rather to display than to re-
medy. This charter, which was merely explanatory of the
ancient law, has been erroneously regarded as the foundation
of the liberties peculiar to the feudal æra; it was a revival of
ancient liberties, and intended to correct the abuses by which
they had been impaired.-See Stuart's View of Society in Eu-
rope, &c.
The Romish hierarchy, with all its faults and inconveniences,
seems to have been as well adapted as the feudal system for
the condition of Europe during the middle ages. "The ec-
clesiastical privileges, during barbarous times," says Mr Hume,
"had served as a check on the despotism of kings. The union
of all the western churches under the Supreme Pontiff facilita-
ted the intercourse of nations, and tended to bind all the parts
of Europe into a close connection with each other. The pump
and splendour of worship belonging to so opulent an establish-
ment contributed in some respect to the encouragement of the
fine arts, and began to diffuse a general elegance of taste by
uniting it with religion."-Hist. of England, cap. 29. The pri-
vileges and immunities of the Romish clergy enabled them to
preserve some reliques of literature; and the extent and inse-
curity of their possessions compelled them to enforce the ob-
servance of law. They were induced by the most powerful
motives to extend the knowledge and reverence of those ge-
neral and equitable rules, on which the stability of their own
property depended. The Catholic hierarchy preserved wealth
as well as learning, and collected it in churches and convents
until the laity were sufficiently improved to employ it with ad-
vantage.
The prolonged existence of the eastern branch of the Ro-
man empire contributed likewise, in a considerable degree, to
the civilization of Europe. Many valuable remains of antiquity
were preserved in Constantinople, and did not desert it till late
in the fifteenth century, when the empire was subdued by the
arms of the Turks. These valuable materials were thus pre-
10
NOTES.
325
served from destruction or dissipation, and only imported by
the Greek fugitives, when the improvement of western Europe
had provided a proper soil for their reception, and the inven-
tion of printing had afforded means of diffusing them and ren-
dering them immortal.-GIBBON'S Hist. of the Decline and
Fall, &c. vol. XII. cap. 66; and Dissertation on the Progress
of Metaphysical, Ethical, and Political Philosophy since the
Revival of Letters in Europe, by DUGALD STEWART, Esq.
part I. cap. 1.
Note (E) p. 185.
This horrid picture of so complete a sacrifice of domestic
feelings to political ideas, is only a faithful mirror of the man-
ners of antiquity. The actual disregard of the ancients for
those sentiments and manners which in modern times are con-
sidered essential to the happiness of domestic life, is strikingly
and odiously apparent in the public, naked, and promiscuous
exercises of both sexes at Sparta-the historical and political
cast, the scurrility and indecency of the Athenian drama-the
tyrannical patria potestas of the Romans, and the subsistence
of domestic slavery both in Greece and in Rome. That con-
dition seems not very happy, in which the law presumes (as
the Roman law did) that the master of a family is surrounded
by enemies, and in case of his sudden and unaccountable death
(a very possible occurrence amidst so much gluttony and so
little medicine) devotes his slaves without farther proof to the
executioner. Plutarch relates that Cato the Censor studiously
promoted quarrels among his slaves, dreading mischief to him-
self from their concord. Devoted as the Romans were to gla-
diatorial exhibitions, we might have expected to find them
willing to banish from their domestic recreations, the ideas
connected with that brutal amusement. So far were they,
however, from entertaining any such delicacy, that it was the
practice of the rich to introduce Samnite gladiators to fight
for the amusement of their guests at supper.-Horat. B. I.
Ep. 2.
326
NOTES.
It was considered in ancient Greece rather an act of super-
natural greatness than of unnatural enormity, when a warrior
offered up the fruit of his loins to ensure the success of his
arms. The Romans appear to have been less unnaturally cruel
in this respect. Though they long retained human sacrifices,
and though their leaders sometimes devoted themselves to the
gods, the rude Marius, I believe, was the only Roman parent
who deliberately sacrificed his child for the success of a cam-
paign.
Note (F) p. 186.
Seneca, (somnum plebis laudans, satur altilium) after advert-
ing to the slenderness of a man's real wants, endeavours to shew
the wisdom, or at least the virtue, of bounding our desires by
a fortune adequate to these wants alone, by observing, that
“quicquid extra concupiscitur, vitiis non usibus laboratur."
SEN. Cons. ad Helv. 9. If Seneca afterwards neglected his
own advice respecting the choice of a condition, he paid at
least this homage to his philosophy, that he did not controvert
his view of the employment of superfluous wealth. He became
the richest subject of the empire, and his affluence was equal-
led only by his luxury. In his treatise De Ira (lib. 1. cap. 15.)
Seneca speaks with approbation of the practice of exposing
sickly and infirm children.
Socrates, the great moralist of the Greeks, frequently and
beautifully inculcates the duties which a man owes to his friend,
but never the duty he owes to his neighbour. He never alludes
to the misfortunes of friends without enforcing the duty of re-
lieving their indigence. But though he sometimes refers to the
distresses of fellow-citizens, and even introduces the condition
of beggars, (reproaching one of his disciples for begging a cer-
tain favour with mean supplications, ὥσπερ τῆς πτωχες, Memo-
rab. lib. I. cap. 2. 29) he never mentions either the act or the
duty of charity.
Some of the ancient poets, however, have supplied the defi
$
NOTES.
327
ciencies of the philosophers in this respect. Homer enforces
relief to the poor and forlorn, by observing that it is
"What the happy to the unhappy owe,
And what men give, the gods by them bestow."
And Horace discovers the subserviency of wealth to virtue,
which afterwards escaped Seneca; for he inquires of a rich
man, "Cur eget indignus quisquam te divite?" He declares
his preference of Homer, as a teacher of morals, to the most
eminent of the ancient philosophers.
Note (G) p. 236.
"Hard as it may appear in individual instances," says Mr
Malthus, "dependent poverty ought to be held disgraceful.”
Even the genius of Mr Malthus, it appears, cannot exempt
him from the common error of supposing the whole something
distinct from the parts of which it is composed. I believe the
"disease of all-shunned poverty" has received at least its due
measure of disgrace since the beginning of the world, and has
proved so afflictive to those who have had more than a specu-
lative acquaintance with it, that few have found the pain of
wanting assistance compensated by the pleasure of receiving
it. From many passages in the Psalms and Proverbs, it ap-
pears, that even in the early period when they were composed,
the world was as prone as in the time of Juvenal to smile on
the unfortunate, and hate or deride the unhappy. It was said
by Juvenal, that
"Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se
Quam quod ridiculos homines faciat."
Yet it will not be easy to define the measure of disgrace
justly due to a condition which Socrates and Epictetus adorned,
which Aristides and Epaminondas chose, and which more re-
328
NOTES.
cently was not only suffered, but voluntarily incurred by men
of whom the world was not worthy. It does not affect the plea
I have ventured to offer in behalf of poverty, that the indi-
gence of the authors of our religion was voluntary, while that
of the bulk of mankind is the offspring of necessity. The very
choice in the former implies the absence of disgrace in the ob-
ject of it.
I am as far from desiring to deprive wealth of its due reve-
rence, as from thinking poverty contemptible or ridiculous.
As wealth is the object of universal desire, the usual forerun-
ner of leisure and information, and invariably the parent of
some degree of power, the possession of it is, if not the most
certain, at least the most general and simple criterion of merit.
Originally the fairness of this criterion was indisputable,
"For, born alike, from talent first began
The difference that distinguished man from man.'
"2
DRYDEN.
But
Even now the influence, if not the fairness of this criterion,
seems to be pretty generally recognised by mankind; for many
men endeavour to appear richer than they really are, but
scarcely any (except to avoid the rapacity of tyranny) are de-
sirous of being thought poorer than they really are.
though this criterion be safe enough in politics and in regula-
ting political distinctions, it is utterly absurd when introduced
into morals, and permitted to regulate moral sentiments. Such
is the influence of time and chance and the subordination of
regular society, that the successful suitors of wealth are in ge-
neral more indebted to the opportunity of manifesting their
merit than to any real or certain superiority to the rest of man-
kind. A lady, in accepting the addresses of her lover, is com-
monly said to prefer him to all mankind; but it might damp
the pride with which he admits this idea, if he could compare
himself with that narrow circle to which her experience and
choice extended.
NOTES.
329
But the maxim, that Sapiens dominabitur astris, seems to be
infallible with Mr Malthus, and not less so with Dr Smith, his
great prototype. Smith says that mercantile bankruptcy may
with ordinary prudence be avoided, and that in practice it is
generally escaped, though there be some who do not avoid it,
as there are some who do not avoid the gallows.
;
It deserves to be remembered, that the opinion professed by
some writers of the natural ridiculousness of poverty, has scarce-
ly ever been the creed of persons born to rank and affluence, or
of those who united native dignity with acquired wealth. It is,
plainly, not the opinion of Mr Malthus-for he would not pro-
pose to make that contemptible which had already this misfor-
tune. The great have generally disclaimed this notion, and
abandoned it to the faith of their parasites. It has been chiefly
professed by some poor scholars who sought patronage by a
sentiment which they hoped would be divitum mensis amica¸
or by a few others whom wealth has not exempted from pover-
ty of mind, and who, feeling no ennobling sentiments within
their own bosoms, sought to prop their pride and justify their
arrogance by enlarging every distinction between themselves.
and others, and consequently multiplying their own claims to
the respect of mankind. Those few of the great who have
ever professed the doctrines of this philosophy, have learned
them from men of letters. The meanness with which scholars
have endeavoured in this manner to foster prejudices in the
minds of the great is strikingly described by D'Alembert, in
his "Essay on the Alliance betwixt Learned Men and the
Great."
Perhaps the least satisfactory of all the reasonings of Justice.
Blackstone in his Commentaries, is that by which he has plead-
ed for a patent of gentility to the Apostles. "It is a vulgar
error," says he, "to suppose that the blessed Son chose his
followers out of the meanest of the people, because mechanics;
because this was part of the education of every Jewish noble-
Y
1
330
NOTES.
man. Two of the number, being his kinsmen, were of the royal
house of David; one was a Roman gentleman, and another of
the royal family of Syria." It is strange that the absurdity of
this passage was not rendered apparent to the learned writer
by the very observations which he immediately after proceeds.
to submit. For when he observes, in excuse of the poverty and
obscurity of some of the Apostles, that their master could ad-
vance the poor to honour and exalt the lowly, he ought to have
perceived the futility of worldly distinctions to him who can
create, controul, and level them at his pleasure.
Note (H) p. 294.
Some French philosophers have maintained the reverse.
"Plus le peuple est vif et gai," says Mirabeau, "toutes cho-
ses egales d'ailleurs, plus il est laborieux, plus il a d'industrie.”
With the view of increasing the industry of the French, he
proceeds to propose the general diffusion of musical perform-
ances and exhibitions throughout the country-to animate the
inhabitants, as they do horses at plough in the Highlands with
bagpipes. Whimsical as this project appears, it had been hap-
py if his philosophy could have been contented with it; but he
had too much concern for the gaiety and the industry of the
people to permit the subsistence of a religion so calculated to
produce seriousness as Christianity. The connection he suppo
sed between gaiety and industry serves to explain his opinion
that Christianity had broached the worst system of morals ever
taught in the world! He has charged with extinction of in
dustry, that religion which, by emancipating the cultivators of
land, has augmented the productive industry of every country
into which it has been introduced. The principal measures by
which the contemporaries of Mirabeau endeavoured to increase
the hilarity of their countrymen, and to enliven and improve
their morals, were the relaxation of the bond of marriage, the
institution of dances and public amusements on Sunday, and
NOTES.
331
the appropriation of the space below the guillotine to an exhi-
bition of dancing-dogs.
A writer of whom France will be more proud than of Mira-
beau, Madame de Staël, observes that a free people is always
serious; the dignity that attends the consciousness of freedom,
and the vigilance requisite to its preservation, repressing the
frivolity that accompanies either licentiousness or slavery.
Note (K) p. 298.
The Rev. Mr Dudley, a late writer on the State of Ireland,
asserts that mitigation of the pressure of rising rents is" the
real emancipation on which the hearts of the Irish people are
principally fixed;" and even recommends the interference of
the legislature for the mitigation of this pressure.-Address to
the Primate of Ireland, &c. by the Rev. H. Dudley. It is hardly
necessary to observe, that such interposition would be as ill-
judged a proceeding towards Ireland as can possibly be con-
ceived; and, except the gross injustice of it towards the land-
lords, would produce no other material effect than that of con-
firming the unhappy misapprehension of the deluded peasantry,
that government creates the cause, and ought to find the re-
medy of their hardships.
Mr Burke's ideas of the causes of the turbulence of the
lower Irish, seem to have coincided with the notions of Mr
Dudley. "It is not about Popes," says Mr Burke in a letter
to his son, "but about potatoes, that the minds of this unhap-
py people are agitated. It is not from the spirit of zeal, but
the spirit of whiskey, that these wretches act."-Letter to
Richard Burke, Esq. But this great statesman recommends a
policy the very reverse of that suggested by Mr Dudley. He
recommends the removal, not of the real and inevitable causes,
but of those fictitious and artificial causes of discontent which
exasperate the sufferings they do not create, and really deceive
both the government and the people. Punish, he says, every
violence that is committed-maintain every fair distinction of
7
332
NOTES.
rank and property, whether it breed discontent or not; but
give virtue fair play, and deprive discontent of every excuse
for guilt, by removing every unnecessary cause of irritation.
THE END.
EDINBURGH :
Printed by James Ballantyne & Co.

AN ENQUIRY
INTO THE
PRINCIPLES OF POPULATION,
EXHIBITING A
ERRATA.
Page 11. Note, l. 11. For "preparations” read “ preparation.”
25. Note †, 1. 2. For "meant" read " means.'
42, 1. 9. For" and the" read" and thus the.”
CE
""
48, 1. 23. For even much" read "even of much.”
58, l. 23. For“ permitted" read “ provided.”
77, 1. 4. For" Steuart" read" Stewart."
1. 20.
ว
Ditto
Ditto.
171, 1. 12. For "members bear to the members" read "numbers
bear to the numbers."
183, l. 5. For “such excess" read “much excess of numbers.”
190, 1. 26. Dele "only."
223, 1. 3. For “system on which the principle" read “ principle
on which the system," &c.
228, l. 16. For "chance on which" read" chance which.”
23, 1, 1. For❝ physical or moral” read “ physical and moral.”
238, l. 15. For “comes at nothing" read “ comes to nothing."
299, Note, l. 6. For" of the capital” read “ of capital.”
LONDON:
JAMES DUNCAN, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1832.
C. WHITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT,
CHANCERY LANE,
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.-PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
Section I.-Statement of the Subject, and of the Objects
•
proposed in this Enquiry
II.-Pressure for Subsistence amongst barbarous
Nations
III.-Pressure for Subsistence amongst Agricultural
States, possessing little external Commerce
IV.-Pressure for Subsistence amongst Commercial
States
CHAPTER II.-STATE OF POPULATION IN THE UNITED
Page
1
7
17
25
KINGDOM.
Section I.-Causes of Redundancy
29
II.-Capacity for the Production of Wealth
50
III.--Capacity for the Increase of Population.
57
CHAPTER III.-OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
Section I.-Positive Checks
II.-Preventive Checks
CHAPTER IV. OF THE PERIOD OF MARRIAGE MOST
BENEFICIAL TO SOCIETY
72
77
88
iv
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.-OF THE CHARITABLE SUPPORT OF THE
POOR.
Section I.-Right of the Poor to receive Assistance
Page
101
II.—Justice of all Classes contributing according to
their Means
105
III.-Expediency of making Charity a national Ob-
ject
108
4
CHAPTER VI.-ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
Section I.-History
•
II.-Evils
CHAPTER VII.-MEANS OF ESTABLISHING PRUDENTIAL
RESTRAINT IN REGARD TO MARRIAGE
AMONGST THE LABOURERS.
Section I.-General arrangement for the correction of Pau-
perism
II.-District or Parochial Regulations
III.-Funds
IV.-Description of Work to be performed by Pau-
pers
CHAPTER VIII.
MEANS OF ENABLING THE LABOURERS
TO SHAPE OUT WORK FOR THEMSELVES WITH-
OUT DETRIMENT TO OTHERS.
Section I.-Advantages of the Division of Capital and La-
113
123
130
148
159
164
bour
169
II.—Of widening the Channels of ordinary Employ-
ment
174
III. Of enabling ingenious Operatives to become
Master Manufacturers .
187
IV. Of widening the Channels of skilful Employ-
ment generally
193
CONTENTS.
V
CHAPTER IX.-MEANS OF STRENGTHENING THE FEEL-
ING OF SELF RESPECT IN THE LABOURer.
Section I.-Education
II. Mechanics' Institutions
III.-Public Parks
IV.-Life Insurances
V.-Use of Luxuries
CHAPTER X.-IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND, AND CON-
SEQUENT CHECK TO THE EMIGRATION OF LA-
BOURERS TO ENGLAND.
Section 1.-Causes of the Poverty of Ireland
II.
Remedies
III.-Auxiliary Measures
CHAPTER XI. MEANS OF GETTING RID OF THE EXIST-
ING REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION IN THE
UNITED KINGDOM.
Page
200
206
209
213
216
223
236
255
274
Section I.-Emigration
275
II. Cultivation of Waste Lands
292
III.-Fisheries
303
IV. Formation of Corps for Public Purposes at
home or abroad
310
V.—Order of Adoption of the different Measures
proposed
314
CHAPTER XII.-PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
318
PREFACE.
AN Author, in soliciting attention to a work
on the subject of Population, and the means
of removing distress amongst a great body of
the people, runs little risk of deceiving him-
self in respect to the intrinsic importance of his
theme. By common consent amongst all classes
of statesmen, the poor laws both in England
and Ireland, and every inquiry relating to the
correction of indigence, are pronounced to be
the most vital questions in public economy, de-
manding the earliest, closest, and most devoted
consideration of the legislature. And, indeed,
if all the bearings of these questions be traced,
this estimation of their paramount importance
will neither be found disproportioned to real
exigencies, nor to spring exclusively from that
direction of public discussion towards popular
subjects, which some individuals, who, in the
texture of their minds, are more of the past
age than the present, occasionally urge.
viii
PREFACE.
Do we endeavour to improve the foreign
commerce of the country, and to extend every
branch of manufacture to high limits; hoping
to animate the avocations of industry, to increase
revenue, to lessen the public burdens, and to
benefit the diversified businesses and professions
dependent on public prosperity, the poverty
of the people stands opposed as an insuperable
barrier. In vain can we look for extended
commerce, unless there be adequate means to
purchase foreign commodities, or for activity
in manufacturing industry, unless there be ex-
tensive domestic consumption; and if the in-
digence of the body of the people precludes this
liberal enjoyment of the necessaries of life, all
debates and projects respecting commercial
treaties, currency, finance, or reduction of tax-
ation, may hold out deceitful promises for the
hour, but a brief experience will prove them
abortive.
Do we seek to soften the asperity of political
discussion, to restore amenity, goodwill, and
kindliness of heart, amongst the various grada-
tions of society, to banish the anxious cares
and fears of the present and the future, which
nightly disturb the pillows of the affluent, and
to check in short the portentous dangers which
PREFACE.
ix
threaten the existence of our most revered in-
stitutions, still the condition of the people starts
up in fatal array to mock our efforts. Though
poverty exhibits the very type of inadequate
sustenance, it is the nutriment on which sedi-
tion feeds; and nugatory must be every at-
tempt to render property secure, or to tran-
quillize the country, unless this mighty cause
of disorganization be first eradicated.
Do we fondly hope to improve the morals,
to inspire the community with precepts of pure
religion, or to stay the course of depravity, vice,
and crime, which afflict us at every turn,
again, the deep seated distress of the people op-
poses itself as a fatal impediment to our wishes;
and probably the difficulty is even aggravated
by the spread of intelligence, causing the un-
fortunate to feel their misery with deeper acute-
ness. Anxious and sedulous and sincere as
our ministers of religion may be, the evils are
too manifold and stretch over too wide a space
for their single correction. The feeble exten-
sion of their arms can have little efficacy in
checking a torrent where a thousand noxious
streams, originating from a prolific source, and
acquiring progressive accession of volume, are
confluent.
X
PREFACE.
Upon every ground, therefore, in which the
welfare of the country can be viewed, imme-
diate measures affecting the lower classes of
society, and calculated to remove the distress,
demand primary consideration. For several
years a great portion of each session of Parlia-
ment has been occupied in plans for these ob-
jects. Emigration, the cultivation of waste
lands, the modification of the poor laws in Eng-
land, the introduction of them into Ireland,
have been alternately introduced, and they still
continue to consume the largest proportion of
time in public discussion. But it does not ex-
actly appear, that in any of those questions
material progress has been made, or that the
national mind has arrived at a definite or satis-
factory line of future proceeding. It is antici-
pated, that, in the next session of Parliament,
these subjects will be revived with fresh ar-
dour, and with superior means for decisive ad-
justment. Materials are now collecting, and
all those, not the least estimable class, who feel
deeply for the practical improvement of their
country, and look rather for actions in legis-
lation than for words, are full of anxiety for the
plans which government may deem it expedient
to propose. It is to be hoped, that there being
PREFACE.
xi
no violent passions to gratify, no party politics
to excite the feelings, these great questions
will be examined and decided in an enlightened,
deliberate, and philosophical spirit.
Animated with this cheering anticipation, and
possessed with such sentiments respecting the
spirit of discussion, the Author has undertaken
to treat of the whole subject, in an enlarged and
consecutive manner. In the following sheets
will be found an investigation of all the funda-
mental principles, which must be selected as
the basis for the settlement of these great ques-
tions; and it is conceived that few interroga-
tions or inquiries can arise upon any one of the
points touching population, poverty, or poor
laws, which have not been freely answered,
whatever may be the degree of correctness.
These subjects divide themselves into two
heads 1st. To remove the existing redun-
dancy of population. 2dly. To prevent its re-
currence. Every person but slightly versed in
political economy is well aware, that the latter
point is much the more difficult of the two.
In its satisfactory solution, a far wider range
of information, of comprehensive reasoning, and
of discriminating judgment, is required, than in
the preceding measure. Hence the compara-
xii
PREFACE.
tive indifference, if not contempt, with which
the great majority of plans, exhibiting rapid
movements in the correction of pauperism,
originating with benevolent individuals, but of
slender and unphilosophical attainments, are
viewed by experienced statesmen. It cannot,
indeed, be denied, that, not only in both Houses
of Parliament but amongst public writers, there
is a disposition to reject, as unsatisfactory and
defective, the various proposals for removing
distress, which periodically start up. This
arises, in many cases, from superior vigour of
thought, and from the difficulty to deduce sound
conclusions respecting the ulterior fate of the
poor, and of the certain prevention of future
evils.
The author, therefore, has considered that,
though the removal of the existing redundancy
of the people is prior in point of actual pro-
cedure, it should be taken second in the order
of discussion, and that the means of prevent-
ing the recurrence of all the evils, incident to
poverty, should be first exhibited. This in-
quiry naturally occupies considerable space;
but a solution of those questions immediately
pressing, and requiring prompt interference,
will be obtained more speedily and satisfac-
F
1
1
i
PREFACE.
xiii
torily, when theoretical principles are tho-
roughly understood.
It is rather to be lamented that on so grave
a subject, presenting so slight materials for
asperity of any kind, a controversial spirit
should be permitted to appear.
The lofty
benevolence of the theme, one would imagine,
should preclude the possibility of any writer
descending to contention, or thinking of estab-
lishing a fame by peculiarity of views, in place
of elevated humanity. In the following pages,
it is conceived, there is little controversy;
unity of object has been kept steadily in view;
and though the general theory is different from
that of any preceding writer, it will be cheer-
fully surrendered, without even one pang of
regret, if wiser and more benevolent plans be
devised. Though the principles of preceding
writers are thus rejected, there is no attempt to
impugn their merits or their utility. All
knowledge is progressive, and, most of all, the
knowledge of political economy, of compara-
tively recent origin, and depending as it does
upon new relations and ever varying circum-
stances. Who, possessed of the smallest
candour, would think of underrating the merit
of Dr. Adam Smith, because his work con-
xiv
PREFACE.
1
tains errors that subsequent scrutiny and
examination have discovered. Who, again,
would venture to detract from Mr. Malthus,
even though his theory be unsound. He
has performed his part; and having stood at
the head of philosophical writers upon the
most difficult part of political economy, for
upwards of thirty years, he may, if fresh cir
cumstances have supplied the means for estab
lishing opposite principles, quietly allow them
to prevail, without imagining that his laurels
will be in any degree tarnished. It would,
indeed, be tasking the human mind to impos-
sibilities, to expect the most gifted individual
to exhaust a subject depending for its very
aliment upon evanescent and fluctuating ma-
terials; and, having attempted to do homage
to the merit of preceding and distinguished
writers, the author may be the more readily
excused, when he ventures to dissent from their
doctrine.
Few persons of information for a moment
suppose, that there are any empirical means
to remove the evils of indigence which at
present afflict this country. The case admits
not of concealed nostrums, or dazzling rapidity
of action; but the discovery of a pervading
PREFACE.
XV
principle that will attain the end, even though
the process be gradual and slow, is not the less
effectual and useful; neither is the merit of this
discovery the less, though the means selected
for its eduction be simple and familiar. To
seize at any time upon an obvious truth, unno-
ticed and neglected by the mass of mankind,
and to shew that it teems with important con-
sequences is justly pronounced to be all the
originality which an author of the present day
can hope to attain. This principle of investi-
gation has been preserved throughout the fol-
lowing undertaking; and it is desirable that
the attention of other writers, directed to this
subject, should at all times proceed in a similar
spirit.
The more trite positions in political economy,
requiring notice, for purposes of perspicuity
in a train of reasoning, have been cursorily
treated; those views generally have been re-
tained which seem sanctioned by the best and
most intelligent writers; and illustrations have
been succinctly repeated in one or two in-
stances, in order that subsequent deductions
might appear more lucid and satisfactory.
An author, in the present day, has only to
ask, is his theory true, certain that, if so,
xvi
PREFACE.
sooner or later, it will prevail; and if the prin-
ciples sought to be established in the following
pages, are sound in themselves, they cannot
but create some change in public economy.
A new impetus will be given in many impor-
tant concerns of life; and our prospects, now
deemed dangerous and gloomy, will be con-
sidered in the distance safe and exhilarating.
20th November, 1832.
2
1
PRINCIPLES OF POPULATION.
CHAPTER I.
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
SECTION I.-Statement of the Subject, and of the Objects
proposed in this Enquiry.
T
Ir has ever been the tendency of the human mind
to frame general laws too prematurely, in accounting
for the various operations of nature. Though this
propensity, in its abstract sense, be the primitive
source of all the attainments of man, yet it some-
times is productive of much temporary injury, by
giving a wrong direction to our thoughts, and
retarding the advancement of true knowledge. In
the physical world the evil consequences are not
so great as in the moral; because, in the former, the
observation of those prominent facts, on which we
found our theories, is more within our reach, and
can be divested of complicated relations with supe-
rior facility. But even here there is much liability
to error, if we depend on observation alone. It
B
2
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
has been well observed, that in those sciences in
which we are precluded from experiment, the pro-
gress in knowledge has been slow and uncertain,
while in such as admit of experiment, it has been
rapid and steady. In the latter case we can separate
details and vary combinations; and whenever we are
in doubt in respect to any of the results, constant
means are presented for fresh investigation, to satisfy
our minds. It is easy, therefore, to account for the
comparative backwardness of legislation, and all
such sciences, in which we are not only debarred
from experiment, from a regard to the welfare of the
existing population, but in which observation itself
is difficult, and liable to be distorted by a thousand
conflicting passions. The actual experience in its
proper sense, to which the legislator can refer, in
framing comprehensive laws, is much less than is
generally supposed. It is not his business to com-
pare the operations of individuals, limited and
transient in themselves, but those of entire genera-
tions, frequently stretching through a vast period of
time; and thus several centuries may elapse before
he can complete his classification of general facts,
and ascend to his comprehensive induction of ultimate
principles. Society is not yet sufficiently advanced
for operations of this kind, and it would be well if
this fact were attended to in practical legislation;
and that a less disposition were shown to assume
certain principles as indubitable which have not yet
been sufficiently verified.
1
I
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
3
:
It is now universally admitted, that the inductive.
process of reasoning is our only sure guide for the dis-
covery of truth; and three periods have been pointed
out, as distinguishing the manner in which the ad-
vancement takes place. In the first, every thing seems
vague and uncertain; facts are considered as inde-
pendent of each other; no attempt is made to trace
their connections or constant relations; consequently,
all reasoning is little more than a species of conjecture,
which may be right or wrong, according to accident.
In the second, observations have become extended, but
they appear complicated, and are not sufficiently nu-
merous or well defined to allow accurate theories to
be formed this is the period for hypotheses, which,
if cautiously received, stimulate further research,
and prepare the way for the discovery of sound and
universal principles. In the third, these principles
are securely established; and, as we are now possessed
of a comprehensive law, giving the means of explain-
ing and verifying the most complicated series of
events, knowledge makes rapid progress. In regard
to politics, we are still in the second period, in which
we must be content to remain for some time; so soon
as the line is once fairly passed, mankind will take
astonishing strides, and will soon recover any ground
lost in antecedent periods of doubt and perplexity.
Because the science of government has hitherto been
capricious, it does not follow that it will always
continue so. The passions of individuals may be
infinitely diversified, and are probably incapable of
4
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
being collated for any useful purpose, to form a
general rule of conduct; but it is different with
nations, where we have to deal with collective
character. Let us imagine, for example, how much
more extended will be the experience of our descend-
ants, and how much more clear and satisfactory their
judgment in many all-important questions, when a
few generations shall have passed away, and when
the results of the great changes now in progress in
England, France, America, and the world at large,
have become known. Matters, which seem now
only open to interminable discussion, will be set at
rest. Mankind will know then, if not finally, at
least much better than they know now, what form
of government is best, what system of commercial
policy should be pursued, and what solution should
be given to all those great questions, concerning
which they are still at variance. Time alone is
required for the evolution of general principles on
these subjects; it is, therefore, the more incumbent on
us to guard against premature generalization, the evils.
of which may spread over a wide space, and be the
prolific source of other errors. When a principle is
once received with apparent unanimity, we proceed
to erect our superstructure; and if it does not meet
the end designed, we alter it again and again, rarely
thinking of examining the foundation. Such an illus-
tration, it is conceived, is applicable to the principle
now generally recognized relative to population. It
is received as a general law to form the basis for
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
5
legislation; and if any error primarily exist, it can-
not for a moment be doubted, that the consequences
must be most mischievous.
But
According to this law, the human race has a con-
stant tendency to increase beyond the means of subsist-
ence, and is kept down to its necessary level by some
one or other of the various forms of misery, or the fear
of misery, prevailing amongst a large portion of man-
kind. As a necessary consequence, it is sometimes
contended, that the condition of the great body of
the people in every country being poor and miserable,
we can hardly hope to banish from the world the
ills of poverty and want. It is probable that some
recent writers have shown a disposition to go greater
lengths in this gloomy doctrine than was originally
intended by its distinguished propounder.
still, the law itself receives an implicit acquiescence,
and is considered to be borne out by the test of
all ages and of all countries. At present, it not
only exercises an extensive influence on legislation,
but it has begun to indurate the private relations
and charities of life. It seems to have gained
strength from every fresh attack, so much so, that
all reasoning in opposition is now heard with unwil-
lingness, indeed with a pre-disposition to reject it as
unworthy of notice. But the sanction of eminent
authority should never preclude the fullest discus-
sion, or the most searching examination.
It may
induce us to offer our objections with diffidence, and
to be more careful in our process of investigation;
6
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
but if our grounds of dissent appear cogent in them-
selves, and not sufficiently examined by those from
whom we differ, we should be patiently heard.
It shall, therefore, be our first attempt to show, that
it is, at least, premature to assume the doctrine we
have described as a general law. We shall proceed
in our enquiry, according to the gradations in which
Society is generally viewed: First, we shall consider
the condition of barbarous nations; Secondly, of
agricultural states which have little or no foreign
commerce; Thirdly, of commercial and highly
civilized states. In all of these we shall endeavour
to shew that, confining ourselves strictly to past.
experience, and avoiding hypothetical reasoning in
respect to the future, it has not been proved that
there is any tendency in population to increase
beyond the means of subsistence. With most
reasoners on this subject, the deduction of actual
facts, and hypothetical views of the future, have
been blended; and there are grounds for believing,
that decisions have been pronounced or strengthened
respecting the former, while the thoughts rested
upon considerations solely affecting the latter. We
shall endeavour to separate these views; and as we
consider the refutation of the hypothetical argument
the more difficult of the two, we shall take it last.
In our endeavours to refute the received theory
relative to population, it is not intended to maintain
that poverty, and the consequent miseries attendant
upon it, can be completely eradicated from the world.
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
7
Human life is declared to be a state of discipline, in
which the various faculties of mankind are to be
exerted, and to accomplish this with effect, there
must be some contrast, some example to impel the
mass of the people to avoid vice, to practise economy,
and to strive with unremitting zeal to ameliorate their
condition by successful industry. Were it otherwise
ordained, supineness would succeed to activity; and,
in place of an animated picture of emulative exertion,
with all its alternations of hope and fear pleasingly
diversified, we should behold a stagnation of the
human faculties. But we shall endeavour to shew,
in the subsequent parts of our undertaking, that
poverty, and all the evils attendant upon it, may
be progressively diminished; and every year made
to approach nearer to that state in which they will
fall only upon the improvident and the guilty; and
thus, ceasing to be deplorable, will serve as a useful
example to others, to incite them to practise pru-
dence and virtue.
SECTION II.
Pressure for Subsistence amongst barbarous Nations.
WRITERS on Population generally place the inhabi-
tants of New South Wales as about the lowest in the
scale of human beings. They are described as ill-
8
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
made, and emaciated from the poverty of their living.
At times they are obliged to live upon worms, and a
few berries obtained from the woods. Sometimes a
famine takes place, which cuts off thousands; and
their skeletons and the vestiges of their remains may
be seen scattered over the country. This state of
things is said to have existed ever since we have
known that territory; and it is pronounced as a proof
that the population is limited, and is, indeed, occa-
sionally checked in the most violent manner by the
scanty means of subsistence.
For the sake of contrast let us now turn to the little
spot where the English settlement has been established.
We find that on a few acres, forming perhaps not the
one-thousandth part of the entire territory, food is pro-
duced in such abundance as would supply the wants
of a population augmented to ten times the number of
the primitive inhabitants. In particular seasons the
excess of corn is stated to be so great, that it is a sub-
ject of complaint amongst the settlers that they cannot
procure a market for its disposal, and are obliged to
let it perish, from their inability to exchange it for
those articles of convenience and gratification which
they have been accustomed to consume.
If we confine our attention to these facts before us,
it is certainly difficult to understand on what grounds
the first state of things is assumed to be perpetual, or
considered to exhibit an undeviating tendency in popu-
lation to increase faster than food can be provided for
its support according to the actual results following
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
9
the efforts employed, we are justified in pronouncing
the converse of the proposition to be more accurate,
and that food has a tendency to increase faster than
population. The subsistence amongst the barbarous
people surrounding the little colony teeming with
abundance cannot be said to be in itself inadequate ;
there is only a misdirection of the means employed;
and the moment a beneficial change takes place—a
change natural to the constitution of man-the relative
supply of sustenance increases, and the misery dis-
appears. We are bound to consider man as a rational
being, having a propensity to better his condition,
which is said never to leave him from the cradle to the
grave; and the instant his advancement commences
the means of subsistence become proportionably more
abundant. An increased supply of sustenance, there-
fore, uniformly precedes an increase of numbers; and
if there be not some verbal misunderstanding relative
to the terms employed, it does not appear that the
received law of population is at all strengthened, or
indeed borne out, by illustrations selected from the
early stages of society.
It is freely granted, that amongst barbarous people
great misery will be endured, and that at times many of
the inhabitants may die from want; but the question is,
to what cause are these evils attributable? In every
subject it is well known that two events may, without
sufficient reason, be considered inseparably connected
as cause and effect, the connexion being in fact only
incidental. It is important to separate causes from
10
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
accessories; and it is not difficult to shew that the
primary causes which give abundance of food in every
country are, the acquisition of knowledge, the security
of property, the exertion of industry, and good govern-
ment. On the other hand, when these are wanting,
there must be poverty, totally independent of the extent
or fertility of the land; and wherever there is poverty,
population will appear to press against the means of
subsistence. The want, therefore, of knowledge and
of a proper system of government is the true cause of
the misery conspicuous amongst barbarous nations: the
inadequacy of the supply of food is merely an accom-
panying circumstance; it runs parallel with the pre-
dominating cause-is in constant association with that
cause; but it cannot be selected as the first in the order
of the sequence, or as the proper origin of the misery.
The deficiency of sustenance is merely an evil which,
in common with a great number of others, may be
attributed to the same source. Some of these evils are
more constant in their operation than others; and
when one is universally present, we look upon it
sometimes as an operating cause, and not as a con-
comitant. The alleged deficiency of sustenance is
precisely in this predicament: it will vary as the
operating causes vary; recede or advance, diminish
or extend, according to the nature and comparative
intensity of their operation. Look which way we
will, the degree of poverty and misery in the first
conditions of society is proportioned to the state of
knowledge, the insecurity of property, and bad govern-
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
11
ment; and never to the comparative fertility of the
land, or the number of people who may inhabit an
extensive territory. Let those first elements requisite
for the advancement of man be established, and the
population will increase, and the pressure of want at
once disappear; but all efforts to extend territory, or
to lessen the inhabitants with a view to improve their
condition will be in vain, unless knowledge, or some
approach to the essential elements we have described,
be first introduced. Let the territory of New Hol-
land be immeasurably enlarged, or let the natives
be reduced one-half, and in all probability it will
make no difference in their condition: but it ought
to do so, if the received doctrine respecting popula-
tion were correct. On the other hand, the smallest
symptom of a primary cause such as has been stated
would immediately change the aspect of society, and
create plenty; and throughout all stages of subse-
quent advancement, it will draw in its train the same
beneficial effects.
This view of the question will appear more clear
by considering the progress of nations emerging from
a savage state. The first stage, where men live upon
the fruits and herbs that present themselves spon-
taneously, and the wild animals which they catch in
the chase, is extremely precarious, and cannot admit
of great numbers of people. The change from this
to the pastoral state will depend upon the comparative
number of wild animals that can be found upon a
given space, and their susceptibility of being tamed.
12
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
When the animals are ferocious, scanty in number, or
widely scattered, the inhabitants will be doomed to
a long continuance, probably for ever, in the most
repulsive states of society. When, on the other hand,
animals are not difficult to procure, and easily tamed,
the rise to the pastoral state is comparatively rapid.
It must sometimes happen, that more animals are
taken in the chase than will suffice for one meal, or
for one day, and endeavours will be made to preserve
them for future wants. In this case their utility
must be observed; efforts will be made to tame them,
and they will be gradually brought to afford a con-
tinual supply to their owners, so as to relieve them
from the precariousness of the chase. We have here
the first fruits of the acquisition of knowledge, or of
that superiority of man which enables him to put all
that is around him in requisition for his use, and to
control the largest and the strongest to do him service.
No sooner are the first inventive and reasoning powers
developed than society improves, and for a long period
of time distress disappears; a larger number of persons
in this second state can be supported upon the same
extent of territory; the animals become more numerous
by being carefully managed; the rights of property,
though probably an instinctive passion, become better
appreciated; and thus, from the reciprocal action of
a number of contemporaneous causes, a higher state
of society is attained.
This seems to have been the natural progress in all
parts now distinguished for civilization: certain favour-
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
13
able circumstances unquestionably appear requisite,
and we should therefore be disposed to doubt the
likelihood of all savage nations progressively passing
through the states of the hunter, the shepherd, and
the cultivator. In all probability, the savage life now
found in the world is a degeneration from the pastoral:
by some accident or untoward event men may have
been driven from their flocks and herds, and in an
unfriendly region, not having animals within their
reach, they have gradually fallen to a lower condition.
Had they been acquainted with agriculture, they
might have retained their acquirements, and have
found means for procuring the implements for culti-
vation; but being ignorant of that art, and having no
materials for attaining the pastoral state, they became
savages from necessity.
Invention is stimulated by this necessity, and
though it is not likely that the savages, in countries
like New Holland, will ever make efforts to civilize
themselves; yet some writers have maintained that
were an increase of people from any cause suddenly
to take place, it would be the most likely mode to
push them forward, by impelling them to employ some
forethought in procuring their food. But if there be
doubt in respect to this beneficial operation in the
lowest stages of society, few will dispute that it works
with powerful efficacy, when the pastoral state is
established, and the rights of property are secured.
For a long period the increase of population is
followed by an increase of food; but it is wisely
14
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
ordered that this state of society should not continue.
Poverty may be removed for a long time, but it will
eventually take place unless further exertions be made.
The herdsman has not a supply of grass for the entire
of his cattle during the year; he can only provide for
the most valuable of them during the winter, leaving
the rest to support themselves by the scanty herbage
which can be procured in that inclement season. In
tropical regions corresponding difficulties ensue from
excessive droughts, and thus a considerable part of
the cattle perishing at times, renders the shepherd life
precarious. In time a pressure for subsistence will
be felt, and distress will appear; but still this distress
and apparent tendency of population to outstrip
subsistence, will be a concomitant circumstance,
ascribable to the backward knowledge and imperfect
government. It will disappear so soon as further
security of property and higher mental acquirements
arise. When the tribes of the pastoral nations arrive
at any land of great fertility, they will be anxious to
settle themselves; they will seek to guard against
hostile incursions; and they will endeavour to estab-
lish a vigilant form of government. Succeeding in
these ends, and enjoying greater security, they will
have more leisure and will devote some of their time
to various arts. Settled in the same place for a con-
siderable period, they will observe the progress of
vegetation; they will discover the means to avail
themselves of its assistance to protract their residence
in a secure and agreeable district; and, in one word,
i
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
15
they will commence to till the land. Here again is
a higher state of society created, strictly ascribable
to the developement of those primary elements,
knowledge, security, and industry, combining with
each other, and gradually acting with accelerated
force in accomplishing the desired end. We reach
thus the agricultural state, where for a long period
the pressure for food is unfelt and unthought of. It
seems, therefore, that under ordinary circumstances
these early stages of society exhibit a uniform ten-
dency in the human race to improve its condition, and
it is not thwarted in that design by any difficulty to
procure subsistence, whenever the incentives natural
to man manifest themselves with proper force.
It does not appear that there are any just excep-
tions to this rule. The infanticide of Otaheite, which
is frequently adduced as exhibiting a striking proof
of the necessity of men to keep down their numbers
to the supply of food, hardly bears out the construc-
tion that is put upon it. It is the chiefs and higher
classes of society who are guilty of this crime; it is
not these who would have the fear of want before
them; it would rather be, as it is in all other coun-
tries, the lowest description of people: the bar-
barous custom therefore should be ascribed to the
profligacy of the manners, and the desire to enjoy a
long continuance of pleasures, and not to any fore-
thought that population might soon outstrip the
capabilities of the island to produce hogs and bread-
fruit. Whether or not society could continue in-
16
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
creasing in Otaheite is another question, and belongs
to the second branch of the subject; it is sufficient to
observe that the state of the population is just what
would be imagined on our referring to the state of
knowledge and the nature of the government.
On the other hand, in respect to some countries in
which there is lavish abundance of food, without the
people in the least degree breeding up to the supply,
the explanations of Mr. Malthus are not satisfactory.
In Guiana and that large district in South America,
bordering on the Oronoco, there is a scanty popula-
tion, nearly in the first stages of nature, which seems,
according to tradition, to have remained for ages in
the same relative position, though treated with ex-
treme kindness by the nations which have settlements
on that coast, in order to use them as a protection
against the African slaves. Their wants are supplied
with the greatest ease; the rivers yield a supply of
fish; vegetation is luxuriant beyond example; the
banana and the cassava root have spread in every
direction; and they give such abundance that it is
probable the majority of the inhabitants have never
known what hunger is without being aware that it
proceeded from their own indolence, and could be
satiated were they sufficiently to rouse themselves
to proceed to the nearest river or valley.
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
17
SECTION III.
Pressure for Subsistence amongst Agricultural States,
possessing little external Commerce.
THE agricultural state has frequently been described
as the most prosperous condition of man. There seems
an abundance of that description of property which is
most coveted, and in the healthy pursuits of rural
industry severe privations are unknown. But unless
mankind continued to live in the rudest state, and
satisfied with the fewest wants, this condition must
soon reach its limits, and poverty amongst a portion
of the people at length appear. The distinction
of ranks extends as society advances: some articles
distinct from sustenance will require to be purchased
by the better classes, and these must be paid for
out of the funds which otherwise would be applied
to the support of the agricultural labourers. Amongst
this latter class, after a certain limit is passed, there
will be increased difficulty in procuring employment:
the strict appropriation of the land follows the intro-
duction of agriculture; the labourers, therefore, are
constrained to offer their services for money; and if
there be little or no foreign commerce affording em-
ployment, in case they cannot procure it in cultivating
the land, they will be unable to purchase subsistence.
But still this state of things does not prove that there
C
18
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
is any tendency in the population to outstrip the means
of subsistence. The distress amongst the labourers
is an accompanying effect of one of the primary causes
of social retardation, which, if permitted to exist, is
certain to draw evils in its train. It is the mis-
direction of industry which causes the distress; let
foreign commerce be introduced; let towns arise.
where new employments present ample resources
for the exertions of the redundant population, and
the difficulties will be removed. Foreign com-
merce seems necessary to every people when once.
the distinctions of rank are fully established, and
the higher classes, possessing leisure, and disbanding
idle and unproductive retainers, commence to cul-
tivate a refinement of manners. It is by commerce
that those retainers can be employed; by its means
the field is widened for them; the interchange of the
productions of the labour of one country with those
of the labour of other countries extends the range of
general employment, calls new commodities into ex-
istence, and gives eventually more subsistence to the
people. When every country is left at liberty to pro-
duce those commodities for which it is best calculated,
and which it produces in the greatest abundance, the
same quantity of labour, from the international adjust-
ment of commerce, will produce a greater quantity of
commodities; and therefore there will be a larger
portion for each inhabitant. If we continue to view
man as a rational being, in every stage desirous of
improving his condition, we must admit the tendency
:
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
19
to emerge from the rude agricultural state to one of
greater refinement; and the moment this takes place,
the apparent redundancy of people disappears. Com-
merce creates a proper and beneficial division of labour,
the result of which diffuses itself in all parts, and settles
the people in those particular places and pursuits which
are best adapted to their energies and faculties.
The history of nations exhibits these recurring
changes, evincing that the rise or fall of prosperity
is precisely in unison with the particular direction of
industry. China has been selected as furnishing a
decisive proof of the tendency of population to increase
beyond the means of subsistence. This country, it is
said, possesses an excellent soil, is advantageously
situated in the warmest parts of the temperate zone,
and is well watered by a number of lakes, rivers, and
canals; yet, notwithstanding these advantages, such
is the distress amongst the people for food, that parents
sell their daughters for a trifle, and frequently destroy
or expose their infants. Famine too, at times, steps
in with stern severity, and sweeps off incredible num-
bers.
It is freely admitted that China presents the strongest
case in favour of the doctrine under examination; but
even here a few considerations will tend to weaken the
predominant impression. In the first place, marriage
forms part of the religion of the country; extraordinary
encouragements are held out to it, and from time to time
constant admonitions to all classes appear from those
in authority to increase and multiply as the great end
1
20
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
།
of the social system: under such circumstances, to
remain single is held disreputable, and a father feels
guilty of impropriety, unless he is able to settle his
children in marriage. In the second place, it does.
not appear that there is any law of primogeniture in
China; the possessions of every father are equally
distributed amongst his sons: this naturally causes a
great subdivision of property, which has in itself not
only a strong tendency to promote population, but
which, carried to an extreme, depresses the reward of
labour, and keeps the great body of the people in
indigence. In the third place, while agriculture is
encouraged with every description of pomp, esteem,
and almost veneration, foreign commerce is contemned,
and is by the laws prohibited. These causes combined
are quite sufficient to account for the anomalous con-
dition of the Chinese population: we find, on the one
hand, most extraordinary encouragements given to
increase it; and, on the other hand, almost equal
pains taken to prevent beneficial employments, which
must spring up if industry were unrestrained and di-
rected to its legitimate channels: it is not, therefore,
difficult to account for the infanticide and general
redundancy of the people. We prceive, as in all
other cases, that the state of knowledge, and the
political institutions, produce the very effects we
should anticipate. The institutions are contradictory
and vicious, and poverty amongst a large portion of
the people necessarily appears, running parallel as an
accompanying circumstance with the primary causes.
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
21
The other examples, which are sometimes quoted,
appear equally as capable of explanation as China.
It is said that the great migrations and movements
of nations which have taken place throughout the
world, have been occasioned by population increasing
faster than food. It was this which caused the con-
stant conflicts of the shepherds of Asia, and the
northern nations to overrun the Roman Empire of the
West: it was this also which caused Greece to send
out numerous colonies, these again forming fresh
migrations to parts still more distant.
That these movements prove a great increase of
people no person can dispute; but it is quite possible
that some exaggeration may take place in respect to
the motive assigned. The desire of a more agreeable
residence, the attractions of a more alluring climate,
the love of change, and the predatory habits of war-
fare of the northern nations, may account for their
migrations. The colonies sent out by civilized Greece
may also be explained without assuming a positive
deficiency of food. There might be a greater difficulty
among the freemen of procuring settlements in land,
and they might prefer endeavouring to obtain this
necessary adjunct to personal consideration in distant
parts. But that there was no positive distress or ex-
treme difficulty of procuring subsistence in both these
cases would appear manifest from the unabated con-
tinuance of slavery. Had population really out-
stripped the means of subsistence, this condition of
society would have previously terminated, as the
22
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
masters would have sought voluntary services
knowing that it would be cheaper to let the slaves
support themselves than to continue the system of
providing them with food.
Even in the republic of Aristotle, which frequently
attracts attention as elucidative of the opinions of the
ancients upon these subjects, it does not appear that
the permission to check the increase of population
arose from a fear of its going beyond the supply of
food. It was because a certain equality of property
was considered indispensable; and, as property at
that time consisted of land, it was considered that any
increase of the people might be fatal to this system
of liberty to keep up therefore a stated number of
freemen forms part of the regulations of the republic,
so that the ideal equality might be strictly pre-
served.
Whether we take the ancient or the modern world,
man can never be considered a stationary being.
Many deplorable evils strike us in the history of
nations of which distresses amongst the lower classes
of society seem the most prominent. But if we take
a wide span from century to century, we can explain
past difficulties, and can discover no uncontrollable
laws that restrain advancement. The increase or
decrease of a people, their happiness or misery, de-
pend not upon such gross considerations as soil or
territory. Let us survey the countries which were
once populous and happy, but which now are sunk
to the lowest state of degradation. In the Ottoman
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
23
气
​empire, where magnificent cities flourished, there are
now only a few huts, and straggling inhabitants, indi-
gent, slothful, and depraved, wander through entire
provinces, which at one time gave subsistence to
millions. According to the received doctrine of
population, the misery in those places would be
ascribed to the pressure for subsistence or the opera-
tion of a natural law; and yet, if there be meaning
in language, we know how contrary is the actual
cause. The supply of subsistence and of all the
articles of life, diffusing comfort, rises or falls accord-
ing to a people's deserts. It was the security of
property and good government which enabled Greece,
with her little territory, to extend her power and her
people amongst remote regions. It is the insecurity
of property and bad government which have pro-
duced the mighty change, and which expose the
proud Turk to contempt and insult from every passing
stranger. Mankind are inclined to industry if they
can reap its fruits; but no one wishes to sow if the
harvest be extorted from him by plunder, fraud, or
the capricious exactions of tyranny. The just infer-
ence is, that both population and food are restrained
by vicious institutions, and that under a wise ordi-
nation of things both augment with rapidity, food
appearing the precursor, from its being the means
by which property is first accumulated.
The peopling of America is a striking illustration
of this principle. Were any individual to have re-
flected upon the received doctrine of population at
24
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
the time emigration took place to the Spanish pro-
vinces and to the United States, he must have pro-
nounced, from the comparative proportions of food
and people, that the ratio of increase in both ter
ritories would have been the same. The fertility
of the land of Spanish America is quite equal,
probably superior, to that of the northern terri-
tory; it is fully as extensive, and were the facility
of procuring sustenance the chief consideration in
determining the increase of numbers, the ratio of
increase here should be as great as in the United
States: yet what is the fact? the one doubles itself
in twenty-five years, the other exhibits an increase
short of many parts of Europe. It is not, there-
fore, the fertility of the land or the intrinsic ease
with which persons can provide themselves with
sustenance that determines the rate of increase: it
is far different causes, more flattering to the intel-
lectual and moral character of man. Let benefits
corresponding to those possessed by the United States
be established in Spanish America, and the same re-
sults in respect to population will follow. In all
colonies, therefore, which are analogous to the agri-
cultural states of Society, we perceive a disposition
of mankind to advance in their condition if properly
governed, and, associated with that cause, a tendency
to produce more food than is required for the actual
population.
I
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
25
SECTION IV.
Pressure for Subsistence amongst Commercial States.
WHEN the argument respecting redundancy of popu-
lation is applied to nations which possess extensive
foreign commerce, it is worthy of remark, that the
phraseology is changed. In the early stages of
society the terms are,-population has a tendency to
increase faster than food; but in advanced civilized
states, the terms are,-population has a tendency to
increase faster than the funds devoted to the support
of industry. It is apparent that, in this latter case,
the same proposition would apply to any other article
as well as to food. If we beheld a man scantily
clothed, we might, with equal propriety, say that
there was a tendency in population to increase faster
than woollen cloth, as that there was a tendency to
increase faster than food. The first proposition, we
are inclined to think, our manufacturers, now over-
burthened with stocks difficult of sale, would be
disposed to deny.
The circumstances which govern the supply of
funds devoted to industry, we shall presently in-
vestigate; in the mean time a few remarks
may be
necessary to shew that, viewing the past and present,
there is no proof that population in the United
Kingdom has a tendency to increase faster than sub-
26
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
sistence. At present, it is notorious that more food is
raised in Ireland, and in other parts, where the
distress is greatest, than is required for the subsist-
ence of the people. At the time that the famine
existed in that country, in the year 1826, when
potatoes and articles of the lowest description of sus-
tenance were conveyed to the distressed districts;
wheat, and articles of a superior description of sus-
tenance, were conveyed down the river Shannon for
exportation. In this state of things, the language
generally used respecting the inadequacy of subsist-
ence is inconsistent and contradictory. Great dis-
tress may indubitably exist; but that distress must
be traced to other causes than a tendency of the people
to outstrip the means of subsistence. A redundant.
population, proceeding from the scantiness or incapa-
bility of the land to afford sustenance, is one thing; a
redundant population proceeding from unequal dis-
tribution of wealth, is another. If the argument be,
that hitherto the organization of industry, in most com-
mercial countries, has been such, that great distress
prevails, it is correct; but no such conclusion can be
formed, if we drop this consideration of industry, and
refer to population and subsistence alone. Of course,
no more food will be brought into existence than is
really required; it should be considered precisely
as any other commodity; a given quantity will be
produced whenever it is wanted; and, indeed, to act
otherwise, would be to waste it, or to employ it for no
definite purpose. It is clear, therefore, it will always
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
27
be adjusted to population, and, according to past ex-
perience, there is nothing to induce us to believe
that it will not start off with quite as great rapidity
as population, whenever industry gives a great im-
petus to the latter to increase.
In point of fact, as we advance towards high civi-
lization, the tendency of food to increase faster than
population becomes more conspicuous; from the well
known principle, that in every manufacture, or busi-
ness, there is a tendency amongst producers to raise
the supply beyond the demand. Were food a dur-
able article, easily warehoused, and were the trade
conducted on the same principles as in other com-
modities, we should just behold the same glut, or
excess of supply, as is now witnessed in respect to
cottons in South America. The excess, indeed, is
sometimes actually seen in the north of Europe, where
corn constitutes an important export, and where,
contrary to the opinion of many writers, it seems
to possess no peculiar tendency to create a market
for itself.
The causes which regulate a proper adjustment
of the supply to the demand, and which distribute
advantageously to all classes the dispensations which
Nature has at her command-or, in other words,
wealth, in all its various forms-strictly depend, in
the far advanced state of Great Britain, on the
same principles as in the most barbarous regions.
It is still knowledge, security, industry, and good
government, which are required to eradicate dis-
28
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
·
tress; more refined, perhaps, in their develope-
ment, but in primary characteristics essentially the
same. Proud as we are of our achievements, and
the station this country has attained amongst the
nations of the world, we are yet but novices in these
great points, on which the ultimate advancement of
the species depends. One element, industry, from
some fortuitous combination of circumstances, we
possess far beyond other nations; it is now inter-
woven with our habits, and on it our future hopes
are generally fixed. Another, security of property,
we possess also; but still capable of improvement in
more branches of business, and to a greater extent,
than is generally suspected. In knowledge, we have
just advanced so far as to perceive, at the threshold
of the temple, the glories contained within. But in
government, as already has been hinted, we are much
in arrear. We may possess that ruder description of
authority which contents itself with negative duties,
which can support armies, punish offenders, nego-
tiate with foreign countries, and perform the ordinary
functions of government: but in regard to that
philosophical legislation which can stretch out in
advance of the age, and with prophetic skill frame
institutions, to expand the character, and promote
the happiness, of the great bulk of the people, we
should preserve a discreet silence.
CHAPTER II.
STATE OF POPULATION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
SECTION I.—Causes of Redundancy.
WHEN industry first begins to develope itself,
there are hardly any distinctions of rank. The
labourer provides his own tools, and is not dependent
upon any person for inducing him to labour; but by
degrees the various physical powers and talents with
which men are endowed fit them for different occupa-
tions, and a regard to mutual convenience leads them
to establish a division of employments. By these
means tasks are accomplished that could not other-
wise be undertaken unless at the mandates of a des-
potic prince, which are unsuited to the calm pursuits
of industry. The social system is peculiar to man;
in most occupations some co-operation is required;
and each follows that particular branch in which he
is most likely to excel. Even in the early period of
hunting one prepares the bows and arrows, another
hunts, another prepares the food, and a fourth pro-
vides the clothing. As society advances and the
rights of property are established, an inequality in the
distribution of food, tools, or clothing, is introduced
30
I
STATE OF POPULATION
from a cause that seems fatal to all systems of equality
in government: some persons being more thrifty and
frugal than others, and accumulating the fruits of their
labour. From this passion strengthening by use, added
to the desire of bequeathing property to those on
whom the affections rest, the accumulated labour
has a tendency to increase in itself, and it constitutes
the first commencement of capital. The hunter will
seek to possess bows and arrows to assist him in the
pursuit of his game, and if he possess not these him-
self he will be disposed to part with a portion of
his earnings, or the animals which he kills, to some
thrifty persons possessed of these articles, who are
willing to make the exchange, and who stand in the
situation of capitalists.
In every
In the next stage of society the division of em-
ployment and the distinctions of rank are carried to
a greater extent. An augmented number of imple-
ments for the purpose of labour will be required;
better clothing will be introduced; and other im-
provements, which will give rise to a greater range
of accumulated or antecedent labour.
subsequent stage this inequality of property will be-
come more and more conspicuous. In time all the
land will be appropriated, the labourer will require
permission to select his habitation, and besides what
may be deemed circulating capital, such as food and
clothing, being provided for him, fixed capital, or the
providing of a proper house, will be required before
any extensive description of work can be conducted.
1
{
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
31
There will then, in short, be established in the social
system the distinct relations of master and servant.
It will soon be found that with every new sub-
division of labour a greater quantity of work is per-
formed, while there is also an increased demand for
better machines and processes for facilitating the
general industry. The accumulation of this capital
enables work to be executed in a better manner than
could be executed if the labourers were left to them-
selves. By a concentration of means directed to a
particular end, it enables articles to be sold cheaper,
and it also gives a certainty to every person in want
of a particular article that he can find it at any given
time or place. These advantages are so great, that
if we run over the various employments in any ad-
vanced country, it will be found that there are very
few that are not carried on by a master, on the one
hand, who supplies the capital, and by workmen on
the other, who perform stated services. By degrees
we see the great capitalists arise, possessed of large
mills for the spinning of cotton, of silk, of woollens,
and linens; while, forming a distinct society, we
behold the weaver quite dependent on a master manu-
facturer willing to employ him. The same division
of employment takes place in all other pursuits.
The builder, carpenter, painter, glazier, and all such
trades, in a country like England, are divided into
two distinct classes, the master and the workman.
The same is now witnessed in agriculture. The
time is long since passed when the labourer resided
32
STATE OF POPULATION
in the same house with the farmer, and, considering
himself part of the family, had his heart in the soil,
and deemed his lot inseparably interwoven with that
of his master. The farmers now constitute quite a
distinct class and in every country village, the
baker, the butcher, the fishmonger, and every em-
ployment we could name, exhibit the distinction of
master and workman. Even the barber, which for
merly persons pursued on their own calling, must
now be considered as divided into the two ranks
described, some species of capital in fitting up a
shop and other indispensable articles being required.
In this state of things it must be apparent that the
labourers are completely dependent upon their em-
ployers. It is not in their power to create industry,
or to labour in any independent pursuit with a reason-
able chance of bettering their condition. They cannot
take their implements in hand and proceed to culti-
vate what land they please; they cannot possess
themselves of a loom and attempt to work to an
extent indefinite but by their own option; they are
obliged to seek out a master willing to employ them,
and if that master cannot be found they must sink
into penury.
There is no intention to censure this organization
of society; the object is simply to point out the
position in which the labourers stand, and that their
comfort depends upon the number and capabilities
of their employers to supply work.
It is a mistake to consider these capabilities as
{
[
1
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
33
solely consisting of capital in the ordinary sense of
the word. In an advanced state of society the
rearing and education of persons belonging to that
class of society with whom employment originates
is a serious undertaking. Skill, knowledge of busi-
ness, and many indispensable qualifications are ne-
cessary which only can be acquired by long practice
and sedulous attention. The attainments of such
an individual may be viewed as a species of capital
in which is sunk the expenditure of probably more
than twenty years. It is, in fact, frequently of more
importance than actual money, and judicious parents
are never disposed to stint preparatory disbursements;
knowing well that they best aid their sons in winning
their way to affluence.
In regard to the community this species of imma-
terial capital enables production to be more widely
extended, and new views of the arts to be struck out
which otherwise might never have originated. But
the advantage is not confined to the additional skill,
it gives rise to credit, which supposes competence in
the person who borrows and a reliance on his quali-
fications to perform the ends required of him. The
advantages of credit in every commercial country are
too obvious to require illustration. Though it does
not virtually constitute capital, it performs all its ana-
logous functions, and enables a given portion of
the actual money of the country to produce more ex-
tended effects. It has the power of substituting a
cheap medium of exchange for one that is expensive;
D
34
STATE OF POPULATION
and it presents a constant resource to aspiring indus-
try to exert itself wherever there is a reasonable.
prospect of success. In point of fact the skill, the
knowledge, and the attainments, of those persons who
may be classed as manufacturers or master producers
are of more importance to a nation than the quantity
of capital actually accumulated. They can always
make credit supply the place of capital, until the
savings of labour have created a clear fund for sub-
stantial investment. Numerous instances occur of
Englishmen and Scotchmen going to Ireland without
possessing a shilling, and solely by means of their at-
tainments, their business habits, and their knowledge
of adopting means to particular ends, succeeding in
many branches of industry where success by the native
inhabitants had been pronounced impracticable. In
the United States of America also a number of enter-
prising cultivators may occasionally be seen without
any accumulation of capital, probably without even
ordinary tools, settling themselves in the back lands,
and solely by means of their practical knowledge con-
verting a sterile wilderness into a fruitful abode, dis-
playing many of the comforts and conveniences of
life. It is, therefore, upon the number of this class,
or upon the middle order of society, that the pros-
perity of the state and the comparative comfort of the
labouring population depends.
Now let us suppose at any given period that the
various classes of society are properly adjusted to
each other; that the masters are just competent in
!
;
2
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
35
number to give employment to the labourers; and
that none of the latter able to work need remain idle.
In this case the society will be prosperous and
happy. Let a generation now elapse, and let the
masters increase in a certain ratio, restrained by
many prudential considerations, the fear of losing
their rank in society, of having their comforts abridged,
or of leaving their offspring unprovided for at their
death; on the other hand let the labourers be influ-
enced by no such considerations, be thoughtless of con-
sequences, and stimulated to increase their numbers
by national institutions; it is obvious that at the ter-
mination of this period the proportions between the
two classes will be disarranged, there will be more
labourers than masters to employ them, and those
supernumerary labourers having no resource must
become paupers.
Such is the simple cause of the redundant popu-
lation which has so long been the
discussion and controversy in this
subject of keen
country. The
extent and fertility of the land have nothing to do
with the matter: the same effects would in all proba-
bility exist—that is, there would be the same relative
poverty, trivially modified by commercial regulations
respecting the importations of corn-were several
counties added to the kingdom, or were all parts of
the land as fertile as the vale of Bedfordshire. It is
the want of a due proportion of the middle classes
of society which causes the existing distress. It is
not the deficiency of capital in its ordinary sense;
36
STATE OF POPULATION
because we have shewn that industry chiefly depends
upon
the skill or knowledge which attaches personally
to the manufacturers or master producers; and unless
these are in proper relative numbers to the labourers,
a large body of the latter must be destitute of work.
Let us suppose, for example, that at the commence-
ment of the last war there were one hundred manu-
facturers giving employment to one thousand labour-
ers, and that at the present time the former have
exactly doubled, while the labourers have increased
to two thousand three hundred; in this case there
will be a redundancy of three hundred men, who,
helpless in themselves, from the mode in which
industry originates, and from the length to which the
divisions of employment have been carried, all re-
quiring extensive credit and resources, will be thrown
upon the parish.
This solution of the great question of pauperism
will, it is conceived, be found satisfactory throughout
our analysis; and it opens many important considera-
tions to our view. So far is there from being any ap-
proach to correctness in the customary explanations
relative to the prosperity or adversity of nations,
that we are almost justified in maintaining a doctrine
directly opposite,-that the greater the fertility of the
land the greater is the chance of extreme poverty
appearing with comparatively a scanty population.
In those countries which teem with lavish abundance
the inhabitants are indolent, and allow century to roll
over century without exhibiting any material advance-
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
37
ment. Long seated habits are rarely overturned;
they hang about a nation like the primitive roots of
language, which may be changed or modified by
the influence of time, but which still retain for all
essential purposes their original character, unsuscep-
tible of subversion. A country like Spain, where the
middle classes who should give the play to industry
are proud, ignorant, and inactive, will exhibit land
uncultivated, languishing commerce, and a limited
population, disorganized by the extremes of poverty.
A country like the North of England, where exertion
never slumbers, and where the attainments of the
middle classes yield resources to seize upon every
opening which the changes of the commercial world
are constantly unfolding, will advance with unabated
prosperity, and will support numberless cities teem-
ing with people, without any relative increase of
poverty.
According to this principle also it is easy to explain
the inequality of the distress existing in various parts
of the United Kingdom. Wherever the lower orders
have greatly increased, unrestrained by prudential
considerations; where the division of master and
servant has been carried to extreme limits, depriving
the labourer of any resource of his own; and where
there are few pursuits in which a constant opportu-
nity presents itself for the middle classes to engage;
the evils of pauperism must be great. In the South
of England, where agriculture principally prevails,
and where there are few manufactures, the poor rates
38
STATE OF POPULATION
are extremely heavy; the labourers see no other
description of work to which they can turn their
attention, and, having no resource, they fall upon the
parish. The distress will be greater in those districts
in which the line of demarcation between the farmer
and the labourer is most conspicuous. In the eastern
counties, where the system of cultivation pursued is
of a superior description, from the skill and capital
possessed by the farmers, who form a class quite dis-
tinct from the labourers, the comparative redundancy
of population is greater than in the western counties,
where the farms are not so extensive, and where the
farmers and their labourers approach in their manners
and customs nearer to each other. Where manufac-
tures are established a wider field presents itself for
employment, and the more extended the range of
manufactures the less likelihood is there in ordinary
times for severe distress to arise: a resource of some
kind or other generally presents itself, and the
pressure must be of considerable duration before
it positively reduces large bodies of the workmen to
indigence. The facility of communication between
all parts of the empire has a tendency to equalize the
distress by the competition of unemployed labourers,
who leave their own homes under the hope of procuring
employment in more prosperous districts. But still
in all parts it is to be feared that there is no proportion
between the employers and the employed. For almost
an indefinite period of time the middle classes have
abstained from premature marriages from a desire to
1
}
{
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
39
uphold their rank in society; on the other hand, the
labourers have continued to increase their numbers,
through every period of prosperity and adversity
alike.
At first view it would seem, from the great com-
petition in all pursuits, and the difficulty of bring-
ing up a family in a respectable manner, that there
is a redundancy in the middle as well as in the lower
classes in life. The lawyer, the physician, and
the artist, meet on every side increasing competitors,
without being gratified with the least semblance of
an increase of general business. It is the same in
all commercial pursuits; the shopkeeper appears to
be gradually retrograding in his condition; and in
many of the more common mercantile vocations, such
as clerks, a vacancy is no sooner known to occur than
there are a hundred applicants; indeed, with respect
to all persons engaged in productive industry, who
have not accumulated considerable capital, there is
more than a decided approach to deterioration in
their condition, there is a positive commencement of
it, awakening gloomy anticipations of the future. It
may therefore be considered that there is quite as
great a redundancy in this class as amongst the com-
mon labourers; but it is easy to perceive that this
redundancy is not of their own creation, but arises
from their place being usurped by others a step be-
low them in life.
When great numbers of labourers are out of em-
ployment, many of them must observe that in that
40
STATE OF POPULATION
description of labour, just one step above ordinary
work, a little higher wages are given. Some, there-
fore, will offer their services on lower terms in order
to supplant those above them, and the employers,
from a regard to their own interest, will accept their
proposal. There is thus a keenness of competition
amongst these classes of labourers, which ends in a
permanent reduction of wages. Those supplanted,
in their turn see others just one step above them,
receiving superior remuneration; they make an
effort to participate in this labour, by offering their
services at a lower rate; and the same motive upon
the part of their employers equally operating here,
secures their engagement. Another deterioration in
the condition of the people ensues; and if we go
through the entire series we shall find the same
principle at work, placing all who have to live by
industry at a great disadvantage, compared to the
-unproductive classes who live on revenue. There
is, therefore, no redundancy brought about by them-
selves in the middle classes. So far is this from
being the case at the present time, and probably for
a few years past, that if we examine into the condi-
tion and practices of life of the middle classes, who
are not in affluent circumstances, we shall find that
there is a positive diminution in their numbers; or, in
other words, from their abstaining from marriage, the
deaths are greater than the births. This would form
a most useful statistical inquiry if officially under-
taken; but in the absence of precise information, we
3.
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
41
}
run little risk in assenting to the accuracy of the posi-
tion, if we only cursorily attend to the habits of those
persons, well educated, but who have no resource to
depend upon save their personal exertions; prudential
considerations operate on them with peculiar force;
and were others not to supplant them in their voca-
tions, the seeming redundancy would soon disappear.
It will, besides, be recollected that the question
does not merely relate to the rate of increase amongst
the middle classes, but to the inferiority of that in-
crease compared with the labourers. It is not enough
to view the number of children actually reared in
families in the two classes in order to judge of their
comparative rates of increase: it is necessary to con-
sider the number of bachelors in each, because it is
the complete abstinence from marriage, and not its
postponement only, by many of the middle classes,
which causes their collective numbers, in a given
period, to fall relatively short of the other class. Pro-
bably from the superior care, greater cleanliness, and
better living in families of the better classes, more
children are actually reared than in the lower orders,
but this by no means exhibits a fair average in the
aggregate increase of the general body. In the one
case all might be married; in the other assuredly
there would be many bachelors. Amongst a society,
for instance, of seventy persons in London, forming a
public mercantile body, according to information re-
cently procured, there were twenty-five unmarried, and
the number of children belonging to the entire was two
42
STATE OF POPULATION
hundred and thirty. Had the clerks of these persons
been included, the bachelors would have been more
numerous than the married. Amongst a correspond-
ing number of labourers, in some degree dependent
upon the former, the married were fifty-four and the
children two hundred and ninety-eight. With English
or Irish agricultural labourers the disproportion would
have been still greater, and it is probable the children
would have amounted to three hundred and fifty.
In every country village, and indeed, wherever we
go, poor children abound; and, according to the last
census, districts chiefly inhabited by the lower
orders appeared uniformly the most populous, not
only from greater density of congregation, but from
larger aggregate families.
With such materials it is difficult to effect a change.
Though production varies according to the extent of
immaterial capital employed, yet it is not probable,
nor perhaps possible, that persons now possessing
every requisite of skill, assiduity, business habits,
and all those qualifications which procure credit with
facility, could enter into any undertaking with a
reasonable prospect of success. In consequence of
competition, and the declining remuneration for
labour in all departments, resulting from the redun-
dancy in the lowest class of workmen, there is a
falling off of trade in every branch, the very rumour
of which must deter any new aspirant, no matter how
qualified he may be, from entering into business.
Every prospect seems discouraging, and this not only
I
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
43
↓
operates in respect to his own views and hopes, but
it deters bankers and passive capitalists from giving
credit. Whenever the profit in large manufacturing
concerns is reduced to little above the current rate of
interest, it is a bad symptom; it evinces that the
immaterial part of capital, or that consisting of skill
and knowledge, is badly rewarded; it therefore con-
fines the trade to those who have already large means
embarked, and excludes new candidates whose chief
or sole resource is their skill, and whose real gain
will be the difference between the gross profit and
the current rate of interest.
In an ordinary state of society, the difficulties of
competition do not increase with increase of popula-
tion; the same relative means of employment, or
diversity of pursuits, continue unchanged: the ratio
of increase may be very high, but the pursuits in-
crease in precisely the same proportion. If, for
example, the rate of increase in a given period is
ten per cent., and say in any town ten hatters have
one added to their number, making eleven, there
will be no diminution of business to each hatter,
because a corresponding increase will have taken
place in all other branches of business, which will
give employment to the additional person introduced.
But if society be in a declining state, from the evils
caused by redundant labourers injuring those above
them in the manner described, there is relatively a
positive diminution of trade, and hence the middle
classes, who give the play to industry, have no
44
STATE OF POPULATION
pau-
materials, no ground upon which they can rest their
lever to bring about a beneficial change. Step by
step they themselves approach the condition of
pers, progressively rendering amendment more diffi
cult. When the stagnation is accidental, and of
limited duration, things have a tendency to rectify
themselves; but it is evident, that if the stagnation
last for a considerable period, it must proceed with
accelerated force, until at last it will baffle every
remedy.
What the result in this country would have been,
in case the middle classes of society, for a couple of
generations, had increased in the same ratio as the
labourers, it is perhaps difficult to say. It would seem
as if no tendency to redundancy of population would
have occurred; because, then the various relations
and classes in life, notwithstanding the increase of
numbers, would have remained unchanged. In ten
millions of people there might be, for example, one
million manufacturers and traders, one million pro-
fessional men and others, and eight millions labourers:
if these be doubled, making two of the former re-
spectively, and sixteen of the latter, it would not
appear that the business of any would be reduced,
or that any distress would be experienced from in-
crease of numbers. It is the latter class, the labour-
ers, increasing out of all proportion, which has
occasioned the evils, because the consequence, traced
through every ramification, has been, to place those
who produce at a relative disadvantage to those who
1
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
45
consume, and thus to lessen the proper rewards of
industry.
There are only two circumstances which can be
considered to militate against this conclusion; these
are the increase of taxation and the cultivation of in-
ferior soils. With regard to the first, it is generally
admitted amongst the most intelligent persons that it
has operated in a very trifling degree in producing
distress. In the year 1792, throughout the United
Kingdom, the taxes averaged thirty shillings per
head; at present they do not exceed two pounds three
shillings; an increase, considering the great improve-
ments in production, quite inadequate to produce any
injurious effects. Within the last ten years also many
millions of taxes have been remitted, and yet it is no-
torious that the distress has rather increased; a proof
which is surely decisive that taxation, taken in itself,
is not the origin of the evil now complained of. With
regard to the cultivation of inferior soils, it seems to
be forgotten that within the last ten years arable land
has been converted into pasture, and the comparative
quantity of corn raised, contrasted with the labour
employed in its production, has rather increased than
otherwise. The improvements and the judicious em-
ployment of capital have tended to increase the yield-
ing of the land, and if forty quarters of wheat ex-
hibited a fair return of the annual labour of one man
thirty years ago, it is probable that this return is now
augmented to fifty-five quarters. There has thus
been no operation in the cultivation of the land cal-
46
STATE OF POPULATION
culated to increase the privations of the labourer; if
profits have fallen, and if, consequently, the ability
to prosecute industry successfully has diminished, it
must be ascribed to other causes.
It seems a little singular that the remarks which
appear from time to time respecting the cultivation
of inferior soils, always presume, or at least give rise
to the impression, that farmers in this country are
progressively resorting to land diminishing in fer-
tility. It is not considered that the period of un-
limited monopoly, enjoyed by the agriculturers, has
long passed, and that whenever corn rises above a
certain rate abundant supplies are poured in from the
continent; determining the price quite as much by the
cost of production abroad as by that in Great Britain.
Owing to this increase of competition throughout the
world, it may be asserted as a general position, that
less labour is now devoted to the production of corn
than formerly. Dr. Chalmers, in his recent work on
Political Economy, appears to have been so full of the
hypothetical argument respecting food and popu
lation, that he has not looked around and attended
to what is actually passing in the world. It is not
only in England but in all other parts that the pro-
duce of the soil has been increased by diminished
labour, in consequence of improvements in cultiva-
tion. In many parts the tenure on which land is
held has been advantageously altered; improved im-
plements of husbandry have been introduced; roads
have been opened; and, in short, natural advantages,
{
:
i
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
47
which were neglected or crippled in their develope-
ment, have had free scope given to them to extend
commerce. The result has been to reduce the price
of corn in its real, as well as in its money price,
throughout the world, and this probably will con-
tinue to operate for the next century.
Closely associated with the preceding error is
another circumstance, which has given rise to much
misunderstanding. It is generally supposed that the
fund devoted to the support of industry is a fixed
quantity, at all times stretched to its utmost capabi-
lity to defray the wages of labour; but it will be
seen from the preceding reasoning, that this fund
rises or falls according to circumstances, and can be
varied at pleasure, whenever there is extensive do-
mestic consumption, and when manufacturers are
disposed to avail themselves of the resources of
credit. At the present time the annual production
of the United Kingdom may be estimated at two
hundred and twenty millions. According to the re-
ceived notions on this subject, this is the whole of
the production which the capital of the country is
susceptible of bringing into existence. But so far is
this from being the case, that if the manufacturers or
master producers themselves were examined on the
subject, they would unanimously declare that the
production might be increased to three hundred
millions, without any addition of substantive capital,
but solely from their directing a greater degree of
energy to business, and working their establishments
to their extreme capabilities. It should be remem-
48
STATE OF POPULATION
bered that capital is not only the mere accumulation
of labour, but that the accumulations may be so
rapid as to exhibit in many manufacturing districts
almost an instantaneous creation of wealth. Were
all the skill, energy, and knowledge, of the most ap-
proved systems of manufacturing industry possessed
by numerous aspirants, who could procure credit,
provided a suitable opportunity presented itself, put
into requisition, the annual production of the United
Kingdom, in the year 1834, might be extended to
four hundred millions, without a single new discovery,
but merely by stretching existing capabilities to their
extreme point. Such extensive plans of business will
probably not be realized, but the inherent difficulties
are not attributable to any deficiency of capital, if by
that term is meant the power to extend production.
With regard to the labourers themselves, many
causes have undoubtedly conspired, within the last
half century, to increase their privations, independ-
ently of the causes enumerated. Great fluctuations
in wages are almost always injurious: when high,
they give rise to idle and improvident habits, which
are sure to entail pernicious consequences; when low,
they necessarily cause temporary pauperism, which
destroys independence of character, and retards the
recovery of healthy commerce. Too many periods,
distinguished for both these injurious operations,
have been witnessed in this country, and they have
materially added to other evils, sufficiently calami-
tous in themselves, which bear upon the great body
of the people. It is probable, also, that the changes
1
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
49
in manufacturing industry have occasioned temporary
injuries. The introduction of machines cannot fail,
sooner or later, of being advantageous to the labourer,
because they open new markets to national enterprise,
which soon diffuses signal advantages. They extend,
besides, consumption at home; there is the same re-
venue to expend, and the consumer giving a less sum
for the article manufactured by the new machinery,
has, of course, a larger sum to spend on other articles,
which must, in some shape, give employment to the
labouring population generally. But it may happen,
when the machines are first resorted to, that they
force the labourer to change his business; in this
case, even presuming him trained to habits of appli-
cation, he may suffer much from the circumstance of
his having attained considerable proficiency in his
superseded employment, while in the new one he
must be content to receive the wages of a novice.
This circumstance has pressed hardly on many of our
operatives, and has caused great distress at times
when remedies are difficult. But still, this is an evil
which should be foreseen and provided for. It is
common to the middle classes, for not only these in-
dividually may be superseded in their businesses, but
whole classes may be permanently injured by political
changes; they repine not, because they know well
they cannot help themselves by any other means than
by their own prudence and increased frugality. It
is precisely by the same means that the labouring
classes should repair corresponding injuries of a
temporary nature, until what appears a concentrated
E
50
STATE OF POPULATION
evil to them alone shall have diffused general benefit,
and, at length, rolled back in an altered and fructi-
fying form upon themselves.
We need not, therefore, attend to transient de-
rangements which operate their own cure; leading
principles are our object; and keeping these in view,
we have arrived at an important stage in every in-
quiry, a clear ascertainment of the predominant cause
of those evils which we seek to remedy. It is to the
disproportion between the employers and the em-
ployed, that pauperism in the United Kingdom is
attributable; and there cannot be difficulty in pro-
nouncing, that it is to be corrected in one of two
ways, or by the operation of these conjointly.
First, by teaching the labourers the same habit
of restraint in marriage as is practised in the middle
classes of society.
Secondly, by providing the means for the labourers
to shape out work for themselves, without detriment
to others; or to raise the meritorious amongst them
to the state of master producers, so that they may be
enabled to give employment to the entire number
who are at present idle.
SECTION II.
Capacity for the Production of Wealth.
It is now necessary to shew, that if society were
adjusted in the proportions explained, there could be
no excess of commodities produced, and mankind
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
51
might proceed indefinitely adding to their wealth.
Let us suppose at any given time there were a hun-
dred manufacturers affording employment to a thou-
sand workmen, and that these conjointly produced the
chief articles agreeable and useful to man. Let us sup-
pose further, that the actual number of the labouring
classes was eleven hundred, one hundred being quite
unemployed, and supported in idleness by the rest of
the community. Now, if these hundred unemployed
labourers were organized into the state of masters and
workmen, the former, by means of immaterial capi-
tal, or, in other words, skill and intelligence, being
able to create employment for the whole, it is obvious
that there must be a clear additional gain to the com-
munity. This new class of producers interferes not
with the rest of the community already established;
if they work for themselves, or produce articles for
their own immediate consumption, they deprive no
persons whatsoever of their employment. If they
produce new articles, unknown to the community
before, they add to the general enjoyments; and in
both cases they obviously augment the total sum of
national wealth. But this is not the entire of the
benefit. In their former state they were unproduc-
tive paupers, supported out of the labour of the in-
dustrious classes. When they are converted into
productive labourers a double advantage therefore is
derived. The community is relieved of an oppres-
sive tax, and increased energy is given to the general
industry of the country.
52
STATE OF POPULATION
This growing state of general production could
continue indefinitely under a wise organization of in-
dustry; and the more it was extended the greater
would be the abundance of the necessaries, conve-
niences, and luxuries of life. All classes would find
their condition improved. A tailor, in the habit of
making ten coats a-day, would find his business
increase ten per cent. by the conversion of paupers
into profitable producers: he would thus have de-
mands for eleven; and, in exchange for the eleven,
he would obtain a greater quantity of other commo-
dities. It is difficult to conceive how a permanent
glut or excess of commodities could arise under this
proper adjustment of industry. This opinion, in-
deed, in a general sense long entertained by com-
mercial writers, is now satisfactorily refuted. It is
well known that every man's object in exerting his
productive powers must be either to consume the
entire produce of his labour himself, or to exchange
it, or portions of it, for such commodities as he
wishes to obtain from others. So long, therefore, as
all produce equally, there cannot be any excess in
any one branch. If they produce unequally, those
that produce the most will appear to have an ex-
cess of commodities; but this excess arises from the
circumstance that others have been negligent, and
have not produced their average quantity: let them
do so, and the glut will disappear.
It has been judiciously remarked, that an excess
can be cured quite as well by an increase as by a di-
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
53
minution of production. The increase is only in
articles of a different kind. Let us imagine a clothier,
for example, to embody the idea of persons engaged
in manufacturing industry, and a farmer, of those en-
gaged in agriculture, and say that these two seek to
exchange their articles with each other: each, of
course, is disposed to consume the fruits of the other's
labour as largely as possible. And let us suppose,
at any given time, that the clothier produces a great
quantity of clothes, not more than the farmer can or
wishes to consume, but more than he is able to pay for:
in this case, what is the remedy, and how are matters
to be adjusted? In place of diminishing the quantity
of clothes, the adjustment can take place quite as well
by increasing the quantity of the farmer's produce;
by giving more or a better quality of corn, butchers'
meat, fruits, or wine; so that, value for value, the
products of the two classes will exactly correspond.
There seems, therefore, no limits to the enjoyment
of the conveniences and luxuries of life. Contrasted
with the state of things five hundred years back, it is
probable that the various articles administering to
the gratification of man have augmented a hundred
fold. There is no reason to doubt that the same
augmentation may not continue for ages, and that an
inhabitant of Great Britain five hundred years hence,
may feel contempt when, in a meditative mood, sur-
rounded by intellectual and refined luxuries, he pic-
tures to his thoughts the scanty furniture of our
houses, the paucity of our conveniences, and the
frugal simplicity of our living.
54
STATE OF POPULATION
There is, undoubtedly, a belief that theory on this
subject is at variance with practice, owing to the
actual existence of a glut of manufactured goods,
which, according to mercantile tradition, has existed
from time immemorial, and which is at present
deemed quite irremediable. A little explanation will
suffice to reconcile the apparent inconsistency, and to
exhibit the causes from which gluts practically ori-
ginate.
In the United Kingdom the excess of commodities
annually produced, as compared with profitable de-
mand, proceeds entirely from the redundancy of la-
bourers, and the relative diminution of consumption,
contrasted with the increasing population. If at any
given time we suppose the various branches of the
community adjusted to each other, and that there
are no extraordinary changes taking place in the
channels of commerce, it does not appear that there
would be a disposition to produce any one commo-
dity in excess. Every business would be regularly
adjusted to the habitual demand. But if a number
of labourers start up who are excrescent to the ser-
vices required by the community, they must consume
some portion of its products without giving an ade-
quate equivalent. There must, therefore, be a de-
rangement in the products of the community; and
this derangement, altering the customary and whole-
some relations between supply and demand, will end
in some parties possessing a quantity of goods for
which they are unable to procure an advantageous
sale. When this once begins to operate it increases
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
55
in its effects with accelerated force. The first ten-
dency of the glut causes further derangement in other
branches, these again creating evils in their turn;
at the same time that the primary operating cause
itself is acting with undiminished intensity. It is,
therefore, not surprising that our manufacturers daily
encounter an increasing difficulty of sale in their com-
modities, which they are too prone to attribute to
any cause but the right one, that of a large body of
the poorer classes living unproductively upon the
earnings of others.
There is another description of glut which may
arise in some parts, and which proceeds from peculiar
national habits. If in any nation the avidity for
gain or for accumulating savings out of income, in
a collective sense, greatly predominate over the
desire of spending, the first manifestation of the
effects will be a comparative excess of commodities.
By degrees this excess of commodities will disappear,
and the avidity for gain or savings will manifest
itself in another form; that is, in the accumulation
of money, either at home or in private or public in-
vestment abroad. Such was the case in Holland,
in the last century, both with regard to the prior
accumulation of merchandize and the subsequent
abundance of money. There is, undoubtedly, a ten-
dency in this state of things to correct itself, and in
England the desire to consume, taken in a national
or collective sense, is sufficiently strong to present
little risk of accumulations proceeding so rapidly, as
56
STATE OF POPULATION
from their own intrinsic operation to decrease the rate
of profit. Each desire, that of saving or of spending,
may vacillate beyond the fair equilibrium at times;
but from the large power of national consumption,
caused by the spending of public annuitants and
others, the two, in the main, are nearly balanced.
Besides these two descriptions of glut, an excess of
manufactured goods, or, in other words, an inequality
in the distribution of the products of the world,
proceeds at times from the capricious changes in the
policy of governments. But this derangement is
usually of a temporary nature, and by no means im-
pugns the general principle. It is natural to assunie
that commercial knowledge, every where expanding,
must sooner or later teach nations the most advan-
tageous line of policy; and as all the advantages
which each people respectively possess are elicited,
commerce generally will extend. Even supposing a
length of time to elapse before this auspicious state
of things is realized, Great Britain need not suffer
herself to be obstructed in her career of unlimited
advancement by the ignorance or illiberality of
foreigners. Possessed of colonies unbounded in ex-
tent, of unrivalled fertility, and presenting every ad-
vantage for commerce, she has within herself in-
exhaustible means for extending production, and
augmenting the enjoyments of her people.
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
57
SECTION III.
Capacity for the increase of Population.
HAVING considered the question, in respect to the
possibility of production extending to an injurious
excess, we have now to view the converse of the
proposition, and to consider the possibility of popu-
lation outstripping production, or the means of sub-
sistence. The great argument, in a hypothetical
sense, relative to population, it is well known, rests
upon the basis that mankind increase in a geome-
trical series of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256;
while the supply of food increases in the arithmetical
series 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. It is assumed, for
example, that when society is in a prosperous state,
with an unlimited supply of food at its command,
the population doubles itself in twenty-five years,
quadruplicates itself in fifty years, and so on progres-
sively. On the other hand, it is maintained that the
land can only be taken into cultivation acre by acre,
but can have no tendency to increase in a geometrical
ratio; and, therefore, in its capabilities it must soon
be left far in arrear. Thus if population be doubled,
the population so doubled possesses the prolific ca-
pacity unimpaired, and has a tendency again to
double itself; but doubled fertility has no such ten-
dency to double itself—it cannot be a cause of quad-
58
STATE OF POPULATION
rupled fertility; but the doubled population can,
and has besides in itself an undiminished stimulus to
become so. Supposing, therefore, the population of
Great Britain at present to be 15,000,000, in twenty-
five years it would be 30,000,000, in fifty years it
would be 60,000,000, in seventy-five years it would
be 120,000,000, and in a century it would be
240,000,000; while, according to the arithmetical in-
crease in the supply of food, the means of subsistence
would be only equal to the support of 60,000,000,
leaving a population of 180,000,000 totally unpro-
vided for.
Previous to examining the accuracy of this doc-
trine, two circumstances may be submitted. First,
by assuming that twenty-five years is the period that
society would double itself, under the most favour-
able circumstances, the generality of enquirers are
apt to be impressed with the overwhelming ope-
ration of the population principle; and with this
vivid feeling on the mind, they are pre-disposed to
consider that nothing can keep pace with its irre-
sistible march. But we shall endeavour to show
that twenty-five years is too short a period to take
for the doubling of the population, in case we con-
sider the welfare of society unrestrained by any con-
siderations relative to food. In the second place, by
selecting England as the example, and confining our
attention to her insulated situation, we are apt to
form confined opinions in respect to the natural capa-
bilities of the land to afford subsistence.
If we take
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
59
eighty years to be the period of doubling, which
probably ought to be the period selected, even were
unlimited supplies of food at our disposal, and on the
other hand consider that all the world is open to cul-
tivation, it is obvious that many centuries must elapse
before practically there can be any actual deficiency
of sustenance; and this reflection, tending to abate
the immediate alarm, allows us to view the subject
with greater coolness.
It is admitted that this only postpones the evil,
and by no means impugns the principle laid down
by Mr. Malthus. The question then is, are we ever
to arrive at that gloomy state of things, in which at
last the geometrical series will have surpassed the
arithmetical, and that we must virtually pronounce
that population has an inherent tendency to increase
faster than food?
In examining this question, it appears singular that
the attention of most writers has been exclusively
directed to the accuracy of the position respecting
the geometrical increase of population, but never to
the question whether or not labour, or, in other
words, the raising of subsistence, cannot be aug-
mented equally in a geometrical ratio. According
to the first blush of the subject, every enquirer
who contrasted the primitive state of man with his
present condition would be disposed to pronounce
that human labour was likely to excel every thing
else in its capabilities of a high geometrical increase.
There appear to be no bounds whatever to the ad-
vancement of science; and it seems a little singular
60
STATE OF POPULATION
that Mr. Malthus, who has so eloquently adverted
to the brilliant career of physical discovery, should
not have reflected upon the possibility of making
that discovery subservient to the purposes of man.
According to every conclusion which can at present
be formed, the powers of labour are unlimited. Let
us trace for a moment the improvements with which,
even now, in the infancy of knowledge, we are ac-
quainted. We need not stop to notice the actual
improvements which have been introduced in the cul-
tivation of the soil. We know that by ordinary means
-by the rotation of crops, artificial grasses, improved
modes of ploughing, and the agricultural inventions
which have distinguished the last generation, that the
yielding of the land has been doubled and trebled.
If we carry our views a step higher, and refer to the
manner in which other arts may bear upon agricul-
ture, we are forced to conclude that the capabilities of
improvement expand in place of contract, and that the
higher we go in our efforts the greater appear our
resources. By the magical transformations of che-
mistry, saw-dust, it is stated, is susceptible of con-
version into a substance bearing an analogy to bread,
and, though less palatable than that manufactured
from flour, yet no way disagreeable, and both whole-
some and digestible as well as highly nutritive.* Dry
bones also can be made a magazine of nutriment,
capable of preservation for years, and ready to yield
sustenance in the form best adapted to the support
* Herschel, Discourse on Natural Philosophy, p. 65. Phil.
Trans. 1827, p. 381.
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
61
of life on the application of steam, which enters so
largely into all modern processes.† Rags are capa-
ble of producing sugar, by the agency of one of the
cheapest and most abundant acids; and, in short,
were analysis zealously directed to these subjects
inexhaustible riches would be unfolded, were it
deemed necessary to partake of them. Do these
inventions place the progress of labour in the arith-
metical or geometrical series? The Chemist is at
direct variance with the Political Economist on this.
question, and which of them is the best judge? But,
before we anticipate the answer, the entire case of the
former should be fully stated. In the last example
the weight of the sugar will be more than the weight
of the rags a portion of another element will be
absorbed. This fact opens another world to us, and
suggests striking reflections. Why should it be
taken for granted, that the field for the operations of
man is limited? The vast discoveries which chemistry
and geology are displaying should rather induce us
to conclude that there is not only no limit to the
exertions of man, but that there is no limit to the
materials on which his exertions are to work. All
the elements in nature seem to be closely allied; the
solid, the liquid, and aerial states of body are mere
stages of gradual transitions from extremes, and
glide into each other by insensible degrees. The
:
+ Herschel, Discourse on Natural Philosophy, p. 65. An-
nales de l'Industrie. Fevrier, 1829.
Ibid. p. 64. Annales de Chimie, vol. xii.
P. 184.
62
STATE OF POPULATION
I
changes which are constantly taking place in nature
proceed merely from the decomposition of primary
elements. It is by decomposition that renovation
succeeds to decay, that barren rocks may be covered
with fertile soil, the soil clothed with verdure, the
plants converted into animals, and these again returned
to their original state of decomposition, affording
new materials for the repetition of the process, and
thus exhibiting an interminable system of material
organization complete within itself. If, therefore,
we obey the directions of the analyst and refer to first
principles, we are not justified in pronouncing that
the materials for vegetable organization cannot keep
pace with the materials of animal creation. By first
principles must be meant a reference to the con-
stituent elements of matter; in plants these are hy-
drogen, carbon, and oxygen, and by the most beautiful
ordination of Providence the putrescence of animal
substances gives a constant supply of these constituent
elements, so that the renovation of the vegetable
world is harmoniously adjusted to that of the animal.
We know at present that the most sterile desert can
be converted into a fertile region by the decompo-
sition described; and in reality there seems no insu-
perable difficulty in creating aerial terraces, constantly
resuscitated from the decomposition of animal matter
below. It is well known to the geologist that fine
vegetable particles are virtually created in platforms
intervening between rocks, not by the change of
earth or the mouldering of the rocks, but from the
;
I
1-
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
63
air above. The carbonic acid, heavy as it is, finds
its way through the most subtle atmosphere for this
purpose, and conveys nourishment to the lichen even
on the summit of the mountain. In this case, means
and materials being unlimited, if the observations of
the geologist be correct, it is difficult to assent to the
hypothetical argument, or to consider how man should
ever be destitute of food. If we take any given
number of people, ten millions for example, and
imagine them placed in a desert, indeed no matter
where, the decomposition of matter should be equal
to the supply of vegetable organization, and if the
number be doubled, or increased to one hundred mil-
lions, the same increase will take place in the decom-
posed elements, giving a corresponding increase to the
vegetable creation. On the same principle, the greater
the number of animals which man may subvert,
either for utility, for pleasure, or for food, the greater
will be the quantity of vegetable nutrition elicited,
and consequently still will the vegetable world keep
pace with the encreasing demands of the animal race.
It does not, therefore, appear to be correct, to
pronounce dogmatically that the earth has no ten-
dency to double or quadruplicate its fertility, or
that neither science nor mechanical invention can
raise produce adequate to the increase of population.
This great question is at once decided in the affir-
mative, if we can admit that the decay of the animal
world affords nourishment to the plants, and that
the operation of this harmonious action and reac-
64
STATE OF POPULATION
tion is inexhaustible. Man undoubtedly has yet to
learn much before he can aspire to control any of
these processes: but he should never despair. In
science we are as yet ignorant of nature's wonders:
it is only within the last generation that our dis-
coveries have been directed to the practical arts, and
changes have already occurred in production, leaving
the anticipation of sanguine projectors of the last age
immeasurably in arrear. Ages of labour and re-
search can never exhaust new combinations of the
most simple materials, all of which are capable of
being applied to useful purposes.
Nature is a
prodigious operator when properly propitiated, and
the great discoveries of the present age are nothing
more than making her labour as an obedient hand-
maid for human gratification. We know that by
means of a little heat, judiciously applied, followed
by sudden refrigeration, prodigious rocks can be cleft
asunder, causing us to gaze with wonder at the ex-
ecution of such gigantic operations by the simplest
These present the germ merely of that
science which man one day is destined to possess.
The elixir vitæ is probably beyond our reach; but
who would venture to pronounce that, throughout all
time, crops of corn must continue to be annual.
Means may hereafter be devised to procure twenty
within a week, and political economists, in place of
reasoning on the concentric grades of land, progres-
sively diminishing in fertility, may behold new
machines perpetually arising, placing the active capi-
means.
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
65
talists at each stage in a superior situation by their
gradual augmentation of profits.
If the reader drop in his thoughts the hypothe-
tical argument, and consider the discoveries and re-
sources we have endeavoured briefly to sketch, as
likely to be applied to the actual affairs of life, he
may
be inclined to smile at the conceit; but if he
consider them with reference merely to the solving
of an abstract question, he will suspend his ridicule.
It is quite as extravagant a thought to imagine all
the earth fully tilled by ordinary means, and the
people checked in their increase by the insufficiency
of food, as it is to suppose the inventions we have
described practically bearing upon the concerns of
life. The real question is simply this: is there a
possibility that labour, and the materials on which it
has to work, can increase in a geometrical ratio? An
answer in the affirmative is decisive: indeed, it may
be assumed that hesitation or doubt on the subject is
decisive, so prone is the mind to view the future con-
dition of society according to the contracted scale by
which it is accustomed to judge of the past and the
future.
Let us dwell for a moment upon our past progress,
and consider the vast time which must elapse before
it is necessary to have recourse to any of the expe-
dients which seem hypothetically to present in the
distance such glowing treasures. In the first place,
there is at least one thousand years before the pre-
sent means of cultivating the land can be exhausted,
F
66
STATE OF POPULATION
even supposing that population should continue to
increase at a rapid rate. What a prodigious time is
thus afforded for the discovery and developement of
further knowledge, and for investigating and collat-
ing the principles of population.
In the second place, the circumstance of all the
land being cultivated throughout the world, neces-
sarily presumes that all countries are well governed,
and therefore the general civilization, diffusion of
knowledge, and high moral government, must pre-
sent unbounded means for improvement, and, as a
natural effect, the wisest laws will be enacted to ele-
vate the human faculties.
In the third place, in this high state of good go-
vernment, many more minds must be at work to
enlarge the physical dominion of man. If a few
millions were able to produce an Arkwright or a
Watt, a hundred millions, it is to be presumed, would
produce ten or twenty such gifted individuals, and
this geométrical increase in the volume of mind,
operating in every country throughout the globe,
exhibits the prodigious power which would be
brought to bear on every subject, producing amelio-
rating effects on the species which it requires a vivid
imagination even to conceive. The sciences more-
over are dependant upon each other-they yield re-
ciprocal assistance-and discoveries made in one of
them sometimes suggest entirely new views, and cause
the subduction of natural obstacles, which otherwise
might have been deemed impracticable.
1
T
A
•
+
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
67
From this outline the notion of an eventual super-
fecundity of population afflicting the world, cannot but
appear puerile. For ages to come the question can be
held under discussion, presenting a fair subject for the
investigation of learned and philosophical societies,
without any practical evils resulting. Even in what
may be termed our probationary career, it does not
appear that any injurious consequences would arise
were population to continue rapidly increasing. In
a former section it was stated, that for more than a
century, in all probability, the actual food procured
by the labour of man from the land will sustain no
diminution. The introduction of the best imple-
ments of cultivation, and the most approved system
of farming, into countries possessing the greatest
natural fertility, will keep up a larger supply of food,
by the same intensity of labour, than will be required
for the increase of population. We have a fair right
to assume that commercial knowledge will extend,
and that nations will at length learn their true in-
terest, and permit a beneficial interchange of com-
modities. In this case, all the improvements and
advantages appertaining to agriculture at present
existing in Great Britain, will be copied into other
countries, and at the termination of the time stated,
the price of food, or, in other words, the quantity of
labour required to produce it, may be just the same
as at present. But, in the mean time, do the ad-
vanced countries remain stationary? Has agriculture,
even if regarded in its ordinary operations, no further
capabilities of improvement? For time out of mind
68
STATE OF POPULATION
writers on this subject have indulged in gloomy pre-
dictions; and yet when events have actually arrived,
they exhibit society under an aspect quite different
from that expected; completely falsifying many of
those opinions which in their day were considered
sound and plausible. Whether the question is
viewed hypothetically or practically, it is important
to attend to past experience in respect to the futility
of these predictions, where the data are necessarily
imperfect. It will take two centuries at the very
least before there will be any real difficulty in pro-
curing subsistence-that is, before such land will
be resorted to in the agriculture of the world, that
one acre will be positively unable to yield thirty
bushels of wheat annually. If we take the state-
ments of the farmers themselves relative to improve-
ments known to be practicable, it is probable that
two centuries more would elapse before this annual
quantity would be reduced to twenty bushels, sup-
posing universal peace and freedom of commerce.
Even if changes should take place in the quantity of
outlay required for cultivation, it would make little
difficulty to society in the
aggregate. There
may be
a change in the value of one commodity to another;
but so long as there is abundance for all, which is the
basis of our argument, there can be no difference to the
community taken collectively. Advantages evidently
ensue from the extension of science and capital to
agriculture. It is unnecessary to enter into details.
respecting the regulation of prices; but it may be
worthy of remark that, if at the lapse of a very long
i
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
69
period the land diminished in its bounteousness, and
that, consequently, there was much labour and diffi-
culty in procuring subsistence, the labourers would
not be reduced to want, provided there was through-
out society a proper proportion between the employers
and the employed. The baneful effects of increasing
sterility would diffuse itself equally over the entire
community. The first effects would be to diminish
the enjoyment of luxuries. At present, from the
fertility of the earth, there is a large surplus over
and above the subsistence of the labourers who are
actually engaged in agriculture; and it is precisely
out of this surplus that all the expenses of art and
civilization, and all the higher comforts and ele-
gancies of life are defrayed. Suppose, therefore,
that there is increased sterility in the land, from the
approach of society to the extreme limits of culti-
vation; the surplus will be less, and the means for
the enjoyment of these elegancies and luxuries will
evidently be diminished. That the better classes
must surrender their enjoyments, while, on the other
hand, the labourers neither starve nor suffer serious
privation, is evident from the fact that the labourers
are not in excess to the actual work required of
them; their services, therefore, are quite as necessary
to their employers as these classes are to them, and,
consequently, being able to control their wages,
they may slightly participate in, but they cannot
solely sustain, the distress. Timely warning is thus
given to the community in the aggregate of the
approaching barrenness; and an increase of popula-
70
STATE OF POPULATION
tion need never to be feared, if there be a proper
proportion between the active capitalists and the
labouring classes. Both these hold their destinies.
in their own hands, and it is in their power to make
the grandees, or the unproductive consumers, in every
country feel the first approach of misfortune, caused
by the diminution of the surplus, out of which all
luxuries must eventually be liquidated.
If this reasoning be sound, it fills the mind
with the most exhilarating and joyful anticipations.
The great question of ulterior prosperity resolves
itself into an adjustment between population and
labour. No matter what ratio of increase we give to
each of these respectively, it would seem that by
either judicious expansion or contraction they may
harmonise with each other, preserving the bulk of
the people from distress. If the reader be filled with
the notion of the irresistible power of the human
race rapidly to increase its numbers, he may be
reminded of the actual augmentation of labour in its
various forms, which has been witnessed in this
country within the last generation, and also of the
opinions of the most distinguished living authorities,
that the resources of physical discovery are unlimited.
On the other hand, if he be sceptical in respect to
the geometrical ratio, when applied to human sus-
tenance, and considers that our brilliant visions of
the ultimate achievements of science belong more to
romance than to philosophical discussion, he may be
reminded of the slow increase of professional persons
and others in the middle sphere of life; proving the
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
71
**
efficacy of knowledge, forethought, and moral res-
traint. It never was designed by Providence, that
the ultimate capabilities of satisfying the wants of
man should take place without intellectual exertion,
or that, in any period of his career, he might slug-
gishly trust to nature, and permit his faculties to
slumber. Were a profusion of food to arise spon-
taneously, like ripe fruit in the Garden of Eden, he
would, so far as is known of his present constitution,
become inert, and oppressed with a mental stupor.
The difficulties to be encountered stimulate all
branches of his endowments-every diversity of pur-
suit. They incite the physical, the intellectual, and
the moral faculties to combine against the formidable
obstacles which nature occasionally presents, as if
out of love to her most favoured offspring, to quicken
his strength; they impel the cultivator, the philoso-
pher, and the legislator, to labour harmoniously in a
common cause to accelerate the general advancement.
It would be unwise if all were unfolded at once, or
if posterity were forestalled of their labours; it is
enough to shew that there is no uncontrollable law
to check boundless amelioration, and it is not im-
probable that the future philosopher may regard our
apprehensions, respecting the ulterior difficulty of
procuring subsistence, much in the same manner
as inquirers of the present day look back upon the
prognostications of the dark ages, relative to the des-
truction of the world by an earthquake or a comet.
72
CHAPTER III.
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
THE checks to population are generally divided into
the positive and the preventive. The positive in-
clude every cause which tends to cut off mankind in
a violent manner, or which in any degree contributes
to shorten the natural duration of human life. The
preventive checks are those which operate before
hand, or which obstruct or retard marriages, and
thus prevent an offspring from being brought into
the world, which the parents are unable to support.
Under both of those heads there are some observa-
tions to offer.
SECTION I.
Positive Checks.
WHEN We survey the revolutions of empires and the
existing state of the population in almost all the
countries of the world, we are forced to admit that
the scanty numbers of people, compared to the extent
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
73
of fertile territory, together with the depopulation of
many regions once flourishing, have been attributable
almost solely to the positive checks. These are war,
epidemics, pestilence, famine, and general vice,
which sweeps off in loathsome disease whole com-
munities; and which, affecting the future as well as
the present, renders replenishment more difficult.
It is no doubt melancholy to reflect upon these
dreadful calamities, which almost all countries have
been fated to endure, and which have sometimes swept.
away nearly one-third of the entire population. But,
though such has been the history of the past, still the
primary principles which regulate prosperity or ad-
versity appear to prevail. Just in proportion as
government has improved and civilization advanced
have the evils diminished. The famines and plagues
which in former ages were frequent, and sometimes
depopulated entire districts, have almost disappeared
from civilized Europe; and at the present moment in
Asia and the Eastern world generally, the severity of
these scourges seems proportioned to the deserts, moral
and political, of the different nations. Russian Tartary
and British India appear to escape, while in other
parts, where the governments are despotic, and where
there is little inducement for man to put forth his
energies, perhaps hardly a year passes over without
extreme privations, and sometimes from the operation
of one or other of these checks whole districts will
be left utterly destitute of inhabitants. The greater
the altitude of civilization the less is the liability to
74
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
violence of any kind. Amongst commercial states a
severe scarcity, still less a famine, rarely prevails, and
little injury would be inflicted if the government
were provident, and if charity were widely mani-
fested. Epidemics also, though they constitute a
source of alarm, and fill men's minds with the idea of
precarious mortality, hardly take off a number suffi-
cient to produce a sensible effect upon the aggregate
population. War, too, in the present day loses part
of its former devastating character, and it appeared
in the cases of France and England that at the termi-
nation of the most sanguinary conflict those rival
nations ever were engaged in, their population had
increased in a high ratio, unparalleled in their his-
tories. It is evident, therefore, that as the ameliora-
tion of society advances, redeeming lenitives begin
to operate, and there is a progressive diminution of
violent evils.
It is important, perhaps, to consider, that the oper-
ation of violent checks fails in ultimately correcting
the evils attendant upon a redundant population. If
famine or any positive check take place in a country
in which there was great poverty resulting from re-
dundancy, so that a large number of the people were
destroyed, it does not necessarily follow that there
would be any diminution of the poverty or of the
relative distress. It depends upon the condition of
life and character of the people cut off whether or
not those who remain find themselves in better cir-
cumstances. If the mortality be amongst the labour-
1
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
75
21
1
I
[
ing class only, the evils will be diminished, and the
redundant population will be removed. If the mor-
tality be amongst the better classes, or rather those
who give the play to industry, and with whom it
originates, the evils will be augmented, and the re-
dundant population will be increased. If the morta-
lity be in equal proportion amongst the better classes
and the poor, the comparative extent of the distress,
and the redundant population, will remain unchanged.
Were the cholera, for example, to be strictly indiscri-
minate in its solemn visitings, and to attack both rich
and poor alike, carrying off large numbers, we should
still find, when it had passed away, and commerce
recovered from the temporary stagnation, that there
was poverty in the streets, and the same relative
number of persons abjectly offering their services,
but unable to procure employment. And it is pro-
bable, contrary to the prevailing opinion, that in the
census for the succeeding ten years, notwithstanding
the diminution of people, and the consequent excess
of food, compared to the habitual supply, the ratio of
increase would not be greater than in the preceding
decennial return. It is, indeed, a great mistake to
imagine that after famine or pestilence society in-
creases in an accelerated ratio. That result depends
upon other causes; upon the habits of the people;
the description and rank in life of those cut off; the
nature of the government; and its capabilities to
prevent a recurrence of the evils. In Spain or in
Turkey the population in more prosperous times may
have been twenty millions respectively. Disease,
76
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
war, and famine, may destroy four millions; but the
remaining sixteen millions will not elevate the ratio
of their increase, because they have a wider space or
a larger division of land to each individual to raise
subsistence. Subsequent calamities may further re-
duce the population to twelve millions, or even lower,
and yet still there will be no vast strides made to
repair the injury, and the extremes of poverty and
want may be witnessed amongst the reduced popu
lation of twelve as well as among the twenty million.
From these considerations it would appear that
some prevalent notions respecting population are
erroneous. The violent attacks on Mr. Pitt for esta
blishing his tax on bachelors might have been
spared; not that this tax is the wisest possible, but
because assuredly it did not produce the evils gene-
rally depicted. If the tax were paid by the better
classes of society, it added, or rather it was calcu-
lated by its operation to add, to the number of that
class with whom industry originates, and whose
wealth would admit of subdivision. It would, there-
fore, stimulate invention, and the further acquisition
of both material and immaterial capital. Instances
could be described of two individuals possessing the
same means of giving employment to labourers in
productive industry; the one has remained single,
and has employed during his lifetime, say, ten men;
the other has married, and employing ten men him-
self, has given an education to his children sufficient
to enable them to avail themselves of the resources of
credit, and to strike out paths for themselves in active
5
1
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
77
commerce: the consequence has been to give in all
branches of his family employment to a hundred
Has the married man or the bachelor most
contributed to repress redundancy?
men.
SECTION II.
Preventive Checks.
THE preventive checks to increase of numbers, as
Mr. Malthus observes, are peculiar to man, and arise
from that exertion of his reasoning faculties which
enables him to calculate distant consequences. In
civilized communities every man must be aware of
the necessity of possessing something to offer for his
food; he must reflect, also, whether or not the quan-
tity and quality of such subsistence as he is enabled
to compass will continue unchanged, or his personal
gratifications be in any degree diminished, in case he
marry, and be obliged to divide his wages or allow-
ances amongst a rising family. To strengthen this
habit of reflection is the object of enlightened legis-
lation it already exists efficaciously amongst the
middle classes of society, and could it be extended
to the labourers, there would be little fear of poverty
appearing amongst them. But the experience of
mankind must evince that it is not possible for
78
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
didactic admonitions, respecting the postponement of
marriage, to operate upon the minds of the lower
classes with any salutary effect. In whatever way
statesmen may speculate, and with whatever zeal
they may enact their laws, the mass of mankind will
always consider that, so far as moral obligation is
involved, to marry early is a virtuous, not a vicious
act. The feelings, or, if the term be more appro-
priate, the deeply rooted prejudices, of almost all
classes lead them to believe that a man who is in-
strumental in producing an increase of citizens is a
benefactor to the state. It is erroneous, therefore, to
expect that the consequences of imprudent marriage
will be looked upon by the parties themselves in
the same light as they contemplate disease, oppro-
bium, and misery, the attendants upon drunkenness
and similar vices. The preventive checks can only
be introduced amongst the labourers by inducing
them to imitate the habits and manners of the middle
orders, with whom the restraints to marriage proceed
as much from selfish as from moral considerations.
A strong propensity and governing motive of conduct
can only be controlled by opposing to it another still
stronger. Man has his eye constantly on his fellow,
and dreads contempt as an evil, if long-suffering and
degradation have not benumbed his faculties. His
self-gratification works in many directions; and it
may lead to forethought in regard to marriage, quite
independently of the commendation or the censures
of the moralist. In reality, considerations concerning
L
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
79
subsistence do not regulate the extent of numbers in
the upper classes of society. There are restraints
not associated with the word moral, which act with
powerful efficacy. These may be divided into two
classes; the one relates to the desire of immediate
pleasure or gratification; the other to the fear of
future pain, or the loss of personal comforts. In the
first, there are all the intellectual resources which
education presents, together with the many amuse-
ments in which a single man can participate-the
theatre, the club, the evening party, and numberless
such attractive places for spending the time agree-
ably; these, taken in conjunction, greatly strengthen
the disposition of men not possessed of affluence
to abstain from marriage, or at least to postpone it.
The restraints belonging to the second class are
referable to those habits of society, such as a display
in dress or external appointments, which, always
existing in a highly civilized state, it becomes dis-
creditable to leave ungratified. In a virtuous and
enlightened community these operate with extra-
ordinary force; and they certainly are of a more
amiable nature than the other class, which spring
from selfishness. But with regard to the labouring
orders neither of these restraints operate. A single
man especially, if he reside in the most advanced
agricultural districts, enjoys no pleasures of any kind:
his life is irksome, cheerless, and solitary; his self-
respect too, it is to be feared, is utterly gone; and so
far from having any reason to be surprised at the
melancholy results which are presented to us, we
80
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
should rather think it strange if the redundancy,
dissatisfaction, and misery, amongst the agricultural
labourers were less, considering their habits, manners,
and resources. But in examining into the principles
which regulate the operation of the preventive check
there is no reason to despond. It is something to find
out the object desired; and the ultimate attainment
of that object does not appear to be utterly insuper-
able.
It may assist us to trace the habits of the highest
description of persons receiving wages, and then
those of the lowest class of daily labourers; an
insight into these particulars will complete this part
of the subject, and clear up any doubts that may
arise relative to the assumed superiority of increase
of the working orders.
Bankers and Merchants' clerks may be placed
at the head of the list. Other persons of superior
rank may certainly be considered as living by
wages; but they are of a different description, and
they may be supposed to enjoy an opportunity
to vary their earnings, either by superior talents, or
by industry. On the other hand, clerks, generally
speaking, are confined to a stated service, and the
rate of salary is adjusted to a corresponding uni-
formity. Now the object is to enquire, what are the
habits of those persons, and at what age do they
marry. It is notorious that the majority of them
postpone it to a very late period of life, and that very
many never marry at all. The next enquiry naturally
is, what is the cause of this? The common answer
1
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
81
that they cannot afford it is very imperfect and un-
satisfactory. Other persons, with a much smaller
income, afford it, and manage to rear a family. The
true reason is, that mere subsistence absorbs but a
minor portion of the income of these clerks, but
custom has imperatively required of them to preserve
a respectable appearance. A large expense is en-
tailed upon them in the article of dress; they have
little as it were to come and go upon in what apper-
tains to food merely; and any increased expense on
this head would so trench on what they deem indis-
pensable to their own personal appearance, that
marriage is regarded by them with the utmost appre-
hension. With this class, therefore, it may fairly be
said that restraints arising out of these habits of
society operate so strongly as not only to keep popu-
lation within due limits, but effectually to check it ;
and that if other classes were similarly influenced,
the speedy depopulation of the country would be the
chief dread.
If we take an inferior class of people, warehouse-
men and persons employed in printing offices for
instance, we shall find the existence of a feeling
similar to that we have just described, though in di-
minished proportion. Their work may be taken to be
half corporeal and half mental: so great an outlay is
not required in their clothing as in that of the former
class, and they have therefore greater latitude in
what relates to food; they consequently do not view
the cares of married life with so much caution. Still
G
82
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
there is hesitation and delay, and it must be admitted
that such restraint operates to keep down population.
In a still lower order of society, that of mechanics
and working tradesmen, we observe a further dimi-
nution in certain branches of their expenditure.
The single men have a considerable latitude to accu-
mulate in what relates to food, compared to those
who are married, and the state is consequently entered
into freely. Even here, however, some restraint
exists. It is well known, from statistical tables which
have been published, that journeymen, in many
trades, are accustomed to spend a good deal apart
from food; and thus, at least, to delay marrying longer
than is absolutely necessary for them to have saved
the means.
This is all that is sought to be estab-
lished; for population is undeniably checked by
such delays.
We have now come down to the common day
labourers, and they are beyond comparison the most
important in the inquiry. With these the supply of
food alone is considered, and it is known that no
restraint whatever, in respect to consequences, has
hitherto operated. It thus appears that, step by step,
prudential considerations of reviewing all the conse-
quences attendant on marriage prevail, more or less,
according to the gradations of expense which habit
has imposed upon the various classes receiving wages.
Were the same considerations to influence common
labourers, and were custom to impose upon them the
necessity of making a certain display in their persons
1
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
83
and in their houses, they would hesitate before they
made the sacrifice of personal comforts, which they
must see were indispensably necessary in order to
provide for the expenses of a wife and family. The
advantageous results that would ensue to the com-
munity from this change would be quite as great as
those accruing to the labourers themselves. In case
a temporary stagnation of commerce took place there
would be no extreme privations, no pauperism. Sup-
pose the scale of living of the superior class of persons
receiving wages to be at any given period equitably
adjusted, and suppose from stagnation of trade or any
other cause that salaries were reduced. In these
classes a reduction in that branch of expenditure
which could best be dispensed with, clothing and lodg-
ing, would then take place; let the evil continue and
encroachment must be made on many other articles;
a stage yet further, and many real necessaries must
be relinquished. During this progression there is
not actual misery; there is merely comparative priva-
tion of former comforts amongst the married people
who have families; but in the mean time how are
the unmarried and those coming to maturity affected.
Men already burthened with families have no alter-
native. With the hardness of the times they must
of necessity reduce their scale of living, even in what
relates to the indispensable articles of life. Not so
the single man. If custom has established a stand-
ard of artificial wants which it would be discreditable
not to satisfy, and the neglect of which would expose
84
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
him perhaps to the derision of those just one step
above him in society, then would his mind admit of
a strongly increased bias against incurring the charge
of a family. He would remain single, and ere a
generation elapsed the number of competitors would
be diminished, and ultimately adjusted to the de-
mand for their services. The whole of this reasoning
will receive considerable corroboration on referring to
the difference of customs which prevails in many
parts of the United Kingdom. Precisely in propor-
tion to the operation of the species of pride adverted
to does the preventive check to population appear con-
spicuous. In endeavouring to extend this feeling the
labourers themselves must be willing coadjutors.
There is no desire to exclude them from the pale of
the social system, or to establish habits of restraint
with them different from the rest of the community;
the object is to exalt not to degrade, and enlightened
benevolence moves hand in hand with expediency in
the means taken to accomplish the change. Through
the progress of civilization the better classes of society
are enabled to compass more enjoyments; it is illibe-
ral, therefore, to confine the lower classes to an un-
deviating standard. Artificial wants are relative,
and while all classes acquire fresh means of gratifi-
cation, so should each humble individual equally rise
in the social scale. By this means the evils of ex-
treme luxury on the one hand and deplorable poverty
on the other, which are generally associated in the
thoughts, as attendant on high civilization, would be
1
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
85
averted. By introducing elevated habits there may
be a salutary increase of population, but it will still
correspond with the demand for labour and not out-
run it. In periods of temporary prosperity, for ex-
ample, a labourer may receive high wages; but if his
thoughts, as in many parts, only extend to the enjoy-
ment of animal wants, he will early take a wife, and
we shall behold his cottage crowded with a family,
careless in their habits, negligent of their persons,
and reckless of the future; but were the same labourer
in the receipt of equal wages to feel uneasy at the
thought of disreputable clothing, or the possibility of
having a wife and children destitute of decent com-
fort, he would calculate with caution the expenses of
a family, and there would be little fear of his contri-
buting to over-people the world.
From these principles, respecting the operation of
the preventive checks, a few reflections present them-
selves. In the first place population does not actually
increase in strict conformity with the received opi-
nions upon that subject. It is quite possible for the
ratio of increase to be small in countries possessing
a lavish abundance of food. The labouring popula-
tion may be in an elevated position, so that strong
feelings of self-respect may be established which assi-
milate them in their habits to the better classes of
society, and which render the operation of prudential
restraint eminently efficacious. There has certainly
been a deterioration in the condition of the English
labourers; there is great existing distress; and yet.
86
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
according to every authentic information the rate of
increase is greater now than formerly, so complete
has been the destruction of the feeling of self-respect.
Amongst the great body of the people at the present
moment, sexual intercourse is the only gratification;
and thus, by a most unfortunate concurrence of adverse
circumstances, population goes on augmenting at a
period when it ought to be restrained. To better the
condition of the labouring classes, that is, to place
more food and comforts before them, however pa-
radoxical it may appear, is the wisest mode to check
redundancy. On this principle many singular ano-
malies in Ireland can be explained. The increase of
poverty in that country, which has certainly taken
place within the last generation, has increased the
number of births, and probably also the adult popu-
lation. Were that country to emerge from her pre-
sent condition, and were the object to restrain a fur-
ther supply of labourers, the wisest course would be
to give the people a greater command over the neces-
saries of life. When they are better fed they will
have other enjoyments at command than sexual inter-
course, and their numbers, therefore, will not increase
in the same proportion as at present.
In the second place, from the foregoing principles
the different rates of increase amongst town and agri-
cultural labourers, and also amongst different dis-
tricts of the same nation, can be explained. It is not
solely owing to the sickliness of towns that popula-
lation there is slow of increase in some respects the
+
OF THE CHECKS TO POPULATION.
87
town population enjoys peculiar advantages; the
medical attendance is better, and there are more.
comforts and foreign commodities, considered now as
necessaries rather than as luxuries, procured with
facility. In the present state of England there is
not much difference in the bills of mortality, between
the towns and country, and the smaller increase in
town population proceeds from the greater efficacy
of the preventive check. According to the progress
of civilization, the rate of increase of every people
undergoes considerable variation. Sometimes it in-
creases, sometimes diminishes. It is quite possible
for privations to diminish, while the people augment
their numbers more slowly; and this does not pro-
ceed from any alteration in human fecundity as po-
pulation becomes more dense and civilization pro-
gresses it is owing to the increased efficacy of pru-
dential restraint. In place of there being any tendency
in population to diminish in proportion to the density
of their numbers, it would appear that the exact
contrary is the case. In St. Giles's, Shoreditch, the
most crowded parts of the Borough, indeed in all the
most populous parts of large towns, a greater number
of persons are born than in other parts less densely
inhabited. Where the people enjoy greater room in
their dwellings observation is more sedulously fixed
upon their actions, and, attending more to the com-
forts and decencies of life, they postpone marriage.
88
CHAPTER IV.
OF THE PERIOD OF MARRIAGE MOST BENEFICIAL
TO SOCIETY.
WHEN We hear of a population doubling itself in
twenty-five years, as the rate at which mankind
increases under the most favourable circumstances,
we are not to assume that this exhibits the most
desirable state of society. It is quite possible for a
people to put forth a far inferior procreative power,
and yet in every respect to display a superior state
of social organization, and one better adapted to the
legislator to select as his model in framing his laws
for domestic government. It is the longevity and the
large number of persons that arrive at a marrying
age, which forms the correct criterion in judging of
the prosperity and general happiness of a people.
If in America the mean expectation of life is only
twenty-eight years, and if forty-four children out of
one hundred die before they attain the age of ten
years, while in England the expectation of life is
fifty-four years, and out of one hundred only thirty-
five die before the age of ten, we are justified in
pronouncing that the state of society in England is
preferable to that of America, notwithstanding that
OF THE PERIOD OF MARRIAGE.
89
the population of the latter country doubles itself in
twenty-five, and that of the former in fifty-two years.
Neither are we to take it for granted, that a large
number of births to each marriage necessarily proves
that the ratio of increase of population is considerable;
it is quite possible for so many as five births to take
place to every marriage, and yet the population re-
main stationary or be even declining. This is easily
accounted for by reflecting that for a population to in-
crease people must not only be born, but they must
live and come to maturity. There are parishes in some
of the most crowded districts in large towns in which
the births more than average five to each marriage, and
yet such is the mortality amongst the children, caused
by neglect, filth, and want of proper sustenance, that
a constant supply of fresh settlers from other parts
is required to recruit the population or to prevent
it from lessening its numbers. These considerations
should remove the erroneous opinions too frequently
formed in respect to the comparative prosperity of
different nations, when the power of procreation is
alone attended to. For a considerable period, ac-
cording to the decennial returns, there has been an
increase in the duration of life in England. From
1700 to 1780 it has varied from one death in thirty-
one to one death in forty-two. In 1790 it was one in
forty-five, and according to the statement prefixed by
Mr. Rickman to the last population returns, the ave-
rage of 1796 to 1800 was forty-eight; 1806 to 1810,
fifty-one; 1816 to 1820 fifty-seven; 1826 to 1830
90
OF THE PERIOD OF MARRIAGE
it had declined to fifty-four. This exhibits, upon the
whole, a material improvement in the general con-
dition of the people, caused by superior medical
treatment and greater cleanliness. The improvement
in the manufacturing towns is the most conspicuous
and surprising. In the interval between 1770 and
1780 the mortality in Manchester was one in twenty-
four; in Liverpool one in twenty-seven and a half;
the average throughout the manufacturing districts
of the North was one in twenty-eight: and, according
to the recent returns, the mortality for all Lancashire
and the West Riding of York, at the last census, was
fifty-seven. This certainly evinces an extraordinary
change, and, notwithstanding the acknowledged dis-
tress, probably there is no people in the world exhibit-
ing more healthy and desirable proportions, in respect
to ages and general longevity, than the majority of
the inhabitants of Great Britain. There is no doubt
capability for much further improvement, and sup-
posing that the question of food did not cramp the
views of the legislator, or in other words, that he
was not restrained in his plans of future amelioration
by considerations respecting the ulterior difficulty of
procuring sustenance, there are three circumstances
which would guide him in his designs. First, he
would endeavour to establish a society in which
there should be the largest longevity possible: there
should be, for example, the fewest deaths in infancy;
a large proportion of the population should arrive at a
marrying age; and after this period was past a rea-
I
I
MOST BENEFICIAL TO SOCIETY.
91
sonable hope should present itself for the attainment
of good old age. Secondly, he would endeavour to
establish a state of society in which the physical
developement of the human frame would display itself
in a state of high power, energy, and general excel-
lence. To have a strong, healthy and active race of
men must be an object of primary importance to
every nation; and there seems no reason why these
great ends should not be kept in view in respect to
the human race as well as the lower animals. Third-
ly, he would endeavour to stretch to the utmost
limits every amelioration connected with that higher
part of man, his moral government. There can be
no doubt that this important consideration can be
much influenced by the notions of marriage which
are generally prevalent in the community.
In all these prominent objects it would seem that
nature works harmoniously, and what tends to estab-
lish one end equally acts to accomplish the others.
To place some restraint upon the first impulse of the
passions, and consequently to postpone marriage, not
by any means to a late period, but to a time when
the natural powers are fully developed, will eventu-
ally be found to confer the greatest advantages upon
society. Under the first head, of longevity, it is
well known that there is a relation between the period
at which people in different nations arrive at matu-
rity, and the period of their natural demise. It is
with plants as with animals; quick vegetation and
early ripening are always followed by premature
92
OF THE PERIOD OF MARRIAGE
decay. Nations in which the average marrying age
is eighteen to twenty will assuredly exhibit a popu-
lation shorter lived than in those where the marrying
age is twenty-five to twenty-seven. Indeed, the latter
state of things presents so many advantages that few
legislators would hesitate which to select had they
unlimited choice, or were they solely desirous of
producing a society in its most favourable condition,
unconnected with any consideration respecting food.
Life is sweet, and the moment a being is brought
into the world reason combines with feeling in our
fondly hoping that it may not be removed from the
scene of its affections until a late period, when it
has fairly run its course, and when the passions fall
in with the physical frame in a natural decay.
In regard to the second point, it is known that the
offspring of young parents is generally puny, and de-
ficient in muscular fibre. This subject was noticed
so far back as the time of Aristotle, who has ex-
pressed himself as follows: "Premature conjunc-
"tions produce imperfect offspring; females rather
"than males, and those feeble in make and short in
"stature; that this happens in the human race as
"well as in other animals is visible in the puny in-
"habitants of countries where early marriages pre-
"vail."* In another part he further observes: "to
"the female sex premature wedlock is peculiarly
66
dangerous, since, in consequence of anticipating
* Aristotle-De Repub. B. iv. p. 246.
}
MOST BENEFICIAL TO SOCIETY.
93
"the demands of nature, many of them suffer greatly
" in child-birth, and many of them die." The opinions
of modern writers on this subject have not varied, and
it appears that, throughout the various charitable in-
stitutions in this country, those persons born of pa-
rents in the prime of life possess the physical endow-
ments of their species in the greatest perfection.
In regard to the third point, it seems obvious that
as marriage is delayed for a little while, and not
formed on the first excitement, more discrimination
will be displayed, and reason will exert her sway ad-
vantageously to suit the parties to each other. On
the part of the rising offspring the beneficial results
are manifold and striking. That species of educa-
tion in infancy, derived from maternal care, is ever
the most valuable; and it will be much better ac-
complished when the first joys of youth on the part
of the mother are soothed down to contemplative
womanhood. The zest for pleasure is abated, and
her thoughts centre in the welfare and happiness of
her offspring. How many are the cases where guilt
itself is checked in its career by the force of affection-
ate reminiscences, arising in the bosom of a youth
when far distant from his home, and removed from
friendly counsel; the image of his mother floats be-
fore him; the vicious passion is repelled; and the
waverer may for ever be fixed in a life of virtue from
this first triumph of maternal precepts.
The salutary effects which would result to society
in case the institutions of social life were established
in accordance with these views, must be easily ap-
94
OF THE PERIOD OF MARRIAGE
preciated. What the exact age most eligible for
marriage should be must naturally depend upon
climate and physical circumstances. In temperate
regions, and in Europe in general, if twenty-five
years were selected as the period, and if the marriage.
state were then freely entered into, it is probable that
all the advantages just depicted would be obtained,
and the period of doubling, making allowance for oc-
casional emigrations in mercantile pursuits, would
not be quicker than eighty to ninety years.
There must always be some preventive check in
operation; and it would undoubtedly be desirable
to have this check so adjusted that it would rise
or fall according to the varying intensity of com-
mercial changes or vicissitudes from which no coun-
try, however well governed, can escape. It would
be instructive to ascertain the real operation of this
check throughout the different nations of Europe;
but the subject is complicated and difficult. The
proportions of yearly marriages to the whole po-
pulation is the most common criterion to select in
order to determine the extent of its operation; but
this mode is liable to some objections. If the people
be increasing in their numbers rapidly, as in Ame-
rica, the proportion of yearly marriages to the entire
population, would exhibit results entirely different
from those appearing in a country where the popu-
lation was nearly stationary. On the same principle
also the degree of longevity is an important consider-
ation in the question, and amongst healthy countries
the customary mode of calculating the preventive
S
f
MOST BENEFICIAL TO SOCIETY.
95
1
{
checks will give results rather below than above the
real efficacy of its operation. It seems expedient,
therefore, to investigate the ages of the population in
each country at a given period; and by this means,
on ascertaining the number of people within the
marrying ages, and comparing them with the total
number of marriages, we can discover pretty nearly
the average periods of marrying, and consequently
the operation of the preventive check. When the
tables now in progress by Mr. Rickman are finished,
the data will be complete for determining this
point. In the mean time the following table, founded
upon the population returns of 1821, will enable us
to form a loose and general idea of its operation in
England, and of the degree of its exertion required to
adjust the future population to the prospects of the
country.
ENGLAND.-POPULATION IN 1821.
10 to
15 to 20
20 to
30 to 40
Ages.
Under 5 ..
5 to 10
15
Total.
1,464,964
Proportion in 10,000.
1491
1,282,339
1304
1,092,435
1112
974,690
992
30
1,552,226
1579
1,163,580.
1183
40 to 50
920,850
937
50 to
60
648,169
658
60 to 70
445,272
453
70 to 80
221,269
225
80 to
90
59,616 ..
61
90 to 100
5,051 ..
5
Total ages returned.. 9,830,461
10,000
96
OF THE PERIOD OF MARRIAGE
Out of a population of ten thousand it thus ap-
pears that between the ages of twenty and thirty
there are one thousand five hundred and seventy-nine
males and females; and between the ages of thirty
and forty, one thousand one hundred and eighty-
three.
According to the usual mode of calculation these
would be appropriated to each year as follows:
Age. Males. Females. Total. Age. Males. Females. Total.
20 .. 92 .. 92 .. 184|| 30 .. 66 .. 67 .. 133
21 .. 89 .. 89 ..
22 .. 85
85 .. 86 ..
23 82 .. 83 ..
24 .. 79 .. 80 ..
178
171
31 .. 64 .. 65 .. 129
32 .. 63 .. 63 ..
126
165
33 .. 61 .. 62 ..
123
159
34 .. 59 .. 60 ..
119
25 . 76
.. 77 ..
153
35 .. 58
.. 58 ..
116
26 .. 74
75 ..
149
36
.. 56 .. 57 ..
113
• •
27 .. 72 .. 72 ..
144
37 .. 55
.. 55 .. 110
28 .. 70 .. 70 ..
140
38
54 .. 54 .. 108
• •
29 .. 68 .. 68 .. 136
39 .. 53 .. 53
53 .. 106
Total.... 1579
Total.... 1183
In the last population returns it is stated, that the
marriages are to the population as one to one hun-
dred and twenty-nine. Out of a population of ten
thousand, this would give seventy-seven marriages:
now, on referring to the above table, it appears that
there are seventy-six individuals who annually arrive
at twenty-five years of age; it therefore follows that
this is about the mean age of marriage; and since it
is notorious that from accidents, emigration, or absti-
nence, many never marry at all, a large majority
would appear to marry before twenty-five years of
MOST BENEFICIAL TO SOCIETY.
97
J
age; a proof that, however the preventive check may
operate amongst the middle classes of society, it acts
with little efficacy amongst the bulk of the people.
If we suppose on an average four births to each
marriage, there will be three hundred and eight
births out of a population of ten thousand taking
the mortality at fifty-four years, there will be one
hundred and eighty-five deaths: there will then be
an annual excess of a hundred and twenty-three
births out of a population of ten thousand, exhibiting
an excess of births above the deaths to the whole of
the living, in the proportion of one to eighty-one,
which, according to the table given in Mr. Malthus's
work, exhibits a decennial increase of about thirteen
per cent., or a period of doubling in fifty-six years.
This very nearly corresponds with the proportions
now existing in this country; and it corroborates in
some degree the previous calculation that twenty-
five
years is the mean age of marriage.
If we suppose the period of marriage postponed
to twenty-eight years, the number of annual mar-
riages will then be seventy, the births two hundred
and eighty, giving an annual increase of ninety-five
persons out of ten thousand: this exhibits an excess
of births above the deaths to the whole of the living
in the proportion of one to one hundred and five:
and, according to the tables of Mr. Malthus, the de-
cennial increase would be about ten per cent.; and
the period of doubling about seventy-two years and a
half.
98
ON THE PERIOD OF MARRIAGE
This calculation, however, presumes that the post-
ponement of marriage does not tend to diminish the
prolificness of the women.
If we suppose, from the postponement of marriage,
that the number of births is reduced to 3.5, the
annual excess of births will then be sixty in ten
thousand, or in the proportion of one to a hundred
and sixty-six. This would exhibit a decennial in-
crease of a little above six per cent., or a period of
doubling in one hundred and fourteen years.
It is probable that the diminished fruitfulness of
marriages, consequent upon the postponement as-
sumed, would not be greater than what is stated. It
has long been observed, that when women marry late
in life, the postponement of the generative energies
carries the prolificness beyond the average period.
Let us now examine what the effects would be
upon the entire population, if the same abstinence
were displayed amongst the lower as amongst the
middle classes. From emigration to the various
colonies, as well as from abstinence, it may be pre-
sumed, according to common observation in society,
that one-fifth of the better classes in society remain
single. Assuming the average period of marriage
to be twenty-five, this would give sixty-two marriages
annually and two hundred and forty-eight births, or
an excess over the deaths of sixty-three. The decen-
nial increase would then be six and a half
per cent.,
the period of doubling would be a hundred and
eleven years.
{
[
MOST BENEFICIAL TO SOCIETY.
99
I
J
}
If one-sixth remain single, the decennial increase
would be a little more than seven and a half per
cent., the period of doubling ninety-seven years.
It appears, therefore, from these calculations, that
were the same habits to prevail amongst the lower
as amongst the middle classes of society, the increase
of population in this country would virtually proceed
at a very slow rate. Indeed, at the present time, we
are disposed to exaggerate it, from merely looking at
the actual increase of population, without investigating
the causes to which it is properly ascribable. It does
not appear that there is any very great increase in
the procreative power for the last generation, not-
withstanding the high ratios of increase which are
decennially exhibited. It is the increase in longevity,
proceeding from the diminished mortality amongst
the children, which has occasioned the change. The
same cause is operating throughout Europe; and
some recent writers in France have stated that, not-
withstanding the great increase of population in that
country, the births are not more numerous now than
fifteen years back: thus showing that the increase
in numbers is solely attributable to a diminished
annual mortality. In this country much may still
be done to lessen the average mortality, and popu-
But
lation will keep increasing at a rapid rate.
when the highest longevity is reached which society
is capable of attaining, the increase will appear
to be slow. There is, thus, little cause for appre-
hension relative to future redundancy, if we con-
100
ON THE PERIOD OF MARRIAGE.
sider how easy are the means to check population,
in case we can bring the habits of all classes exactly
to correspond with each other. In laying down rules
for the attainment of ultimate ends affecting morals
and habits, the difficulties are not so great as they
would at first appear. Those maxims, affecting the
government of the social system, which meet with
general commendation, and which are inculcated in
our standard literature, insensibly warp themselves
into our thoughts, and, in a large proportion of cases,
form the practical rule of life. How many rules.
respecting social relations appear to bind us with
adamantine chains, which are so soft and frail as to
be dissipated by a breath whenever public opinion
undergoes a change. The same analogy will hold
with respect to marriage throughout all gradations
of life. Were all the considerations relating to it
thoroughly understood, and generally acquiesced in,
they would acquire a growing influence, and soon
become permanently confirmed, acting in such an
efficacious manner as to secure general benefit. By
degrees every person would learn his proper rule of
conduct in respect to this most important step in life,
which would continue to spread, both in precept
and in action, until all were included within the
circle of its salutary operation.
1
101
CHAPTER V.
OF THE CHARITABLE SUPPORT OF THE POOR.
NOTWITHSTANDING every pains which may be taken
to promote the welfare of the working classes, it is to
be feared that, for a long period to come, there must
be an extended call for charity upon the wealthier
orders of society. This consideration gives rise to
one of the most important questions in civil polity—
whether or not the poor should be supported by
compulsory contributions? We shall investigate the
point under three heads: first, as to the right of the
poor to receive assistance; secondly, as to the justice
of the better classes contributing according to their
means; thirdly, as to the expediency of the state
making charity a public or national object.
}
1
}
SECTION I.
Right of the Poor to receive Assistance.
THE right of the poor to receive support is one of
those questions which it would be prudent to moot
as seldom as possible. Cases are frequent in politics,
in which the discussion of abstract points gives rise
to angry feelings, without being productive of any
102
OF THE CHARITABLE
practical good. It can answer little useful purpose
to set the interests, or the fancied interests, of the
lower classes in opposition to those of the rich. A
spontaneous and kindly charity may by these means
be converted into a reluctant and sullen contribution;
and the reciprocal feelings of good brotherhood,
which ought to exist amongst all branches of the
same great national family, may be converted into
distrust and rancour. But though this consideration
is sufficient to check frequent discussion, yet it is
proper to have definite ideas on the mind in every
extended enquiry.
According to the principles hitherto elucidated, it
will probably be admitted, without further argument,
that the basis of a judicious social system should
secure to the poor sufficient food for their support.
Before investigating this point in detail, it may be
necessary to enumerate the various classes that from
time to time seek eleemosynary assistance. In
In every
country the poor may be divided into three great
classes: first, those who are unable to work or to
perform any services for themselves; secondly, those
who are able to work, but who cannot procure em-
ployment from imprudent conduct, or from bad
character; thirdly, those who are meritorious, but
who cannot procure employment from the stagnation
of commerce.
In the first class there may be several species:
those incapable of labour from acute and temporary
disease, from the weakness of infancy, from the
natural decrepitude of old age, or from deformity or
SUPPORT OF THE POOR.
103
bodily infirmity of any kind. In regard to these
there is little difference of opinion, and there seems a
general willingness to give support to all. Epidemic
diseases cannot be foreseen, and if suffered to exist
and spread amongst the lower classes, the community
in general would suffer; the wealthier classes, there-
fore, for their own sakes are called upon to interfere,
and to bear the expense of hospitals, and such insti-
tutions, to receive the poorer classes whenever afflicted
with severe disease. In regard to those who are
permanently disabled, or who labour under repulsive
infirmities, it is to be feared that private sympathy
would soon be exhausted; and, indeed, it is not
seemly nor conducive to public morality to permit
these persons to exhibit their deformity in order to
elicit alms.
The second class, or those who are guilty of mis-
conduct, may be quickly disposed of. It certainly
never could be intended in any well-governed state,
to allow the sturdy vagrant, or the vicious and im-
provident, to feed upon the earnings of the indus-
trious classes. It is no doubt a difficult object to
deal with those persons according to their deserts;
but so far as the present object is concerned, it may
be unequivocally decided that they have no abstract
right to receive support.
The question then is reduced to a narrow compass,
and we have only to consider whether or not the
able-bodied poor, who are not blameable for any
actual misconduct, should receive gratuitous assist-
ance. As a matter of right, if all the circumstances
104
OF THE CHARITABLE
be fairly and impartially weighed, it would seem
that the answer must be given in the affirmative.
The various regulations, the changes of commercial
law, the alterations of duties and channels of com-
merce, which from time to time take place in legis-
lation, are quite out of the control of the working
classes. If distress arise, they themselves are hardly
to blame; they cannot control the revolutions of
trade, the devastations of war, natural calamities,
or the improvidence of governments at times no
less extensively destructive. As passive instruments
they are obliged to follow, and their destiny, whether
for good or for evil, is scarcely in their own keeping;
it must depend upon accident and the diversified
motives which may please to actuate the better
classes of society. It is quite possible, therefore,
for extreme distress to prevail, without the smallest
impeachment of their prudence or forethought. In
this case it would be rigid and unjust to punish
them for the acts of others. It would indeed
be worse, it would be adding ingratitude to injus-
tice. At pleasure, and when it suits the purpose
of the state, it uses these persons at its will, and
violates their personal liberty. It forces them by
ballot to serve in the militia, and to fight the public
battles; it compels them to man the national fleets;
it levies taxes upon them in their prosperity; and
when the hour of adversity arrives, surely, after hav-
ing used them forcibly and unconsulted at the public
volition, it would not be just to abandon them to
utter destitution. So long as a man is willing and
[
A
}
$
I
SUPPORT OF THE POOR.
105
ready to offer his services, and to say, I am desirous
to work, and to perform to the utmost of my ability,
the other branches of the community are called upon
to support him. He offers in exchange the only thing
he can give, his labour; and the state, having estab-
lished artificial regulations for the purpose of sup-
porting the gradations of rank, should grant in ex-
change a fair equivalent for that labour, not probably
equal to what it would produce if left to its own ac-
cord in an ordinary state of commerce, but certainly
sufficient for existence.
SECTION II.
Justice of all Classes contributing according to their means.
BEFORE deciding upon the question respecting the
propriety of causing all parties to contribute to the
support of the poor according to their means, it is
necessary to refer to the comparative advancement
of society. In young nations, and in many parts
not thickly peopled, or where the complicated re-
lations of commerce have not extended, there can
be no doubt that poor rates are an evil; they
chill the kindlier feelings and charities of life, and
prevent the amiable and the virtuous from extending
to the unfortunate that practical benevolence which is
so easily and so advantageously exercised in districts.
where every individual is in some degree known to
106
OF THE CHARITABLE
his neighbour. But when civilization and wealth are
far advanced, qualities of a more sordid nature un-
avoidably predominate, and a dependance on private
charity becomes impracticable; it would be taxing
the benevolent that the selfish should escape; a com-
pulsory contribution then becomes necessary, and
the difficulty consists in the mode of its enactment
and impartial distribution. Hence, as society ad-
vances, there is a material change in the feelings and
general principles which actuate the bulk of the
people. With a rapid diffusion of wealth the more
selfish feelings gain ground; the benevolent feel that
in alleviating distress, which even in the most pros-
perous society must be more or less prevalent, they
are contributing beyond their just proportion; and
thus, for the sake of justice, a call must be made, and
enforced upon all who seek to avoid participating in
disbursements which are probably inseparable from
the identical state of things, or organization of in-
dustry, to which their own ease or comparative com-
fort is traceable. When society is less advanced, the
desire to assuage the sufferings of the unfortunate
seems a universal impulse. Improvement awakens new
sentiments, but it also deadens old ones, and some-
times there is no occasion to be proud of the change.
The same feeling which prompts to the lavish enter-
tainment at the social board, is equally open to the
calls of want. Hospitality and charity dwell together,
they are twin sisters, and inseparably accompany the
early period of a people's career, though as society
advances their influence is impaired. This reflection
SUPPORT OF THE POOR.
107
must not, nevertheless, engross all our admiration for
the primitive ages; civilization rouses the most va-
luable faculties of the mind, and it may be assumed
that the aggregate good far surpasses the aggregate
evil. All parts of the United Kingdom have certainly
passed that period when the early virtues are chiefly
conspicuous; and even in Ireland, where no com-
pulsory rates prevail, charity is not now a universal
feeling. It is hardly to be imagined that any person
should starve from absolute want; and the support
of the poor in that country, much heavier in its
pressure than is generally conceived, considerably
increases absenteeism: it falls upon the resident
inhabitants, while those most able to pay are re-
moved from the disagreeable importunities of the
beggars, and contribute nothing.
A
Even when the disposition to private charity is
favourable, occasional caprice in its exercise seems
associated with high refinement of manners.
deceptive or prepossessing appearance in the ob-
ject seeking assistance, rather than a patient exami-
nation into character, generally determines the extent
of the relief. A well told tale, which the hearer
rarely thinks of investigating, sometimes succeeds
where real distress, silent from the consciousness of
suffering, fails. The temper of mind, besides, in
which the donor may be at the time of solicitation,
and numberless such circumstances, depending upon
accident or passion, renders individual charity fickle
and indiscriminating. Most persons giving alms act
on the impulse of the moment; they are powerfully
108
OF THE CHARITABLE
moved by what appears novel and peculiar in suffer-
ing; and they too frequently turn a deaf ear to trite
appeals relating to the miseries of ordinary life. In
active benevolence there is nothing attractive; cer-
tainly nothing that is shewy or alluring. The touch-
ing woe which draws forth a sigh on the perusal of
tales of fancy, is very different from the wretchedness
found in the gloomy and squalid abodes of real in-
digence; and it has long been remarked that quick
sensibility displayed in the drawing-room, in respect
to the former, is rarely conjoined with practical be-
nevolence, which will encounter much irksome dis-
agreeableness in relieving the latter. Recent reports
of different societies, in opulent towns in Scotland,
and in other places, where efforts have been made
to suppress mindicity, corroborate these objections
against individual charity. In every case indiscri-
minate private alms giving is complained of as dis-
tributing assistance unequally, inducing a feeling of
servility, and encouraging dissimulation and knavery.
SECTION III.
Expediency of making Charity a national object.
IN regard to the expediency of supporting the poor
by a public contribution, the general effects of such
a measure are to be considered; and also, how far gra-
tuitous assistance adds to the number of the claimants.
Though the principle of rendering relief to paupers
SUPPORT OF THE POOR.
109
is said to destroy feelings of personal independance,
and to make charity less humiliating in the eyes of
the labourers generally, many circumstances have
hitherto contributed to prevent this injurious oper-
ation. On the whole, this country, for upwards of two
centuries, has been in a progressive state of improve-
ment. Extensive wastes have been brought into cul-
tivation, and commerce has extended itself to the
furthest extremities of the earth, engendering nume-
rous excitements to industry. In many points the
condition of the lower classes is materially improved,
and numberless articles of consumption are now held
indispensable to their comfort, which to their ances-
tors were unknown. It is evident, therefore, that
up to a certain time, notwithstanding the many evils
attributable to a system of public charity, there
must have been some redeeming advantages. Those
evils, besides, in modern discussion, are constantly
assumed to belong to the general principle of public
charity, and not as they ought to be to that par-
ticular exemplification of the principle which is
presented by the English poor laws. The present
object is not to discuss the propriety of these laws,
but the expediency, in the abstract, of providing sup-
port for the poor. The use of a thing, it need
hardly be observed, is very different from its abuse;
and so many evils have grown up connected with
parish regulations, that few persons can abstract
their thoughts sufficiently to dwell upon the prin-
ciple of the question without attending to details
which are superinduced and objectionable. Mankind
110
OF THE CHARITABLE
are ever prone to pass unlimited condemnation upon
an institution the moment abuses become conspicu-
ous; but this is going too far; the wisest laws may
be perverted; and the changes of commerce, man-
ners, and customs, may call for modifications to suit
the altered relations of society without impugning the
wisdom of the primary enactment. Regarding the
general question in this point of view, the expedi-
ency of establishing a system of public charity in all
parts of the United Kingdom, seems to be borne out
on the following grounds.
The constant demands for parish rates, exacted as
a right, and frequently paid with extreme reluctance,
necessarily call, as Mr. M'Culloch has well illus-
trated, for a rigid scrutiny into the nature of the
institution itself, and the means of preventing its
extreme pressure. It has been observed that, owing
to this circumstance, farms in England are on a
larger scale than in most countries; the land is not
cut up into triangular patches, where the labourer
endeavours to keep a cow half-fed, lives in misery
himself, and brings into the world an offspring again
tending to a further injurious division of the land.
The second advantage consists in establishing a
high natural or habitual rate of wages.
A labourer
in Ireland lives on potatoes, in India on rice; but in
England custom has decided that he should compass
white bread, and occasionally meat, and also that he
should be decently clothed. To what cause are these
superior habits attributable? It will perhaps be
found, waiving any intrinsic
superiority of the
SUPPORT OF THE POOR.
111
man.
English character, that the general consumption of
commodities is likely to be carried to a higher pitch
by the operation of public contributions for charitable
support. Judiciously regulated, the parish allow-
ances tend to preserve, in principle, a high scale of
artificial wants, by keeping alive an elevated standard
in respect to the habitual consumption of a working
It may lead to a uniform and regular use of
many articles which, were their consumption to cease,
would inflict much injury upon many of the pro-
ductive classes. In regard to the distressed labourers
themselves it may also, in many cases, prevent them
from sinking into despair, and thus incite them to
retain their habits of industry. It is well known that
inexorable severity of punishment is not the best
adapted for the prevention of crime; so neither is
the sudden fall from comparative comfort to hopeless
penury the wisest mode to check improvidence.
The remaining advantage consists in suppressing
the importunities of beggars, and in abolishing
vagrancy in general. These are great objects, and if
they can be accomplished without remotely visiting
injurious consequences on the general relations of so--
ciety, an immense benefit is unquestionably attained.
Every nation must bestow a certain portion of its
annual earnings upon the unfortunate; and before
we exclaim against the heavy pressure of parochial
contributions, we should make an estimate of the
probable outgoings, in case relief were left to indi-
vidual charity. There is much delusion in expecting
112
OF THE CHARITABLE SUPPORT OF THE poor.
that the community could ever be relieved from these
demands; and though the collective amount of a
public rate appears formidable in figures, it is quite
possible for a large amount to be defrayed in gra-
tuitous alms.
In Ireland the calls for private charity never cease;
and many persons would willingly pay double the
sum to be relieved from the bold and most annoying
importunities of the beggar. The fund, moreover,
for defraying this payment would be increased if
charity were made a public object in that country.
The dissentients to this measure, before they dog-
matically decide upon its pernicious consequences,
should make an estimate of the effects upon industry
derivable from the more general consumption of
manufactures and other articles, in consequence of a
higher standard of artificial wants being established
for the labouring population generally. It is pro-
bable, if this and other circumstances were fairly and
abstractedly considered, that the expediency of public
charities would be admitted. The call for them is a
proof of the commercial advancement of a people
which the future history of Europe will evince.
Whether or not the English poor laws is a wise
system, or a judicious exemplification of the general
principle, is a very different question.
Y
!
C
{
113
CHAPTER VI.
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
SECTION I.—History.
THE system of providing support for the poor origi-
nated in the early periods of the Christian church.
A large sum for the redemption of souls was levied
by the clergy, who received it in the capacity of
guardians or treasurers to the poor. In the progress
of time contributions, at first specifically defined, be-
came more general; and, on the part of the religious
institutions, the distribution of the fund assumed a
more discretionary character. At an early period in
the history of the English church, there are com-
plaints that funds given for the support of the poor
were diverted from their proper channel, and ex-
pended in sumptuous entertainments given to the
feudal chieftains who, in travelling through the
country, rested with their retainers at the abbeys and
religious houses.
During the reign of Edward I., when English ju-
risprudence received so great an accession of wise
and judicious enactments, strenuous efforts were
I
114
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
made to check these abuses, and many statutes were
passed, regulating the manner in which alms should
be given to the poor, the sick, and the feeble. At
this period the clergy still continued the guardians
of these classes, and they took every pains to incul-
cate upon their flocks the necessity of alms-giving as
a religious duty, and as the means, in many cases, of
expiating a life of crime.
This state of things continued, mendicity rather
increasing than otherwise, to the reign of Edward III,
when many important alterations took place in the
social condition of England. It is in this reign that
the first statutes appear particularizing the nature of
vagrancy, and the measures to be taken for its sup-
pression. By the twenty-third of Edward III.,
soldiers and sailors, vagrants passing to their homes,
and all persons licensed by justices, were protected
in gathering alms, and hence the origin of itinerant
passes given by magistrates to beggars. During this
era, a marked distinction appears to have been made
between the impotent poor and sturdy beggars, or
those able to work; the former were treated with
lenient indulgence, the latter with stern severity.
The comparative number of the idle, who travelled
about in a state of vagrancy, depended in a great
degree upon the political state of the country. In
times of war or active commotion the feudal barons
kept up a large body of retainers and needy attend-
ants, which rendered the country tolerably free from
beggars. In peace these retainers were disbanded,
1
'
?
I
L
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
115
and from long predatory habits, and being too idle
to engage in continuous industry, they moved from
place to place, either seeking charity or trusting to
opportunities for plunder.
Under Henry VII., when intestine commotions had
ceased, the government settled into a regular state,
and, when a taste began to diffuse itself for the lux-
uries and conveniences of life, a great change took
place in the condition of the labouring classes. The
incentives to industry gave a tone to various artizans,
and established a new order of society. But still the
innovation, from exciting tumult to monotonous la-
bour, assorted ill with many who could not control
their dispositions to settle in regular pursuits. Dur-
ing this and the following reign great numbers con-
tinued to receive assistance at the religious houses;
and, indeed, at this time, charity was considered a
palliative for many vices. The indiscriminate assist-
ance introduced many impositions, not only upon
the clergy, but upon the credulous laity, who were
totally unable to explain the apparent increase of
distress. It was in this condition of things that the
suppression of the monasteries took place, and, as may
easily be imagined, an extraordinary change ensued in
the aspect of the country. It could hardly be supposed
that the bulk of the people would immediately emerge
from a state of dissolute idleness to one of persevering
industry; the preliminary education and materials for
its exercise were wanting; and there was thus a vast
number of persons thrown quite unprovided for and
116
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
defenceless upon the country, unless the government
stept in to their assistance. However arbitrary may
have been the proceedings which history attaches to
the Tudor race, a want of regard for the welfare and
happiness of the lower classes of the people can never
be included among their demerits. By the twenty-
seventh of Henry VIII. it is ordained that all persons
in authority shall exhort and move all people to be
liberal and bountiful in extending their charitable
alms towards the comfort and relief of the indigent
and needy classes, and for setting and keeping to
work the able poor.
Edward VI. took up the subject with increased
zeal, and his reign is memorable for the magnificent
endowment of charitable institutions. Notwithstand-
ing this legislative liberality, mendicity continued,
and several acts were passed, directing persons to
provide cottages for the impotent, and to find work
for the able bodied, supplying them with meat and
drink; also authorizing any person to take the chil-
dren of the impotent poor to employ them. It was
at this period that the first indication of a compul-
sory provision for the poor appears; but it is accom-
panied with all that moderation, in respect to indi-
vidual property and private rights, which marks the
legislation of that time. The uncharitable were at
first gently intreated, and then admonished by the
clerical authorities, before their stubborn reluctance
was reported to the justices, and an attempt made to
assess them for a weekly provision.
{
A
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
117
In the subsequent reign of Elizabeth, incessant
efforts were made by her able ministers to check the
progress of pauperism. The most sedulous pains
appear to have been employed to set the able poor to
work; and there are specific enactments, directing
that a competent supply of wood, hemp, iron, flax,
or other stuff, shall be provided, and committed to
the care of collectors and governors appointed by the
magistrates. Notwithstanding these exertions, dis-
tress amongst the lower classes of society increased,
to the great surprise of Elizabeth herself, and also of
her ministers, who were well aware that the nation
was rapidly increasing in renown and commercial
prosperity, and that, consequently, the body of the
people, in a collective sense, must be improving.
The true cause of the distress arose from the rise of
prices in all commodities, consequent upon the dis-
covery of the American mines, and the relative
depreciation in the value of money. The currency
question was less discussed at least, if not less known,
in those days than the present; and as money con-
tracts and the rate of wages remained unchanged for
a time, in respect to the nominal price, the lower
classes, getting the same money wages, and paying
higher prices for the commodities consumed by
them, found their condition materially deteriorating.
It was to remedy these evils that the renowned
ministers of Elizabeth framed the statute, forty-third
of her reign, which still continues the general ground-
work for all regulations concerning the poor. This
118
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
act was collated with the utmost care, and with all
that patient research which distinguished the states-
men of that brilliant epoch of English history; and,
considering the manner in which, for upwards of
five generations, it performed the objects for which it
was designed it rarely has had a parallel, for com-
prehensive wisdom, in the annals of legislation.
There can be no doubt that a discriminating principle
long prevailed, in carrying its enactments into effect;
and while gratuitous support was liberally bestowed
to the impotent poor, the able bodied were rigorously
confined to hard labour.
The expanding opportunities, yearly arising for the
prosecution of commerce, rendered this design com-
paratively easy for a long time. Pending the civil
wars of the seventeenth century, and for some time
subsequent to the Restoration, there appears little
discussion respecting the poor laws, certainly no
sentiment save unequivocal approbation. Several
enactments were passed, but they relate rather to
criminal vagrancy than to casual pauperism.
During the reign of the first two Georges, an
immense number of acts, relative to the law of settle-
ment, and to parochial regulations, were passed.
Accidental and precarious charity, agreeably to the
principles developed in the last chapter, now began
to decline, and a sturdier enforcement of public
contribution became indispensable. It would be
wrong, therefore, to consider the increase in the
rates, from this time forward, as exhibiting a true
A
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
119
:
Pa
A
*
[
criterion of the increase of pauperism; a specific and
regulated charitable assistance, falling more equally
upon all classes, supplied the place of the precarious
charity by which the designing were frequently
assisted, while less accomplished beggars severely
suffered.
:
In 1782, the act denominated Gilbert's Act was
passed it was got up with great care, and introduced
many important regulations, in respect to details, but
little in respect to general principles. It was chiefly
directed to the workhouse system, and gave increased
facilities to the incorporation of parishes.
From this date to the breaking out of the French
revolutionary war, there was rather a diminution of
pauperism, attributable to the improving condition
of the country under the judicious government of
that period. It is probable, also, that when pre-
carious charity ceased, and compulsory payments
were stretched to the full extent required for the
support of all paupers, that the rate payers, the
landlords and occupiers of land, endeavoured to pre-
vent the spread of rural population; conceiving that
the erection of cottages, and small holdings of land,
must eventually augment a local peasantry devoid of
any resource but ordinary labour, and who thus must
be unable to support themselves under agricultural
depression, or unforeseen vicissitudes. This feeling,
it is generally considered, induced them to deny
the means of local settlement, which, for a time,
tended to increase the number and extent of towns,
120
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
where, fortunately, there was a progressive extension
of employment.
It is a curious circumstance that, in the whole
interval between the commencement of the com-
pulsory system and the termination of the last
century, it was considered an undoubted axiom,
with exceedingly few dissentients, that population
constituted the chief power of a country, and ought
to be increased. After the commencement of the
French war, great changes took place in our domestic
polity; injurious variations in the rate of wages
necessarily ensued from the derangement of trade;
and, after a brief period of deceitful prosperity, bad
harvests appeared, and wages became depressed to
an extent quite unparalleled in commercial history.
Such unhappily was the case in 1795, when foreign
trade was stagnant, and a great advance took place
in the price of corn. The cost, indeed, of food, in
the aggregate, was virtually doubled; and, as wages
continued stationary, the distress was so great as to
force a most unusual number of able labourers to
apply to the parish for assistance. The magistrates
in the southern counties, acting from mistaken bene-
volence, sought to maintain the former equality
between the price of food and the rate of wages; and
they formed a scale of remuneration which, in their
opinion, a labouring man should receive; directing
the parish officer to make up the deficiency to the
labourer, in the event of the wages paid him by his
employers falling short of the prescribed allowance.
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
121
Some time after the introduction of this important
regulation, which completely altered the original
principle of the poor laws, an act was passed, allow-
ing persons to be relieved at their own houses, in
place of the workhouse. This act originated from
the great expense and abuses which had crept into
those establishments; but it greatly lessened the
control of the parish authorities over the paupers,
and removed all the terrors of the workhouse from
the able bodied, whose invention would have been
whetted in case they had had to choose between irk-
some restraint on the one hand and a little taste of
liberty on the other, though the latter might be ac-
companied with much unnoticed privation.
It is evident that these enactments and parochial
regulations caused a complete revolution in the sys-
tem of labour, both in the towns and in the country;
they established a principle of keeping up an artificial
rate of wages in parts where labourers were already
in excess, and which has continued to grow, not-
withstanding every effort in modern times to recur
to the original parochial administration: murmurs in
the meantime, both on the part of the donor and the
receiver, have increased, but the evil itself stalks for-
ward, daily acquiring a more formidable magnitude,
both in height and breadth.
Subsequent to the scarcity in 1800, when the
poor
rates had reached an enormous amount, and when
the publication of Mr. Malthus had thrown a new
light on the subject of population, the disposition of
122
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
the supreme legislature manifested itself in a manner
rather different from that of the country magistrates,
and became greatly strengthened to check the increase
of poor labourers, almost at all hazards. Amid the
subsequent din of arms and the exultation of brilliant
victories a little time was, however, given; the homely
considerations respecting labour were lost sight of;
and if the pressure of the poor rates was not less
severely felt, it was certainly less discussed.
When peace at length ensued, the subject became
pressing; and in 1817 it was brought in a prominent
manner before the legislature. A large volume of
evidence was collected on this occasion, exhibiting
the working of the system in a very comprehensive
manner; but, although the committee which investi-
gated the subject published an elaborate report, very
little alteration took place in the law itself. Select
vestries were established, and greater power was given
to the magistrates in petty sessions; a salaried officer,
a kind of assistant overseer, in every parish where the
majority of the vestry concur in it, was also sanc-
tioned, the committee stating that they recommended
this step on the grounds of experience rather than of
theory, the practice having been beneficially adopted
in many populous parishes.
In 1819, 1826, and 1830, the subject was again
brought before the legislature; so increasing in its
difficulties as to banish the hope of amendment, like
the gradual developement of a fatal disease, each step
presenting more alarming symptoms and weakening
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
123
the chance of cure. The subject has been fearfully
increased by the immigration of Irish labourers into
England, and, after a most voluminous examination
upon the subject of the introduction of poor laws into
Ireland, the legislature has been unable to come to
a definite conclusion.
Last year a commission was appointed, with ex-
tensive powers to inquire into the local management
of the rates, and into all parochial regulations through-
out England, but its labours have not yet been laid
before the public.
SECTION II.
Evils.
JUDGING from the answers given by various witnesses
before recent committees of both Houses of Parlia-
ment, the objections entertained against the poor laws
are quite as great amongst practical parochial authori-
ties as amongst theoretical enquirers. It has, indeed,
been recently contended, that it is the abuse of the law,
rather than the institution itself, which has occasioned
the mischief. The argument respecting the dread of
cottages and the creation of small farms, causing
landlords to settle a superior description of tenants
upon their properties, and thus practically to restrain
124
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
the increase of population, has created some reaction,
and has induced many intelligent persons to suppose,
that could the allowance system, radically bad in
principle, be dispensed with, and could the practice
of relieving paupers at their own houses be changed,
forcing all labourers claiming relief to accept it at the
workhouse, the main features of the system might be
advantageously retained. But though these gleams
of hope prevailed a few years back, yet circumstances
still more recent, and the existing feelings of the poor,
have utterly destroyed them. It is strenuously urged
in opposition, that the breaking up of small farms, par-
ticularly in Ireland, has not tended to check pauperism
in any one shape; it changes the residence and adds
to the recklessness of the dispossessed tenant, but it
by no means causes him to delay marriage. It forces
him to settle in towns, where probably he congregates
in the same room with forty persons, with whom all
restraints of modesty are unknown, and sexual inter-
course commences at an exceedingly early age. If
population in this case be checked, it is from the
greater number of deaths, and not from the desirable
operation of improved habits; the conversion, there-
fore, of the turbulent peasant into the depraved town
labourer is considered to establish evils greater than
those sought to be suppressed. In the crowded state
of the lower classes in towns throughout all parts of
the empire, the fear of compromising personal inde-
pendence by receiving gratuitous support, it is urged,
has long ceased to operate; the well known maxim
4
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
125
once a pauper, always a pauper appears universally
to prevail; and it is therefore contended as a broad
principle, notwithstanding every opposing considera-
tion touching justice or humanity, that it is hopeless
to escape from the evils of the English poor laws.
It will not be necessary for our purpose to dwell on
these conflicting opinions; it is only necessary to
discriminate those particular consequences attached
to the system which, according to the principles of
this work, must continue to be characterized as evils.
It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to repeat that the
great object coveted is to assimilate the habits of the
poor to those of the middle classes. There is no pro-
hibition against marriage; it is only desired that the
labourers should be governed by the same principles
in this respect as actuate their employers. If a per-
son in the middle sphere of life choose to marry with-
out possessing the ability to maintain a family, he is
at perfect liberty to do so, but he must suffer for his
indiscretion. Let the same principle be applied to the
labourer; and it is obvious that the morbid sensibility
sometimes affected to be felt concerning the cruel
restraint assumed to be imposed upon him must be at
an end. If 25 be the marrying age for a person in
the middle sphere, let the same rule be applied to the
labourer; but do not justify him if he marry at 19 or
20. According to these principles, it will appear that
the evils of the English poor laws, which deserve our
immediate animadversion, do not differ very widely in
126
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
their nature from these which popular writers have
long depicted in terms of indignant condemnation.
In the first place, these laws obviously inculcate
upon the labouring population generally, that there
is no occasion to put any restraint upon their inclina-
tions, or to exercise any degree of forethought or pru-
dence in marriage; because the parish is bound to
provide both for themselves and their rising family.
There is no incentive to cultivate habits of economy,
or to lay up savings for future exigencies. To increase
and multiply is with them the sole end of life, because
it increases the parish allowance; and with such
feelings it is not surprising that the proportion of
labourers to the demand for their services is soon
deranged.
In the second place, they teach habits of impro-
vidence; and thus prevent that nice husbanding of
resources which at all times is so necessary in a com-
mercial nation. When a deficient crop occurs, it is
peculiarly important that general economy should
be practised, or in other words that every individual
should be frugal and consume less than his customary
allowance. It is by these means that the nation must
preserve her resources unimpaired. When commer-
cial vicissitudes diminish production, or, which is the
same thing, diminish the equivalents procured in
exchange, the consumption should be proportionably
diminished, or it is manifest the national capital
must be trenched upon and lessened. But the poor
3
!
L
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
127
laws, from want of a discriminating principle, act in
a direction exactly contrary. At a time when all
master manufacturers are reducing their expenditure
in order to resume production with fresh zeal and
undiminished alacrity, so soon as the commercial
cloud blows over, the labourers, by means of parish
allowances, find their condition unchanged; and pro-
ceed in their consumption as if the fund out of which
their maintenance is defrayed were unchanged and
inexhaustible.
In the third place, the English poor laws place the
industrious and the well disposed on the same footing
as the idle and the depraved; and they thus establish
an equality of wages between two most opposite
classes. It is obvious that, so long as a man can go
to the parish and demand his allowance, there is no
difference whatever between the comparative advan-
tages enjoyed by the deserving and the undeserving,
there is no stimulus to cheer meritorious exertion;
and discredit is thrown upon virtue itself by not
palpably bestowing upon it superior reward.
In the fourth place, the inequality of wages be-
tween the married and the single, established by
the poor laws, is productive of the most pernicious
consequences. Were we to purchase an article at a
shop, or to give an order to any master tradesman, we
should feel surprised if an additional demand were
made upon us because these individuals were bur-
thened with families. We consider that for every article
there is a fixed price, and with that understanding
128
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
we are satisfied, without inquiring into the domestic
economy of the vendor. Why should we act differ-
ently with the labourer? If the remuneration for
services generally were adjusted to the same scale as
his; if a married merchant got better prices than a
bachelor for his wares, or a married lawyer a better
fee; then there would be less objection to the exist-
ing system of labourers' wages. The world would
be peopled sooner; we should require our geome-
trical increase of scientific labour sooner; but this
would be all; we should still preserve the advan-
tageous relations of society, and the evils would be
trivial compared to those now exhibited.
In the fifth place, the moral evils of the English
poor laws present probably the most fruitful theme
for censure. The benign influence of charity is con-
verted into a source of discord; all bonds of union.
between the labourers and the better classes are
severed asunder; sullen discontent is engendered;
and a general disposition to cherish envy, malice, and
hatred, seems every where to increase, threatening to
subvert the most cherished institutions of society.
Self respect, laudable emulation, and the endear-
ments of family intercourse, are quite at an end; and
with this gloomy prospect darkening the picture,
both in the foreground and in the distance, it is
certainly not surprising that condemnation against
the system should be vehement.
Many more evils might be enumerated were the
received doctrine respecting population admitted;
ENGLISH POOR LAWS.
129
but those simply have been stated which appear to
be borne out by our own theory. To correct evils so
long established, and at the same time to secure the
advantages relative to public charity in the abstract,
described in the fifth chapter, is no doubt a formid-
able undertaking; but there is greater likelihood of
succeeding if we fairly set forth the difficulties. Our
principle is, that mankind can continue indefinitely
to increase and to participate in superior gratifica-
tions, provided certain relations in the various orders.
are preserved. To accomplish this end there are, ast
formerly explained, two modes of operation. In the
following chapter we shall point out the first, or the
means by which the labouring classes will be induced
to practise the same restraint in marriage as the
middle orders. In the next chapter we shall point
out the means by which employment for the labour-
ers, at their own option, can be enlarged, so that they
will have a constant incentive to better their condi-
tion. And, in the succeeding chapter, we shall exhibit
the means through which these great principles may
act reciprocally upon each other, by strengthening
the feeling of self respect.
K
130
CHAPTER VII.
MEANS OF ESTABLISHING
PRUDENTIAL RES-
TRAINT IN REGARD TO MARRIAGE
AMONGST THE LABOURERS.
SECTION I.-General arrangement for the correction of
Pauperism.
In an early part of our undertaking we stated, that
the great object to be accomplished by the legislature
was, in the immediate instance, to get rid of the re-
dundant population; and, secondly, to provide means
for preventing the recurrence of so great an evil.
The latter object, containing the grand difficulty in
the question, merits prior consideration; as there
can be little doubt that if satisfactory principles were
once recognized here, few obstacles would present
themselves in preparing the way for a fair trial of an
improved system. The reader, therefore, is requested
to keep constantly present to his thoughts that, in the
plan we are about to develope, we assume that the
redundant population is removed, and that we have,
as it were, to start afresh, and unencumbered by
pressing disadvantages, which long abuse has en-
gendered. In the present depraved condition of the
1
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
131
1
}
labouring classes, any plan, however wise in its re-
gulation, or benevolent in its intention, would hardly
have fair play; the motives probably would be mis-
interpreted, and the execution perverted. But if a
large number of persons be removed, causing wages,
from natural circumstances, to reach a reasonable rate,
the feelings of the working classes will undergo a
change, and we are justified in believing that they
will strike in harmoniously with any enlightened plan
that seems to promise success. To influence them
by the same considerations of moral restraint as actu-
ate the middle classes, or, in other words, to prevent
the increase of their numbers beyond the rate which
the industry of a country can support, must produce
an entire revolution in their social economy. We have
to effect a change in their manners, habits, and feel-
ings; we have to render mendicity shameful and op-
probrious; to create steady habits of application; and
to rouse a sense of pride, rendering every labouring
man desirous of being well thought of by his fellows.
We have to establish proper notions of prudence and
practical economy, leaving men to adapt their ends
judiciously to their means, and spontaneously to vary
the rate of their living according to the varying rate
of wages, dependant upon the fluctuating circum-
stances of the country. We have to inculcate salu-
tary maxims of forethought, causing men in the days
of temporary prosperity, and in a single state of life,
to hoard up some savings to provide for the additional
expense which a family will bring upon them.
132
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
It will aid us in our endeavours to accomplish this
end, and it will also tend to perspicuity, to consider
for a moment certain relations which exist between
different classes of the lower orders.
:
It is generally considered that in bestowing elee-
mosynary relief only two parties are interested the
donor and the receiver. But, in reality, a third class
is deeply concerned that class of the industrious
labourers actually employed, or just one step above
those receiving relief. The rich man giving a charity
parts with that which he can easily spare: the men-
dicant receives a boon which in all probability en-
ables him to live in idleness, enjoying the same fare
as the mass of the working classes; but the industri-
ous labourer, constrained to work, is not only placed
upon the same footing with the pauper, and seem-
ingly mocked for his folly in sacrificing ease to pro-
cure the same thing which others procure gratuitously,
but is deeply injured by the pauper's unproductive
expenditure. When paupers in idleness receive the
means of subsistence, it is important to reflect that it
diminishes the funds devoted to the support of in-
dustry, and it thus eventually robs the industrious
labourers of the means of earning their own liveli-
hood. The expenditure of the rich, when directed in
a natural channel, is employed in consuming articles
produced by the working classes generally. A gentle-
man, for example, gives twenty pounds in charity to
support a pauper who consumes nothing beyond the
lowest description of sustenance, giving no play to
2
133
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
}
the diversified operations of manufacturing com-
merce. Had that twenty pounds been expended in
administering to the wants of the donor himself, it
would have given encouragement to some branch of
manufacture, of which the working classes actually
employed must have derived the benefit. Besides
this obstruction to the increase of national wealth,
and the injury inflicted on the labouring classes
generally, there is prospectively a deeper mischief.
Paupers breed quite as prolifically as any other des-
cription of people. There is, therefore, a constant
supply of new hands, and the workman, in addition
to the loss caused by the absorption of funds which
ought to be devoted to the maintenance of industry,
finds that out of the undissipated residue he obtains
diminished remuneration, because competitors are in-
cessantly arising to constrain him to work on lower
terms. It is no wonder, therefore, that poverty once
fairly settled in a land acts with accelerated in-
fluence, and gradually widens the circle until almost
all the population are drawn within it. The manu-
factures required by the wealthy decrease with in-
crease of pauperism; and as no nation can spend
more than it produces, whenever the expenditure
largely consists in administering gratuitous subsist-
ence to the lower orders, the condition of all classes
of the people must deteriorate. In this progressive
decline no class will suffer so deeply, or will be soon
affected, as that class earning their own subsistence,
but just on the verge of pauperism; and, indeed, the
134
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
position is universal, that, viewing the labouring
classes generally, the interests of those who labour,
and of that portion of them who live in idleness, are
diametrically opposed to each other.
It is, therefore, the great basis of our plan to bring
those two parties into contact with each other. It is
proposed, in every case, to bring a pauper before a
jury of workmen, of precisely the same class in life
as himself, who will decide upon his case, investigate
the urgency of his claim, prescribe to him the nature
of the work he must perform, and mete out the des
cription and quantity of food which he is entitled to
receive.
In each parish, or some other local division, ac-
cording to circumstances, a certain number of work-
men should be selected, either by rotation or other-
wise, and according to their character for industrious
habits, discretion, and proper feelings, who should
investigate all cases of vagrancy and pauperism that
occurred within the parish. These juries should be
composed of persons but in a very slight degree
above the pauper whom they judged; they should be
on the verge themselves; that is to say, that class, of
all others, most interested in the suppression of men-
dicity. The jurors should be nominated in such a
manner as palpably to strike the observation of the
pauper, that the investigation of his misfortune or
delinquency proceeded with the utmost impartiality.
Sobriety, good conduct, and superior intelligence,
should alone recommend them; and it would be
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
135
expedient to give a small pecuniary assistance out of
a fund, hereafter to be described, in lieu of lost time,
for their attendance.
The mode of proceeding would naturally bear a
resemblance to a court of justice. A permanent officer
in each parish or district, liberally educated, well
versed in political economy, and possessing firmness
and decision, tempered with humanity, should preside
as judge. It would be his province to have the pauper
brought before the jury, to keep proper decorum, and
to explain to all parties the relations in which they
stood to each other; making the jury, in the first
place, properly acquainted with their functions, and,
secondly, letting the pauper know that his fate rested
with men of his own condition, who could either
grant him relief or consign him to hard labour,
according to his descrts. A code of laws would be
required, concise and simple, which, in a short time,
would become understood by all classes.
On a former occasion the objects seeking relief
were specifically enumerated; at present we may
consider them under the same three classes,-first,
the aged, infirm, and impotent poor generally;
second, the industrious accidentally thrown out of
employment; third, the idle or the vagrant. To
uphold in the labourer the feeling of self-respect, it
ought to be a fundamental principle, that the main-
tenance of a man thrown upon the parish should be
of inferior description to that of those in active employ-
ment. No matter how great the pressure, or how mean
136
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
the fare, generally in use by the labouring classes, a man
receiving charity should live still lower than he who
is struggling, of his own accord, to maintain indepen-
dence. Contentment in life is altogether comparative;
and to let the labourer view the condition of the pauper
with dread, would go a great way to make him pru-
dent, before he ventured on the charge of a family.
Supposing the condition of the labourer actually
employed superior to that of the same class in
other counties, the operation of the proposed plan
might, in its working, be particularly humane, not-
withstanding the apparent harshness with which the
pauper was treated. He would still receive relief
sufficient for subsistence; he would find his condition.
enviable, when contrasted with the starvation and
misery prevailing in other countries; and yet, to his
own fellow labourers at home, in employment, he
might seem to suffer much privation. The object is
simply to provide the means for establishing these
necessary gradations. Labourers, themselves work-
ing laboriously, will never think of meting out to
paupers too large a scale of allowance, when it is left
to their own option to decide upon the nature of the
work, the description of the food, and the mode of
receiving it. They will frame a scale of expenditure
adapted to all the classes; increasing or decreasing
in liberality, according to the merit or previous con-
duct of the applicant. By confining the maintenance
of the pauper decidedly within such limits as can be
compassed by the lowest description of labour in
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
137
actual employment in the neighbourhood, the line of
If the common
proceeding is clear and definite.
labourer spend fifteen shillings a week in subsistence,
then that of the pauper, in case he is blameable for
improvidence, should be limited to twelve shillings,
or less, as the case may be. If the one partake of
comforts, such as tea and coffee, the efficient pauper
should participate in no such enjoyment.
This system of strict discrimination and severe vigi-
lance would not, in the slightest degree, militate against
the purely unfortunate. The jury would have power
to exercise indulgence; a deserving man, deprived
of work by unmerited distress, would meet with
sympathy; and it is proper that the jury should have
power to exercise so laudable a feeling. Amongst
the lower classes there is no want of sympathy; and
the connecting ties of brotherhood possess a moral
charm, which cannot be too indefatigably strength-
cned. The social circle is drawn closer and closer,
and a double value is given to the pecuniary gift.
On the other hand, in cases of incorrigible vagrancy,
some punishment should follow conviction, and no
punishment is so much dreaded as steady and con-
stant labour. Solitary confinement sometimes might
be properly resorted to; and these considerations,
relative to the time and manner of compensation for
previous idleness, should be left to the free discretion
of the jury, who, under the authority and admonition
of the person presiding, should possess the power of
sentencing the vagrant to one week, one month, or
138
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
three months labour or confinement, according to the
turpitude of the case.
When and how often the jurors should assemble
must naturally depend on circumstances; that plan
should be pursued which would best accommodate
all parties, and least interrupt the operations of in-
dustry, or interfere with the business of manufacturers
or farmers, whose workmen or labourers might be
called to act as jurors. At first, no doubt, difficulties
would be encountered; but if the principle of the
measure be sound, the cases for investigation would
speedily diminish; and, besides, experience would
sharpen the faculties of the jurors, and lead to greater
facility in the dispatch of business. It might be
expedient to subdivide the business of the parishes or
districts in which many paupers domiciled, both to
prevent the abstraction of too many persons from
their work, and to administer either relief or punish-
ment with promptness. The jurors being paid but a
small sum for attendance, many of them might not
wish to be taken from their daily labour, at the same.
time that they would be anxious to procure as extra
earnings the reward given for their attendance. It
might, on this account, be expedient to assemble in
some places in the evening, thus equally accommo-
dating the labourers, and avoiding the repugnance
which manufacturers and farmers sometimes feel to
have their workmen taken from their employment
during business hours. The district or division from
which jurors should be selected, ought to be small,
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
139
cementing as strongly as possible neighbourly feel-
ings, and bringing all the inhabitants under the eye
of each other. By this plan a disorderly person would
soon be discovered, and hunted out from one quarter
to another, until at last he must be brought up for
judgment before his fellows, and consigned to due
punishment.
It is presumable that once approving of the mea-
sure in principle, all classes of the community would
join their voluntary exertions to forward its execution.
The sums which they now bestow in indiscriminate
charity, calling forth the revolting display of hy-
pocrisy and fraud, would be differently directed:
and, sensible that every exertion on their part was
attended with real benefit, they would use their ut-
most exertions to enlighten all those dependent upon
them, and thus to aid the operation of the plan. To
abolish feelings of morbid sensibility, and to establish
the sturdier agency of self-interest, is at all times
conducive to efficient management; and if we mis-
take not, every individual hiring labourers would
find his means of discipline improve according to his
co-operating zeal, while the labourer himself would
most seriously meditate on his conduct, and become
deeply impressed with the value of a good character.
Let us fancy for a moment our plan in operation.
The court is opened, the judge presides, the jury is
assembled; whether or not the mystical number of
twelve be retained is not important. A pauper is
brought up for examination; if belonging to the class
140
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
of the impotent poor, the case would be easily dis-
posed of; there would be no want of sympathy, and
the jury would merely have to attend to the actual
rate of wages, and the cost of food, and would award
a corresponding allowance to the pauper.
If belonging to the second class, there is little
doubt that every disposition to lenity would be shewn;
the judge would address the jury in these terms :—
"This is a case, jurymen, demanding your sympathy;
all men are liable to misfortune; each of you from
some unforeseen calamity might be deprived of cus-
tomary earnings; sickness might overtake you; your
employer might die or fail in his business; and thus,
from misfortunes beyond your own control, you would
be reduced to extreme indigence. I need not incul-
cate that you should act to others as you would wish
others to act towards you; and, therefore, in this case
you should be indulgent, and allot liberal relief to
this deserving though unfortunate man.”
An appeal
so made could hardly fail to produce the desired
effect, and assistance would be given to the indi-
vidual, not only adequate, but even with delicacy, to
soothe his feelings, and to save him from the humi-
liating tyranny of overseers.
If the case belonged to the third class, a bad
character, or a vagrant, the line of proceeding would
be exactly opposite. The judge would say to the jury
"You are aware, jurymen, how severely you labour,
and how comparatively scanty is your fare; it is a great
mistake to attribute either of these circumstances to
THE MARRIAGE OE LABOURERS.
141
the institutions of the country, to the illiberality of
your employers, or to a desire amongst any portion
of the better classes to oppress you. These classes
would assist you if they could; they would rejoice,
most fervently rejoice, if your condition could be
bettered, but how is it to be done? In this country
a certain quantity of commodities is annually pro-
duced, which has to be divided amongst the different
classes. Every person spending his income must
give encouragement to those engaged in this produc-
tion. As for example, when money is spent on
clothing or on furniture, the labourers who produce
that clothing and furniture, must obtain their wages
and be benefited. But if, in place of this advantageous
consumption, the money is spent in retaining such
objects as you see before you in idleness, there must
be a deficiency somewhere; there must be a less sum
devoted to your own support, jurymen, and the in-
dustrious classes to which you belong. Even this is
not all; there must be a greater number of competitors
amongst you, and your wages will consequently be
lower, from these paupers increasing population,
reckless of consequences. The true cause, therefore,
of your privations proceeds from the existence of
this class before you. Whatever is given to this
pauper would be spent in some description of manu-
facture, produced by you or your fellows, and you
are deprived of so much means to ameliorate your
own condition. Your employers, perhaps, gave to
some amongst you this morning fifteen yards of cloth
142
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
to weave; were it not for this improvident race of
idlers that quantity might have been twenty-yoa
are allowed a penny a yard for weaving; were it not
again for the recklessness of these people, that price
might be three half-pence; because, in consequence of
their imprudent marriages, your ranks are recruited
from an inferior class, who depress your earnings to the
scantiest scale. Hesitate then not an instant to check
these injuries; and, since this pauper has himself to
blame in seeking assistance, consign him to labour,
and allot an allowance of food adapted to his proper
situation."
It would appear, from this attempt graphically to
sketch our plan, that means for discrimination are not
only provided for generally, but also for every shade
of difference in each particular class. A mighty re-
forming spirit would therefore arise, working con-
stantly, efficaciously, and stretching its influence to
all parts of the United Kingdom.
In the first place, let us attend to the effect pro-
duced upon the jurors and the working classes gene-
rally. By maxims regularly and habitually incul-
cated upon them in the most impressive and palpable
manner, they will become effectually undeceived in
respect to that fatal opinion prevalent among the
lower orders of society, that the interests of the rich
are opposed to those of the poor. Far from harbour-
ing in their bosoms, jealousy, distrust, and often
malignant hatred against their superiors, they will
become sensible of the proper gradations of society,
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
143
{
and will strive to strengthen the social union. In the
frequent assembling of juries, how many all impor-
tant and practical lessons in political economy will
be unfolded. The workman will be taught the true
causes which limit the demand for his services; he
will stretch his mind gradually to ascertain the reason
why wages are low; and he will cease to abuse
and be guilty of riots against his master, when he
learns that he is, like himself, but an instrument in
the hands of others, and that a low reward for labour
is consequent on a stagnant demand for goods. Above
all, correct principles, in regard to population, will
become disseminated. By degrees, the necessity of
having some fund previous to marriage will be firmly
established, and savings will be carefully preserved
as a store for future contingencies, and to prevent
the ignominy of charitable maintenance. The la-
bourer will learn to depend exclusively on himself
for support, and will be inspired with ardour to better
his condition. In one word, order, sobriety, exertion,
enterprize, comfort, buoyant hope, will succeed to
turbulence, drunkenness, idleness, sloth, privation,
irremediable despair.
Let us now view the other class, who from depraved
habits prefer begging, either by wholesale or retail,
to any species of work. We place those persons
under the eye of men separated from themselves, not
in rank, but in character. In depicting tales of
fictitious woe, they have met with examiners who
know how the poor live, and who can detect their
144
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
fraud. The rich frequently display an astonishing
ignorance regarding the habits of the indigent; hence
the chief cause of imposture. But the plan proposed
employs efficacious means to penetrate into every
recess, and to strip off every garb which hypocrisy
can assume. Condemnation too is received with
greatly altered feelings. The rich are regarded as a
different race, uninfluenced by sympathy, and all
admonitions from them pass unheeded: but punish-
ment coming from an equal, strikes home, and if there
be a sense of shame left, it will be roused and held
vividly in the thoughts, emphatically whispering
amendment.
In the scale of allowances given to all classes of the
paupers, we behold similar advantages. What endless
discussion, irritation, and suspicion, together with last-
ing discontent, are engendered between the overseers
and the paupers in fixing charitable allowances! All
is occasioned by the want of a proper community of
interest between the parties; but according to the
plan proposed, no difficulty ensues; the matter is out
of the hands of the rich, and that scale is provided
which is suited to the existing state of prices, and
the demand for labour; and which, therefore, is the
most advantageous to the community at large.
It is natural to suppose that, when an elevated
tone is given to the calling of industrious labour, no
matter how humble, a material improvement will take
place in personal habits. A wish will arise to pro-
cure, not only substantial comforts, but all the out-
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
145
A
ward appearance of display which commands regard
from the world. Let a line of demarcation be drawn
between the industrious and the idle, granting the
one privileges, consigning the other to hardships, and
the labourers generally will be anxious to possess
those palpable types of industry, in regard to personal
appearance and mode of life, which would make their
qualifications for jurors manifest to all.
In the present state of commercial knowledge, it is
not probable that objections will be urged against
raising the rate of labour. The master and the
workman, however seemingly their interests may be
regarded as separate, are in reality closely connected.
Cheapness is but relative; and could the manufac-
turers view the improvement in the condition of their
operatives with a statesman's eye, they would dis-
cover advantage, and not injury, in widening the
range of general expenditure. The danger of com-
bination has long ceased, and workmen are now
aware that they themselves suffer from all attempts,
whether violent or passive, to arrest the operations of
trade. They may unite with the master manufacturers,
and combine against unproductive consumers; but
in respect to the single effort to force higher wages, it
is the general belief, in all manufacturing districts,
that it is not possible to unite, with any prospect of
ultimate success. Every time, indeed, a jury was
assembled, they would be taught a practical lesson
against the folly of combination, or to view wages in
any other light than as a voluntary contract between
L
146
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
parties whose interest tends to a common centre.
They would soon ascertain that the general fund for
the maintenance of their entire class cannot be in-
creased without a corresponding increase in some
description of labour; they must, therefore, quickly
perceive that any step of theirs, which arrested the
progress of production, must diminish this fund; and
thus, there being less general wealth in the country,
while unproductive consumption on their part pro-
ceeded unabated, the longer they continued exorbitant
or refractory, the more surely would subsequent pri-
vations overtake them. Besides, no persons know
better than the operatives that, in the natural course
of trade, if any unfortunate collision take place
between them and their employers, it is sure to drive
business to other quarters. In more cases than one,
in times when the subject was imperfectly under-
stood, workmen who had struck their work in par-
ticular places were instantaneously brought to their
senses on learning that extensive orders had been
transferred to distant towns. The weavers of Man-
chester have thus their attention fixed upon their
brethren of Glasgow; and knowing that trade is too
diversified, and stretches over too many branches, to
admit of a more extensive combination than what
can attach to a town or local district, they soon learn
wisdom, and are anxious to retain employment in
particular places, rather than disperse it by impolitic
struggles.
But though the danger of combinations is ob-
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
147
viated by the increasing intelligence of workmen,
and by the means devised to teach them their true
position and relative duties, a silent, progressive,
and salutary rise of wages would take place in the
working of our plan, from the diminishing number of
competitors, and from the gradual extension of em-
ployment, consequent on the correction of pauperism.
The workmen would discover, that their comparative
comforts or prosperity depended on the collective
habits of their class; and that there were no limits
to the remuneration for labour, provided there were,
on the one hand, extending commerce, and on the
other, fewer persons to labour. Altered views would
immediately arise, and, associated with the improve-
ment in worldly circumstances, a moral amelioration
would also appear, softening and modifying the
former, and teaching courtesy of manners without
the servility of abject dependence.
It will always be remembered, that a controlling
power is vested with the better classes, in conse-
quence of their naming the jurors. This secures,
at all times, proper subordination, and sentiments
of reciprocal duty, which prevents any separation
of interests, or the working classes attempting,
exclusively or peremptorily, to control their own
affairs. The object is to single out the best disposed
and most meritorious amongst the workmen as jurors
of their fellows; but the mode of accomplishing this in
detail will, perhaps, be better appreciated after some
local regulations of the plan have been described.
148
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
SECTION II.
District or Parochial Regulations.
In the regulations for the plan proposed, it would be
expedient to prescribe a distinct and definite line of
duties to every officer or person in any way interested
in the working of the measure. A division of labour
is at all times desirable, but never more so than
when multifarious duties are presented for perform-
ance, without each individual being aware of his
responsibility, or of what immediately relates to his
province. Two classes of persons now actively
interfere in the concerns of the poor, without very
exact notions of their duties: these are the clergy
and the magistracy; and it would seem expedient,
for many weighty reasons, to make the new institu-
tion a distinct concern, unconnected with either of
these classes.
It is derogatory to the dignity of the clerical
character to interfere executively in matters which,
at times, necessarily give rise to excitement, and
probably ill will. Under any circumstances, it
appears inexpedient to associate the duties of religion
with those of surveyors, overseers, and justices, or
any of those functions of office which relate to
matters of civil or municipal agency. The stir and
bustle of diversified offices, on the part of the clergy-
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
149
$
man, militate against the sacredness of his character.
It is his province to labour more for the prevention
of crime than for its punishment; it is for him to
relieve the sick, to console the afflicted, to teach the
aged resignation, to examine the various seminaries
for moral and religious instruction, and to instil
principles of piety into the young of both sexes; it
should be his vocation to give advice where required,
and to establish amongst all classes, who are the
objects of his care, a bond of reciprocal feeling and
attachment. Under these circumstances, the more
he appears as a friendly counsellor, and the less as a
severe functionary, the greater will be his influence;
and it is, therefore, inexpedient to seek his active
interference in the immediate execution of matters
connected with pauperism.
With regard to the magistracy, it is also desirable
that they should merely act as visitors, superintend-
ing part of the operation of the proposed measure,
but without attempting to execute the multifarious
The
duties now prescribed to them. It is quite im-
possible that the whole of the services, at present
provided by law, relative to the poor laws, could be
properly performed by justices of the peace.
real business of charity requires qualifications very
different from those commonly possessed by indivi-
duals in this condition of society; it would therefore
be expedient to remove entirely from them most of
the duties relative to the management of the poor
now required; nor is it likely that, by this step, these
150
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
functionaries could complain of any abridgment of
their privileges. No such consequence is meditated.
The object is to elevate, not to detract from, their
high responsibility of office; to secure to them the
gratitude and reverence of the poor, never their
hatred or malediction. We leave them still the
guardians of the law, whose proper province it is to
aid the exertions of others when civil authority is
necessary, in either apprehending vagrants, or in
condemning them to punishment; and in thus making
the operation of charity, and every thing relating
to the prevention or suppression of pauperism, a
purely fiscal proceeding, requiring magisterial aid,
only when civil authority is necessary, we relieve the
magistrates from drudgery, irksome and repulsive in
itself, and which, from their station in life, they are
unable to discharge.
Dividing thus the various administrative duties,
we propose to establish a distinct and separate insti-
tution for the sole management of all matters affecting
the state and relief of the poor. Districts should be
appointed of a convenient size, regulated according
to circumstances or the extent of population, and for
each of these a court or board of management should
be nominated to exercise general controlling power,
and to attend to numerous auxiliary matters affecting
the welfare of the labouring classes generally, which
will be hereafter particularised. Whether parishes
should be retained as the ground work of local divi-
sion, or whether new districts should be appointed,
L
}
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
151
is not a matter of great importance; but it appears
preferable to form entirely new districts, both on
account of being able to adjust the extent of popula-
tion to the available superintendence with superior
facility, and also in order to cause every inhabitant,
no matter what his religious persuasion might be,
to feel zealous in the successful prosecution of the
plan, from its relating to objects unconnected with
controversy or political prepossessions.
This court might be composed jointly of a number
of members ex-officio, and of other respectable inha-
bitants freely elected; thus combining the means of
perinanent experience and consequent authority, with
a fresh infusion of zeal periodically-being in fact a
species of institution which is known to work harmo-
niously in Holland and other places, when no poli-
tical passion intervenes, and when services are gra-
tuitous. This court would regulate the raising of the
rates, frame the local regulations, and act in short as
the local legislature for the poor. Its time of meeting
would naturally depend upon circumstances, and upon
those changes which might occur within the district
calling for its superintending control. All appoint-
ments should emanate from it; of which the judges
are the first to be considered. These might be nomi-
nated in the following manner: the names of two
candidates to be chosen by the court, and trans-
mitted to the Secretary of State for the Home De-
partment for the time being, who would select one as
the person officially appointed. By this regulation
152
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
the advantages of suitable qualification and proper
discrimination are preserved. The circumstance of
there being two candidates, naturally induces those
desirous of the office to qualify themselves in a proper
manner, so that they may not suffer in comparison
with others; and, at the same time, on the part of
the minister discrimination must be used in making
the choice, as the rejected candidate or his friends
would not quiescently permit the appointment to pass
unnoticed if superior merit were overlooked.
This officer, being of great importance, should en-
joy a liberal salary; his duties in general have been
defined; and it is only necessary to repeat that he
should have an enlarged acquaintance with the best
means of suppressing mendicity, and with commercial
economy. He is to be the practical instructor and
admonitor of the poor; he should therefore possess
not only that general knowledge of the localities of
his neighbourhood, but also that information, ac-
quired attainments, and dignity of manners, which
must unobtrusively exercise a salutary and moral in-
fluence, and guide the jury in cases of difficulty.
Upon him would devolve the granting of certificates
of character, and all such measures as are calculated
to assist the meritorious in removing from one district
to another.
Under him should be placed two or more executive
officers, according to the extent of the district. It
would be the business of these persons to come more
immediately in contact with the poor; to enquire into
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
153
3
L
their condition; to hunt out vagrants; to attend to
the removal of paupers from one parish to another;
to keep an accurate list of all the inhabitants of the
place, specifying their names and occupations; to see
what strangers had taken up their residence, and
whether they brought certificates of character; to
observe the habits of paupers or of persons likely
soon to become paupers; to examine how the chil-
dren of different families were occupied; to attend to
the law of settlement, and to correspond with similar
officers in other districts in doubtful or suspicious
cases; to carry decisions into effect; and, in fine, to
act as the medium of intercourse between the in-
digent applicant and the pauper court, securing in
the first instance that the pauper was brought up for
judgment, and, in the second, that whatever mode or
conditions of relief were awarded, that they should
be rigidly fulfilled. It is conceived that a decent
class of individuals could be obtained to fill this
office under the measure proposed. Having neither
to judge nor to punish, they would be relieved from
much of the abuse which now attaches to parish
officers. They would be neither task masters nor
jailors; and they might, therefore, possess elevated
feeling and cultivated humanity in forwarding the
various details of the plan, commanding the respect
of the poor in their immediate neighbourhood. It
would be the jury to whom must attach that stern
performance of duty, consigning the vagrant to
irksome labour or punishment, which draws forth
154
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
malevolence from the vitiated mind. But as this
would be diffused amongst many, it would give indi-
viduals of the jury no concern, and it must soon pass
away from the pauper himself when he found com-
plaint unavailing. There would be little chance of
the guilty or vicious escaping, and this circumstance
would in itself lessen rancorous feelings. Out of a
number of persons sitting as jurors, some would
naturally know the real character of a pauper at-
tempting to deceive, and thus is obviated the possi-
bility of capricious decision which is occasionally
charged against parish overseers, both from want of
knowledge and from improper partialities or anti-
pathies. By creating a division of labour, confining
all parties to that line of duty for which they were
best adapted, the business generally would be sim-
plified, and conducted promptly and satisfactorily.
In respect to the qualifications of jurors, it would
be expedient not to permit any person to serve who
had himself received charitable relief within a given
period. The length of time might be two years or
more, according as experience might decide to be
most eligible; but it would not be desirable that a
person requiring temporary relief, from unforeseen
vicissitudes or severe misfortune, should be excluded
even considerably before this time had elapsed. The
nomination might be effected by different employers,
giving lists to the judge, who, with the assistance of
the overseers or deputy-superintendants, should strike
off those to be summoned; keeping in view the great
1
1
!
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
155
object of impressing upon the mind of the pauper,
that other persons of his own calling, probably with
advantages in respect to work not intrinsically su-
perior to his, were able to appear in an honorable
office, in some degree the dispensers and not the
solicitors of charity.
In cases of sickness or accident, or unforeseen mis-
fortune, requiring an assuaging delicacy of assistance,
in which the applicant could not personally appear,
relief should not be given until three of the jury had
actually investigated the truth and nature of the ap-
plication, and had reported to the rest of their fellows.
The same steps should be taken when an application
was made for allowances for children, and, indeed,
in every instance where the whole matter was not
directly before the court of investigation, in order to
prevent abuses too notorious under the existing
system, such as receiving allowances for children
that have removed to other places, or long ceased to
exist.
In every well regulated parish or district there
should be three kinds of institutions: seminaries for
the education of the young; infirmaries for the old
and the helpless; and workhouses for the labour and
discipline of the idle. In all these places discrimi-
nation should be observed, and the mode of living
should be prescribed by the juries. It is for labour-
ing men to pronounce the description of food, its
quality and its quantity, which ought to be given to
others of their own class. There would, therefore,
156
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
be the same discrimination here as seems established
in all other parts of the system. The object is to
lessen mendicity in every one of its forms, and to
teach forethought and prudence; those, therefore,
incapacitated by infirmities incident to humanity, who,
having full opportunity, neglected to lay by a provi-
sion for old age, should not be so indulgently treated
as others whose conduct was uniformly meritorious,
but who were reduced to dependence from unavoid-
able misfortune. The same principle would operate
throughout the three institutions, and the simple plan
of making juries investigate the degree of previous
merit or demerit, and shaping the treatment and al-
lowances accordingly, seems to secure the beneficial
operation of necessary charity, at the same time that
it has a tendency to decrease the objects by whom
assistance is claimed.
To aid and illustrate the execution of the entire
measure, it would be desirable for a number of the
districts to coalesce, and establish a weekly journal,
to be devoted to three objects: first, to publish the
names of all paupers claiming succour that appeared
within the week; secondly, to give a report of the
most interesting and instructive cases brought up for
examination, tending to elucidate any important cir-
cumstance respecting negligence, improper conduct,
improvident marriages, or any elementary principle
affecting wages or labour; thirdly, instructive dis-
sertations relative to commerce, manufactures, or
wages, exhibiting those branches of employment in
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
157
which, according to reasonable presumption, employ-
ment was precarious, and also those new openings in
which there was a reasonable prospect of success.
In addition to these general subjects, biography,
statistical information, and anecdotes, interesting or
instructive to the working classes generally, might
be introduced. A journal of this kind would pro-
bably pay its own expenses; and it should be estab-
lished under the auspices of the district court, which
would exercise proper superintendence, and which
no doubt would find it expedient to exclude specula-
tive or party politics. These journals, established
in different parts, would be found of signal service
in all points relating to the prevention and suppres-
sion of pauperism, and the executory parts of the
The journals of neighbouring districts
being filed in each court would greatly facilitate the
decision of disputed points relative to the law of
settlement; the names of the paupers appearing
would present the means of ascertaining the length
of time that relief had been granted, not only in one
part, but in all; and thus the inducement would no
longer exist for a pauper to shift his residence,
hoping to screen observation into his true character,
by obtaining a settlement amongst strangers.
would not be necessary to publish the names of all
the applicants. Many who sought only occasional
relief, from severe misfortune, would, no doubt, be
hurt to have their names proclaimed and associated
with the permanently depraved. The charity which
measure.
It
158
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
administers occasional relief to the industrious, but
unfortunate, and which, probably, thus prevents me-
ritorious labourers from falling into permanent pau-
perism, is the most commendable; and in these cases
assistance should be given silently and unobtrusively.
The publication of the various circumstances
appertaining to the poor within the different dis-
tricts, could not fail to inspire a new tone of
thought, and topic of conversation, throughout all
the alehouses and public places where labourers con-
gregated. He who has attended to the effects pro-
duced upon the lower branches of the middle order
of society, by their attending as jurors at assizes
and quarter sessions, where contested points form
subjects of discussion, for some time antecedent and
subsequent to the day of trial, and where thus is
taught a practical knowledge of general equity and
fair dealing, making a permanent impression on the
mind, will perceive analogically the advantages that
must result to the labouring population, by the more
homely jurisprudence we design for their participa-
tion. To them the affairs of life, relating to wages,
labour, and pauperism, are immeasurably more im-
portant than abstract questions of civil polity, which,
however imposing in appearance, affect only the
better classes. And when the real welfare and
happiness of the vast majority of the state are thus
at issue, shall we spare any trouble or zeal, or inces-
sant application, to raise suitable institutions and
machinery, to secure their accomplishment.
If the
1
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
159
system of English liberty has been promoted by the
practical manner in which the middle orders are
called upon to interfere in the execution of the law,
so will the industry of the labourers be promoted, by
bringing constantly before them cases affecting their
own concerns; their thoughts then will be habitually
directed to the subject, and they will cease to con-
sider the eulogiums on the civil government of their
country as empty sounds, conveying no comfort to
the body of the people.
SECTION III.
Funds.
In respect to the funds required, it should be a
fundamental position, that those chiefly interested in
the suppression of pauperism should contribute in
the largest proportion. There can be no doubt that
the causing the wealthy classes to defray the rates
directs their attention to the subject, and induces
them to originate ameliorative measures, that other-
wise might never be contemplated. According to
this principle, it does not appear expedient to impose
a tax upon moveable property or income; because,
in this case, there can be no remedial means resorted
to, on the part of contributors, to decrease the tax;
and, therefore, the evils may go on augmenting with-
j
160
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
out the operation of any countervailing check. The
unequal mode of payment, viewing the wealth, or
ability to pay, of different classes, would at first sight
seem to be unjust; but it is only the first establish-
ment of the rate that presses unequally. There is a
tendency for profits to equalize themselves in every
employment; and if in the lapse of time the land,
or any description of property, is subjected to an
impost, it will be taken into account by the farmer
who rents the land; and the real remuneration in
this pursuit will be the same as in other branches of
industry.
The degree of energy which will be exerted to
prevent an excrescent population in agriculture, will,
to a very considerable extent, depend upon the length
of the leases. When the lease is short, it will be the
interest of the proprietors of the soil not to encourage
a continued increase of population, eventually to
burthen the parish with heavy rates; because, after
the lease has expired, their weight must appear con-
siderable to the new occupant of the farm, inducing
him to offer a lower rent. But with regard to the
mere occupier, by whom the rates are almost ex-
clusively paid and administered, he has a direct
interest in the immediate, but little in the ultimate
suppression of pauperism. His object is to reap pre-
sent advantage, and to avoid the direct expenditure of
rates, thus leaving the landlord to provide against the
future. The possessor of a long lease stands in some
degree in the position of the landlord, because a gene-
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
161
ration of redundant labourers may grow up within his
own time, throwing upon him the rates or burthen of
their support. The object is to make both these
parties, or the landlord and the occupier, under a long
or a short lease, dread an increase of charge; they
should, conjointly, exert themselves to keep down
the rates, though an increase of wages would naturally
attest the success of their endeavours. In all places,
therefore, where rates have not been already estab-
lished, it would be expedient to exact contributions
from the proprietors, and the actual occupants of the
land, in equal proportions. This secures a careful
superintendence, no matter what the tenure may be
on which the land is held. Has the occupant a short
lease? then, in that case, the rate paid by the proprie-
tor stimulates him to watch the population, and to
endeavour to adjust it to the future prospects of the
district. Has the occupant a long lease, and does
his condition approximate to that of a proprietor?
then, he will exercise the superintending vigilance,
and not encourage the growth of a redundant pea-
santry. In Ireland, the establishment of a rate, on
this principle, would meet the exigencies which seem
chiefly required from the peculiar condition of that
country; the landlords and absentees, who are re-
moved from the importunities of beggars, would pay,
as in justice they ought to do, a large sum; and the
middle men, having also to defray a corresponding
sum, would be checked in their disposition to divide
M
162
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
their land into small holdings, in order to realize
large immediate profit.
Besides these sources of raising the rates, there
would be another most important one, in case the wages
of labourers were improved. It is, for two reasons,
most desirable to make the labouring classes contribute
a quota themselves; first, -to sharpen their facul-
ties and give them a decided inclination to suppress
mendicity; secondly, because it is designed that
the persons acting as jurors should receive a small
remuneration for their loss of time. This disburse-
ment would be exceedingly trivial when compared
with the aggregate sum raised from the labourers ;
and it seems laudable in principle, by creating emula-
tive feelings and conjoining emolument with honor.
Throughout the United Kingdom there are upwards of
four millions of persons receiving wages: now, if we
imagine each to contribute so small a sum as three
pence per week, that is not more than would defray
the cost of one glass of gin, we have the pro-
digious sum annually of two millions six hundred
thousand pounds. It is easy to perceive, from this
immense receipt, whenever the contributors are great
in number, that if it be possible to raise the labourers
generally to a comfortable condition, there hardly
can be deficiency of funds, not only for the support
of paupers, but for many other points connected with
the economical condition of the working classes.
The collection of this rate could be managed by em-
1
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOUrers.
163
ployers making a suitable deduction in paying wages,
and accounting to the regular collectors, who would
be aware of the number of workmen employed; and
in the first instance an outline of the entire measure,
judiciously compiled, might be given to the labourers
to secure their zealous co-operation.
It is proper to remind those who are disposed to
consider a poor-fund as possessing a constant tendency
to increase, that whenever a stagnation of commerce
ensued, depressing the wages of labour to a low limit,
the allowance given to the pauper would equally
decrease. The labourers fix that allowance, and they
would gradually strike off little superfluities one after
the other, until the unproductive consumption was
reduced to an exceedingly low ebb, thus permitting the
national accumulation of income beyond expenditure
to proceed at a high rate, until commerce resumed its
customary vigour and elasticity.
The entire amount levied in England and Wales
for poor rates, in the year ending the 25th March,
1831, according to the most recent official return, was
£8,279,217: of this, so large a sum as £1,540,198 was
expended for other purposes than the relief of the
poor; being chiefly parish entertainments, and legal
expenses caused by removals, disagreements concern-
ing the law. of settlement, and numberless such mat-
ters, resulting from the present cumbersome, contra-
dictory, and unsatisfactory state of the law. Under
the system proposed, a large sum might remain for
164
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
unavoidable expenses, allowing five hundred thou-
sand pounds to be saved by the abridgment of legal
disbursements and useless entertainments; and this
amount could be distributed in salaries and remunera-
tion to the various officers and parties interested.
The net sum, practically devoted to the support of
the poor, would thus remain undiminished under the
existing rates, while it received a powerful accession
from the contributions of the labourers themselves;
and while also the number of applicants for its bounty
would be lessened.
SECTION IV.
Description of Work to be performed by Paupers.
To provide a proper description of work is a most
important consideration in all charitable institutions.
It is of vital importance that paupers be always
actively employed, both that they may seek relief
from restraint as speedily as possible, and lessen the
burthen of their maintenance; and that when they
return to labour for themselves, their faculties may
not have been vitiated by habitual idleness. Means,
if possible, should be adopted to shape out new em-
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
165
ployment not interfering with established branches
of industry. When paupers are engaged in the same
species of handicraft as artisans earning their own
subsistence, they tend to injure the latter by bringing
their extra production into the market and overstock-
ing it beyond the customary demand. That descrip-
tion of labour, useful in itself, but which in an ordinary
state of things would not be called into existence, is
clearly the most eligible. There are two distinct
resources of this nature, and they seem to present a
field not easily exhausted.
In many maritime districts means present them-
selves for extensive embankments from the sea; and
it would be expedient to allow a number of the dis-
trict courts to coalesce, for the purpose of unity of
action, in carrying such works into effect upon a large
and comprehensive scale. A considerable extent of
beneficial labour could be disposed of in this manner,
and in other parts the common resource of making
roads, and the formation of public works, seems to
offer the most extended means of employment: foot-
paths also might be formed throughout every agri-
cultural village; nuisances removed; and a thousand
useful undertakings accomplished, which in many
parts of the kingdom, not celebrated in story for
cleanliness or tidiness of arrangement, would present
an augcan task, upon which the cfforts of several
generations could be usefully spent.
But, independently of this description of labour,
it is possible to devise another mode of employment.
166
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT AS TO
for paupers, which would be attended with still more
efficacious effects. Let the fruits of their labour
directly administer to the comforts or advantage of the
jurors, and others of their fellows, who by means of
industry, frugality, and prudence, have maintained
their independence. A variety of passions are thus
brought into play, greatly strengthening the general
measure of reformation. In an agricultural village,
suppose a treadmill erected for the grinding of corn,
to be worked by disorderly and vicious paupers, and
appropriated solely to the use of jurors and others of
their class, giving them the advantage of its grindings;
and it is obvious that we subjoin to the irksomeness
of work on the part of the vagrant, galling feelings of
envy, which touch to the quick, and stimulate him
to escape from his humiliating position. Many
similar applications could be resorted to, and it does.
not matter much whether the work so produced is
attained by the smallest portion of human effort. It
is directed solely to increase the comforts of those in
actual employment, which would not otherwise be
sought. In a workhouse there must always be some
waste of labour, contrasted with private economy;
and the object is to direct its application to that
channel, where, in place of being injurious, it may
at once perform some service, and operate to redress
existing evils. We have a number of benefits or
little gratifications in store for the labouring popula-
tion, all of which will require the assistance of work
to stretch them to their highest limits; and this ser-
7
1
THE MARRIAGE OF LABOURERS.
167
}
vice can be performed by the paupers, under the
vigilant direction of their own fellows. To make, in
short, the paupers in some degree the servants of
labourers of their own class, who are above them,
not in rank, but in character, is the chief basis of
the plan, in respect to work; and it is difficult to
conceive that, if once fairly carried into effect, it will
not ultimately check mendicity.
We think, therefore, on closing this branch of the
subject, that if love for our own design has not inspired
too sanguine an anticipation of its future achieve-
ments, all the advantages resulting from well regulated
charity are attained, while the evils incident to and
inseparable from the English poor laws are avoided.
The importunities of beggars, and all the disgusting
appearance which must be presented in every country
where charity is left to the precarious support of
private benevolence, where mendicants, in crowds,
covered with vermin, gather around the stranger,
some abjectly soliciting, others doggedly demanding
alms, could have no existence. On the other hand,
no virtuous feeling is checked, no tie of family
affection severed, no sentiment of manly indepen-
dence destroyed; on the contrary, they are power-
fully strengthened; prudence, forethought, and fru-
gality, are in continuous requisition, both in thought
and in action; and if we run over that dark cata-
logue of immorality and vice, which are said to be
engendered by the English poor laws, it will be
found, that means have been taken to avert them all.
168
OF PRUDENTIAL RESTRAINT.
If this conclusion be sound, we are justified in pro-
nouncing that prudential restraint will then be estab-
lished, assimilating the labourers to the middle
classes of society; they will learn the advantage of
keeping their numbers adjusted to the demand for
their services; and when this point is fairly attained,
we have surmounted one of the chief difficulties, in
regard to our views of future civilization, order, and
happiness.
To every diversity of occupation, whether town
mechanics or agricultural labourers, the plan seems
equally adapted. A slight modification in detail is
required, according to the class; but the predomi-
nant principle remains unchanged, and it is difficult
to say which party would derive the superior ad-
vantage. The weaver would be cured of his political
dissatisfaction, the agriculturist of his hatred to our
social system and his disposition to incendiary vio-
lence. To all parts of the empire also, and to every
state of habitual wages, the plan is equally suited ;
to the turbulent peasant of Tipperary, as well as to
the smooth artisan of London, so soon as we prepare
the way for its favourable introduction.
169
CHAPTER VIII.
MEANS OF ENABLING THE LABOURERS TO SHAPE
OUT WORK FOR THEMSELVES WITHOUT
DETRIMENT TO OTHERS.
SECTION I.-Advantages of the Division of Capital
and Labour.
ON referring to the condition of any country, it is
generally found that its civilization, and the degree
of its advancement, are proportioned to the division
of employment and consequent distinction of ranks
which have been established. In mere agricultural
states, or in those which have little foreign com-
merce, the only gradations are the landlord and the
peasantry; an intermediate class, the farmers, sub-
sequently appears; but as all these cultivators are
confined to the same pursuit, the incentives to ex-
ertion, and also to the discovery of the conveniences
and embellishments of life which dignify the human
character, are unknown. It seems, therefore, singular
that an attempt should be made in modern times to
revert, in many particulars, to this primitive state,
170
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
and to cast a censure upon that organization of
society which separates the capitalist, who supplies
the materials and implements of labour, from the
operative, who performs a prescribed task for defi-
nite wages. The division of labour and the accumu-
lation of capital are inseparable; and in their most
perfect developement they act reciprocally upon each
other. To establish a system of interchange, as is
occasionally coveted, without the intervention of
capitalists, would be to plunge society into its first
stages of incipient civilization, and to create a system
of rude barter for the ordinary commodities of life,
without that expanding desire for new conveniencies
which forms the characteristic feature of high refine-
ment. The employment of capital is an unerring
criterion of improvement; it tends to assist the proper
developement of a nation's capabilities, both by aug-
menting the production of goods, and by saving time
and expense in their distribution. In regard to pro-
duction, many articles could never be brought into
general use without the employment of large capital,
and the concentration of diversified means for the at-
tainment of a definite end. Considerable funds are
required to store up the raw material; and without
those vast buildings and admirable machines, which
constitute the glory of the manufacturing districts of
England, we never should possess that extensive ex-
port, which enables us to pay for the wines, tea, coffee,
and sugar, which are required for consumption; not
to speak of the innumerable articles of domestic and
1
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
171
L
{
t
$
intellectual luxury which are defrayed out of the
surplus product that skill and capital are enabled to
realize.
In regard to distribution, the establishment of
warehouses and retail shops tends to save and eco-
nomize the time of the purchaser; it is the means of
enabling every person to pursue that calling for
which he is best adapted; and this constitutes one
of the most material advantages of the division of
labour. Were a working man to take the produce of
his labour to market himself, his time would be use-
lessly consumed, and he would acquire desultory and
loitering habits. By concentrating his attention to
one thing, work is not only better done but is done
more quickly; and the economizing of time is an im-
portant consideration both as regards commerce and
the moral concerns of life. Independently of these
advantages respecting the employment of capital, and
the division of labour, the adaptation of science to the
principal arts necessarily extends as the distinctions
in society, and the rewards given for eminent ser-
vices, ascend to an elevated scale. A powerful in-
fluence results from the spreading of knowledge;
means are afforded for each branch to perfect itself
in its respective art; and this must be accomplished
more satisfactorily when a distinction of rewards ap-
pcars, and when all are striving to overtake and to
pass rival competitors struggling in the same career.
There would be no stimulus to future discoveries
}
172
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
were a system of equality to prevail; every person
would be content with his share of the general pro-
duction, and would be little disposed to incessant ex-
ertion, or to pass those sleepless nights of anxious
thought which now characterize the candidate for
fame.
Exclusive of these cogent considerations, it is
obvious, from principles already developed, that it
is important for every country to contain as few
labourers, and as many of the higher classes, as pos-
sible. The desideratum is not to lessen the number
of the former, but to elevate them to the condition
of the latter. When the majority of the people are
removed from immediate want, there is always
a general resource presented against distress; they
have superior means to lower their mode of living,
and to practise frugality; and from the accumulations
thus realized, contrasted with habitual expenditure,
they soon resume their accustomed prosperity. But
in a country where all, or nearly all, are labourers,
there is no resource against adversity; there is no
lower deep into which the body of the people can
fall; and unforeseen stagnation and extreme ruin go
hand in hand, from the absence of every resource or
material which could be resorted to, to operate a
beneficial change.
In respect also to the acquisition and diffusion of
knowledge, the advantages are no less signal than in
what appertains to the ordinary affairs of commerce.
1
}
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
173.
There must be infinitely superior hopes of valuable
discoveries, when a number of educated minds are
labouring in the same common cause; and the divi-
sion of capital tends in a striking degree to awaken
and to promote this kind of education.
Perceiving thus the channels in which amendment
in industrial organization should work, its practical
attainment is facilitated. At present probably there
are a hundred labourers for one master manufacturer :
could we lessen this vast disparity it must be eminently
beneficial; or could we by any means create a con-
sumption amongst the labourers themselves, which
would tend to better their condition, and render them,
in the opportunity of obtaining work, comparatively
independent, it must diminish the general poverty.
For the last thirty years many plans have been pro-
mulgated for this end; but almost all of them being
framed by persons either imperfectly acquainted with
enlarged principles of commerce, or so full of one
idea that they viewed the subject through a deceitful
medium, they have fallen into merited oblivion. Pe-
riodically a revival starts up under a new shape; but
still, however attractive or amusing to the public in
general, commanding little attention from philoso-
phical enquirers. At present, under the auspices of
Mr. Owen, a rude system of exchange amongst ope-
ratives, in order to supersede wholesale and retail
venders, seems most in vogue; and public exchanges,
labour notes, and valuators, are establishing for the
174
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
due achievement of this object. We shall endeavour
to discriminate, and to point out under what principle,
and how far, these institutions may be carried with-
out militating against any of the conclusions set
forth in this section.
}
SECTION II.
Of widening the Channels of ordinary Employment.
THE expenditure of the labourer consists of articles of
a two-fold description, of which, much the larger part
is produced and disposed of by capitalists; and in this
part immediate labour, as a primary element of cost,
enters but in a small degree in determining the
price. It is thus obvious that those articles are pro-
duced more advantageously and on cheaper terms by
this arrangement, than they could be under any
other economical system. So long as it is desired
permanently to better the condition of the labourer,
and not to be content with immediate accommodation,
it would be most indiscreet to supersede the existing
mode of production, and to cause the labourer directly
to manufacture the articles he requires. It is evident
that if a labourer have to take land himself, even
assuming that he had the option, he could not raise
t
}
1
F
;
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
175
corn so easily, so promptly, or so cheaply, as is
accomplished by the instrumentality of a scientific
farmer, who employs the most improved implements
of husbandry and process of cultivation; nor could
a weaver hope to produce his coat so readily, or at so
small an outlay, as an extensive manufacturer, who
employs the most complete machinery in the fabric,
and an extensive knowledge of chemical science in
the dying and finishing of the article. It would,
consequently, be a misdirection of means for the
labourer to resort to that description of production
which can be accomplished in so superior a manner
by the present division of labour. It would reduce
the aggregate commodities produced, probably, more
than one half; and, therefore, the nation, in a collec-
tive sense, would be so much the poorer; entailing
ulterior misery on the labourer himself.
of
The kind of additional articles which, in their fabri-
cation, should give employment to those at present
idle, or fill up the unoccupied time of active labourers,
and increase their earnings, must not interfere with
or supersede any established business. New articles
consumption must be created, and those should be
selccted which can be best fabricated by single
operatives, without the assistance or intervention of
capitalists. Low as are the artificial wants of the
labouring classes, that is, low compared to the ulti-
mate standard designed for them, a large field presents
itself for this branch of industry. The whole, or by
far the greater part of furniture adapted for labourers,
176
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
houses, may be made amongst themselves; all the
tables and chairs, the beds, and various articles of
convenience, might be immeasureably increased, and
might be manufactured without in the least interfer-
ing with any established employment. In addition
to this branch, what an immense range presents itself
in administering to conveniences and embellishments,
in the articles of dress for the labourers' wives and
daughters. The first cost of the material used is a
mere trifle; the chief value consists in the sewing,
shaping, and other parts of manipulative skill, which
might be performed in the labourer's family, giving
great auxiliary means to assist the earnings of the
labourer himself. Were a taste for these little articles.
of personal decoration to become general amongst the
great body of the working orders, a vast resource
would be presented within themselves, uninfluenced
and uncontrollable by vicissitudes incident to foreign
commerce.
Besides this great branch of consumption, it is
probable that the middle and higher classes of society
would throw into the hands of the labourers some of
the description of employment described. A young
lady might be quite as usefully, and certainly much
more agreeably employed in other pursuits, than in
fashioning inner integuments of dress, or attending
to the reparation of injured hose; and were every
means used to throw such employments to the female
branches of the labourer's family, it might serve as a
foundation for the new and auxiliary earnings to com-
1
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
177
mence upon, until a general elevation of expenditure
had been accomplished. At present, if the expenditure
of a labouring family be divided into a hundred parts,
not ten, properly speaking, belong to artificial wants.
So large a portion as ninety is absorbed in providing
for mere subsistence and immediate necessaries.
Could the proportion of ten parts be increased rela-
tively to fifty, a vast change would obviously be
effected; the labourers would then be dependent on
capitalists for only half of their habitual earnings, at
the same time that the business of the latter sustained
no diminution. In this ameliorated state of things, it
would hardly be possible to suffer severe distress, or
to be deeply injured by an accidental stagnation of
commerce. The labourers would be dependent on
one another for a large portion of their expenditure,
and consequently for a corresponding portion of re-
ciprocal employment. Under the existing state of
industry, if any stagnation of commerce ensue, they
have no resource, because they are driven from the
only employment open to them, quite uncontrollable
by themselves; and large bodies of them are un-
avoidably reduced to pauperism. Let us suppose, for
illustration, that the aggregate amount of wages is
forty millions annually, and suppose the labourers, or
rather their families, make new articles for themselves
to the amount of forty millions in addition, augment-
ing and not interfering with any other branch of trade,
there would then be a clear accession of wealth, and
by means of it the labouring class would be rendered
N
178
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
relatively independent. Suppose now, from stagna-
tion of commerce, a number of labourers receiving
wages to the extent of ten millions to be disbanded, it
is obvious that under the present state of things the
consequences would be most deplorable. So great a
proportion as one fourth deprived of their work must
occasion a prodigious falling off in the consumption
of articles supplied by capitalists; and these, stripped
of their ordinary business, would be impelled to dis-
miss more of their workmen, widening the circle of
distress, and inflicting permanent injury upon the
community at large. But were so desirable a change
effected as to double the expenditure of the labourer,
the part vended by the capitalist to remain unchanged,
the other half to be produced directly by the labourers'
own class, little injury could ensue from the cessation
of business to the extent of ten millions. The labour-
ing order, in a collective sense, would lose only a
comparatively small proportion of their general em-
ployment; all those permanently engaged at fixed
wages, would continue to consume those articles made.
exclusively amongst the labourers themselves; and
thus a great resource would be preserved, preventing
the dismissed workmen from falling to utter destitu-
tion. The same means would then exist amongst the
labourers for correcting temporary depression, and
bringing things to a proper level, and to the accus-
tomed state of prosperity, as is now witnessed amongst
the better classes. Greater frugality would be prac-
tised, that is to say, a greater accumulation of wealth,
Į
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
179
in some of its forms, would take place, to repair the
breach caused by the derangement or stagnation of
foreign commerce. Indeed, under the state of society
designed, commercial vicissitudes could seldom oc-
cur; gluts from domestic causes would be nearly at an
end; and the disposition of manufacturers to dismiss
workmen from badness of trade, could only result
from war, great revolutions in foreign states which
were closely allied to this country, or some such rare
and accidental calamities. Even these would be of
exceedingly temporary duration. So long as the mass
of the people possessed a resource within themselves,
preventing an immediate fall to pauperism, the loss
of employment, in a few particular trades, could not
inflict much general injury. The convulsion would
be gradual and partial, and timely warning would
be given, by the disposition evinced by master manu-
facturers to reduce wages. The first attempt at this
procedure would place the workmen in that par-
ticular branch of business on a less advantageous foot-
ing than their neighbours; and from the new resource
presented, uncontrolled by extraneous circumstances,
they would be disposed, if not to leave the employ-
ment where trade was dull, at least not to court it,
but to prosecute their other branch of earnings with
greater assiduity. And this circumstance, of dimi-
nished energy in production ensuing in the trade in
which business was dull, and consequently tending
to adjust the supply of goods manufactured to the
diminished demand, would soon restore prices. At
180
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
present, in the cotton, the woollen, or the silk trades,
if wages are reduced, the workman has no redeeming
alternative; he must either work for lower wages, there-
by increasing the quantity of goods, or he must fall
upon the parish. Had he a resource independent of
these several manufactures, it is evident that some
time must elapse before he would be entirely destitute.
Means would be presented for the exercise of fru-
gality, without unproductively consuming the funds
of others in charitable allowances; there would be a
positive withdrawal from the business in which wages
were reduced; and thus, from the preservation of the
home trade amongst the labourers themselves during
the temporary dulness, things must gradually rectify
themselves, and be restored to prosperity.
It will be observed that, though the chief value of
these new articles designed for the consumption of
the labourers, and elevating their artificial wants,
would be derived from workmanship, yet still the
value of the material would be of some moment, and
would extend the general business of the manufac-
turers, and of the community at large. If a piece of
cotton, for example, worth five shillings, on being
fashioned into an article of dress, is doubled or
trebled in its valuc, by means of the work bestowed
upon it, it is apparent that two objects are attained :
general commerce is extended, and the work being
confined to the labouring class, opens a resource
which will be in constant operation, so soon as the
artificial wants are permanently elevated, and the
{
1
<
Y
4
+
1
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
181
consumption of such articles has become habitual and
necessary.
The advantage of throwing this employment into
the hands of the female branch of the labourer's
family appears very considerable. It enables a fund
to be raised, previous to marriage, by both parties ;
and tends, in a very considerable degree, to elevate
the character of the labourer's daughter, by placing
before her the means of maintaining constantly a
reputable appearance; a species of laudable pride,
which is a never failing attendant upon, if not an
incentive to, personal propriety and good conduct.
Having described the principle, the next object
is to detail the plan by which it may be carried into
effect, assuming that the existing poverty and dis-
tress amongst the body of the labourers is first
removed. From every inquiry and means of judging
that are presented, in respect to the habits of the
labouring classes, it appears that the want of a
market, or place where articles required by the
labourers can uniformly be found, is the chief
desideratum. Having explained the extent to which
the labourer can shape out work for himself without
the assistance of a capitalist, there is little difficulty
in pointing out the use that may be made of those
labour exchanges, or bazaars now in vogue, without
militating against the interests of other parties. [It
seems expedient to establish in those districts chiefly
inhabited by the working classes, a large bazaar, to
be devoted to the sale of articles fabricated by the
182
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
labourers and their families. The object is to bring
into existence an additional quantity of commodities,
and to expose and congregate those articles in such
a manner, consulting display and convenience, that
every person will at once be tempted to consume,
and, consequently, sedulous to produce. There is
little doubt that the lower orders are desirous to con-
sume as well as other descriptions of people; and if
we shew them that production is within their reach,
enabling them to compass additional gratification
with a little exertion, new wants will arise, possessing
an inherent principle of growth, which must extend,
and gradually elevate the scale of their living. It
would be desirable to have those bazaars built on an
extensive scale. They might be divided into two
stories on the lower floor would be stalls for tables,
chairs, household implements of every description,
and all such articles as can be as advantageously made
by a single man as by the intervention of capitalists:
in the upper floor would be stalls for gowns, shirts,
bonnets, stockings, made up dresses, and every species
of sempstress' work in general. It would be proper
to have those buildings, in the first instance, erected
by subscription, or public funds, in order that the
rents might be trifling, and that every article might
be sold as cheaply as possible.
In some parts of the country, places analogous, in a
partial degree, to what is here described, particularly
for the sale of furniture, exist; and the state of society
in those parts will exemplify the advantages resulting
1
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
183
}
from the design proposed. In those places, the use of
articles in the labourers' houses is greater than where
no such marts are established; whether the demand
for the article occasions the erection of the mart, or the
erection of the mart induces the consumption of the
article, it would be difficult to decide. The two act
and react on each other. The establishment of a
new site for the sale of articles administering to long
confirmed wants or habits, can be of little service;
but in regard to the creation of a new want or habit,
it is of primary importance to keep the incentive, or
temptation, constantly and conspicuously ir view.
Many commodities sold in the Soho bazaar, being
in constant use, might as well be disposed of in
regular shops; but it cannot for a moment be
doubted, that collecting a number of articles, fanciful
in their nature, and of attractive display, has oc-
casioned great sale, which never would have ensued,
had such establishments not existed. On the whole,
therefore, notwithstanding the complaints of shop-
keepers, these extensive bazaars may add to the ge-
neral business, giving employment to great numbers of
people, and not injuring any one class, so long as
they are confined to suitable objects. In regard to
the more humble bazaars contemplated, it is obvious
no objections could apply, confining them to the
strict end proposed, and not embracing that indefinite
series of objects, which has so long supported the
credulity of many sanguine projectors. They are
designed to call into existence a completely new
184
!
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
class of articles; to establish a mutual connexion and
dependence amongst the labourers themselves; to
accomplish benefit, quite as much by the temptation
of new expenditure as by the mere employment
derived in production; and to shew them the great
resources they have at command, by means of well
directed and continuous industry, of which they can
never be deprived. In making the commencement,
in addition to the support given by the middle and
better classes of society, in having certain descriptions
of sempstress' work performed at these institutions,
which, it is reasonable to expect, will be zealously
afforded, it might be a matter for consideration, whe-
ther or not labourers permanently employed, at fixed
wages, might not, through means taken by their em-
ployers in paying them, be induced to spend a certain
portion of their earnings weekly in purchasing articles
of real convenience. This would give an extensive
foundation, which is the chief difficulty; and there
are many means of managing it, without the smallest
approach to the truck system in the north, which
occasioned such just reprehension. Were the plan
practically to work, in periods of stagnation, a con-
siderable accumulation of goods would take place in
the bazaar; and when an habitual sale was estab-
lished, persons, whose business it was to attend in
the bazaar, would be induced to lay in a stock, thus
giving a vent to the producer, and obviating any
serious difficulty or distress. The accumulation
must, of course, cause a depreciation in value, as
{
*
}
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
185
no artificial bolstering up of prices is contemplated;
every thing sold in the bazaar mainly consists of
articles of which the chief element of value is the
fashioning and manipulative skill.
skill. As this trade,
therefore, would be pretty uniform, it is not unrea-
sonable to assume, that venders, at all times, would
be anxious to purchase, whenever an offer was made,
under the regular terms. The articles not requiring
in their fabrication any material capital, or division of
labour greater than what the family of the workman
could themselves carry into effect, would, in point of
fact, be disposed of on cheaper terms than in any other
quarter. The erection of the building is the only
assistance required; and if any article disposed of in
the bazaar can be produced on cheaper terms else-
where, there is no reason why the channels of trade
should be diverted from their natural course by
artificial means. There seems, therefore, no occasion
to alter the medium of exchange; to displace money,
or to resort to labour notes, or tickets, which may
figure for a time in circulation, but which, on the
first blush of improvement, will assuredly disappear.
It may be assumed as a maxim, that, in design-
ing plans for the amelioration of society, the less we
resort to expedients characterizing the first stages of
civilization, when trade is performed by barter, and
the more we keep in view the usages which ex-
perience has proved to be best calculated for all the
purposes of commerce, the greater is the chance that
our plans will be permanently successful. The
186
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
intervention of money is found the simplest and most
satisfactory mode of accomplishing all commercial
exchanges; and unless our new institutions can
support themselves according to the great principle,
that the interest of all parties is consulted by fair
and open competition, it is not probable that they
will permanently survive. One great advantage we
do expect to obtain: the cordial, unbought, unsolicited
good will of the labourers themselves towards these
new marts. They naturally must be disposed to en-
courage what a very little reflection must teach them
is in principle greatly designed for their benefit; and
this good will being, it is conceived, quite sufficient
in itself for our purpose, the venders at the bazaars
may allow various shops to arise in competition,
feeling little anxiety in regard to their probability of
success.
The anticipation of the advantages resulting from
the augmentation of consumption of articles, fabri-
cated in the manner described, proceeds from ascer-
tained results of a few labouring families, in the
metropolis, earning more than three shillings per
week, by making a very few homely articles; and it
was considered by the parties themselves, that, had
a proper market been established, these earnings
could have been doubled.
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
187
1
SECTION III.
Of enabling ingenious Operatives to become Master
Manufacturers.
WHEN we refer to the history of inventions relating
to the practical arts, we are struck by the large num-
ber which have been discovered by the humbler classes
in life. It is natural to suppose, that those who are
constantly using tools and machines, must have a
better knowledge of their capabilities, and various
relations in respect to the ends to which they may be
directed, than mere consumers, quite ignorant of the
manner in which the most important commodities are
produced. Here consists the chief hopes of the be-
neficial consequences resulting from the diffusion of
knowledge. When the operatives are well acquainted
with the elementary principles, upon which labour in
all its forms depends, it is natural to suppose that
many discoveries will be made, in their aggregate
effects greatly surpassing those, which, in the last ge-
neration, have conferred such signal benefit upon
mankind. The master manufacturers, far from feel-
ing pangs of envy at the prospect of losing their rela-
tive situation by the advance of those whom they are
accustomed to regard as beneath them, and designed
only as the passive instruments of manual labour,
188
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
should rejoice at their advancement, and should be
stimulated to cultivate their faculties, in order to
preserve a superiority, not by checking the aspiring
efforts of their dependants, but by seeking a higher
standard of mental accomplishments themselves.
Every means, therefore, should be taken to encourage
workmen to make discoveries in the practical arts,
and to secure to them all the benefits resulting from
their ingenuity. It has been more than once ob-
served, that in many of our leading manufactures,
workmen are possessed of knowledge calculated to
improve and to simplify many machines now in ope-
ration; but they suppress this knowledge, apprehen-
sive that it might diminish the employment of manual
labour, and also that they might not enjoy the fruits
of their own discoveries.
This notion could be corrected by adopting a
new measure in respect to patents; and this im-
portant undertaking seems to belong to the district
court, or board of local management, formerly des-
cribed as the legislature of the labouring classes.
An office should be established, securing to the
humblest inventor the benefit of his discovery; and
it might be arranged, that an operative conscious of
possessing information, or the means of bringing a
new application of science to bear upon some manu-
facture, should apply to the chairman for the time
being, of the board, entrust him with the nature of
the secret, and be guided by his decision and advice
in respect to the means of making it practically avail-
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
189
able. The object is, to remove from the operative the
whole of that difficulty in respect to the title and spe-
cification of patents, which now form so great a barrier
to those unacquainted with the technicalities of law,
and which, consequently, occasion incessant litigation.
The district court or board might attend to these mat-
ters; and, as they are constituted in some degree the
guardians of the working classes, a little arrangement
would make the task comparatively easy to them, whilst
the operative would be relieved from insuperable diffi-
culties. It would be expedient to reduce, if not to
abolish, the present stamp duties, which seem inexpe-
dient on many grounds, as being a tax, in the most ob-
jectionable form, upon knowledge and industry. If it
were found, on experience, that the reduction of ex-
pense multiplied the number of patents to an incon-
venient or injurious extent, it would be easy to throw
the outlay into another channel, assisting and not mi-
litating against any valuable invention. Indeed, to
remodel entirely the existing law relative to patents
scems desirable on many grounds: the inventor should
be relieved from the tediousness of the process, which
frequently gives rise to more discouraging evils than
loss of time; he should be allowed to choose, seven,
fourteen, or twenty-one years, for the exclusive use of
his discovery, paying, in the first instance, a smaller
cost; and local arrangements should be made to fa-
cilitate the means of his converting it to immediate
advantage, by the payment of a definite sum of
money.
It was formerly stated, that a small portion of the
190
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
contributions made by the body of the labourers, as
poor rates, might be usefully appropriated to other
purposes than the immediate support of the
poor. It
would be desirable for the local board to possess this
option of appropriation; and an excellent opportunity
presents itself for commendable disbursement in assist-
ing the ingenious operative in discoveries, which ex-
tend commerce as much as they benefit himself. It is
designed, that the local board should possess not only
the means to discriminate, but the power to reward;
they act emphatically as the poor man's friend; and a
strong stimulus to exertion must be diffused amongst
the superior class of operatives, when they were con-
scious that they had only to detail their plans to the
chairman of the board, in order to receive imme-
diate attention, and also assistance, in case their con-
duct was meritorious. The collective body of the
labourers would not object to this appropriation of a
trivial part of their contributions; they would con-
sider it designed to defray laudable prizes in a moral
conflict, from which chance was excluded. Besides
it does not necessarily follow, that a positive gratuity
would be given. Assistance on credit could be af
forded, taking as security the right to the discovery
for which the patent was procured, or any other gua-
rantee that seemed available.
A regulation of this kind in manufacturing districts
must create an extraordinary sensation amongst the
operatives at large. How many are the cases where
valuable discoveries die with the possessor, and are
entirely lost to the public, for want of a small sum of
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
191
money, or credit, to bring the invention to full matu-
rity. How frequently is a long life wasted amidst
anxiety and trouble, and only kept ardent in the pur-
suit of knowledge by the anticipated prospect of final
success; and probably, in the eleventh hour, just on
the eve of achievement, the invention has to be parted
with to some rich individual, who steps in and de-
prives the humble and exhausted discoverer of the
fruits of his hard earned exertions. An arrangement
similar to that proposed, would obviate evils of this
kind; and, were society in that prosperous state which
our sanguine views ultimately design, probably every
month would announce some ingenious invention,
either entirely novel in itself, or exhibiting the appli-
cation to new purposes of principles already known.
By these means will be augmented the embellish-
ments, the gratifications, and conveniencies, of life,
keeping pace with the new discoveries which are pro-
gressively appearing in the theoretical parts of science.
There might be some charge of partiality if these
resources and rewards were confined to the town me-
chanics, whilst the agricultural labourers enjoyed no
corresponding advantages. There is no substantial
reason why the most meritorious amongst this great
class should not be animated in their avocations by
the same incentives and hopes as are designed for
their compeers in manufacturing industry. The dis-
trict court, or local board, could still perform the
same serviceable part to the industrious agriculturist,
though the range in which assistance is required is
more limited. Rewards should be bestowed for va-
192
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
luable suggestions in husbandry, in the rearing of
cattle, improved views in respect to the rotation of
crops, or improvements in agricultural implements;
and, it is conceived, out of the proportion of the la-
bourers' contributions placed at the disposal of the
board, an adequate fund would be presented for pur-
poses of this kind. It is reasonable to anticipate, that
the great proprietors and landlords in general would be
disposed to elevate the condition of their dependents;
they would therefore strike in with the arrangements
proposed, and would use assiduous zeal in acquaint-
ing the agricultural population with the benefits
which were within their reach to obtain. If a system
were established, occasionally giving a farm to the
most meritorious, skilful, and well instructed husband-
men, within a given district, the local board, out of
the fund at their disposal, supplying requisite capital
on credit, in order to have the cultivation conducted in
a scientific manner, the beneficial effects would be
manifold and extensive. We are not, in judging of
the extent of advantages, to direct exclusive attention.
to him who wins the race. How many candidates
will start, buoyant from hope, or a confidence in
their own powers, who, though unsuccessful in their
immediate efforts, will have their pace quickened
by the competition, giving a new tone to the collec-
tive character of our peasantry. This diffusive ame-
lioration seems inseparable from the occasional eleva-
tion of a deserving individual to a new sphere; and,
judging from the smallness of the means requisite to
attain the end, there seems neither difficulty in ob-
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
193
taining the cooperation of the working classes them-
selves, nor serious obstacles in respect to the mode of
assisting them when suitable exertion is displayed.
SECTION IV.
Of widening the Channels of skilful Employment generally.
To multiply employments which can be performed
as well by single individuals as by the combination.
of many, lessens injurious competition, and increases
the rate of wages generally. It is now our business
to illustrate the effects which will result from more
extended occupations in the higher departments of
skilful labour. Amongst all receiving wages there
is a certain relation, which causes benefit obtained
by one class to be disseminated, and to diffuse a
genial assistance to all who are dependant on stated
services. Let us suppose, for example, that a taste
for the fine arts were generally extended, so that
every house, down to the extreme limits of the
middle orders, or even still lower, exhibited portraits
of its different members, or other corresponding em-
bellishments, an immense step would be gained in
civilization. Morality itself, and the finer feelings
of the heart would be promoted, by keeping, as it
were, the distant constantly present in the thoughts;
or snatching from the oblivion of death the revered
O
194
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
lineaments of some relative, whose example in life
strengthened the disposition to virtue. Many a
nobleman has been incited to distinguished actions.
by casting his looks around the hall of his paternal
mansion, when in a susceptible or felicitous temper
of mind; and shall we deny humbler individuals
corresponding remembrancers,-silent, yet emphatic
in their useful warnings. But we must not dilate.
however agreeable the theme; our immediate con-
cern is with commerce; and in the future pro
gress of society it cannot, for a moment, be doubted
that an immense opening presents itself for employ-
ment of the nature described. England is still
greatly in arrear in all branches appertaining to the
fine arts; they seem exotics nurtured with care by
the affluent, but they have hardly yet commenced to
diffuse themselves amongst the body of the people;
and when it is known that their advantages are great
in a commercial point of view, as well as if con-
sidered merely elegant superfluities to refine the
manners, a new feeling will prevail; and, in time,
England may boast of her houses exhibiting as
splendid embellishments, in respect to architecture,
sculpture, and painting, and all branches of decora-
tion, as she now possesses with regard to her carpets
and the grosser articles of furniture. Supposing the
taste to arise in all parts equal to what prevails in
Italy, and that every town exhibited its public institu-
tion-that, in short, the fine arts were not forced
into consideration by means of fashion, but that the
}
↓
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
195
feeling was deeply imbibed, and identified with the
national habits, it is probable that the difficulties and
distress which prevail amongst a large class of the
community, just at that boundary where accumulated
capital ends, and dependence on wages, or personal
earnings, begins, would rapidly pass away.
In Italy,
the production of these articles forms the one-thirtieth
of the entire production; in England, not the one
five-hundredth part: it is thus easy to perceive, that
an extensive resource is presented in this channel of
industry, and few will dispute the expediency of
encouraging it, exhibiting as it does the characteristic
of high civilization.
This question, in a commercial sense, does not
mercly concern the middle classes, or those persons
who, in receiving the wages of labour, expect a
remuneration for intellectual endowments. In giving
encouragement to a class of people who produce, not
only real wealth, but a high description of it, there
is a clear gain to the community, or in other words,
of those articles which minister to the enjoyments
and gratifications of life. The classes engaged in
this description of production remove from other
branches of industry, which tends to effect an opening
for others. If a number of persons succeed in this
employment, it lessens the supply of clerks, and other
persons depending upon the superior description of
wages; a demand being created for these, gives in
return an opening for warehousemen and others a step
lower in the scale; these again present an opening
196
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
to others a step below them; and thus, progressively,
the means of employment are widened for the whole
labouring class, which must operate in a striking
degree to improve their condition.
For the establishment of this beneficial extension
of employment, it seems only necessary to create, in
every town, a large institution for the encouragement
of the fine arts. Let the cost be jointly defrayed by
the town and the government; the town, in the first
instance, raising as large a sum as the inhabitants
are disposed to subscribe, and the government paying
an equivalent sum; and thus there will be a strong
inducement for a liberal subscription being raised, in
order that a large amount may be obtained gra-
tuitously from the state. Why should we not behold
in this country, as in other parts, a number of cities
emulous in patronizing the arts, and running an
honourable race in the encouragement of rising
genius? Are the intelligence, the wealth, and
public spirit of Dublin, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Glas-
gow, Manchester, or Birmingham, less than those of
Florence, Genoa, Milan, or Venice? And what a
difference would be presented, and how many thou-
sand enterprising and ingenious individuals would be
raised from comparative obscurity to eminence, were
the same elevated resources presented in the English
as in the Italian cities. It is reasonable to suppose,
that a vigorous appeal, properly timed, would be
attended with happy consequences in procuring sup-
port; but in the mean time, the corporations of the
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
197
leading towns would be called upon to assist the
general design. They have an ample field for the
encouragement of merit. Eminent characters, who
have conferred a signal benefit on their town, might
have their fame perpetuated by an appropriate statue,
bust, or memento; the town halls, also, might be
ornamented with paintings, illustrative of historical
incidents, interesting to the immediate neighbour-
hood.
In another department, there are means equally
extensive for patronage. The churches and places
of religious worship present a fair opportunity for
ornamental expenditure; and, as a general principle,
it would be found, that the very examination and
criticism of these works of art would inspire, amongst
private individuals, a new taste, and a desire to
introduce the production of some branches of these
arts into their own houses. It is a well known
circumstance, that in remote parts the erection of a
handsome and tasteful building has improved an
entire neighbourhood, merely from the influence of
example, and the operation of a new taste, and has
even caused some persons to pull down their houses
rather than be shamed by the contrast which they pre-
sented to the new erection. Cases have occurred where
a small school house, built by subscription in a neat
manner, has induced the neighbouring population to
imitate it; and every subsequent cottage has assumed
a more improved appearance, which probably never
would have ensued, had no example been presented to
198
LABOURERS TO SHAPE
exercise village criticism. This feeling of emulative
taste in a thriving community is universal; and we
merely seek to seize upon it, and make it work on an
extended scale, in forwarding those designs which
promote the benefit of persons dependant upon their
individual earnings.
It is apparent that there is no paucity of means for
unlimited employment, in case exertions are judicious;
and, succeeding in these, in the future stages of so-
ciety, the number of labourers seeking work must be
gradually lessened. We have shown, in the first in-
stance, the manner in which the supply of labourers
can be restrained to the habitual demand, or adjusted
to the same relative proportions as exist in the better
classes of society; and, in the present chapter, we
have endeavoured to point out the means by which
employment may be progressively enlarged: the joint
operation of the two, it is fairly presumable, cannot
fail to check future indigence. Suppose the supply
of labourers at any given period adjusted to the de-
mand, and that in any particular occupation ten la-
bourers were employed: if, by the institutions des-
cribed in this chapter, only one out of the ten can be
removed, so that nine remain to perform the work
allotted before to ten, it is obvious that wages will be
raised, and a great improvement effected in the condi-
tion of the labouring classes. This auspicious ascent
has a tendency to increase, when once the commence-
ment is fairly made. The greater the demand for la-
bour, the greater will be the consumption of commo-
3
WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
199
dities; and, conjoined to this increase of consumption,
must there be again, in turn, a greater range of em-
ployment presented to workmen, enabling them to ad-
vance another step in their social state. It will be
observed, that it is not so much the high degree of su-
perabundance of work, compared to people, as the cir-
cumstance of there being any superabundance, which
gives the favourable alternative to the labourers, and
enables them to compass liberal remuneration. We
are so moderate as only to seek the removal of one
person out of ten; but this moderation will not the
less attain the result designed, when some auxiliary
correctives are applied to give a propitious bias to
their minds.
200
CHAPTER IX.
MEANS OF STRENGTHENING THE FEELING OF
SELF-RESPECT IN THE LABOURER.
IF
SECTION I.-Education.
Ir any person now in the world object to the educa-
tion diffusing amongst all classes of the people, it may
fairly be observed, that his censure comes one genera-
tion too late. Even if the will existed, on the part of
those in authority, education cannot now be checked.
The thews and sinews of the intellectual giant are
formed, and all that remains for us to do, is to infuse
the moral principle, and to direct its mighty energies
to a useful purpose. Order, prompt obedience to the
laws, and all the perfections of civil liberty, must here-
after depend upon the mental cultivation of the people,
and
upon the circumstance, whether this object is at-
tained by the individual exertions of the people them-
selves, or whether the state, with provident zeal, steps
in and facilitates a high and extended acquisition of
knowledge. It is probable that the apprehension, some-
times entertained against the injurious degree of power
which instruction is supposed to give to the lower
}
}
&
SELF-RESPECT IN THE LABOURER.
201
classes, thus lessening the intrinsic superiority of the
higher classes, will gradually abate. The state of pub-
lic opinion, at the present time, bears an analogy to
the ingenuous youth just fresh from his study of those
authors whose writings convey an animated picture
of the deformity of vice, the sublimity of virtue,
and of the glowing means which should be taken to
improve society. His mind is tinged with ardour,
and filled with generous enthusiasm, respecting the
ideal perfectibility of man; by degrees, as experience
suggests new images and reflections, his ardour sub-
sides; a more subdued tone takes possession of his
thoughts, and, in the maturity of his understanding,
he is content with amendments practically attainable.
Let us hope that the body of the English people is still
sound; and that, though flushed with fond anticipa-
tions respecting the advantages of public liberty,
which on all sides fill their thoughts, they will gra-
dually become more temperate, and, like the youth
described, on dismissing their matin dreams of specu-
lative excellence, and learning experience in the full
developement of their powers, they will cease to pur-
sue theoretical phantoms, and will attend to the prac-
tical concerns of life. It should be the business of
the state to enlarge this experience, and to accelerate
the intellectual growth, as the surest mode to avert
the rash innovations, or the fanciful experiments,
which a young extravagance may inflict. Is any
mode so desirable or efficacious, as solid, judicious,
and comprehensive education? Ignorance, in the
202
OF STRENGTHENING SELF-RESPECT
present constitution of society, is one of the greatest
evils that can afflict a nation; and, it may fairly be
asserted, that out of a hundred deplorable misfortunes
which have arisen in the world, retarding the natural
advancement of civilization, ninety-nine are attribut-
able to this single cause.
Independently of the humanizing effect which
knowledge must have upon the mind, it acts in a
remarkable degree as an artificial want, and ought
to be encouraged, if viewed solely as a commercial
or economical question. Of all tastes, which, when
once formed, young men will be anxious to gratify,
that of reading is one of the strongest. Money will
be saved in order to purchase books, and to procure
that money, work must be steadily performed. In
this point of view, therefore, literature ought to be
encouraged as widening the range of expenditure, in
the same manner as we would encourage the people
to wear good coats, or shoes and stockings. But to
multiply illustrations respecting advantages is a su-
perfluous task, and we may pass to practical con-
siderations.
The mode of carrying a plan of national education
into effect should, in a great degree, be arranged by
the ministers of religion. A division of labour in all
parts of our social system, as well as in mercantile
occupations, need hardly be too much adverted to,
and there is abundance of opportunity for this divi-
sion in the object before us. It would appear expe
dient not to lay down a uniform and prescribed system
t
IN THE LABOURER.
203
t
1
}
Y
1
in the first instance, but to allow a laudable rivalry to
display itself amongst different clergymen, as to the
wisest mode of conducting education, so that it may
be an education of circumstances and rules of conduct,
as well as of the elementary parts of reading and
writing. When a number of plans had been carried
into effect, these might be carefully collated, and a
general plan thus founded on experience, or extensive
induction, selected for national adoption. By these
means a wide field would present itself for the exer-
tions of the clergy; they would have an opportunity,
by useful zeal, to recover the ground they have lost.
in the affections of the people, they would find
reverence for their character increase, and the per-
formance of their spiritual duties facilitated; and it
is probable that ere a generation elapsed, the force of
public opinion, now loudly heard in denunciation of
the extent of their emoluments, would settle in ano-
ther direction, and would manifest itself in appro-
bation of liberal endowments being placed at the
disposal of a highly educated class, to purify by the
graces of literature the leaven of aristocratic and com-
mercial wealth.
To establish a school in every parish, and a library
of the most useful books for the use of the labouring
classes, would, no doubt, be the basis of the plan
selected; and it would be easy to combine with the
preliminary education of the children such further
steps of instruction on useful subjects for those grown
up, as would keep alive proper feelings, and cause
204
OF STRENGTHENING SELF-RESPECT
the elementary education to be properly directed.
Reading, writing, and arithmetic, in a certain sense,
may be considered as tools; they can do nothing of
themselves; they facilitate the attainment of certain
ends; and it is at that time of life when character is
first formed, and when the usages of the world make
a strong impression, that is, at the age of eighteen to
twenty-one, that counsel chiefly is required from an
able monitor to use these tools to the best effect.
Exertion, therefore, should be most sedulous at this
period, and no system of parish instruction can be
considered complete, unless means have been taken
to secure the proper attainment of this education of
circumstances.
It is by no means designed that instruction should
be gratuitous; it is an important advantage that it
constitutes an artificial want; and consequently it may
in time form an habitual expenditure as thoroughly
identified, and as indispensable in a labourer's out-
goings, as a hat or a coat. Independently of this
consideration, gratuitous education is manifestly un-
just to, and inflicts a deep injury on, a large portion
of the community; upon that class, for example, just
one step above the common labourer, who maintain
their own independence, and are indebted to no class
for assistance of any kind. Let us imagine two
descriptions of labourers, one at ten shillings per
week, the other at fifteen shillings,-what are the
qualifications, let us ask, that cause the higher wages
to be given? In the aggregate of cases, it will be
{
i
IN THE LABOURER.
205
found, that it is because the individual has received
some elementary education, and, therefore, is more
enabled to perform certain services than his less
fortunate neighbour. Now, this individual at fifteen
shillings per week, probably, with great exertion and
saving, has paid for his own education, naturally ex-
pecting that it would give him relative advantages
whenever means of employment presented themselves.
If, therefore, another is educated gratuitously, and
brought up to his level, it is obvious that a deep injury
is inflicted on him in consequence of new competitors
arising, and the labouring class generally being
placed upon the same footing, while the personal ex-
penditure and meritorious exertion of each individual
is so very different. The state of industry, most
probably, will not permit of higher wages to be given
than ten shillings and fifteen shillings a week, respec-
tively. It does not follow that the fund which
governs industry will be increased by the gratuitous
instruction; and, therefore, the individual who de-
frayed the expense of his own education, runs the
risk of having his wages reduced. He finds discrimi-
nation can no longer be used; there is no means for
him to receive remuneration in proportion to his out-
lay; his employer merely regards the qualifications
of different candidates, without attending to the means
of their attainment; and thus, preference ceasing ac-
cording to the intrinsic merit, those gradations which
are so useful and necessary to the well-being of
society are destroyed.
206
OF STRENGTHENING SELF-RESPECT
Exclusively of this view of the question, there is
something peculiarly engaging in a parent defraying.
out of his own earnings, the cost of educating his
children. It awakens many amiable qualities, and
creates an interest in the little domestic circle relative
to the performance of tasks, which animates and
warms the feelings in a degree very different from the
cold indifference which seems inseparable from chari-
table instruction. On the part of the child, a feeling
of gratitude is awakened which strengthens in age;
and which, even in the society of the homely village,
causes a tear in mature manhood to be dropped at
the shrine of departed parents, when the fruits of this
early outlay have been abundantly reaped.
f
SECTION II.
Mechanics' Institutions.
THE various institutions which have sprung up
in all
the large towns, have been of signal benefit to
mechanics, in a variety of ways. They have occa-
sioned earnings to be more beneficially spent; have
lessened the frequenting of alehouses; and have in-
duced the young men to remain single longer than
they would have done, had no such institutions existed
These institutions, therefore, act in a double capacity,
IN THE LABOURER.
207
as an artificial want elevating the standard of living,
and causing more sedulous attention to be employed,
to compass the means of partaking of their advan-
tages; as a moral engine supplying occupation to
the mind, and consequently, by giving the operative
resources analogous to the club, the theatre, and the
assemblies of his employer, creating restraint in res-
pect to the postponement of marriage. Assistance
not scantily bestowed, nor confined to the narrow
means of the operatives themselves, should be given
still further to extend these beneficial institutions.
Every town should possess one; and in each should
be a large apparatus; and popular lectures on che-
mistry, mechanics, and the more useful parts of
natural philosophy; and also in practical and politi-
cal economy should be occasionally introduced.
is impossible to doubt that large private subscriptions
would be obtained for this object, were they set about
in a proper manner; this, indeed, seems a fit subject
for the exertions of the district court, or board of
management for the labouring classes; and as an
auxiliary object, their exertions could hardly be better
directed.
It
It is curious to trace the effects upon the mechanics,
when they behold popular experiments in chemistry,
or natural philosophy; and, perhaps, the metaphy-
sician as well as the philanthropist cannot enjoy a
richer or more instructive treat than to place himself
quietly in a lecture room and observe the eager looks,
208
OF STRENGTHENING SELF-RESPECT
the half suppressed ejaculations of surprise, and the
ardent enthusiasm which attends the execution of an
attractive experiment illustrative of some interesting
point of natural philosophy. It is well known how
the imagination of the lower classes, which has little
activity from want of culture, is roused almost to
violence when it is excited by intellectual visions,
with which it is not familiar; hence the susceptibility
to new impressions, and hence also the effects of
political excitement at popular meetings. It should
be the object of the philanthropist to allow this
faculty to remain undiminished in intensity, but to
direct its exercise to other pursuits more permanently
interesting, and more congenial to order and real
happiness. Were we to select two towns, and
imagine in the one an institution, possessing the
requisite advantages to produce upon the mind the
palpable effects just depicted; while the other was
devoid of such an establishment; and were we then
to attend to the topics of conversation amongst the
operatives themselves, during the time they are at
work, as well as in the hours of recreation, we
should find that, in the latter case, boisterous dis-
cussion on politics consumes the day; while, in the
former, a quiet and inquisitive feeling displays itself,
each individual longing for the hour of fresh instruc-
tion. Which description of statesman is most friendly
to the ends of civil government, he who would repress
such institutions, for fear of giving the multitude too
ť
}
IN THE LABOURER.
209
great strength, or he who would encourage them
with the view of giving a proper direction to their
thoughts, and wielding that very strength to a useful
purpose.
SECTION III.
Public Parks.
WHOEVER has travelled on the continent must be
struck with the liberal accommodation of parks and
public walks, which, in the suburbs of large towns,
are appropriated to the enjoyment of the lower
classes of society. Nothing of the kind is to be
found in England; and the labourers have a just
right to complain that no means for wholesome
recreation are provided in the great manufacturing
districts, where the inhalation of pure air is so great
a luxury. The advantages resulting from places of
this kind are to be appreciated in more senses than
as appertaining merely to considerations of health.
They inspire feelings of content and gratitude, which
attach the people to the legislature, and to the scenes
of their birth. The humbler classes perceive that an
interest is taken in their welfare, and they accordingly
p
1
210
OF STRENGTHENING SELF RESPECT
resign those envious feelings of discontent, which cha-
racterize the population of every country who fancy
that munificent acts of the legislature are designed
to benefit the rich, while nothing is done for the
poor. As the means of diversifying the enjoyments
of the young, the establishment of such places
must be extremely beneficial. At present, a young
labourer has no enjoyment but the alehouse; his
situation, it can hardly be too frequently urged,
seems debarred from those inducements which might
prompt him to imitate the example of the middle
classes, in respect to settlement in life. The differ-
ence in the degree of enjoyments relatively com-
passable by the two classes, operates, as well as the
allowance system of wages, in occasioning the dis-
parity in their respective increase of population. To
every resource presenting itself to a young man in the
middle class of life, as to the means of keeping his
mind occupied, in order to strengthen restraint, whe-
ther moral or selfish, we design a corresponding re-
source on the part of the labourer. We can neither
dispense with selfish gratification nor moral admoni-
tion; and the labouring classes have not fair play, if
we permit the moral and the selfish restraint alike
to operate with the better classes, while we rigidly
insist on confining the labourer to the former. With
all our efforts, it is to be feared that we shall not be
able to preserve the proportions; but there is no
reason why the utmost exertions should not be
impartially used.
E
{
IN THE LABOURER.
211
In preserving those parks, and keeping them in
proper order, it is possible to devise means to
strengthen habits of industry, and to serve as rewards.
for industrious labourers in their old age. Let the
parks be placed under the care, protection, and keep-
ing of old men, distinguished for a life of industry,
who have become superannuated. With them, in
certain cases, might rest the power of admission or
exclusion; and a regulation of this kind, in many
cases, would operate efficaciously upon the visitors.
Any labour required in keeping these places in proper
order, should be performed by paupers; and the re-
sorting to this mode of work would tend to ornament
the immediate vicinage, and at the same time, serve
to keep the paupers employed.
In addition to this new accommodation, it seems.
expedient, in all large towns, to throw down those
crowded courts and alleys, where poor families con-
gregate, and where, removed from observation, filthy
habits are acquired, alike destructive to health and
morality. It is found, by experience, that wherever
the population enjoys extended space, so that every
family, as it were, is exposed to observation, a more
elevated standard of habits exists, no matter how
limited may be the earnings of the labourers; too
much pains, therefore, cannot be taken on economical
as well as benevolent grounds, to secure the means of
this free observation, and to throw open all places to
public scrutiny. On considerations of health to the
212
OF STRENGTHENING SELF RESPECT
community at large, little need be said in favour of these
designs. A distinguished character described Hyde
and St. James's Parks as the lungs of the metropolis;
it would surely be desirable to have such lungs at-
tached to every town, and adapted, not only to the
pleasures of the wealthy, but to the recreation of the
humbler classes. The advantages of these places would
not be local, they would operate beneficially upon all
ranks, occasioning a proper distribution of people
in those places where their labour was most avail-
able. Agriculture has reached its limits; every
future increase therefore of population in this country
must settle in towns; and it is expedient, not only
to establish a high state of habitual wants, but to
make a town residence as agreeable as possible, so
that the supply of agricultural labourers would flow
to it freely and voluntarily; leaving the quantity of
labour in the country within the proper proportion
required for the cultivation of the land.
As a matter of pure justice, extensive measures,
similar to those proposed, are called for on behalf of
the people. During the last twenty years, immense
sums have been expended in public undertakings,
designed to promote the enjoyment of the affluent
classes; but nothing whatever has been done for the
labourers. While expenditure has thus been partial
in favour of the former, very different have been the
effects of taxation. By the taxes on tobacco, malt,
bcer, and other articles, consumed chiefly by the
វ
}
1
IN THE LABOURER.
213
lower classes, they have contributed an overwhelming
preponderance in amount to the public exigencies.
Is it too much to hope, that some slight recompense
will be awarded in works of manifold utility, de-
signed for their immediate benefit.
SECTION IV.
Life Insurances.
ON tracing the progress of society, we discover the
invention of institutions, designed at first only for
the affluent, progressively extend, till all are brought
within the circle. Life Insurances, may we venture
to hope, may be a case in point. This has been
termed the most beautiful application of the science
of probabilities to the affairs of life; and in truth it
is so. Why should it not be extended to the labour-
ing classes; for to them, of all others, it must diffuse
the greatest benefits. Many individuals, in receipt
of good wages, may be able to spare a certain sum
periodically; and, from a regard and affection for
their offspring, they may be desirous of leaving a
little property at their death, in case they are
untimely cut off; others again, in the active period
of life, may have the means of accumulating, but
214
OF STRENGTHENING SELF RESPECT
their minds may be haunted with the dreary prospect
of poverty in old age, and to provide against this
contingency, they would wish to secure a certain
annuity, to keep them, during the evening of life,
free from want, from charitable assistance, or from
irksome labour disproportioned to their declining
strength. Frequently, on referring to cases of dis-
tress in the families of the working classes, we
behold girls, decently brought up, thrown destitute
on the world, from their parents being hurried to an
untimely grave, by unforeseen sickness or accident;
and we cannot but feel most desirous that there should
be some institution to provide against such calamities,
fruitful of prospective as well as of immediate cvil.
Let the district court, then, establish a life insurance
office, for the exclusive insurance of the lives of la-
bourers. The subject of such insurances is now well
understood; suitable tables might easily be framed,
with very little trouble, to meet all ordinary cases;
and a most valuable collection of facts be ob-
tained, relative to births, marriages, and deaths, the
period of natural longevity, and all such interesting
questions, which would more than compensate for
any little inconvenience which the district court, or
certain members of it, might encounter in keeping
the books, and attending to the general execution of
the measure. In a short time this country would
possess an accumulation of curious and truly useful
statistical facts, serving as a never failing guide for
the solution of many important points. There seems,
}
IN THE LABOURER.
215
It is
eally, little difficulty or expense in the case.
merely extending institutions, laudable in themselves,
and not interfering with established offices, which,
being formed for the accommodation of the wealthy,
operate upon a large scale.
:
It is a well-ascertained fact, that habits of saving
in the middle classes are acquired and strength-
ened by the practice of life insurance. A similar
habit arising would be of vast importance to the la-
bouring man. On reflecting that he would forfeit all
the advantages of the insurance, in case he neglected
to make his payments regularly, he would be careful
to save a sum out of his wages periodically. The
establishment of a habit of this nature is of primary
importance it induces a concentration of attention
to the welfare of his rising family, in order that they
may not disperse in extravagance that which has been
provided with such judicious care. Besides the se-
curity against disastrous accidents, or premature death,
a useful habit, once confirmed, is likely to grow, and
in each stage strengthen the disposition to accumulate.
Such is found to be the case now in respect to the
savings banks; and it is merely designed to extend
the principle through a wider circle, and meet nu-
merous contingencies, against which those useful in-
stitutions cannot provide.
216
OF STRENGTHENING SELF RESPECT
SECTION V.
Use of Luxuries.
It is no part of our plan to advert to topics belonging
to finance, or state economy; but we may be per-
mitted to observe, that an alteration in taxation
would be attended with many advantages to the la-
bouring classes. Were the entire of the population
habituated to the use of tea, coffee, sugar, and such
articles, it would be difficult to estimate the extent of
the benefit, not only upon commerce, but upon per-
sonal habits. So far as commerce is concerned, there
would be a necessary increase of manufactures to pay
for those articles, and there would be a consequent
encouragement of shipping conveying the exports,
and the home produce, creating a prodigious increase
of general employment, and bettering the condition
of the labourer. But while this beneficial operation
is taking place in one direction, the advantages re-
sulting from altered habits, and greater attention to
family duties, are still more striking. What, let us
ask, is the wisest mode of curing drunkenness, and
those scenes of depravity which surround the gin
shops in all our towns? Assuredly, by the establish-
ment of some counter gratification which will suit the
taste of the labourer. Other beverages can exhilarate
í
4
เ
IN THE LABOURER.
217
Y
quite as well as ardent spirits, when once the habit is
fairly formed. The first step is to give proper oppor-
tunity, by lowering the price of the articles used in
these beverages, and bringing them within the la-
bourers' reach. Let us effect an entire change in the
relative facility of gratification by the change in
price; and from the gloomy picture of the labourer,
lost to self-respect, slovenly, emaciated, and paralytic,
solitarily stealing into the gin shop to take his dele-
terious infusion, we may behold the animated picture
of the same individual, amid the circle of his own fa-
mily, participating in the social meal, and enjoying
all the gratification which springs from domestic in-
tercourse. Amongst every branch of the family many
estimable habits must arise; greater tidiness, supe-
rior cleanliness, and numberless such domestic advan-
tages, will prevail, when all parties are desirous of be-
stowing their mite, and of contributing to each other's
enjoyment. A drunkard's house is always the scene
of sloth and misery; and thus it is not merely the
baneful expenditure of money which merits condem-
nation; there is the neglect of family duties, and the
destruction of respect and affection, not to speak of the
acute privations which all must endure from the di-
minished earnings consequent on the time lost during
the prostration of the drunkard's faculties.
The general measures designed to elevate the feel-
ing of self-respect have now been detailed. Though
the regulations are numerous, one pervading prin-
ciple, it is conceived, runs throughout; and they will
all be found, notwithstanding the diversity of details,
218
OF STRENGTHENING SELF RESPECT
to tend to a common centre, and to form a general
plan distinguished for its unity, as well as, we hope,
for its comprehensiveness.
On a former occasion we expressed our belief,
that serious objections could hardly be urged in any
quarter against the great undertaking of elevating
the condition of the labouring classes.
The very
mooting of objections, as to the raising the rate of
wages, would be not only novel in itself, consi-
dering the existing distress, but it would be a proof
of the success of our measures; and therefore, having
performed the task proposed, we might stand excused
from further explanation. But, in reality, these ob-
jections at any time are groundless, and it will ever
be found that the advantages resulting from an ele-
vated reward for labour are not exclusive, or confined
to the labourers themselves, but pervade all classes
of the community. Inseparable from high wages is
superior remuneration for services of every descrip-
tion, and all who act as agents, or otherwise, will en-
joy larger commissions; that portion of profit, also,
which goes to compensate for the skill of the master
producer, will be augmented; and, in short, an im-
provement will take place in the pursuits of all who
are actively engaged in productive industry. High
profits and high wages can exist contemporaneously
in a country like England, where the unproductive
classes are so very numerous. The capitalists, collec-
tively, have merely to determine the rate of profit,
and the unproductive consumers must acquiesce.
In another point of view, some objections might
1
IN THE LABOURER.
219
4
arise. By raising the rate of wages, it might be sup-
posed that the export trade, inflicting a serious injury
on foreign commerce, must be diminished. But it
can be demonstrated, that the extent of foreign
commerce enjoyed by this country depends quite as
much upon the power of domestic consumption, as
upon the seeming cheapness of our manufactures.
At the present moment, in all the foreign markets,
there is a demand for bills in payment of the manufac-
tures exported in place of produce; a sure proof that
it is the comparative inferiority of our consumption
of foreign commodities, and not the relative dear-
ness of our goods, which limits the extent of foreign
trade. What, then, is the most judicious mode of
supplying the primary impelling power to extend this
trade? assuredly, by raising our internal consump-
tion; by taking off the products of foreigners to as
large an extent as possible; and, were this done by
improvement in the condition of the great body of the
people, we should never hear a single syllable res-
pecting the difficulty of finding a vent for manufac-
tures in foreign markets.
Another species of objection may arise. Too much
influence, it may be alleged, is given to the labourers;
they will acquire manners of sturdy independence,
destroying that subordination and discipline in the
social system which long has been the characteristic of
England. In point of fact, nothing of the kind would
occur. Though the condition of the labourer is elevated,
it will be found, that, throughout every one of the mea-
220
OF STRENGTHENING SELF RESPECT
sures proposed, there is a controlling superintendence
rewarding merit, punishing demerit, and thus pre-
serving the reciprocal relations of comprehensive be-
nevolence on the one hand, and gratitude on the other;
and so long as these exist, the feeling of self interest
would prompt those in subordinate situations to ex-
hibit a becoming courtesy of manners. The opera-
tive has nothing to gain, every thing to lose, by that
dogged uncouth assertion of fancied independence,
which sometimes is mistaken for the perfection of
civil liberty. We design the same relation to exist
relatively between the lower and the middle classes,
as now is witnessed between the latter and the higher
orders. It is a great mistake to imagine that com-
fort in worldly circumstances impairs the gradations
of rank. A physician attending a family of rank,
performs certain services, and receives remuneration
of a superior order; does the circumstance of his pos-
sessing the choice to remain in his house, or to attend
his patient, give an uncourteous tinge to his manners,
or cause the service to be less efficiently performed?
Why in principle should the labourer be viewed dif-
ferently? Is there any insuperable barrier to his be-
coming comparatively polished and aware of his own
interest, with improved habits and notions respecting
the gradations of rank? When the trial is fairly
made, it will be found that the rudeness which, in the
minds of the superficial, is associated with a high re-
ward for labour, is quite ideal, and at best originates
from defective education. Independently of this con-
{
IN THE LABOURER.
221
sideration, it should never be forgotten, that you can-
not have the submissiveness of manners and all that
servility of solicitation consequent on abject depen-
dence, which sometimes pleases those who only re-
gard the external surface of things, without behold-
ing also the dissimulation, the fawning sycophancy,
the knavery, the artful falsehoods, the disposition to
fraud, and the thousand vices which are the unavoid-
able attendants upon extreme poverty. Even these
are not always smooth and docile; whenever the hy-
pocritical garb is cast aside, the character displays
itself infinitely more objectionable in regard to in-
subordination and insolence, than ever could happen
under a different organization of things, where the
working classes being comfortable had no inducement
to violence of any kind.
Finally, it may be stated, that politically there
would be danger in placing the body of the people in
the independent state designed for them. But surely
very slight reflection must satisfy the mind, that a
result diametrically opposite should in common fair-
ness be anticipated. When was ever prosperity the
enemy to order and good government? and, on the
other hand, where could discord or dissatisfaction
meet so powerful, so willing, so reckless an ally as
poverty? At the present moment no real friend of
humanity, or patriot, could witness a crowd assembled
in any of our great towns without perceiving that the
popular feeling, even its very breath, is tainted and
vitiated. A deep and settled rancour against the
laws or persons in authority and the higher classes of
222
OF STRENGTHENING SELF RESPECT.
?
society as a separate order, appears in their aspect;
and every now and then is heard an ejaculation
marking the recklessness of their designs, the ma-
lignant joy they would feel at the overthrow of our
most cherished institutions. But after the spectator
has beheld this fearful and unnatural manifestation
of national feeling, awakening the most gloomy
thoughts, were he to turn from the crowd anxious to
escape speedily to his home, in some retired lane his
attention might be arrested by an individual silent
and solitary, with downcast eyes, immersed in thought,
and with a haggard and care-worn countenance quietly
pursuing his way, as if anxious to escape from the
surrounding tumult. If the observer be disposed to
follow this individual, he will find him retire to meet
in his home the greetings of his wife and family, and
to surrender his earnings for their solace and assist-
ance If a little further curiosity be manifested, this
individual will be discovered to be in all likelihood
the best workman of his class, and from the very
consciousness of merit still buoyed up with hope
that better days will smile upon him. This, then, is
the individual, and others like him, untainted with
the political vices of the day, and unsophisticated by
evil communication, that we seize upon as the nucleus
around which to form our new institutions; where
daily new materials will be drawn in until the circle
becomes so extensive, that all without may be treated
as delinquents; rendering popular clamour as feeble
in disturbing public tranquillity as it is now extensive
and dangerous.
1
1
:
223
CHAPTER X.
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND, AND CONSEQUENT
CHECK TO THE EMIGRATION OF LABOURERS
TO ENGLAND.
In any inquiry respecting the labouring classes in
Great Britain, it would be improper to omit the con-
sideration of the means to check the emigration of
Irish labourers. Few will dispute that this circum-
stance has inflicted much evil on this country; and
it is indispensably necessary for future prosperity to
have it removed. Poor laws in Ireland will not alone
accomplish the point, other measures affecting the
entire people being first required.
SECTION I.
Causes of the Poverty of Ireland.
WHEN man is viewed with reference to his social
condition, two prominent desires appear conspicuous;
the desire of eventual gain, and the desire of imme-
diate enjoyment. When the first is in excess, it con-
}
224
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
stitutes the character of a miser, or a being who
neglects present gratification in order to heap up
provision for future wants, which possibly he may
never live to gratify. When the latter is in excess,
it constitutes the character of the spendthrift, who
thinks not of the future, but, from strong passions and
feeble powers of reflection, proceeds in his life of
pleasure, though future misery must await him, and
inflict privation the more severe from its contrast
to the preceding career of buoyant enjoyment. In
drawing a comparison between these two desires, it is
evident that the former ought considerably to predo-
minate in every well regulated mind. Man is morally
bound permanently to better his own condition, and
still more particularly that of his family or the beings
he brings into the world. There must, therefore, be
accumulation, or, in other words, the desire of even-
tual gain should predominate over the antagonist
feeling, in order that he may possess the means of
bequeathing to each of his children a sufficient sum to
enable them to maintain the rank in society to which
they have been educated. What thus applies to indi-
viduals equally bears upon the character of nations. It
is quite possible for the collective character to exhibit
either a desire to accumulate or a desire to spend,
greatly preponderating; and the ultimate results in
either case will show that the same evils attendant upon
individual imprudence attach to the nation. When
however, the question is viewed in a national light,
the injurious consequences of the one desire, and the
}
}
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
225
beneficial results of the other are more apparent, be-
cause the effects are more durable. When there is
a natural desire to accumulate, riches will abound,
though they may not be immediately enjoyed; the
emoluments derived by the better classes, or those
with whom industry originates, may be comparatively
small, from the disposition exhibited by the great ma-
jority of the inhabitants to engage in productive in-
dustry, thus extending competition; but associated
with this disposition will, of course, be an abundant
and diversified source of employment to the mass of
the people. It is only by active production that the
general inclination to heap up riches can be gratified;
and the capitalists cannot attain this end without avail-
ing themselves of the instrumentality of labourers,
who, finding their services greatly in demand, will be
prompted to ask, and enabled to secure liberal re-
muneration.
But, on the other hand, when the opposite desire
forms the chief characteristic amongst a people, the
great body of them must be in extreme misery. There
being no disposition to accumulate, the desire, on
the contrary, being to spend, an opportunity is not
presented for employment of any kind; and the la-
bourers, therefore, if population in the least continues
to increase, will find themselves in that deplorable
situation in which there are a hundred candidates for
the performance of the smallest service.
Such then is the cause of the poverty and commercial
degradation of the people of Ireland: it is the national
Q
226
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
predominance of the desire of immediate enjoyment
which inflicts upon the peasantry in the first instance,
and eventually upon all classes of society, the severe
suffering. This great cause will be found to account
for many anomalies which have occasioned much con-
troversy, philosophical as well as political, respecting
the condition of that country. It serves as the key
to decipher many complicated and confused questions,
which otherwise, judging from experience, have baf-
fled the efforts of statesmen for several generations.
It must not be supposed that this desire predomi-
nating in the national character necessarily presumes
that all persons are actuated by the same feelings; it
can manifest itself in many ways; and it will be use-
ful to elucidate these, in order to exhibit the mode in
which poverty first appears, and the correctives that
must be applied for its removal.
In the first place, when persons engaged in pro-
ductive industry live up to their profits or income, it
is obvious that there can be little accumulation: the
whole of that net gain, which in ordinary branches
of trade ought to be increasing with a view to re-
production, will be absorbed, and the traders will have
no resource but their immediate businesses; should
these decline, or, which is the same thing, should
others arise to divide employment with them, they
must fail in their pursuits. Were population sta-
tionary, the ordinary state of things might continue
without great evils appearing, provided the aggregate
expenditure did not exceed the income. The nation.
{
}
}
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
227
might be comparatively poor when contrasted with
surrounding states, but as the desire to spend merely
kept pace with the wealth annually produced, every
person's condition in life would remain unchanged,
But when population is increasing, if the expenditure
be equal to the production, there must be a positive
decline in individual business. There will then be
no property to bequeath to rising families in propor-
tion to the increase of numbers, and in every part of
the country a general complaint will exist as to the
injurious increase of competitors. Such is the case
in Ireland, where the expensive establishments of
merchants, traders, and shopkeepers of every descrip-
tion, contrasted with the means of the individual, form
a subject of surprise to every English traveller who
visits that part of the empire. It has been calculated
that the shopkeepers of Dublin spend more than
double the income of a similar class in London, con-
sidering their general means of business. The con-
sequence is, there is no appearance of accumulation
of any kind. The vicinage of a large city affords a
pretty good criterion of judging of the real prosperity
of the trading population; and, on travelling through
the County of Dublin, few persons would hesitate to
decide that the accumulating principle amongst the
inhabitants of the metropolis is exceedingly feeble
indeed. The native residents would ascribe other
causes, but the philosophical enquirer, most probably,
would retain his opinion.
228
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
In the second place, the collective desire to spend
more than is expedient for the growth of national
wealth may manifest itself in a general indisposition to
trade. Individuals may prefer a life of pleasure with
moderate means to one of irksome exertion, even if
the gains be great. Few will dispute that this is the
general characteristic of the Irish people. So long as
the better classes of society allow pleasure to pre-
dominate over active employment, it would be egre-
gious folly to suppose that the mass of the people,
who must depend upon others for receiving their
wages in useful occupation, could rise to a comfort-
able condition. The truth is, in Ireland there is an
aversion to trade, and that aversion is created and
fostered by a sense of pride, which leads them to
despise the pursuits of manufacturing industry. A
small squire possessed of a few acres of land, and
probably overwhelmed with debt, will look down
upon the most extensive manufacturer, gifted with a
large fortune, as an inferior being unworthy of his
acquaintance. The whole current of thought, the
manners, habits, hereditary prejudices, certain aris-
tocratical notions, usages at the vice-regal court, the
enjoyment of all trusts of honour, and the advantage
of a superior station in case of possible conflicts at
law, all conspire to keep alive this lamentable sense
of fictitious dignity. It is not difficult to deduce
from this feeling many fruitful causes, not only of
commercial but of moral degradation. Virtually speak-
↓
1
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
229
mg, in many parts of Ireland the middle orders can
scarcely be said to exist; for, on the one hand, those
who should legitimately belong to that class by con-
nections and birth, attach themselves to the skirts of
the great, and claim their privileges; and on the
other hand, those who by industry might raise them-
selves from obscurity to station, are treated as inferiors,
which damps their ardour and impedes their efforts.
In the third place, the poverty of the country may
be perpetuated without attaching habits really cen-
surable to the majority of the people. There may be
no disposition to spend in excess; but then, the pre-
vailing habit may be to retire from business after a
comparatively small sum, that is, small contrasted with
other countries,-England or Scotland, for example—-
is realised. It is a curious circumstance, that the
same sum of money which an Irish merchant con-
siders sufficient to justify his retirement, is just about
the same as a London trader would consider indis-
pensible for commencing business with a reasonable
prospect of success. When we consider this feeling
to extend throughout an entire community, its effects
on production are analogous to the two former cases,
and a large body of the people consequently must
remain without any means of employment. In
Ireland there is a low standard of wealth, that is of
that degree of property which a man ought to possess
to entitle him to consideration in the community; and
national predilections are adjusted to this low stan-
dard, which causes the ratio of ordinary consumption
230
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
to appear great, when contrasted with the higher
branches of production.
In the fourth place, the aggregate expenditure may
predominate over the income, not from causes trace-
able to feelings or desires, but to ignorance or to an
imperfect acquaintance with the principles of com-
merce. If a trader be seized with too extensive an
ambition, or seek, as Buonaparte once described of a
French merchant, to establish his fortune by a single
effort like a general of an army, in place of the slow,
gradual, and incessant efforts of simple accumulation,
it is to be feared that he will fail in his endeavours,
and in his failure he will entail injuries on the com-
munity at large. This diseased feeling exhibits itself
in a disposition to overtrade; merchants with com-
paratively small capital enter into expensive specu-
lations; they surrender the power of selling or re-
taining merchandize on hand at pleasure; and con-
sequently the thrifty trader, generally residing in an-
other country, takes advantage of their pecuniary
difficulties and strips them of their entire profit; too
frequently, it may be said, of part of their real capital,
when any is possessed. It is obvious, that the cautious
trader is injuriously involved by these acts of his
improvident neighbour; for there cannot be two rates
of value of any given commodity at the same time;
when sales are constrained to be effected in conse-
quence of the needy adventurer being pressed for
payment of his bills, prices are depressed; and, there-
fore, he who has made his arrangements in the wisest
1
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
231
manner, suffers from the indiscretion of the specula-
tor, who, not content slowly to accumulate, seeks from
national ardour at once to amass a fortune.
On reviewing all those circumstances, it would
appear that every one of them is applicable to Ire-
land, and certainly, taken in conjunction, the states-
man would have little difficulty in ascribing the
manifold evils which afflict that country to the pri-
mary operating cause which has been stated. It
would be a curious investigation, to trace the un-
avoidable evils which must be entailed on every
country where the desire of spending is in excess;
and it would be no less curious to exhibit the con-
stant efforts which a people so circumstanced display,
to palliate their own conduct, and to throw the entire
blame upon the existing government.
Let any really impartial enquirer conceive for a
moment the different questions settled which now
form the subject of public discussion in Ireland. Is
it to be imagined, that, so far as the social organiza-
tion of society is concerned, the adjustment of any
one of these speculative topics would improve the
condition of the labourers. In what particular mode
could it correct the defective character in respect to
industry? It is difficult to suppose that the desire of
spending would be one jot the less; that the aversion
to engage in manufacturing industry would be dimi-
nished; or, in short, that there would be an altera-
tion in any one of the manifestations of the generic
cause of commercial deterioration we have described.
232
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
Supposing that all the fancied evils were redressed,
and that a fresh race was about to commence, the
Irish people on the one hand, and the nation to whom
they look for satisfying their wants, distinct from
mere subsistence, on the other; the north of England
or Scotland for example: at the termination of one
brief generation, the result would be that the annual
production of Ireland would all have been spent, exhi-
biting no accumulation whatever; and if there were
more people to divide the little employments neces-
sary within the country, their condition, generally,
would be even worse than at present: on the other
hand, the accumulations in the north of England, or
in Scotland, would have proceeded with unabated
effect. In plain words, the whole of the profit which
ought to have been realized, and to have remained in
Ireland, would have proceeded across the channel, no
matter whether the absentees returned or not, so long
as they continued mere consumers: thus exhibiting
precisely an analogous case to what is found in every
town where there are thrifty individuals in one part
and spendthrifts in the other. Merely a little time
suffices for the transfer of property, and the sons of
the prudent are sure to enjoy the possessions of the
imprudent race.
If we take an extended range of the different na-
tions throughout the world, that have attained a con-
siderable station, we shall find that the principles
here attempted to be established present the means
for determining the degree and causes of their ad-
!
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
233
vancement. Throughout all Germany, according to
the energy of operation in one of the two prominent
desires we have illustrated, is precisely the extent of
their commerce and the condition of the people. In
the northern parts, where commerce is held honour-
able in itself, and where the desire to accumulate is
extensive, where, consequently, a high standard of
wealth prevails, the great body of the people are com-
fortable in their circumstances; and if not the specu-
lative, at least the substantial part of civil liberty is
enjoyed in considerable perfection. In Austria, the
disposition to commerce and the accumulative prin-
ciple are weak; the body of the people are com-
paratively poor, though the rate of increase of popu-
lation does not occasion the consequent distress to
appear so conspicuous as in other places. In Hol-
land, long distinguished as being the first in Europe
for the accumulative principle, the bulk of the
labouring class is exceedingly comfortable; some
experienced judges, indeed, describe it as quite un-
rivalled, notwithstanding the density of numbers.
In Belgium, though retaining some seeds of primi-
tive industry, the accumulative principle appears in
a diminished degree, and their hatred of the Dutch,
in recent times, is alleged to proceed quite as much
from the superiority of the latter in robbing them of
trade, as from the assumed arbitrary domination of
civil government.
It is necessary to attend carefully to the degree of
increase in population, before we decide upon the
234
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
results of the superiority or inferiority of the accu-
mulative principle to its antagonist desire. The
condition of the peasantry in Spain would be most
wretched, if population were increasing at a rapid
rate. The aversion to manufacturing industry, and
the indisposition to persevering occupation in busi-
ness, would cause the aggregate production to be
relatively small to the consumption progressively
augmenting from increase of numbers; and conse-
quently the distress must be extreme. In Naples,
where the desire of spending is great, we find, from
the number of lazzaroni, that the difficulty of pro-
curing employment is beyond that of any other capital
in Europe; though the kingdom consists of an exceed-
ingly fertile territory, and is intrinsically capable of
supporting three times the extent of the present
inhabitants. Unless a great change be speedily
effected, the population in the great towns in Ireland
will soon be worse than the lazzaroni of Naples, no
matter in what part the seat of government be placed.
Wherever we go, indeed, we shall find an exemplifica-
tion of the general principle, not falsified, it is conceived,
in any one instance; so that from a wide induction it
may be pronounced a universal law, in respect to the
social condition of every nation. When both desires
are strong, but the superiority of efficacy, neverthe-
less, appears on the side of accumulation, society
advances most rapidly. In the United States of
America this condition of things is exemplified; both
desires appear in an energetic form; all merchants,
*
1
↓
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
235
manufacturers, traders of every description, live libe-
rally; they support good houses, consume good food,
luxurious wines; spend considerable sums in cloth-
ing, and embellishments of every kind; and these ha-
bits display themselves throughout all classes of
the community, and in every state of the Union.
But associated with this disposition is the still
stronger desire to accumulate property. The whole
soul of an American centres in this object. If he
live expensively, let it be admitted that he works
incessantly. The standard of wealth is exceedingly
high,-almost the same in New York and Phila-
delphia as in London. The merchant, therefore,
rarely thinks of retiring, and the consequence is, he
labours sedulously in business, even when large means
are accumulated. The aggregate amassing of pro-
perty greatly predominates over the income spent,
and the country makes rapid advancement. This
pervades the entire race of people, and, occasioning
very high wages, puts a good deal in the power of
the American labourer; quite as much, let it be ob-
served, as the opportunity to resort to the back settle-
ments. But with him the energy to work is quite
proportionate to, and indeed exceeds, the disposition
to spend. No class of mechanics perform a greater
portion of actual labour than the Americans. A na-
tion, distinguished for this general habit, cannot fail
to advance most rapidly in commerce and general in-
telligence. It may be proper to remark, that this habit
seems hereditary to the Anglo-American character,
236
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
unconnected with any considerations respecting the
form of government. It existed, in some degree,
previous to the declaration of independence, and is
now found in many parts under the British dominion.
The most judicious state of things that can exist,
in regard to the two desires we have now expatiated
upon at some little length, seems to be a high energy
in each, but a superiority of efficacy in the accumula-
tive one, a little beyond the relative increase of
popu-
lation. New articles, that are invented for the con-
veniences and gratifications of life, would thus afford
increased means of employment, and preserve a high
rate of profit to the capitalists. In a healthy state of
things, profits may increase as well as the wages of
labour; and if the accumulative principle be fairly
adjusted with that of the desire of spending, the new
discoveries, and inventions of additional luxuries and
refinements, that minister to the enjoyments of life,
present a never-failing resource for the exertions of
capitalists, and, consequently, amongst all classes of
the people there will be progressive improvement.
SECTION II.
Remedies.
PERHAPS it will appear, from the delineation which
has been given of the causes of the commercial evils
of Ireland, that correction is even more difficult than
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
237
is alleged by ordinary statesmen, too prone, as they
generally are, to magnify obstacles in order to palliate
incapacity. A long seated and deeply engrafted pre-
judice has, at the very outset, to be removed; and, it
need hardly be observed, that no description of laws
are so difficult to the legislator as those designed to
change habits and character. You may accomplish
entire revolutions in commerce, finance, criminal laws,
and all such matters, where an edict of the legislature
suffices, on the instant, to rescind established regula-
tions, and to introduce a completely new system; but
with manners and customs nurtured from infancy to
manhood the case is different, and the materials to be
operated upon are stubborn and refractory. But if our
direction be right, it is better to fail than to labour in
a contrary line, even though, in the latter case, popular
applause, or temporary success, should attend our
immediate efforts.
It need hardly be observed that a country, export-
ing grain and provisions to the amount of £5,000,000
annually, must possess great inherent capabilities for
commerce, and for ultimately securing the substantial
comfort of the people. We hope also it will be
clearly understood, that any delineation of the com-
mercial state of Ireland applies to those with whom
industry originates, or the better classes of society,
and not to the peasantry. He who observes the
energy with which Irish labourers work, when under
proper encouragement and example in England, will
not be disposed to pronounce that any obstacle to the
238
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
improvement of the sister kingdom is to be found in
the habits of the peasantry. A disposition has occa-
sionally prevailed to characterize them as irreclaim-
ably indolent, and by nature hostile to that steady
industry through which alone amelioration can be
achieved. But, in recent times, this imputation has
been effectually removed. The deplorable disturb-
ances, periodically prevailing in the southern and
western districts, have been unequivocally traced to
that feeling of despair which men give way to when
they become reckless of consequences, and when the
means of absolute existence become unattainable.
Distress engenders outrage. No force of illustration
is required to show that, when a choice only presents
itself in which mode man seems fated to perish, he
seizes upon that which affords a slight glimmering of
hope, and braves the terrors of the law as the least un-
welcome alternative. The maintenance of order re-
quires that, externally to the world, every public
councillor and good citizen should assume a sternness
of demeanor, and not only loudly rebuke, but zea-
lously cooperate to suppress this violence. But in
the solitude of the closet, these parties must admit
that, in this lamentable condition of things, the pea-
santry themselves are not originally to blame. What
can a poor man do, if all the surplus food goes to
England to pay for the luxuries which the better
classes consume, while no attempt is made to fabricate
these articles at home. It is quite apparent that there
can be no employment, no useful work of any des-
V
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
239
J
cription; and thus the peasant may perceive abun-
dance of food surrounding his own door, but which
passes away from him, whilst he himself is starving.
It is surely, therefore, worse than idle in the legislature
devoting its exclusive efforts to the elementary educa-
tion of the lower orders; imagining that, to teach
them abstract principles of order, is at the same time
to disenthral them from misery and crime. It is the
better ranks of society to whom we must look for im-
provement; it is they who furnish the means of em-
ployment; and our great primary object should be
to cause the accumulations of internal industry greatly
to exceed the national expenditure. We have, there-
fore, to consider, first, what species of industry can be
devised which is likely permanently to flourish, and
next, what measures should be taken to induce the
people to prosecute that industry with efficacy and
perseverance.
After the supply of labourers has reached a point
fully adequate to the high cultivation of the soil, any
increase in their number directed to that branch of
industry must be deemed a waste of labour, and must
tend to impair, in place of aid, the national resources.
No matter how some writers, on the grounds of
humanity, may declaim against the impolicy of
crowding towns with a manufacturing population,
depending upon precarious commerce, it will ever be
found that eventually the substantial interests of the
poor are promoted by fixing them where their labour
is most profitable; and if in that new situation they
240
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
suffer distress, the cause is attributable to the mis-
direction of manufacturing resources. It is not an
extravagant statement to affirm, that in Ireland four
persons are engaged on the soil where one would
suffice. Should we succeed in removing three-fourths
of this population to other branches of production,
either immediately required by the inhabitants, or
capable of interchange in foreign commerce, allowing
the remaining one-fourth to raise the usual quantity
of agricultural produce, it is evident that we augment
the wealth of the country in a threefold proportion.
On all sides it is agreed, that the establishment of
manufactures must be resorted to at last, if the real
object be to advance the interests of the Sister King-
dom. The climate precludes the idea of profitably
introducing to any material extent the culture of raw
produce, as the materials of manufacture to be after-
wards worked up in Great Britain. Forced exotics,
on a national scale, are not adapted for the purposes
of trade. After the novelty of temporary excitement
is past, they will sicken and die, leaving the evils
augmented, which they were designed to alleviate.
Even were this exclusive direction to diversified
agriculture desirable, two millions of people are quite
competent to its perfect performance. When the
small territory is considered, surely it is evident that,
sooner or later, a new outlet will be requisite for
advantageous labour. On the other hand, it is freely
admitted that to the introduction of any of our popular
manufactures into a country supposed likely to become
$
&
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
241
an active competitor in trade, must encounter serious
objections. But, in justice to British manufacturers,
it must be owned that they are gradually becoming
more enlightened; and the predominant impression is,
that their own field for enterprise will be extended by
raising an integral portion of the empire from poverty
to comparative prosperity. Manufactures judiciously
introduced into Ireland will not tend to compete
with those of England in foreign markets. For a
very considerable time, they must be designed for
domestic consumption. At present, a great portion
of the Irish labourers possess but the scantiest and
meanest description of clothing; and their cabins
exhibit a scene of filth, devoid of those articles of
accommodation deemed indispensable in the English
cottage. There is thus an extensive resource, and
sure market for the production of clothing, and those
articles of comfort appropriate to the use of the poor,
in case a steady internal trade were once originated.
But let us even conceive this prosperous industry
carried further, and that a considerable export en-
sued; still, consequent on that prosperity, will new
articles of manufacture be required, or an augmented
use of those already in existence, which the more
advanced state of England must always supply.
Were the English manufacturers, in place of specu-
lating on the prospect of enlarged markets in distant
regions, to contemplate the condition of Ireland, and
to consider the effects, in case the Irish labourer were
elevated to the condition of the English, his family
R
242
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
clothed, and his cottage properly furnished, they would
speedily acknowledge that the regeneration of eight
millions of people presented their most attractive
mart for enterprise, and they would become the fore-
most champions for forwarding measures likely to
attain so desirable an end. Even supposing that the
cotton and woollen manufacture flourished in Ireland,
and that she exported largely to markets now sup-
plied by England, it does not necessarily follow that
any injury would be sustained by the latter. Con-
joined with the increased ability on the part of Ire-
land to export, will be an increased ability to import :
and if she thus takes away more of the commodities
of foreigners, those foreigners may in turn widen their
market for the profitable admission both of Irish
and British goods.
Fortunately, thus the true interests of all classes of
the community are benefited by the extended estab-
lishment of Irish manufactures. But the difficulty
is, how is the undertaking to be accomplished. When
at the present period warehouses are gorged with
unsaleable merchandize, the fruits, it is alleged, of
over production in every department, how can it be
possible for an Irish aspirant to thrive? In this
advanced stage of our undertaking, we are spared the
trouble of dilating upon this topic. Granting that
temporary difficulties may thwart the attainment of
the ultimate principle, if the means taken be judicious,
and if our former reasoning be valid, they will possess
sufficient invigorative growth to survive the struggle;
F
}
*
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
243
and the sooner the trial is made, the less durable will
be the period of difficulty. If the British manufac-
turer be now forcing sales without adequate profit, it
is not presumable that he will continue to do so: a
reasonable remuneration is in the progress of time
naturally expected; and keeping this ultimate level
or tendency of things present to the thoughts, it does
not appear that there are any peculiar circumstances
in Ireland to prevent her becoming a manufacturing
country.
One of the chief causes of doubt which has hitherto
arisen on this subject, proceeds from the belief that
individuals who pursue their own advantage consider
all the contingencies of commerce; and that, if there
were any chance of profit, however remote its realisa-
tion, many candidates would start up eagerly to em-
bark in its pursuit. Under the peculiar circumstances
of Ireland, several reasons combine to prevent the
settlement of manufacturers from other countries.
The English capitalist considers that there is no se-
curity for property; and certainly it is not surprising
that apprehension should prevail, when the accounts
daily given in the public journals, descriptive of the
inefficiency of the civil power, are perused. Security
of property beyond all shadow of molestation is the
chief requisite to enable any country to flourish; and
not only the absolute possession of this blessing, but
the removal of all doubt upon the subject, are indis-
pensable in new measures. Were this point attained,
English capitalists would settle in that country. Some
244
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
might wish to witness the success of Irish manufac-
turers, in justification of their step before they ven-
tured finally to transport their means; but this con-
sideration would not deter the majority, assuming
that there were no opposing reasons to influence their
conduct. They might conceive it singular that, with
all the acknowledged advantages of Ireland, there are
so few wealthy men in business; but, on personal ex-
amination, they would not be slow in determining
the cause, and they would promptly embark in specu-
lation from the presumption that the intrinsic oppor-
tunities for success were abundant.
With respect to the Irish themselves, the examples
of English manufacturers settled amongst them would
have a most beneficial effect. It would improve the
habits, elevate the artificial wants, give rise to more
accurate notions of business, in addition to the imme-
diate advantage of extending employment to the
lower classes, and banishing the seeds of dissatisfac-
tion. What is required, therefore, is a measure that
will efficaciously accomplish a double object; that
will, in the first instance, give to the English capi-
talist an assurance that his investments in every
description of manufacturing industry will be secure;
and, secondly, that will sow the seeds totally to alter
the sentiments of the Irish middle classes, stimulate
the creation of master manufacturers, and elevate the
opinion of their utility in their own thoughts, and in
those of the community at large.
This object may be accomplished by establishing
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
245
towns with certain corporate functions; the inhabi-
tants to be devoted to productive industry; and
making cotton-spinners, woollen manufacturers, linen-
bleachers, tanners, soap-boilers, and such like trades,
conservators of its interests and guardians of its
rights, with magisterial privileges. It is designed to
create all the benefits of corporations without the
disadvantages; a task by no means so difficult as it
would at first appear. The number of these towns
must naturally depend on circumstances, and the
available extent of local resources. One might be
established in the south, another on the banks of the
Shannon, to avail itself of the great advantages of
that noble river, and a third in the northern part of
Connaught. The manufacturers in these towns would
naturally be divided into the employers and the em-
ployed. The latter may be formed into associations,
avoiding impolitic restrictions as to admission, but
confining themselves to their respective trades, in
order to secure an efficient division of labour. It is
not intended that these associations of operatives
should possess legislative functions or controlling
power; the object is to create amongst them greater
facility in forming societies or institutions, to aid the
management of the poor; also to connect their
thoughts with the prosperity of the town, to raise
their interest in local concerns, and to give an honest
sense of pride to their pursuits, so as to occasion sedu-
lous attention to learn a trade. In case an appella-
tion were required, junior brethren might be an
246
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
appropriate term.
The master manufacturers might
be termed elder brethren, and divided into com-
panies; to these every person resident in the town,
and practising some branch of productive industry
satisfactorily defined, should be admitted. A certain
number out of these companies, according to their
relative extent and importance, might be elected to
manage the concerns of each branch of trade, care-
fully watching over all measures likely to promote
the general interest. Agreeably to other institutions
of a similar nature, these persons so elected might be
called common councilmen, in whom should be vested
the election of the magistrates or aldermen. It is not
necessary to dwell minutely on the details of the
particular constitution it might be proper to confer
on each town; it is only necessary to keep in mind
the commercial disease requiring cure in the different
parts; and it would be easy to select the most ap-
proved English corporation to serve as a model;
keeping in mind that the grand object was to make
commerce in itself honourable, and to throw the
protection of property, the management of the police,
the levying town taxes, the control over expenditure,
and all such fiscal regulations, into the hands of the
industrious classes. There is then a guarantee both
for economy and zealous exertion. No religious or
political distinction of any kind should be even hinted
at as a barrier to any magisterial office. Neither
should the advantages of birth, nor party favour, nor
the patronage of the crown, be allowed to exercise a
k
I
E
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
247
t
dominant influence in swaying the appointments.
Successful industry must be alone the footstep to
distinction. At the same time, it might not be pru-
dent peremptorily to exclude persons of respectability
residing in the immediate neighbourhood, and un-
connected with business, from filling the office of
magistrate. A gentleman of character and indepen-
dence giving assistance to the corporation would be
of much benefit, and, being spontaneously elected by
the industrious classes, it is presumable that his
attention would be zealously devoted to the promo-
tion of their interests. Whether the appointment of
sheriff should be entirely vested in those towns might
perhaps form a subject of after discussion, but the
chief desideratum being to protect property, and to
give all the inhabitants a full assurance of impartial
administration of justice, it undoubtedly appears ex-
pedient to grant the privilege.
In carrying these measures into effect, the chief
difficulty presents itself at the outset. The very
materials on which we have to work are to be pro-
vided. But a little experience will suffice to confirm
our position, that master manufacturers once created
will soon establish the workmen; and the belief that
these may be procured, arises from information re-
cently obtained that many respectable individuals
would be induced to remove from Leeds, Birming-
ham, Manchester, or Glasgow, in case security of
property were established, and they themselves par-
ticipated in the administration of the law.
Govern-
248
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
ment must, in the first instance, make a few appoint-
ments of magistrates, giving to them the power of
adding to their number, though subject to a little
restriction, until the full quota allowed by charter to
the respective towns is completed. Afterwards, on
a vacancy occurring, the election should rest with
the town council, who, if the plan be feasible, would
ere long be sufficiently numerous to exercise their
franchises. Much discrimination is undoubtedly re-
quired on the part of government; but the argument
presumes a sincere desire, on the part of the imperial
legislature, to advance the interests of Ireland. It is
superfluous to insist on strict impartiality, because if
that quality be wanting, or if speculative politics be
introduced, all efforts at improvement must be abor-
tive.
It would be difficult to specify any particular line
of manufacture which it would be proper to intro-
duce into each of the towns. Those should be
selected which were suited for the domestic con-
sumption; and the spontaneous goodwill of the people
for their own productions, aided by associations in
all the towns, should establish a local interchange of
manufactures, progressively improving in quality.
If, on mature consideration, any branch of industry
presented itself, auguring future success, or tending
to displace foreigners in supplying the English mar-
ket, it would be prudent to give such branch en-
couragement. In consequence of the advantages
which workmen derive from the option of promptly
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
249
1
changing their employment, when distress overtakes
them in a particular line, it would be impolitic to
confine the towns to a single branch of manufacture.
Each may have a distinctive feature; nothing more.
From local circumstances woollens seem the most
appropriate in the southern town. Another, near the
great morasses or bogs, may be characterized for its
hempen manufacture, together with coarse linens, to
compete with those of Germany. Consequent on the
success of these leading employments, in all their
ramifications, will arise other branches of prosperous
trade, diffusing, in an accelerated degree, their bene-
ficial results upon agriculture, the neighbouring vil-
lages, and the country at large. The march of in-
dustrial reformation once fairly set out, though be-
ginning with infant paces, will soon reach gigantic
strides, rendering immediate superintendence of the
legislature unnecessary.
Should there seem reasonable presentiments of
success in these new establishments, few persons can,
it is conceived, object to the simplicity of the means,
or the practicability of their adoption. It is true
several political writers have condemned all corpora-
tions, as obstructing the natural operations of the
productive classes, and tending to encumber, in place
of assisting, the legitimate channels of industry. But,
in this precipitate condemnation, a very limited por-
tion of the effects of corporations has been viewed.
The enquirers have been so occupied in dwelling on
the inexpediency of apprenticeships, the difficulty
250
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
which an enterprising man might feel in settling
himself in a particular town presenting a favourable
opening for his handicraft, the obstacles in procuring
the freedom of a company, together with similar objec
tions, that they have imagined these to be insepa-
rable from corporations, and also that no counter
benefits existed. It may be truly asserted, that some
of the most envied characteristics of England, poli-
tical as well as commercial, are derivable from her
corporations. Townships, guilds, and callings, are
identified with our most venerable laws, and have
established, through all the vessels and arteries of the
state, that mutual reliance and nice dependance upon
which the health and harmony of the whole depend.
Politically speaking, the moment you locate a man
in a particular vicinage, surrounded with his fellows,
you awaken a sense of civil rights, which leads him
to respect the laws as the best protection to himself,
the instant that accumulations of property commence.
Economically speaking, the instant you place a man,
with definite functions, in a town, you raise his sym-
pathies, cause him to have his eye directed upon his
neighbour; and when that neighbour, or any other
associate, greatly betters his condition by industry,
you stimulate him to the utmost to imitate his example.
Advantages such as these require little illustration
to refute the objections frequently urged against
all attempts to restrain the free unlocated agency
of labour. But it will be kept in mind, that there
is no intention to obstruct at present, or in future,
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
251
the settlement of either operative or master manu-
facturer in any of the meditated towns. We must
endeavour to profit by experience; we will not imi-
tate the municipal institutions of Dublin or Lon-
donderry. Though some corporations are exclusive
or objectionable, and indeed all in England, having
fulfilled their original design, are now susceptible of
some improvement, yet it by no means follows that
the intrinsic principle of establishment is bad. Those
that merit condemnation exhibit abuses incident to
narrow legislation, when the principles of commerce
were imperfectly understood. But are antiquated
errors necessarily to be perpetuated in the new foun-
dations of Ireland? The peculiar condition of the
country must always be present to the thoughts; and
our preliminary observations will shew that corpora-
tions contain in principle the chief materials or in-
gredients required for the promoting of Irish industry,
at the same time that defects are avoided.
Irishman is averse to business, because trade is con-
temned. Want of security of property deters the
English capitalist from migrating. Now we change
the notions of the former; and when we proclaim to
the capitalist, go and settle and you will have legal
control over those circumstances that affect your pro-
perty; you will have a voice in passing bye-laws,
giving the surest guarantee that you will enjoy ade-
quate redress against violence or aggression; you
may, in a word, become a magistrate, interested in
the maintenance and execution of the law; is it not
The
252
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
manifest that new opinions will prevail, and enter-
prising alacrity succeed to fearful hesitation, in the
investment of property. Suppose at the very outset,
where the chief difficulty is encountered, that a pro-
per search was made in our manufacturing districts
for some eligible person, to take over with him the
chief agents for conducting his business, to whom
should be given favourable grants of land in the new
town, and who on arrival should be appointed a
magistrate, agreeably to the plan proposed, is it pro-
bable a refusal would be made? Or does any person
doubt that a few grants, similarly bestowed, would
not produce a thousand times more benefit, than sums
lavished directly on the operatives to encourage their
assiduity. Shape out the mode of procuring employ-
ment, and you will find that superior manipulative
skill will develope itself without bribing for its dis-
covery.
In tracing a little further the effects of the desired
institutions, it is reasonable to anticipate that an ani-
mating influence upon the better class of the Irish
would be promptly diffused. Men oppressed with
idleness, sulkily upholding a contemptible pride, and
striving to screen the expedients of poverty, would be
seized with different sentiments the moment they
found that not only the substantial enjoyments of life
were attainable by industry, but that privileges in
law, control over their fellows, and estimation in
general society, were derived from its pursuit. If
British manufacturers were to settle amongst them,
H
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
253
they would soon be taught that no insurmountable bar-
rier stood in the way of national regeneration. Fiery
contentions would subside in the calm pursuits of
commerce. From the portals of our new town halls
we proclaim, far and wide, open to all without dis-
tinction or partiality. Our humble manufacturing
pursuits of weaving woollens, dressing flax, and such
homely occupations, might proceed unobtrusively, and
would be deemed too low in dignity to meet with
opposition from political partisans. But this for-
bearance would permit our measure to operate as an
emollient corrective with the great mass of the people.
It would afford an illustration of impartial justice
in the protection of property, that must strike imme-
diately and palpably upon the Irish peasantry. The
aid given to the general execution of the law by the
new institutions would be extremely salutary. A
wretched order of labourers, scattered over a great
district, and far distant from any particular place
where magistracy are permanently congregated, must
always feel a certain exemption from restraint. They
are able to collect in great numbers, unawed by that
concentration of authority which can promptly act
with combined responsibility, and which possesses
both the will and the ability to check excesses.
Judgments and punishments from such tribunals
would be viewed, not as at present, as savouring of
oppression, but as the certain consequences of mis-
conduct.
Thus, in all the grand points in which reform is re-
}
}
}
1
254
+
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
Z
pro-
quired, we lay the foundation stone; security of
perty, industry, order, flowing from each other in na-
tural succession. Let not the legislature exclaim that
the pursuits of industry should be left to find their
own level. This dogma, which has too often been
used by eminent statesmen, as the palliative for inca-
pacity, applies not to the measure now advocated.
It is wisdom, in a far advanced community, to abstain
from attempts to shackle particular employments, or
to bolster up one branch of industry in preference to
another; but the legislature never appears more in
its noblest functions than when, with comprehensive
prescience, it recasts the manners of a whole people,
where abuses or objectionable customs have long been
engendered. Who that looks around and contem-
plates many flourishing cities on the continent, would
refuse to place their founders amongst the benefactors
of mankind. These cities were established, amid the
darkness of the feudal ages, as asylums of protection
against violent outrage and lawless oppression. The
worst features of villanage still exist in Ireland, both
the oppression and the outrage. And shall our legis-
lators neglect the practical commentary, and allow
themselves to be immeasurably outstripped by the
unenlightened rulers of these remote periods of his-
tory.
<
Z
4
$
اشر
I
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
255
SECTION III.
Auxiliary Measures.
AMONGST the auxiliary measures, designed to improve
the social or commercial economy of Ireland, the in-
troduction of Poor Laws is undoubtedly the most.
prominent. Though not sufficient by their single
operation to cure the evils incident to poverty-and
indeed, since they merely distribute but do not create
wealth, deserving the appellation of correctives ra-
ther than of remedies-yet so soon as a proper
organization of industry is established, they must act
efficaciously in preventing a recurrence of those
grievances which have latterly acquired so dangerous
a magnitude. In place of expatiating at length, and
in the abstract, upon this question, which forms the
leading topic of discussion whenever the subject of
poor laws is introduced, we have deemed it more ju-
dicious to show the mode in which a general law
may be framed for all parts, allowing the justificatory
arguments to present themselves to the reader in the
natural progress of inquiry. On a careful review of
the measures designed for the welfare of the labouring
population, we believe it will appear, that there is
not one single topic adduced by the opponents of
Irish poor laws which has not been answered. Mo-
1
256
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
$
difications in respect to local details, no doubt, are
requisite; but the general principle being established,
the peculiar adaptation of it to circumstances is
a much easier task, though we freely admit that
judicious discrimination should always be used to
time the introduction of any important measure to
the existing susceptibility of the public mind. Sooner
or later the law must be enacted, and it behoves all
classes of the Irish people to assist, and to hasten the
preparatory measures, so that the benefit may be ge-
neral and not partial.
It is curious to observe, that the identical objections,
started by Irish proprietors against poor laws, the
dispassionate inquirer would select as the most cogent
reasons for their introduction. An entire change
would be effected in the tenure of the land, and in the
proportion of produce which goes to each class en-
gaged in cultivation, the landlord, the farmer, and the
labourer. This change in agriculture must materially
assist the measures relating to manufacturing indus-
try. It will extend local trade and consumption,
and widen the field for internal enterprise. Agricul-
ture is at all times justly esteemed the most extensive
and important branch of employment. It is truly
remarked, that no circumstance evinces the advance-
ment or the civilization of a people, so clearly or so
explicitly, as the degree of skill and capital possessed
by the farmers, together with their general respecta-
bility. Ireland, judged by this criterion, affords me-
lancholy proof of her backwardness. Notwithstanding
1
1
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
257
the great export of grain and provisions, the cultiva-
tion of the soil is far from eliciting the entire of its ad-
vantages. Such is described to be its natural fertility,
that, were improved modes of husbandry introduced,
bread might be substituted for the potatoe amongst
the Irish people, and yet the export of corn to Great
Britain be increased. The subdivision of holdings in
land must unquestionably be characterised as the
origin of this imperfect husbandry; and, though great
changes have recently occurred, it is yet questionable
whether the agrarian system has received its final
doom. It might be imagined that landed proprietors,
seeking their own interest, would get rid of a con-
firmed nuisance; but, in extenuation, it is justly said,
that fear of direful consequences amongst a dispos-
sessed and exasperated tenantry prevents many from
pursuing their inclinations, and adopting the ordinary
remedies of effectual clearance. Were it really true,
that nothing operated to obstruct this consummation
but the dispositions of the tenantry, or laudable be-
nevolence on the part of the landlord, we might leave
natural amendment to its own salutary operation.
But it is to be feared, that amongst some of the land-
lords or sub-possessors, there is still an itching palm
to set up small parcels of land to the highest bidder,
and to keep their tenantry in abject dependence, in
order to reap large emoluments from their distresses.
When the national resources are developed to a
high degree, the land should be cultivated at a small
outlay of human labour: considerable capitalists will
S
258
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
then become farmers, and avail themselves of skill
and acquired resources in pushing the soil to its most
generous yielding. The capitalist necessarily re-
quires a remunerating profit on his investment: the
larger his capital, the greater his share of the produce
and rents thus relatively fall, when compared with
the entire return derived by the actual occupier. The
chief part of the produce, in this case, is obtained by
a person in the middle sphere of life, of high utility,
who spends it on the spot with a view to reproduc-
tion, and not by a landlord living on revenue, who
spends it unproductively.
In place of this beneficial system of cultivation,
let us attend to the existing practice in Ireland.
No capitalist, no skilful and enterprising farmer,
actually cultivating the land, as in England, is to
be found. With partial exceptions, two parties.
only exist, the lord and the vassal. The redundancy
of population occasions keen competition for every
unoccupied piece of land, of which the rent re-
ceiver, in some of the gradations between the great
proprietor and the lowest middleman, avails himself;
he demands the highest rent, and, as a natural conse-
quence, reduces the cultivation to the most prolific
description of production, the potatoe. The poor
occupier is, in his own defence, compelled to raise the
article which is produced in the greatest quantity,
with the least labour. From the refuse of his own
food he rears pigs, for which, generally, he obtains a
liberal price; and out of this source he pays his rent.
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
259
It really appears from this state of things that the
landlord flourishes on the poverty of the country.
The export of provisions secures the means of re-
mitting the rents, and, if the aggregate value be con-
sidered, the Irish landlord derives four-fifths of the
produce of the soil, whilst in England the proportion
of this class is not one-fourth. The produce now
raised, under ordinary circumstances, would bear no
comparison, in exchangeable value, to the produce
grown under an advanced system of farming; but the
sale of the pigs operates as an exception to this rule,
and extremely favourable to the landlord. The adja-
cency to Great Britain, the certain sale of the salted
pork, at high prices, give the means of paying not
only a large proportion of the produce actually raised,
but a high monied rent. Three circumstances, there-
fore, seem in combination to promote the interest of
the landlord, if not in perpetuating poverty, at least in
his doubting the benefit of a change. First, the means
enjoyed of deriving high monied returns from the sale
of his tenants' pork, which probably would not exist
under an improved system of husbandry. Secondly,
the circumstance of no capitalist existing between
him and the labourer to divide a portion of the pro-
duce in England, and still more in Flanders, this
portion, belonging to the capitalist, is the largest of
the three allotments divided respectively by the
landlord, the capitalist, and the labourer. Thirdly,
the miserable condition of the labourer himself, which
occasions him to be content with the least possible
remuneration or allotment for his services in cultiva-
260
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
tion. It need hardly be observed, that all the produce
has eventually to be divided, in some proportion o
another, between the parties named; the less, there-
fore, which is given to the labourer, the more must
be enjoyed by the landlord. In recent discussion it
is urged that a seeming, not a real, advantage is
derived by the landlord. Avidity is alleged to defeat
itself. He does not get his rent paid, and it would
be better to have one substantial farmer for his tenant
than crowds of submissive dependents, to flatter his
sense of importance, at a high nominal rent. When
matters are pressed to the extreme, this undoubtedly
is the case; but the question should not thus be
summarily dismissed, nor should the word of a few
excellent landlords be explicitly taken for the inten-
tions of their entire order. If the utmost exaction be
demanded, driving the peasantry to despair, then,
indeed, total loss may ensue; or if carelessness in
collecting rents be suffered to creep in, a needy race
of men will undoubtedly take advantage, and evade
their payments; but these are exceptions to the
general rule. Let us picture a landlord, or a middle-
man, anxious, like the majority of mankind, for large
personal profit; not a devout convert to speculative hu-
manity; well acquainted with his tenantry; nicely judg-
ing their capability to pay; and never letting any op-
portunity slip of stepping forward to exact the utmost
contribution from his dependents when depicting the
offers of other competitors; is it to be contended, that
such a person finds no personal benefit in the existing
subdivision of the land? Were the choice left to
1
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
261
such an individual, he would probably prefer potatoe
cultivation to a more improved system of agriculture.
He derives, from the causes assigned respecting the
provision trade, considerable rent, so long as the
country is quiet; and were there the intervention of
farmers, in the proper sense of the word, he fears his
own income must be endangered; or, if not an affluent
middle man, that considerable labour and exertion,
on his own part, must succeed to a life of idleness
and pleasure. Absentees, or men who cannot bear to
witness afflicting scenes of penury, may thus give
their testimony in favour of large farms; but this
should not be received for decisive or universal proof.
There can be no doubt that the multiplying of free-
holders in former times, for political purposes, has
conspired, with pecuniary considerations, in creating
these injurious subdivisions of the soil. The public
voice has, accordingly, been loudly raised in con-
demnation of this system; and a natural expectation
prevailed, that improved agriculture is already in
progress. Many landlords, in different parts of Ire-
land, have certainly acted in conformance with popu-
lar opinion; but a slight examination into facts will
shew that this step is partial. Few persons consider,
or reduce to figures, the extent of the clearance that
is required to carry the capabilities of Irish agricul-
ture to its most perfect developement, that is, to raise
the largest possible quantity of produce by the smal-
lest outlay, or waste of labour; it would reach to
nearly four millions of people; a prodigious number,
262
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
contrasted with the few thousands that have re-
moved to the large towns.
It cannot for a moment be imagined that these
remarks sanction, even by remote implication, the
abrupt measures which have been taken, in many
cases, to clear estates of an impoverished peasantry.
There are few scenes of more heart-rending dis-
tress than to behold the poor dispossessed families,
devoid of house, home, or comfort of any kind,
bereft of hope itself, wandering by the road side,
and taking shelter at night under the trees and
hedges. The remedy, in this case, is infinitely
worse than the disease. But it is indispensably
necessary to set forth the ultimate end designed, and
the obstacles requiring correction. Other measures
take precedence, in order to prevent the infliction of
suffering upon the peasantry, or pecuniary loss upon
any portion of the inhabitants. When these are
achieved, the assurances of humane and highly dis-
tinguished Irish proprietors inspire the hope, that a
general measure, strengthening social improvement
by fiscal regulations, will not be unwelcome; and
since the fear of immediate pecuniary injury may
predominate over the hope of large prospective ad-
vantage, with the general order of landlords in Ire-
land, rendering them indisposed to originate a change
spontaneously, some measure should be devised to
improve agriculture, even were there no secondary
or co-relative consideration, to merit attention. Poor
laws seem to accomplish the double object. The
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
263
public opinion has finally decided against the small
freeholds, and there is no mode of combining practice
with theory, in preventing their recurrence, so advan-
tageously as establishing a tax which will perform
this service, as well as the more important benefit of
immediately suppressing mendicity.
A deplorable picture may probably still be drawn
of the peasantry, driven from the scenes of their
childhood, and those occupations they most cherish;
and, owing to this predilection for agriculture, it
may be deemed chimerical in future, as well as
at present, to increase the size of farms by any spe-
cies of compulsion or constraint, however gentle
in its application. Were the competition for small
farms to continue undiminished, it would indeed be
violent legislation to place the great majority of the
Irish population in opposition to the necessary pro-
cedure attending the fiscal remedies; but that com-
petition would undergo a change. All our measures
are designed in regular progression; employment,
steady and permanent, is provided, after the re-
dundancy is removed. The vacancies amongst the
superseded peasantry are not to be again filled up
with an impoverished and degraded class; a res-
pectable order of yeomanry will arise, which is the
consummation of our agricultural plans, and without
which no country can be great, prosperous, or happy.
The occupier of the land, that is, the farmer, will
derive the largest share of its produce, and, it need
not be stated, that the greater the quantity of produce
264
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
which goes to him, the more beneficial it is for the
nation. In other words, the greater is the capital
and the respectability of the farmer, the higher is the
range of internal consumption; the less waste is there
of human labour; the larger is the supply to defray
the cost of the conveniences and embellishments of
life; the more is foreign produce promoted; and,
above all, the greater is the chance of a proper ad-
justment of the supply of labourers to the demand
for their services continuing through successive gene-
rations.
It is sometimes contended, that the establishment of
a poor rate must trench upon capital, but it is easy to
perceive that this is a mistake. Virtually speaking,
at the present moment, there is no capital employed
in the cultivation of the land in Ireland; that is, capital
in its proper sense, with a view to reproduction. If we
take the produce of the land to amount to five pounds
an acre, and imagine that four went to the chief and
sub-landlords, if a tax were established absorbing ten
shillings of these four pounds, it would not inflict any
injury upon capital, so far as commerce is concerned.
It does not interfere with any fund productively laid
out with a view to subsequent cultivation; the outcry,
therefore, against a tax of this kind, as interfering with
capitalists, assumes that the term capitalist is synony-
mous with landlord, and thus a very erroneous idea
of the effects of the rate upon industry is conveyed.
In reality, the capitalist would be greatly benefited
by its introduction, as an extended consumption of
↓
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
265
!
commodities would ensue. He can be served quite as
effectually by extending the range of consumption,
thus creating internal trade, as by diminution of actual
expenditure. A British manufacturer, if the option
were proposed, would probably prefer the materials.
of his business, his woollens, or his cottons, being
doubled in consumption, to a reduction of rates which
he now defrays, and considers identified with his out-
goings. The case is analogous to the Irish capitalist;
we can view him in no other light than as a farmer, or
a manufacturer, or a collateral vendor, whose interest
is identical with these two classes. The first, the
farmer, must be benefited by the establishment of a
poor rate, because the circumstance of its introduction
induces the landlord to resort to persons of his class
to occupy the land: it must be beneficial to the
manufacturer, because a higher standard of habitual
labour will be established in the country, and, there
being more articles consumed of every description,
business will be extended, giving higher personal if not
higher proportional profits. It is useful occasionally
to refer to the meaning of the term capital; we need
hardly remind the reader that it is both material and
immaterial, and that in either case it is the result of
antecedent labour. When, therefore, we provide an
opportunity for the exertion of this labour, the ad-
vantage to capital, in one of its forms, must follow
as a natural consequence; and supposing that the
reciprocal trade amongst the labourers themselves
were to cause new articles to be brought into exist-
266
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
ence, through the instrumentality of the rate, it is
evident that it should rather be considered to assist
than to thwart production.
As an auxiliary measure, the establishment of
village bazaars, similar in principle to that described
in the eighth chapter, might be peculiarly useful.
To form a market in different villages, where the dis-
possessed peasantry would desire to settle in the im-
mediate precincts of their early associations, could
not fail to improve the collective husbandry of the
country. A demand must arise for many implements
of agriculture, for proper ploughs and harrows, rural
machinery of every description; and these villages
would thus become the legitimate places for the settle-
ment of carpenters, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, har-
ness-makers, and such trades, who, still living on the
property of the immediate landlord, would perma-
nently add more to his rent roll in this ameliorated.
state of society, than if they continued to deface the
land by cuttings and carvings under the potatoe sys-
tem. So obviously indeed is the permanent interest of
the landlord promoted by the change, when security of
property and a thousand such considerations are taken
into account, that we deem it superfluous to touch on
this theme in discussion. On large estates a single
proprietor could have little difficulty in establishing a
village under his own control, and those who possess
property, or reside in England, would be prompted
to introduce a few experienced artisans in the trades
named, who would take apprentices amongst the
t
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
267
most promising Irish lads; and thus in a short space
of time effect an entire change in occupations and
manners. In other parts, where property was more
divided, a number of gentlemen might coalesce in
establishing these villages and rural bazaars, keeping
in view the introduction of those trades chiefly de-
pendent on highly advanced husbandry. It being
already remarked that a strong predilection for agri-
culture exists amongst the peasantry of Ireland, no
matter how miserable their lot, it seems judicious to
consult their feelings, and to make the necessary
removal to towns or villages as palatable as possible.
All the attractive resources, therefore, previously de-
picted with regard to Great Britain, should be gra-
dually introduced. The establishment of bazaars in
all parts, devoted to the sale of articles chiefly con-
sumed by the labourers, it is presumable would
tempt the fancy, and introduce new tastes. The art
of the sempstress is possessed in considerable perfec-
tion by the fair daughters of Ireland, as the inhabi-
tants of the western hemisphere can freely attest; and
by greatly extending this employment for their own
immediate gratification and local interchange, a very
large branch of valuable business, in making slops and
apparel for foreign markets, might soon start up, and
permanently flourish from the superior cheapness of
labour.
Measures such as these would call forth the re-
sources of Ireland; there are now more than seven
or eight millions of people living on the most miser-
268
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
able sustenance, and consuming scarcely an article
which in commerce would be considered to possess
exchangeable value, or to constitute wealth. A large
portion of the population, after existing redundancy
is removed or located, we design to settle in new cities,
to manufacture clothing, furniture, decorations, and
conveniences of every kind for local consumption,
gradually stretching to foreign trade as opportunity
might offer; and being, in fact, all superinduced, and
new in its nature, it adds to the aggregate wealth of
the empire, interfering not with British manufactures
in any one form. Another portion of the population we
design to produce proper implements of husbandry,
and to enable the fruitful soil of Ireland to yield its
most bountiful assistance to the general resources.
In such an auspicious state of things, the regulations
of the two kingdoms would become identical, and the
same glowing picture of ulterior prosperity, which has
been designed for Great Britain, would equally bless
the long depressed inhabitants of the Sister Kingdom.
That collateral measures are required, is not for a
moment to be denied, but many of these would na-
turally follow of their own accord. Absentees, for
example, who have frequently been censured for de-
fective patriotism, would reside in Ireland the moment
that repulsive inconveniences to the agreeable resi-
dence of a private gentleman were removed. What-
ever may be the apparent severity of our remarks in
respect to Irish industry, and, in truth, it must be
admitted that in the dull pursuits of trade the Irish
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
269
do not shine, there is nothing to urge against the
agreeableness of society; and if travellers of all
descriptions are to be believed in their delineations
of the manners of the two nations, the anxiety to
escape from the insipid frigidity of English society,
may one day make Ireland as animated and rejoicing
in her numerous visitors, as she is now lonely and
destitute. It is unnecessary, therefore, to expatiate
on the subject of absenteeism. There is no remedy
but the one-to make residence agreeable; and to
accomplish this, there is no mode but the one,—to
cause industry to flourish. When improvement arises,
it will spread in a geometrical ratio. The residence
of the nobility and gentry, and the occasional sojourn
of visitors proceeding in crowds to view the natural
beauties of Irish scenery, will refine the manners, dis-
seminate fashions, and, consequently, extend produc-
tion.
It is to be lamented that the question of absenteeism
is generally viewed in a very narrow sense, as affect-
ing the spending of income alone. Attempts conse-
quently have been made to separate this operation
from other circumstances constantly conjoined with
it, and thus has originated minute and unprofitable
criticism, in respect to the conclusions of economical
science. So far as the income of an unproductive con-
sumer is concerned, viewing it detachedly, it matters
little where it is spent, whether in Italy or Ireland ;
but the truth is, this single operation of expenditure
There are always collateral cir-
can never occur.
270
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
cumstances associated, which directly influence pro-
duction; the degree of energy displayed in it, is not
a fixed quantity; it rises or falls according to cir-
cumstances, or as it may be acted upon by accidental
contingencies. Numerous cases occur in which a
nobleman's or gentleman's family appearing in a vil-
lage church, for the first time after their return from
England, causes the native inhabitants to order new
coats and gowns, which never would have ensued
in case no excitement or new fashions had exercised
their criticism. To make these coats and dresses,
production itself, inducing counter exertion amongst
these individuals themselves, is necessarily extended;
and, in point of fact, it is difficult to separate this in-
crease of superinduced production from the immediate
and palpable spending of income of the proprietor,
though the latter is trivial, compared to the entire
play of industry created.
The stream of English nobility, for example, pe-
riodically pouring forth from the metropolis, is the
signal for brisk trade in country parts; new produc-
tions are generated by the example, and industrious
occupations arise, forming a reciprocal interchange of
production and consumption amongst the immediate
handicraftsmen to ten times the extent of the income
spent by the gentry, but still strictly depending upon
that income as the primary impelling power. It would
be the same in Ireland; and as a mansion with closed
windows, grass on the door-steps, moss on the walls,
and cattle traversing disordered walks, exhibits a bad
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
271
precedent, and creates a slovenliness of arrangement in
every neighbouring part, so the opposite picture, con-
stant renovation and improvement, new fashions, em-
bellishments, and works of art, must create energy and
enterprise in the people, and aid the spontaneous
exertions of industry.
There is another species of evil consequent upon ab-
senteeism, which indeed is never disputed. A landlord,
desirous of possessing a respectable tenantry, will fre-
quently encourage many experiments in regard to pro-
ductive industry, which could hardly be attempted
unless he dwelt on the spot. Instances could be
named of two individuals, of incomes nearly similar;
the one has resided in England and received his rents
from an agent, who considered his duty fulfilled by
merely making his remittances, while the tenantry
remained unchanged, and quite content if they could
scrape together the accustomed payment. The other
landlord has resided on his own estate, and with a
view of improving the condition of his tenantry solely
for his own advantage, and without any peculiar
feeling of benevolence, has caused to be established
a tannery and a soap manufactory, improving the
neighbourhood, and adding materially to the value of
the houses and the rent of the land. The residence
of such trades constitutes a great advantage, and it is
derivable from the immediate presence of the land-
lord; he is instrumental in introducing new businesses,
and he thus not only benefits the particular locality
or the village nearest to him, but the country at
272
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
}
large. It may, however, be repeated, that though
absenteeism thus negatively inflicts injury upon Ire-
land, though much short of the extent popularly sup-
posed, there is no redress or corrective, but striking in
with the selfish feelings of the proprietors, and pre-
paring for them an agreeable abode.
Were we to attempt the eradication of all the evils
which afflict Ireland, further proceedings would be
requisite. But our object is confined to commerce,
and to the improvement of the labourers. With spe-
culative politics we do not interfere; probably on
another occasion we may state the means by which
the deplorable conflict betwixt contending parties
may be corrected. In the mean time, even for this
purpose, our commercial measures should not be
slighted. Constituted as society now is, it may be
laid down as a broad maxim, that it is not possible
for any people to enjoy order or happiness, or any
one of the perfections of civil liberty, unless the
majority are comfortable in their worldly circum-
stances. This must be the commencement in every
comprehensive plan of reformation; no matter how
much from natural disposition we may contemn
the cold mechanical principles of political economy,
or seek to restore the unbought grace of life, the
nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise,' and
all the glories of chivalry, which we admit are not yet
extinct in Ireland, obscured as they are by the bitter-
ness of political controversy. This vehemence of
contention, in truth, indicates defective education,
C
IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND.
273
and under high knowledge all should anticipate be-
nefit from the existence of two great parties. In
time they will be constrained to put forth measures
designed for the real benefit of their country, in
order to obtain the suffrages of impartial spectators.
There are worse incentives to political eminence than
honourable emulation, and many of the most com-
mendable measures in England have sprung from the
rivalry between Whigs and Tories, each party being
desirous to strengthen its popularity. But then, in
this case, there were numerous impartial judges to
award the palm of superior merit. On the same
principle, we see no objection to a continued stand-
up fight between the Protestants and Catholics in
Ireland; but it is indispensable to supply cool dis-
criminating spectators, who will not only be ready
to cheer meritorious efforts, but to repress censurable
manifestations of violence which might spring from
national ardour.
T
274
CHAPTER XI.
MEANS OF GETTING RID OF THE EXISTING
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION IN
THE UNITED KINGDOM.
If we have succeeded in shewing that the labouring
classes can be restrained within proper limits, in res-
pect to their relative numbers, in case we were to
start afresh in a new system of social organization,
the task is comparatively easy of removing the exist-
ing redundancy. To the various plans proposed for
this end, one general answer may be given: let
all of them be carried into effect fully and imme-
diately, if there be presumptive proof that they will
operate comprehensively and efficaciously. A num-
ber of schemes have been detailed, each possessing
zealous supporters, who unsparingly censure all who
dissent from the one they particularly patronise. But
this bitterness of controversy evinces a confined view
of the question. The primary object is to get rid of
existing evils; and the more numerous the means
which present themselves for the attainment of this
end, the sooner and more effectually will it be accom-
plished. Too many valves can hardly be presented
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
275
to permit the escape of what presses, in an over-
whelming manner, upon the moral and commercial
energies of the nation; though there can be no doubt
that particular modes of operation may be preferable
to others. We shall, therefore, examine the various
measures that have been proposed, relating to this
branch of the subject.
SECTION I.
Emigration.
ALIENATION of inhabitants was at one time deplored
as the greatest misfortune, next to positive loss of
territory, that could befall a nation, and loud was
the censure invariably cast upon the government that
evinced a disposition to sanction any system which
forced men to seek a happier lot in a foreign land.
Closer or more philosophical reasoning on the ab-
stract question has qualified, if not entirely exploded,
these notions. It seems now to be admitted, that a
redundant population may exist, and therefore, that
in certain cases, emigration may be justifiable; but
still it is contended, that Great Britain has resources
at home to remove redundancy, and that, under these
circumstances, emigration is a forced and unneces-
A
N
276
GETTING RID OF
sary expedient. These reasoners, it is to be feared,
form too moderate an estimate of the actual evils
requiring prompt redress, before any salutary amend-
ment within the country itself can be attempted. If
institutions, similar to those proposed in the pre-
ceding pages, had been framed half a century ago.
in all probability no cause would have arisen to rob
the country of any of her inhabitants; but things
have proceeded to a most alarming length, emphati-
cally exhorting us not to lose an instant in the appli-
cation of bold and decisive remedies. Emigration is
certainly the most extensive resource, and the ques-
tion is how it can best be accomplished, to reduce
redundancy in the most immediate manner, to bene-
fit the distant colonies, and to occasion but a small
outlay to the mother country.
It need hardly be observed, that by the term re-
dundancy of population is meant a supply of labourers
exceeding the demand for their services: now, an
adjustment can be brought about in two ways: either
by diminishing the supply, or by increasing the
demand. The supply is at once diminished by emi-
gration; but it is important to consider, that by judi-
cious colonization the demand for labour at home
may be increased at the same time. On referring to
the state of things in an improving colony, the con-
trast with an old country, in respect to the remune-
ration of labour, is so striking, as to create a feeling
of surprise that objections should arise in any quarter
to bring about a mutual adjustment. The colony is
1
'
M
4
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
277
in great want of the very same thing which is re-
dundant in the mother country. Labourers in New
South Wales and Van Diemen's Land can hardly be
procured at any price; and common sense decides,
that mutual benefit would result to the mother coun-
try and the colony, by a reciprocal change being
effected in the direction of labour. In case wages
were tenpence per day in Sussex and eight shillings
a day in Yorkshire, few would dispute that it would
be advisable to sanction a migration to the latter ter-
ritory. Why in principle should we view the case
differently in regard to a colony? Though oceans
roll between the two classes of people, it forms no
obstacle to a commercial and maritime nation. The
necessity imposed for extensive naval communication
may do more than compensate for the inconveniences
of distance. There is no reason, therefore, why such
possessions should not be viewed as synonymous with
the domestic territory, in respect to commercial capa-
bilities or advantages. Through their instrumen-
tality unproductive paupers at home are converted
into productive labourers abroad, relieving rate-
payers of an oppressive tax. If for example, 300,000
paupers emigrate, the industrious part of the com-
munity may be relieved of payments to the extent of
three millions sterling annually; and there would,
consequently, be this sum at their disposal for other
purposes of expenditure. Employment at home must
be increased owing to this fund, which previously went
to the support of paupers in idleness, being directed
278
GETTING RID OF
to a productive channel. Many paupers who still
remain in the mother country will thus be elevated
to the condition of labourers, further relieving the
rate payers. But this is not the entire of the advan-
tage. These 300,000 emigrants, settling in a pros-
perous colony, create a demand for the manufac-
tures of Great Britain to an extent much greater than
labourers at home could hope to effect. Settling
in an agricultural territory, they will confine their at-
tention to that species of industry which is most pro-
ductive, and thus, avoiding manufactures for a very
long period, they take, as has been truly observed,
every made up article from a needle to an anchor
from the mother country. In conducting the inter-
change, moreover, ships are required, with all the col-
lateral trades, rope-makers, sail-makers, and the like,
dependent on navigation; so that it is not extravagant
to assert that 300,000 paupers, converted into pros-
perous colonists, would lessen the redundancy to the
extent of 2,000,000; that is, by the conjoint opera-
tion of diminishing the supply of labourers, and in-
creasing the demand for their services, it produces
benefit in geometrical extension.
The first part of the operation, or the getting rid
of the inhabitants, can be accomplished in several
forms, if we merely seek to diminish the supply of
labourers. By selecting persons in the prime of life,
or those just married, or about entering into the mar-
ried state, a much smaller expatriation will correct
redundancy, than if entire families emigrate. It
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
279
would be easy, at an expense comparatively small, to
remove so very considerable a portion of these active
labourers, that almost an instantaneous effect might
be produced on wages; but although a less intensity
of means is thus required to produce a desired end,
and at a less expense, yet, for the sake both of the
mother country and of the colony, it does not seem
desirable to resort to this exclusive selection What-
ever may be the effect on wages, it is undeniable that
an ill-adjusted state of society would remain, owing to
the large relative number of the helpless and the in-
firm; and, on the part of the colony, a peculiar society
would grow up, presenting very different features in
the social system to the scenes left behind. It is not
humane needlessly to break any ties of kindred or
affection; under a judicious system of emigration,
the pangs which must reasonably be felt at expatri-
ation should be lessened if possible; and every means
should be adopted to secure in the new settlement
the same salutary control and counsel of parents, the
domestic discipline and form of family government,
which exist in the parent state.
Notwithstanding every pains to soothe the feelings
and to cheer the despondency of parting, by the
awakening of new hopes and prospects, it is possible
that love of country may so far predominate, as to
render it difficult to procure voluntary emigration to
the extent required. This, no doubt, is an exceed-
ingly perplexing point, but the attainment lies be-
tween two alternatives-either to increase the encou-
280
GETTING RID OF
ragement to the emigrants, or to adopt the violent
expedient of terminating at once the poor rates, and
throwing the paupers destitute on the world. Were
no definitive plan for preventing the recurrence of
pauperism proposed, this abandonment of the paupers
to extreme destitution would be most cruel. But if
the ulterior plans be satisfactory, this charge ceases
to apply. It is quite justifiable to seek the attain-
ment of a judicious system, by proposing emigration
to the paupers as the only mode of relief, refusing
peremptorily for a definite period all parochial assist-
ance. The attempt, however, in the first instance,
should be deliberately made to induce them volun-
tarily to emigrate; and this can best be accomplished
by proceeding on a large scale. Where a few would
feel repugnance or apprehension in seeking a home
in a strange land, a great number would be animated
by the sense of mutual dependence, and by a per-
vading and contagious spirit of hope, strengthening
the general disposition to adventure. By these means
friends and acquaintances are preserved. If we ana-
lyse patriotism, we shall find that frequently it is
more an attachment to people, manners and customs,
than to the mere localities of place. Let, therefore, the
endeavour be made to induce a great body to emigrate
spontaneously, in order to preserve old association,
constant means of friendly communication, and an ex-
hilarating desire for partaking of common pleasures in
a distant region, as well as the fortitude to sustain
common privations, and, when once the excitement has
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
281
commenced, there will be no paucity of adventurers
ready to swell the list. It is not an improbable circum-
stance, that whole districts might be seized with enthu-
siasm, if proper means were resorted to for influencing
their feelings. A plain description of the colony, of
its advantages, its productions, soil, climate, physical
circumstances, and its capabilities of affording the
substantial enjoyments of life, should be compiled and
distributed through all the agricultural districts. A
few panoramas, exhibiting the places of settlement,
with all their adjacent scenery and peculiar charac-
teristics, carried round all the agricultural villages,
would form a truly useful mode of raising the ima-
gination of the labourers, and exciting them to try
their fortunes in distant parts; it would, however, be
deceitful, and most ungenerous, to proceed too far in
this species of graphic temptation.
Though the object is to get rid of manual labourers,
and not skill or capital, yet there is one of the supe-
rior descriptions of employment which is in excess
in the mother country, and which, fortunately, is most
serviceable in the colony. Farmers, who rapidly in-
creased in number, in consequence of the great sti-
mulus which was given to agriculture some years
back, are now in excess compared with the farms to
be let; and, owing to the competition, rents are higher
than they ought to be, placing the active agricultural
capitalists at a disadvantage. Were means taken
to induce these persons to emigrate, and to allow them
to select their labourers in this country to accompany
282
GETTING RID OF
them, it is probable that emigration would be con-
ducted in the most advantageous manner.
There is
very little doubt that many persons of this description
could be found, possessing skill and science, but little
capital; and many labourers would be induced to
join such persons, who would be timorous in taking a
decided step for themselves.
Labouring men, long accustomed to order, strict
obedience, and regularity, in an advanced agricultural
country, have feelings, in some respect, analogous
to those of soldiers in a highly disciplined army.
They can follow, obey orders, and admirably perform
all the functions required in a subordinate station;
but they are not accustomed to think for themselves;
they are devoid of enterprise, resourceless, and not at
all suited to be placed in novel situations, unless
they have a director constantly over them to guide
their conduct. Hence, the labourers in the advanced
agricultural districts of England, though experienced
in every branch of improved husbandry, make far
inferior settlers in a new colony to the inhabitants of
the north of Ireland or Scotland, who are accustomed
to think and act for themselves, however deficient
they may be in uniform labour. But if the same
relation could be introduced into the colony as exists
in the advanced English districts, the superiority,
from the concentration of means directed in a scien-
tific manner, would be manifest and striking. It is
consequently of great importance to induce a number
of this superior description of persons to emigrate, to
}
3
}
}
+
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
283
whom the ordinary labourers could look in periods
of difficulty, and who would introduce those grada-
tions of rank into the colony, which so materially for-
ward the higher branches of industry. Even if the
labourers desert these persons in the colony, from the
opportunity of setting up for themselves, there is not
much injury occasioned. A high remuneration for
labour is the natural characteristic of thriving settle-
ments; and though an experienced farmer may un-
doubtedly preserve his rank, it must be by his skill
and not by his monied capital. To hold out suitable
inducements for this instructed species of persons to
emigrate is a task of some nicety; it can only be
done by giving advantages in respect to the settle-
ment of lands, and this brings us to consider that
species of regulation which is best calculated to
elicit the commercial productiveness and advantages
of the colony.
It is designed, as before stated, to make the em-
ployed population abroad create employment at
home; one branch of the labourers should minister
to the wants of the other; and, because all cannot
be done at home, a portion is sent to a colony, with
which, though a sea divide the parties, the intercourse
continues unchanged, and the thriving prosperity of
the colony rolls back its fructifying influence upon
the mother country.
After mature consideration of all the plans of
colonization that have been published, it would ap-
pear that the formation of public companies, who
would undertake the charge of transporting emi-
284
GETTING RID OF
grants, is the best calculated for the earlier stages
of settlement. These might enjoy certain privileges
in the way of trading; but these privileges should
not extend beyond such a period as was requisite
fully to repay the outlay to which they were ne-
cessarily subject, and thenceforward the trade should
be thrown open. The particular quarter in which
such colony should be established must necessarily
depend upon circumstances. Canada being now,
comparatively, an advanced country, should be left
for free settlers; and, no doubt, the annual emigra-
tion to that country will continue to be considerable.
In New Holland there is ample opportunity for all new
purposes, without interfering with any established
trade. If the proposed company or companies take
charge of the land, determining to whom and on what
terms grants should be given, it might defray the
expenses of civil government; but it should not be
invested with any other rights of sovereignty. The im-
perial government would exercise all legislative func-
tions, delegating merely that portion of local polity
which related to the arrangement of cultivation. As the
increasing wealth of the settlers must, in time, conduce
to raise the profits of shareholders, impolitic restric-
tions on trade, beyond the reasonable preservation of
the rights of the company, would be unnecessary.
An explicit code of the terms of settlement, and of
mercantile regulations generally, could be framed to
guard against partial or illiberal constructions of the
various grants. The source of profit derivable from
the plan would be two-fold; the return of interest
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
285
on the capital advanced, in the way of rents, and the
emoluments arising from the supply of manufactures,
and other commodities, to the colony.
The ability of the colonists to purchase goods from
the mother country would naturally depend upon the
sale they found for their commodities in return. The
distance unavoidably presents obstacles for a large
consumption in this country; but it is presumable,
that the trade with China, the East Indies, and the
islands of the eastern seas, would consume such a
portion of this colonial produce, as would encourage
in the double interchange a very effective demand
for manufactures, and other supplies, from the mother
country. By judicious cultivation, some article of
commerce in extensive use, and for which the soil
and climate of New Holland are particularly favour-
able, might be produced advantageously to supply
the British market. It would undoubtedly be the
province of the company to apply itself indefatigably
to such a branch of business, as well for its own
immediate profit, as to promote the interests of the
empire at large.
In addition to the income immediately derived
from the lands on which the emigrants settle, it
would be expedient to make extensive grants to
the company, allowing them to dispose of new lots,
from time to time, according to the extension of
population, similar to the practice in the United
States of America. A considerable revenue would
thus speedily be raised, fully sufficient to defray
the ordinary charges of civil management. It
It may
286
GETTING RID OF
be objected, that it would be difficult to procure
funds, and that few persons would be disposed to
step forward as shareholders. This entirely depends
upon the assistance given, in the first instance, by
the government. Were the establishment solely a
matter of speculation, unconnected with other consi-
derations, it is allowable to suppose, that capitalists
would be reluctant to part with funds designed for
distant investment, and of inevitably slow return.
But it must be recollected that, at present, all persons
possessing property at home are burthened annually
with a large expense, to support a redundant popu-
lation. In the examinations before the Emigration
Committee, two or three respectable witnesses stated
it as their opinion, that many persons would be wil
ling to pay at once a considerable sum to get rid of
this expense supposing, then, this disposition to con-
tinue, if we point out how a return for the first outlay
can be obtained; if we couple with it the opening of
an advantageous branch of trade, converting apparent
expense into ultimate profit; and, if we avoid sinking
the investment as a dead weight, and make it saleable
in the market, convertible into money, like other
descriptions of stock, allowing the investor, when
family settlements, incumbrances on the land, or other
exigences call upon him, to withdraw his interest
entirely; we are certainly warranted in presuming
that avidity, not hesitation, would characterize the
reception of the shares. It was stated, by persons
employed by government to take out emigrants to
Canada, that several country gentlemen had evinced
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
287
anxiety to nominate emigrants for the occasion.
Under a company, shareholders would naturally have
a preference in this respect; and this inducement
would prompt many landholders to step forward and
take an active share in the project, who would other-
wise have viewed it with indifference. The emi-
grants themselves, in a case of this kind, would feel
no distrust or unwillingness in leaving the country.
They go from this country as agents, to forward the
pursuits of commerce: there is laudable enterprize,
not degradation, in their attempt. In locating them
in a new territory, their faculties will expand in a
degree commensurate with the unbounded space be-
fore them; and as, in the settling of the land, we
awaken an emulative principle, spurring them on to
exertion, we expect a new characteristic to be de-
veloped, reacting with prodigious energy upon their
brethren at home. One of the greatest advantages,
indeed, attendant upon a public company, similar to
the one proposed, is the widening the range of mer-
cantile ideas, and devising new sources of industry,
which otherwise would not have been thought of.
The feebleness of infancy may prevent a nation from
pursuing many branches of trade so long as no at-
tempts are made by combined effort to make up for
individual inability; but single weakness in many
becomes united strength, and thus public companies
in the new settlement accomplish what, to individuals,
appears chimerical.
In Ireland, in particular, we conceive the establish-
288
GETTING RID OF
ments we have pointed out would be peculiarly
beneficial. If companies were established in Dublin,
Cork, Limerick, and Belfast, agreeably to the plan
proposed, a large redundant population would be
removed, while the means of employment at home
would be, from local circumstances, peculiarly advan-
tageous to those places. Advantages, in the case of
Ireland, would neither be confined to the immediate
effects of the labourers removed, nor to the future
gains of colonization rolling back upon the country.
The new mercantile institutions would improve the
commercial character of the people, and induce many
to enter into an extensive company who would be loth
to embark individually in business. Were success
to attend the scheme, numerous branches of manufac-
ture and foreign commerce, in a variety of shapes,
must be promoted in Ireland, which it might other-
wise take ages to establish. In the new colony cul-
tivation is not confined to articles either for home
consumption, or to supply the British market.
siderable external commerce may be conducted with
our East India possessions, with China, Japan, and
the Asiatic Islands; and this extended concentration
of means being definitely planned, and each part
adjusted to its proper place, constitutes, in the early
stages of colonization, the great advantages of a
public company over the detached and scattered
efforts of private individuals. The new colony takes
away the produce of these countries, and gives, in re-
turn, augmented ability to all those regions for the
Con-
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
289
profitable importation of manufactures. The Irish
establishments, by means of their close connexion
with the new colony, employ, for example, the pro-
duce there raised-the rice, fish, opium, and other
articles, to pay for the tea, spices, and drugs, which
they would bring home; and thus, from the advan-
tages they possess in settling the colony, they can
avail themselves of an entirely new and lucrative
trade, assuming that some change will be introduced
in East India commerce.
In case any peculiar regulations were interposed,
to favor these establishments in Ireland, they would
hardly be objected to; because there is no mono-
poly designed to be engrossed by a few, which
should be open to many. Were we about to give
a particular direction to a trade in existence, or
just springing into existence, some objections might
be urged; but, in the present case, every thing is
created; the companies provide and send out the
people, and undertake the charge of management,
generating, in fact, a new possession yielding obe-
dience to British dominion; and it is but fair and
reasonable that they should, at least, reap the bene-
fit of their own work, until it has repaid their outlay.
According to these plans, emigration becomes more
a matter of policy than necessity; because, inde-
pendently of the immediate objects sought, we infuse
a new spirit for foreign trade into the country, and
give rise to many associate branches for distant en-
terprize, which could never, by any other means, be
U
290
GETTING RID OF
called into existence. Emigration, proceeding upon
this principle, need not be confined to the present
moment, but may act permanently, and transform a
cankerous evil into a diffusive benefit.
In respect to the funds required for the transporta-
tion of the emigrants, it appears desirable that a con-
siderable quota should be defrayed by the state in
the first instance. The proposal of permitting pa-
rishes to mortgage their rates appears inexpedient on
many grounds. It is reviving what always must be
considered bad in principle,―entailing injury on pos-
terity for the benefit of the existing generation. It
would also be a prolific source of abuse; and surely,
on reflection, it must be manifest that the poor-rates
are like any other description of tax, and ought to
be identified with the public burdens of the country.
If it be expedient to make a remote and not an imme-
diate payment, the government ought to manage the
matter more completely, satisfactorily, and economi-
cally, than a number of parishes, who could rarely
act in concert, or with that unity of purpose neces-
sary to the finished performance of any comprehen-
sive design. A direct grant of a sum of money by
the state, with the aid of a large navy to convey the
settlers, appears the wisest mode to promote emigra-
tion. £500,000 in all probability would be the
outside of the sum required, assuming it ungene-
rous to resort to indirect coercion by a withdrawal
of the rates; and this sum might eventually be re-
paid in case the various settlements flourished. The
I
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
291
most eligible sites should be surveyed, and a gene-
ral plan announced by government for different com-
panies to send in proposals; the government under-
taking to give the assistance of ships of war, and
such pecuniary aid, in the first instance, as would
be requisite to prepare the colonial lands, and create
roads and public conveniencies. This assistance
at the outset would secure the success of the under-
taking, and diffuse energy and an avidity for settle-
ment amongst the companies, at the same time prompt-
ing many capitalists to engage in the speculation.
A colonial bank might be established to conduct all
matters of finance, and to give accommodation of
credit to the various settlers. So soon, indeed, as
the plans presented a reasonable prospect of success,
there would be no want of capital to invest in such
undertakings, and in numberless other channels which
are constantly opening in a flourishing colony.
The immediate patronage of government would
strengthen the credit of these new settlements, and it
is presumable that, under the existing prospects of
the country, partiality or objectionable patronage
would not be permitted to creep in. Large fleets of
government vessels, in the various great ports of the
kingdom, would create unusual excitement, and cause
a rush for passages, which would enable the gratui-
tous emigration to be quickly disposed of. Last year
there were between sixty and seventy thousand per-
sons who emigrated to Canada, and all was conducted
in a silent and imperceptible manner. Three hun-
dred thousand persons, therefore, could be removed
292
GETTING RID OF
with exceedingly little real difficulty. The food, for
the immediate use of the settlers, could be supplied
from Port Jackson or the East Indies, with a little
preliminary arrangement; and indeed this primary
step, formidable as it appears to the civilians, who
have hitherto treated on this subject, falls immea-
surably short of the difficulty which a general cn-
counters in providing food for a large army in an ex-
tensive and protracted campaign.
SECTION II.
Cultivation of Waste Lands.
THERE are three descriptions of waste lands which
are capable of cultivation, but under very different
circumstances with regard to final results. The first
consists of those lands situated in remote parts, which
are capable of yielding permanently a profit, or some
return over and above the immediate wages of labour
employed in cultivation, in case a sale for the pro-
duce could be readily procured; but, from the back-
wardness of the country, or the poverty of the people,
no suitable market presenting itself, private proprie-
tors or speculators are not disposed to make any
attempt at reclaiming the land, and therefore it lies
waste. It is apparent that this state of things will in
time correct itself; if the country generally be im-
t
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
293
1
proved, profit will ultimately appear; and there being
thus a certainty of remuneration, there can be little
risk in the government or the public defraying the
outlay in the first instance, as tending both to hasten
and to widen the natural industry.
The second class consists of those lands which
might ultimately afford a profit, or a surplus beyond
the outlay of immediate labour, provided a sum were
expended, in the first instance, to put the land in
condition. This primary outlay being in fact so
much capital sunk, which never would be redeemed,
no proprietor or farmer is of course disposed to re-
claim land of this description.
The third class consists of land which permanently
is incapable of yielding a surplus over and above the
wages of labour actually employed in its cultivation.
When we seek to remove a redundant population,
it is obvious that the different lands described present
very diversified means for absorbing the labour, both as
regards the permanent condition of the labourer him-
self and the state. In respect to the first, which is
sure eventually to yield a profit, few objections can
be made against an immediate commencement to
bring the lands into a state of cultivation, and to
establish a market for the sale of the produce, the
want of which is the chief existing obstacle. In Eng-
land and Scotland there is little land of this descrip-
tion, but a very large portion exists in Ireland. There
can be no doubt, therefore, of the expediency of
immediately reclaiming this land, and of undertaking
it on an extended scale. An industrious neighbour-
294
GETTING RID OF
hood would gradually grow up, presenting advan-
tageous means of sale for the accessory produce,
and yearly augmenting the value of the land. Some
cavilling in the first instance might be heard in cer-
tain quarters respecting the expenditure; but it is
presumed that an enlarged examination of the sub-
ject will occasion a change in opinion, and lessen the
disposition to censure. In judging of the propriety
of a large outlay in public works of any kind, it does
not necessarily follow that the advantage, gain, or
saving of time or money, should be immediate. Many
of the public works in Ireland, where national funds
have been liberally granted, and which periodically
call forth indignant censure in parliament from the
retail practitioners in national economy, will as-
suredly merit public commendation, so soon as a
population arises, actively engaged in commerce,
and capable of appreciating their advantages. At
present, owing to the poverty and the absence or
smallness of the traffic, the public works, canals, har-
bours, and such undertakings, seem disproportioned
to the real wants of the country, and therefore pre-
dispose the mind to censure the original grant of
money. But when internal traffic grows up, even to
one-third of the extent shaped out, these works will
be found all serviceable, and by no means dispro-
portioned to the required exigencies in assisting the
developement of industry. It need hardly be ob-
served, that this commendation of extensive works in
a young commercial country, with great intrinsic
capabilities, though not properly unfolded, is irres-
!
>
*
29
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
295
pective of any consideration of jobs, improper appro-
priation of funds, or similar species of corruption.
It is assumed that the paramount importance of the
general object in view will, for the future at least,
secure purity of intention in the design, and strict
impartiality in its execution.
Agreeably to these considerations, if a considerable
sum of money be required for bringing the waste
lands of Ireland into cultivation, it should be freely
defrayed by the state. Profits sooner or later will
arise, when the internal condition of the country is
improved, and this reclaiming of the land is in itself
a useful auxiliary in accelerating improvement.
There are many thousand acres that would yield
upwards of twenty bushels of corn per acre; and if
this be the case, a rent will eventually be yielded, no
matter whether the existing corn laws are modified
or not. In point of fact, we may safely, for the
next entire generation, look to Ireland to supply our
deficiencies of corn, in case our measures for her
amelioration are judicious. It is apparent that a
return of this kind, giving a great surplus to meet
the cost of the conveniencies, luxuries, and embel-
lishments of life, would be signally advantageous to
the country at large. It would be no misdirection of
labour, and indeed it would be difficult to point out
any other branch in which so clear a gain or acces-
sion of wealth to the community could be derived.
The low habitual rate of wages in Ireland, which,
with all our efforts of improvement, will probably
296
GETTING RID OF
continue for a considerable time, must occasion the
surplus of production beyond ordinary outlay to be
considerable; and even supposing that the Irish lands
only produced twenty bushels of corn per acre, while
Poland would yield forty or fifty, before political eco-
nomists censure this comparative misdirection of
labour, they should recollect that the facility of ex-
tending agriculture amongst the Irish labourers is
greater than that of introducing manufactures, par-
ticularly those designed for foreign interchange. By
cultivating the land, and producing even a less quan-
tity of corn than that assumed, a clear positive gain
is realized by the community. Were this denied,
under the principle that we should purchase corn
wherever it can be obtained cheapest, it is most pro-
bable that, in place of possessing a corresponding
production at home to effect the interchange, there
would be nothing to offer, because the Irish labourers
possess no immediate or suitable employment to which
they could direct their attention. In addition to
ordinary agricultural produce, many of the uncul-
tivated lands are peculiarly suited to the growth of
hemp and flax; and it is certainly reasonable to pre-
sume, from the
from the many natural advantages, that a great
branch of agriculture could permanently flourish herc,
powerfully promoting the collective interests of the
empire. The time may yet come when large dis-
tricts will be cultivated in this manner, exhibiting a
flourishing town rising in the midst, and working up
in manufacture the materials grown in the neigh-
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
297
bourhood; while on the western coast a large naval
station may be formed, consuming these native manu-
factures, and economically adapted, from its position,
to be the place for naval armaments and refittings for
North and South America.
The mode of accomplishing the cultivation of these
waste lands would appear to be best manageable by
government. It would be wise to set about the task
on an extensive scale, and, after the object had been
fairly accomplished, it would be easy to get rid of
the land to private proprietors, in a manner best cal-
culated to promote the internal interests of the coun-
try. Engineers should examine the land, with a
view of executing the whole of the plan upon a scien-
tific scale, where arrangements can be made saving
time and expense, and giving a greater degree of
unity and completeness to the undertaking. It is
reasonable to conclude, that a large number of the
inhabitants would eventually be located on these
lands, and also some outlet would be afforded to
English agricultural labourers to settle in those parts.
The mixture of the people would be productive of
great advantage; improved notions of husbandry,
and the ploughman's skill, for which the English are
distinguished, would be introduced, effecting service-
able changes in the habits and callings of the Irish
labourers.
The second description of land presents a wide
opening for employing the redundant population, but
in a different form. These lands, where an outlay is
298
GETTING RID OF
required in the first instance, but which after that
outlay fairly sunk would yield some surplus to a
capitalist, assuming the price of wheat to range from
fifty-five to sixty shillings, exist in all parts of the
kingdom. It is acknowledged that this outlay, in
the first instance, or at least a very great portion of
it, would be a total loss; because the surplus ulti-
mately derived would not be sufficiently extensive to
redeem the capital and interest primarily expended.
This circumstance at first view would seem fatal, on
sound and economical grounds, to the cultivation of
these lands a useless expenditure of money seems
to be irredeemably sunk for ever. But this is by no
:
Let us consider
means an accurate view of the case.
what is the nature of this outlay, or this sinking of
capital, which scems at the outset the fatal objection.
It is nothing more than the wages of labour, which
are defrayed in turning up the land and putting it in
condition. The mere materials used, or the manure,
is a small portion compared to this labour. Now it
is material to reflect, that in all reasoning on this
subject the wages of this labour are calculated, and
are assumed to be positively paid. But this is not
exactly correct the object is to get rid of labourers
who are now redundant, who consequently cost for
their subsistence a definite sum: if therefore these
labourers, who at all events must be fed, be located
on any land which eventually will enable them to
support themselves, it is not correct to make a single
charge for labour of any kind, in putting the land in
+
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
299
condition to attain that desirable end. A definite
sum would require to be paid in poor-rates; that
payment simply continues, under the location pro-
posed, for a given period; but the difference between
the two cases is, that if nothing be done the payment
will be perpetual, while, if these lands be appro-
priated, the payment is temporary and only for that
brief period requisite to bring the land into a state of
regular productiveness. Suppose, for example, that
an offer were made to a farmer, or experienced culti-
vator, by any parish, stating, here are a number of
labourers at your disposal for three years, without
any charge to you whatever; we, the parishioners,
keep these labourers out of our poor-rates for the
term stated but no longer; at the end of that time,
you are to conduct the cultivation of the reclaimed
land in the ordinary manner, giving reasonable en-
gagements for the fulfilment of your contract: it cer
tainly cannot be doubted that the cultivator, to whom
such an offer was made, would promptly agree; and
at the expiration of the prescribed period, his land,
from his cheap mode of putting it in condition, would
be capable of continuous and profitable cultivation.
In this case how does the matter stand: the redun-
dancy is eventually removed, at the cost of the con-
tinuance of the rates for three years; after the lapse
of that time additional employment, through natural
means, is presented to the labourer, the rate-payers
are relieved from their tax, and the capabilities of the
state are extended.
¿
300
GETTING RID OF
The most judicious mode of carrying an arrange-
ment of this kind into effect would be for a number
of districts, in which lands of this description were
situated, to coalesce and to seek out the most intelli-
gent, enterprising, skilful, and trustworthy persons to
act as farmers, who should take charge of the pauper
labourers; entering into a regular contract for three,
five, or seven years, according to the time it would
take to bring the land into a state of fair and perma-
nent productiveness. The wages of these paupers
would be paid as usual out of the parish rates; but
the districts, or the persons who manage the business
on behalf of the rate-payers, should place the con-
trolling power, in respect to discipline and regula-
tions, in the hands of the farmer. According to the
most authentic information, abundance of persons
could be found, willing to undertake agreements of
this nature; and it might be a matter of local ar-
rangement to determine the number of years in which
rates should continue, and the labour be gratuitous
to the new cultivator. In many cases, if a consider-
able time were given, the land would be so improved,
that a permanent rent would be yielded; and suitable
arrangements should be made, to give the rate-payers
the benefit of this change when the agreement was
expired.
It thus appears, that if a little patience be mani-
fested, the difficulty of getting rid of redundant po-
pulation, even under very discouraging circumstances,
is not insuperable. By allowing the sum now given
نیا
?
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
301
to paupers to accumulate, as it were, in a certain
direction, it establishes a degree of perennial pro-
ductiveness, which encounters little risk of being
abandoned, unless too great haste or precipitation is
manifested in stopping the gratuitous labour before
the land is properly in heart. It would be difficult
to ascertain the entire quantity of land of this class
throughout the United Kingdom, but there can be no
doubt that it is very considerable; and, consequently,
a large portion of the agricultural population in the
southern and eastern counties could be immediately
disposed of in this manner.
The third description of land, or that incurably
sterile, possessed of no substrata, or materials for
labour to effect a great change, and which thus can
never hope to yield a surplus beyond the bare and
absolute support of the labourer who tills it, is easily
disposed of. This, waiving what is done in the way
of ornament, or supplying means and opportunity for
recreation, ought not to be touched for purposes of
production. We have no objection to see cricket-
grounds, race-courses, or large open spaces, for the
enjoyment of the people, but it would be inexpedient
in the extreme to force, in the present commercial
intercourse of the world, the cultivation of these
lands.
Whenever land possesses such little capability that
there is not room for a capitalist to derive, immediately
or prospectively, any profit or support for a superior
order of society, exclusive of sustaining his labourers,
it is not difficult to decide, that it is a misdirection
302
GETTING RID OF
of industry to cultivate it, and that the social orga-
nization of that country is defective. All those
plans, therefore, relative to poor colonies, which seem
now in fashion, where paupers go to shape out sub-
sistence for themselves, unrestrained in respect to
their future increase, and raising no surplus beyond
their scanty subsistence, even assuming that that
subsistence is intrinsically procurable, is worse than
nugatory; it is positively pernicious. It is calcu-
lated to add to the permanent poverty, without any
ulterior or redeeming vent by which that poverty
could be cured. It is adding to population, in its
worst form; that form of resourceless manual labour
which, of all others, is the most difficult to check, or
to correct. It is needless to dwell on this subject,
since the whole principles of this work are in direct
opposition to it. To lessen the relative number of
labourers, and of the lower classes generally, is the
sole object we have undertaken, and how do we pur-
pose to accomplish this? Not by any peculiar restric-
tion upon the lower classes, but by seeking to make
as many of them master producers as possible. If we
do not seek to make labourers gentlemen, we at least
give them an opportunity to cultivate their minds,
and to move in a different sphere to what is now too
frequently associated in the thoughts as the perma-
nent condition of the working classes. But what
would poor colonies do? They would multiply labourers
out of all proportion to the employers; if there are now
fifty to one of the superior class, ere long there would
be a hundred; indeed, before two generations had
ፈ
5
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
303
elapsed, the exact counterpart of our endeavours
would be achieved, and the competition amongst those
living by service, superior as well as inferior, would
be such, that many gentlemen would be reduced to
the condition of paupers.
SECTION III.
Fisheries.
WHEN it is considered that Great Britain is a mari-
time nation, possessing abundant materials for the
establishment of extensive fisheries, containing within
her own territory means of certain consumption, and
securing by her colonies in the West Indies a con-
stant export, giving permanence and stability to the
trade, it cannot but excite great surprise that so
small a portion of her population should be employed
in this valuable branch of industry. An immense
outlet is here presented for the employment of the
population, and a large portion of the existing re-
dundancy may thus be removed. The northern seas
afford an inexhaustible supply of herrings, and not
only these seas, but their numerous inlets, creeks, and
bays, swarm with this prolific fish. There are, be-
sides, mines of salt, equally inexhaustible, presenting
the means to cure the fish with advantage, and to ex-
304
GETTING RID OF
port it to foreign nations. A resource of this kind is
intrinsically more valuable than the most productive
mine of gold or silver; it yields perennial returns
superior to the most fertile land, without the expense
of seed, or manure, or exhausting processes; and it
not only pours into the lap of the country a supply
of wealth greater than would result from the acces-
sion of new and virgin territory, but it adds to the
strength and power of the state. Similar in principle
to some of the preceding remedies proposed, it ope-
rates in a double capacity in removing existing re-
dundancy. It gets rid of superfluous hands, re-
moving heavy burdens from others, and it brings a
clear addition to the national income. It is prolifi-
cally serviceable, also, in creating a number of col-
lateral trades, that must be established to supply
requisite implements and materials, whenever it is
prosecuted to any considerable extent. There are
all the persons employed in building the ships and
boats, in manufacturing the tackle, in making nets, in
conveying the salt to the place of curing, together
with numberless such occupations; and, indeed, it
appears, by an estimate published by the States Ge-
neral of Holland, in 1669, that the number of persons
engaged in these collateral trades, all in comfortable
circumstances, was greater than that of the hardy sea-
men directly employed in fishing. The necessity for
the establishment of these collateral trades excites the
chief hope that, under a judicious system of encou
ragement, many thousands of persons, now paupers,
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
305
or in extreme indigence, may be converted into active
producers, exceedingly serviceable to the collective
interests of commerce. Scotland and her Western
Isles seem the most eligible sites for this national
experiment. The supply is pronounced to be vir-
tually inexhaustible; and, indeed, the advantages are
so manifold and striking, that surprise is frequently
expressed, that the efforts hitherto used should seem
to be comparatively unsuccessful; and that foreign
nations, the Dutch, and the Danes, should rob this
country of so large a portion of its legitimate trade.
But a few remarks will explain the causes of past
failure. It may seem a curious assertion that, sur-
rounded as we are by a redundant population, if the
question be viewed nationally or collectively, the ob-
stacles against the correction of indigence, in any one
quarter, should proceed from scantiness of people ;
but such is virtually the case, in respect to the northern
fisheries. The dispersion of inhabitants over a wide
tract of country is unfavourable to the establishment
of markets, or to easy and constant communication by
roads. There is no great assemblage of trades and
occupations in towns, not only to supply the requisite
materials for fishing promptly and economically, but
to afford a regular and steady market for the sale of
the fish, where a few capitalists would reside, dis-
posed to enter into speculations, and to export large
quantities to distant parts, whenever an unusual sea-
son of prosperity rewarded the efforts of the fishermen.
Much time is lost in unsettled and desultory occupa-
1
X
306
GETTING RID OF
tions; the families of the fishermen are in a state of con-
stant migration; they travel from bay to bay, depend-
ing on precarious support; and, unless remedies are
devised for this backward mode of traffic, and to ob-
viate all the difficulties inseparable from the dispersed
situation of the inhabitants, it is not probable that the
fisheries will ever extensively flourish, or advantage-
ously compete with foreign countries. Very different
is the case in Holland; there every thing is concen-
trated; and business is conducted in that steady and
permanent manner, with all the divisions of labour,
which are so necessary to ultimate success. A vessel
no sooner arrives than her cargo is discharged; the
crew think not of the sale, it belongs to other branches
of occupation; and they put again to sea immediately,
seeking to obtain a fresh supply of fish.
Another cause of the backward state of our fisheries
proceeds from the want of proper training, or instruc-
tion of the fishermen, in its most approved forms.
We generally treat of the trade of a fisherman as if
it were as easily learned as ordinary descriptions of
manual labour; but, in reality, it requires a long ap-
prenticeship under the best masters. The fatigues
and hardships are great, and can only be encountered
after a youth is early inured, under suitable instruc-
tion, to the dangers of this peculiar service. From
time immemorial, the Dutch have been celebrated for
their skill, originally fostered by the peculiar circum-
stances under which they were placed. These two
circumstances, therefore-the want of high skill, and
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
307
suitable markets-have to be corrected, before we
can expect to see the Scotch fisheries flourish on a great
scale. To secure the men is the first object; and the
most judicious mode of accomplishing this would seem
to be, not to give rewards amongst our own fishermen,
but to send to Holland, and other parts, and engage
the most skilful fishermen to come over and settle in
the Western Isles of Scotland, holding out to them.
liberal inducements, and causing them to take under
their charge numerous apprentices, who in turn would
serve as the materials for rearing others, and thus
originate a large marine community. The necessity
which these seamen would create for the settlement of
numerous dependent trades, must act directly in re-
ducing the redundancy of unemployed hands. A
large mart would soon be established to secure the
perfect developement of these plans, and providing
also the means of a constant and regular trade. Were
there a city of 100,000 inhabitants in the heart of the
fisheries, devoted to the one predominant object, every
one acquainted with his calling, no loitering or dal-
lying with circumstances, but all proceeding in a
prompt business-like manner, there would be little
apprehension of this great source of emolument fail-
ing, or being hereafter placed in jeopardy. Not only
the British colonies, Cuba, the Brazils, and South
America generally, might be supplied from this quarter,
adding several millions annually to the national in-
come; but, from the facility of land conveyance at
home daily extending, the very centre of the country
might exhibit abundant markets of esculent fish.
308
GETTING RID OF
From the great concentration of means, calicoes, for
example, are produced at Manchester at four pence per
yard let this mighty mart of manufacturing energy be
reduced to one-fourth of its present size, diminishing
the capabilities for a high division of labour, and
the price, in all probability, would be sixpence. It
would be the same, analogically, with the fisheries.
From the scattered and detached manner in which
the trade is now conducted, and the want of a proper
division of labour, the price of herrings is thirty shil-
lings per barrel let a concentration of effort, similar
in maritime pursuits to what Manchester exhibits in
regard to manufactures, be supplied, and the price
would probably fall to twenty shillings. We may
safely, therefore, undertake to locate crowds in those
places, certain that the larger the scale on which we
operate, the greater is the certainty of ultimate suc-
cess. The land in those parts presents great faci-
lities for the cultivation of the potatoe, and the imme-
diate means of support are thus provided. There is
intrinsically no danger of starvation, or of the settlers
running the risk of extreme destitution, whenever
these two sources of food, the herring and the potatoe,
are conjoined in suitable abundance; and long before
exhaustion is talked of, or even before the full capa-
bilities of the settlement are developed, the maritime
predilections of the people, as in Holland, will have
generated other branches of trade. We need not, at
any time, fear the prolific powers of the potatoe in ex-
tending redundancy, provided there be proper super-
intending control. But in the case of the new fisheries,
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
309
}
the more local population increases, the more surely
will redundancy disappear. Let it be recollected, that
the inhabitants in this quarter scarcely amount to forty
to the square mile, while the intrinsic capabilities of
the country, from the inexhaustible supply of fish, and
the ease with which potatoes may be raised, would
support at the very least two hundred. There is thus
an opportunity presented for several doublings before
privations can appear, assuming that the relations of
society remain unchanged.
The most judicious means of carrying this plan into
effect would seem to be, to establish a public com-
pany, with a restriction of an annual dividend upon
their capital, who would undertake to procure the
most skilful fishermen from distant parts, to hold out
inducements for the indenturing of numerous appren-
tices, to provide settlements in land for a great num-
ber of labourers immediately to cultivate, and to
encourage the various collateral branches of business
required for the successful prosecution of the fisheries.
It would be easy at present to procure large districts
of land on moderate terms, and if our reasoning be
sound, that there is no fear of future redundancy, the
people might be allowed freely to cultivate this land,
depending partly on it, and partly on their richer
domain, the sea, for their support.
Were the government to aid this plan, and to cause
it to be conducted on a very extensive scale, venturing
upon a gratuity of fifty or a hundred thousand pounds,
the money could never be better bestowed, notwith-
310
GETTING RID OF
standing the authority of Dr. Adam Smith himself
might be quoted in opposition. But it is difficult to
guess what the sentiments of that distinguished eco-
nomist would have been, in case he had been required
to get rid of a redundancy of a million of people.
SECTION IV.
Formation of Corps for Public Purposes at home or abroad.
THE diversified means of employment in public works,
which Great Britain affords, whether for state pur-
poses or general utility, are remarkably great. Be-
sides her agricultural colonies, she possesses many dis-
tant settlements, in which labour is of difficult attain-
ment, and where public works could be conducted
with great advantage to general commerce.
In many
of those parts the maintenance of order is an impor-
tant object, and where civilization has not made ex-
tended progress, an imposing display of authority is
not unserviceable. It does much more than compen-
sate for the expense, although it is but equitable that
that expense should originate in the settlement itself.
It is instructive occasionally to trace the progress
of civilization in barbarous regions. It is generally
achieved by conquest, or by the strong force pos-
*
8
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
311
sessed by the dominant party, which prevents ideas
of resistance from ever entering the thoughts of the
subjugated race, until by degrees some slight amalga-
mation takes place, and the arbitrary rule is softened.
In Africa, if we hope to make any progress in civilizing
the inhabitants, we must maintain a considerable force,
not destined exactly for purposes of conquest, but for
the suppression of barbarous violence. It would
seem, therefore, expedient to revive what formerly
was contemplated, and to form a number of juvenile
corps, for settlement in the most healthy and advan-
tageous sites on the African coast. Our considerable
towns would thus be drained of a large portion
of their youthful population, who now are brought
up to every species of delinquency and crime. By
taking these youths, at a period of life before the
character is fully formed, there would be hopes of
their moral amendment under judicious treatment,
a circumstance in itself of great importance; and, at
the same time, their constitutions would be better
adapted to a tropical climate. By stationing these
at the most convenient places on the coast of Africa,
a useful commerce might be established. The
comparative density of population in Africa, when
once the seeds of civilization are sown, and a taste
diffuses itself for articles of dress, presents extended
means for taking off a large portion of manufactures,
which in the existing relations of commerce should
not be despised. Efficacious means also would be pre-
sented, in consequence of the internal order established
>
·
312
GETTING RID OF
on the continent of Africa itself, to suppress the
slave trade much more effectually than by the expen-
sive system of mixed commissions and cruisers. By
degrees a considerable export would arise from Africa,
to pay for her consumption of manufactures; indeed,
even now, our importation of wood and palm oil is
considerable. It is conceived that on those articles
an export duty could be levied, for defraying the
expenses of the corps, without materially enhancing
their cost, because of the greater facility presented to
their production, consequent on the establishment of
internal order. No expense whatever would thus be
imposed upon this country; and, in respect to the
immediate object of correcting the existing redun-
dancy of population, though the absolute number of
persons removed is not large, yet, as it takes place
amongst the rising population in towns, it would con-
siderably assist other youths in advantageously set-
tling themselves in life.
There is another description of public corps which
could be formed in this country, following the ex-
ample of some of the continental states.
A large
body of labourers could be permanently attached to
the engineer department, for civil as well as military
or maritime purposes.
It would not be easy to ex-
haust the advantageous works that could be carried
into execution by these means, while, notwithstanding
the expenditure, after their execution the resources of
the country would be increased and not diminished. It
is a great mistake to imagine an outlay of this kind as
1
སྐ
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
313
unproductive, or as corresponding to the ordinary pay
of sailors or soldiers. The national concerns are ana-
logous in principle to those of private manufacturers;
and sometimes a manufacturer will expend a very
large sum for the purpose of extending his premises,
making his buildings and works more complete, in
order that he may save time, trouble, and tempo-
rary expedients, in conducting his business. It is the
same with a nation; aggregate production might be
powerfully increased by well directed means to avoid
inconvenience and trouble in many important points,
indirectly at least, if not directly bearing upon public
industry. In a commercial nation time is money, and
an ingenious calculator considered the loss of time in
London, from stoppages and other causes, as equiva-
lent to more than £20,000 a day, thus inflicting a
corresponding and positive loss upon aggregate pro-
duction. On this principle, millions annually could be
defrayed in public works in all parts of the kingdom,
and the nation, after the expenditure, would be in-
trinsically richer than before, that is, the power of
reproduction—indeed not the power alone, but the
thing itself-would be increased.
It is designed to have the labourers to perform
these works embodied into regular corps; because
there is reason to believe that the work in such
cases would be more efficiently executed, and because
the population so provided for would be effectually
removed from ordinary occupations without again
returning to depress the wages of labour, after a local
service had been performed.
314
GETTING RID OF
All these means of diversified employment, simul-
taneously carried into effect, would be quite adequate
to the getting rid of the existing redundancy of
population. For the final time we would remind
the reader, that redundancy means merely labourers
who cannot at the moment be profitably employed, and
that every attempt upon an extended scale to throw
the expenditure, which the maintenance of these
people costs, into another channel, acts with acce-
lerated efficacy upon the private affairs of life. The
very act of changing the direction in which subsis-
tence is obtained gives rise to a new description of
gain in some other branch, and thus an ameliorative
influence diffused over a few hundred thousand
people may be sufficient to restore the entire nation
to unprecedented prosperity.
SECTION V.
Order of Adoption of the Different Measures proposed.
In all plans of improvement it is very important to
begin at the right end, and to establish a strict de-
pendence between the various parts, so as to yield
reciprocal support and assistance. The prior opera-
tion of certain measures facilitates the introduction of
others, and prepares the way for a smooth, natural,
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
315
and harmonious accomplishment of the great design,
up to the most minute decorative auxiliary; which,
had a wrong order been observed, might have occa-
sioned much vexatious obstruction. Emigration is
the first measure to be carried into effect; and
though there is no desire to expatriate great numbers
of the people against their deliberate will, yet,
viewing the entire bearing of this great question,
the purest and most comprehensive humanity is not
violated, when we venture to hint that emigration
will be carried into effect more advantageously now,
when considerable distress prevails, than some time
hence, when material improvement may be effected
in the body of the people. Were other plans first
resorted to, the labourers probably might be loth to
leave their country; and thus, from a wrong arrange-
ment, ulterior designs commendable in themselves
would be exceedingly thwarted, if not entirely frus-
trated. Emigration is the means of getting rid of
the largest portion of the redundancy; and, from its
combining assistance in extending employment, it
holds out the greatest hopes of a speedy change,
to effectuate subsidiary measures of pauper location.
There is, in reality, no difficulty in getting rid of
any desired number by these means, provided the
legislature be decisive and determined; and not a
month should be lost to prepare the way
for a very
extensive emigration this first season.
the number, as before explained, the more agreeable
it will be to the emigrants themselves.
The larger
316
GETTING RID OF
The next measure is to survey the waste lands,
designated as the second class, in Great Britain, and
promptly to fix the paupers upon them in the manner
detailed, in order to give the new occupant, now,
that the rates are pretty high, a favourable oppor-
tunity to negociate an advantageous bargain; since
it is desirable that he should have gratuitous labour
as long as possible, to insure, by liberal outlay, the
permanent productiveness of the land.
Having thus used the very circumstance of the
high poor rates as the means of making favourable
arrangements for the new designs, the great measure
for the cultivation of the lands in Ireland could be
beneficially introduced. A great change would im-
mediately be effected in the condition of that country,
diminishing the emigration of labourers into Great
Britain.
Then might follow the measures relative to the
fisheries, and the formation of the public corps. By
this time it is presumable wages of labour would
have advanced, and the mass of the population in
Ireland would be in a different condition, and dis-
posed to consume a greater quantity of commodities
and manufactures of every description. At this aus-
picious juncture should be formed the manufac-
turing towns, employing in their formation great
numbers of artisans and labourers, and thus supply-
ing inherent materials for their own growth and pro-
gressive prosperity.
If thus is removed the whole of the redundancy,
REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION.
317
a glowing prospect will open in the distance, pre-
senting to the entire people the means for a new
race, with young blood, as it were, renovated and
regenerated from preceding infirmities. Then may
we step in, like watchful and anxious attendants,
with our new plan of poor laws, and all those regu-
lations designed to promote, when the character is
suitably prepared, the high civilisation of the people.
There is no hurry for the introduction of these mea-
sures; if they are judicious there can be little doubt
of their final success, and it would be better to delay
their adoption, than to endanger their success by
too great precipitation. The difference of to-day
and to-morrow is not very material in philosophical
legislation; and if, through indiscriminate zeal, a
trial were made, which, owing to the diseased state
of the labourers' feelings, did not fulfil the ends
designed, it might throw discredit on the entire
plans. But there can be no objection to make an
experiment in certain parts, where the tone of feeling
is healthy, in order to judge of the correctness of
the principles laid down, and to acquire practical
information for subsequent regulations.
318
CHAPTER XII.
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
AFTER all our measures designed for the labouring
classes, the removal of distress in every well regulated
society must greatly depend upon the spontaneous
kindness and good feeling of the affluent. It is really
quite lamentable at times to listen to conversations
respecting benevolence and charity, in which, owing
to diseased notions of the principles of population,
persons are forbidden to perform acts of kindness, for
fear they may increase at a future day the sum of
suffering. The scion of a noble house, fresh from the
study of political treatises, is occasionally heard re-
proving his sisters, who have rashly yielded to a fe-
minine softness of disposition, in assuaging the dis-
tresses of the unfortunate whom they may have en-
countered in their morning walks. This political
speculation on final consequences, to the neglect of
immediate duties, is most unnatural, if not unami-
able; it steels heart against the every commendable
emotion; and it is beyond comparison the most ob-
jectionable consequence that has resulted from the
prevailing theory of population. In case that theory
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
319
were exploded in the relations of private life, more
real benefit would result to society from the resump-
tion of practical benevolence in all its forms, than
from the public measures enacted by the state. To
unite all classes of persons in bonds of harmony
and union must secure propitious results; and how
many works and private undertakings could be pro-
moted by the nobility and gentry for the advantage
of the lower classes, in case they were not frightened
by some spectre of future starvation and over peopling,
which haunts their thoughts. No interest should con-
sider itself detached and unconnected by sympathy
with the bulk of the people; and in vain will the
lower classes strive to emerge from their degradation
unless mutual kindness of feeling be elicited. The
tone of public opinion, and the future prospects of
the country, must depend upon the higher and middle
ranks of society. It is here we must look for high
enterprise, and for those discoveries which, appearing
at the extreme end in the line of advancement, serve
as guides for general imitation. Perhaps these classes
may conceive that they themselves are depressed
by severe privations; and, indubitably, a number
of public measures are required to permit the ex-
panding faculties of the various aspirants to wealth,
distinction, and fame, to display themselves in the
most advantageous manner. The adoption of an
equitable and comprehensive plan of taxation, the
alteration and remodelling of our codes of jurispru-
dence, and the establishment of the currency upon a
320
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
secure and permanent basis, to give every facility to
credit where assistance is commendable, and to check
speculation when extravagant and dangerous, are
amongst the most prominent measures which the exi-
gencies of the country demand. Were these adjusted
in a comprehensive manner, suited to the spirit of the
age, an extraordinary change would soon manifest it-
self in commerce, and in the political eminence of the
nation. Difficult as those subjects undoubtedly are,
they are not so incapable of definite management as
the poor laws of which we have undertaken to treat;
and it will be found that their satisfactory adjustment
will be greatly facilitated by the introduction and
adoption of primary measures for the amelioration of
the great body of the people.
It is interesting to trace, in past history, the vast
strides which mankind have taken, and the various
inventions that have quickened civilization, when a
sudden flow of prosperity has burst upon the people,
and when the national mind, like a giant refreshed,
has started from a temporary torpor, in an ardent pur-
suit of new deeds of fame. The great improvements
which took place in the practical arts, in the early
part of the present century, when commerce was ex-
ceedingly brisk, have had a striking effect upon ele-
mentary science; and this theoretical invigoration
again in time causes reaction, and suggests new views
and relations in practice, presenting a vast field for
the further operations of ingenious men. Discoveries
quite as great as the spinning jenny and the steam-
5
I
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
321
engine may reasonably be anticipated, so soon as
society is enabled to present the prospect of suitable
reward to the inventor; and numberless confederate
undertakings will spring up, effecting an entire change
in social accommodation and the power to partake of
the conveniences and enjoyments of life. The acce-
leration of these discoveries, theoretical as well as
practical, all of which are within the limits of the
human faculties, does truly depend upon the diffusion
of worldly prosperity. Who can predict the effects
on literature, when ten or twenty thousand copies
will be the ordinary edition of a scientific work, in
place of seven hundred and fifty or one thousand, as
is the case at present. Thousands of persons may
then follow literature for its own sake, every where
extending the fruits of knowledge, and by the com-
bined volume of mind accomplishing, within a few
years, mighty objects, which, under duller and less
encouraging circumstances, might have taken cen-
turies to bring to maturity.
But after every attempt to elevate the commercial
glory of England, we should deem her prospects,
with all their richness, gross and unsightly in the ex-
treme, unless they were chastened and animated by
a proper moral principle. Human happiness should
always be the end of political schemes; commerce,
finance, jurisprudence, and every point connected
with political economy, should only be viewed as
means to subserve to the one ultimate design. To
improve the pecuniary circumstances of all classes of
Γ
322
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
the people is, undoubtedly, the primary stage; but a
great statesman would have higher and nobler views.
He would strive to banish the desponding care from
our passengers in the streets, only that they might
participate in rational and moral enjoyment; he
would seek to cause the bosom of the artisan to throb
with ardour in endeavours to uphold his country's
institutions; and in recreative excursions after the
toils and cares of business, he would wish the far-
mer's labourer to greet the eye, here and there issuing,
with cheerful step, from a neat habitation, surrounded
with its flower-garden, and blending, in chaste sim-
plicity, with the ripening fields from whence our
sustenance is drawn. The realization of this picture
should never be despaired of; and it is even doubtful
if the moral defects, which now appear in obstruction,
are so difficult to correct as would cursorily be sup-
posed.
On reviewing the history of the past, manners and
national character scem in constant change; some-
times they advance, sometimes recede, from that ideal
standard of excellence which we love to picture to our
thoughts; and it is exceedingly difficult, from pre-
dilections, present impressions, and past associations,
to judge whether or not the moral character of a na-
tion is advancing, stationary, or declining. We gain
frequently in one respect, lose in another; and, upon
the whole, it may be affirmed, that English society,
within the last generation, has received some improve-
ment to compensate for the growth of opposing evils.
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
323
If we analyze the changes that, from time to time,
are introduced in opinions and national character, we
shall find that some descend from the higher classes,
some ascend from the lower. All opinions founded
upon matters relating to pecuniary service of every
kind, trades, and common occupations, ascend from
the lower classes to the higher. The prevailing sen-
timents, therefore, in respect to common honesty, cor-
rectness in dealing, and those grosser affairs of life
which relate to business, subsistence, and all branches
belonging to this department of pecuniary service, take
their tinge from the practices of the body of the
people with whom dealings of this kind principally
originate.
On the other hand, all matters concerning exter-
nal religion, practical morals, manners, fashions, the
courtesies of life, and sentiments respecting the agree-
able intercourse and usages of society, originate with
the higher classes.
In the mean between the two the intellectual cha-
racter of the age is determined, also the morality of
the schools, if not the morality of the world; and
here, consequently, originate the discoveries in lite-
rature, in science and art, both ascending and des-
cending in their effects.
On referring to the first of those changes in pre-
dominant notions or opinions that originate with the
mass of the people, it is to be feared there is material
deterioration within the last generation. There is in
324
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
every direction a distrust of tradespeople, in respect
to their disposition to deceive and overreach, and fre-
quently this disagreeable estimate of character is but
too well founded. Complaints are constantly heard
in family circles of the alteration in the honesty of
shopkeepers within a period comparatively short; of
their readiness to take advantage of inexperience or
credulous ignorance; of the intrinsic inferiority of
their wares compared with their warranty; and diffi-
culty is alleged to be experienced in finding respect-
able shops, where implicit reliance can be placed
the statements of the vendor in regard to purchases,
when there is no opportunity for personal scrutiny
and examination. On the part of working trades-
people the deterioration is probably worse. If a
mechanic be called in to perform the smallest job or
service, he is sure to procrastinate its performance
three times longer than is required. A species of
smooth deceit prevails generally amongst this class
whenever their services are required; and this in-
cipient dishonesty mostly passes for cleverness
amongst their own fellows, causing further deteriora-
tion of character. This disposition exercises deplor-
able consequences upon many important relations of
society; it occasions these people to be distrusted by
all who employ them; it destroys sympathy; induces
an unfavourable opinion to be formed of human na-
ture; causes persons in all spheres of life to view
their fellow man as disposed to take advantage; and
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY,
325
the suspicion of others too frequently reacts and at-
taches moral delinquency to the censuring parties
themselves.
These are melancholy evils, and deeply is that state
of society to be deplored where such moral degrada-
tion has made any considerable progress, and where
national manners in the aggregate are imbued with a
disposition to worldly cunning and deceit.
But on
examination it will be found that this action on opi-
nions and national character originates from the state
of commercial prosperity, and the rewards which are
given for services of all kinds. Whenever there is
the disproportion, for example, of three candidates
for the performance of one service, we may rest as-
sured that some of the bad feelings of human nature
will be conspicuously displayed. Men in affluent or
comfortable circumstances are naturally indolent ;
they do not use much discrimination, or closely inves-
tigate the moral characters of those soliciting employ-
meut. Hence those tradespeople who resort to deceit.
are most likely to attain their ends, and persons of
property must not complain, certainly they should
not be surprised, when, after the lapse of a certain
time, they discover that the whole tone of manners of
the working classes is vitiated, by the absence of
veracity in every transaction of business. For these
evils there is no cure but the one--improvement in
commercial prosperity. These are strictly worldly
aflairs, and any hope to cure them, by didactic ha-
rangues from the moral chair or the pulpit, indicates
326
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
extreme weakness, and merits the designation of that
term, generally attached, in public life, to a speaker
when his matter is neither very original nor enter-
taining. The means of cure consist in removing the
temptation to dissimulation, by creating a higher
reward for services of all kinds. Intrinsically, there-
fore, the difficulty is not so disheartening, and, since
we have endeavoured to set forth the remedies, we
shall be the more readily pardoned by the majority
of these classes themselves, for speaking plainly in
respect to their moral deterioration forced on them
by uncontrollable circumstances.
As to those changes in opinions, manners, and na-
tional sentiments, which descend from the higher
classes, they are more intractable in management, in
case severe correction was requisite; but it is really
difficult to discover any absolute deterioration which
has ensued within the last generation. The principle
of honour is quite as strong, conjugal fidelity does not
seem weakened, gaming is rather declined, the grosser
vices are quite exploded, and, it is questionable, if a
decent regard for religion has at all decreased, not-
withstanding the loud censure, which zealots fre-
quently indulge, in respect to the infidelity and immo-
rality of the age. There is certainly much superior
refinement; and if there be not distinguished mental
cultivation amongst the nobility and higher gentry
themselves, there is at least superior homage granted
to talent and intellectual endowments. Even the
most disagreeable, if not the most censurable, feature
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
327
of English manners, the unsocial pride, the sullen re-
serve, and want of dignified courtesy, compared with
the polished classes of other nations, does not originate
with the higher classes, or the real aristocracy of the
country. It is a curious circumstance, that this re-
pulsive manner, which frequently excites the smile, not
only of the philosopher, but of the accomplished man
of the world, is a natural characteristic of all societies
in which there are sudden rises from comparative ob-
scurity to station and affluence. A successful debu-
tant from the lower stages of life, on reaching emi-
nence, finds himself for a time ill at ease; he is shy in
his manner; he is apprehensive of being slighted in his
new sphere; and he adopts a formal stiffness, as the
only means known to him of exhibiting his sense of
importance. The contact with such persons, on the
part of the hereditary aristocracy, gives an injurious.
tinge to their own manners in return; their advances
are probably not received with suitable courtesy; and,
in their own defence, they are constrained to adopt
similar reserve, which, perhaps, would never have
been assumed, had the prosperity of the country been
less, or had society been less chequered with great
changes, by the creation of new families and heredi-
tary honours.
This tone of society, though not apparently inflict-
ing much serious injury upon the community, yet cer-
tainly militates greatly against the agreeableness of
life, and prevents that general flow of sympathy which
is indispensable to genuine happiness. It, and all
328
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
vices originating from the higher classes as the foun-
tain source in determining much of the national cha-
racter, and which, after every palliation, we must still
admit to be numerous, can only be corrected by im-
proved education; not merely the education of the
schools, but the education of the world; the educa-
tion, in short, which influences the conduct of young
men of condition, after the performance of their uni-
versity task, when they commence their morning ride
or other recreation, and fashion their manners, opi-
nions, and sentiments, according to the external cir-
cumstances by which they are surrounded. We may,
indeed, pronounce that a mighty defect exists some-
where, when the education within college walls, in
regard to the notions and principles imbibed, is point-
edly different from the education without, when the
free spontaneous notions and sentiments of the man of
the world are exhibited. Universities cannot, it is said,
form morals, principles, or character in general, be-
cause these are learned in the peculiar class or circle
of society in which a student moves.
He acquires
from this circle the prevalent sentiments of the times,
in thought and in action, by assimilation and conta-
gion. But though real notions of life are thus learned
in a different school, still proper training may create a
greater tendency in the mind for the reception of com-
mendable opinions, and sound principles, determining
the general character; and when the finishing semi-
naries of education fail in performing this service,
they foster dissimulation, and a disposition to view
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
329
In
ethical precepts with indifference. All our universi-
ties are now in this predicament; imperfect means, it
must be admitted, are employed to form general cha-
racter; and, probably, of the various sequences of
thought which influence human action in mature life,
not one in ten is traceable to that species of instruc-
tion which ought to be acquired at college in early
life, when the mind is susceptible and ardent.
respect to principles and opinions, all is matter of
chance, and depends entirely on the tone of society
with which the student has mingled. A completely
new æra, therefore, in education is not uncalled for at
the present time, not only to give an impetus to lite-
rature, but to establish an amended system for the
formation of character, which, difficult as the process
may seem, is not utterly unattainable. With a view
of facilitating the introduction of this seminal amelio-
ration, it would be expedient to create new universities,
upon a scale adapted to the condition of the age; which
will not only teach the ordinary precepts of learning,
and train the intellectual faculties to a high exercise
of their powers, but which will establish a foundation
for the growth of sound morals, generous principles
of honour, and those thousand qualities of the mind
which give man an elevated place in the opinions of
his fellows, securing good understanding and steady
reliance in many important affairs of life, but which
can never be embodied, in a code of jurisprudence,
or in the precepts of religion. Let universities be
established at York, Winchester, or any suitable
330
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
place in the South of England, and at Belfast, in
Ireland, upon a large scale, empowered to grant de-
grees and collegiate honours of all kinds; standing
out in advance of the age, in regard to their mode of
tuition, course, and objects of learning; conveying a
new impress upon the current of thought; and infusing
fresh vigour into the seminaries of learning at present
established. The beneficial consequences resulting
to society, from this comprehensive proceeding would
be immeasurably greater than what attaches merely
to the persons instructed. The most powerful minds
of the age, who stand in the van of knowledge, would
be braced by the competition; and the important
works which must necessarily appear, by various can-
didates for professorships, and similar situations,
would prodigiously increase the knowledge and men-
tal attainments of the present and succeeding genera-
tion. The more minds which can be placed at the
furthest point of intellectual eminence, of course the
greater probability is there of a second Bacon or
Newton arising, to achieve at one bound the unlock-
ing of fresh treasures which nature has in store; and
it is difficult even for the imagination to picture the
ulterior results upon society, if an emulative spirit in
the pursuit of fame displayed itself in various parts,
restoring to the British Isles their pristine glories in
science.
When these effects upon society have operated, then
possibly may we be able to compass, and not one in-
stant before, that highest and most difficult part of
¿
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
331
human accomplishment, the creation of a form of
civil government, giving equal protection and secu-
rity to all classes of the people; freely tolerating in
spirit as well as in act every diversity of opinion, those
seemingly arbitrary, and those seemingly liberal; and
containing within itself a code of laws adequate to the
conservation of justice, order, private and public
rights, security of property, and protection against op-
pression in all its forms, against the stones of a mob,
the shafts of concealed slanderers or assassins, as well
as the sabres of soldiers. Mankind is not by any
means sufficiently advanced for the attainment of this
high species of government. Many experiments must
yet be made, and many blunders be committed, in
an intermediate state of probation, which we deno-
minated the second stage of political knowledge.
Patience, as we then observed, alone is required;
for sooner or later, unless some portentous calamity
afflict the human race, the means of attaining this
end, if not discovered in perfection, will be at least
immeasurably improved.
In the mean time, may we venture to bestow one
general counsel to all nations, respecting the surest
mode of quickening the discovery itself, and of eli-
citing its full advantages. Let the relations of the
social system be fostered in their utmost purity, let
the domestic government of families be conducted
in the wisest, most regular, and beneficent manner.
This subsidiary discipline and control is indispensable
to the perfect developement of what should be merely
332
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
a wider circle of the same great principle-mutual
restraint and forbearance, in order that a greater de-
gree of common liberty or benefit may be enjoyed by
all. Let the relations between husband and wife,
parent and child, master and servant, guardian and
ward, be maintained in conformity with principles of
pure morality, with a spirit of reciprocal obligation,
and all that nice dependance of the various parts upon
each other, which constitutes the perfection of the
social system. Man must learn to obey, before he is
suited to command; and we may rest assured, that
civil liberty itself will always be best understood, best
practised, and enjoyed with superior zest, by those
who have early learnt to bridle their passions, and to
obey with instinctive promptitude the duties of do-
mestic life. When men, in their early years, have
passed through a period of moral discipline, they are
aware of its advantages in mature manhood; and
knowing from superior reflection the consequences of
violence of any kind, they are disposed to check it in
others. In a village of Scotland, for example, uncon-
taminated by pernicious example, the inhabitants long
accustomed to order, definite duties, and reciprocal ob-
ligations, would probably continue in their accustomed
course, enjoying as much real liberty as ever yet has
been the lot of mankind, though an entire revolution
should happen in London, the executive government be
at an end, and no existing authority responsible for the
immediate actions of subordinate agents. The natural
dependence of all parts of the social machine would
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
333
preserve their order: children would continue do-
cile, servants obedient, and in the emergency an in-
stinctive feeling would display itself amongst all the
inhabitants, without a magistrate, a constable, still less
a soldier or rude instrument of force, to consult the
wisest heads in the vicinage as to the definite line of
action. In a similar village in France, were the
executive authority to cease, all would be anarchy
and tumult; the women would be writing political
letters, the children unruly, and anticipating the ex-
citement of some bloody scene with unnatural joy,
and every servant would consider himself quite as
competent to decide in respect to proper proceedings
as his master; indeed many would consider their ta-
lents quite adequate to direct the helm of state in the
surrounding storm. In this case, amid the deafening
sounds of political rights, force, strong physical force,
would be required to keep the people in reasonable
subjection; the materials for gratuitous obedience are
unknown; and, indeed, a magistrate or civil func-
tionary of any kind, attempting to control disorder,
would be openly ridiculed. No! when once the moral
spirit is destroyed, high civilization only heightens
the public deformity, and amongst such a people
liberty and the bayonet go hand in hand together.
Under this contrast is it difficult to speculate on final
consequences? Order and genuine freedom may
exist in the one country for ages, every generation,
in truth, giving fresh roots to the emblematic tree,
and enabling it to bear its blossoms with undiminished
334
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
vigour and beauty. The other will inevitably be-
hold her boasted hopes end under the dominion of
one man, who issues his mandates with an obdurate
heart, and executes them with an iron hand. The
whole of the moderate, the comparatively feeble, and
also those possessed of property, acquiesce in this
single rule, as preferable to the domination of many.
Such most probably will be the fate of France, from
the defects in the foundation stone of freedom, from
the want of a virtuous social system. A second Ro-
man Empire, it is to be feared, will ere long appear,
devoid of the external power, but possessing all the
internal corruption. Prophecies are, no doubt, dan-
gerous, but unless the social system, even of America,
be altered, and strict discipline prevail in important
relations of life, now lax in the extreme, she will find
a woeful difference in her vaunted liberty, when her
territory is fully peopled, and comprehensive laws
are required to restrain the acts of those unpossessed
of property. The wealthy, for the security of order,
will then be ready to strengthen, indeed to frame, a
new executive, to preserve their possessions from
violent aggression.
While such are the prospects abroad, England may
yet retrieve her falling fortunes, and emerge from
the dangers by which she is surrounded, by the
comparative excellence of her social system, though
susceptible of much higher improvement. The exist-
ing period, few will dispute, is pregnant with alarm,
but still every danger may be surmounted, if the
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
335
virtuous permit not passive indifference to public
matters to influence their conduct, but stand boldly
forward, notwithstanding trouble, abuse, or obloquy,
and thus stamp the impress of the nation's genuine
character upon public proceedings. At present, when
that much abused term the people is heard in poli-
tical discussion, it frequently is to be interpreted as
excluding the moderate, the industrious, and the vir
tuous amongst the artisans, as well as those pos-
sessed of property. Let agitators of every kind be
undeceived, and let all conspicuous for moral worth
shake off their lethargy, in order that reason and vir-
tue in public proceedings may resume their ascend-
ency. Passive neutrality at the present time is pecu-
liarly censurable. Every real patriot should enter
the political arena to strengthen the enlightened legis-
lator in enacting important measures, which sometimes
are of most difficult accomplishment, unless there be
strong encouragement from without to sway the popu-
lar opinion. The British people may rest assured
that, for many years to come, it will be wise to con-
fine their attention to practical legislation affecting
the business of life, not only as the most immediately
desirable, but as the surest and speediest mode of
effecting a settlement of many abstract questions of
political rights, which seem now in fashion. They
do deceive, very greatly deceive themselves, if they
imagine that their present constitution is even a near
approach to a perfect form of government, compared
to what will be hereafter discovered. But, rudely
336
PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.
constructed as it is, it will perform all requisite func-
tions for one or two generations. If prosperity again
appear, ere that time elapses, there will be great
change, and probably efforts will be made to procure,
in public assemblies, the representation of mind-a
very different question from the representation of
either property or numbers.
THE END.
CHARLES WHITTINGHAM, TOOKS Court,
CHANCERY LANE.

UNIV

OCT 27 1933
:
UNIV OF MOR
LIBRARY
\
ཡརམནམགན་བ་མ་