ALBERT R. MANN 
 LIBRARY 
 
 New York State Colleges 
 
 of 
 
 Agriculture and Home Economics 
 
 AT 
 
 Cornell University 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
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THE 
 
 TRUE LAW 
 
 POPULATION 
 
 SHEWN TO BE CONNECTED WITH THE 
 
 FOOD OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 BY THOMAS DOUBLEDAY, 
 
 AUTHOR Off " FINANCIAL HISTOBY OP ENGLAND ;" " MUNDANE MORAL 
 GOVERNMENT," &C, &C. 
 
 But the more they afflicted them the more they multiplied ami 
 grew." — Exodus. 
 
 " Old Families last not three oaks." — Sir Thomas Browne. 
 
 " Steriliora cuncta pinguia, et in marihus et in feminis."— Pliny. 
 
 THIRD AND ENLARGED EDITION, 
 WITH A POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 LONDON: 
 SMITH, ELDER & Co., 65, CORNHILL. 
 
 BOMBAY : SMITH, TAYLOR & Co. 
 1853. 
 
HBS71 . 
 D72. N 
 
 ouuir 
 
 PAINTED BT B. D. COUSINS, HELMET COURT, STRAND. LONDON. 
 
 /O r '■'', i-f 1 - I "■' 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In venturing to bring a third and enlarged 
 edition of the following work before the public, 
 its author has little of prefatory matter to 
 adduce. Having, from the first, aimed to build 
 an hypothesis upon the sure foundation of a 
 multitude of facts, all pointing one way and all 
 corroborating each other, his sole attempt in 
 the present volume has been to add to the 
 number of these facts. Without such a founda- 
 tion is this, theory, however plausible, is of 
 little value. In his quest of materials, therefore, 
 the author has not been sparing of research; 
 and with the more prominent proofs of the 
 universality of the principles laid down, he has 
 not hesitated to note the minutest truths that 
 seem to bear upon the question. Of the theory 
 itself, as originally put before the world, he has 
 nothing to retract nor to alter ; nor has he any- 
 thing to add to it. To the principles of increase 
 
IV PKEFACB. 
 
 and of decrease amongst mankind, as well as 
 throughout the animal and vegetable world, as 
 originally stated in the first edition of this 
 Essay, he entirely adheres. The additions made 
 are those of corroborative facts only, to the store 
 of which time is constantly adding. 
 
 In the Postscript of the present edition, the 
 reader will find brief replies to the objections 
 brought against this theory, since the period of 
 its first publication. These objections are em- 
 bodied in the Report upon the first edition of 
 this work, laid before the French Institute by 
 M. Villerme, and in an article in a recently 
 published number of the new series of the 
 "Westminster Review," since republished sepa- 
 rately. How far such objections have suc- 
 ceeded in invalidating any portion of this 
 work the reader must judge ; and in his reader's 
 hands the author confidently leaves the final 
 decision. 
 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, August 1st, 1853. 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 Of the following work, the author may justly 
 affirm, that perhaps no treatise, embodying a 
 theory of a novel and, at first sight, somewhat 
 singular nature, was ever begun with fewer pre- 
 judices or preconceived notions relative to it, on 
 the part of the writer. It was indeed purely by 
 accident that the author was brought upon the 
 train of thought, which being pursued in all its 
 ramifications, resulted in the present work. He 
 by no means intends, of course, to assert that 
 he had not at one time or other examined the 
 various theories that have been put forth on the 
 puzzling subject of Population, nor to deny that 
 
VI PREFACE TO 
 
 he may have been bewildered by some and 
 staggered by others. Still, for many years, this 
 subject and the various views of it by various 
 writers, had been put aside as it were by him, as 
 matters with regard to which he was neither 
 prepared to record an assent or dissent : nor was 
 his scepticism lessened by the following admo- 
 nition : — Happening, in the presence of a 
 relative, long since deceased, remarkable both 
 for the sagacity and extended benevolence of 
 his general views on philosophical subjects, to 
 draw some of those startling, though not illo- 
 gical, conclusions which seemed to flow from 
 theories then recently broached as to this 
 subject, and much in vogue at the time, the 
 reply was this: — "Depend upon it, my dear 
 nephew, that you and *I may safely decline to 
 yield an implicit assent, though we may not on 
 the instant be able to refute them, to views, from 
 which consequences such as you have drawn, 
 legitimately flow. Though I may not live to see 
 it, nor you, a time will yet come when this mys- 
 
THE FIRST EDITION. VU 
 
 tery will be unveiled ; and when, a perhaps now 
 mysterious, but, beyond doubt, a beneficent law 
 will be discovered, regulating this matter, in ac- 
 cordance with all the rest that we see of God's 
 moral government of the world." This judgment, 
 delivered with a solemnity and earnestness rather 
 unusual with the speaker, made a deep im- 
 pression, and from that time forward, and for 
 many years after, the author regarded the question 
 of population as one of those insoluble problems 
 which are put in his way to humble the intellec- 
 tual pride of man, but at the same time to 
 stimulate his inquiry into the laws of his own 
 nature and of the creation around him, with a 
 humble reliance that, as heretofore, everything 
 which shall be unfolded will only show forth, 
 more and more, the wisdom and benevolence of 
 the great Architect of all things. 
 
 Chance, the author of these sheets has already 
 said, led him to stumble upon the chain of 
 reasoning which, with its results, he now ven- 
 
viii PREFACE TO 
 
 tures to lay before the Public. It may on that 
 account probably be more easy to be believed 
 by his readers, that, entering upon his researches 
 without any preconceived opinions or views as 
 to the shape which they were to take, or the 
 goal at which they were to arrive, he followed 
 the clew of evidence with the sole wish of 
 arriving, if possible, at the truth, unembarrassed 
 by any accompanying considerations as to the 
 bearings of that truth when discovered ; being 
 well convinced, where they are the bearings of 
 truth, they must be good. In the course of 
 this inquiry, however, be it . begun under what 
 circumstances it might, it has certainly been 
 impossible for an inquirer not to perceive, from 
 time to time, that the positions necessarily 
 arrived at sometimes as necessarily involved 
 considerations connected with the general policy 
 of nations, and the acts of governments. This 
 could not be avoided, because this is involved in 
 the nature of the subject itself. When, however, 
 the author has deemed it proper to draw collateral 
 
THE FIRST EDITION. IX 
 
 conclusions, as requisite to the full and complete 
 elucidation of his subject, he has adhered to 
 the rule of only deducing such general con- 
 clusions as were plainly requisite for that 
 purpose. Even of such conclusions he has 
 drawn as few as possible ; partly from the 
 conviction that to load a general argument with 
 minute collateral inference is ill judegd in the 
 reasoner who does so ; and partly from a wish 
 to keep his essay clear of those party conclu- 
 sions, or political feelings, which, often as they 
 have assisted to mar philosophical discussion, 
 have never yet advanced it one single step. 
 
 Although, however, he disclaims any regard 
 foreign to that for the truth, which ought to 
 actuate all writers, as mingling itself with his 
 piirsuit of the truth as to this question, the 
 author yet is not disposed to deny that he felt 
 both strengthened and encouraged in this course 
 by the discovery that, as he proceeded step by 
 step, the facts, as they unfolded themselves, 
 
X PBEFACE TO 
 
 accorded with his general convictions of the 
 benevolence of the Deity, and the wonderful 
 providence by which, under the agency of an 
 unseen law, unrecognised and unthought of, the 
 happiness of mankind is often regulated and 
 achieved upon a scale of moral government, 
 of which the human eye can only see portions, 
 and which the human intellect can only compre- 
 hend in part. It has, indeed, ever been his creed 
 that the philosophy, which is in admitted ac- 
 cordance with that benevolence which is the first 
 attribute of that great Being, whose ways, how- 
 ever, are of necessity often inscrutable by His 
 creatures, has at all events the weight of a priori 
 recommendation in its favour; for, although 
 that which may, to imperfect observers, seem 
 to militate against God's providence may be 
 true, that which accords with it must, as 
 far as such accordance is concerned; and it 
 must ever be the case with paradoxes which 
 seem exceptions to the laws of Providence, that 
 they involve in themselves a contradiction 
 
THE FIRST EDITION. XI 
 
 which, on the first showing, destroys their own 
 existence; because, upon the postulate of the 
 goodness of God, all reasoning, moral or physical, 
 is ultimately and proximately founded, nor can 
 such exist in connection with its denial. 
 
 The concluding chapter of this volume will 
 be found to treat of a class of subjects as 
 to which the writer is avowedly unlearned. 
 The considerations there detailed were rather 
 forced upon than sought by him ; and being 
 so, he did not deem there was either impro- 
 priety or arrogance in describing views which 
 may very possibly turn out to be erroneous and 
 fanciful, provided they were uncontradicted by 
 the writings of those versed in such know- 
 ledge, and qualified to speak with authority on 
 questions of physiology. As far as the author 
 can ascertain, he has not, in entertaining the 
 peculiar notions there detailed, run counter to 
 any fact laid down and admitted by physiolo- 
 gists or nosologists ; and, therefore, neither 
 
xii PREFACE TO 
 
 coming, nor desirous to come, in collision with 
 any one, he may be readily pardoned for having, 
 perhaps rashly, taken up views which, if they 
 are unfounded, are at all events innocuous, 
 inasmuch as, if not scientific in themselves, 
 they do not seem to interfere with the science 
 of others. If they do not help the author's 
 argument, he trusts they may not hurt it, being 
 in themselves perfectly extrinsic ; and if true, 
 only calculated to account for facts which have 
 been already demonstrated. 
 
 Having commenced this work in a spirit of 
 calm and candid inquiry, the author has judged 
 it proper, if not necessary, to keep his style 
 somewhat in accordance with his subject-matter, 
 and to write plainly, upon a dry, though im- 
 portant question. He is an inquirer, and not 
 a partisan ; and therefore, happily, as he deems 
 it, excused from attempting either to recom- 
 mend his theme by eloquence or the artifices 
 of rhetoric, or to adorn it by the extraneous 
 
THE FIRST EDITION. xiii 
 
 ornaments of figurative or florid composition. He 
 trusts the judicious reader will not permit this to 
 operate to his disadvantage, but the contrary ; 
 and whilst treating a subject like this now 
 under discussion, he cannot but think that he 
 who would judge of his book from the ornaments 
 of style it might or may not contain, is 
 adopting a criterion little less strange, on such 
 an occasion, than that of Heliogabalus, who is 
 said to have formed his opinion of the City of 
 Rome from the great quantity of cobwebs that 
 were found in it. 
 
 In fine, this book is not addressed to any 
 persons professing any particular set of opinions, 
 philosophical, religious, or political ; but to the 
 thinking, the candid, and the good of all sects, 
 persuasions, and parties, whosoever and where- 
 soever they may be. In their hands the writer 
 respectfully leaves it, assured that,, whatever the 
 judgment of the Public may be as to its matter 
 and argument, his motives will be respected and 
 
xiv PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 his attempt unblamed, even by those by whom its 
 failure, if a failure it be, may not be lamented. 
 
 It may be proper, in conclusion, to add, 
 that the present volume has in part owed its 
 existence to the attention which an outline of 
 the theory now attempted to be established, 
 given in Blackwood's Magazine for March 1837, 
 under the title of "A Letter to the Right 
 Honourable Lord Brougham," excited at the 
 time of its publication. The author can only 
 hope that the call which was at that time made 
 for his more mature opinions upon the subject, 
 in an enlarged form, may not remain unechoed 
 now that the call is responded to by him ; 
 and that the attention which was awarded 
 to the sketch' of 1837, may not be refused 
 to the volume of 1841. 
 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, March Oth, 1841. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A few introductory Statements and Reflections 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Law of Increase and Decrease in the Vege- 
 table and Animal Kingdoms ... 9 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Law of Increase and Decrease of the race of 
 
 Mankind 19 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Law of Increase and Decrease, as amongst 
 
 limited Bodies of Men, exemplified . . 35 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Law of Increase and Decrease as exemplified 
 
 amongst Nations 92 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Minor Proofe, not included in the foregoing 
 
 chapters 168 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Argument from the Solution of some Historical 
 
 Difficulties I 88 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Argument from the Revenue . . * . 236 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Argument from the recent Decrease of the quan- 
 tity of Animal Food consumed in England . 242 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Argument from the current Opinions of Mankind 
 
 in past time 256 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Consideration of the Internal Evidence for this 
 
 Theory 300 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Some additional collateral Considerations, and 
 
 Addenda 322 
 
 POSTSCRIPT 
 To the Second Edition i 
 
 POSTSCRIPT 
 To the Third Edition . xx j 
 
THE 
 
 TRUE LAW OF POPULATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A FEW INTRODUCTORY STATEMENTS AND 
 REFLECTIONS. 
 
 The Law of Population is undoubtedly one of 
 the most important questions that can be sub- 
 mitted to human reason. On a cursory or 
 superficial view, it may seem to be the contrary 
 of this. Whilst so much of the earth remains 
 uncultivated and untouched by the hand of man, 
 and whilst that which is so touched is so imper- 
 fectly dealt with, it may appear rather a curious 
 than a natural anxiety to sum up the actual or 
 probable numbers of mankind, and still more so 
 
 B 
 
2 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 to anticipate evils from a superflux of population. 
 Jo the near and patient inquirer, however, 
 appearances are different. 
 
 If it be true that the inhabitants of any country 
 or of all countries tend perpetually by their in- 
 crease to outstrip their means of subsistence, the 
 evil consequences of such a state of things must, 
 at all times and continually, be felt with more 
 or less of severity ; it is of no avail to say that 
 the earth can or will, if properly cultivated, afford 
 ample subsistence for all that have ever yet lived 
 upon its surface. It has not been so cultivated; 
 the increase of food, so far from having been 
 pushed up to those limits which some writers 
 have, and perhaps not improperly, assigned as 
 the highest possible, has in most countries been 
 little better than stationary. The question is, 
 therefore, Has the tendency of living beings ra- 
 pidly to increase been existing through all this 
 foregone period, unchecked by anything but the 
 mere want of corresponding subsistence for those 
 who should be bornl If it has, then, as it ap- 
 pears to the author, a constant state of suffering, 
 more or less mitigated by various national cir- 
 cumstances, must have existed in all times past, 
 or nearly so. If it has not (as the author of thi? 
 volume affirms it has not), the onus is to show 
 
OP POPULATION. 3 
 
 what other principle has operated to check 
 population from time to time, to prove the exis- 
 tence of such a principle, and to point out the 
 times, the places, and the mode of its operation. 
 To establish and explain this principle is the 
 object of the following sheets. The immense 
 importance of the subject, may, it is hoped, ex- 
 cuse and help to overcome the dryness of some 
 of the details ; nor will the candid reader, on a 
 topic at once so mysterious, and hitherto unex- 
 plained, suffer himself to be startled or turned 
 aside by the apparent strangeness of the first 
 enunciations of views on this subject (as the au- 
 thor conceives), nearly altogether new, and of facts 
 certainly brought together and laid before the 
 public in their present form for the first time. 
 
 It can hardly be expected of any one writing 
 of matters so abstruse, that he should extract 
 from them other entertainment than such sub- 
 jects are in themselves calculated to produce. 
 He can only, as a matter of prudent adventure, 
 attempt to place the different points in as clear 
 a light as possible, and with as little waste as 
 may be, of the time and patience of his readers : 
 elucidating where he can, all that is naturally 
 involved or dark, and curtailing where he can, 
 all that is naturally diffuse or voluminous. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 It is not necessary, nor would it indeed expe- 
 dite the purposes of clear arrangement . or lucid 
 reasoning, to state in this part of the present 
 work the accidental causes which led the author 
 to the following inquiry. Suffice it at present to 
 say, these causes were the result of another 
 inquiry, so far collaterally bearing upon the sub- 
 ject now under discussion, as to throw a sudden 
 light upon its fundamental principles, including 
 as it did, a portion of the proofs of the reality, of 
 those principles. Nor was the author dissatisfied, 
 but quite the contrary, with the manner in which 
 he was thus accidentally led to the road which he 
 has followed. In matters of reasoning, it is 
 upon the whole better to discover a track acci- 
 dentally than after search for it ; because in the 
 former case the imagination is in abeyance, and 
 unconcerned in the result. 
 
 When men eagerly seek for a theory, they are 
 too prone to hope they have found the true one, 
 and it is needless to say that we are too ready to 
 believe that which we earnestly wish. A dis- 
 covery by accident, on the other hand, comes 
 recommended only by itself: as no credit is 
 sought for sagacity, and no reward for ingenuity 
 expected, fancy, at all events, is not moved to 
 interfere. The pleasure which alone is due to 
 
OF POPULATION. 5 
 
 the discovery of truth, is not so liable to be given 
 to that self-love which deceives us into the idea 
 that such discovery is ours as matter of merit, 
 because it has come unsought, and of course 
 unanticipated. Such was the case with the con- 
 templation of natural facts which led the author 
 to attempt this exhibition of them, and being so, 
 he trusts the remark is neither irrelevant nor 
 useless. 
 
 In order to come in the clearest and fairest 
 manner to the subject of this essay, the author 
 deems the following to be the most advisable 
 course. To state, first, in the tersest and at 
 the same time, most lucid manner he can, the 
 law by which he supposes population to be 
 governed and regulated ; next, to prove the 
 existence and operation of this law from such 
 facts as he has collected, which in his opinion 
 tend to demonstrate either or both of these 
 points. The great general law then, which, 
 as it seems, really regulates the increase or 
 decrease both of vegetable and of animal life, 
 is this, that whenever a species or genus is endan- 
 gered, a corresponding effort is invariably made 
 by nature for its preservation and continuance, 
 by an increase of fecundity or fertility; and that 
 this especially takes place whenever such danger 
 
6 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 arises from a diminution of proper nourishment 
 or food, so that consequently the state of deploy 
 tion, or the deplethoric state, is favourable, to 
 fertility ; and that on the other hand, the plethoric 
 state, or state of repletion, is unfavourable to 
 fertility, in the ratio of the intensity of each 
 state, and this probably throughout nature uni- 
 versally, in the vegetable as well as the animal 
 world ; further, that as applied to mankind this 
 law produces the following consequences, and 
 acts thus : — 
 
 There is in all societies a constant increase 
 going on amongst that portion of it which is the 
 worst supplied with food ; in shorty amongst the 
 poorest. 
 
 Amongst those in the state of affluence, and 
 well supplied with food and luxuries, a constant 
 decrease goes on. Amongst those who form the 
 mean or medium between these two opposite 
 states — that is to say, amongst those who are 
 tolerably well supplied with good food, and not 
 overworked, nor yet idle — population is sta- 
 tionary. Hence it follows that it is upon the 
 numerical proportion which these three states 
 bear to each other in any society that increase or 
 decrease upon the whole depends. 
 
 In a nation where the affluence is sufficient to 
 
OF POPULATION. 7 
 
 balance, by the decrease which it causes amongst 
 the rich, the increase arising from the poor, 
 population will be stationary. In a nation 
 highly and generally affluent and luxurious, 
 population will decrease and decay. In poor 
 and ill-fed communities, population will increase 
 in the ratio of the poverty, and the consequent 
 deterioration and diminution of the food of a 
 large portion of the members of such com- 
 munities. This is the real and great law of 
 human population, and to show that it unques- 
 tionably is so, must be the aim of the fol- 
 lowing pages. 
 
 In bringing forward the great variety of facts 
 bearing upon this important inquiry, the author 
 will begin with those exhibited by the vegetable 
 kingdom ; he will next proceed to the animal 
 creation, wherein the same principle is more 
 distinctly developed, ending with the human 
 world, the numbers composing which he will 
 prove to ebb and flow as one or other of the 
 different states he has described more or less 
 prevails ; offering, in conclusion, such general 
 reflections as are necessary completely to eluci- 
 date his scheme, and to show not only its 
 wonderful agreement with the state of the world, 
 as it is known to exist and to have existed, but 
 
8 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 its admirable unison with the wisdom and good- 
 ness of that divine Providence which " saw all 
 that it had made," and saw that all was " very 
 good," until marred by the wickedness, the folly, 
 the error, or the ignorance of man. 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 THE LAW OF INCREASE AND DECREASE IN THE 
 VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL KINGDOMS. 
 
 Turning now to the vegetable kingdom, the 
 author would point to the acknowledged existence 
 of this principle in the theory and practice of all 
 Horticulturists, Gardeners, and others engaged 
 in raising trees, shrubs, flowers, and vegetables. 
 It is a fact, admitted by all gardeners as well 
 as botanists, that if a tree, plant, or flower, 
 be placed in mould, either naturally or artificially 
 made too rich for it, a plethoric state is produced, 
 and fruitfulness ceases. Upon trees, the effect of 
 strong manures and over-rich soils is, that they 
 run to superfluous wood, blossom irregularly, 
 and chiefly at the extremities of the outer 
 branches, and almost or entirely cease to bear 
 fruit. 
 
10 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 With flowering shrubs and flowers the effect is, 
 first, that the flower becomes double, and loses its 
 power of producing seed ; next, it ceases almost 
 even to flower. If the application of the 
 stimulus of manure is carried still further, flowers 
 and plants become diseased in the extreme, and 
 speedily die ; thus, by this wise provision of Pro- 
 vidence, the transmission of disease (the certain 
 consequence of the highly plethoric state, 
 whether in plants, animals, or in mankind) is 
 guarded against, and the species shielded from 
 danger on the side of plenty. In order to 
 remedy .this state when accidentally produced, 
 Gardeners and Florists are accustomed, by various 
 devices, to produce the opposite or deplethoric 
 state ; this they familiarly denominate " giving a 
 check." In other words, they put the species 
 in danger in order to produce a correspondingly 
 determined effort of nature to ensure its perpetua- 
 tion, and the end is invariably attained. Thus, in 
 order to make fruit trees bear plentifully, Gar- 
 deners delay or impede the rising of the sap by 
 cutting rings in the bark round the tree. This to 
 the tree is the production of a state of depletion, 
 and the abundance of fruit is the effort of nature 
 to counteract the danger. The fig, when grown in 
 this climate, is particularly liable to drop its fruit 
 
OF POPULATION. 11 
 
 when half matured. This, Gardeners now find 
 can be prevented by pruning the tree so severely 
 as to give it a check ; or, if grown in a pot, by 
 cutting a few inches from its roots all round so 
 as to produce the same effect. The result is, that 
 the tree retains, and carefully matures its fruit. 
 
 In like manner, when a gardener wishes to. 
 save seed from a gourd or cucumber, he does 
 not give the plant an extra quantity of manure 
 or warmth. He does just the contrary : he sub- 
 jects it to some hardship and takes the fruit that 
 is hast fine-looking, foreknowing that it will be 
 filled with seed, whilst the finest fruit are nearly 
 destitute. Upon the same principle, it is a known 
 fact, that after severe and long winters the har- 
 vests are correspondingly rapid and abundant. 
 Vines bear most luxuriantly after being severely 
 tried by frost ; and grass springs in the same 
 extraordinary manner. After the long and try- 
 ing winter of 1836-7, when the snow lay upon 
 the ground in the northern counties until June, 
 the spring of grass was so wonderful as to cause 
 several minute experiments by various persons. 
 The result was, that in a single night of twelve 
 hours the blade of grass was ascertained fre- 
 quently to have advanced full three-quarters of 
 
12 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 an inch ; and wheat and other grain progressed 
 in a similar manner. 
 
 Aware of this beautiful law of preservation, the 
 Florist, when he wishes to ensure the luxuriant 
 flowering of a greenhouse or hothouse shrub or 
 plant, exposes it for a time to the cold. The 
 danger caused by the temperature, too low for 
 the nature of the species of plant, is followed 
 invariably by an effort of nature for its safety, 
 and it flowers luxuriantly ; and if a seed-bearing 
 plant, bears seed accordingly. 
 
 There is another curious modification of this 
 law exhibited by the vegetable creation, and this 
 is, that immediately before the death, or the sud- 
 den cessation of fruitfulness of a tree or shrub, 
 it is observed generally to bear abundantly. This 
 is remarkably the case with the pear and apple 
 when the roots touch the harsh, cold blue clay, 
 or any other soil inimical to the health of the 
 tree. It is a last effort to preserve and per- 
 petuate the species, and is the effect of that 
 state of depletion through which the tree passes 
 to sterility and death. 
 
 The singularly close analogy which these facts 
 bear to that which can be proved, and indeed 
 is well known to take place with the human 
 
OF POPULATION. 13 
 
 female, when fed on insufficient food, or when 
 married too near the usual period of cessation 
 of fertility, will be more fully adverted to in the 
 proper place. In the meantime, what can he 
 more pleasing than to contemplate this beautiful 
 provision of the Governor of all things, by which 
 fruitfulness is increased when the danger arises 
 from insufficient nourishment for the plant or 
 vegetable, and, on the other hand, decreased 
 when the peril springs from a surplusage of what 
 is needful. Thus carefully is the species guarded 
 from extinction by want on one hand, and by 
 implanted disease and vitiated and irregular 
 vegetation on the other — a two-fold distribution 
 of extremes, with a medium of average and 
 moderate fruitfulness between them ; that happy 
 mean being disturbed only for a time to ensure 
 as far as possible a return to it. 
 
 Turning our attention now to the animal crea- 
 tion, this law will be found to be still more 
 distinctly developed, as well as more generally 
 observed and acted upon. 
 
 The practical evidence of the farmer, the 
 grazier, and the breeder of horses, is here cor- 
 roborated by, and, in its turn, helps to prove, 
 the theories of the Physiologist and Natural 
 Historian ; whilst, with the human animal, these 
 
14 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 theories are again demonstrated, both by the 
 theories and practice of the Physician and 
 Pathologist. 
 
 There cannot be a doubt that, with the animal 
 creation — including in that term birds and 
 quadrupeds (of the habits of fish we know little 
 or nothing) — .fecundity is totally checked by 
 the plethoric state, when induced, and increased, 
 and rendered doubly certain, by the existence 
 of the deplethoric or lean state ; whilst a mode- 
 rated prolificness is the effect of the state be- 
 tween the two. This is more or less the case 
 even with the most prolific animals. The rabbit 
 and the swine are extraordinary in this respect ; 
 yet every schoolboy knows that the doe, or 
 female rabbit, and every farmer and breeder 
 knows that the sow will not conceive if fed to 
 a certain height of fatness; and that the number 
 of the progeny is generally in the ratio of the 
 leanness of the animal. All cattle-breeders know 
 the same law to be especially true in the cases 
 of the mare, the cow, and the ewe, with which 
 leanness is indispensable to conception ; and 
 upon their knowledge of this truth they inva- 
 riably act. In the mare this is sometimes 
 evinced in an extraordinary degree. A friend 
 of the author, who, being of the medical pro- 
 
OF POPULATION. 15 
 
 fession, is peculiarly observant of all cases of this 
 nature, has assured him that he has known a 
 highly-bred blood mare, which, for a length of 
 time, appeared to be incurably barren, and from 
 which the owner was naturally very desirous to 
 obtain a breed, rendered fertile, and ultimately 
 the dam of a numerous progeny, by being put 
 literally to the plough and cart, fed sparingly, 
 and worked down to a state of extreme leanness 
 and temporary exhaustion, by this unusual em- 
 ployment. 
 
 In the sheep, however, this principle of in- 
 crease or decrease is most nicely developed. It 
 is invariably found that, if over-fed, sterility is 
 the consequence. On the other hand, in accor- 
 dance with the leanness of the animal, a produce 
 of one, two, or three lambs takes place. Upon 
 their knowledge of this fact the improvers of the 
 breed of this animal are accustomed to act. In 
 order to afford the best chance of a perfect 
 animal, it is believed that a produce of one lamb 
 at a birth is desirable ; and this the breeders of 
 sheep contrive to secure by apportioning the 
 food of the ewe to such a nicety, that, avoiding 
 sterility on one hand, and a double or triple birth 
 on the other, a single lamb is almost invariably 
 the offspring of the animal so limited. Of the 
 
16 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 effect of " condition" upon the fertility of ani- 
 mals, this seems to be one of the strongest of all 
 possible proofs. It is also a fact known to all 
 stock-farmers, that during severe seasons, when 
 food is scarce, most lambs are, on the average, 
 produced. Mild, open winters are not favourable 
 to the increase of sheep, because, during such 
 winters, grass is plentiful. 
 
 The conflicts that take place amongst all wild 
 grazing animals at the time of rutting or breed- 
 ing are no doubt intended for the same end — to 
 lower their condition to the prolific point. 
 
 Upon birds the same state of plethora produces 
 similar defertilising effects. This is well known 
 to be the case with domestic poultry, of which 
 the little familiar French fable of " Une Femme 
 et sa Poule" is an amusing evidence. The good 
 dame, desirous of an increased supply of eggs, 
 crams the poor pullet with double rations of 
 grain. The hen, as well she may, becomes enor- 
 mously fat (fort grassej, and the consequence is, 
 that not another egg will she lay. With other 
 domesticated fowls, similar causes are known 
 to produce similar effects. Tame pigeons will 
 not increase if pampered with an unlimited quan- 
 tity of food ; and to stop the produce of the 
 pigeon-house it is equally effectual to cram them 
 
OF POPULATION. 17 
 
 with victuals or to deny it altogether ; in which 
 latter case, inexpert in the art of catering or 
 feeding, they are compelled to wander so long 
 and far in search of it, and are altogether so 
 ignorant of their duty, that they cannot supply 
 their young ones ; in the former they have none 
 to supply. 
 
 Upon the whole, there can hardly be a doubt 
 that as far as the vegetable creation and the 
 lower animals are concerned, the rule is palpable 
 and invariable, that over-manuring and over- 
 feeding check increase ; whilst, on the other hand, 
 a limited or deficient nutriment stimulates and 
 adds to it. In support of the truth of this law 
 we have the united testimony of the cultivators 
 of the ground, of all grades and descriptions, 
 and of the numerous persons who make it the 
 business of their lives to superintend the breeding 
 of animals. The facts supported by these testi- 
 monies do not appear in books, nor are much 
 regarded, save by those whose livelihood depends 
 upon their knowledge of them. They are, 
 however, confirmed to be truths by a series of 
 experience, sufficient to establish anything capa- 
 ble of being demonstrated by evidence. That 
 they have not been thought to be of that value 
 which they really are, is not extraordinary. The 
 
18 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 persons cognizant of them never dreamed of 
 reasoning further, not having the slightest idea 
 of the existence of any controversy upon which 
 such facts might be supposed to be capable of 
 throwing light. The long state of abeyance as 
 matter of reasoning, and as part of the founda- 
 tions upon which conclusions more important 
 were to be built, in which they have been held, 
 does not however detract from their value Many 
 estimable things have been tossed about as rub- 
 bish for centuries, before their real bearings were 
 discovered ; and such has been the fate of these 
 -—no uncommon fate. Millions of men must have 
 witnessed the fall of an apple from its tree, with- 
 out obtaining a hint of the grand principle of the 
 attraction of Gravitation. Yet it is no less 
 certain than true, that, from the effect of this 
 apparently simple circumstance upon the mind 
 of Newton, arose the " Principle" 
 
OF POPULATION. 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE LAW OF INCREASE AND DECREASE OF THE 
 RACE OF MANKIND. 
 
 That the law of Increase or Decrease as above 
 described, is that which acts throughout the 
 vegetable creation, as well as the world of inferior 
 animals up to man, as the regulator of the num- 
 bers of the different species, the author thinks he 
 has shown abundant reasons for supposing. This 
 supposition, however, is not meant by any means 
 to shut out, nor does it at all necessarily shut out, 
 the truth of that assertion which affirms that to 
 different species of animals or plants different 
 capabilities of increase are assigned by Nature. 
 The quantity of seed borne by one plant differs 
 naturally from that borne by another under the 
 most favourable circumstances. The power of 
 increase in some kinds of fish is calculated to be 
 
 C2 
 
20 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 far beyond that of any other animal or vegetable 
 production of Nature. Birds and beasts of 
 prey seem especially also to be more strictly 
 limited by Nature in their powers of increasing 
 their numbers, than those which feed, either in 
 part or altogether, upon vegetables ; for which 
 more than one probable reason shall be assigned 
 in the proper place. All that is meant is, that, be 
 the range of the natural power to increase in any 
 species what it may, the plethoric state invariably 
 checks it, and the deplethoric state invariably 
 developes it ; and that this happens in the exact 
 ratio of the intensity and completeness of each 
 state, until each state be carried so far as to 
 bring about the actual death of the animal or 
 plant itself. 
 
 This law, then, being the regulator of the 
 numbers of all living or semi-living creatures, up 
 to man himself, we now come to the great ques- 
 tion of all, viz : — whether this analogy is con- 
 tinued ; and whether the race of mankind is 
 subject to the same law of fertility, with the rest 
 of that creation at the head of which he seems 
 to stand 1 The author is well aware of one 
 objection, plausible indeed, but the reverse of 
 solid, which will here be urged against him, and it 
 may as well be stated at once, and disposed of. 
 
OF POPULATION. 21 
 
 " What folly is it (will the objector exclaim) 
 to place animals acting on instinct merely, and 
 destitute of mind, properly so called, upon a level 
 with rational man, or to imagine there can be 
 any such analogy as this between creatures so 
 totally dissimilar, and so far removed from each 
 other?" "Reason (it will be said) was given to 
 man for the very purpose of checking and con- 
 trolling his propensities and passions ; and yet 
 this is to be set at nothing — thrown out of the 
 question — a merely gross and animal check 
 substituted for that of the 'mens divinior ;' and 
 men and women are to be fattened into sterility, 
 or starved into fruitfulness, like the stock upon a 
 farm!" 
 
 Now, in reply to this, it is to be observed, that 
 it is not here denied that reason was given to man- 
 kind as a " check" and " control" upon their pas- 
 sions, amongst other things. There is not the 
 slightest intention to deny this directly or indi- 
 rectly, provided the proper and obvious meaning 
 of the term " check," be adhered to. What, then, 
 is the meaning of this verb-active " to check" or 
 to " control V It is the power to withstand an 
 impulse — to hold it in a modified dominion — 
 to regulate its direction and extent of course, as 
 contradistinguished from the power to eradicate, 
 
22 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 to destroy, or totally to keep down or neutralize. 
 This is the meaning of "check" or "control;" 
 and doubtless men's reason may, and does, in all 
 cases, more or less, exercise this power over their 
 passions. No man, however hungry, satisfies his 
 soul at another's board, save by invitation ; no 
 man, however thirsty, ever drinks at another's 
 spring without leave given. But this is the re- 
 gulation, not the extinction, of passions co-exis- 
 tent with human nature itself. 
 
 That the intercourse between the sexes must, 
 in all civilized states of society, be regulated and 
 bound down in various ways, is indisputable and 
 undisputed. But still this is regulation, and 
 not extinction. To be the husband of one wife 
 is a precept salutary in itself ; and which, in a 
 state of imperfect civilization, is violated more in 
 appearance than reality. It is a precept which 
 religion teaches, nature encourages, and common 
 sense ratifies. To modify further would be to 
 extinguish, not to regulate ; and against this 
 ' Nature rises at once in arms, and has decreed 
 that such attempts shall be as vain in effect as 
 they are foolish in imagination. 
 
 There is every reason to believe, that, by a 
 special provision of nature, all attempts to limit 
 the number of children, by delaying to middle- 
 
OF POPULATION. 23 
 
 life the period of marriage, are vain and futile ; 
 inasmuch as the rapidity of conception, at all 
 events, amongst those classes whose manner of 
 living presents no bar to fertility, may be shown 
 to increase in the proportion of the lateness of 
 the time when marriage has taken place. 
 
 This- shall be proved in the course of this 
 essay ; in the meantime the author trusts that 
 he has drawn a distinction which no reader can 
 fail to recognise : viz., that regulation is one thing, 
 extinction, or total denial, another ; that reason 
 is competent to the first, but eschews the second, 
 as a task not to be achieved, and an attempt at 
 domination, against which Nature must ever 
 revolt, and which no sophistry, however subtle, 
 can render for a moment palatable to the com- 
 monest, as well as best feelings of mankind. 
 Having thus cleared the ground of these matters 
 of objection, such as they are, it now remains 
 to go at once into the important part of this 
 treatise, into the pith and marrow of this " great 
 argument," and to show that the law of popula- 
 tion here described applies itself also to mankind 
 and regulates the numbers of human, as it does 
 that of other created beings. 
 
 The best method, as it appears to the author, 
 to effect this, in a manner the most clear and 
 
24 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 distinct, will be, first, to give those general, but 
 striking instances of the existence of this law, 
 which are to be observed in the general history of 
 mankind, ancient and modern. Next, to demon- 
 strate it by reference to limited bodies of men, as. 
 to whose exact history and circumstances we have 
 accurate knowledge ; and then to prove that it is 
 borne out by the actual differences in the condi- 
 tion of nations existing at this day, as shown in 
 the best statistical accounts of that condition. 
 
 Thus we shall first trace those general and 
 striking lights which historical annals chance 
 to afford, and which are the more valuable be- 
 cause they are wholly accidental. 
 
 Next, we shall see these general views accu- 
 rately borne out by more minute accounts of 
 small bodies of men, the requisite minutiae of 
 whose history we have in our power ; and these 
 proofs again we shall find to be remarkably cor- 
 roborated by the actual state of the nations of 
 the world, as at present known — a body of evi- 
 dence so varied in detail, and so overpoweringly 
 tending in one direction, as to constitute little 
 short of positive or direct demonstration. 
 
 One of the oldest traditions of facts, bearing 
 evidence of the truth of this Law of Population, 
 is undoubtedly that which attributes a remarkable 
 
OF POPULATION. 25 
 
 fecundity to the "Icthyophagi," or those nations 
 who lived chiefly upon fish. That this tradition 
 has existed time immemorial, is quite undoubted, 
 and upon it is built the mythological fiction of 
 Venus being sprung from the Sea. Strange mix- 
 ture of fancy with truth ; to the latter of which, 
 however, Aristotle bears testimony ; and which, 
 in point of fact, is admitted and attempted to 
 be accounted for by political economists of the 
 present day. That a fish-diet is the cause of 
 unusual prolificness no one can doubt, who 
 knows anything of the Highlands and Western 
 Islands of Scotland, where the food of the inha- 
 bitants is, in a great measure, derived from the 
 Sea ; where even the eggs of sea-fowls are not 
 eaten, but made an article of traffic ; and where 
 the only animal food tasted by the poorer natives 
 is an occasional "braxie," or sheep, which has 
 died of the rot. Amongst these poor people, a 
 family of from ten to twenty children is by no 
 means an uncommon occurrence, but the con- 
 trary ; and instances of females who have borne 
 above twenty children are far from rare. 
 
 To suppose that a fish-diet is peculiarly the 
 cause of this is absurd ; because, in Ireland, where 
 the diet is vegetable chiefly, and that vegetable 
 the light and watery potato, the same results 
 
26 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 occur. It is notorious that from the Sister Island, 
 as that country is quaintly termed, the great bulk 
 of the cattle and stock of all kinds is exported^ 
 either alive or as salted provisions. It is notorious 
 that such wheat as there is grown shares the 
 same fate, and that the bulk of the people rarely 
 even taste the luxury of a bit of bacon ; and that 
 their exclusive food is the potato, with such sup- 
 plies of fish as their seas and lakes afford them. 
 The consequence of this is, that this beautiful 
 grazing country, by nature intended to be pasto- 
 ral, and which, like other pastoral countries, would 
 have been thinly peopled, had the population 
 been permitted by their landlords to live upon 
 the produce of their own green and rich fields, 
 is over-populated to extent only inferior to that 
 to which China and India are so, where also 
 the use of animal food is equally almost un- 
 known, and where emigration is less frequent. 
 It can indeed hardly be doubted that, but for the 
 continual emigration from Ireland and the High- 
 lands of Scotland, which is perpetually going on, 
 the populousness of these countries would, at no 
 remote period, equal that of India or even 
 China, overflowing with human beings as this 
 last-named immense district has doubtless been 
 for many ages. 
 
OF POPULATION. 27 
 
 Of the antiquity of the observation, that very 
 poor persons are most fruitful of offspring, we 
 have a proof in the Latin word " Proletarius," 
 which is derived from the noun " Proles," — " Off- 
 spring f and which the Romans used to desig- 
 nate the poorest class of citizens, seeing that 
 they gave most children to the republic who had 
 nothing else to give. The French use the same 
 word, "proletaire," in the same sense. 
 
 It may probably here be objected by many 
 readers that this is all " gratuitous assertion ;" 
 that the facts of the populousness of Ireland, the 
 Scotch Highlands, India and China, may be in- 
 controvertible ; that it may be equally undoubted 
 that the food of these countries is vegetable. 
 Still it will be demanded, where is the proof that 
 this fecundity is the effect of the poverty and 
 scarcity of the food of the inhabitants ? — that 
 the child-murders of China, the famines amongst 
 the millions of India, and Ireland, and the 
 Hebrides, are the ultimate effects of rice and 
 potatoes ? 
 
 To this there is a general as well as a parti- 
 cular answer ; and the general answer should 
 first be given. That answer is a, general appeal 
 to the admissions of all medical and physiological 
 authorities of modern, and many of ancient times, 
 
28 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 that such diet has, in fact, .the prolific tendency 
 here ascribed to it ; and a general appeal to exist- 
 ing populations, which are universally found thin 
 in pastoral countries, where the food is animal 
 food chiefly ; denser where it is mixed partly with 
 vegetable aliment ; denser still, where it is vege- 
 table only, but with plenty ; densest of all, where 
 it is vegetable, but with scarcity superadded. 
 
 The evidence of medical men is now unani- 
 mous as to the effect of the plethoric state in 
 checking fecundity in the human female, both by 
 preventing conception and occasioning miscar- 
 riage ; but of the opposite effects produced by a 
 poorer and lower diet, the proofs are commonly 
 known to be perpetual. A curious instance of 
 ancient acknowledgment of this indubitable fact 
 occurs in the " History of the kings of Italy," by 
 Thesaurus ; with annotations by Castiglione. 
 Adverting to the want of heirs experienced by 
 the grandson of Charlemagne, Charles the Fat 
 (Carolus Crassus), the annotator says, "Carlo, 
 per la superchia pinguedine, era sterile." And, 
 as his authority for ascribing the sterility of 
 Charles to his obesity, he quotes Pliny, who, in 
 his Natural History, liber ii, cap. 37, says — 
 " Steriliora cuncta pinguia, et in maribus et in 
 feminis." In a similar spirit of philosophical 
 
OF POPULATION. 29 
 
 observation, Sir John Dalrymple, in his Memoirs, 
 p. 174, ascribes the over-population of Ireland 
 and the seeming apathy, often evinced by the 
 Celtic race in the midst of privations, to the use 
 of meagre diet, from generation to generation. 
 His words are these — " The genius of a nation 
 often depends upon the food upon which they are 
 nourished. The potato plant upon which most 
 pf the common people of Ireland, at that time, 
 subsisted, whilst it increased the population, de- 
 based the character of the nation." Swift, in the 
 same spirit, speaking of a certain class of Irish, 
 says, " Here are ten thousand persons, reduced 
 to the necessity of a low diet and moderate ex- 
 ercise, who are the only great restorers of our 
 breed." Dr. Cheyne, and the older dietetic writers, 
 all notice these facts ; but the accumulative evi- 
 dence is now considered by medical persons as 
 irresistible. 
 
 There are numerous instances where the occur- 
 rence of misfortune, and consequent privations, 
 have given families to those who were childless 
 in their prosperity. Amongst these may be in- 
 stanced, as now living, one of the Russian Princes 
 (Prince Trubetskoi), banished by the Czar, Nicho- 
 las, to Siberia, for conspiring in favour of Con- 
 stantine. His lady followed him in exile. They 
 
30 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 were before childless, but have now a consi- 
 derable family. As elucidating the same law 
 we may adduce another fact well known to medi- 
 cal persons, which is the extraordinary tendencies* 
 to propagation evinced by both sexes when semi- 
 convalescent, after enfeebling and attenuating 
 epidemics, such as fevers, pestilences and plagues; 
 and the consequent extraordinary rapidity with 
 which population recovers itself in those coun- 
 tries where the plague, the marsh fever, or fa- 
 mines, which cause many of these epidemics, have 
 made havoc. 
 
 A general glance at the map of the world, with 
 a general statistical account, will show results 
 corresponding with this law. Thus, in Russia, 
 where butchers' meat is a drug, and vegetable 
 food a luxury, the numbers to the square league 
 are trifling. 
 
 In Poland, France, Italy, and the Low Coun- 
 tries, where the diet is mixed, but plentiful, 
 population is moderately dense. 
 
 In India, in Ireland, and in China, where no 
 animal food almost is eaten, where the vine and 
 the olive are absent, and where oil and wine of 
 course do not make part of the popular diet, 
 the population is excessively dense, and con- 
 stant pauperism and periodical famines form de- 
 cided features in the history of these countries. 
 
OF POPULATION. 31- 
 
 Amongst other writers, Sismondi clearly recog- 
 nizes the fact that poverty and numbers go hand 
 in hand, whilst prosperity and solid living inva- 
 riably check fecundity. In his "Essays on 
 Political Economy," vol. i, page 90, he thus 
 observes : — " The slowness in the increase of a 
 population is most frequently (le plus souvent) 
 an indicator of great prosperity. And this is 
 the more remarkable, because amongst a pros- 
 perous population the average duration of life is 
 largest, and there is no check (founded upon 
 prudential considerations) on the number of mar- 
 riages. Yet here we shall find that the number 
 of deaths approaches the most nearly to an 
 equality with that of births." 
 
 He then mentions Geneva as an instance of 
 this prosperity, and says that " in that city the 
 number of births to a marriage is rather less 
 than three, two of whom replace the father and 
 mother : and the other one (or rather minus — 1) 
 represents those who do not reach the age of mar- 
 riage, or who die in celibacy." He adds, " There 
 is no danger here of that subdivision of property 
 with which we are constantly menaced by the 
 English economists." 
 
 The next instance is one of an exactly opposite 
 character, relating to Ireland. 
 
32 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 " This rapid increase of population (says Sis- 
 mondi) is almost always a signof distress, not of 
 prosperity. It shows that the Proletaire, inca- 
 pable of calculating his resources, or those of 
 his family, is governed only by his animal pro- 
 pensities, and is without either hope or fear of 
 the future. The effect of this abrutissement of 
 the Irish has given an impulse to the population 
 of their country which is without a parallel else- 
 where. In 1836, the Examiner newspaper thus 
 states the census of three different periods: 
 
 PBOTESTAHTS. 
 
 Total population in 1766 . . . 1,871,725 .... 544,865 
 Ditto 1822 . . . 6,800,000 .... 980,000 
 
 Ditto 1834 . . . 7,943,940 .... 752,972 
 
 " The proletaires are almost all Catholics." — 
 Sismondi, Essays, vol i. p. 241. . 
 
 In this statement, copied from the Eocaminer, 
 there is a great error. We shall see, when we 
 glance at the statistics of Ireland, that, in 1767, 
 the hearth-money collectors computed the Irish 
 population at 2,544,276. 
 
 Upon what evidence the proportion of Protes- 
 tants, at different periods, is stated, does not ap- 
 pear; but such statements seem to the author to 
 be unworthy of much credit. It has ever been the 
 aim of the Irish Protestants to swell the amount 
 of their numbers ; whilst the Catholic writers 
 
OF POPULATION. 33 
 
 have as studiously under-rated them. It seems 
 tolerably clear upon the whole, however, that 
 after 1640, owing to the severe treatment which 
 the Irish Catholics experienced, and the efforts 
 of Cromwell and the Puritans to colonize Ire- 
 land with British Presbyterians, the relative num- 
 ber of Protestants to Catholics must have been 
 greater than at any other time. Had the Pro- 
 testants then increased by procreation at the 
 same rate with the Catholics, this relation must 
 have been preserved, or nearly so. All the evi- 
 dence which we have does not, however, tend this 
 way, but the contrary. When the aggregate Irish 
 population was known to be eight millions, the 
 Protestants never claimed more than one and a 
 half million, or a fifth, whilst the Catholics stated 
 them at one million only, or one-eighth ! Upon 
 the general view, then, it must be decided that 
 the Catholics have increased much faster than 
 the Protestants. Nor is this to be wondered at 
 upon the theory now laid down. The fee-simple 
 of the land of Ireland is mostly in Protestant 
 hands. They are a favoured class, and have pos- 
 session of a monopoly of lucrative employments ; 
 their treatment has been totally different. The 
 Protestant tenant is favoured by his landlord, 
 who is sure to be Protestant ; the Protestant 
 
 D 
 
34 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 tradesman has the exclusive custom of the rich ; 
 and, in addition, the Protestants enjoy exclusively 
 all the tithes and Church lands of Ireland, whilst 
 the Catholic proletaire diminishes his miserable 
 pittance to divide it with his priest. 
 
 In these facts is to be found the explanation 
 of the different rate of increase of the two classes 
 of Religionists. 
 
 It is not, however, by mere general views like 
 these that this nice and most important question 
 can be decided ; it must be made minutely and 
 particularly the subject of examination; it must 
 be shown to be true as regards countries and 
 their population, taking each separately, country 
 by country. 
 
 Where different provinces of the same country 
 differ from each other as to population, it must 
 be shown to be in accordance with this law. 
 Where different bodies of men in the same com- 
 munity retrograde, are stationary, or increase in 
 numbers, the same must be proved with regard 
 to such bodies ; for it is only by being borne out 
 and proved to be true, under all these various 
 modifications of society, that the existence of a 
 law which is not only general but invariable, 
 can be satisfactorily proved and demonstrated, 
 To commence this proof shall be the business of 
 the next chapter. 
 
OF POPULATION. 35 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE LAW OF INCREASE AND DECREASE, AS 
 AMONGST LIMITED BODIES OF MEN, EXEMPLI- 
 FIED. 
 
 Looking at bodies of men, one of the most 
 striking facts of all history is the decay to which 
 all systems of nobility, however widely extended 
 these privileges may have been, seem to be sub- 
 jected. " Old families (says that most erudite 
 and curious of all observers, Sir Thomas Browne, 
 in his ' Hydriotaphia') last not three oaks .'" 
 Nothing can be more true. 
 
 Let us take as an instance the Peers and 
 Baronets of Great Britain, and nothing can be 
 more striking than the perpetual decay of a 
 body of men, who, possessing large estates and 
 privileges of the most enviable nature, have had 
 apparently every means as well as every motive 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 to transmit these desirable possessions to lineal 
 heirs. The pride of name, the pride of dominion, 
 the pride of power, all seem to secure the cer- 
 tainty of such transmission ; and yet what has 
 been the reality 1 This it has been — that the 
 Peerage of England, instead of being old, is re- 
 cent, and the Baronetage, though comparatively 
 of modern origin, equally so. In short, that few, 
 if any, of the Norman nobility, and almost as 
 few of the original baronets' families of King 
 James the First, exist at this moment; and that, 
 but for perpetual creations, both orders must 
 have been all but extinct. The following table 
 shows that the great majority of the House of 
 Peers has been created since the year 1 760 ; that 
 is to say, within eighty years of the present 
 time, and since the commencement of the reign 
 of George the Third, whose accession was in the 
 October of that year ; a period within the 
 memory of many now living : — 
 
 The number of Peers in 1837. 
 
 Dukes 
 
 Marquises 
 
 Earls 
 
 Viscounts 
 
 Barons 
 
 21 
 19 
 
 108 
 17 
 
 185 
 
 350 
 Scottish Peers 16 
 Irish Peers . 28 
 
 Total 
 
 394 
 
 Number created since 1760. 
 
 5 Dukes 
 18 Marquises 
 58 Earls 
 13 Viscounts 
 153 Barons 
 
 247 
 25 
 
 272 Total since 1760 
 
OF POPULATION. 37 
 
 Thus it appears that, within the memory of man, 
 272 of the 394 Peers of Parliament in 1837, 
 have been created. The decay of the order of 
 Baronets has been, perhaps, still more rapid and 
 extraordinary. The order itself was commenced 
 only in 1611, by King James the First, as a 
 means of raising money, principally for the 
 Irish War of that period. * 
 
 It was suggested as a cheap mode of raising 
 supplies, by the celebrated Lord Bacon, one of 
 whose name was in the original Baronetage, and 
 is one of the few of those originally created, 
 whose descendants remain. The sum paid for 
 this honour was very large, and it is therefore 
 certain that the earlier Baronets were all wealthy 
 men and of great estate. The results are as 
 follows :— 
 
 Since the creation of the order of Baronets, in 
 1611, seven hundred and fifty-three Baronetcies 
 have become extinct. In short, the number of 
 extinct Baronets are more, in toto, than the 
 existing Baronets, up to the year 1819, when the 
 Baronets were six hundred and thirty-five only. 
 
 From 1611 to 1819, one hundred and thirty- 
 nine Baronets had been raised to the Peerage, 
 and thus taken out of the list of Baronets. 
 Still, supposing all these Peerages to be now 
 
38 THE TKUE LAW 
 
 existing, which is not the case, this would only- 
 make the whole number, including those made 
 Peers, seven hundred and seventy-four ; that is 
 to say, the living Baronets and Baronet Peers 
 would, in that case, only exceed the extinct 
 Baronets by twenty-one ! Thus it is evident, that 
 but for perpetual new creations, we should 
 hardly have had a Baronet existing. Of James 
 the First's creation, in a.d. 1611, only thirteen 
 families now remain. Of all he created up to 
 1625, the year of his death, thirty-nine only 
 remain ; a decay certainly extraordinary, and 
 not to be accounted for upon the ordinary ideas 
 of mortality and power of increase amongst 
 mankind. 
 
 The author is not unaware that in the cases 
 above quoted, there arise out of the nature of 
 the institutions themselves, causes of extinction 
 which do not apply to a population, or to society 
 in general. A single failure of offspring makes 
 a gap in the body, whilst even extra fecundity in 
 another quarter is only allowed to keep up the 
 line. For instance, Lord S., or Sir John S., dies 
 childless : Lord R, or Sir John R, supplies a 
 dozen or fourteen descendants. One would have 
 sufficed to fill the place, and we cannot make use 
 of the surplus to supply other deficiencies. This 
 
OF POPULATION. 39 
 
 is clearly enough, one cause of the extinction of 
 titles, which, where there are many sons, is con- 
 ferred upon one alone, but which is lost in case 
 of failure of heirs. But this one cause will not 
 account for the rapid and perpetual decay of 
 nobility as exhibited, not only in the English 
 Peerage and Baronetage, but amongst the nobi- 
 lity and higher orders of other countries, both 
 ancient and modern, where the cause above 
 alluded to does not exist. 
 
 We have the testimony of Addison (who 
 quotes Amelot) as to the extraordinary decrease 
 of the Venetian nobility, although all the sons 
 are ennobled by birth. Chastellux and Heylin 
 say the same of the French and Netherlandish 
 Noblesse. Mr. Malthus himself also bears wit- 
 ness to the strange decrease of the bourgeoisie, 
 or wealthy class, of the town of Berne ; although 
 the fact is strongly opposed to his preconceived 
 opinions. Addison's remarks, as repeated in the 
 work of the late Michael Thomas Sadler on this 
 subject^ are as follows : " Amelot reckoned in 
 his time 2500 nobles that had voices in the 
 Council ; but at present I am told there are not 
 at most 1500, notwithstanding the addition of 
 many new families since that time. It is very 
 strange, that with this advantage, they are not 
 able to keep up their numbers, considering that 
 
40 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the nobility spreads, equally through all the bro- 
 thers, and that so very few are destroyed by the 
 wars of the Republic." 
 
 Mr. Malthus, at page 278 of his "Essay on 
 Population," gives the following statement as to 
 the town of Berne: "From the year 1583 to 
 1654, the Sovereign Council admitted into the 
 bourgeoisie 487 families, of which 379 became 
 extinct in the space of two centuries, and in 
 1783, only 108 of them remained ! During the 
 hundred years from 1684 to 1784, two hundred 
 and seven Bernoise families became extinct. 
 From 1624 to 1712, the bourgeoisie was given 
 to eighty families; in 1623, the Sovereign Coun- 
 cil united the numbers of one hundred and 
 twelve different families, of which fifty-eight only 
 remain." From these facts, it is apparent that 
 the law of decrease is not only active amongst, 
 those included under the title of nobility, but 
 amongst any class of men, however entitled, to 
 whom the means of full and generous living are 
 not denied ; the bourgeoisie of the comparatively 
 poor and republican town of Berne being no 
 more proof against it than the high-blooded 
 nobles of Italy and France. The evidence of 
 Tacitus, however, as to the certain and wonderful 
 activity of this principle of decay, amongst those 
 to whom is allotted the pride of place, is perhaps 
 
OF POPULATION. 41 
 
 the most extraordinary. Under the Emperor 
 Claudius, it seems to have been necessary, by an 
 admission of the best families, who were not 
 actually patrician, to renovate this powerful 
 class ; and this is the historian's brief but most 
 instructive account of this matter : " Iisdem 
 diebus in numerum Patriciorum adscivit Caesar 
 vetustissimum quemque e Senatu, aut quibus 
 clari parenfces fuerant. Faucis jam reliquis 
 familiarum quas Romulus Majorum, et Lucius 
 Brutus Minorum Gentium, appellaverat : ex- 
 haustis etiam quas Dictator Caesar Lege Cassia, 
 et Princeps Augustus Lege Ssenia, sublegere." — 
 Annal., lib. xi, cap. xxv. 
 
 "About the same time Claudius enrolled in 
 the Patrician order such of the ancient senators 
 as stood recommended by their illustrious birth 
 and the merit of their ancestors. The line of 
 those families which were styled by Bomulus 
 ' the. first class of nobility,' and by Brutus ' the 
 second,' was almost extinct. Even those of more 
 recent date, created in the time of Julius Caesar 
 by the Cassian law, and under Augustus by the 
 Ssenian, were well-nigh exhausted." — Murphy's 
 Translation. 
 
 In his translation of this extraordinary account, 
 Murphy has softened the directness of Tacitus. 
 There is nothing in. the original to answer to the 
 
42 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 words "well-nigh exhausted" in the last sentence. 
 Tacitus says, in plain terms, that "even the 
 Patrician families created by the Dictator Caesar, 
 and by Augustus, were exhausted;" meaning of 
 course, not extinct absolutely, but exhausted for 
 all the purposes for which they were created into 
 a class. This is an instance of Patrician decay 
 exceeding those of modern times. 
 
 That the nobility of Romulus and Brutus 
 should in Claudius Caesar's time have been worn 
 out, is hardly to be wondered at ; but that the 
 new creations of the Dictator Julius, and his 
 nephew Augustus, should also have perished, is 
 a striking event. Supposing even their numbers 
 comparatively few, it is still a startling fact, that 
 in less than a century few of these families should 
 remain. Yet such is Tacitus' assertion ; for, 
 between the assumption of Dictatorship by 
 Julius Caesar and this period of the reign of 
 Claudius, ninety-two years only elapsed. . Mr. 
 Alison, in his History of Europe, states that, 
 in Egypt, the same decrease of numbers was ob- 
 servable in the Mamelukes, who only kept up 
 their strength by accessions from other sources ; 
 and it is generally supposed by travellers that 
 the true Turks are rapidly decreasing, in con- 
 sequence no doubt of sloth and luxury. Their 
 soldiery are now principally Albanians. 
 
OF POPULATION. 43 
 
 The instances already quoted "will have given 
 the reader reason to think that, not only amongst 
 those classes of men styled nobility, but even 
 amongst classes not ennobled by name, but ena- 
 bled by fortune to imitate the full and luxurious 
 habits of noblemen, the law of decrease is strongly 
 developed. This law of plethoric decrease, how- 
 ever, does not stop here. As it descends, it cer- 
 tainly mitigates. What was plague under the 
 Line and between the Tropics, becomes malig- 
 nant fever in more temperate climates ; mitigates 
 again into typhus as the cold increases, and disap- 
 pears altogether beyond the Arctic and Antarctic 
 Circles. Such is precisely the course of the prin- 
 ciple of decrease. As men become lower in cir- 
 cumstances, it diminishes ; lower again, it 
 becomes nothing, until privation comes, and then 
 the opposite principle immediately appears, and 
 goes on growing in intensity, in the ratio of 
 privation and consequent depletion and debility, 
 in all their varied forms of weakened and attenu- 
 ated constitutions. 
 
 As a proof of the prevalence of this principle 
 of decrease amongst a class of men, lower in 
 society than those already mentioned, but still 
 well able by circumstances to induce the pletho- 
 ric or non-increasing state of constitution, the 
 author will now adduce some facts derived from 
 
44 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the archives of a more humble privileged class 
 of men — the free burgesses of certain rich and 
 exclusive boroughs. The first example he -will 
 take from the rich and ancient borough, -within 
 the precincts of which he is now writing, and of 
 whose corporate governing body he was recently 
 a member. He will instance the free burgesses 
 of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In doing this it is, in 
 commencement, proper to state that the corpora* 
 tion of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is, and has been 
 for centuries, one of the richest incorporations 
 of this or any other country. Of this wealth 
 its burgesses of all ranks have, more or less, 
 shared the benefits. Up to about the year 1760, 
 the freemen or free burgesses enjoyed a complete 
 and close monopoly of the trade of the town of 
 Newcastle. With the exception of a small space 
 called " the Castle-yard, or Garth," which, by a 
 fiction of law, is supposed to be part and parcel 
 of the neighbouring county of Northumberland, 
 in order that the county assizes may be held 
 there, no person, not free of the borough, was 
 permitted to open a shop within its boundaries 
 or liberties. Free artizans also exclusively en- 
 joyed the privilege of being employed, at liberal 
 wages, in all the operative business of this wealthy 
 corporation. There were, and are, well-endowed 
 hospitals for decayed freemen or their widows. 
 
OP POPULATION. 45 
 
 They possessed the depasturage of extensive and 
 fine grazing grounds of many hundreds of acres. 
 They had a complete monopoly of the carriage 
 of goods from the quay, which was vested in an 
 incorporate company of " Free Porters," who 
 were paid extravagant rates of carriage. As they 
 enjoyed the exclusive privilege of electing mem- 
 bers of Parliament, they also had a sort of patent 
 for all local government-offices, for which mem- 
 bers of Parliament recommend candidates. There 
 is also an endowment for lending young trades- 
 men money, on bonded security, to assist their 
 business, the benefits of which they enjoyed ex- 
 clusively ; and lastly, they were constant and 
 welcome guests at all treats, feasts, and entertain- 
 ments given at a Mansion House, kept always 
 open for such visitors, at an enormous expense. 
 
 Beyond all this, they had beneficial grants of 
 quays for the deposit of ballast, from which both 
 the corporation and the depositors reaped hand- 
 some revenues ; and the maritime part of their 
 population also derived solid advantages from an 
 endowed establishment called the Trinity House, 
 where an endowed school for maritime purposes 
 is provided. There are also other endowed 
 schools for general education, gratis, for the 
 children of free burgesses. 
 
 Surrounded with such advantages, it required 
 
46 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 an unusual strain of imprudence indeed to pre- 
 vent a Newcastle free burgess from doing well 
 in worldly matters ; and the body as a conse- 
 quence were generally wealthy men in their dif- 
 ferent stations in society. That these enviable 
 distinctions were carefully guarded from compe- 
 titors need not be doubted. The freedom of the 
 town was never sold, nor ever given, except as 
 an honour to some few distinguished or illus- 
 trious strangers. There were only two ways of 
 acquiring the franchise, viz., by inheritance or 
 by servitude. Every son of a free burgess v:as 
 free ; but if the father had not paid the neces- 
 sary fees, and formally assumed the franchise, 
 this barred the son, although the grandfather 
 had been free. The servitude was a bona fide 
 apprenticeship to a freeman of seven years ; and 
 this was most scrupulously insisted upon. 
 
 Under all these favourable circumstances, all 
 the sons of a free burgess being free, it might be 
 expected that they should go on rapidly increas- 
 ing their numbers. With them the usual bar to 
 marriage, poverty, was out of the question ; and 
 their monopoly of trade directly encouraged an 
 early settlement in life. The contrary, however, 
 has indubitably been the case ; up to the time 
 when they lost their trading monopoly, they seem 
 hardly to have maintained their numbers ; and 
 
OF POPULATION. 47 
 
 there is good reason for supposing they might 
 even have decreased, had it not been for the aid 
 of those who became free by servitude ; which 
 last seem to have probably exceeded in number 
 those who acquired it by inheritance. 
 
 Since the loss of their exclusive privileges as 
 to trade, the increase has been unquestionably 
 greater; but the whole history of this body of 
 men exemplifies, in a very extraordinary man- 
 ner, the difficulty with which a well-fed commu- 
 nity maintains its numerical strength. 
 
 The first table is a statement of the numbers 
 of claimants of the franchise for five years, dis- 
 tinguishing the claimants by birth from those by 
 servitude. The latter, it will be seen, still predo- 
 minate. The next table is the polls of all the 
 contested elections from a.d. 1 71 0, inclusive, up 
 to the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832. 
 This table proves that the number of freemen 
 at the period of the great contest of a.d. 1722 
 was nearly the same as the number existing at 
 the periods of the subsequent contests, in 1841, 
 1774, 1777, and 1780. These tables are cer- 
 tainly correct, and were kindly extracted and 
 calculated from the books of the Stewards of 
 the Incorporated Companies by their excellent 
 Secretary, John Brown, Esq., at the request of 
 the author. 
 
48 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 TABLE I. 
 
 CLAIMED THE FBEEDOM OF NEW0ASTLE-DPON-.TYNE. 
 
 Years. 
 
 By Birth. 
 
 By Servitude. 
 
 Total. .. 
 
 1832 
 1833 
 1834 
 1835 
 1836 
 
 43 Claimed. 
 40 . . 
 47 . . 
 86 . . 
 31 . . 
 
 83 Claimed. 
 57 . . 
 63 . . 
 88 , . 
 59 . . 
 
 
 
 247 
 
 350 
 
 597 Claimants. 
 
 Of this table Mr. Brown remarks — "311 per- 
 sons only were admitted. I do not know the 
 proportion of the parties admitted by birth or 
 servitude, but conclude they are in the same 
 ratio as the claimants." Thus, then, it is pro- 
 bable that the additions to the burgess-roll by 
 servitude have more than kept pace with those by 
 birth. The principal cause of the non-admis- 
 sions is unwillingness, or else inability, to pay 
 the fees. These amount to a heavy sum for a 
 young man in narrow circumstances. This ob- 
 stacle, however, generally disappears before con- 
 tested elections, when those whose claims are 
 valid become all at once possessed of the means 
 of assuming the franchise, or, as it is called, 
 " taking up their freedom \" 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 49 
 
 TABLE H. 
 
 NUMBERS OF VOTES POLLED AT THE CONTESTED ELECTIONS FOB 
 NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Votes. 
 
 1710 
 
 Sir William Blaokett 
 Mr. Wrightsen 
 Mr. W. Carr 
 
 . 1177] 
 . 886 
 . 609 
 
 Two days only. 1700 
 voters probably. 
 
 1715 
 
 Sir William Blackett 
 Mr. Wrightsen 
 Mr. Clavering 
 
 . 639 
 . 550 
 . 263 
 
 No time given. 
 
 1722 
 
 Mr. W. Carr 
 
 Sir William Blackett 
 
 Mr. Wrightsen 
 
 . 1234 
 . 1158 
 . 831 
 
 2000 voters probably. 
 
 1727 
 
 Sir William Blackett 
 Mr. N. Penwick . 
 Mr. Carr 
 
 . 1202 
 . 1189 
 
 . 620 ' 
 
 Three days. 2000 voters 
 probably. 
 
 1734 
 
 Mr. Walter Blackett 
 Mr. N. Fen wick . 
 Mr. W. Carr . . 
 
 . 1354 
 . 1083 
 . 716 
 
 ■ Eight days. 1795 voters. 
 
 1741 
 
 Sir Walter Blackett 
 Mr. N. Fenwick . 
 Mr. Matthew Ridley 
 Mr. Wm. Carr 
 
 . 1453 
 . 1231 I 
 . 1131 1 
 . 683 
 
 A great contest. Six days. 
 2391 voters. 
 
 1744 
 
 Sir Walter Blackett 
 Sir Matthew Ridley- 
 Captain Phipps 
 Mr. Delaval ■ 
 
 . 1432 } 
 . 1411 1 
 . 795 1 
 . 677] 
 
 A great contest. 2162 
 voters. 
 
 1777 
 
 Sir John Trevelyan 
 A. R. St oney Bowes 
 
 . 1163 
 . 1068 ! 
 
 2231 voters. 
 
 1780 
 
 Sir Matthew Ridley 
 A. R. Stoney Bowes 
 Mr. Delaval 
 
 . 1408' 
 . 1135 
 . 1085 ' 
 
 2245 voters. 
 
 1820 
 
 Sir Matt. Ridley ) „ , 
 Mr. Ellison ( particulars 
 Hon. Mr. Scott J wan <™g j 
 
 A single day. 800 voters. 
 
 In 1832, the number of freemen resident within seven miles of New- 
 castle was 1619 only. — (Mr. Brown's note.) 
 
 E 
 
50 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 From theBe results it is evident that, although , 
 it is certain that the population of Newcastle- 
 upon-Tyne has been steadily, and of late even 
 rapidly increasing, as may be proved by the 
 results of the different enumerations, as well as 
 by the greatly augmented amount of Custom- 
 house receipts, yet the freemen, or free bur- 
 gesses, despite the aid of those acquiring freedom 
 by servitude, have not materially helped that 
 increase. 
 
 It also singularly coincides with the law of 
 increase here attempted to be demonstrated, that 
 such material increase of numbers as has taken 
 place in the body of free burgesses, has occurred 
 since the loss of their exclusive trading privi- 
 leges, and the consequent diminution of the ful- 
 ness of their means of living, by an influx of 
 active competitors. 
 
 The positive conclusions which the author has 
 drawn from the foregoing results, he has not 
 drawn without being well aware that they are 
 liable to certain objections ; inasmuch as, besides 
 probable modes of living, there are other acci- 
 dental circumstances likely to diminish and keep 
 down the number upon the burgess-roll, and to 
 affect in other ways the validity of the strong 
 conclusions come to. These objections he cannot 
 
OF POPULATION. 51 
 
 state better than by quoting the statement of 
 them made to him by one most eminently quali- 
 fied to inquire into such evidence; that is to say, 
 the talented Town Clerk of the Borough, John 
 Clayton, Esq., who was at the kind pains to 
 consider and sift much of that portion of the 
 documentary testimony upon which this theory 
 is founded. The following are Mr. Clayton's 
 remarks as to this portion of the argument : — 
 
 "Newcastle, Sept. 3, 1837. 
 
 " The conclusions which you draw from the 
 " past and present state of the body of freemen 
 " are open to some observations. I believe it to 
 " be quite true, that during the last century 
 " there was very little increase in the number of 
 " that privileged class. But it must be borne 
 " in mind that during the same period the 
 " freemen were subjected to the severe check 
 " of the loss of their privilege of exclusive 
 " trading, and became a minority of the inhabi- 
 " tants of the town, instead of being, as they 
 " were, a't the commencement of the last cen- 
 " tury, almost its sole inhabitants. It will 
 " be found, I think, also that the town itself 
 " was not nearly so much extended during the 
 " whole of last century, as it has been during 
 " thirty-six years of this. E 2 
 
52 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 * 
 
 "In the year 1734, the whole number of free- 
 " men polled at a contest, which drew together 
 " the non-resident as well as the resident freemen 
 " did not exceed eighteen hundred. At present, 
 " (1837) the number of registered freemen, resi- 
 " dent within seven miles of the borough, exceeds 
 " eighteen hundred ; and the non-resident, I 
 " calculate, may be nearly equal in number. 
 " There are also circumstances to be considered 
 " which prevent this class having the full benefit 
 " of the fecundity of the species. In the first 
 " place, females and their descendants do not 
 " assist us in keeping up our number (I speak in 
 " the first person, as one of the body) ; and in 
 " the next place, the rule (correctly stated in 
 " your .letter) by which the franchise is lost to 
 " the children if the father omits the ceremony 
 " of admission, operates very greatly as a check 
 " to our increase. I will put a case, within my 
 <f knowledge, and not an extreme case, which 
 "will show the practical working of this rule. 
 " A. B., a freeman, dies, leaving three sons. The 
 H eldest remains in this country and die's, leaving 
 " an only son, whom we retain as a freeman. 
 " The two younger sons do not take up their 
 " freedom at all. One of them goes abroad and 
 " dies, leaving five sons. The other enters the 
 
OF POPULATION. 53 
 
 " army, and finally settles in a distant part of 
 " the country, where he leaves four sons. Thus, 
 " if we had the full benefit of the natural increase 
 " of the species, we should have had ten freemen 
 " in the place of A. B., the grandfather. Now, 
 " through the operation of our artificial restric- 
 " tion, we have only one ! According to the 
 " statement supplied to you, which I believe to 
 " be correct, our gain by apprenticeship is 
 " counterbalanced by the loss we suffer from 
 " inability or disinclination of claimants to take 
 " up the freedom, notwithstanding the generous 
 " aid afforded them by candidates for their suf- 
 " frages at elections." 
 
 The objections which are embodied in these, at 
 first sight striking and apposite comments, seem 
 to the author to admit of satisfactory solution. 
 That the loss of the female line must affect the ac- 
 tual numbers of the class of free burgesses most 
 materially is evident enough. In short, the pro- 
 bable loss must be nearly one half ; inasmuch as 
 in an extended population the number of females 
 born nearly equals that of males. But this effect 
 upon actual number has nothing to do with ratio 
 of increase. There is no reason adduced for sup- 
 posing that if the franchise had been conferred 
 
54 THE TBTTE LAW 
 
 upon females also, and their descendants, and if 
 such females, by marrying, conferred upon their 
 husbands and families the same advantages and 
 fruits of privilege and property, which freemen 
 do upon their wives and families, that their 
 fecundity would have been greater, or at all 
 different, their circumstances of living being 
 supposed to be the same. 
 
 If increase there was, then the ratio would 
 have been the same, though the numbers would 
 have been, greater. The start would indeed be 
 made with double the number ; but there is 
 nothing to show why the ratio of prolificness 
 should be increased. That objection which ac- 
 counts for the want of increase, by supposing 
 that the loss caused by omission to take up the 
 franchise counterbalances the gain arising from 
 admissions earned by servitude, is less easy to 
 parry. That much loss may be and often is so 
 caused, cannot be denied. The answer is, that 
 upon the whole statement this loss is evidently 
 insufficient to account for the whole failure of 
 increase, though it may account for part of it. 
 
 It is shown on all the statements, that during 
 the. early part of the last century the increase 
 was trifling, and that after the loss of the trading 
 monopoly, about 1 760, up to the present time, the 
 
OF POPULATION. 55 
 
 increase has been more. Now had omission of 
 taking up freedom been the check, the direct 
 contrary must have been the case, because the 
 means of paying the fees must have been dimi- 
 nished — first by the lessened means ; next, by the 
 want of contested elections, of which there were 
 none from 1780 up to 1832, save the two days 
 of 1820, and because the motives for emigrating 
 must have increased ; and therefore this check 
 of omission must have been rendered more strin- 
 gent, and of augmented efficacy after 1760. The 
 event of the admitted increase since 1760, how- 
 ever, contradicts this ; and it follows that there 
 must have been some other check removed of 
 more efficacy than the omission to claim; inas- 
 much as the effect of its removal has been totally 
 to overcome and neutralize the increased strin- 
 gency of the other, as is proved by the growth 
 of the burgess population during the last-named 
 period. , The cause of that effect, the author 
 asserts, was the poverty created by the loss 
 of the exclusive privileges; the "severe check" 
 to the prosperity having an inverted effect 
 upon the prolificness of the burgesses; or, in 
 other words, the check to the prolificness of 
 the burgesses; or, in other words, the check 
 to the accumulation of wealth, being the re- 
 
56 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 moval of a check, or rather a positive stimulus 
 to increased population. In order, however, to 
 put this probable truth in a still clearer and 
 more indisputable point of view, the author will 
 instance the facts as to the increase of another 
 body of freemen, obtaining their franchise in the 
 same way as those of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but 
 not possessed of lucrative privileges like those of 
 the latter, the burgesses of Berwick-upon-Tweed. 
 
 These facts were obtained through the instru- 
 mentality of the kind friend, whose assistance 
 has been already alluded to, and they may be 
 entirely depended upon. The freedom of the 
 borough of Berwick, it has already been re- 
 marked, is obtained upon the same conditions, 
 or as nearly so as possible, as those upon which 
 depends the franchise of Newcastle — inheritance 
 or servitude. The property and emoluments of 
 the Mayor and Burgesses derived from the 
 incorporation are t riflin g, however; and the 
 freemen of Berwick, compared with those of 
 Newcastle, are a comparatively poor class of men. 
 
 Here, then, are two bodies of men, selected in 
 the same manner, under the same artificial cir- 
 cumstances, differing only in point of wealth and 
 endowments. Amongst these men the inability 
 to take up the freedom must be as great as 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 57 
 
 amongst the Newcastle claimants, because they 
 are less wealthy. 
 
 The indifference about it must be greater, be- 
 cause it confers no lucrative privileges, except as 
 far as the sale of votes for Members of Parlia- 
 ment may be occasionally lucrative to the cor- 
 rupt voter. The tendency to emigrate must also 
 be fully equal to the tendency in the former 
 place. Yet what is the result, on a comparison 
 of facts 1 That the free burgesses of Berwick 
 have increased during the last century in a ratio 
 far beyond that of the increase of the Newcastle 
 free burgesses — an effect only to be accounted for 
 in the fact of their greater comparative poverty. 
 The results for the last century, and the ratio of 
 claims by birth or servitude, are as follow : — 
 
 TABLE I. 
 
 NUMBER OF CLAIMANTS OF THE FRANCHISE OF BERWIOK-ON-TWEED. 
 
 From 
 1829 
 
 
 By Birth. 
 
 Servitude. 
 
 Admitted by Ticket. 
 
 Total. 
 
 to 
 1836 
 
 
 123 
 
 29 
 
 
 6 
 
 157 
 
 
 TABLE n. 
 
 
 
 COMPARATIVE NUMBERS OF FREEMEN 
 
 AFTER A CENTURY. 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. of Burgesses, 
 
 
 
 1737 
 
 683 
 
 No division into resident and non-resident. 
 
 1837 
 
 1,116 
 
 Of these 450 were 
 
 resident, 666 non-resident. 
 
58 THE TKUB LAW 
 
 TABLE III. 
 
 NUMBEBS POLLED IN RECENT ELECTIONS. 
 
 1831 
 
 1837 
 
 866 polled (before the Beform Bill). 
 893 polled (after the Beform Bill). 
 
 Thus it appears that the freemen of Berwick- 
 upon-Tweed have all but doubled their number 
 in the course of the last hundred years, from 
 1737 to 1837; that the tendency* to emigrate is 
 greater here than in Newcastle, inasmuch as the 
 non-residents much exceed the residents in 1837; 
 and lastly, that during the last six years their 
 numbers must have increased considerably, inas- 
 much as some of the 366 polled in 1831 were 
 probably non-residents ; whereas, all the 393 
 polled in 1837 must have been residents within 
 seven miles. 
 
 If we extend our examination to other corpo- 
 rate bodies in various parts of the kingdom, the 
 same tendency to diminution and decay of the 
 numbers of the privileged classes, seems, more or 
 less, to pervade them all. The various ways in 
 which the franchise descends, or is acquired, of 
 course varies the results ; but the general bearing 
 and tendency are one and the same. Thus, in 
 the City of Durham the freedom is acquired 
 
OF POPULATION. 59 
 
 by apprenticeship, in the same manner as it is 
 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and in Berwick-upon- 
 Tweed, hut the hereditary descent is more 
 limited. The franchise is enjoyed only by the 
 eldest son of a free burgess of Durham, save and 
 except in the United Company of Grocers and 
 Mercers, where all the sons inherit. This com- 
 pany being composed generally of men with some 
 capital, if the theory now advocated be true, 
 would certainly require some extra aid to keep 
 their guildry in existence, and this it appears 
 they have required. The result of an inquiry 
 into the numbers of the freemen of Durham, 
 shows that for some generations a diminution 
 has been for the most part going on, though the 
 admissions by servitude are numerous. The 
 diminution of their numbers has, however, been 
 less than the limitation of the inheritance would 
 have led a hasty inquirer to expect. When we 
 find, however, as is the case, that the mass of 
 the free burgesses here are generally much 
 poorer than are those of the boroughs already 
 alluded to, the apparent anomaly is accounted 
 for. 
 
 In the year 1678, was the first election for 
 Members of Parliament for this city, when eight 
 hundred and thirty-eight voters polled. Between 
 
60 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 this time and 1761, there was probably a small 
 decrease in their number, for though one thousand 
 and fifty persons voted as freemen, yet two 
 hundred and sixty-four of these were created for 
 the occasion, under a by-law afterwards set 
 aside. This reduces the actual number of free 
 burgesses to seven hundred and eighty-eight, a 
 diminution of the numbers in the election of 
 1678. In the year 1802 (a violent contest), a 
 small increase seems to have existed, as nine 
 hundred and eighty-two are stated to have polled. 
 Since then they have decreased, the number 
 resident within seven miles at this time (1841) 
 being calculated at four hundred and fifty only ; 
 the probable non-residents are about two hundred. 
 What is a very striking fact, is, that the United 
 Mercers and Grocers' Company, in which alone 
 all the sons inherit the franchise, comprises 
 only thirteen individuals, the numbers being 
 kept up by the poorer companies. The average 
 of admissions to the franchise of late years is 
 twenty-nine. Thus, in fifteen years, a number 
 equal to the present total number of resident 
 burgesses has been admitted ; and yet the num- 
 bers, on the whole, decrease. 
 
 In the borough of Richmond, in Yorkshire, 
 the franchise descends, as at Durham, through 
 
OF POPULATION. 61 
 
 the eldest son alone. Women could, however, 
 acquire the freedom by servitude, and their 
 apprentices acquired the franchise. It does not 
 appear, however, distinctly that their sons 
 inherited, though probably this was the case. 
 In the year 1713, the number of free persons of 
 Richmond was three hundred and fifty-nine, as 
 was proved by the election of a mayor at that 
 period, which was bitterly contested. In 172/", 
 however, the burgesses lost their right of voting 
 for Members of Parliament, which was decided 
 by the House of Commons to vest only in the 
 owners of certain " burgage houses." Half a 
 century after this, also, the trade of the town 
 was taken out of the monopoly of the burgesses. 
 From this the admissions by servitude declined ; 
 and so rapid was the decay, that in A.D. 1820 
 the number of burgesses of Richmond was only 
 eighty ! 
 
 In the city of Carlisle the franchise is inhe- 
 rited by all the sons, and acquired by servitude. 
 The number of the burgesses is, however, not 
 very different from what it was a century ago, 
 notwithstanding constant and numerous admis- 
 sions by servitude ; nor is it a rich corporation. 
 
 The following comparative returns, which are 
 compiled from the election returns of various 
 boroughs, will exhibit the same principle, and 
 
62 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 help to prove that wherever bodies of men are 
 so placed in life as to live solidly, and without 
 severe labour, their numbers are either stationary, 
 or else actually diminish. 
 
 BOSTON, LINCOLNSHIRE. 
 
 1796 Thomas Lydel . . . 290 1831 G. J. Heathcote . . 
 
 Lord Melsington . . 251 J. Wilks . . . . 
 
 Samuel Barnard. . . 95 N.Malcolm . . . 
 
 COLCHESTER, ESSEX. 
 1741 Charles Gray. . . .832 1830 Daniel W. Harvey . 
 
 S. Savffle 807 
 
 John Olmius. . . .806 
 M. Martin .... 799 
 
 A Spottiswoode , 
 Wilke Mayhew 
 
 EXETER, DEVON. 
 
 1790 James Buller . . .1106 1831 J. W. BuUen. 
 
 John Baring ... 588 J. W. Buck . 
 
 SirC.W. Bampfylde. 550 E. Divett . . 
 
 MAIDSTONE, KENT. 
 
 1784 C.Taylor 406 1831 A. W. Robarts 
 
 G. N. Edwards ... 373 H. Winchester 
 
 William Geary . . . 324 — RawlinB . 
 
 — Tyssen . . 
 
 265 
 
 249 
 
 51 
 
 651 
 572 
 304 
 
 753 
 548 
 379 
 
 470 
 387 
 156 
 156 
 
 ROCHESTER, KENT. 
 1790 George Best .... 369 1830 Ralph Bernal 
 S. R. Bickerton . . . 322 John Mills . 
 
 Marquis Tichfield . . 243 J. Collingwood 
 
 1796 Lord Carrington 
 D. P. Coke . . 
 Dr. Crompton . 
 
 NOTTINGHAM. 
 
 . 1211 1830 Sir Thomas Denman 
 . 1070 Sir Ronald Ferguson 
 
 . 560 Thomas Basley. . . 
 
 LIVERPOOL, LANCASHIRE. 
 
 1734 Thomas Brereton . 1076 1831 William Ewart . 
 
 Richard Geldart . . 1030 J. E. Denison . 
 
 Thomas Bootle . . 990 General Gaacoigne 
 Sir Edward Cun^ffe 941 
 
 NORWICH, NORFOLK. 
 1784 Sir H. Harbord . . 2305 1830 R. H. Gurney . 
 William Wyndham . 1297 R. Grant . . . 
 
 H. Hobart . . . 1233 Jonathan Peel . 
 
 Sir Charles Ogle . 
 
 384 
 354 
 293 
 
 1206 
 
 1180 
 
 226 
 
 1919 
 
 1890 
 
 607 
 
 2363 
 2227 
 1912 
 1762 
 
OF POPULATION. 63 
 
 YORK. 
 
 1741 E. Thompson . . . 1447 1830 S. A. Bayntun . . 1928 
 Godfrey Wentworth 1325 Hon. H. Dundaa . 1907 
 
 S. J. L. Kaye . . 1315 Hon. E. R. Petre . 1792 
 
 Sir H. Milner . . 1115 
 
 BRISTOL, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 
 
 1774 H Cruger . . . 3565 1830 R. Hart Davia . . 5012 
 
 Edward Burke . . 2707 J. E. Bafflie . . . 3378 
 
 M. Buckdale . . . 2456 Edward Protheroe . 3030 
 
 Lord Clare ... 283 J. Williams . . . 2741 
 
 These elections being all prior to the Reform 
 Act of 1832, give the numbers of the free bur- 
 gesses only voting for these towns. In various 
 boroughs the modes of obtaining the borough 
 freedom and franchise vary. In some all the 
 sons of a freeman inherit the paternal privi- 
 leges ; in others, the eldest son only. In some 
 the freedom of the borough is never sold, and 
 rarely given ; in others it is more easily obtain- 
 able. In the instances given above, those at all 
 conversant with elections of Members of Parlia- 
 ment will perceive that though in some cases 
 nearly a century, in most half a century, inter- 
 venes, the number of votes given do not differ 
 materially. In Bristol, alone, any marked in- 
 crease is observable ; and there the franchise 
 is more easy of access than in almost any 
 other borough, being acquired by those who 
 marry the daughters of freemen. As Bristol 
 has rapidly increased in wealth and impor- 
 tance since a.d. 1700, these intermarriages with 
 
64 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 strangers may have become more frequent of 
 late years. 
 
 This steadiness in the numbers of the free 
 burgesses of corporate towns, is only to be ac- 
 counted for by the fact that they are generally 
 more or less in possession of advantages denied 
 to the rest of the population. They, in all cases, 
 have a monopoly of government employments. 
 They share in the proceeds of such borough 
 property as the corporation possesses, and they 
 too frequently make a direct profit by means of 
 their votes. 
 
 These resources all tend to ward poverty and 
 privation from them as a class, though individual 
 instances occur. Hence, generally living at ease, 
 they not only cease to add to their numbers, but 
 in some instances, as has been shown, would 
 dwindle and become extinct, were it not for the 
 constant additions to their numbers by those 
 who acquire municipal freedom by servitude or 
 purchase. 
 
 In the Corporation of London the same phe- 
 nomenon is very apparent. The increase of the 
 liverymen arises from those who, coming from 
 the provinces, purchase or serve for the freedom 
 of the city, which in the metropolis may be so 
 valuable to the enterprising and ambitious. 
 
OF POPULATION. 65 
 
 Hence most of those who fill high offices under 
 the Corporation of London are provincials by- 
 birth, or the sons of aliens ; and as they in turn 
 are cut off by luxury, others, following the same 
 course, succeed to their wealth and honours. 
 "During forty years, from 1794 to 1833, the 
 admissions by patrimony to the freedom of the 
 Corporation of London, were only 7794 out of a 
 total of 40,221 who were admitted. About one- 
 third were strangers who purchased their free- 
 dom ; one-half were sons of strangers, who served 
 as apprentices." — Vide Second Report of Com- 
 mission of Municipal Enquiry, 1837, page 65. 
 
 Various other bodies of men may be referred 
 to as exhibiting results precisely similar to the 
 foregoing, and amongst these may be instanced 
 the Society of " Friends " or " Quakers," as they 
 were at first derisively, though now familiarly 
 called. This sect is believed to be the most 
 opulent, in proportion to its numbers, of all the 
 bodies of dissenters. It keeps its own poor in 
 so admirable a manner, that a destitute, or even 
 apparently poor Quaker is not to be seen any- 
 where. In the points of morality and sobriety, 
 the Society of Friends is perhaps unequalled by 
 any other religious body ; consequently, the 
 members of this wealthy and exemplary sect 
 
66 THE TBUE LAW 
 
 almost universally marry, and marry early. Yet, 
 not having been aided in .modern times by con- 
 versions to their body from any other divisions 
 of Christians to any great extent, it is believed 
 they have decreased during the last century. 
 They do not, as far as the author's inquiries have 
 gone, possess any means of ascertaining their 
 exact numbers at different periods, but this is 
 their impression : some may deny or doubt the 
 decrease, but none argue for any known or sen- 
 sible increase of their numbers within memory. 
 Those .who marry out of the society are indeed 
 expelled, at least until the stranger's partner 
 conform to the rules of their body ; but the loss 
 from such expulsions, and from expulsions for 
 other reasons, is quite insufficient to account for 
 the non-increase of the sect. Free from intem- 
 perance of any sort, they afford one of the most 
 Striking proofs of the truth of the rule, that with 
 generous and solid living superfluity of numbers 
 is not to be dreaded. 
 
 Similar results are observed to occur with the 
 Slave Population of the North American United 
 States. It is there observed that the slaves. in- 
 crease, whilst the emancipated negroes decrease 
 and gradually decay. The first are hard- worked 
 and only moderately fed ; the second, destitute 
 
OF POPULATION. 67 
 
 of taste for the most common luxuries, or even 
 comforts of European or civilised life, are en- 
 abled, by a little labour, to indulge to the utter- 
 most, in the most vulgar sensualities of our 
 nature ; and hence the decay of this class which 
 the American writers describe, 
 
 • Miss Martineau, in her " View of Soeiety in 
 America," bears unconscious witness to this 
 truth. Talking of negro slavery, she says (vol. 
 ii, p. 131) : " B is confident that the condi- 
 tion of slaves in the United States is materially 
 improved, yet believes they will die out, and that 
 there will be no earlier catastrophe. This same 
 gentleman told me of a recent visit he had paid 
 to a connection of his own, who had ' a large- 
 force,' consisting chiefly of young men and young r 
 women: not one child had been born on the 
 estate for three years ! This looks very like 
 ' dying out ;' but does it go to confirm the ma- 
 terially improved condition of the slaves V 
 
 If there be truth in the theory, here attempted 
 to be demonstrated, it unquestionably does. 
 The author cannot doubt that Miss Martineau's 
 informant was correct in both statements. That 
 the efforts made by the oppbhents of negro 
 slavery to hold it up to detestation, must have 
 ameliorated the usage of the slaves, is very pro- 
 s' 2 
 
68 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 bable ; and all persons who know intimately the 
 mode in which the negroes are dealt with in the 
 Southern United States, know that their usage 
 is, generally speaking, good, as far as mere 
 animal comforts go. The hours of labour are 
 short compared with those to which we are used 
 in this country, and their food is unquestionably 
 better than that of the families of most British 
 artisans at this moment. Of Indian corn, or the 
 meal made from it, their supply is unlimited. 
 Of esculent vegetables, and of the fruits common 
 in that climate, they also have an ad libitum 
 quantity. Their animal food is chiefly pork, 
 fresh or pickled ; but this is given them daily, 
 and in no very stinted way ; and as each man 
 has a provision-ground of his own besides, he 
 can, in that climate, rear poultry to almost any 
 extent he can desire. That men and women fed 
 in this fashion, and never subjected to hardship, 
 should not be prolific, is not surprising. It is 
 the less so, because the negro slave becomes 
 plethoric much sooner than the free European, 
 or Caucasian rather, and much more easily. He 
 is devoid of care, incapable of deep thinking, 
 and of a cheerful, reckless temper ; all of which 
 are favourable to the creation of the state of 
 plethora which is the true bar to fecundity. 
 
OF POPULATION. 69 
 
 Having so far elucidated the law of decrease in 
 such bodies of men as are possessed of means to 
 continue that mode of living which tends to 
 produce the plethoric state, it will be expected 
 that some illustrations of the opposite tendency, 
 the law of rapid increase, which exists amongst 
 communities ill fed and subjected to those priva- 
 tions which superinduce the law of decrease, or 
 depleihoric state, should be given. 
 
 This is a much less easy task. Bodies of men 
 enjoying ample means are necessarily not very 
 extensive, and are, in a manner, insulated and 
 marked out in society. The poor are scattered 
 over the community, and to their circumstances,. 
 and to the effects of these circumstances on their 
 fecundity, general references are much more easy 
 than particular instances. Such references have 
 already been given. The Scottish Highlands, and 
 all Ireland, afford striking proofs of this truth. 
 The numbers of children in maritime villages, 
 where fish is the principal food, have been 
 adverted to by political economists, and at- 
 tempted to be explained upon their principles — 
 the cheapness and plenty of fish being set down 
 for the causes. No people, however, are poorer 
 than the inhabitants of fishing villages, and it 
 would be easy to prove that they have by no 
 
70 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 means a constant plenty even of the edible in 
 which they deal. It is poverty, and not plenty, 
 that stimulates their growth. The surprise of 
 travellers, who have been accustomed to thinly 
 peopled countries, such as Russia and most of 
 her tributary pastoral kingdoms, at the swarms 
 of children in all the. poorer parts of our cities 
 and towns, is another striking proof of this. 
 Dr. Hamel, who travelled over England at the 
 expense of the Russian Government, but who 
 was, however, a German by birth, strongly ex- 
 pressed his astonishment at the difference, for 
 which he could not account. The history of the 
 world, however, is not without insulated instances 
 of the truth of this law of increase. The most 
 extraordinary and striking on record is, perhaps, 
 to be found in the History of the Mutineer 
 Colony, on the desolate island of Pitcairn, in the 
 Pacific Ocean, about fifty years ago. This 
 singular colony arose out of the mutiny against 
 Captain Bligh, the commander of the Bounty, 
 on what was called the Bread Fruit Tree expedi- 
 tion. The ringleader of the mutineers, Fletcher 
 Christian, seems to have settled upon Pitcairn's 
 Island, after leaving most of his companions at 
 the Island of Otaheite, about the year 1790. 
 The first account of the existence of the colony 
 
OF POPULATION. 71 
 
 is afforded by Lieutenant Shillibeer, of the Briton, 
 who was there about the year 1814. Christian 
 seems to have landed on the island with nine 
 Europeans, six men of Otaheite, and eleven 
 Otaheitan women. One of the women, Chris- 
 tian's wife, died soon after their arrival, and 
 Christian having appropriated to himself the wife 
 of one of the Otaheitans, was shot by him in 
 revenge, together with two other Englishmen. 
 This led to the murder of all the Otaheitan 
 males, so that the colony was at once reduced to 
 sixteen adult persons in all;, that is to say, six 
 male Europeans and ten Otaheitan females. 
 This number was afterwards lessened to fifteen 
 adults by the fall of one of the men from a, cliff. 
 When visited by Shillibeer, they had increased 
 their numbers to forty-eight, and this was at 
 most only twenty-four years after their reaching 
 the island. During this period, then, they had 
 tripled their population, and subsequent accounts 
 seem to confirm the fact of this rapid increase 
 having continued, it having been ascertained 
 recently that the numbers upon the island had 
 reached the extraordinary height of one hundred 
 and eighty persons. Adams, one of the muti- 
 neers, was still living, at the age of eighty. 
 Thus, in about forty years, or a little more, this 
 
72 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 extraordinary colony seems to have decupled its 
 population — a rapidity of increase probably 
 hardly paralleled in the annals of the world. Let > 
 us now inquire into their mode of living, and in 
 that mode will be found the true solution of this, 
 extraordinary fecundity. The Island of Pitcairn, 
 when they landed upon it, seems to have been 
 almost devoid of the means of sustaining! life, 
 being destitute of trees bearing edible fruit, and 
 of succulent vegetables* " The Bread Fruit and 
 Cocoa-nut trees (says Lieutenant ShiHibeer) were 
 brought with them in the Bounty, and have since 
 been reared with great success." Their agricul- 
 ture he describes as being confined to the culti- 
 vation of the yam, which they had brought to 
 extraordinary perfection. Of grain they were 
 altogether destitute. They had some poultry, 
 and the few goats and pigs on the island were 
 neglected, and running wild in the woods. 
 Beyond the cultivation of the yam, the principal 
 business of these colonists is the pursuit of fish, 
 with which the coast abounds. It is, however, 
 every way bounded with rocks, so that they are at 
 all times obliged to carry their little boats to the 
 village. Their light clothing was made from the 
 bark of a tree. Here, then, we have a bird's-eye 
 view of a mode of living, singularly adapted to 
 
OF POPULATION. 73 
 
 fecundity, forced upon a limited population, and 
 its effects. Until their fruit trees grew, which 
 would not be for some years, fish, yams, and the 
 eggs of their few poultry, and of wild birds, must 
 have been their sole subsistence. This, probably, 
 together with the heat of the climate, was the 
 foundation of the taste for the species of diet 
 which has prevailed. There were, it is stated, a 
 few wild rabbits on the island, but they had not 
 domesticated any. 
 
 Thus, then, these islanders afford a proof at 
 how fearful a rate population will increase 
 amongst a people obtaining their food only by 
 constant exertion, that food being nearly alto- 
 gether fish and vegetables, and the people being 
 destitute entirely of grain of any sort, and also 
 of the grape, and consequently ignorant of the 
 pernicious habit of indulging excessively in the 
 use of fermented or distilled liquors. To account 
 for the growth of this colony in any other way, 
 seems to the author to be out of the question. 
 To attribute it to abundant food seems perfectly 
 absurd ; for this is to assert that these poor peo- 
 ple, whose only subsistence must frequently have 
 been the yam, and whose only drink is water, or 
 the milk of the cocoa-nut, lived more luxuriously, 
 or better, not only than the free burgesses of 
 
74 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Newcastle, but also than the nobility of Venice 
 and England or the magnates of Geneva ! To 
 find anything resembling it, we must resort to 
 communities living in a manner somewhat simi- 
 lar. On the coasts of Ireland and amongst the 
 Highlanders of Scotland,- there can be no doubt 
 that particular spots might be found where the 
 increase of the people, and the number of 
 children compared to the adults, would show a 
 very high ratio. A part of the result at Pit- 
 cairn's Island, however, must be doubtless 
 attributed to the remote situation and great 
 salubrity of the climate and of the place, which 
 seems to have given to the inhabitants an immu- 
 nity from those infectious and epidemic diseases 
 to which the poor of other countries are so pecu- 
 liarly and fatally liable. It must also be remem- 
 bered that the colonists of Pitcaixn's Island were 
 never actually thinned by direct famine, as the 
 thickly peopled countries always are ; a truth to 
 which the ! annals of China, Hindostan, Ireland, 
 and the Scotch Islands bear horrible testimony. 
 Another less well-authenticated instance of in- 
 crease, under somewhat similar circumstances, 
 is to be found in the historical tradition of the 
 Catheran, Sawney or Donald Bane or Bean. 
 This man is recorded to have lived about the year 
 
OF POPULATION. 75 
 
 1600, in the reign of James the Sixth, of Scot- 
 land (our James the First), on the coast of 
 Galloway. Immured, for the sake of conceal- 
 ment, in an immense cavern, this man is sup- 
 posed to have carried on the trade of freebooter 
 for a series of twenty-five years; and (if the 
 legends as to his life are to be believed) to have 
 lived, in some part, upon the flesh of his murdered 
 victims. That he and his family should, at times, 
 have been driven by famine to such a resource 
 is not incredible ; but that he should have pre- 
 ferred this mode of sustenance is clearly a feature 
 of the story which the atrocity of the entire 
 circumstances would recommend to popular 
 credulity. The facts seem to be, that, after 
 living this sort of life for a full quarter of a 
 century, this wretch and his family were cap- 
 tured and put to death at Edinburgh ; when 
 •it should seem, that the incestuous progeny 
 of the atrocious couple were eight sons and six 
 daughters, who again had produced eighteen 
 grandsons and fourteen granddaughters, the 
 whole family being forty-eight, or twenty-seven 
 males and twenty-one females! The data of 
 their numbers, and their general mode of life, 
 are probably quite correct. The results are the 
 same as those of the colony at Pitcairn's Island; 
 
76 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 but it is difficult to believe that in twenty-five 
 years one couple could have been the origin of 
 such a multitude. The probability is, that a 
 somewhat longer time than twenty-five years 
 had elapsed before their capture. The result, 
 however, is extraordinary. 
 
 Another instance to this effect is presented by 
 the little Island of Malta. It is mostly rock. 
 Such soil as is upon it, has, for the most 
 part, been carried and deposited there. Con- 
 sequently only vegetables and certain fruits are 
 grown upon the island ; and such animal food as 
 is consumed is brought from the mainland. The 
 native population are exceedingly poor ; and as 
 a consequence of that poverty are rapidly, and in 
 spite of- emigrations, getting more and more 
 dense. If we take the evidence of lieutenant 
 Slade, the intelligent author of " Turkey, Greece, 
 and Malta," and his comparison of Malta with 
 Turkey, we cannot have a doubt as to the in- 
 creasing population of one and the decreasing 
 population of the other, nor of the causes of 
 both. "Poverty (says Mr. Slade, vol. i, p. 116) 
 is the prominent feature at Malta. * * * 
 Why population should often increase inversely 
 as a country, owing to sterility, or to its social 
 condition, furnishes subsistence, I leave to political 
 
OF POPULATION. 77 
 
 economists to explain ; but such is the fact. Is it 
 owing to the recklessness caused by having 
 nothing to hope % Is it that a community of 
 suffering is negative enjoyment 1 From what- 
 ever cause arising, human density, and conse- 
 quently human suffering, at Malta, visibly in- 
 creases." 
 
 Males. Females. Total. 
 
 1835 Births 1773 1583 3356 
 Deaths 1310 1185 2495 
 
 463 398 861 
 
 Contrasting this rapid growth of the poor and 
 pinched Maltese, amidst meagre diet and extreme 
 poverty, with the different state of Turkey, 
 Mr. Slade thus expresses himself :— 
 
 "The stationary principle is less difficult to 
 oppose than the increasing DE-population. * * * 
 On inquiring into their hardships (so-called), I 
 could never descend so low as want of food, or of 
 fuel, or of raiment ! Oftentimes I have excited 
 disbelief by hinting at the state of pauperism 
 in Europe ! That is beyond the comprehension 
 of the Eayas of Turkey." — Vol. ii, page 78, 92. 
 
 In this view of the increasing diminution of 
 people, throughout the rich provinces both of 
 European and Asiatic Turkey, all modern 
 
78 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 travellers — Eton, Slade, Urquart, &c. — agree: 
 When with that evidence we contrast Mr. Slade's 
 account of the actual state of the people on the 
 barren rock of Malta, deprived of animal food 
 and with an insufficient vegetable diet, the de- 
 monstration seems as complete as facts can 
 make it. 
 
 A yet stronger and more complete proof of the 
 effects of depletion, as exhibited amongst limited 
 bodies of" men, is, however, to be found in the 
 excellent report of Sir John M'Neill, on the 
 state of "the Western Highlands and Islands 
 of Scotland," ordered by the Houses of Parlia- 
 ment to be printed in 1851, together with the 
 evidence taken by Sir John on which his report 
 is founded. This evidence is" very voluminous, 
 but some of its results are very extraordinary. 
 It seems to be agreed on all hands that destitu- 
 tion and population have indubitably been 
 increasing, as it were hand in hand, amongst the 
 Western Islands of Scotland for, at least, a 
 century. 
 
 Taking the returns of the numbers of a list 
 of actual families on the islands of Tiree and 
 Ulva, as given to Sir John M'Neill, the average 
 is a small fraction above six ; that is to say, there 
 are, on the average, a father and mother and 
 
OF POPULATION. 79 
 
 four living children. In some of the islands, it 
 seems probable, however, that this average is 
 exceeded. George Rainy, - Esq., Proprietor of 
 the islands of Rasay and Rona, in the parish of 
 Portree, states that " by a list, taken about a 
 year ago, it appeared that the births, for the 
 previous three years, had been in the proportion 
 of three to one of the deaths:" and he adds that 
 "there are ■ numerous instances of families of 
 nine, ten, eleven, and twelve individuals." 
 
 With regard to the circumstances under which 
 this multiplication of births had taken place, 
 Mr. Rainy is equally explicit. "It does not 
 appear (says the proprietor)- that, at any time, 
 the population of this place drew their entire 
 subsistence from the land. It seems impossible 
 they could. Before 1846, the chief means of 
 livelihood of such as had lands were potatoes — 
 the occasional sale of whatever over-stock they 
 reared of Highland cattle— supplemented by the 
 proceeds of fishing ; and by the earnings some- 
 times of the r effective members of a family 
 during a periodical migration, in summer and 
 autumn, to the Lowlands; 
 
 "Since 1845, two of these sources of livelihood 
 have failed — potatoes and the sale of cattle. 
 The effects of the successive blights of the potato 
 
80 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 crops have been ftdly recognized. Equal atten- 
 tion has not been given to the influence which 
 the enormous depreciation in the price of small 
 Highland cattle has had on the circumstances of 
 the small tenants who depended fully more upon 
 that resource than upon their potato crops. 
 Heretofore, with the purchase of one, two, or 
 three beasts sold at the cattle fairs, the small 
 tenant was not only able to pay his rent, but 
 often to realize a considerable surplus available 
 for the purchase of meal. That state of things 
 exists no longer. A Highland beast which, five 
 or six years ago, would have readily brought £7 
 to £8, will not now sell for £3 ; or it would be 
 perhaps more correct to say that the small breed 
 of Highland cattle (the rearing of which alone 
 is adapted to the circumstances of the crofters) 
 are now next to valueless." — Minutes of Evidence, 
 page 38. 
 
 The whole of the evidence taken by Sir John 
 M'Neill goes to prove that, throughout a long 
 period of years, throughout the Western High- 
 lands and Isles, the condition of the people has 
 been gradually getting worse and worse. After 
 the war, the manufacture of kelp was soon su- 
 perseded by the import of foreign barilla ; and, 
 next, by the manufacture of an artificial soda 
 
OF POPULATION. 81 
 
 from common salt. The consequences there have 
 been poverty and a morbid growth of population, 
 so decided that scarcely any of the properties 
 oan support the people now upon them ; and 
 that emigration, partial or totaL and eleemosynary 
 aid must be continually resorted to. 
 
 These circumstances, and the peculiar pheno- 
 mena attending them, seem, at all events, to have 
 made their proper impression upon the sagacious 
 mind of Sir John M'Neill : and to assure him- 
 self of the effects upon the multiplication of the 
 species produced by insufficient and vegetable 
 diet, he has instituted an elaborate tabular com- 
 parison between twenty-seven of these poverty- 
 stricken Western parishes and twenty-seven 
 prosperous and " self-sustaining parishes", of the 
 Eastern Highlands. The general result is given 
 in the words of the Quarterly Review, which has 
 omitted, however, to put upon record this brief, 
 but most extraordinary, most instructive, and 
 most convincing document. The following are 
 the words of the Quarterly Review : — 
 
 "Sir John M'Neill gives a most instructive 
 comparison between the twenty-seven parishes, 
 to which his investigations extended, and 
 twenty-seven others in the Southern and Eastern 
 Highlands, which early in the century were 
 
 G 
 
82 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 equally Gaelic, and, in many respects, similarly 
 circumstanced in regard to fertility of soil, and 
 extraneous resources, but which are now pros- 
 perous and self-sustaining, and suffered little 
 from the scarcity of 1846. From this comparison 
 it appears that, whereas the population of the 
 latter had been steadily decreasing for the last 
 fifty years (up to 1841), the population of the 
 former had been as regularly increasing. 
 
 "The numbers of the prosperous districts fell, 
 from 59,434, in 1755, to 41,989 in 1841, or a 
 diminution of 17,445, being about 29 per cent. 
 The numbers of the miserable districts in the 
 west rose from 42,562, in 1755, to 96,304 in 
 1841, being an increase of 53,748, or 126 per 
 cent." 
 
 The author, in giving Sir John M'NeilTs table, 
 can only say that, in his humble opinion, it is, 
 itself, all but sufficient to prove the truth of the 
 theory now advanced. 
 
 "The subjoined tables show the progress of population and the 
 annual value of real property, — No. I, in the twenty seven parishes 
 to which the inquiry extended ; and No. II, in twenty-seven purely 
 agricultural parishes in the southern and eastern parts of the Highlands, 
 in which Gaelic was spoken or preached in 1808, and which are now 
 self-sustaining and prosperous." 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 83 
 
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84 
 
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OF POPULATION. 85 
 
 If anything ean add to the irresistible demon- 
 stration of the foregoing evidence, it is the facts, 
 precisely to the same purpose, which we find 
 recorded in Holy Writ. In the first chapter of 
 Exodus we find that the Israelites, when reduced 
 to a state of bondage by the Egyptians, in* 
 creased their numbers so rapidly as to alarm 
 their conquerors. In King Pharaoh this alarm 
 seems to have reached its height. What says 
 Exodus ? 
 
 8. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt 
 that knew not Joseph. 
 
 9. And he said unto his people, ' Behold ! the 
 people of the children of Israel are more and 
 mightier than we, 
 
 10. Come on, let us deal wisely with them ; 
 lest they multiply and it come to pass that, 
 when there falleth out any war, they join also 
 unto our enemies and fight against us, and so, 
 get them up out of the land.' 
 
 11. Therefore, they did set over them task- 
 masters to afflict them with their burthens. And 
 they built for Pharaoh treasure eities, Pithom 
 and Raamses. 
 
 12. But the more they afflicted them, the more 
 they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved 
 because of the children of Israel! — Exodus, 
 cap. i. 
 
86 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 All this is precisely in accordance with the 
 law of increase and decrease here attempted to 
 be established. No sooner were the Israelites 
 made slaves, than they increased their numbers 
 faster than could their Egyptian oppressors. 
 At length Pharaoh, fairly alarmed at the, power 
 of his own slaves, seeks to thin their numbers 
 by increased toil and ill usage. His devices, 
 however, turn upon himself. The more the 
 Israelites are "afflicted" and over-toiled, the 
 faster grow their numbers ; and, after several 
 vain cruelties, so powerful do these bond-slaves 
 become, that, under the guidance of their great 
 liberator and lawgiver, Moses, they emancipate 
 themselves. If the evidence of heathen history 
 is to be believed, both the Athenians and Spar- 
 tans were similarly embarrassed by their slaves 
 and Helots, and resorted to secret murder to thin 
 their numbers. Under the Roman Republic the 
 slaves, with Spartacus at their head, nearly sub- 
 verted the government ; and the history of Ire- 
 land affords some cases not very dissimilar. 
 The entire history of Sparta, indeed, affords a 
 singular proof how soon the two principles of 
 decrease and increase show themselves, as the 
 condition of a people is raised or lowered above 
 or below a moderate standard of living. The 
 
OF POPULATION. 87 
 
 Spartans were a plain people. Luxury in Sparta 
 was forbidden and despised. The most powerful 
 Spartan lived coarsely and simply. But warfare 
 was the only care of the " true Spartan," and the 
 work was done by their slaves, called "Helots," 
 who tilled the ground, tended the herds, and 
 were the domestic servants of their masters. 
 The difference in their living, therefore, could 
 not be great; only the Helots worked hard, 
 whilst their Spartan masters and mistresses were 
 idle. The result was that the slaves increased 
 their numbers so much as to cause great alarm, 
 whilst the Spartan aristocracy diminished frdm 
 year to year. To this fact the great investigator, 
 Niebuhr, bears a direct and powerful testimony, 
 They decayed, he says, as all aristocracies are 
 found to decay ; and so decided wag this dimi= 
 nUtion, that, "B.c, 250, there were only (accor- 
 ding to Niebuhr) about seven hundred true 
 Spartans left" " They must have perished after 
 Leuctra, but for the Laconians f so unable were 
 they by procreation to repair their losses caused 
 by alternations of war and laziness ; "whilst their 
 pride would not allow them (says the historian) 
 to admit any new families/ 7 
 
 A stronger proof than this of the immense 
 importance of not diminishing too far the re- 
 
88 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 sources of a people, as well as of checking luxury 
 in every possible way, can scarcely be found. 
 That the Spartans should be endangered by their 
 mode of life, joined to the system of Helotism, 
 seems a paradox. That it was the true state of 
 the case, however, we learn from Niebuhr, the 
 greatest and most sagacious of historical inves- 
 tigators. 
 
 With these examples the author must conclude 
 this chapter. It would not be difficult to add 
 to the number of such exemplifications. Enough, 
 however, has probably been done to prove, to the 
 satisfaction of the reader, the clear existence of 
 the law of increase and of decrease amongst 
 limited bodies of men, when under certain cir- 
 cumstances. It seems evident that where men 
 are living in a state of ease and plenty, their 
 tendency certainly is not to keep up their 
 numbers, but the contrary. Thus we see that 
 the nobility and very wealthy and highly privi- 
 leged classes of all nations are in a continual 
 state -of decay ; that such have been the facts 
 with the English nobility and the English 
 baronets ; that such has been the case with the 
 Venetian nobility ; and, again, that such was 
 the case with the ancient Roman nobility. Going 
 a little lower, we see the same rapid decay 
 
OP POPULATION. 89 
 
 amongst the rich Swiss bourgeoisie, who are a 
 sort of nobility. Going a little lower than that, 
 we find the same tendency to a failure of the line 
 amongst the wealthy free burgesses of the 
 English boroughs. This, however, is in a miti- 
 gated degree ; and in the less wealthy boroughs, 
 we perceive the decreasing tendency lessening, 
 and almost at a stay. 
 
 Turning to the other side of the question, and 
 contemplating the few examples attainable of 
 limited bodies of men subject to privation, we 
 see the tendency to rapid increase most strikingly 
 developed. In Pitcairn's Island we discover, 
 amongst the colony of Adams and his mutineer 
 companions, proofs of a stride in population far 
 exceeding the most extravagant ideas of the 
 most extravagant advocates for a reduplicating 
 geometrical ratio. But then we find this accom- 
 panied with the absence of solid food, and with 
 constant toil and exposure to the open air, and 
 the vicissitudes of the climate. In the strange 
 story of Donald Bean, the same results are de- 
 veloped : living amidst all the vicissitudes of an 
 outlaw, often in total want of food, and probably 
 never well supplied, the increase of these 
 wretched beings seems to have been extraordinary, 
 
90 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 and certainly to be accounted for in the same 
 manner as that of Adams' colony. 
 
 In the little Island of Malta, which, as far as 
 the poor Maltese are concerned, is just as desti- 
 tute of animal or any rich nutriment as Pitcairn's 
 Island, we perceive the same rapid increase of the 
 poor inhabitants ; whilst in Roumelia and the 
 other rich provinces of European Turkey, where 
 want of food, clothing, or lodging is unknown, and 
 where the people live in a state of luxurious 
 indolence, the government is alarmed by the 
 decrease in the numerical strength of their 
 subjects. 
 
 Sir John M'Neill's statement confirms to de-< 
 monstration the existence of the same law. In 
 the twenty-seven Western Highland parishes 
 which he surveyed, the population are in constant 
 risk of dying for want of nutriment. They 
 barely continue to exist ; the failure of a few 
 potatoes, or the decline of the market for 
 Scotch kyloes, brings an instant famine to their 
 door ; and, but for extrinsic aid, numbers would 
 absolutely perish from the effects of want of food 
 and raiment. Yet, under these appalling cir- 
 cumstances, we find this wretched population in- 
 crease, between 1755 and 1841, by 126 per cent.! 
 
OF POPULATION. 91 
 
 Whilst, in the twenty-seven prosperous South- 
 eastern parishes, Sir John has proved a decrease 
 of people, during the same period, of 29 per 
 cent. Of the substantial accuracy of these re- 
 turns, which were obtained by Sir John M'Neill 
 under the authority of Parliament, no doubt can 
 be entertained. Nor is there the slightest reason 
 why doubt should be entertained. All the other 
 evidence, from Pitcairn's Island to the striking 
 testimony detailed in the first chapter of Exodus, 
 points one way, and proves as completely as 
 testimony can, that upon the diet and general 
 mode of living of a people depends their increase 
 or decrease— •depletion causing the first and 
 repletion the second. 
 
 It will be the business of the next chapter 
 to apply the same method of inquiry to larger 
 bodies of men ; to try to evolve the same results 
 from the statistics of nations ; and to demon- 
 strate that, if put into a certain state, a whole 
 people may exhibit the same results as a more 
 limited body exhibits, and that depletion and 
 low diet, whether amongst nations or families, is 
 followed by an overabundant fecundity ; whilst, 
 on the other hand, luxury, solid living, and reple- 
 tion, are the sure drag and stay to the onward 
 progress of population. 
 
92 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE LAW OF INCREASE AND DECREASE, AS 
 EXEMPLIFIED AMONGST NATIONS. 
 
 The author would now draw attention to the 
 statistical facts as to such nations of the globe 
 as are at all accurately known, with the view of 
 inquiring how these facts bear out the foregoing 
 theory : they will he believes, be found to do so 
 with wonderful accuracy. It will be found, on 
 examination, that such countries as are over- 
 peopled are exclusively agricultural, and depend- 
 ent upon vegetable food ; that, on the contrary, 
 the pastoral countries, where animal food and 
 milk are the support of the people, their numbers 
 are always low. In countries where the two 
 modes prevail, the population is a medium as to 
 number between the two extremes. The culti- 
 vation of the vine and olive, and the use of their 
 
OP POPULATION. 93 
 
 rich products as ordinary articles of diet, will also 
 always be found to be connected with a some- 
 what moderate population. Such are the general 
 results which are to be deduced from the follow- 
 ing details to which the author now proceeds. 
 
 The statistics of the Russian empire, including 
 as it does various races of people, living in climates 
 the most different, upon soils the most opposite 
 in quality, and all under one government^ foreign 
 to each other as they are in habits, customs, 
 modes of life and language, afford perhaps the 
 most striking and curious exemplification of the 
 effects upon population caused by different modes 
 of living. The immense area of the Russian 
 empire — that is to say, all its Asiatic, and a large 
 portion of its European dominions — is inhabited 
 by a people the most truly pastoral of any exist- 
 ing in the world. Their wealth is cattle. Their 
 exports are the tallow, hides, and horns. Their 
 food is the flesh. Agriculture, as a means of 
 subsistence, is of no value. Their summer is brief 
 and sudden ; it grazes and it fodders their herds 
 of cattle, but beyond this is nothing. Vegetable 
 aliment is a mere fraction in the food of the 
 population ; and what bread is in countries less 
 pastoral beef is to the Russian boor and his 
 scarcely more cultivated master. It is impossible 
 
94 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 that the fact should have been otherwise. Where 
 the cattle are slaughtered for the sake of the 
 tallow and hides, the flesh must, as a matter of 
 course, be the food of the people. It is so plenti- 
 ful as to be almost valueless. In the capital of 
 St. Petersburgh even, excellent beef is always to 
 be had at about the price of an English penny 
 per lb. Three halfpence per lb, is a rare price to 
 anybody, and under any circumstances ; and yet 
 the herds of cattle which supply the capital are 
 driven from very great distances. Throughout 
 not only the capital towns, but the whole empire, 
 frozen game of all descriptions is plentiful in the 
 extreme ; and the rich and oily flesh of the salmon 
 and the sturgeon, pickled or salted, forms an in- 
 gredient of this rich dietary from which also the 
 less delicate oil of the whale and seal are by no 
 means excluded, though not prominently brought 
 forward. The kingdom of Poland, however, and 
 the Russian provinces bordering on Russian 
 Poland, are essentially corn countries, and hence 
 ,the food of their people is totally and altogether 
 different. Wheat, rye, and barley are the staple 
 commodities of these countries : they are conse- 
 quently the principal aliment of the inhabitants. 
 Thus the food of the people of Russian Poland, 
 Courland, &c, is the exact opposite of that of 
 
OF POPULATION. 95 
 
 the other inhabitants of the immense territories 
 of the Czars ; and from these opposite states, 
 effects the most opposite have been produced. 
 The consequence has been, that the population 
 of the corn countries, compared with the rest, has 
 been as five to one ! Nor have political circum- 
 stances in the slightest degree interfered to bring 
 about these results, but the contrary. The serfs 
 being the most valuable part of the stock of an 
 estate, the Russian landlord, so far from wishing 
 to clear his lands, counts up his boors as he does 
 his cattle, by the head, wishing both to increase 
 and multiply ; and it is well known to all who 
 know Russia, that the conscriptions for the army 
 are felt to be more grievous when directed towards 
 the two-legged, rather than the four-legged inha- 
 bitants of the lordship. Bearing, then, all these 
 circumstances in mind, let us look at the broad 
 facts, as stated in "M. Hassel's Tables of the 
 Population of Russia," as represented by Malte 
 Brun. These tables are beyond a doubt sub- 
 stantially correct. They were compiled and pub- 
 lished under the sanction and supervision of the 
 Russian government, and if error there be, the 
 side of paucity of numbers is not that on which 
 the error was likely to be made. In using these 
 tables, it must be premised that the Rtissian 
 
96 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 square mile of M. Hassel is equal to twenty 
 English square miles, or rather more than two 
 English square leagues. 
 
 Russia. 
 
 Grand Divisions. 
 
 Square miles 
 in it. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Number to a 
 square mile. 
 
 Russian Empire . . . 
 
 (divided into) 
 European Russia . . . 
 Kingdom of Poland . . 
 Asiatic Russia .... 
 American Russia . . . 
 
 367,494 
 
 72,861 
 
 2,293 
 
 268,339 
 
 24,000 
 
 59,263,700 
 
 44,118,600 
 
 8,541,900 
 
 11,663,200 
 
 50,000 
 
 161 
 
 606 
 1,544 
 43J 
 
 at 
 
 Here, then, taking the grand divisions alone 
 into view, it results that, in the kingdom of 
 Poland, where corn rather than animal food is 
 the aliment of the people, but at the same time 
 with an abundance of it, the numbers upon a 
 Russian square mile are, upon the average, 
 1,544 individuals, or nearly ten times the average 
 to the square mile, including the whole empire. 
 If more minute divisions are taken, similar 
 results are exhibited. In the Duchy of Cour- 
 land and in Western Russia, for instance, the 
 results are as follow : — These countries border 
 upon Poland, and are similarly circumstanced, 
 being essentially corn countries. In order to 
 show that this population is spread equally over 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 97 
 
 the surface of these countries, and not caused 
 by masses of people collected by local circum- 
 stances into large towns, the population of each 
 government, as stated in the Russian statistical 
 tables, is given. Thus, there is no room for 
 doubt as to the population being the natural 
 population of these countries. 
 
 Division. 
 
 Square miles 
 in each. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Persons to a 
 square mile. 
 
 
 509 
 
 681,300 
 
 1,142 
 
 Western Russia . . . 
 
 7,537 
 
 8,488,900 
 
 1,125 
 
 (including) 
 
 
 
 
 Government of Wilna . . 
 
 1,081 
 
 1,357,400 
 
 1,255 
 
 . . Grodno . 
 
 326 
 
 868,100 
 
 1,619 
 
 
 
 Bialystock 
 
 158 
 
 224,600 
 
 1,422 
 
 
 
 Witepsk . 
 
 668 
 
 934,900 
 
 1,398 
 
 
 
 Mohileu . 
 
 918 
 
 985,400 
 
 1,073 
 
 
 
 Minsk. . 
 
 1,832 
 
 1,160,100 
 
 633 
 
 
 
 Volhynia . 
 
 1,394 
 
 1,496,300 
 
 1,072 
 
 . . Podolia . 
 
 948 
 
 1,462,190 
 
 1,542 
 
 Such are the results of a comparison of the 
 population calculated upon the square Russian 
 mile, as afforded by the corn-growing countries 
 of the Russian empire. With the single excep- 
 tion of the government of Minsk, the peopling 
 of each district is somewhere between (1,000) 
 one thousand and (1,600) sixteen hundred to the 
 Russian square mile. If these districts be so 
 compared to the most fertile, pastoral, or cattle- 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 feeding districts of the Muscovite dominion, the 
 result will be found to be very striking, In 
 short, it will be found that the regions most 
 fertile in cattle, or, in other words, animal food, 
 are the least so in men. 
 
 Let us take, for example, the kingdoms of 
 Astrakhan and of Kasan. They are amongst 
 the finest pastoral provinces of Russia, and from 
 the last (Kasan) comes a considerable portion of 
 the tallow exported by the Russians. It is of 
 fine quality throughout, though perhaps less 
 skilfully dealt with than the tallow from the 
 Southern provinces of the empire, properly so 
 called. This is a proof, as far as it goes, that 
 the cattle are not only completely, but slowly fat- 
 tened, and that no exigencies of the population 
 render it necessary to bring them prematurely 
 to market, or to slaughter them when in imper- 
 fect condition. Astrakhan is less rich. 
 
 Names of divisions. 
 
 Square miles 
 in each. 
 
 Population. 
 
 People to each 
 mile. 
 
 Kingdom or Kasan . . 
 
 (including) 
 Government of Kasan . . 
 
 . , Viatka. . 
 
 . . Perm . . 
 
 . . Simbrisk . 
 
 . . Pensa . . 
 
 11,621 
 
 1,123 
 2,221 
 6,996 
 1,402 
 777 
 
 6,746,260 
 
 1,028,160 
 1,293,800 
 1,269,900 
 1,119,400 
 1,035,000 
 
 498 
 
 915 
 582 
 212 
 798 
 1,331 
 
OP POPULATION. 
 
 99 
 
 Names of divisions. 
 
 Square miles 
 in each. 
 
 Population. 
 
 People to each 
 
 mile. 
 
 Kingdom of Astrakhan 
 
 (including) 
 Government of Astrakhan 
 . Sawtow 
 . . Orenburgli 
 
 13,823 
 
 3,899 
 4,297 
 5,626 
 
 2,598,700 
 
 222,700 
 1,333,500 
 1,043,500 
 
 118 
 
 67 
 310 
 
 185 
 
 Such are the states of populousness of the 
 districts or kingdoms of Kasan and Astrakhan— 
 two countries both fertile and pastoral in a great 
 degree. 
 
 The most decidedly pastoral districts of the 
 Russian empire are, however, those comprised 
 in the fine region emphatically called Southern 
 Russia. 
 
 iTpon these immense and beautiful plains, or 
 undulating tracts, are the countless herds of 
 cattle reared and fed from which is derived the 
 greater portion of the tallow and skins which 
 form the grand articles of export from the Russian 
 empire* From these distant grafting lands a 
 constant driving of herds of cattle goes on, and 
 the expense of this driving fixes principally the 
 value and price of the tallow. Hence, at high 
 prices, it has been found that there is hardly a 
 lim it, to the possible supply. The cattle are 
 driven so slowly as to be fattened, and kept fat, 
 
 h2 
 
100 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 as they move on towards the place of slaughter, 
 and some of the nobles over whose estates they 
 pass, derive large revenues from this source 
 alone. Some years ago Count Orloff received 
 annually 30,000 silver roubles in tolls of this sort 
 from a single estate — being upon 120,000 head 
 of cattle at the rate of 25 copeaks per head. The 
 ultimate destination of these herds is the town 
 of Columna, or Kqlumna, which is one immense 
 slaughter-shop, the greatest in all Russia. Thence 
 the tallow is brought to the coast for shipment. 
 Let us now look at the population of Southern 
 Russia, and also at the Slobodes of the Ukraine, 
 which also help to produce these countless herds. 
 It is as follows : — 
 
 Name of District. 
 
 Squ. Russian 
 miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Numbrs. 
 to a mile. 
 
 Southern Russia, .... 
 
 (including) 
 Government of Ichatuinoslaw . 
 
 . . Kersou . . 
 
 . . Taurida . . 
 
 . . Don Cossacks 
 Slobodes or Ukraine . . . 
 
 8772 
 
 1417 
 1206 
 1646 
 3611 
 1118 
 
 2,316,600 
 
 826,100 
 459,400 
 346,200 
 869,800 
 914,400 
 
 265 
 
 583 
 380 ' 
 211 
 102 
 817 
 
 Thus, in the most pastoral provinces, where 
 the cattle are the sole produce, and the sole food 
 almost of the people, the numbers are lowest. 
 
OP POPULATION. 101 
 
 In short, in Southern Russia, the pastoral dis- 
 trict, the population to the square mile is not 
 one-sixth that of the corn country, Poland. 
 - With this state of population as existing 
 throughout these immense pastoral districts, let 
 us contrast the state of countries equally exten- 
 sive, but pursuing a mode of life precisely opposite 
 to that of the Russian serfs. 
 
 The countries of China, Japan and Hindostan 
 present perhaps the most striking example of 
 the effects of a diet, nearly or altogether vegetable, 
 upon a people. In the first of these countries 
 the people seem to have spontaneously for ages 
 given the preference to agriculture, and neglected 
 the rearing of animal food, until the density of 
 the population has rendered it no longer praotk 
 cable if a change were contemplated. In Japan 
 the government itself interferes, and compels its 
 people to cultivate vegetable rather than rear 
 animal food. In Hindostan, the Brahminical 
 religion interferes to prevent the shedding of the 
 blood of animals. Hence in China, horned Gattle 
 and sheep are almost unknown, and in Japan 
 totally so. In British India flesh-meat is only 
 eaten by the European and Mahometan part of 
 the population. If we look at the statistical 
 
102 THE TBUE LAW 
 
 details of these countries, we shall find a redun- 
 dancy of population to an enormous extent. 
 With regard to the two first mentioned, we are 
 certainly without those minute and highly ac- 
 curate details which we possess as to Russia and 
 some other countries. But enough is known to 
 show the certainty that such is the truth ; and 
 the accounts of the population of British India 
 fully bear out the more general statements as to 
 the numbers inhabiting the two first mentioned. 
 The area of China Proper, is in round num- 
 bers, one million two hundred and ninety-eight 
 thousand square miles, or one hundred and forty- 
 five-thousand square leagues — as to its precise 
 population there is certainly some dispute. It 
 was estimated by Father Allerstein in 1743, and 
 again by Lord Macartney in 1 795, upon the testis 
 mony of the Chinese authorities. Both of these 
 estimates were sanctioned by men who had 
 intimate or personal knowledge of the country 
 in question ; both, however, have been disputed. 
 Let us first take the estimates themselves, and 
 then examine the grounds of objection : — 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 103 
 
 POPULATION OF CHINA. 
 
 Provinces. 
 
 Allerstein, 1743. 
 
 Macartney, 1795. 
 
 Fongtain 
 
 PetchiHi 
 
 Kiangnan ..... 
 Kiangsi ..... 
 Tchekiang. .... 
 
 Foukien 
 
 Hooqnang ..... 
 
 Shanton 
 
 Honan ...... 
 
 Chansi 
 
 Chinese division Singan 
 
 Kansoo . 
 
 Sc-tchooen. . . , , 
 Koo-ang-Tong . . . 
 Koo-ang-Si .... 
 
 Yooman 
 
 Koeicheoo 
 
 668,852 
 
 15,222,940 
 
 45,922,439 
 
 11,006,604 
 
 15,429,690 
 
 8,063,671 
 
 16,910,423 
 
 25,180,734 
 
 16,332,507 
 
 9,768,189 
 
 7,287,443 
 
 7,412,014 
 
 2,782,976 
 
 6,782,975 
 
 3,947,414 
 
 2,078,892 
 
 3,402,722 
 
 38,000,000 
 
 32,000,000 
 19,000,000 
 21,000,000 
 15,000,000 
 27,000,000 
 24,000,000 
 25,000,000 
 27,000,000 
 18,000,000 
 12,000,000 
 27,000,000 
 21,000,000 
 10,000,000 
 8,000,000 
 9,000,000 
 
 Total 
 
 198,213,713 
 
 333,000,000 
 
 These estimates are objected to by M. Malte 
 Brun, who seems eager to depreciate the Chinese 
 as a nation. He is one of those writers who 
 seem to be thoroughly possessed with the 
 notion that population is one of the tests of 
 prosperity and industry, and he accordingly taxes 
 his ingenuity to bring together objections to the 
 probability of the accounts of the dense popula- 
 tion of these regions. His objections are, first, 
 that there are something like repetitions of the 
 
104 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 names of the provinces, as given by Macartney 
 and Allerstein : secondly, that the disproportion 
 between the two as to numbers is incredible : 
 lastly, that in the time of the Emperor Kienlong, 
 the peasants liable to tribute were only twenty- 
 five millions. It is curious enough that in the 
 table giving the proportion of tax paid by each 
 province, the same names exactly are given as 
 those in Macartney and Allerstein's population 
 tables. The result is as follows : — 
 
 Number of Peasants sub- 
 ject to the Tribute. 
 
 Tribute in Wheat in 
 Chinese bushels. 
 
 Tribute in Silver 
 in hand. 
 
 25,165,390 
 
 6,396,288 
 
 28,360,800 
 
 
 Bushel, 12,070 Cubic 
 Inches, French. 
 
 Lana, 709 Dutch 
 As. 
 
 He also gives the ancient statements as 
 to population, which are certainly far below 
 the modern statements. It is to be doubted, 
 however, if these statements included the whole 
 of what is mapped as modern China Proper. 
 The ancient statements are as follow, and they 
 exhibit, if at all accurate, some remarkable fluc- 
 tuations in the rates of fecundity. 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 105 
 
 Families. 
 
 Mouths. 
 
 Census in the First Century 
 A.D. 740, Tang Dynasty . 
 AD. 1393, Hong Voo . . 
 A.D. 1491, Hiao Tsoug . . 
 A.D. 1578, Van Lie . . . 
 
 12,233,062 
 8,412,800 
 
 16,052,860 
 9,113,446 
 
 10,621,436 
 
 59,594,978 
 48,143,600 
 60,545,812 
 53,281,158 
 60,692,856 
 
 The author gives the above, not as bearing 
 much upon the question of the present numbers 
 of the Chinese nation, but as exhibiting remark- 
 able fluctuations of population, resulting alto- 
 gether from a change of fecundity amongst the 
 same people. The first census, on comparison 
 of the mouths of the families, gives not quite five 
 to each family. In the year 740 the fecundity 
 has increased to six, the average family ; in 1393 
 the population has doubled, but from some cause 
 a decrease takes place in the rate of fecundity, 
 and the average family is under four; in 1491 
 the people are again decreased nearly a half, but 
 the average family is nearly six persons ; in 1578 
 the average family is six, and population in- 
 creasing. To what these changes of fecundity 
 are owing, it would now be difficult to trace ; but 
 of the changes having taken place, there seems 
 to be fair evidence. 
 
106 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Let us return, however, to the objections of 
 M. Malte Brun. It seems clear enough that no 
 faith in the accuracy of Lord Macartney's ac- 
 count can be entertained, the Mandarins having 
 palpably arranged the numbers so as to give 
 333,000,000. But it does not at all follow that 
 the truth does not He between this account and 
 that of Father Allerstein in 1743. So far is the 
 result of the tribute table from weakening 
 Allerstein' § account, that it confirms it, It is 
 well known, that if those capable of bearing arms 
 in a country be selected, they will be found to 
 amount only to about a sixth part of the people, 
 but the persons or peasants liable to pay this tax 
 were clearly only a portion of the adult male 
 population. If any females were liable they must 
 have been few in number, there being few unmar^ 
 ried females in China ; and of the adult males, all 
 the privileged orders, all the very poor, all the 
 soldiery, all the seamen, all the other employes 
 of government, and all those who in any way 
 evaded the tribute, must probably be deducted. 
 If then, as is not unlikely, the persons subject 
 to, and paying this tribute, confined as it was to 
 wheat and silver, were not more than a seventh 
 or eighth part of the entire community, AHer- 
 stein's account is confirmed by the result. From 
 
OF POPULATION. 107 
 
 1743, the date of Allerstein's calculation, to 
 1 795, that of Lord Macartney's, is a period of half 
 a century. What improbability is there then, 
 in the supposition that during this period the 
 population of this densely peopled region, as 
 it is known to be, may not have reached 
 250,000,000 or 280,000,000 of persons \ Taking 
 the area at 145,000 square leagues, this would 
 give 1724 persons in the first case, and 1931 in 
 the second case, to each league ; a result the 
 reverse of improbable, when Ireland and some of 
 the poorer European countries are looked at, 
 where the food of the inhabitants is vegetable 
 for the most part, as in China. Throughout the 
 whole of the Celestial Empire this is certainly 
 the fact. Rice is the principal aliment, and tea 
 or water the beverage of the people. There are 
 no fermented liquors, and fewer animals of any 
 sort than in any other country, the Japanese 
 Islands perhaps excepted. On the coasts fish is 
 abundant, as well as in the great rivers, upon 
 which last two millions of people are believed to 
 pass their fives in crafts of various kinds. The 
 whole interior is known to be in a high state of 
 cultivation, and early and universal marriages are 
 enjoined by the State. The density of the popu- 
 lation is admitted by all travellers ; and it has 
 
108 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 long been known that in China, everything that 
 admits of it is made available for food, and that 
 rats and other vermin are eagerly eaten by the 
 natives. If to this is added the mortality and ex- 
 posure of children, which since Lord Macartney's 
 embassy are undoubted, we have every reason 
 to believe that his general view of the immense 
 extent of Chinese population accords with truth, 
 though the folly of the Mandarins has thrown 
 discredit upon their statements ; and it is now 
 asserted by Mr. Montgomery Martin that the 
 empire contains 367 millions, and the tributaries 
 40 millions of souls. Under any view, if China, 
 where there is no animal food, be contrasted with 
 Russia, where there is little else, it is v impossible 
 not to be struck with the difference of the two 
 countries in this particular, similar as they are 
 in some other essential points. In the Empire 
 of Japan we find similar causes producing similar 
 effects. In these Islands agriculture, to the total 
 exclusion of pasturage, is enjoined by law, and 
 the consequence is a total want of animal food, 
 as well as of the animals which might afford it. 
 Thunberg states, that in his time there were 
 probably more horses in a province of Sweden 
 than in all the Japanese Empire. Of the larger 
 cattle there are none, and goats and sheep are 
 
OF POPULATION. 109 
 
 totally banished. Cotton and silk supply the 
 place of wool. There are a few swine in the 
 vicinity of Nangasacki, and superstition has 
 saved the lives of a few dogs. Since the expul- 
 sion of the missionaries in 1630, the jealousy of 
 the Japanese has excluded the country almost 
 from the knowledge of Europeans. It is quite 
 certain, however, that the aliment of the people 
 is vegetable, and the population is dense in the 
 extreme for a country so mountainous and the 
 reverse of fertile. Golownin, a Russian naval 
 officer, who with his crew was imprisoned there 
 in 1811, 1812, and 1813, bears general testimony 
 to the immense population of such places as he 
 saw during his detention ; his evidence as to 
 diet is also decisive. The food he partook of was 
 generally rice cooked in different ways, soup 
 composed generally of radishes with wild herbs 
 and seasonings, salted or fresh fish, and fruit. 
 The beverage was water, tea, or a small beer, 
 made by fermenting rice called sagi. He de- 
 scribes the Japanese as accounting not only all 
 sorts of fish, but all marine vegetables, as eat- 
 able. The fish on the coasts seem to be very 
 plentiful, and the modes of taking them wonder- 
 fully successful. His detention lasted upwards 
 of two years ; during that time he tasted of 
 
110 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 three or four fowls, eggs occasionally, and as a 
 treat on his release, of ducks, geese, and game ; 
 but of anything like butchers' meat there was a 
 total absence. The Dutch Writers confirm these 
 accounts. They describe the soil as Sterile, but 
 cultivated with prodigious care even high up the 
 mountains. All accounts concur in describing 
 the population of the habitable parts as dense in 
 the extreme. The capital city, Jeddo, is be- 
 lieved to be the largest in the world, and to con- 
 tain 1,680,000 inhabitants. The armies main- 
 tained by the Keebo, or military dictator, and 
 the federal tributary Princes, are said to amount 
 to 468,000 infantry and 53,000 cavalry, for which 
 purpose alone horses are bred by the government. 
 They have little or no marine, and now are nearly 
 without foreign trade. The most striking proof, 
 however, of the " prodigious population " of these 
 islands, is to be found in the amount of the 
 revenue, This is stated by Varencies, a well- 
 informed Dutch author, at the enormous sum of 
 two ihousomd eight hundred and thirty-four Dutch 
 tons of gold, which, valuing the ton at ten thou- 
 sand pounds, will be upwards of twenty millions 
 sterling. And this (says M. Malte Brun) is 
 without reckoning the provinces and towns 
 which depend immediately on the Emperor. 
 
OF POPULATION. Ill 
 
 It is impossible to conceive that sums so enor- 
 mous should be levied directly from a people 
 destitute of foreign commerce, and inhabiting a 
 country not exuberantly rich, unless that people 
 were very numerous. The area of the empire is 
 estimated to be 266,500 square miles English, 
 or 29,600 square leagues. Malte Brun, who 
 admits its "prodigious" density (as is Usual 
 with him in speaking of these regions), under- 
 rates the amount of population, which he calls 
 thirty millions. It is believed, however, to be 
 about forty-five millions, which gives in round 
 numbers 1,500 persons to the square league ; a 
 wonderful proportion, when it is considered that 
 these islands consist mostly of mountains ; that 
 the soil is comparatively sterile, as compared with 
 continental Asia, and the climate inclement, the 
 highest peaks being covered with snow all the 
 year. 
 
 Many readers will, perhaps, hesitate as to what 
 reliance should be placed upon the foregoing 
 statements, relating as they do to regions as to 
 which our statistical knowledge is confessedly 
 very defective, and only general. Nor would 
 such hesitation be improper, were it not luckily 
 the case that ample and complete corroboration 
 is at hand in the statistics of regions very similar 
 
112 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 in the habits of their inhabitants, and as to 
 which our knowledge is perfect and undoubted. 
 The regions in question are the British terri- 
 tories in India, and those of the allies and tri- 
 butaries of the British Government, together 
 with the few independent States, forming alto- 
 gether the immense territory of Hindostan. Of 
 the larger portion of the natives of these re- 
 gions, it is notorious that their religion, which 
 is Brahminical, forbids the use of animal food. 
 The heat of the climate conspires with their 
 superstition to prohibit the resort to this 
 aliment. It is accordingly hardly eaten at all, 
 excepting by the European residents, the richer 
 Mahometans, and a few of the degraded native 
 castes, who, however, cannot obtain much from 
 the want of means. Bice, of which there are 
 twenty-seven Indian varieties, is the principal 
 food, in point of fact, of all classes, Europeans 
 hardly excepted. Upon it the native inhabi- 
 tants depend for subsistence ; and a failure in 
 the rice crop occasions a famine, to which, for 
 extent of suffering, no dearth in European 
 countries can be compared. These famines are 
 not unfrequent, and are thought, at times, 
 to have caused the death of hundreds of thou- 
 sands of persons. The different tribes are often 
 
OF POPULATION. 113 
 
 in a state of warfare. The Asiatic Cholera, 
 never wholly extinguished, . from time to time 
 destroys its millions, yet all these causes of 
 diminution have not sufficed to keep down the 
 population of these regions, which, in the level 
 and cultivated parts, is wonderfully dense. Of 
 British India, indeed of Hindostan, the finest 
 portion is unquestionably the province of Bengal. 
 It is situated on the lower part of the course of 
 the great river Ganges, which divides into two 
 parts nearly equal. It is fertile in the extreme, 
 and highly cultivated. The climate, however, is 
 very unhealthy, an insalubrity which is in- 
 creased by the mode of cultivating rice, which 
 is irrigated from large standing pools of water, 
 artificially embanked by the cultivator. Southern 
 Bengal produces no other edible grain ; but as 
 the country rises towards the north, wheat, barley, 
 and the potato are also grown. The rivers, as 
 well as the coasts, abound in fish. Such is the 
 food of Bengal, and the following table will show 
 its effects on the population ; of its general accu- 
 racy there can be no doubt : — 
 
114 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 POPULATION OF THE BENGAL PRESIDENCY FOR 1820. 
 
 Territories. 
 
 British 
 square miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Numbers 
 
 to the square 
 
 league. 
 
 Bengal, Bahar, and Benares 
 Additions since 1765 . . 
 Gurwal Kumaoon, and tracts 
 between Sutledge & Jumna 
 
 162,000 
 148,000 
 
 1 18,000 
 
 39,000,000 ; 
 18,000,000 
 
 500,000 
 
 2,166 
 1,094 
 
 250 
 
 Thus we see that in the old and more com- 
 pletely cultivated territory of Bengal, where rice 
 and fish are the food of the natives, the population 
 has reached the enormous amount of two thou- 
 sand one hundred and sixty-six persons to each, 
 British square league, a strong corroboration of 
 the truth of the alleged populousness of China, 
 which has been for time immemorial under a 
 similarly high state of cultivation. 
 
 The two other Presidencies of Madras and Bom- 
 bay are not only much more mountainous, and far 
 less fertile, but are also far less completely cleared 
 and cultivated. The territories of the British 
 tributaries, and those of the allies and the inde- 
 pendent States, are similarly circumstanced. 
 Much of their surface is yet forest, mountain, 
 swamp, and jungle, the habitation of the elephant 
 and the tiger, the buffalo and the rhinoceros: 
 yet even here the population to the square league 
 
OP POPULATION, 
 
 115 
 
 British is not less, or much less, than one thou- 
 sand on the average, an extraordinary one for 
 a tract where cultivation is almost confined to 
 the banks of the rivers. The following will shew 
 the result : — 
 
 Territory. 
 
 British 
 square miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Numbers 
 
 to the square 
 
 league. 
 
 Madras Presidency . . . 
 Bombay Presidency ... 
 
 154,000 
 
 '' 11,000 
 
 60,000 
 
 15,000,000 
 2,500,000 
 8,000,000 
 
 882 
 2,049 
 1,201 
 
 
 225,000 
 
 25,500,000 
 
 1,020 
 
 The next table shews the population of some 
 of the territories of the principal tributaries and 
 allies of the British : — 
 
 
 
 
 Number 
 
 Territory. 
 
 British 
 square miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 to the square 
 league. 
 
 The Nizam 
 
 96,000 
 
 10,000,000 
 
 1,000 nearly 
 
 The Nagpoor Raja . . . 
 
 70,000 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 390 
 
 The King of Oude . . . 
 
 20,000 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 1,363 
 
 The Guicowas .... 
 
 18,000 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 The Mysore Raja . . '. 
 
 27,000 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 The Satarah Raja . . . 
 
 14,000 
 
 1,500,000 
 
 937 
 
 Travancore and Cochen 
 
 8,000 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 1,100 
 
 Kotah Brondu Bossaul 
 
 14,000 
 
 1,500,000 
 
 937 
 
 Of the independent States, which are only five, 
 
 I 2 
 
116 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the dominions of Scindia and Afghan territory are 
 the most fertile and populous, and they give simi- 
 lar results. Nepaul is the poorest, most rocky, 
 and least populous. Such is the population of those 
 portions of Asia, where climate, soil, religion, and 
 manners have united to force a diet of vegetables 
 only upon the inhabitants. If we turn to Europe, 
 and examine those countries where poverty or 
 any other cause has induced similar modes of 
 living, we shall find the results to be similar. 
 This populousness then does not arise from 
 climate, or any peculiar physical constitution of 
 the people, but from the nature of their food, 
 and its restricted quantity ; in short, from poverty 
 of diet in quality or in quantity, or in both. 
 
 Ireland is beyond a question the poorest 
 country, as to the destitute state of its popula- 
 tion, of all Europe, perhaps of the whole glohe. 
 Of a population of eight millions of persons, it 
 has been ascertained, after an inquiry instituted 
 by Parliament, that not less than two millions 
 and a quarter were wandering and houseless 
 mendicants, subsisting upon the charity of their 
 hardly richer brethren. The owners of the land 
 to a great extent spend their incomes in other 
 countries. There is no Poor-law efficient to 
 oppose a check to destitution and starvation. 
 
OF POPULATION. 117 
 
 The dignitaries of the Establishment do not 
 reside on their benefices, and spend their tithes 
 in many instances in England altogether, or on 
 the continent ; whilst the Eoman Catholic 
 church is too poor to allow its ministers to 
 alleviate by charity the sufferings of the people. 
 In this Btate of poverty the mode of living of a 
 people so destitute may be easily conjectured. 
 Dwelling for the most part in mud cabins, without 
 window or chimney, save a hole in the wall or 
 roof, and shivering over a fire of peat, they live 
 almost solely on the potatoes which they raise 
 upon their little holdings ; their children par- 
 taking, perhaps, of the milk of their cow, if they 
 possess one Of clothing proper for the climate 
 they are as destitute as they are of proper 
 aliment, and the pig of the Irish peasant is often 
 as well fed, and little less profusely bedded and 
 clothed than himself. In point of fact, not only 
 all the live stock of every description, but every 
 edible, whether in the shape of cured provisions, 
 wheat, barley, peas, beans, butter or lard, is 
 exported from Ireland and consumed, the only 
 exception being the potato. The cottager who 
 tastes bacon four times a year is a lucky man, 
 and a little whisky forms his sole departure from 
 the beverage of nature, water. The money 
 
118 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 amount of Irish cattle and provisions of all 
 sorts imported into the town of Liverpool alone in 
 the year 1831, was estimated to be as high as 
 £4,497,708. 
 
 In 1832, the returns give £4,444,500 as the 
 value. 
 
 Nor is this state of things without its draw- 
 backs upon the increase, real or apparent, of the 
 Irish population. The poverty of the country 
 and the prevalence of distress, cause a constant 
 emigration of all who can find the means to leave 
 it. Every year numbers ship themselves for the 
 United States, or for the British settlements in 
 America. Greater numbers still cross the Irish 
 Sea to the West of England and Scotland, and 
 making their way to the Metropolis and to the 
 great towns, continue there as labourers. Num- 
 bers enter the army, and many the navy. In 
 Ireland itself, constantly recurring failures of 
 the potato crop, attended with the malignant 
 fevers which ever accompany dearth, thin for a 
 time whole counties. Civil wars and oppressions 
 have also done much to keep down the numbers 
 of this unfortunate race. From the time of the 
 Reformation, under Henry VIII, to the Protec- 
 torate of Cromwell, Ireland presents a scene of 
 slaughters, rebellions, and bloodshed, under every 
 
OF POPULATION. 119 
 
 form. Again, at the Kevolution of 1688, Irish 
 blood flowed in torrents in behalf of the exiled 
 family. Since that period the Orange Protes- 
 tant party have held the Roman Catholics under 
 constant persecutions and oppressions ; yet has 
 this miserable population gone on rapidly in- 
 creasing, and making more and more rapid head 
 against all these numerous apparent causes of 
 diminution and extermination. 
 
 At the close of Elizabeth's reign the Irish 
 people remaining were estimated, probably erro- 
 neously, to be no more than seven hundred 
 thousand in all ! 
 
 Sir William Petty conjectures the population, 
 at the close of the wars in 1652, to have been 
 about eight hundred and fifty thousand souls i 
 which he supposes increased to one million one. 
 hundred thousand persons in 1672. Subsequent 
 investigators have arrived at the following con- 
 clusions. They are no doubt founded on different 
 data, and only amount to probable guesses at, or 
 approximations to the truth. They prove that 
 in the space of one hundred and thirty years the 
 population of Ireland has more than quadrupled 
 itself, and that it has increased, as distress and 
 poverty and want of food increased, with an 
 
120 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 accelerated velocity, as if the pressure caused by 
 its own density urged it forward. 
 
 ESTIMATED POPULATION OF IRELAND AT VARIOUS 
 PERIODS. 
 
 Persons. 
 
 . 1,034,102 
 
 . 2,099,094 
 
 . 2,169,048 
 
 . 2,309,106 
 
 . 2,010,221 
 
 . 2,372,634 
 
 . 2,544,276 
 
 . 2,690,556 
 
 . 2,845,932 
 
 . 4,040,000 
 
 . 4,206,612 
 
 . 4,088,226 
 
 . 5,395,456 
 
 . 5,937,856 
 
 . 6,801,827 
 
 . 7,734,365 
 
 Of the whole number thus ascertained by the 
 census of 1821, which was the most carefully 
 taken, it was found that 1,138,069 were em- 
 ployed in agriculture ; 1,1 70,044 in various trades, 
 handicrafts, and manufactures ; and that 528,702 
 were employed in other avocations, not included 
 in the foregoing, making the total of employed 
 persons 2,836,815 only. If the rate of increase, 
 as indicated by these returns be taken, the re- 
 cent population of Ireland cannot be calculated 
 at less than eight millions and a half. Let us 
 
 169S 
 
 by Captain South at 
 
 1712 
 
 . Thomas Dobbs, Esq. 
 
 1718 
 
 . The same 
 
 1728 
 
 . The same 
 
 1731 
 
 . The Established Clergy . 
 
 1754 
 
 . Hearth Money Collectors 
 
 1767 
 
 . The same 
 
 1777 
 
 . The same 
 
 1785 
 
 . The same 
 
 1788 
 
 . Gerv. Parker Bushe, Esq. 
 
 1791 
 
 . Hearth Money Collectors 
 
 1792 
 
 . Rev. Aug. Beaufort 
 
 1805 
 
 . Thomas Newnham, Esq. 
 
 1813 
 
 . Incomplete Parliamentary Census 
 
 1821 
 
 . Parliamentary Census . 
 
 1831 
 
 . Parliamentary Census . 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 121 
 
 now see the proportion of people to the square 
 British league upon the total area of the country. 
 Ireland is held to consist, by one estimate as 
 ordered by Parliament, of 19,441,944 statute 
 acres, and by another of 20,399,608 statute 
 acres. Its area in square British miles has been 
 callculated at 31,875 square miles ; and by Wake- 
 field and Arrowsmith, at 32,201 square miles. 
 Thirty-two thousand, in round numbers, isprobably 
 near the truth. Reducing this to square leagues, 
 and dividing the population by their number, the 
 result is as nearly as possible, two thousand three 
 hundred and ninety-one persons to the square 
 British league; a population rivalling those of 
 India and China — the uncultivated land, bog, and 
 lake being to the cultivated land .as follows, in 
 round numbers about six to fourteen : 
 
 Cultivated. 
 
 Mountain and Bog. 
 
 Lakes. 
 
 Total in Statute Acres. 
 
 14,603,473 
 
 5,340,736 
 
 455,399 
 
 20,399,608 
 
 When to this we add the fact, that the cultiva- 
 tion of Ireland, owing to the poverty and igno- 
 rance of the inhabitants, is miserably defective, 
 this result is certainly extraordinary. 
 
122 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 We now turn to England herself; and England, 
 perhaps, of all countries of this globe, exhibits 
 phenomena the most puzzling to an inquiry of 
 the nature of that which forms the subject of 
 this treatise. Manifesting as she does all the 
 signs of external wealth and power, these ma- 
 nifestations are yet accompanied by symptoms 
 indicating a situation the reverse of prosperity ; 
 an increasing and alarming poor's-rate, a growth 
 of crime, and a too rapidly augmenting popula- 
 tion. The question, then, to be solved is this : 
 does this increasing population, linked as it is 
 with an increase of poor, with augmented poor- 
 rates, and augmented crime, and with other 
 evidence of a deteriorating condition of the 
 labouring classes, prove, in spite of the contrary 
 indications of wealth amongst other classes, the 
 probable truth of the theory which forms the 
 subject of this essay 1 In the author's opinion it 
 certainly does prove this truth. If it does so, it 
 must certainly, however, prove another collateral 
 or correlative truth ; that is to say, that the con- 
 dition of the majority of the English people 
 has, for a series of years, been deteriorating and 
 still continues to deteriorate. That this is a con- 
 sequence, according to the theory of population 
 here propounded, the author willingly admits, 
 
OF POPULATION. 123 
 
 believing it, as he does, to be indubitably true in 
 point of fact. The proofs of this truth appear to 
 him to be apparent in the following statistical 
 facts : — 1. The increased poorVrate : 2. The 
 increase of crime : 3. The diminished con- 
 sumption of malt. In his general remarks upon 
 these points he will not, in this division of his 
 work, go far back; he will contrast the sum 
 levied for the poor in 1670 with those levied 
 since that time ; but upon the other points in 
 question, he will merely avail himself of the 
 evidence of the modern time, and content himself 
 with showing that it sufficiently accounts for the 
 increased population of this country throughout 
 the last half or three quarters of a century. Let 
 us first see what has been the known progress of 
 the population of Great Britain, and then com- 
 pare with its increase that of poor's-rate and 
 crime. As for the diminished consumption of 
 malt, that is a fact of general notoriety, and is 
 known to be certain from the different Excise 
 returns of the duty. The following table shows 
 the progress of the population of England, 
 Wales, and Scotland, separately as well as 
 jointly :— 
 
124 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 SUMMARY OF THE POPULATION OF GBEAT BRITAIN. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 4* 
 
 
 
 1801. 
 
 |8 
 
 o u 
 
 s *> 
 
 1811. 
 
 3 g 
 
 5 u 
 
 .9 8. 
 
 1821. 
 
 lid 
 
 a 6 
 
 M O. 
 
 1831. 
 
 England 
 
 8,381,434 
 
 14S 
 
 9,551,888 
 
 17* 
 
 11,261,437 
 
 16 
 
 13,089,338 
 
 Wales . 
 
 541,546 
 
 14 
 
 611,788 
 
 IV 
 
 717,438 
 
 12 
 
 805,236 
 
 Scotland 
 
 1,909,068 
 
 13 
 
 2,185,688 
 
 16 
 
 2,093,456 
 
 — 
 
 2,365,807 
 
 Army 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and > 
 
 470,598 
 
 — 
 
 640,500 
 
 — 
 
 319,300 
 
 — 
 
 277,017 
 
 Navy ) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 10,942,646 
 
 15J 
 
 12,989,864 
 
 14 
 
 14,391,631 
 
 15 
 
 16,637,398 
 
 Thus the population of England has, it seems, 
 increased between 1801 and 1831as9isto 14, and 
 that Scotland has nearly kept pace with this. The 
 following are the returns of the amount of poor's- 
 rate levied in the different years given. They are 
 extracted from returns ordered by Parliament : — 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 125 
 
 Year. 
 
 Amount of Poor Rate 
 
 
 1673 
 
 £ 840,000 
 
 
 1698 
 
 819,000 
 
 
 1700 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 -, 
 
 1776 
 
 1,720,316 
 
 
 1783) 
 
 Average. 
 
 
 1784 [ 
 
 2,167,748 
 
 
 1785) 
 
 
 
 1801 
 
 4,800,000 (probably). 
 
 "5 
 
 1803 
 
 5,348,204 
 
 
 1812-13 
 
 8,640,842 
 
 
 1820-21 
 
 8,411,893 
 
 
 1821-22 
 
 7,761,441 
 
 
 1823-24 
 
 6,898,153 
 
 
 1830 
 
 8,111,422 
 
 
 1831 
 
 8,279,217 
 
 
 The author has been unable to ascertain the 
 amount of rate for 1801, but it was certainly not 
 more than five millions, although the two years 
 preceding had been years of scarcity, amounting 
 almost to famine. The nominal increase of the 
 rates then from 1801 to 1831 may be stated as 
 from 5 to 8, but the real increase is much greater, 
 inasmuch as allowance for the alteration in the 
 value of money brought about by the Currency 
 Bill of 1819, which is generally known by the 
 title of Mr. Peel's Bill. What the exact en- 
 hancement of the value of the currency was 
 after 1829, when the Bill was carried into its 
 fullest effect, the author will not here attempt to 
 determine. It is sufficient that it is generally 
 
126 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 admitted to have been considerable ; and that, 
 upon the lowest computation of the value added 
 to money by the extinction of the Bank-notes 
 under five pounds in 1829, the poor's-rate of 
 1831 must have been triple that of 180r in 
 reality, though not in name. 
 
 Of the increase of crime the evidence is not 
 less decisive. In 1827 a Committee of the 
 House of Commons appointed to inquire into 
 this subject, not only fully admitted in their 
 Report the fact of this alarming increase, but 
 adduced evidence unquestionable of it. The 
 following table of commitments is extracted from 
 the Appendix of the Report of 1827. It is 
 appalling. 
 
 COMMITMENTS FOB ENGLAND AND WALES FROM 1806 
 TO 1826 INCLUSIVE. 
 
 (Extracted from AgpenMx of Commons' Report, 1827. 
 
 1806. 
 
 1810. 
 
 1811. 
 
 1812. 
 
 1813. 
 
 1814. 
 
 4,346 
 
 5,146 
 
 5,837 
 
 6,576 
 
 7,164 
 
 6,390 
 
 
 1815. 
 
 1816. 
 
 1817. 
 
 1818. 
 
 1819. 
 
 1820. 
 
 7,818 
 
 9,091 
 
 13,932 
 
 13,567 
 
 14,254 
 
 13,710 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 127 
 
 1821. 
 
 1822. 
 
 1823. 
 
 1824. 
 
 182S. 
 
 1826. 
 
 13,115 
 
 12,241 
 
 12,263 
 
 13,698 
 
 14,437 
 
 16,147 
 
 That this enormous increase — the commitments 
 of 1826 almost quadrupling those of 1806 — has 
 been caused by distress is evident from the table 
 itself. The first great increase is in 1817, when 
 the revulsions in commerce caused by the end of 
 the war produced excessive manufacturing pres j 
 sure and difficulty, from which the population 
 generally seem never to have recovered. In 
 1822, when, owing to the preparations for with- 
 drawing the Country Bank paper below notes for 
 five pounds, the prices of provisions were greatly 
 lowered, an amendment in morals seems to have 
 followed. This is again extinguished by the rise 
 in prices and monetary crisis of 1825-6, and 
 since that period, crime in England has gone on 
 increasing year by year. 
 
 The following table is extracted from Official 
 Returns on this subject up to 1834 : — 
 
 1827. 
 
 1828. 
 
 J 829. 
 
 1830. 
 
 17,924* 
 
 16,564 
 
 18,675 
 
 18,107 
 
128 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 1831. 
 
 1832. 
 
 1833. 
 
 1834. i 
 
 19,647 
 
 20,829 
 
 20,072 
 
 22,451 
 
 Thus the commitments of 1834 
 those of 1806 ; a growth prodigious, and only 
 to be accounted for by the fact of an increasing 
 pressure upon the lower classes of this country ; 
 for during this period general education and the 
 building of places of worship have been greatly 
 promoted. 
 
 Later returns prove that this increase of crime 
 is still rapidly and fearfully advancing. The 
 following are the commitments during the six 
 years from 1843 to 1848, inclusive. The march 
 of criminality exhibited is fearful : — 
 
 1843 committed . . 
 
 . . 29,581 
 
 1844 
 
 26,542 
 
 1845 
 
 24,303 
 
 1846 
 
 25,107 
 
 1847 
 
 28,383 
 
 1848 
 
 30,349 
 
 To endeavour to evade these evidences of pres- 
 sure upon the British population, as some liberal 
 writers attempt to do, by a reference* to the 
 increased value of life in England, compared 
 
OF POPULATION. 129 
 
 with its value some centuries ago, is very absurd. 
 From the bare fact of a greater average value of 
 life, little certain can be deduced as to the pros- 
 perity of a nation, if the comparison is to be 
 made with the value of life some centuries 
 before. If we refer to. that luxurious era which 
 existed just anterior to the Reformation, we 
 shall, no doubt, find the value of life then much 
 less than now. But are we, on that account, to 
 ignore the facts, and shut our eyes to the statute- 
 book 1 Such writers seem to forget that a mode 
 of life too solid and luxurious shortens life, in 
 many instances, just as surely as does severe 
 privation; nay, more surely. Extreme repletion 
 (as all medical men know) lays the foundation 
 of more diseases than does depletion. We must 
 also take into account the great advances made 
 in modern times in the sciences of medicine and 
 surgery; the better ventilation since the disuse 
 of fortified towns with narrow, crowded streets 
 and high walls; and, above all, the vastly im- 
 proved drainage, which has been actually caused 
 of late years by the morbid increase of the po- 
 pulation itself. 
 
 If we reflect that in the reign of Edward the 
 Third the population of England was probably 
 under six millions, it is easy to perceive that, as 
 
 K 
 
130 THE TBUE LAW 
 
 a country, England could not be more than half 
 cultivated and half drained. There were at that 
 time nearly eight millions of acres of township 
 lands, held in common, always in the state of 
 pasture, to which little in the way of improve- 
 ment was done. The forests and chases, be- 
 longing to the crown and the nobilityj were 
 also much more extensive, and so were their 
 parks, where game of all kinds was the chief 
 food of the higher orders. Hence, in all the 
 more level parts of the country, there existed 
 extensive fens, lakes, tarns, and meres, which 
 were the resort of the heron, the egret, the mal- 
 lard, the widgeon, the teal, the bittern, and the 
 red-shank, then all highly prized as game. That 
 this undrained state of the country, however it 
 might add to the sport of the privileged classes, 
 seriously affected the health of its inhabitants, 
 cannot be doubted. Tertian, quartan, and quo- 
 tidian agues, with all the species of marsh fever, 
 were then common; whilst the constant use of 
 salted meat, and salted or pickled fish, in Lent 
 and on fast-days, joined to a total neglect of 
 vegetables and fruits, together with the custom 
 of giving highly spiced drinks, compounded of 
 wine, with the richest flavours of the East, under 
 the names of hot and cold tankards, hypocrasses, 
 
OF POPULATION. 131 
 
 possets, &c. &c, produced scorbutus, surfeit, and 
 hepatitis, in their worst forms. Hence the 
 disease called "leprosy" was then not uncom- 
 mon; and all the forms of ague were so preva- 
 lent that few persons entirely escaped them. 
 If to this we add the barbarous state of medicine 
 and surgery, which at that time probably killed 
 as many as they saved ; and the total want of 
 ventilation in the ancient castellated and fortified 
 towns, we see, at once, that the value of life, on 
 the average, must have been comparatively less 
 than now. There was no privation; but there 
 were mistaken modes of living, and excess in 
 plenty. There was also more exposure to wea- 
 ther, from a want of many of the convenient in- 
 ventions of modern times ; and when disease 
 had once made a lodgement, there existed no 
 curative science to check it. Small-pox, measles, 
 scarlatina, and the other diseases of infancy, were 
 aggravated, rather than alleviated, by the absurd 
 methods of treatment in vogue ; and what pri- 
 vation now does, surfeit then did; so opposite 
 were the diet and modes of living. 
 
 It is a curious but an undoubted truth, that 
 many parts of the United States of America 
 afford something like a parallel to this state of 
 affairs at this day, though not an exact one. 
 
 k2 
 
132 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 There is the same solid manner of living, to a 
 great extent, not accompanied, however, by the 
 same neglect of fruit and of vegetable diet ; and 
 the country is in the same undrained state as all 
 new countries, to a vast extent, must necessarily 
 be. In the cities and towns, however, of the 
 United States, the inhabitants enjoy most of the 
 advantages of modern civilization. Their streets 
 are wide and well drained, and medicine and 
 surgery are just as advanced as in Europe. But 
 is the value of life in these states equal to that 
 of life in England? By no means. The sta- 
 tistics of the United States are carefully enquired 
 into and freely published, and the results are the 
 following ; the causes assigned for the difference 
 by others, being the same as those now assigned: 
 
 •ERSON 
 
 3 LIVING IN 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 ENGLAND AND WALES. 
 
 Under 5 years 
 
 
 . 1744 
 
 
 1324 
 
 5 and under 10 
 
 
 . 1417 
 
 
 1197 
 
 10 . . 
 
 15 
 
 
 . 1210 
 
 
 1089 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 . 1091 
 
 
 997 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 . 1816 
 
 
 1780 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 40 . 
 
 
 . 1160 
 
 
 1289 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 50 . 
 
 
 . 732 
 
 
 959 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 60 . 
 
 
 . 436 
 
 
 645 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 70 . 
 
 
 245 
 
 
 440 
 
 70 
 
 
 
 80 . 
 
 
 . 113 
 
 
 216 
 
 80 
 
 
 
 90 . 
 
 
 82 
 
 
 59 
 
 90 upwards 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 10,000 
 
 
 10,000 
 
 Average age 
 
 of all 
 
 2 
 
 2 years 2 months 
 
 . 26 
 
 years 7 months 
 
 Above It 
 
 
 3 
 
 3 „ 6 „ 
 
 . 37 
 
 „ 5 „ 
 
 At 
 
 OV 
 
 j 20 
 
 t 
 
 3 
 
 r „ 7 „ 
 
 . 41 
 
 )) *■ ») 
 
OF POPULATION. 133 
 
 These returns, which are beyond all question 
 a near approximation to the truth, appear to 
 the author to settle this question beyond all 
 further cavil or dispute. 
 
 No one can be found hardy enough to contend 
 that the pressure upon the citizens of these states, 
 where taxation is a trifle and food plentiful to 
 exuberance, is at all approaching that upon the 
 population of England and Wales, by whom the 
 greatest part of British taxation is paid ; yet we 
 see that the want of drainage, and the vicissi- 
 tudes of a variable climate, are sufficient to 
 shorten life, despite all the advantages of plenty, 
 and ease, and comfort, both for body and mind. 
 
 With respect to the diminished consumption 
 of malt, the almost total disuse of domestic 
 brewing amongst all classes, and the falling off 
 in. the malt duties of more than a half during the 
 last three-quarters of a century, are facts so indis- 
 putable as only to need to be stated ; and the 
 same is true of wine. In 1795 the import of all 
 kinds of foreign wine into Great Britain and 
 Ireland was 7,021,770 gallons, paying a duty of 
 £1,430,722. In 1850, the import was only 
 6,448,81 7gallons ; giving a revenue of £1,824,457. 
 That these results, placed in juxtaposition with 
 the recent strides of population, are in strict accor- 
 dance with the theory here prepounded, is to 
 
134 THE TBUE LAW 
 
 the author sufficiently apparent. Let us now 
 see what the population of England is jfcpropor- 
 tion to its contents in square -leagues. It»iyill be 
 found that these results accord' with all that has 
 been laid down as probable to vary that propor- 
 tion either in one direction or another. It will 
 be found to be less than the proportion in Ire- 
 land ; less than in China ; less than in the culti- 
 vated parts of Hindostan ; but greater than in 
 most other parts of Europe. 
 
 The area of England approximates to the con- 
 tents of a triangle, the base of which is drawn 
 from South Foreland in Kent to Land's-End in 
 Cornwall ; the sides by two lines commencing 
 in these places, and meeting at Berwick-upon- 
 Tweed. Of this figure the base is 340 miles ; 
 the eastern side 345 miles; the western side 
 425 miles. This, however, gives an area below 
 the truth. A more minute calculation has deter- 
 mined that the area of England is 37,784,400 
 acres, or 59,053 British square miles. The result 
 is as follows : — 
 
 
 ENGLAND 
 
 
 Area in miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Persons to a square league. 
 
 59,053 
 
 14,000,000 
 
 2,118 
 
OP POPULATION. 135 
 
 It is to be observed, however, that the propor- 
 tion of uncultivated land in England is less than 
 in almost any country, and is believed not to 
 exceed ten piillions of acres; and that agriculture 
 is carried to a high pitch of perfection. 
 / In Scotland, where the greater part of the 
 surface is absolutely barren, and from which a 
 constant emigration goes on, the population is 
 as high as seven hundred persons to the square 
 league — an immense population for a country 
 consisting principally of moor and mountain, 
 and not much below that of the South of France, 
 where all is fertility and beauty, and where the 
 products of the soil grow almost spontaneously. 
 
 We now turn to the European Continent, 
 where we shall find similar causes producing 
 similar results. Looking first at the North of 
 Germany, we shall find the food of the people 
 poor, the country varied and often barren, and 
 the population great. As we approach the 
 richer provinces of Bavaria, and the regions 
 nearer the Rhine, we shall find the population 
 more moderate. When we examine those 
 countries which are eminently rich and fertile, 
 and where the olive forms a portion of the food 
 of the people, as in Italy and France, we shall 
 find the population lowest of all. 
 
136 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Taking Bohemia first of all, we see a region by- 
 no means naturally fertile and poorly cultivated, 
 often mountainous, and of variable and cold 
 climate. The principal food of the inhabitants 
 consists of barley, oatmeal, potatoes and milk; 
 even beer not being a general beverage, and for 
 the most part reserved as a luxury for holidays 
 — and what is the population 1 ? The proportion 
 to the German square mile, which is equal to 
 about twelve British square miles, is no less than 
 3,885. 
 
 In Silesia, where the climate is much milder, the 
 country fertile, and the corn crops greater, but the 
 people poor and poorly fed, a similarly heavy popu- 
 lation presents itself; the population to the German 
 square mile being as high as 4,090. In Austria 
 Proper, the greater part of which is much less 
 fertile, the population is of course much below that 
 of the fertile province of Silesia. It is, however, 
 very high, amounting to no less than 2,837 per- 
 sons to the German square mile. The poor and 
 for the most part arid and barren kingdom of 
 Prussia, affords results precisely similar. The 
 kingdom is divided into Eastern and Western 
 Prussia, and each of these divisions contains two 
 Governments. The population is as follows : — 
 
OF POPULATION. 137 
 
 To the German mile. 
 _ . t. • ( Government of Konigeberg .... 1 ,542 
 Eastern Prusaa. j Government of Gumbinnen .... 1,495 
 
 ,„ . „ . ( Government of Dantzic 1,875 
 
 We8temPrus8la -j Government of Manesiwerden . . . 1,244 
 
 4) 6,156 
 
 1,639 average. 
 
 A dense population for the most barren level 
 country in Europe, and not much below that 
 of the fertile and comparatively rich kingdom of 
 Bavaria, the average population of which is 1,980 
 persons to the German square mile, according 
 to M. Hassels tables. 
 
 We now arrive at a country, the statistics of 
 which are accurately known, and the results of 
 which statistics strongly confirm the truth of this 
 theory — that is to say, France. Of this, on the 
 whole beautiful and great country, the climate 
 and soil both vary, and we have on one side the 
 rich vineyards, the smiling fields and fertile plains 
 of Languedoc, and on the other the poor soil and 
 harsher climate of Brittany. As soil and climate 
 vary, so in some degree does the living of the 
 people. In the South of France there is nothing 
 but the appearance of ease and wealth. In the 
 North we detect something more like the rags 
 and wretchedness of Ireland ; though in no part 
 of France is the food of the people reduced to 
 potatoes and a total absence of butchers' meat. 
 
138 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 In no part of France is the poor peasant debarred 
 the use of the oil of the olive, the egg for his 
 omelette, the pullet for his pot, and occasionally 
 beef or mutton for his sowp or bouille. As for 
 eggs, the quantity produced in France is pro- 
 digious. Of those imported into England, a 
 large portion comes from France ; and the import 
 into England has amounted in a year to sixty- 
 nine millions, which at two-pence per dozen duty, 
 yielded £24,048. This was in 1836. In 1851, 
 the import of eggs, chiefly from France, was 
 115,526,235, duty £42,149. Such being the 
 difference between the southern and the less 
 genial departments of France, the same differences 
 as to density of population which other countries 
 exhibit, are exhibited also here. 
 
 In the poorer Departments the population is 
 considerable. In the rich Departments it is low. 
 At these results M. Jilalte Brun, who is one of 
 those writers who constantly regard a dense and 
 redundant population as evidence of the wealth 
 and industry of the country where it exists, with- 
 out adverting to its causes, is sorely scandalised. 
 He rates the inhabitants of the South of France 
 for their dearth of children, which he terms 
 " poverty," though he admits that the country is 
 rich and fertile beyond description ; and not con- 
 
OF POFTILA.TION. 139 
 
 tent with this even, is inclined to blame the 
 Government ; though as to the means by which 
 a Government could cure such an evil as this 
 is, he affords no clew ! His observations are as 
 follow : — 
 
 (Matte Brun, Geography, vol. viii, p. 273.) 
 " We have had occasion to observe the mild 
 climate, the romantic sites, and the remains 
 of Roman power in the twenty-eight Depart- 
 ments that form the southern region of France. 
 The inhabitants, it has been seen, are favoured 
 by nature : the different productions are admi- 
 rably suited for their country : with the excep- 
 tion of the mountains, the soil is everywhere 
 fruitful. But if the population be compared 
 with the surface, it will be found that the 
 results accord ill with the natural advantages 
 of the same vast region, which makes up more 
 than a third part of the kingdom. The extent is 
 equal to 9,000 square leagues, the population to 
 8,404,000 individuals ; thus the number of inha- 
 bitants to every square league does not amount 
 to nine hundred and thirty-four — a result below 
 the mean number in the other divisions of the 
 same country. Such facts are not without their 
 value (tres veritable — M. Malte Brun) : if the best 
 
140 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 and most fruitful part of France is comparatively 
 poor and ill peopled, it proves how much the 
 munificence of Nature may be surpassed by the 
 industry and resources of man. Government, 
 too, may derive an important lesson from the 
 same fact. It may thus be taught to appre- 
 ciate the elements of its wealth and power. 
 Thirteen Departments make up the Western 
 region ; the] population relatively to the sur- 
 face is greater than the last, for 5,423,000 
 inhabitants are scattered over a surface of 4,200 
 French leagues ; consequently the average num- 
 ber to every square league exceeds 1,290. Still 
 the advantages of education are little known in 
 the Western region : in that point it is almost 
 on a level with the preceding. How much, then, 
 might population and wealth be increased if 
 ignorance no longer formed a barrier to the 
 expansion of industry!" 
 
 The truth is, that the really rich Departments 
 are the least populous, and the poorest most 
 populous — the riches in the one instance keep- 
 ing down population, and the poverty in the 
 other instance urging it onwards. Let us con- 
 trast the poorest and the richest provinces of all 
 France, and the result will be strikingly apparent. 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 141 
 
 The poorest of the French provinces is unques- 
 tionably Bretagne, or Brittany. It is described 
 by some travellers as reminding them of Ireland. 
 It accordingly presents all the indications of poor 
 living, squalor, rags, miserable habitations, mul- 
 titudes of half-naked children, and numerous 
 mendicants or vagrants. Let us see how Bre- 
 tagne, or Brittany, stands with regard to popu- 
 lation and we shall find it giving what M. Malte 
 Bran would call "indications of industry and 
 wealth." Strange infatuation ! 
 
 POPULATION OP BRETAGNE, OR BRITTANY. 
 
 Departments. 
 
 Population to the square league. 
 
 1. Of Finisterre 
 
 2. . Cote du Nord .... 
 
 3. . Le Mortcham .... 
 
 4. . Isle de Vilaine . . . 
 
 5. . Bas de Loire .... 
 
 1,376 
 1,470 
 1,157 
 1,661 
 1,405 
 
 Average to the square league 
 
 5 ) 7,069 
 . 1,414 
 
 The richest province perhaps of France is 
 the beautiful province of Languedoc, with its 
 well-known salubrious towns of Montpellier and 
 Thoulouse. The climate is the finest probably 
 in Europe. The soil is excessively fertile, and 
 
142 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the vine and the olive vie with each other in 
 exuberance of fruit and beauty of growth. Here 
 is everything to sustain, to lengthen, and to 
 cherish life ; everything to afford plenty, ease, 
 and comfort to the inhabitants of this favoured 
 region. Yet, if we inquire into the numbers 
 of the inhabitants, we shall find them far 
 below those of squalid, poor, and comparatively 
 sterile and inclement Brittany. And what is 
 the difference between them? Wealth alone. 
 The laws, the language, and the people are the 
 same. 
 
 POPULATION OF THE PROVINCE OE LANGUEDOC. 
 
 Departments. 
 
 People to the square league. 
 
 1. Of Ardesohe. . . 
 
 2. . Aude .... 
 
 3. . Gard .... 
 
 4. . Herault . . . 
 
 5. . Upper Garonne 
 
 6. . Upper Loire . 
 
 7. . Lozere . . . 
 
 8. . Tarn .... 
 
 1,120 
 794 
 1,103 
 1,029 
 4,153 
 1,105 
 521 
 1,083 
 
 8 ) 7,908 
 Average to the square league. . . 988 
 
 The population, then, of the richest, or one 
 of the richest of the French provinces, is not 
 much more than two-thirds of that of the poorest, 
 
OF POPULATION. 143 
 
 and thus will it ever be found, whether different 
 countries, or different provinces of the same 
 country, be compared with each other. 
 
 That this difference of numbers is caused by 
 the different procreative powers caused by the 
 difference between wealth and poverty, is appa- 
 rent in the following statements. In his work 
 (excellent in many respects) on "Over-popula- 
 tion," published by Mr. William Thomas Thorn- 
 ton, in 1846, occurs the following passage : — 
 "The tendency of misery to perpetuate and 
 extend itself is strikingly illustrated in these 
 manufacturing districts (the author is speaking 
 of France); whilst, in other parts of France, 
 the condition of the people is continually im- 
 proving; thereby showing that population, al- 
 though increasing as the resources of the country 
 become developed, increases more slowly than 
 the means of subsistence. Here, on the con- 
 trary, where multitudes are suffering extreme 
 privation, the means of subsistence are no sooner 
 increased than a corresponding increase takes 
 place in the number of persons to be subsisted; 
 and every addition to the fund for the payment 
 of labour, instead of benefiting the actual de- 
 pendents on that fund, only calls more of them 
 into an equally wretched existence. In the De- 
 
144 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 partment du Nord, which contains most of the 
 principal seats both of the French cotton manu- 
 facture and of French destitution, population in- 
 creases at a rate considerably more than double 
 the average rate of the whole kingdom, or about 
 thirteen per cent, in ten years." 
 
 This last assertion Mr. Thornton seems to 
 have quoted from Laing's Prize Essay on National 
 Distress, part ii, chap. 2. On reading this extra- 
 ordinary passage, it occurred to the author, that, 
 if it could be shown that the average age of 
 marriage in this Department did not much differ 
 from that of the rest of France, it would put to 
 rest the unfounded notion that early marriages 
 have any sensible effect upon the numbers of a 
 population. And from a knowledge that French 
 statistics were, in many respects, more elaborate 
 and minute than those of any other nation, he 
 also hoped that means might be found in the 
 French census tables to ascertain the facts. 
 With this view, he extracted the passage from 
 Mr. Thornton's Treatise, and transmitted it to 
 one of the highest French authorities on such 
 questions, M. Villerme, with a letter explanatory 
 of his views and wishes. The following is M. 
 Villerme's answer to this application, with which 
 he unfortunately could not comply. It com- 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 145 
 
 pletely proves, however, the morbid rate of in- 
 crease of people in the French manufacturing 
 Departments; although that rate is not so 
 extraordinary as Mr. Laing, and after him Mr. 
 Thornton, seem to have supposed. 
 
 "Paris, le 8 Aout, 1847. 
 " Je ne connois point l'ouvrage de Mr. Thorn- 
 ton 'Sur TAccroissement de la Population.' 
 Quant a notre Departement du Nord, c'est bien 
 un de ceux qui oflrent de plus de manufactures, 
 surtout de manufactures de coton, et en meme 
 temps une tres forte proportion de pauvres ; mais 
 Faccroissement de la population n'y marche pas 
 aussi vite que le pretend M. Thornton. En voici 
 la preuve dans les chiflres officiels (je ne dis pas 
 exacts) du nombre de total d'habitans donne par 
 chaque denombrement. 
 
 En 1820 
 1826 
 1831 
 1836 
 1841 
 1846 
 
 DEFABTEMENT DU NOKD. 
 
 905,764 . 
 
 962,648 . 
 
 989,938 . 
 
 1,026,417 . 
 
 1,085,298 , 
 
 1,132,980 . 
 
 FRANCE EJTTIERE. 
 
 . 30,451,187 
 
 . 31,845,428 
 
 . 32,560,934 
 
 . 33,540,910 
 
 . 34,213,229 
 
 . 35,400,486 
 
 d'ou resulterait l'accroissement suivant de popula- 
 tion dans chaque periode decennale. 
 
 DEPABT. DU KOED. FBANCB. 
 
 de 1820 a 1831 
 de 1826 a 1836 
 de 1831 a 1841 
 de 1836 a 1846 
 
 0.093 
 0.066 
 0.096 
 0.104 
 
 0.069 
 0.053 
 0.051 
 0.055 
 
 
 Et non pas 
 de plus de 
 24 . 138 
 13 . 106 
 45 ; 102 
 49 . 11 
 
146 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 M. Villerme then goes on to say, that although 
 the French system of Eegistration is better than 
 ours, and that from it, possibly, might be evolved 
 the average age of marriage of the two sexes, yet 
 the labour of doing so would be too considerable. 
 The results given by M. Villerm6, however, suffi- 
 ciently bear out Mr. Thornton s general views. 
 In these four Departments every added pound for 
 the payment of labour only causes another morbid 
 or over-increase of population. It does so, because 
 it is not enough to put the Departement du Nord 
 into the same plentiful way of living as obtains 
 in the pastoral provinces of Languedoc. Hence 
 it only becomes a fund to support an addition to 
 the poor population, whose increase it was power- 
 ♦ less to check: for in one or other of these -ways 
 every additional fund for the payment of the 
 industrious classes must act. If large and gene- 
 rous, it will check the march of population. If 
 poor and insufficient, it only affords a further 
 pittance for the support of more wretchedness. 
 
 Italy is unquestionably, in fertility as well as 
 climate, the finest country in Europe. 
 
 But where God has been most beneficent, man 
 has been least so ; and as Italy, in natural advan- 
 tages, is the finest, so, in regard to its government, 
 it is the most unfortunate of European States — 
 
OF POPULATION. 147 
 
 divided and subdivided amongst a variety of petty- 
 tyrants, all hating each other, and hated by their 
 own subjects, industry is paralysed, trade almost 
 destroyed, agriculture depressed, and universal 
 languor prevailing throughout an idle and igno- 
 rant, or a vitiated and enervated population. 
 Yet such is the natural wealth of the country, 
 that, though afflicted with all these political evils, 
 the Italians cannot, in point of comforts of living, 
 be fairly said to be badly off, or in a state of suf- 
 fering. There is much apparent poverty, much 
 squalidity, but little starvation, in the proper 
 sense of the word. Its condition is to be deduced 
 clearly from its unfortunate political situation ; 
 and under a good and united Government, no one 
 doubts that Italy might be made one of the finest 
 and happiest countries on earth. At present all 
 is laziness, superstition, and debauchery : a political 
 renovation would change this into activity and 
 consequent wealth. 
 
 It is difficult to say what is the population 
 of Italy as a whole. Looking, however, at the 
 facts, as shown in the different States, it is 
 not great, considering the immense advantages 
 of the country, which is a natural garden through- 
 out. It is quite certain that Italy could produce 
 food for many more inhabitants than are now, 
 
 l2 
 
148 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 or probably ever were, congregated upon her 
 soil. 
 
 The Lombard- Venetian kingdom is one of 
 the most populous portions of Italy. It contains 
 the great trading mart of Venice, and many of 
 the Universities — Milan, Pavia, Padua, &c. ; and 
 has been, therefore, more liable to increase by 
 immigration than many other provinces. Its 
 people are, however, by no means numerous, 
 when compared with the surface ; that surface 
 being of unrivalled fertility, and under a climate 
 the most delicious. 
 
 The following table shows the proportion to 
 the geographical square league, which, it must 
 be remembered, is about one-seventh larger than 
 the ordinary square league : — 
 
 LOMBARD-VENETIAN EJNGDOM. 
 
 Square geographical leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Persons to the league. 
 
 2,368 
 
 2,237,801 
 
 1,810 
 
 This, when the difference of the geographical 
 league is taken, is a population a little above 
 the average of France. This, however, is far 
 above that of most of the other States ; indeed, 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 149 
 
 above that of all the extended States. Lucca, 
 San Marino, and Massa, are little more than 
 towns, with a small territory, and not States. 
 The next great territory is that of the Church. 
 Its population is shown in the following table : 
 
 STATES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Square geographical leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Persons to the league. 
 
 2,257 
 
 2,590,000 
 
 1,147 
 
 The next great territory is the Duchy of 
 Tuscany. This fine country contains the beau- 
 tiful cities of Florence and of Ksa, and the 
 port of Leghorn. Its population is as follows : — 
 
 GREAT DUCHY OF TUSCANY. 
 
 Surface in geographical sq. leagues. 
 
 Population, 
 1826. 
 
 Pers. to each league. 
 
 1,098 
 
 1,275,000 
 
 1,161 
 
 The dominions of the King of Sardinia, in- 
 cluding Piedmont and the Island of Sardinia, 
 are much more scanty. The two give the fol- 
 lowing results : — 
 
150 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 PIEDMONT. 
 
 Area, in geographical sq. leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Persons to each league. 
 
 2,635 
 
 3,399,600 
 
 1,260 
 
 ISLAND OP SARDINIA. 
 
 Area in geographical sq. leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Persons to the league. 
 
 1,100 
 
 490,087 
 
 445 
 
 The island abounds in cattle, some of which 
 only are domesticated, the rest running half wild 
 over the mountainous part of the island. This 
 is the case not only with horned cattle, but with 
 the swine and even with the horses. The cattle 
 upon the whole are supposed to be three times 
 as numerous as the inhabitants. 
 
 The population of the Duchies of Parma and 
 of Modena give similar results : — 
 
 PARMA. 
 
 Area in geographical sq. leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 To the league. 
 
 -288 
 
 440,000 
 
 1,180 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 151 
 
 MODENA. 
 
 Area in geographical sq. leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 To the league. 
 
 260 
 
 350,000 
 
 1,346 
 
 Such is the truth as to the population of the 
 fine and rich countries of France and of Italy, 
 and such is the state of the population in all 
 countries where the vine and the olive abound, 
 and -where the juice of the grape and the, rich 
 oil of the olive form a portion of the daily food 
 of the people, together with such animal food as; 
 they can procure, or are in the habit of using. 
 Spain and Portugal being mountainous countries, 
 and also countries where grazing is practised in 
 a large proportion, as compared with agriculture, 
 are still more thinly peopled, 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 Area in square French leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Persons to the league. 
 
 23,867 
 
 13,901,000 
 
 580 
 
152 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 PORTUGAL. 
 
 Area in square French leagues. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Persons to the league. 
 
 4,922 
 
 3,214,000 
 
 653 
 
 In Italy it has been ascertained that the 
 average number of births to a marriage are 
 three only, a low proportion, and below that of 
 almost any other country — Southern France, 
 perhaps, excepted. 
 
 We now turn to a country less favoured than 
 the foregoing as to climate, but fertile in a high 
 degree, and cultivated with great care — Holland 
 and Belgium — as constituting the former king- 
 dom of the Netherlands. Of these countries it 
 may be said, that as Italy is the natural, so they 
 are the artificial, garden of Europe. Destitute of 
 mountains or even hills, they present one vast 
 plain, covered with alternate arable land, and 
 meadow and pasture of inexpressible richness. 
 The vine is cultivated, but the wine made from 
 its fruit is indifferent : wheaten bread, milk, 
 cheese, and animal 1 food, are the nutriment of 
 the people ; with such a proportion of esculent 
 vegetables as they themselves choose to add. 
 Malt liquor is also in use, as well as the less 
 
OF POPULATION. 153 
 
 wholesome distillation from grain, to which the 
 country gives its name. The population of this 
 wealthy country is, as nearly as possible, one 
 person to each hectare of land. This, in English 
 measure, is about two hundred to the square mile, 
 or eighteen hundred to the square British league 
 only ; and this in a tract, every foot of which 
 is under culture. The number of births to a 
 marriage is four upon the average, with a 
 fraction more. Immigration here has done 
 much to swell the population. The great trading 
 marts of Holland are filled with strangers. In 
 Belgium also foreign settlers are numerous ; yet 
 such are the results. 
 
 Looking next at the countries in the North of 
 Europe, that is to say, at Denmark and Sweden, 
 we find the same law apparent. Both are grazing 
 countries more than agricultural, and in both the 
 population is moderate, making proper allowance 
 for the mountainous tracts which prevail in both. 
 In Sweden, it has been proved by the Tables of 
 Mortality that the population decreased rather 
 than increased down to the year 1 763. Since 
 that time agriculture has been pushed, to the 
 exclusion of grazing cattle, especially in Gothland, 
 and there the population has increased decidedly 
 since 1763. 
 
154 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 In Denmark, agriculture is more prevalent 
 than in Sweden, and less animal food eaten upon 
 the whole ; the population, however, is moderate, 
 being six hundred and seventy-seven only to the 
 square league. 
 
 Turning next to the Continent of America, we 
 shall find the same law evidently prevailing. In 
 the Brazils and Mexico, where cattle are a large 
 part of the wealth of the country, the population 
 is thin and scattered. Nor is the rapid increase 
 of the United States any difficulty, though much 
 stress has been laid upon it. That it is the result 
 of a constant immigration into that favoured land 
 from all the European countries is sufficiently 
 evident ; and this may be proved by a comparison 
 of the number of marriages and births in those 
 towns where emigrants in great numbers do not 
 resort, when it will be found that the increase is 
 little or nothing. Thus, in Portsmouth, the capital 
 town of New Hampshire, and not a rich town, 
 the returns are as follow : — 
 
 Marriages. 
 
 Births. 
 
 Proportion to a Marriage. 
 
 1804 to 1809. 
 
 381 
 
 1,702 
 
 i and a fraction. 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 155 
 
 The return for the rich city of Philadelphia 
 shows thus : — 
 
 A. D. 1818. 
 
 Marriages. 
 
 792 
 
 Births. 
 
 2,221 
 
 Proportion to a Marriage. 
 
 (Less than) 3. 
 
 In addition to this, taking from Mr. Barbour's 
 publication the ratio of population for the little 
 parish of Hingham, Massachusetts, the result is 
 nearly the same. In fifty-four years there were 
 2,247 births, 1,113 deaths, and 521 marriages. 
 This makes the proportion of births less than 
 four to each marriage, from which must be de- 
 ducted a large portion of the deaths. Looking 
 at the results of the general American census, 
 both for 1800 and 1810 (before immigration was 
 so extensive), it appears that the number of 
 adults above sixteen years of age was equal to 
 the number of children below that age; which, 
 as Mr. Godwin observes, "shows no rapid in- 
 crease by procreation; as, if so, the children 
 ought to h&vefar outnumbered the adults." On 
 the other hand, it is evident enough surely, and 
 needing little reflection, to see, that in a country 
 where above a hundred thousand emigrants enter 
 
156 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 one port alone in a year (New York), the pro- 
 gress of population must, from that cause alone, 
 be rapid indeed! 
 
 Upon a review of the whole statistical details 
 of this chapter, the results appear to be so 
 striking that it is difficult to avoid the conclu- 
 sion, that as the food of a people degenerates 
 from a preponderance of animal nutriment to a 
 vegetable diet, in that ratio the population in- 
 creases and thickens ; and that, as this descrip- 
 tion of aliment is still reduced lower, first, by the 
 denial of all animal food ; next, by the denial of 
 the products of the olive and the vine ; and, 
 lastly, by the change from a wheaten or barley 
 diet to one consisting chiefly of rice, or of the 
 potato — in that same ratio will the population" 
 still go on increasing and thickening, until it has 
 reached the verge of constant starvation, and is 
 perpetually thinned by periodical famines and 
 epidemic fevers, the certain consequences of this 
 state. Nor does it appear to make any differ- 
 ence whether this mode of living is induced by 
 climate naturally, as is perhaps the case in certain 
 countries, or artificially by superstition, or by 
 the relative position of one part of society to 
 that of another part, as is perhaps the case in 
 other countries. Thus, we see the most dense 
 
OF POPULATION. 157 
 
 and redundant population in those immense 
 regions,- comprehended under the term China, 
 in Japan, and generally throughout the penin- 
 sula of Hindostan, where the climate has almost 
 forced the natives upon a vegetable diet and 
 upon the cultivation of rice almost solely, and 
 where superstition has completed what the 
 climate probably originated. Next to this in 
 density, however, we find the population of 
 Ireland — which is essentially and naturally a 
 pastoral country, and where, were it not for an 
 artificial and depraved state of society, which has 
 gradually compelled the mass of the inhabitants 
 to a poor manner of sustenance, not arising out 
 of any necessity of soil and climate, the popula- 
 tion would have been moderate instead of redun- 
 dant, and wealthy instead of poor. 
 
 Nor, as it seems to the author, is there the 
 slightest diflficulty in accounting for the growth of 
 the population of the United States of America, 
 if the circumstances of the last sixty years be im- 
 partially considered with a view to this question. 
 It is true that, generally speaking, the circum- 
 stances in which the inhabitants of the older and 
 more settled portions of these regions are placed 
 do not conduce to rapid increase ; and we have 
 seen accordingly, that, looking at the statistics 
 
158 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 of such towns as have not been much subjected 
 to the effects of immigration, the increase has not 
 been great, nor anything beyond what might be 
 expected, under the peculiar views of the pheno- 
 mena of population now brought forward. To 
 account for the population of the Eepublic of the 
 United States, we must look first to their impor- 
 tation of negro slaves, which went on throughout 
 the Southern States during the whole period of 
 their colonial existence ; next, to the emigration 
 from the Mother Country to the Colonies, which 
 was always in operation to a greater or less extent, 
 and lastly, to the increased emigration which 
 has, during the sixty years of their independence, 
 been flowing into the territories of the Republic 
 from almost every country in Europe. In addi- 
 tion to the natural increase of the earlier settlers 
 in Virginia, the Carolinas, and the Southern 
 Planting States, a large coloured population has 
 gradually been created, originating in the com- 
 merce between the convicts and other European 
 races and the negroes ; and to this source of in- 
 crease the influx of new free English and Irish 
 settlers was constantly adding another and 
 healthier cause of progress in numbers. At 
 the time of the declaration of Independence, it 
 was believed that the Republic contained fully 
 
OF POPULATION. 159 
 
 three millions of persons, of all ages. If we cal- 
 culate the effects of the constant immigration 
 into the States, which has gone on throughout 
 the whole seventy years that have elapsed since 
 the conclusion of the American struggle, we shall 
 find no cause to wonder that the numbers of the 
 Republic have risen to "their present amount. 
 Taking the immigration drawn into all the States 
 from all parts of the world in a lump — English, 
 Irish, Scotch, Germans, Dutch, Mexican Spa- 
 niards, and Frenchmen, not forgetting Jews, we 
 can hardly exceed in taking an average of thirty 
 thousand persons per annum. This alone is an 
 addition of two millions one hundred thousand, 
 half of whom may be still living. "When, how- 
 ever, it is considered that these emigrants nearly, 
 if not altogether, consist of young persons, adults 
 of both sexes, and that they may be safely held 
 to be placed under circumstances which would 
 render them both desirous and fully capable of 
 immediately and rather rapidly adding to their 
 numbers, all wonder ceases, for the stimulus to 
 population in such a case is easily seen to be enor- 
 mous. The persons emigrating are principally of 
 that class, where fecundity is rendered certain 
 by circumstances — young men and women in the 
 prime of life, in full health, having suffered pro- 
 bably some privations, and generally driven by 
 
160 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 narrow circumstances, and a hope of bettering 
 their condition, to seek an active life of enter- 
 prise and industry, with scanty means, but in 
 a bountiful, plentiful, and rich country. In a 
 condition like this, each year of emigration would 
 be felt, not only in its mere addition, but in an 
 immediate increase by propagation, stretching 
 probably over the next ten years, or next fifteen 
 years. Repeat this year after year, at the ave- 
 rage rate assumed, or at a rate much below that, 
 and the reduplication will be found to be enor- 
 mous. With these observations the author leaves 
 this division of his subject in the hands of his 
 readers ; contenting himself merely with adding 
 the numbers of emigrants that have left England, 
 Scotland, and Ireland, in each of the ten years, 
 from 1840 to 1849, inclusive. 
 
 In 1840 the emigrants were 30,743 
 
 1841 .... 118,592 
 
 1842 .... 128,342 
 
 1843 .... 57,212 
 
 1844 .... 70,686 
 
 1845 .... 93,501 
 
 1846 .... 129,851 
 
 1847 . . . . 258,270 
 
 1848 .... 248,089 
 
 1849 .... 299,498 
 
OF POPULATION. 161 
 
 When it is considered that this enormous 
 efflux of people is now upon the increase, and 
 must, as far as the agricultural population of 
 Great Britain is concerned, be expected to in- 
 crease still more, and when to this we add the 
 certain fact that the great majority of these 
 emigrants ultimately settle in the United States 
 of North America, there is needed nothing ftuv 
 ther to account for the growing strength of these 
 states ; including, with those immense yearly 
 additions from the British Isles, the emigrants 
 from the rest of Europe, who now number 
 annually many thousands. That to emigration 
 the spread of population in the North American 
 Republic is to be ascribed, is evidenced in the 
 retrograde state of the population of Mexico, to 
 which, owing to the unhappy state of society 
 there, few strangers resort. In Mexico, the 
 people derived from the Spanish stock, lapped 
 in luxury and laziness, are, like the Turks in 
 Europe, supposed to be slowly decreasing The 
 annexation of a large portion of the Mexican 
 territory to the Republic of the United States, 
 will probably obviate in part this decadence, 
 which nothing but the introduction of Anglo- 
 Saxon industry and laws can avail to cure. Had 
 Mexico been left to herself, she must have again 
 
 M 
 
162 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 fallen into the hands of a coloured population, 
 from the gradual extinction of the pure Euro- 
 pean portion. 
 
 Upon the whole of the foregoing considera- 
 tions, as detailed in all the preceding chapters, it 
 can hardly be denied that we have now arrived 
 at the proof of a high probability that the theory 
 of population, which it is the aim of the present 
 treatise to establish, is true. Examining, in the 
 first place, the causes of the increase or decrease 
 of limited bodies of men, of whose peculiar 
 mode of living we have the means of obtaining 
 indubitable general information, it appears to be 
 clearly made out, that wherever such men are 
 kept in the plethoric state, they cannot keep up 
 their own numbers, much less increase and 
 multiply. On the other hand, it seems equally 
 clear, that, in the instances in which a great 
 increase has taken place, which, be it observed, 
 are rare, this increase has invariably arisen out 
 of a state of depletion, hardship, or low feeding. 
 This is the state of the evidence as far as it has 
 been practicable to collect it with regard to 
 limited numbers of persons, with the routine of 
 whose lives we have the means of being generally 
 acquainted : in the statistics of nations the same 
 law of Nature is equally and beautifully manifest. 
 
OF POPULATION. 163 
 
 Going through the principal nations of the 
 globe, of which we can be said to possess any- 
 thing like intimate knowledge, we trace the same 
 law through all its varieties as accompanied and 
 caused by the variations in the mode of living, 
 arising out of the difference of climate, civiliza- 
 tion, and religion. Beginning with those coun- 
 tries in which the pastoral life, and subsistence 
 "by the feeding of cattle, form the characteristic of 
 the people, we find the population thin in the 
 extreme ; as in the grazing portions of the Russian 
 empire, and those other countries where either 
 soil or climate, or the customs of the inhabitants, 
 or all three, discourage agriculture and tillage, 
 and tend to the production of animal food. 
 Passing from these to countries and nations 
 where tillage and the growth of edible grain are 
 mingled with the breeding and grazing of cattle, 
 we see a uniform and most marked increase in 
 the population, as measured by the square league 
 or mile; but we still see the population within 
 bounds, and far below that of those countries in 
 which a food, scanty in itself, and almost wholly 
 vegetable, prevails. In many of those hotter 
 climates, also, where the effect of the burning 
 sun upon the herbage is such as naturally to check 
 in a great measure the fattening of sheep or oxen, 
 
 m2 
 
164 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 we discover that the deficiency of rich food 
 is made up, first, by the peculiar fruits which 
 encourage the breeding of swine and of poultry ; 
 and, secondly, by the rich and oleaginous species 
 of nourishment afforded to the natives of such 
 regions by the fruits themselves which are 
 peculiar to the climate. Thus, in Spain, in 
 France, in Italy, and in Portugal, though the fat- 
 tening of oxen and sheep is less easy than in the 
 more temperate climates, yet the immense quan- 
 tities of poultry and of swine, and also the use 
 of the rich and luxurious products of the olive 
 and the vine, make amends for the partial 
 deficiency of animal food. In these countries 
 the produce of domestic fowls, and consequently 
 of eggs, is known to be enormous, as indeed the 
 extraordinary quantity of the latter imported 
 from France and Belgium into this country 
 (100,000,000 in a year) amply proves ; and if to 
 this we add the constant use of olive oil and of 
 wine as articles of daily diet, we shall easily 
 perceive that, though the fat beeves of more 
 temperate countries are wanting, there is yet no 
 want of rich nutriment to the inhabitants, nor 
 of plenty of means to maintain that plethoric 
 state of the frame which seems necessary to 
 moderate the prolificness of all animals, man 
 
OP POPULATION. 165 
 
 not excepted. Carrying round our gaze from 
 one part of the globe to another, we at length dis- 
 cover that enormous population is attendant only 
 upon a nutriment totally vegetable, and of , the 
 thinnest and poorest kind, and that not in abun- 
 dance, but the contrary. We find enormous 
 swarms of mankind covering certain regions : 
 we mark these phenomena in Hindostan, in 
 China, in Japan, and latterly in Ireland ; and 
 on inquiry we find that these people are desti- 
 tute of the olive and the vine ; and not knowing 
 what the taste of animal food is, subsist for the 
 most part upon the inunctuous fruits, upon fish, 
 and the less farinaceous grain and .roots- — upon 
 the products of the sea and rivers, upon rice, 
 upon tea, upon the potato, and upon the more 
 acid descriptions of fruit. 
 
 Thus far, then, viewing the effects of diet upon 
 all practicable scales — viewing them as exhibited 
 in the condition of nations as well as of small 
 bodies of men — we perceive the same laws 
 manifesting themselves throughout, in all their 
 various degrees and modifications ; shade fol- 
 lowing shade. We see luxury not only forbidding 
 increase, but causing rapid decrease ; we see a 
 more moderate, but still a gross and luxurious 
 mode of subsistence, producing the like effects in 
 
166 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 a mitigated way. Going further down the scale, 
 we find an imperfect supply of nutriment imme- 
 diately followed, and always accompanied, by an 
 increase of fecundity and numbers ; and, when- 
 ever we see this applied to an entire population, 
 we witness rapid increase, and all the fearful 
 effects of over-population going on together with 
 increasing pressure. 
 
 It is impossible to conclude this chapter with- 
 out a more emphatical reference to Ireland, as 
 exhibiting* not only the principle op increase, 
 as caused by miserable diet, in full action, but 
 also the terrible evils resulting from i^, when 
 pushed to extremes. Here we see a country, 
 the inhabitants of which have been, through 
 many generations, driven to subsist upon a 
 wretched and watery root, unfit for human food 
 when taken alone, exhibiting " surplus popula- 
 tion" to a high degree. In 1846-7, we see the 
 miserable root on which the majority live, de- 
 stroyed by a widely spread disease ; and we behold 
 this destruction of the national aliment (if ali- 
 ment it can be oalled) followed by a famine, not 
 to be matched in its terrible effects either by 
 those to which India or those to which China 
 has been subjected. In short, we witness the 
 awful event of the disappearance of A million 
 
OF POPULATION. 167 
 
 and A half of people, of all ages, who have 
 either perished directly of hunger and cold ; or 
 of fever, the consequence of dearth and expo- 
 sure ; or who have fled to other lands to avoid 
 perishing from want of food. As the remoter 
 consequences of this catastrophe, we see, at this 
 moment, the whole framework of society in Ire- 
 land broken to pieces ; the desertion of large 
 districts ; the forced sales of mortgaged estates ; 
 and the establishment of a system of emigration 
 which bids fair to strip the island of its best 
 inhabitants— the active, enterprising and indus- 
 trious. It appears to the author that they, who 
 are not convinced, by spectacles like these, both 
 of the truth and importance of the theory here 
 demonstrated, must be impervious not only to 
 the force of reasoning, but to the harder lessons 
 of bitter experience. 
 
168 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MINOR PROOFS NOT INCLUDED IN THE FOREGOING 
 CHAPTERS. 
 
 In prosecuting an inquiry like the present, it 
 will always be found that there are minor facts 
 and arguments bearing directly upon the ques- 
 tions at issue, but which cannot easily be 
 classed under any general head, nor so managed 
 as to be made a part of the main stream of the 
 argument. Of some of these, which, though they 
 go directly, and, it is hoped strongly, to prove 
 the truth of the law regulating population here 
 attempted to be established, are yet in their 
 nature insulated and distinct, it is now intended 
 to treat. 
 
 In the first place, it may be remarked, as a 
 proof of the continual care taken by Nature to 
 preserve the species, that, though the prolific 
 state may have apparently ceased for many 
 
OF POPULATION. 169 
 
 years, yet immediately preceding its real and 
 actual cessation, offspring, as a last effort, are 
 very frequently produced ; and hence, just as 
 fruit-trees, on the year before they die, com- 
 monly bear a large crop of fruit ; so women, 
 frequently, who have been unprolific for many 
 years, bear a child, not unfrequently twins, 
 towards their advanced age. Upon this, as a 
 fact familiar to all medical persons and physio- 
 logists, it is needless to insist further. Another 
 striking corroboration of the law here endeavoured 
 to be established is the fact, that childless 
 couples, who have been accustomed to full and 
 luxurious living, very frequently have children 
 after being reduced in their circumstances, and 
 unable to live as before. Of this undoubted 
 fact every reader almost will, in his or her own 
 experience, be able to point out examples ; and 
 therefore it would be useless to dilate upon' it. 
 The constant occurrence of the fact, however, and 
 its causes may be shown in a different manner — 
 it being a truth quite capable of proof upon an 
 extended scale, that prolificness always is a 
 concomitant of a change in the mode of living 
 from plenty to the contrary. It was probably 
 from this being the case, that the observation 
 took its rise, which asserts that " more children 
 
170 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 are born in winter than in summer !" A 
 singular remark, but not devoid of truth — applied, 
 as it no doubt was, to Catholic countries. The 
 cause is stated by Swift in one of his humorous 
 allusions as follows : — " We are told (says he) 
 by a grave author, an eminent French physician, 
 that fish being a prolific diet, there are more 
 children born in Roman Catholic countries 
 about nine months after Lent, than at any 
 other season." Now, although this is quoted by 
 Swift in one of his ironical Treatises — ("A Modest 
 Proposal to the PubHck for preventing the 
 Children of the Poor being a Burthen to their 
 Parents" — vide Swift's works, vol. ix) — there 
 is no reason to suppose that fact has not been 
 observed ; and Lent falling always in Spring, the 
 origin of the proverb as to the increase of births 
 in winter is evident enough. The observation 
 of the French physician is, in truth, only a repe- 
 tition of the ancient notion as to a diet on fish 
 being a cause of prolificness ; which no question 
 it is — not because the diet is fish, but because the 
 diet is poor. The best proof, however, that 
 seasons of scarcity and seasons of prolificness are 
 almost synonimous terms, is supplied by the late 
 Michael Thomas Sadler, in his work on Popula- 
 tion. In volume 'ii of that work, he has con- 
 
OF POPULATION. 171 
 
 structed, amidst many others, the following tables, 
 which certainly, if ever anything was demon- 
 strated, demonstrate this beyond a doubt. The 
 wonder is, how the acute mind of Mr. Sadler 
 could contemplate these results, without being 
 led by them to discover what is really the law 
 by which population is regulated. His failing to 
 do this is only one more example of how apt 
 preconceived theories are to distort views of 
 evidence, even in the strongest minds. As a 
 contradiction of the theory of Mr. Malthus — 
 whose views Mr. Sadler was eager to combat — 
 the results, as stated by him, are conclusive and 
 invaluable. As a help to his own theory, they 
 are quite nugatory. With the views of this 
 question, now attempted to be established, they 
 perfectly accord. Mr. Sadler, it will be seen, has 
 taken three separate instances of years of plenty 
 either following or preceding years of scarcity ; 
 and by taking the births through a certain con- 
 sequent period after both years, the result is, in 
 all, that the conceptions in the years of dearth 
 exceed those of the plentiful years, although the 
 marriages of the years of plenty, are, as might be 
 expected, for the most part, more than those of 
 the years of pressure. In each of the years, com- 
 pared, the number of marriages and conceptions, 
 
172 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 and the prices of wheat, are given : the reader 
 will remark how very curiously the results 
 correspond. 
 
 In the first Table, No. 1, the year of scarcity 
 precedes that of plenty. The marriages of the 
 year of dearth are, very naturally, much fewer 
 than those of the plentiful year, and yet the 
 conceptions are more ; thus shewing that an 
 increase in the means of comfortable and full 
 living, immediately checks population. 
 
 TABLE, No. 1. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Marriages. 
 
 Conceptions, 
 
 Price of Wheat. 
 
 1796 
 1798 
 
 73,107 
 79,477 
 
 268,088 
 266,769 
 
 £ s. d. 
 3 17 1 
 2 10 3 
 
 Difference, 
 
 + 6,370 
 
 — 1,319 
 
 £1 6 10 
 
 In the next table, No. 2, the year of plenty 
 comes first, and is a precursor to that of dearth. 
 In the year of dearth, it will be seen there is a 
 striking diminution in the number of marriages. 
 They fall off by a whole eighth. Despite of this, 
 however, there is great increase of conceptions, 
 amounting nearly to a twelfth additional; thus 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 173 
 
 proving that a diminution of the means of living 
 comfortably immediately stimulates population. 
 
 TABLE, No. 2. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Marriages. 
 
 Conceptions. 
 
 Price of Wheat. 
 
 1799 
 1801 
 
 77,667 
 67,228 
 
 254,870 
 273,837 
 
 £ s. d. 
 3 7 6 
 5 18 3 
 
 Difference, 
 
 — 10,329 
 
 + 18,967 
 
 + £2 10 9 
 
 In the Table, No. 3, the year of comparative 
 plenty again comes first ; and in the year of 
 dearth the marriages again diminish in number, 
 though not in the ratio of the preceding table. 
 The extraordinary part of this table is, however, 
 the proof which it affords, that the conceptions 
 accurately correspond with the prices of food. 
 In this table the lowest price of wheat, sixty-one 
 shillings and tenpence the quarter, is really a 
 high price. According to this theory, then, the 
 stimulus to population is already in activity; 
 and the conclusion, a priori, is, that an enhanced 
 price ought not to be followed by an effect 
 proportionately as great as would have been, or 
 ought to have been, the case, had the advance of 
 
174 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 price been from a lower average. This, it will be 
 observed, is completely borne out in the result. 
 The conceptions do increase, notwithstanding 
 the diminution of marriages ; but in a ratio far 
 below that of the former tables, where the 
 starting point is from actual cheapness to dear- 
 ness. The value of this result, as confirming 
 the truth of the views now attempted to be 
 established, must be evident to everybody. 
 
 TABLE, No. 3. . 
 
 Years. 
 
 Marriages. 
 
 Conceptions. 
 
 Price of Wheat. 
 
 1815 
 1817 
 
 99,944 
 
 88,234 
 
 330,199 
 331,384 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 3 1 10 
 
 4 10 7 
 
 Difference, 
 
 — 11,710 
 
 + 1,185 
 
 + £1 8 ,9 
 
 To the above tables it is hardly necessary to 
 add any further remarks. They strongly prove 
 the pervading description of the law of Nature, 
 that any diminution of means which tends to 
 endanger the species is immediately met by an 
 increased sexual fertility. It may, however, be 
 proper to observe, that the existence of this 
 beautiful law of Providence is also proved by 
 
OF POPULATION. 175 
 
 the admitted facts of the rapidity with which 
 gaps in a population, caused by plague, or other 
 pestilential visitations, are filled up ; and of the 
 immensely increased tendencies to propagation 
 which medical persons testify are always exhibited 
 by persons recovering from plague, typhus, and 
 other contagious disorders. 
 
 These results, as given by Mr. Sadler, are 
 corroborated completely by the returns of the 
 Registrar General (as far as known) of marriages 
 and births, since 1846. During the year 1846, 
 wheat sunk down to forty-seven shillings per 
 quarter on the average. Beef sold in London, 
 at three shillings and six/pence per stone (8lbs.) 
 for the very best; and the expenditure, caused 
 by the railways in course of formation, caused 
 a rise in wages and traders' profits. In that 
 year, consequently, there was a marked increase 
 of marriages, probably all over the country, 
 but certainly in London, the returns for the 
 metropolitan districts being all published and 
 known as far as general results are concerned. 
 The metropolitan districts are, owing to the 
 much greater proportion of difrused wealth there, 
 very unfavourable for such a comparison as this : 
 despite this disadvantage, however, the results 
 are decisive enough. 
 
] 76 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 During the first quarter of 1846, the mar- 
 riages, in round numbers, increased by a full 
 thousand. In the second quarter by eleven 
 hundred. In the third quarter by a thousand. 
 In the fourth quarter by four hundred. 
 The increase of marriages for these districts 
 being, for the year 1846, three thousand five 
 hundred — a great accession where the average 
 does not exceed eleven thousand per quarter or 
 forty-four thousand per annum. After such an 
 increase of weddings, an ordinary reasoner would 
 anticipate an increase of births during 1847. 
 What is the result? In the first quarter of 
 1847 there is an increase of three hundred. In 
 the second quarter there is a decrease of one 
 hundred. In the third quarter there is neither in- 
 crease nor decrease. In the fourth quarter there 
 is a decrease of five hundred. Thus, in a prosper- 
 ous and cheap year, an increase of 3,500 marriages 
 is followed by a decrease in the gross of 600 births ; 
 but, deducting the increase of the first quarter 
 a nett decrease of 300 births. 
 
 In 1847 was a sudden change to adversity 
 and dearness. The potato-disease produced 
 famine, and wheat rose on the average to about 
 seventy-two shillings per quarter. The Bank 
 crisis occurred in October, 1847, and caused a 
 
OF POPULATION. 177 
 
 panic which was followed by bankruptcy and 
 commercial collapse that continued throughout 
 1848 ; during which year wheat on the average 
 was about fifty-two shillings per quarter. This 
 sudden stroke of adversity caused an immediate 
 decrease of marriages, which became visible 
 during the last two quarters of 1847 ; the 
 felling off, during each, being fully one hundred 
 and fifty. This diminution continued through 
 1848. In the first quarter of 1848, it was 
 two hundred. In the second, five hundred. In 
 the third, six hundred. In the fourth four 
 hundred. In round numbers the decrease of 
 marriages during the six quarters was not less 
 than two thousand. What was the result upon 
 the births; taking the three latter quarters of 
 
 1848, and the first three of 18491 It was this. In 
 the second quarter of 1848, the increase of births 
 is five hundred. In the third, three hundred. In 
 the fourth, two hundred. In the first quarter of 
 
 1849, the increase of births mounts to one thou- 
 sand. In the second, it is six hundred. In the 
 third, fifty. Thus six quarters of famine, panic, 
 bankruptcy, dearness, and want of employment 
 cause a decrease in marriages to the extent of 
 two thousand; and this decrease of marriage is 
 at once followed by an increase of births to the 
 
 N 
 
178 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 extent of two thousand six hundred and fifty; 
 and this in the metropolitan districts, where 
 there is more diffused wealth than in any other 
 part of England probably. 
 
 If we compare the marriages and births of 
 ordinary times, we get a medium result. In 
 1850, the state of the nation was not satisfactory 
 on the whole. There was fair employment in 
 the manufacturing districts, but competition had 
 cut down profits in every trade, and agriculture 
 was in a state of depression, owing to the low 
 prices of farm produce. The cheapness of living, 
 however, seems to have increased marriages 
 amongst the labouring classes ; and the augmen- 
 tation during the last three quarters is great, 
 being about one thousand for each quarter. This 
 is exactly balanced by the increase of births for 
 the first three quarters of 1851, which are about 
 one thousand in each quarter. This indicates 
 that the falling off of demand from the rural dis- 
 tricts, and the decrease of profits from competi- 
 tion, had, during that year, affected the metropolis 
 so as to neutralise the check to increase arising 
 out of the better circumstances of 1846; whilst, 
 at the same time, the immediate effects of the 
 famine and crisis of 1847-8 had passed away; 
 which accords with the facts, as otherwise known. 
 
r 
 
 POPULATION. 179 
 
 Suffering the foregoing considerations to rest, 
 as all such considerations must rest, upon the 
 good old rule of "valeant, quantum valere pos- 
 sunt ," there is yet another proof to be adduced 
 of the validity of the reasoning which they 
 embody, and this of a nature at variance with 
 all existing theories of population, and the 
 maxims founded upon them. It has very gene- 
 rally and very plausibly been set down as an 
 obvious truth, that "late marriages" are a 
 " check to population ;" and if carried far enough, 
 with regard to the important point of delay, 
 there can be no doubt that this is not only a 
 truth, but a truism. Provident Nature has, how- 
 ever, done all she could to secure the continua- 
 tion of the species against this danger ; and sin- 
 gular to relate, but most indubitably true it is, 
 that when marriage is delayed, fertility is in- 
 creased, in the ratio of delay, until the point is 
 passed after which the bearing of children be- 
 comes impossible. In order to prove this extra- 
 ordinary and very instructive fact, the following 
 table is adduced. It was constructed by Doctor 
 Granville, and Mr. Finlayson, the well*known 
 accountant, and is based upon the particulars 
 of eight hundred and seventy-six cases, which that 
 eminent practitioner attended as " Physician to 
 
 N 2 
 
180 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the Benevolent Lying-in Institution, and West- 
 minster Dispensary." It will be observed that 
 the cases were, in all human probability, those 
 of females in the same station of life ; all pro- 
 bably suckling their own children, and exposed 
 to none of the causes of partial sterility on one 
 hand, or stimulated fertility on the other, to 
 which females in the more artificial stations of 
 life are subjected. 
 
 TABLE. 
 
 SHOWING THE EFFECT THAT THE POSTPONEMENT OF MAKEIAGE IN 
 FEMALES HAS UPON THEIB ANNUAL FECUNDITY. 
 
 Ages when married. 
 
 Average of births to the year. 
 
 13 to 16 
 
 16 . . 20 
 
 21 . . 24 
 
 25 . . 28 
 
 29 .. 32 
 
 33 . . 36 
 
 37 .. 39 
 
 •456,706 
 •503,610 
 •520,227 
 •545,163 
 •589,811 
 •776,866 
 1-125,000 
 
 The results of the above table are given in 
 decimals ; but the general results may be de- 
 scribed as follows : — When females marry at 
 or before twenty years of age, their average off- 
 spring is not quite a child in two years. From 
 twenty to thirty-two, females marrying produce 
 on an average somewhat faster than a child in 
 
OF POPXTLATION. 181 
 
 two years. If married from thirty-three to 
 thirty-six years of age, females will average more 
 than two births in three years ; and from thirty- 
 seven to thirty-nine, about a birth in each eleven 
 months, being rather more than one each year. 
 
 Another strong proof of the care which Nature 
 takes to ensure the perpetuation of the species, 
 whenever it is endangered, is to be found in the 
 Sanitary Report of Edwin Chadwick, Esq., pub- 
 lished by order of Parliament in 1843. 
 
 "Arranging the several districts of the Me- 
 tropolis (says Mr. Chadwick, Report, p. 246) in 
 the order of the average age of deaths, we find 
 the average age of the living decrease with the 
 average age of the dying ; and the proportion of 
 births to the population increase with the decrease 
 of the average age qf death. The excess in the pro- 
 portionate number of births, beyond the propor- 
 tions in such a county as Hereford (1 to 44) 
 where the average age of death is much higher, 
 and proportionate number of deaths to the popu- 
 lation, afford important Indicia." 
 
 The following is Mr. Chadwick's table of re- 
 sults ; and they fully establish the truth of the 
 principles here laid down. 
 
182 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
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OF POPULATION. 
 
 183 
 
 Here we see that in these English districts 
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184 THE TBUE LAW 
 
 Nothing can be more striking than the proofs 
 afforded by these results of the Irish population 
 of the true law of increase and decrease. In 
 the richer counties the births, compared with the 
 population, are 1 to 33*4 ; in the poorest counties 
 they increase to 1 to 29"9. Between 1831 and 
 1842 the increase in the richer counties is five 
 per cent. ; in the poorer it is eight and seven- 
 tenths per cent. In the prosperous counties the 
 children not more than fifteen years of age are 
 only thirty-eight and eight-tenths per cent, of the 
 whole people. In the squalid counties they are 
 nearly forty-two per cent, of the whole. In the 
 richer districts, the persons of fifty years of age 
 are to those of the same age and upwards, in the 
 squalid districts, as 11 '6 is to 9'5, proving that 
 privation, so far from being a check, is a stimulus 
 to increase ; the births increasing always, in such 
 poor districts faster than the deaths. 
 
 It is often asserted that the earlier marriages 
 contracted in Ireland, and more especially in the 
 south of Ireland, which is the poorest part, are 
 the cause of the morbid growth of a redundant 
 population, as exhibited in that unfortunate 
 country. Later and more extended information 
 proves, however, that this fancy is totally desti- 
 tute of any foundation in truth. In the Eighth 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 185 
 
 General Report of the Registrar General of Births, 
 Deaths, and Marriages, published in 1849, at 
 page 1 00 occurs the Tabular Statement, of which 
 the following is an extract, showing the propor- 
 tionate numbers of unmarried females in various 
 countries : — 
 
 PROPORTION OP SPINSTERS TO THE FEMALE POPULATION. 
 
 Countries. 
 
 Females of 
 15 years old 
 and upwards. 
 
 Spinsters 
 15 years old 
 and upwards. 
 
 Proportion 
 per cent, of 
 Spinsters to 
 the whole. 
 
 Sweden . . . (1835) 
 Norway . . . (1835) 
 Hanoyer . . . (1842) 
 Saxony . . . (1840) 
 Holland . . . (1840) 
 Ireland . . . (1841) 
 
 1,032,377 
 401,672 
 586,035 
 583,916 
 905,149 
 
 2,526,183 
 
 373,830 
 165,954 
 231,834 
 215,285 
 376,874 
 1,032,668 
 
 36-211 
 41-316 
 39-560 
 36-869. 
 41-581 
 40-879 
 
 Thus it appears that the unmarried females of 
 Ireland are much more numerous than in Sweden, 
 Saxony, and Hanover, though rather more nu- 
 merous than in Holland and Norway. Now 
 Sweden is one of those countries in which the 
 population is most stationary, and least numerous, 
 when compared with the area of the country 
 which they inhabit. Nor are Saxony and Ha- 
 nover cursed with a surplus of people. Yet 
 it is clear, that in all these countries, in Sweden 
 
186 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 especially, the women must marry earlier and 
 more certainly than in Ireland. The real cause 
 of the difference resides in the different mode of 
 living. In Sweden the people live solidly and 
 comfortably, and the people to the square mile 
 are few. In Ireland, where potatoes form the 
 staple food, the people are ever on the verge of 
 starvation; and their numbers are only kept 
 upon a level with their miserable sustenance by 
 means of migrations of hundreds of thousands 
 in a year. 
 
 All these results, it may be safely affirmed, 
 tend one way ; that is to say, they go directly 
 to confirm the existence of that great natural 
 law which provides that the power of increase 
 shall itself grow with the exigencies of the 
 occasion; and that, as the continuation of the 
 species may be endangered, in that exact pro- 
 portion the facility and power of continuance 
 shall be enlarged and extended. That this law 
 extends to the human race, as well as being 
 the regulator of the fecundity and produce both 
 of the inferior animals and the vegetable king- 
 dom, seems to be abundantly clear, as far as the 
 proofB derived directly from physiology as well 
 as statistics are concerned. There are, however, 
 
OF POPULATION. 187 
 
 of course, other and more circuitous roads by 
 which we may arrive at other proofe, and to the 
 same conclusions; and to these the natural 
 course and current of the argument next incline 
 us to turn. 
 
188 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ARGUMENT FROM THE SOLUTION OF SOME HIS- 
 TORICAL DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 In the treatment of a subject like that under 
 review, in addition to the more direct arguments 
 on which the proofs needed are to rest and be 
 embodied, there are also evidences of an indirect 
 kind, which, though perhaps not of themselves 
 conclusive as to the issue, are yet, if joined to 
 other and more simple evidence, strongly corro- 
 borative of the truth which, upon the whole, is 
 sought to be established. If, for instance, we 
 can point out one or more historical facts, 
 undoubted as facts, but of which a satisfactory- 
 explanation has never been given; and if the 
 theory as to population, and the laws which regu- 
 late it, which are now sought to be established, 
 shall afford an easy, natural, and self-evident 
 
OF POPULATION. 189 
 
 explanation of these heretofore historical puzzles 
 or mysteries, then this solution, so arrived at, 
 though not in itself a direct evidence that the 
 theory itself is true, is yet presumptive evidence 
 that it probably may he true; and if this presump- 
 tive proof is corroborated by direct proof, then 
 is the argument upon the whole strengthened by 
 such coincidences; the direct and the indirect 
 testimonies mutually confirming each other. 
 That there are more than one historical fact of 
 this inexplicable nature, but which, admitting the 
 theory now treated of to be true, are rendered 
 easily explicable, it is the business of this chapter 
 to show ; and it is hoped that the few preliminary 
 remarks which he has thought it proper to make 
 will avail to show that no improper weight is 
 intended by the author to be laid upon testimony 
 of this kind; and that this part of the argument, 
 though strictly logical as intended to be applied, 
 is given likewise as a matter of curiosity, as it 
 bears, in the reflex, upon the historical points in 
 question. 
 
 The first point to which the author would 
 advert occurs in the history of his own country. 
 It is that decay in population which was believed 
 to have been in progress from about the year 
 1480, up to a period probably ending about 
 
190 THE TEUE LAW 
 
 1650; that is to say, from the commencement of 
 Henry the Seventh's reign up to that of Charles 
 the Second. That such a decay was supposed 
 by those living at the time to be going on, is 
 a fact quite unquestionable. It may be proved 
 not only from the writers of the period, but 
 from the Statute Book, where it is not only 
 frequently alluded to, but where it forms the 
 subject of one or more actual and entire statutes. 
 The most remarkable circumstance, however, is 
 that this decay of population, real or supposed, 
 singular as it may seem in itself, went on in 
 company with increasing luxury for the greater 
 portion of the, time, on the part of the whole 
 people, and especially on the part of the labour- 
 ing people. Nor is there the slightest reason to 
 suppose that during any part of the period, save 
 and except during some years of the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth, anything like extreme want 
 existed, in any modern sense, anywhere in Eng- 
 land ; and of this not only the writings of the time, 
 but the Statutes also, afford proof in abundance. 
 Let us now look at the evidence of the first 
 of these facts; that is to say, of the general 
 belief of a decay of the people which pre- 
 vailed at the period referred to. That such a 
 belief existed, no man who has looked at the 
 
OF POPULATION. 191 
 
 Statutes of these remote periods can doubt. Sir 
 Frederick M. Eden, in his " History of the State 
 of the Poor" (vol. 1, p. 73), says, "from 1488, 
 and for a century and a half after this period, 
 depopulation continued to be the theme of 
 the Legislature!" That this assertion of Sir 
 Frederick Eden is founded on truth and actual 
 facts, a very cursory inspection of the Acts 
 passed during the period he refers to, and during 
 the periods of about half a century before and 
 after, will afford sufficient testimony to the 
 inquirer. The strongest proof of the evident 
 decay in population, as evinced by "the pulling 
 down of houses and towns," is perhaps the 
 Statute of the fourth year of Henry VII, 
 chapter 19. This Act, it will be seen, after 
 asserting and describing the decay of houses 
 over all the country, especially in the agricultural 
 parts, where changes in trade do not shift or 
 draw together masses of people, absolutely em- 
 powers the authorities to repair any ruinous 
 house, which shall have twenty or more acres 
 of land attached, out of the rents, without or 
 against the owner's consent, and levies heavy 
 penalties for neglect of the provisions of such 
 statute. 
 
 The following Abstract will, in some measure, 
 
192 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 put the reader in possession of the intent as well 
 as the grounds of this extraordinary Act, which 
 prove incontestibly the rapid decay of popu- 
 lation at the time of its enactment, though the 
 remedies proposed be inexplicable and absurd. 
 The Act itself extends over many folio pages, 
 and is extremely rare. That its great length 
 has been one cause of its exclusion from the 
 ordinary editions of the Statutes is probable; 
 but it is also quite as likely, that the singular 
 nature of its preamble and enactments must 
 have contributed to its banishment from all 
 modern collections of Acts of Parliament. Un- 
 der the views we are at this time accustomed to 
 take of the subject of population, the whole 
 seems an inexplicable farrago, and more like an 
 hallucination of Legislative insanity, than an 
 enactment of sane men. The theory, however, 
 now in course of being proved, affords a key to 
 the whole mystery; and the causes which no 
 doubt influenced the Legislature are at once 
 apparent and certain. For the necessity, and 
 likewise the wisdom, of this extraordinary sta- 
 tute, we have the evidence of Lord Bacon, who, 
 in his Life of Henry VII, says, that, but for 
 this Act, many of the Manorial Lords could not 
 have sent their quota of men-at-arms ! 
 
OP POPULATION. 193 
 
 CHAPTER 19th, HENRY 7th— Amro Quabto. 
 
 The penalty for decaying of Houses of Husbandry, or not laying of 
 convenient Land for the maintenance of the same*. 
 
 Item, the King our Soueraigne Lord, having » singular pleasure 
 above all things to avoide such enormities and mischiefes, as be hurtfull 
 and prejudicial! to the common weale of this his land and his subiects of 
 the same, remembreth that, among all other things, great inconveniences 
 daily doe inerease, by desolation and pulling downe and wilfull waste 
 of houses and towns within this Reahne, and laying to pasture lands, 
 which customably have beene used in tillage, whereby idlenesse, which 
 is the ground off, and beginning of all mischiefes, daily doth encrease; 
 
 Por where in some towns two hundred persons were occupied and 
 lieued by their lawfull labours, now there are occupied- two or three 
 heardmen, and the residue fell into idlenesse, the husbandrie which is 
 one of the greatest commodities of this Reahne, is greatly decayed, 
 Churches destroyed, the service of God withdrawen, the 'bodies there 
 buried not prayed for, the Patrons and Curates wronged, the defence 
 of this land against our enemies outward, feebled and impaired, to the 
 great displeasure of God, to the subuersion of the policie of, and good 
 role of this laud, if remidie be not provided : Wherefore the King our 
 Soueraigne Lord, by the advice of the Lords spirituall and temporall, 
 and the commons of this said Parliament assembled, and by authority 
 of the same, hath ordained, enacted, and stablished, that no person, of 
 what estate, degree, or condition that he be, that hath any house or 
 houses, that at any time within three years past, hath beene or that 
 now is, or that hereafter shall be lette for ferme, with xx. (20) acres of 
 land at least, or more, lying in tillage and husbandrie, that the owner or 
 owners of every such house or houses, or land, doe keepe, sustaine, 
 maintaine houses and buildings vpon the said ground, and land con- 
 venient and necessarie for maintaining and vpholding of the said 
 tillage and husbandrie. 
 
 And if any such owners or owner of any such houses, or houses and 
 land, take land and occupie any such house or houses, and keep in his 
 or their owne hands, that the saide owner or owners, by the saide 
 
 O 
 
] 94 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 anthoritie be bound in likewise to keepe and tnaintaine houses vpon the 
 eaide ground and land, convenient and necessarie for the maintaining 
 and vpholding of the saide tillage and husbandrie. And if any man 
 doe contrary to the premisses of any of them, that then it be lawfull to 
 the King, if any such lands or houses be holden of him immediately, or 
 to the Lords of the Fees, if any such lands be holden of them imme- 
 diately, to receive yeerely halfe the value of the issues and profits of 
 any such lands, whereof the house or houses be not so maintained and 
 sustained. And the same halfe deale of the issues and profits to have, 
 holde, and keepe to his or their own vse, without anything therefore 
 to be payed or given, till such time as the same house or houses bee 
 sufficiently builded or repaired againe. And that no manner of free- 
 hold be in the King, nor any such Lord or Lords, by the taking of any 
 such profits, of or in any such lands in no manner of forme : but onely 
 the King, and the saide Lord or Lords, have power to take, receive, 
 and have the saide issues and profits, as is above saide, and therefore 
 the King, or the saide Lord or Lords to have power to distraine for 
 the saide issues and profits, to be had and perceived by them, in forme 
 above sayde, by authoritie of this present Acte, 
 
 This Act is, however, borne most amply out 
 by many others, which demonstrate that the 
 decay which caused all this alarm extended into 
 boroughs and cities, as well as rural villages and 
 townships. Thus the Act of the third year of 
 the next reign (Henry VIII), chapter 8, recites 
 in the preamble, that "Many, and the most 
 part, of cities, boroughs, and towns corporate, 
 be fallen to ruin and decay." Thus, also, by an 
 Act, anno vii, cap. 1, of the same reign, it is 
 enacted, that, " if any person shall decay a town, 
 a hamlet, or house of husbandry, or convert 
 
OF POPULATION. 195 
 
 Tillage into Pasture, the immediate Lord of the 
 Fee shall have the moiety of the offender's 
 land, until the offence be reformed." No light 
 penalty ! That this decay of houses followed a 
 progressive diminution of the population, the 
 statutes of the same period prove. Thus, in 
 another Act of the fourth year of Henry the 
 Seventh, being chapter 16, it is asserted, that 
 there is " a great decay of people in the Isle of 
 Wight/' This Act was passed in the year 1488* 
 referred to by Sir Frederick Morton Eden, as. 
 the time when the alarm of " depopulation ** 
 begins to be evident in the Statute Book. It is 
 a most preposterous mode of argument to endea- 
 vour to throw doubts upon the facts, because, up 
 to this period, no one has had any true know- 
 ledge of the causes. They will neither admit of 
 denial nor of being explained away. It will not 
 do to say that the population were, by the ope- 
 rations of trade, drawn into the towns J because 
 we see that the decay Was equally evident in the 
 cities, boroughs, and towns, in spite of any ten- 
 dency of the people to draw to the towns, a 
 tendency which to some extent certainly did 
 exist; and the causes of which shall be pointed 
 out afterwards, existing, as they do, in that 
 same Statute Book which describes the dinrihu- 
 
 o2 
 
196 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 tion of the numbers of the people. As might 
 be expected from persons legislating in profound 
 ignorance of the real causes of the phenomena, 
 which they could not help seeing, the causes 
 assigned, and the remedies prescribed in these 
 Acts, are highly absurd. "Monopoly" was the 
 bugbear mostly relied on by the alarmists, and 
 the consolidation of farms, and monopolies of 
 live-stock, and different trading monopolies, are 
 inveighed against and limited by various Acts, 
 which fix a maximum of the acres, cattle and 
 sheep, apprentices, &c. &c, to be occupied, or 
 owned, or employed, by the individual. These 
 laws were doubtless sufficiently absurd and im- 
 practicable; but they afford proof indubitable 
 of the existence of the state of things which 
 they were intended to remedy. 
 
 Such being the facts as to the state of the 
 population during the period of English history 
 referred to, it next remains to be shown that 
 this decay of towns and their inhabitants cannot 
 be explained upon any hypothesis built upon any 
 supposed law of population hitherto attempted 
 to be established. Upon such theories as those 
 which depend upon the assertion that exuberance 
 of food stimulates population, the extraordinary 
 facts alluded to by Sir Frederick Morton Eden 
 
OF POPULATION. 197 
 
 must be held to be absolutely preternatural ; for, 
 during the entire period throughout which they 
 manifested themselves, it may be proved beyond 
 the possibility of a doubt, that luxury amongst 
 the middling, and exuberant plenty amongst the 
 very lowest classes, universally prevailed. Of 
 this truth there is not only copious, but various 
 proof. Not only do the writers of the time 
 describe, in a way not to be misunderstood, the 
 amazing ease and plenty which then prevailed 
 throughout England, but the Statutes of the 
 period teem with testimonies of a similar sort. 
 These statutary proofs are of more than one sort. 
 First, there are Acts distinctly against luxury of 
 eertain sorts; next, there are Acts to limit the 
 wages of labour and keep down luxuriousness of 
 living amongst the people at large; and, lastly, 
 there are statutes which, in their preamble, de- 
 scribe the plenty then existing. It is necessary 
 for the purposes of this argument to advert to 
 all these in detail and in their turn, taking 
 them, as nearly as possible, in the order in which 
 they are now mentioned. First, as to the writers. 
 Of the few writers touching upon the subject 
 in question who flourished at the early periods 
 now referred to, the highest in point of authority 
 stands probably Chief Justice Sir John Fortescue. 
 
198 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 * « 
 
 His celebrated treatise, "De Laudibus Legum 
 Angliee," contains evidence the most indubitable 
 of the flourishing state in which England was at 
 the era when it was written. This evidence is 
 the more incontestibly strong, because it is in 
 some degree indirect, Fortescue was not, inten- 
 tionally, writing a statistical statement of the 
 wealth and mode of living of the English people 
 —quite the contrary, His book is a book of 
 law, and the intention of the learned and vene- 
 rable writer was to exalt the law and consti- 
 tutional Government of England above those of 
 other countries. In order to do this effectually, 
 he compares the well-known state of the English 
 people, at the time of his writing, with that of 
 the people of France, where he then was, as 
 guardian to the Prince, the eldest son of Henry 
 VI (afterwards killed at Tewkesbury), during 
 the civil wars of Lancaster and York; and he 
 deduces the wealth and ease of the one, com- 
 pared with the poverty and wretchedness of the 
 other, from the comparative perfection and im- 
 perfection of the laws under which each lived. 
 This 'part of Chief Justice Fortescue's book is, 
 therefore, an appeal to facts notorious to the 
 world, in corroboration of a legal argument; 
 and, as suoh, it becomes the best possible evi- 
 
OF POPULATION. 199 
 
 dence of the state and condition of the English 
 people at the time when its distinguished author 
 wrote. The following passages contain invalu- 
 able testimony of the wealth, independence, ease, 
 and comfort, which existed in England when 
 they were written. Under the head entitled, 
 " Why inquests are not made by juries of twelve 
 men in other realms as well as in England'?" 
 Fortescue thus writes : — 
 
 " Moreover, the same countrie is so filled and 
 " replenished with landed men, that therein so 
 " small a thorp cannot be found wherein dwelleth 
 " not a Knight or Esquire, or such a householder 
 " as is there commonly called a Franckelayne, 
 " enriched with great possessions ; and also other 
 " freeholders (libere tenentesj and' many yeomen 
 " (valeeti), able for their livelihoods to make a 
 "jury in form aforementioned; for there be in 
 " that land divers yeomen which are able to 
 " dispend by the year above a hundred pounds 
 " (sexcenta scuta), (i. e., a hundred pounds of the 
 " money of Selderis time, 1640 to 1650, when 
 " he translated Fortescue; probably six times or 
 " seven times the value of the money of the 
 " present time). Wherefore juries, afore-declared, 
 " are then very oft made, specially in great 
 " matters, of Knights and Esquires, and others 
 
200 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 " whose possessions, in the whole, amounteth 
 " yearly above the sum of five hundred marks 
 " (duo mittia scutorum). Wherefore it cannot 
 " be thought that such men can be suborned, or 
 " that they will be perjured; not only for that 
 " they have before their eyes the fear of God, 
 " but also for that they have a careful regard 
 " to the preservation of their honours, and to 
 " the eschewing of reproach or dammage there- 
 " upon ensueing, and also that their heirs be not 
 " impeached through their infamie. After this 
 " manner, mighty Prince, are none other 
 " realms of the world disposed and inhabited!" — 
 Fortescue de Laudibus, p. 65, chapter 49. 
 
 Under the head of "the Commodities that 
 proceed of the joint Government Politique and 
 Royal in the Realm of England," he proceeds 
 thus :— 
 
 " Hereby it cometh to passe that the men of 
 " this land are riche, having abundance of gold 
 " and silver, and (all) other things (cunctis 
 " necessariis) for the maintenance of man's life. 
 " They drink no water, unlesse it be so that 
 " some for devotion and upon a zeale of penance 
 " do abstain from other drink. They eat plen- 
 " tifully of all kinds of flesh and fish. They 
 " weare fine woollen cloth in their apparell. 
 
OF POPULATION. 201 
 
 " They have also abundance of bed-coverings 
 " in their houses and of all other woollen stuffe, 
 " they have great store of all hustlements (hos- 
 " tilvmentis) and implements of household. They 
 " are plentifully furnished with all instruments 
 " of husbandry, and with all other things that 
 " are requisite to the accomplishment of a quiet 
 " and wealthy life according to their estates and 
 " degrees." — Fortescue de Laudibus, page 85, 
 chapter 36. 
 
 Here we have a description of national wealth 
 and comfort uhmatchable, as Sir John Fortescue 
 justly says, in any country or age of which we 
 know anything. He makes it a matter of 
 reproach to the French, that they only eat 
 bacon, and the heads and entrails of oxen and 
 sheep, and that whilst their masters get the 
 pullets, the eggs only are left for them; thus 
 making a hardship of a diet of "eggs and 
 bacon." This famous book was probably written 
 about the year 1460 — certainly not later. From 
 this period up to the battle of Bosworth Field, 
 and the accession of Henry the Seventh, is 
 exactly a period of twenty-five years ; during 
 which the kingdom was at peace at home and 
 abroad until the Earl of Richmond's enterprise, 
 which after one battle made him king. A quarter 
 
202 THE TKUE LAW 
 
 of a century of quiet and security must have 
 tended to increase the wealth and luxury which 
 Fortescue so graphically describes; and yet, at 
 this very time, we find a general alarm of the 
 decay of population and the ruin of towns per- 
 vading the Statute Book, and continuing for a 
 century and a half, until the seizure of the 
 possessions of the Church first caused beggary 
 and pauperism in England. 
 
 After Chief Justice Fortescue, the most valu- 
 able testimony as to the state of society in 
 remoter times, is, perhaps, to be found in Fleet- 
 wood's "Chronicon Preciosum," or History of 
 Prices from the earliest known records. Fleet- 
 wood's statements were probably in a great 
 measure compiled from Acts of Parliament, 
 County Rolls and Records, and other similar 
 archives. Be that as it may, his statements, 
 both as to wages and the prices of food and 
 clothing, are generally borne out by the statutes 
 passed by Parliament from time to time to regu- 
 late both the wages and dress of labouring per- 
 sons ; and the perusal of the whole must impress 
 the most careless reader with a strong convic- 
 tion of the ease and plenty which must have 
 been felt throughout all society in these ages. 
 The following table, which is compiled mostly 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 203 
 
 from Fleetwood, but partly from the Statutes, 
 gives a comparative view of the rules of wages 
 and prices of necessaries from a.d. 1400 to 
 a.d. 1650. The whole indicates a highly pros- 
 perous state, extending throughout all classes 
 of society. 
 
 TABLE OF PEICBS AND WAGES. 
 
 A.D. 1400. 
 
 
 
 A.D. 1400. 
 
 
 
 
 «. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 8. 
 
 d. 
 
 Wheat, per quarter . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Threshing grain, per qr. . 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 Barley, ditto 
 
 
 . 5 
 
 4 
 
 A master mason's wages, 
 
 1° 
 
 4 
 
 Fat sheep 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 per day 
 
 Ditto 
 
 
 
 
 104 
 
 Making 100 faggots . 
 
 
 
 7- 
 
 An ox carcass . 
 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 Keaping grain, per acre . 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 A goose . 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Sawing per 100 ft. of deal 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 A lamb . 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 A labourer's wages, per day 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Best beer, per gallon 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 Claret ditto . 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 1450. 
 
 
 
 1450. 
 
 
 
 Wheat (plentiful), per qr. 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 A tiler and man, per day . 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Finest ditto ditto 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 A mower, with diet, ditto 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Oats ditto 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 A reaper, with diet, ditto 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 A lean ox , 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 A tiler, ditto . 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 A veal or calf . 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 A man and cart, ditto 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 A goose . 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 A master carpenter, ditto 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 A lamb . 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 A sawyer, ditto 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 Eggs, per hundred . 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 A labourer, per three days 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 Bed wine, per gallon 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 A weeder, per day . 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 1454. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Malt (plenty), per quarter 
 
 2 
 
 8 ' 
 
 
 
 
 Ditto ditto 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 An ox . . . 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ale, per gallon 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1480. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Wheat, per quarter . 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 Oats, ditto 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
204 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 1500. 
 
 
 
 ». 
 
 d. 
 
 Wheat, per quarter 
 
 Malt, ditto 
 
 A cow . 
 
 A lamb , 
 
 A pig 
 
 Eggs, per hundred 
 
 Wine, per gallon 
 
 Ditto, ditto - . 
 
 Carcass of a neat 
 
 • 
 
 7 
 2 
 8 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 4 
 8 
 
 
 5 
 9 
 
 8 
 10 
 
 1550. 
 
 Wheat, per quarter 
 Ditto (scarcity), dittc 
 Barley dittc 
 A steer, fat 
 Mutton, per carcass 
 A wedder . 
 
 . 
 > . 1 
 . . 
 . 1 
 . 
 . 
 
 «, 
 14 
 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 4 
 
 d, 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 4 
 
 1570. 
 
 
 
 
 Wheat (scarcity) per c 
 
 IT. 16 
 
 
 
 1575. 
 
 
 
 
 Wheat, per quarter 
 
 . 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 1585. 
 
 Wheat (scarcity) per qr. 14 
 A calf or veal . .074 
 Barley, per quarter . 13 
 
 1600. 
 
 Wheat, per quarter .110 
 
 Barley, ditto . . 13 
 
 A sheep . . .064 
 
 A goose . , .010 
 
 Six pigeons . .006 
 
 1610 to 1660. 
 
 A fat ox . . . 9 10 
 Mutton, per stone of 81b. 2 3 
 A veal . . . 17 
 A lamb . . .008 
 
 1500. 
 
 A carpenter, with diet, per j 
 day . . . . j 
 A plumber, ditto, ditto . 
 A tiler or joiner, ditto 
 Lesser crafts, without diet, ) 
 per day . . . j 
 A mower, ditto, ditto 
 A reaper, ditto, ditto 
 A carter, ditto, ditto 
 A woman labourer, ditto . 
 
 1550. 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 o n 
 
 A mower's statute wages, ) „ 
 
 with diet, per day . ] 
 A mower, without diet, do. 10 
 A binder and shearer, with ) 
 
 diet, per day . . j ° Z 
 A shearer without diet, do. 5 
 A journeyman tailor, with ) n . 
 diet, ditto . , . i 
 
 1570. 
 
 Labourers, without diet, j 
 per day , , . \ 
 
 5 
 
 1600. 
 A labourer, per day . . 10 
 
 1610 to 1650. 
 
 A master mason, per day . 1 6 
 
 A mason, with diet, ditto . 1 
 
 Apprentice masons, ditto . 10 
 
 Apprentices, with diet, do. i 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 2 
 
 0-' 
 
 1610 to 1650 (continued). 
 
 
 1610 to 1650 (continued). 
 
 
 £ s. 
 
 d. 
 
 *. 
 
 d 
 
 TongueSjCurec^perdoB* 12 
 
 
 
 Millwrights, ditto . . 1 
 
 6 
 
 A chine of beef . . 18 
 
 
 
 Ploughwrights, ditto . 1 
 
 6 
 
 Wheat, per quartet- . 1 14 
 
 
 
 Labourers, ordinary, ditto 
 
 10 
 
 Ditto, ditto. . .20 
 
 
 
 Journeymen artizans, ditto 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Reapers, ditto . . .1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Women shearers, ditto 
 
 l 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Plumbers, ditto 
 
 l 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Glaziers, ditto . 
 
 l 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Collar-makers, ditto . 
 
 l 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Armourers, ditto , 
 
 l 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Knackers, ditto 
 
 l 
 
 6 
 
 In reading the above table, it must always be 
 remembered that tbe Wages quoted by Fleetwood 
 were regulated for tbe most part by statute, and 
 not by supply and demand. Tbe labourers, 
 being few comparatively, would not bind them^ 
 selves to work, excepting for ample wages; and 
 this disposition to force exorbitant wages, as it 
 was called, on tbe part of tbe labouring people, 
 was attempted to be put down by statutes, 
 whicb professed to regulate tbe rates of hire 
 to be paid to different handicrafts. As trade 
 increased, however, it was found that this maxi- 
 mum could not be enforced in the walled towns, 
 and especially at the sea-ports, where there was 
 a growing demand for labourers. Hence there 
 was a constant struggle on the part of the 
 young husbandmen to get to the sea-ports. 
 They crossed the country in bands of a dozen 
 together, carrying quarter-stafls, begging their 
 
206 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 way, and threatening those who would not give 
 alms ; and hence arose the terms " sturdy beg- 
 gar " and " staff-striker " in the old , statutes. 
 To stop this, Acts were passed to forbid hus- 
 bandmen entering walled towns: they were all, 
 however, evaded, and the foolish attempt forcibly 
 to regulate wages was gradually abandoned. All 
 this, however, goes to prove the great comfort 
 in which at this period the common people 
 Unquestionably lived. We see an artizan earn- 
 ing in three or four days as much as would buy 
 a sheep, a calf, or a quarter of barley or malt. 
 We see wine and beer the common drink of 
 the people; and when we come to examine the 
 statutes relative to food and apparel, we shall 
 find that butchers' meat was the ordinary food 
 of all and that their dress was of the best and 
 costliest description. To these statutes let us 
 now turn. 
 
 The Acts, in which the sort of food upon 
 which the English people lived is most dis- 
 tinctly described, are those which were passed 
 during the reign of Henry the Eighth, against 
 monopolies of grazing stock and the consolida- 
 tion of grazing farms; the mention being inci- 
 dental, and by the way, adds to the value of 
 the evidence, the facts being alluded to as 
 
OF POPULATION. 207 
 
 being well known, and indeed perfectly noto- 
 rious. The cause of the Acts was the great 
 and steady rise in the prices of all sorts of 
 commodities, which took place during this reign, 
 and has gone on down to our own time. The 
 cause -of this rise was the discovery of the 
 gold and silver mines of Mexico and Peru, 
 and the constant addition to the quantity of 
 money in circulation that was, as a consequence, 
 going on. At the time, however, this was not 
 understood. The rise of prices, instead of being 
 attributed to the depreciation of the value of 
 money, and its increased quantity, was held to 
 be caused by monopoly, and " forestalling and 
 regrating," as it was termed, and hence Acts 
 were passed to prevent graziers accumulating 
 enormous stocks of cattle and sheep, or holding 
 more than a limited number of acres of grass 
 land. The Acts themselves were futile, but the 
 testimony as to the quality of the food of the 
 people, which they incidentally embody, is in- 
 valuable. Thus the statute passed in the twenty- 
 fifth year of Henry the Eighth, chap, xiii, has 
 for its object to limit the number of cattle and 
 sheep held by any individual; but in the pre- 
 amble, it complains that such has been the rise 
 in the prices of " corn, cattell, wooll, pigs, geese, 
 
208 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 liens, chickens, and egges," the ordinary articles 
 "in use by all subjects," that (says the Act) 
 " many have not been able to buy them." In 
 like manner, the Act passed in the twenty-fourth 
 year of the same reign, chap, iii, declares " beef, 
 mutton, pork, and veal " to be the food in ordi- 
 nary " of the poorer sort." Thus, then, it is 
 past a doubt that, throughout the whole period 
 referred to by Sir Frederick Morton Eden, 
 animal food was the common and daily fare of 
 the people; and when, in addition to the evi- 
 dence of Chief Justice Fortescue, we look at 
 the laws for regulating the prices of the cloth 
 to be worn by labouring men, we are forced 
 \ipon the conclusion that, whilst the population 
 was going back, an abundance, bordering: on 
 luxury, was reigning and prevalent throughout 
 England. It may be proper to remark also, 
 that both fruit and vegetables, and, to a certain 
 extent, grain, seem to have been, up to a late 
 period, neglected, and hardly to have constituted 
 an article of diet. Butchers' meat, game, with 
 a little bread, and poultry and eggs, were their 
 food. On fast days, fish must have been the 
 resource; as it is well known that most of the 
 fruit and vegetables now in use were of com- 
 paratively modern introduction. The English 
 
OF POPULATION. 209 
 
 seem to have left it to the Dutch to cultivate 
 the arts of gardening and planting; and Holland 
 was the great mart both for trees, garden vege- 
 tables, and flowers, down to a late period of 
 English history. 
 
 The strong testimony of Fortescue as to the 
 costly apparel worn in his time by the English 
 universally, has been already quoted. It is, 
 however, abundantly corroborated by the Statute 
 Book, if corroboration were necessary. From 
 the reign of Edward the Third, to that of Eliza- 
 beth, not less than ten distinct statutes for 
 regulating the apparel of servants and labourers 
 were passed ! To all these it would be unneces- 
 sary to recur, but a recapitulation of the objects 
 of some of them is both instructive and curious. 
 In the third year of Edward III, chapter iv, 
 is an Act against luxury in apparel. It limits 
 the wearing of furs to persons of a certain rank,' 
 and in certain offices. In the thirty-seventh year 
 of the same king's reign, was passed another 
 long Act, of many distinct sections or chapters, 
 regulating dress, from that of the gentleman 
 down to that of the day-labourer. In year three 
 of Edward the Fourth, chapter v, a similar 
 statute was enacted, and in the fifth year of the 
 same reign, chapter xiii, another statute to pro- 
 
 p 
 
210 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 hibit gilding, and wearing gold and silver lace, 
 except by certain ranks, and this at a period 
 when gold and silver were twenty times then- 
 present value ! That this wonderful amount of 
 wealth and comfort, distributed throughout an 
 entire people, had been of long growth, seems 
 not to be doubtful. The truth seems to be, 
 that the Norman Invaders and their power- 
 like the Tartars, and other Tribes, that from 
 time to time overran and subdued China — were 
 swallowed up and submerged amidst the greater 
 numbers of the people whom they nominally 
 ruled. Feudalism was, after the lapse of two 
 centuries, only a name, and real independence 
 and wealth seem to have grown, during the lapse 
 of a few reigns, to a height hardly to be sur- 
 passed. As early as the period A.D. 1300 com- 
 plaints of the luxury of the people begin to 
 appear both in the Chronicles and Histories 
 of the time, and in the Statute Book; and as 
 the best proof of the actual wealth and comfort 
 of the people, may be cited the provisions of an 
 Act of Parliament, passed in 1363 ; that is to 
 say, towards the end of the splendid and pros- 
 perous reign of Edward the Third, one of the 
 greatest of the extraordinary family of the Planta- 
 genets. In this Act, tradesmen and artificers, 
 
• OF POPULATION. 211 
 
 being master-men, are allowed to wear fine woollen 
 cloth, as high as one shilling and sixpence the 
 yard. Ploughmen, hinds, pig-drivers, and others 
 are limited not to wear cloth of a greater price 
 than one shilling the yard. Now, as in the 
 reign of Edward the Third, it is certain that 
 money was of nearly twenty times its present 
 value, this is equivalent to prohibiting tradesmen 
 and artizans from wearing cloth, if at or about 
 the price of thirty shillings the yard, and labourers 
 from wearing it if it cost more than eighteen or 
 twenty shillings the yard—a prohibition at which 
 both tradesmen and labouring men of the present 
 day would stare ! 
 
 This view of the then highly prosperous condition 
 of the English labourer is fully corroborated by 
 Mr. Thornton, in his treatise on Over-population 
 and its Remedies.* From this candid and elabo- 
 rate work, the evidence to be obtained is such as 
 cannot be gainsaid, and such as does high honour 
 to the patient research and excellent disposition 
 of its author. The following is Mr. Thornton's 
 description of the state of rural labouring men 
 from about 1340 to the Reformation : 
 
 " Married men engaged as labourers, in hus- 
 
 * Over-population and its Remedy, by William Thomas Thornton. 
 Longman. 1846. 
 
 P 2 
 
212 THE TKUE LAW . 
 
 bandry, seem to have been provided with a cot- 
 tage and a few acres of land to cultivate for 
 their own profit in the intervals of their masters' 
 work. Some direct payment, either in provisions 
 or money, was also made to them, though it may 
 be dhncult to estimate the amount of their re- 
 ceipts from this source. Servants who had n» 
 land, if boarded and lodged, as they almost in- 
 variably were, by their employers, were in the 
 latter part of the twelfth century rated at about 
 a penny a day. Whether this sum included the 
 expense of their victuals is somewhat doubtful ; 
 but in either case, as a penny would at that time 
 have bought a couple of fowls, or the fifth part 
 of a sheep, we may be pretty sure they were 
 well fed. Early in the fourteenth century, a day 
 labourer received a penny a day and his food ; 
 and the daily ration served out to him at harvest 
 time seems to have been two herrings and a loaf 
 of bread (of which fifteen, were made from a 
 bushel of wheat), besides milk, cheese, and beer. 
 No exception can be taken to the quantity of 
 this allowance, and there can be no doubt that 
 the quality would be varied, seeing that in these 
 days, a joint of meat might commonly be bought 
 at the price of two loaves. 
 
 "By the year 1349 the wages of agricultural 
 
OF POPULATION. 213 
 
 labourers had become ' excessive' in the opinion 
 of the landholders who had to pay them, and 
 whose representatives in Parliament attempted 
 to limit them, by means of the famous ' Statute 
 of Labourers,' passed in that year, which required 
 all servants to accept the same wages as. had been 
 •ustomary eight or nine years before. A similar 
 statute (25 Edwd. Ill, stat. I) passed in the fol- 
 lowing year, tells us more particularly what these 
 wages had been ; via., a penny a day in hay- 
 making ; but fivepence a day for mowers, and 
 twopence or threepence for reapers of corn. Such 
 rates were intended to be applicable only to men 
 not boarded by their masters, for the act forbade 
 giving any victuals ' or other courtesy' in addition. 
 But it must be recollected that labourers who 
 had to find their own food were almost always in 
 possession of a few acres of land ; and the act 
 likewise informs us that servants were in the 
 habit of refusing to work for less than double or 
 triple the prescribed sums. Thirteen years later, 
 in 1363, another effort was made to put an end 
 to high wages by rendering them useless to the 
 receivers, and a law (37 Edwd. Ill, cap. 14) was 
 passed, enjoining carters, ploughmen, and all 
 other farm-servants, whether of gentlemen, or 
 tradesmen, or artificers, not to eat nor drink ' ex- 
 
214 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 cessively,' nor to wear any cloth except ' blanket 
 and russet wool of twelvepence.' Domestic 
 servants, whether of gentlemen, or of tradesmen, 
 or of artificers, were at the same time declared 
 to be entitled to only one meal a day of flesh or 
 fish, and were to content themselves at other 
 meals with 'milk, butter, cheese, and such 
 victuals' (37 Edwd. Ill, cap. 8). These ordi- 
 nances, of course, failed entirely of their intended 
 effect ; but the Parliament, little- discouraged, 
 proceeded, in 1388, to lay down another Tariff of 
 Wages (15 Eichd. II, cap. 4), according to which 
 a bailiff was to receive 13s. 3d., a master-hind, 
 carter, or shepherd, 10s., and a common labourer 
 in husbandry 6s. 8d. or 7s. annually. Of 
 course board and lodging were to be allowed in 
 addition, though the law does not mention them. 
 In 1844 these rates were raised to 23s. 4d., 20s., 
 and 15s. respectively, independently of food and 
 of clothes of a specified value. Day-labourers 
 were not to have more than threepence a day 
 without food, except in harvest, when they might 
 be allowed fivepence and sixpence (23 Henry VI, 
 cap. 13). These limitations were, however, as 
 vain as the preceding ones. Wages continued 
 to rise in spite of opposition, and enabled the 
 working classes to indidge in a degree of luxury 
 
OF POPULATION. 215 
 
 which quite scandalised the Parliament, and which 
 it was attempted to check by sumptuary laws. 
 A<xx>rdingly,by astatute enacted in 1 463 (3 Edwd. 
 IV, cap. 5), servants in husbandry were restricted 
 to clothing materials not worth more than two 
 shillings a yard, and were forbidden to wear hose 
 of a higher price than fourteen pence a pair, 
 or girdles garnished with silver. The price of 
 their wives' cover-chief or head-dress, was not to 
 exceed twelvepence. In 1482 it was found neces- 
 sary to loosen these restrictions, and labourers in 
 husbandry (22 Edwd. IV, cap. I) were permitted 
 to wear hose as dear as eighteenpence a pair, 
 whilst the sum which their wives might legally 
 expend on a covering for the head was raised to 
 twenty pence. This legislation, considering the 
 fall which has since taken place in the value of 
 money, was really much as if a law should now 
 be necessary to prevent ploughmen from strut- 
 ting about in velvet coats and silk stockings, 
 with silver buckles in their shoes, and their 
 wives from trimming their caps with Brussels 
 lace. It exhibits the English peasantry in a con- 
 dition which was probably never attained by the 
 same class in any other age or country, un- 
 less perhaps by the emancipated negroes of 
 the British West Indies, and which the£ could 
 
216 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 scarcely be believed to have really occupied upon 
 slighter evidence than has been brought for- 
 ward."— Thornton on Over-population, pages 
 171, 2, 3, 4, 5. 
 
 This refers to a period anterior to the dis- 
 covery of the gold and silver mines of Peru 
 and Mexico. After that discovery, however., 
 when the precious metals fell in value, it is pretty 
 certain that not only the English yeoman, but 
 the English labouring hind, became generally 
 owners of silver utensils. This comes out plea- 
 santly enough in the quaint old song, " When 
 this old cap was new," which probably was writ- 
 ten about the beginning of Charles I. Touching 
 utensils of plate, the writer of the song thus 
 sings : 
 
 " We took not such delight 
 
 " In cups of silver fine ; 
 " None under strain of knight 
 
 " In plate drank beer or wine. 
 " Now each mechanical man 
 
 " Hath a cupboard of plate to shew ; 
 " Which was a rare thing then 
 
 " When this old cap was new ! " 
 
 All this luxury amongst those by whom 
 the work of the country was really done, arose, 
 as it only could arise, from a gradual diminu- 
 tion of the people, which unquestionably went 
 on between the years 1300 and 1600, if not 
 
OF POPULATION. 217 
 
 longer. To ascribe this rise in wages, as Dr. 
 Mead and other writers try to do, to the plague 
 of 1349, is sheer absurdity. The maximum of 
 wages was not reached until the reign of Henry 
 VIII or thereabouts, more than a century after- 
 wards. Nor is it found, by experience, that 
 epidemic pestilences produce much effect upon 
 the population of a country. In India it is 
 believed that not less than fifty millions of per- 
 sons have been, within a century, swept away by 
 famines and the ravages of Asiatic cholera ; and 
 yet the density of population is not appreciably 
 lessened, nor the rates of wages altered. At 
 various periods of the history of Ireland, her 
 population has been rendered a mere fragment 
 by the ravage of war and by consequent famine 
 and pestilential fever ; but a few years were 
 sufficient to replenish the gap thus made. The 
 added powers of procreation which they ex- 
 perience who do not actually fall victims to pri- 
 vation, are sufficient for the restoration, after the 
 lapse of a few years, of the numbers abstracted. 
 Nothing, in short, can possibly account for the 
 state of the English population and the progress 
 of luxury in spite of the voluminous statutes 
 passed to check it, excepting that gradual and 
 slow diminution of the numbers of the people 
 
218 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 which probably went on, more or less progress 
 sively, from the accession of Edward I to that 
 of the Stuarts ; or perhaps even up to the, final 
 expulsion of that unfortunate race in 1688. 
 
 Upon a review of all these facts, the conclu- 
 sion seems to be undeniable, that a decay or 
 diminution of the population was an observable 
 and admitted fact> from about A.D. 1400, until 
 the expiration of about a century and a half 
 after that time ; that both prior to and during 
 the whole period, ease, comfort, and plenty were 
 predominant in England; that the food of the 
 people was chiefly animal food; and that beer, 
 ale, and wine were so plentiful that every man 
 brewed his own beer, and such was the use of 
 French wines, that, according to Froissart, in the 
 reign of Edward III, " a fleet of more than 
 " two hundred English merchantmen was seen 
 " at the single port of Bourdeaux, to import 
 " wine alone :" that fine woollen stufls, as well 
 as gold and silver lace, and embroidery, were not 
 uncommonly worn; in short, that the Statutes 
 against luxury went hand in hand with those 
 complaining of the decay of towns and decrease 
 of the people ! And what is still more remark- 
 able, this decay of towns, villages, and mansions 
 of all sorts, throughout the country, was going 
 
OF POPULATION. 219 
 
 on at the very period when architecture, both 
 ecclesiastical and civil, had attained in England 
 — as witness the noble chapel of Henry the 
 Seventh — the highest pitch of gorgeous magni- 
 ficence to which it ever rose in these Islands, 
 and from which it was fated speedily, that is to 
 say, in the course of another century, to decline, 
 perhaps, for ever. 
 
 That this extraordinary state of things is 
 easily explicable upon the theory of population 
 now attempted to be established, is sufficiently 
 apparent; but the author submits that it must 
 remain a difficulty insuperable under any other 
 hitherto brought before the world. 
 
 The gross and plentiful diet of the period 
 above referred to, as compared with the present 
 mode of living in England, by all ranks, is cer- 
 tainly a curious subject for contemplation. Up 
 to the end of Elizabeth's reign, tea and coffee 
 seem to have been totally unknown even to 
 the households of the nobility, and sugar an 
 article of great luxury. In the household book 
 of Philip, the third Lord Wharton, of which 
 the entries for one year are preserved in the 
 Archaeologia ^EHana, vol. ii, commencing with 
 October in the twenty-seventh year of the reign 
 of Elizabeth, neither tea nor coffee is ever 
 
220 THE TBUE LAW 
 
 mentioned. ' Sugar, in small quantities, at an 
 enormous price, appears classed amongst the 
 spicery, but so dear that a pound is set down 
 as costing eighteen and nineteen pence— about 
 half the price of the carcass of a sheep, or 
 mutton, as given in the same page, which are 
 .rated at three shillings and threepence per 
 sheep, whether with or without the skin does 
 not appear. In point of fact, animal food, with 
 wine or beer, seems to have been the food of 
 the whole people, and eaten at all meals and 
 all times of day — saving on fast days, when 
 fish was used. In Lord Wharton's household 
 book oatmeal is only twice mentioned. The 
 warm drinks, called possets and hot tankards, 
 were spiced compositions of wine or ale, eggs, 
 and seasonings; and the gruels and frumeties 
 were similarly enriched. Fish seems to have 
 brought very high prices; and a porpoise, under 
 the title of a "porpus pigge," is rated at two 
 shillings, and a " salte salmon " at the same rate, 
 an immense price in these days. Poultry and 
 wild-fowl seem also to have sold high, as com- 
 pared with ordinary meat, a hen being set down 
 at fourpence, or six shillings for eighteen. In 
 short, it is clear that beef, mutton, veal, and 
 pork were the chief and ordinary food of the 
 
OF POPULATION. 221 
 
 people, with bread and ale, or wine, or sometimes 
 cider. Culinary vegetables and fruits seem to 
 have been totally neglected. So much was this 
 the case, that Katharine of Arragon, when queen, 
 sent to Flanders for a salad; and carrots, tur- 
 nips, parsnips, and celery were imported from 
 Holland ! To show how cheap solid living was, 
 and how easily the rates of wages given enabled 
 the people to procure it, it may be worth while 
 to quote the allowance made to the Lady Anne, 
 daughter of King Edward the Third, married to 
 Lord Howard, son of the Earl of Surrey. To 
 keep herself, one gentlewoman, one woman, one 
 girl, one gentleman, one yeoman, and three 
 grooms, she was allowed one pound eleven 
 shillings per week, this including clothing, 
 wages, &c. ! For the support of seven horses, 
 horse furniture, &c, the allowance was twenty- 
 five pounds ten shillings and fourpence per 
 annum! This was a princess's allowance, and 
 occurred probably about fifty years before Chief 
 Justice Fortescue wrote his book describing the 
 state of England. In twenty-five years after 
 that, in the midst of all this plenty, the decay of 
 population and towns is the subject of national 
 alarm ! 
 
 The solid manner of living at this period is 
 
222 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 still more curiously shown in the elaborate 
 household books of Henry Algernon Percy, the 
 fifth Earl of Northumberland, published in 
 vol. iv of the Antiquarian Repertory, by Grose 
 and Astle. This Earl was born in 1477-8; and 
 this book contains an account of the mode of 
 living of himself and his household, at his 
 castles of Wresill and Lekinfield in Yorkshire, 
 with entries of the prices paid for everything, 
 and dietary details of great minuteness. From 
 its pages it is easy to deduce that game and 
 fish were the luxuries of the time; that ordi- 
 nary butchers' meat, such as beef, mutton, pork, 
 lamb, and veal were the ordinary food of the 
 time; that bread was a very small and insig- 
 nificant portion of the diet of the people, tillage 
 being little practised; and that vegetables and 
 fruits were wholly neglected. Wine and ale 
 and beer seem to have been partaken of by all; 
 and salt fish and salt meats used to a great 
 extent. 
 
 The relative prices of these articles show 
 which were common and which were dainties. 
 For instance, whilst we have wheat at 5s. 8d. 
 per quarter, malt 4s. per quarter, sheep Is. 5d. 
 each, stots 10s. each, a carcass of beef 8s.; ale, 
 2d. per gallon; wine, £4 per tun; we find the 
 
OF POPULATION. 223 
 
 following prices for game (including a vast 
 variety of birds) and fish: curlews, Is. each; 
 bitterns, Is.; pheasants, Is.; peacocks, Is.; sho- 
 lards or shovellers, 6d. each; herons, Is. each; 
 partridges and quails, 2d. each; mallards, 2d.; 
 geese, 3d.; teals, Id,; ruffs and reeves, 2d.; 
 plover, l£d. each; peewits, Id. each; woodcocks,. 
 Id.; rabbits, 2d. each; knots, Id. each; snipes, 
 Id. for three; larks, 2d. per dozen; seagulls, Id. 
 each; chickens, ^d. each; pigeons, £d. each; 
 capons, 2d. each. Of fish we have, a salted 
 salmon, 6d.; salted eels, 4s. the keg; salted 
 sturgeon, 10s. the firkin; red herrings, 6s. per 
 cade; white herrings, 10s. per barrel. The Earl 
 seems to have bred his own swans, and, of 
 course, his own venison, of which he had store, 
 the total, in all his parks, being of red and 
 fallow deer, 5,571, distributed over twenty-one 
 parks, in the three counties of Northumberland, 
 Cumberland, and Yorkshire. 
 
 The sort of diet from day to day is shown by 
 the following bills of fare : — 
 
 Breakfast for my lord and lady. — A loaf, two 
 manchets (unsifted wheaten loaves), a quart of 
 beer, a quart of wine, half a chine of boiled 
 mutton or beef. 
 
 Breakfast for Lord and Master Thomas Percy. 
 
224 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 — A loaf of household bread, two manchets, a 
 pottle of beer, a chicken, or three mutton bones 
 boiled. 
 
 Ditto for my lady's gentlewomen.~~A loaf, a 
 pottle of beer, three mutton bones, or a piece of 
 beef boiled. 
 
 Fast-day breakfast for Lady Margaret and 
 Master Ingeram Percy. ,-*-A manchet, a quart of 
 beer, a piece of salt fish, or a dish of buttered 
 eggs. 
 
 Tea, coffee, and cocoa were then unknown; 
 sugar was classed amongst the spices; and 
 honey seems to have been enormously dear, 
 being set down in the Earl's house-book at 22s. 
 per barrel, which is nearly three times the price 
 of a carcass of beef, and equal to the value of 
 fifteen sheep. The board wages of ordinary 
 higher servants seem to have been ten pounds 
 per annum, equal to £200 of the money of this 
 day, and the money allowances made for dif- 
 ferent services are on a scale nearly as extra- 
 vagant. 
 
 The most extraordinary feature is, however, 
 the total neglect in which all vegetables and 
 fruits seem to have been held, both at this 
 period and for two centuries later. In the 
 Earl's household book neither vegetables nor 
 
OF POPULATION. 225 
 
 fruits are ever named; nor does cider, nor does 
 perry, appear amongst the different kinds of 
 beverage. Fruit, indeed, seems to have been 
 neglected in England up to the seventeenth 
 century. The author has in his possession a 
 little book called "A Closet for Ladies," pub- 
 lished by Arthur Johnson, St. Paul's, 1668, which 
 professes to give all the receipts then known 
 for conserves, candies, &c. Yet the only fruits 
 mentioned in it are "barberies, pom-citrons, 
 plums, raspises, coriants, quinces, walnuts, and 
 cucumbers." In point of fact, it seems clear 
 and evident that neither grain, nor vegetables, 
 nor fruits, were for many centuries used much 
 in England, which was then emphatically a 
 grazing country. In this way are to be accounted 
 for the enormous prices to which wheat some- 
 times rose. It was dear for the same reason 
 that keeps it high in Cumberland, where little 
 is grown. Bread, in short, was not then the 
 Englishman's "staff of life." Except during fasts, 
 it formed a mere subordinate fraction of his 
 diet; and it is to this neglect of vegetable ali- 
 ment, with the use of salted meat and fish, that 
 we must attribute the prevalence of that shock- 
 ing form of scorbutus, known as " leprosy." 
 One other truth we learn from the foregoing 
 
 Q 
 
226 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 considerations, and that is, how absurd the idea 
 is, that increase of buildings is necessarily a sure 
 sign of prosperity in a district. It is clear it is 
 mostly the contrary. As the poorer part of the 
 population becomes more dense, the old buildings 
 are let into small tenements, and it becomes 
 necessary to build other houses for the more 
 wealthy— a consequence not of increased pros- 
 perity, but of an increased poor and needy 
 population. 
 
 Leaving now the history of his own country, 
 in times comparatively modern, the author would 
 direct the reader's attention to the annals of a 
 time much more remote, that is to say, to the 
 earlier period of the decline of the Roman Em- 
 pire. When we look at the great cause of this 
 decline from its beginning to its end, we see 
 an Empire of enormous power and amazing 
 extent gradually brought to the ground by a 
 long succession of attacks by unknown foreign 
 barbarian tribes, whose course may be described 
 in general terms as tending from the north-east 
 to the south-west. As these attacking tribes 
 succeeded each other, they brought with them 
 different names, and different and most vague 
 accounts of their origin and original country. 
 The Cimbri, the Teutones, and Ambrones, were 
 
OP POPULATION. 227 
 
 considered to belong to Germany, and in all 
 likelihood properly so considered. Yet it seems 
 to be probable tbat the battles of the Consul 
 Marius with these tribes, were only some of the 
 first symptoms of a gradual movement south- 
 westward, passing through Germany and France 
 towards Italy, and precursors of those various 
 incursions which were continued by various tribes, 
 under the names of Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, 
 Vandals, Huns, and the more polished and 
 familiar name of Persians, Ottomans, Moors, and 
 Saracens, and at last brought the empire of the 
 Caesars to the dust, and broke up the very form 
 and image into which Roman greatness had 
 moulded Europe, and much of Asia and Africa. 
 On a calm review of this mighty movement, it 
 seems difficult, almost impossible, to believe that 
 a continuity of action, spreading over so many 
 centuries, should have its origin in the mere 
 capricjous antbition of many various tribes acci- 
 dentally taking one general direction ; or that, in 
 fact, it originated, properly speaking, in ambition 
 or caprice at all. The love of country and locality 
 is universal. Ambition leads nations to extend 
 their empires, and increase their power and name, 
 but not to leave their seats and migrate to other 
 climates. Caprice never did this, neither did 
 
 Q2 
 
228 THE TKXTE LAW 
 
 ambition, though both have done strange things. 
 On the contrary, the more we look at the course 
 of the world, as it is known since the latter times 
 of the Roman Commonwealth, down to the 
 extinction of the empire, the more we must feel 
 convinced that some great and pervading cause 
 must have been at the bottom, and constituted 
 the source of this great south-western movement, 
 of which, perhaps, the earliest European pulse 
 may have been the first rush of the Gauls upon 
 the young Republic of Rome, and the last, the 
 sack of Constantinople by Mahomet the Second. 
 The first great stride of this movement was made 
 by the Goths. Of their origin all the accounts 
 are involved in obscurity. Gibbon, upon the 
 authority of Jornandes and others, seems inclined 
 to give some credit to their own almost unin- 
 telligible traditions, which assigned for then- 
 native country Scandinavia, or the region which 
 is now known as Sweden, but which in earlier 
 times, it is now believed, comprehended a very 
 different expanse of territory. This strange ac- 
 count is, if Sweden be meant, highly improbable 
 on the face of it. How a remote country north 
 of the Baltic, to this hour thinly peopled, should 
 send forth to overrun Poland and Prussia and the 
 countries bordering on the Danube, a multitude 
 
or POPULATION. 229 
 
 sufficient to alarm the Roman armies stationed 
 in Dacia, and looking on the Danube as a great 
 boundary, those who believe it may describe or 
 account for. Upon a calmer view, it seems more 
 rational to esteem the tribes known as Goths, 
 Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Vandals, as the ad- 
 vanced guard of that innumerable and unknown 
 horde of nations living in the more northern 
 parts of Asia and the eastern parts of Europe, 
 which, by causes to be explained, were gradually 
 driven westward, and precipitated, in lapse of 
 centuries, one after the other upon the boundaries 
 of the Roman Empire. That this is the almost 
 certain truth, is evident in what is. known of the 
 history of their successors in spoliation and con- 
 quest, the Huns. These barbarians, from their 
 features as described by all the historians, were 
 clearly Calmucks ; the small eyes, the strange 
 features, and the different bodily formation, clearly 
 refer them to the regions now known as the 
 borders of China and Hindostan. Gibbon places 
 their country to the north of the Chinese wall, and 
 it is evidently his opinion, that it was not until a 
 long series of conflicts with the enormous and grow- 
 ing multitudes inhabiting what is now termed 
 China Proper, that they turned their arms west- 
 ward, and following the course of the Goths 
 
230 THE TRUE tAW 
 
 towards Germany, at last pushed, by their mo- 
 meiiiwm, their predecessors the Goths over the 
 Danube, upon the Dacian provinces of Rome, 
 in the reign of the weak Emperor Valens, who 
 consented to the passage of his now suppliant 
 barbarian enemies. 
 
 Still the oause of the continued human pressure 
 westward, through so many centuries, seems 
 altogether mysterious and inexplicable upon the 
 ordinary motives that actuate masses of people. 
 To read the latter portion of Roman history as 
 it stands, gives the idea of large masses of 
 barbarians from the northeast being smitten, 
 like the animal called the " lemming," with an 
 indescribable love of movement in a certain 
 direction, and precipitating themselves, in spite 
 of slaughter and defeat, by millions after millions 
 upon the western world. For all this there must 
 have existed some great continuous and per- 
 vading cause ; and this cause is probably to be 
 sought and found in the state and condition 
 of the races of people inhabiting those vast 
 and now thickly peopled regions, known in 
 modern times as China, Ava, Cochin China, 
 Chinese Tartary, Hindostan, Delhi, and the 
 countries west of the Indus, including Affgha- 
 nistan, Caubul, Lahore, and the Punjaub, until 
 
OF POPULATION. 231 
 
 we come to the frontiers of Persia, and the hilly 
 countries lying towards the Caspian and Euxine. 
 If there is any remote historical truth esta- 
 blished by a mass of evidence that may be called 
 undeniable, it is that the countries above 
 enumerated have been in the state of semi- 
 civilization, in which they now are, for a very 
 long, though probably undefinable period. 
 Without giving much of implicit or unlimited 
 oredenoe to their own chronicles, traditions, and 
 annals, it is yet evident that their state of society 
 bears the general impress of age. Everything 
 we can see and learn tends to establish this.. 
 The disposition of the people themselves, their- 
 singularly great, though to us imperfect progress 
 in literature and the arts ; their histories, their 
 religion, and their monuments, all irresistibly 
 lead to this conclusion ; and it appears to be 
 impossible not to believe that the state of society 
 which at present exists amidst the hundreds of 
 millions which swarm over the districts of China 
 and Hindostan, has not so existed, or nearly so, 
 for very many centuries ; and that of most of the 
 arts of life they possess a knowledge long 
 anterior to that of even the oldest countries of 
 Europe. Hence we are compelled to think that 
 the modes of life and manners which to this 
 
232 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 hour are in full force over these thickly peopled 
 regions, must have been of ancient and slow, 
 formation ; and though we may not, with the 
 Chinese, date their empire beyond the time fixed 
 by Christians for the creation of the world, we 
 can hardly deny, that, as a people, they are 
 probably the most ancient existing. Here then 
 we see, growing gradually through many and very 
 distant centuries, a system of society which has 
 been proved by the facts to have been so wonder- 
 fully favourable to the growth of an enormous 
 and dense population, that, in the regions 
 enumerated, though their area is but a small 
 fragment of the habitable globe, are probably 
 congregated a full fourth part of all mankind. 
 Nay, perhaps, the third part would be the more 
 judicious position, if the estimated numbers of 
 mankind are not held to exceed two thousand 
 millions of persons. For, taking the population 
 of the Chinese Empire at about three hundred 
 and seventy millions, which is now believed to be 
 the fact ; Japan, Cochin China, the Burman Em- 
 pire, Corea, and the other dependencies of China, 
 at seventy millions ; the peninsula of Hindostan, 
 from the Indus to the Ganges, at one hundred 
 and sixty millions ; and making allowance for the 
 numerous population that lies between the Indus 
 
OF POPULATION. 233 
 
 westward, and the frontiers of Persia, we attain 
 to a multitude of beings hardly to be conceived, 
 though not difficult to be numbered, and 
 probably amounting to nearly one-third part of 
 all the human beings now living upon this globe. 
 Now, in the growth and extension of this 
 enormous population over the regions which they 
 inhabit, but in which they are still as it were 
 cooped up — for a population so dense exists in 
 no other part of the known world— we see the 
 continuous cause of the gradual and progressive 
 migration of all the more scattered tribes which 
 this vast population must have gradually dis- 
 placed. That the extension of the vast popula- 
 tion of China went on amidst perpetual wars 
 with the Calmuck tribes, who were their neigh^ 
 bours, we have light enough from history to 
 show. The same light, however, discovers to us 
 the very natural fact, that the conquerors of 
 China were eventually swallowed up in the 
 enormous multitudes of the conquered ; and 
 that hence hostilities were useless as any per- 
 manent check to the extension of these myriads 
 throughout such climates as permitted the con- 
 tinuation of their peculiar mode of life. Hence 
 the Huns, after overrunning China again and 
 again, were at last pushed westward upon the 
 
234 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Goths, whom they, in their turn, precipitated 
 upon the Roman Empire in the first instance, 
 and then followed. In feet, climate was the 
 only stay to the extension of a people, who 
 had neither animal food, nor the olive, nor the 
 vine ; and it was not until China and India ex- 
 tended their dense hordes to colder and more 
 hilly climates — to Tartary, to Thibet, to NepauL 
 and towards the Indian Caucasus-r-that their 
 numbers began to thin, and the limit that we. 
 now see as bounding their empire* was esta- 
 blished. What the Huns and Tartars could not 
 do, climate has effected. As soon aa the pas- 
 toral life was forced upon them, and rice was 
 no longer the staple of subsistence, their numbers 
 ceased to grow, and extended boundaries became 
 no longer a matter of paramount and physical 
 necessity, uncontrollable by the surrounding 
 nationa In the long process of the growth of 
 this immense eastern population we obtain a clew 
 to the cause which must through many centuries 
 have disturbed, and driven from their seats, the 
 tribes that at last, forced westward, trod down and 
 eventually subverted the Roman Empire. How 
 long the enormous populations of China and Hin- 
 dostan were in attaining their present extra- 
 ordinary extent, it is impossible to say ; their 
 
OF POPULATION. 235 
 
 conflicts with the different Calmuck tribes must 
 no doubt have lengthened the term ; but in the 
 growth of these rice-fed millions we have an 
 explanation of historical phenomena, which seem 
 otherwise to be inexplicable, and which have 
 hitherto puzzled all inquirers. 
 
 Upon the whole, the author flatters himself 
 that the solution of the two historical difficulties 
 in question, which is afforded by this theory, is a 
 strong collateral proof of the soundness of the 
 theory itself. They are insoluble upon any other 
 hypothesis that has come under the author's 
 notice, and are of too striking and singular a 
 nature not to have perplexed most readers of 
 history. 
 
236 , THE TRUE LAW 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ARGUMENT FROM THE REVENUE. 
 
 Ie it were true that population has a natural 
 tendency to increase equally amongst all classes, 
 unchecked by anything but the inability to pro- 
 cure subsistence, the diseases which arise out of 
 a deficiency of nutriment, and the abandonment 
 of marriage caused by poverty and the fear of 
 it ; if this were true, then this is only affirming, 
 in another form of words, that the decrease of 
 a people must take place at the bottom of society, 
 and not in the middle or at the top ; for amongst 
 the higher or middle classes there can be neither 
 a want of subsistence, nor such a stringent fear 
 of poverty as to produce general celibacy. From 
 this it should seem of necessity to follow, that, 
 as a people increase in numbers, that increase 
 being from the richer, and not the poorest classes 
 
OF POPULATION. ♦ 237 
 
 of society, the power to cpntribute taxes must 
 of course go on in nearly the same ratio with 
 that of the increase of the numbers of the people. 
 At all events it follows, upon this supposition, 
 that one must increase with the other. This 
 conclusion seems unavoidable when it is con- 
 sidered, that though the heads of a family may 
 not make their children as rich as themselves, 
 yet it cannot be supposed that their offspring do 
 not contribute more or less to the taxes of the 
 state. It is impossible to conceive this to be 
 the case in a country like England, where almost 
 all articles of ordinary consumption even are 
 taxed, and where no man can escape indirect 
 taxation, live as he may, not even the miserable 
 Irish serf who exists upon potatoes; in short, 
 if the population of England has increased in 
 all classes, it seems impossible to doubt that 
 taxation must have grown with the power of 
 paying it, inasmuch as the consumption of tea, 
 coffee, spirits, soap, tobacco, wine, and beer must, 
 as a matter of course, have in a greater or less 
 degree followed such an increase. The increased 
 and added numbers amongst the higher and 
 middling ranks must have derived from their 
 , parents, in the shape of saved capital, credit, 
 and education, the ability to consume a share of 
 
238 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 taxed articles ; and therefore this sort of increase, 
 if it really took place in a country, must be fol- 
 lowed by an increase of ability to pay taxes, 
 arising out of the added numbers to the wealthier 
 classes. If, on the contrary, a population be 
 increased by addition from the poorer classes 
 alone, then it is evident that this addition may 
 not be followed by any increased power of 
 paying taxes, because the wages of labour may 
 fall in such a proportion that the power to con- 
 sume taxed articles may not be increased. 
 
 If, therefore, in any country the productive- 
 ness of the revenue is found to be at a stand- 
 still, whilst the numbers of the people are in- 
 creased, it seems inevitably to follow, as a 
 conclusion, that the increase must be altogether 
 amongst the poor ; for, had it been equally dif- 
 fused, the power of ponsuming taxed articles 
 must in some degree, whether more or less, have 
 been also increased, at all events for a time. 
 The reader need hardly be told that this sort of 
 proof, as to how and whence population grows and 
 increases, cannot be very visible save and except 
 in countries very highly taxed, because it is the 
 extreme of poverty only that can debar any por- 
 tion of a people from using some of the comforts 
 and luxuries of life. That the state of the 
 
OP POPULATION. 239 
 
 revenue of Great Britain, however, at this mo- 
 ment affords this particular description of proof, 
 the author is well convinced ; and it now remains 
 to be shown that such is the case. 
 
 If there is to be any faith placed in the re- 
 turns of the numbers of the population which 
 have from time to time been published and put 
 forth under the sanction of Government, the 
 population in the year 1811 were twelve millions 
 five hundred and ninety-six thousand eight 
 hundred and three persons. In 1839 they are 
 estimated at eighteen millions five hundred and 
 twenty-four thousand and thirty-six persons, 
 with a probable increase since that time. Such 
 are asserted to be the numbers of the popula- 
 tion of Great Britain at these two periods: 
 what was the amount of taxation at each 
 period? In 1811 the gross amount of taxation 
 was sixty-six millions three hundred and sixty- 
 five thousand five hundred and thirty-five 
 pounds. In 1830 the gross amount is only 
 fifty-four millions one hundred thousand four 
 hundred and nine pounds, and of this last sum 
 a small portion is Irish taxes, the exchequers 
 being now blended; and yet it is notorious that 
 even this lesser amount in money cannot be 
 continued to be paid by the increased millions 
 
240 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 of population, as, in spite of an addition of five 
 per cent, added to the taxes, in 1840, the revenue 
 has absolutely decreased and not increased. The 
 author is not unaware that, as it stands, and 
 upon the face of it, this is an unfair statement 
 and a false comparison, because unquestionably 
 the value of money in the year first named, 
 1811, was less than in 1839 and 1840. But 
 even deducting one-third, or thirty-three per 
 cent., for depreciation, the value of the taxes in 
 1811 still stands at forty-four millions. If, 
 then, twelve millions of people could pay in 
 1811 forty-four millions of pounds in taxes, 
 eighteen millions ought, if the increase was dif- 
 fused equally over all classes, to be able to pay, 
 with the same ease, sixty-six millions ; but it is 
 proved that they cannot, with Ireland aiding, 
 pay fifty-four millions; therefore the increase 
 has been chiefly amongst the poor, or this could 
 not have happened : q. e. d. 
 
 In stating this result, it ought not to be for- 
 gotten that the poor's-rate has been forcibly 
 depressed below the level at which it stood in 
 1811, by a cruel and stringent law ; and yet 
 the saving arising from this operation of the 
 New Poor Law has not caused an ability to pay 
 taxes at all commensurate with that of 1811, 
 
OF POPULATION. , 241 
 
 which adds greatly to the force of the reasoning 
 already adduced, and to the high probability of 
 the truth of the conclusion to which it leads. 
 The great increase of poor-rates which had in 
 1833-4, notwithstanding the difference in value 
 of money caused by the Currency Bill of 1819, 
 touched nearly the highest amount at the end 
 of the war in 1815, and which caused " the Poor 
 Law Amendment Bill," is also a strong corrobo- 
 rative testimony of the same truth — that in- 
 crease of population is ever, amongst the poor; 
 and that, as is the poverty of living, so is the 
 tendency to multiply. 
 
 Since the above was written, we have seen 
 the corn-laws give way before the fears inspired 
 by a rapidly growing but only half-employed 
 populace. We have also seen the fetters of 
 trade relaxed in all directions. Yet, despite the 
 ease afforded by these extraordinary concessions, 
 we see an income-tax in time of peace necessary 
 to enable the interest of the debt to be paid, and 
 the current expenses of the country met 
 and liquidated; the estimated revenue being 
 £52,990,000 for the present year of 1853. 
 
 R 
 
242 - THE TRUE LAW 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ARGUMENT FROM THE RECENT DECREASE OF THE 
 QUANTITY OF ANIMAL FOOD CONSUMED IN 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 Although in preceding portions of this essay 
 the mode of living in the earlier times of England 
 has been described, and proved to be a diet of 
 beef, mutton, veal, and pork or bacon, it is not 
 inexpedient to show that a great alteration for 
 the worse in that diet is at this moment going 
 on in this country, where an increase of the 
 population is yearly taking place to a greater or 
 less extent. We have seen that, when butchers' 
 meat was the grand staple of subsistence the 
 numbers of the people tended to diminish. We 
 shall now see, that whilst the number of inha- 
 bitants are swelling yearly, their use of butchers' 
 meat is receding ; that wine is drunk only by 
 the rich ; that even malt-liquor is comparatively 
 scarce ; and that the consumption of potatoes 
 
OP POPULATION. 243 
 
 has grown rapidly in modern times. The con- 
 sumption of wine in England has been proved 
 to have been as large a century since as it is now ; 
 and malt shows similar results. 
 
 To show the actual diminution of the use of 
 animal food throughout England is no easy 
 matter. There are no returns in existence, 
 probably, which Would give the slaughter of 
 cattle annually throughout the country at large ; 
 and those for London exhibit a false result, 
 from the increased numbers of people daily, by 
 the operation .of artificial causes, located per- 
 manently or temporarily in the metropolis. 
 Steam is increasing the number of visitants by 
 thousands, and their increase, of course, causes 
 an increase of permanent inhabitants ; for inns, 
 taverns, lodging-houses, &c, must be found for 
 these erratic tribes, according to their demand 
 for increased accommodation. Still there is a 
 means of approximating to the facts, generally 
 speaking, as to the national increase or decrease, 
 of animal diet. The calculation was made by 
 the author of this treatise in the course of two 
 letters to Lord Althorp, then Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, which were reprinted in " Cobbett's 
 Political Kegister," 13th of April and 25th of 
 May, 1833. The object of the author was to 
 
 R 2 
 
244 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 show the increase of fraud in the Excise duties 
 on soap ; but in the course of his proof, it be- 
 came necessary to show that the amount of 
 tallow produced in England had greatly de- 
 creased, and a decrease of tallow is a decrease 
 of butchers' meat. The mode taken was as 
 follows, and the result, the author has reason 
 to believe, is near the truth : — 
 
 Two years were taken between which to insti- 
 tute a comparison; and on account of some of 
 the documents for these years being more perfect 
 than those of other years, the periods of 1815 
 and 1829 were selected. The process of cal- 
 culation is as follows : — It was computed by 
 those most conversant in the tallow trade, that, 
 in the year 1815, the produce of tallow from 
 cattle slaughtered in England was from 50,000 
 tons to 53,000 tons in all. This estimate was, 
 however, of tallow in the rough state, before 
 being melted and refined. To get the quantity 
 of merchantable tallow, a fifth of the whole 
 weight must be deducted as refuse ; and there- 
 fore the quantity of available tallow produced 
 in Great Bijitain in 1815 may be safely set down 
 at forty-one thousand tons at least, and certainly 
 at no less a quantity. Now, then, it was known 
 that in the year 1815 the tallow produced in 
 
OF POPULATION. 245 
 
 England made all the candles manufactured in 
 England, and left a surplus. This was a noto- 
 rious fact to all whose interest it was to know it. 
 Almost every chandler in England, after making 
 his year's candles, had a small remanet of tallow ; 
 and this he was in the habit of selling to the 
 soap-makers, who used it for making hard soap, 
 along with imported foreign tallow from Russia 
 or Buenos Ayres. The tallow consumed in the 
 manufacture of candles of all sorts in 1815 was 
 thirty-eight thousand tons only, leaving, as the 
 surplus or remanet, the quantity required to 
 make up the forty-one thousand tons produced. 
 The population, at that period, may be safely 
 estimated at thirteen millions in round numbers 
 at the most. This was the state of things in 
 1815 as to this question. Let us now jump 
 to 1829, a period of fourteen years, and, sub- 
 jecting it to the same examination, note down 
 the results. The year 1829 was a year of consi- 
 derable plenty, as far as the seasons, both for 
 tillage and grazing, were concerned j and it was 
 also a year of comparatively low prices, for, in 
 the April of this year, all bank-notes under five 
 pounds were withdrawn from circulation, and 
 the depression of prices which naturally followed 
 this measure, happened accordingly. The con- 
 
246 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 sequence was, that the consumption of butchers' 
 meat was, in all probability, above that which 
 would have taken place under ordinary circum- 
 stances ; and yet it was far from commensurate 
 with the increase of the people, whose numbers 
 had by this time reached the amount of sixteen 
 millions of persons. Such was the population : 
 the amount of home-produced tallow was great, 
 though not great in proportion, and reached, 
 by the best calculations, nearly as far as forty- 
 seven thousand tons of good, merchantable, 
 available tallow, being an increase of six thousand 
 tons upon the produce of 1815. The demand 
 for candles had, however, after the end of the 
 war, increased in a greater ratio. The manu- 
 factories had, owing to the throwing open of the 
 continental field, been enormously multiplied. 
 The night was made to supply its relays of 
 workmen as well as day ; and hence, though 
 gas was now beginning to be generally used, 
 and also oil lamps of superior manufacture, 
 the necessity for candles had rather outstripped 
 the growth of the people, and the amount of 
 tallow made into candles in 1829 is very large, 
 amounting, as it did in that year, to fifty-two 
 thousand tons of tallow. Thus, then, with an 
 increased demand for labour, but also with an 
 
OF POPULATION. 247 
 
 increased population„.the result is, that in 1829 
 the tallow produced in this country was so far 
 from making all the candles wanted, and leaving 
 a surplus, that it was actually deficient by the 
 amount of five thousand tons of tallow. This 
 statement admits of being verified to some 
 extent, and this verification was exhibited as 
 follows : — 
 
 It has been stated that the surplus home- 
 produced tallow, after the making of all the 
 candles in the kingdom, was sold by the tallow- 
 chandlers and candle-makers to the manufac- 
 turers of hard soap. This was the case up to 
 the end of the war in 1815 ; but after that time 
 the case was gradually reversed, and the makers, 
 of tallow candles, instead of having an annual 
 surplus to sell, became, after a few years, buyers 
 of foreign tallow, to supply the deficiency, which 
 now began to be felt, of the produce at home. 
 This foreign tallow was, throughout the country, 
 naturally supplied to the candle-makers, by the 
 soap-makers, who were always, of necessity, 
 holders of foreign tallow, and who being dis- 
 persed throughout all the large towns, were at 
 hand to supply it. 
 
 Here then was a datwm or calculus supplied. 
 
248 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 The makers of soap cultivated this tallow trade 
 in proportion to their means and capital; and 
 if, therefore, it was ascertained what proportion 
 of the soap of the kingdom was made in any one 
 large town, the amount of tallow supplied by the 
 soap-makers \o the tallow-chandlers might safely 
 be calculated to be in the same ratio, as to the 
 trade in tallow of this sort, throughout the 
 country. This calculation was accordingly gone 
 into, and the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
 taken as the criterion. In the year 1829, the 
 hard soap made in Neweastle-upon-Tyne was 
 one-fourteenth of the whole known to be made in 
 the kingdom of Great Britain. The number of 
 casks of tallow supplied by the soap-makers to 
 the tallow-chandlers was then accurately ascer- 
 tained ; and they amounted to within a trifle of 
 nine hundred casks of Russian yellow candle 
 tallow. Nine hundred casks multiplied by 
 fourteen gives twelve thousand six hundred 
 casks ; these twelve thousand six hundred casks 
 would as nearly as possible amount to five thou- 
 sand tons of tallow ; and this, curiously enough, 
 agrees exactly with the difference between the 
 weight of candles made, and the home produce 
 of tallow in 1829. It is probable that the 
 
OF POPULATION. 249 
 
 greater strictness as to the collection of the 
 Revenue in 1829 would increase the amount of 
 candles made, more than the tenth as compared 
 with the returns of 1815 ; still, however, it 
 cannot be doubted that the calculations on the 
 whole approximate tolerably closely to the actual 
 truth. 
 
 Thus, then, it appears that, if to the excess 
 of three thousand tons, in 1815, be added the 
 deficiency of five thousand tons of tallow, pro- 
 duced at home in 1829, the whole felling off is 
 eight thousand tons of tallow. The proportion 
 that tallow bears to lean in cattle is averaged as 
 one to ten. Here then we have proof of a 
 diminution in one year, 1829, of eighty thousand 
 tons in the consumption of beef alone ; which, 
 at the rate of half a pound per day for the 
 individual, would be a fair supply for a million 
 of persons, or two hundred thousand families. 
 If to this we add the diminution to a corre- 
 sponding extent in the consumption of mutton, 
 the tallow of which does not, in any great degree, 
 enter into the composition of tallow candles, 
 and some diminution even in the use of bacon, 
 we cannot but doubt that the addition of three 
 millions of persons to the population, during 
 the fourteen years intervening between 1815 
 
250 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 and 1829, was made in company with a vast 
 decrease in the consumption of animal food ; 
 and that, therefore, the probability is, that the 
 increase of people was nearly altogether amongst 
 the poor. That this was certainly the case, there 
 is, however, other corroborating evidence. 
 
 First, we have the rapid increase of the 
 poor's-rates, which, ever since the population 
 was known to be decisively upon the increase, 
 have gone on, in spite of all the efforts of 
 Ministers and Parliaments to narrow the amount 
 of relief, with redoubled strides, and since the 
 accession of George the Third, in 1760, when 
 their amount was under two millions annually, 
 have more than tripled themselves ! Again, we 
 have the decreased consumption of malt, which, 
 before the passing of the first Act to impose a 
 tax on it, in the year 1662, was used by the 
 people, it is believed, to three times its present 
 extent. Since then the population has gone on 
 growing, and the consumption of the nutritious 
 beverage of malt liquor has gone on chminishing. 
 Even up to the middle of the last century, and 
 later than that, not only most of the persons 
 inhabiting towns, but all the agricultural labour- 
 ers, brewed their own beer. The knowledge of 
 brewing over all England was as universal as is 
 
OF POPULATION. 251 
 
 the knowledge of making bread over all the 
 North of England at this hour. Every Nor- 
 thumberland, Cumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, 
 Lancashire, and Westmoreland servant could not 
 only bake but brew ; and the same knowledge of 
 beer-making extended over all England. Such 
 now is the disuse of malt liquor, that this 
 general knowledge is now all but at an end, 
 and is confined to a trade. If increased popula- 
 tion, with decreased means, goes on, the art of 
 bread-making will soon be similarly lost even in 
 the North, where the cheapness of fuel has 
 hitherto preserved it. In addition to this 
 proof of decreased solidity of subsistence having 
 marched step by step with the march of popu- 
 lation, is the increased cultivation and use of the 
 potato as an article of staple diet. It is confi- 
 dently stated in agricultural reports, and by 
 practical farmers, that the culture of the potato 
 in England itself (leaving out Ireland and Scot- 
 land) has quadrupled during the last hundred 
 years. This is asserted as a known and admitted 
 fact in the Mark Lane Express in 1837, and the 
 known consumption of potatoes in London alone, 
 for the preceding year, is affirmed to be as high 
 as one hundred and eighty-five thousand six 
 hundred and fifty tons' weight I A plain proof 
 
252 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 that great numbers even of the metropolitan 
 populace must subsist almost entirely upon this 
 miserable root; for, at the rate of three pounds 
 of potatoes per day, this would subsist three 
 hundred and fifty thousand grown persons, which 
 is equal to a full fourth of the population of the 
 metropolis ! The known consumption must, how- 
 ever, be under the real consumption ; and if this 
 be true of luxurious London, what must be the 
 case in other poorer parts of the country'? Such 
 are the facts ; and yet, with these facts, we find, 
 in companionship, the fact" that English popula- 
 tion is steadily upon the increase. That the use 
 of this root is not diminishing much in England, 
 notwithstanding recent failures of crops, seems 
 proved by the great importations, which average 
 46,000 tons per annum. 
 
 There is one other observation to be made, 
 which, though it does not apply to England, is 
 yet not out of place here. It is this ; that almost 
 the only spot on the inhabited globe where sys- 
 tematic cannibalism has been incontestibly proved 
 to prevail, is all but destitute of animal or even 
 nutritious vegetable food, and when first disco- 
 vered was even more so than it is at this time. 
 This place is New Zealand, which, until a colony 
 was planted there by the English from Australia 
 
OF POPULATION. 253 
 
 within the last twenty years, was in this condi- 
 tion. From what is now known, it seems clear 
 that when first discovered by Tasman in 1642, 
 these Islands were nearly destitute of any qua- 
 druped whatever, and that even of nutritive vege- 
 tables their produce was nearly nil. Of indige- 
 nous quadrupeds there were a few of a species 
 of wild dog or fox, some rats, a species of bat, 
 and perhaps the alligator; but this is still un- 
 certain, and will probably, from the nature of 
 the streams, not turn out to be the case. The 
 birds principally were wild pigeons, wild ducks, 
 and some parroquets and sea-gulls. In fact, the 
 natives lived chiefly upon the root of a wild fern, 
 and upon fish, which are plentiful on the coasts, 
 until their numbers probably at last induced the 
 hideous practice of subsisting upon each other. 
 That constant wars were followed by feasts on 
 human flesh, until the custom of eating each 
 other at last became perfectly common and 
 habitual, is now ascertained. This is ascribed 
 by some to superstition; and superstition may 
 have been a cause or pretext, but it is probable 
 that sheer hunger had much to do with the 
 establishment of a taste so utterly revolting and 
 horrible. It may be said that the numbers of 
 this people are not great in comparison with the 
 
254 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 area of the islands. This is true, but then it 
 must be remembered, they have been kept down 
 by perpetual slaughter, both on a large and small 
 scale ; that they have no great extent of land fit for 
 cultivation ; and that they were, until Cook visited 
 them, destitute of anything worth cultivation. Of 
 the roots and seeds which he left, only the potato 
 and turnip are remaining; and they are grown 
 in the rudest way only in scattered plots round 
 the coast. In fact, the interior of the whole land 
 is lofty Alpine mountains, washed by rapid 
 streams, with snowy summits at the greatest 
 elevations, and the lower valleys and ravines 
 covered with gigantic and inexhaustible timber ! 
 but these regions are totally solitary and unin- 
 habited forests, growing little or nothing for the 
 food of man ; in short, umbrageous deserts. The 
 way in which the natives lived is evident in then- 
 few arts ; they were expert in making lines of 
 wild flax, in catching fish, and in cooking them ; 
 and an occasional whale or the seal were great 
 delicacies. They could also snare birds, but 
 their epicurism was in human flesh ; the roasted 
 or baked thigh of a girl of fourteen or fifteen 
 being described by them as the greatest known 
 delicacy, and in terms according exactly with the 
 language of Swift's ironical " proposal for eating 
 
OF POPULATION. 255 
 
 the children of the poor in Ireland ! " To the 
 author, it appears hardly possible to conceive that 
 so shocking a state of life and society could have 
 arisen from anything short of a surplus population 
 totally destitute of food. In the winter, which is 
 stormy in that latitude, vegetables must have been 
 scarce, and fish for a length of time often unattain- 
 able by a people who hadnot the art of curing them 
 for keeping. That upon such diet, their numbers 
 would soon outstrip their powers of obtaining 
 food, seems to the author sufficiently proved ; 
 and to a people so placed, with neither religion 
 nor morality to plead against it, the palpable and 
 necessary, and only resource, was cannibalism. 
 The " Arreoys" of Otaheite were the step next 
 to this. 
 
 Upon the whole, the author trusts he has 
 made it abundantly apparent, that where a 
 population rapidly increases, it will be found to 
 do so always in company with poverty of living ; 
 that the increase will be amongst the poor, and 
 will march at the exact pace of the advance of 
 the hardship and meagreness of living amongst 
 those who so increase. 
 
256 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 CHAPTEK X. 
 
 ARGUMENT FROM THE CURRENT OPINIONS OF 
 MANKIND IN PAST TIME. 
 
 If mankind had been in a constant, universal, 
 and invariable state of increase from the be- 
 ginning, save and except only when and where 
 such increase was violently stopped by starvation 
 or the intense dread of it — by slaughter, whether 
 of war or domestic— --by pestilence, or by 
 elemental convulsionS'-^-this law could hardly 
 have failed to become apparent to mankind in 
 general. It is hardly possible to conceive of 
 such a state of natural arrangement, and at the 
 same time to conceive that this constant and 
 universal increase, or tendency to it, should have 
 remained undiscovered from one age to another ; 
 and mankind should have lived under such a strik- 
 ing natural dispensation as this, century after cen- 
 
OF POPULATION. 257 
 
 tury for thousands of years, all the time blind 
 to and unconscious of it. If, however, we look 
 at the opinions of former times as to this 
 momentous matter, as far as such can be 
 collected from writings that survive, we shall 
 find the current of opinion setting generally in 
 the contrary direction, and a constant recurrence 
 of traditions amongst the old authors that the 
 world, or particular districts of it, had been 
 much more populous formerly than it was at the 
 period when they wrote, or near to that period. 
 The best " bird's-eye view" of the notions and 
 traditions of the Greek and Roman writers as to 
 the population of various countries at different 
 periods is, perhaps, given by David Hume in his 
 elaborate and learned essay "on the Populous- 
 ness of Ancient Nations." In this essay he has 
 collected, with much pains, the opinions of a 
 great number of classic and other authors as to 
 the state of population at various times and 
 places ; and these opinions he examines after 
 his usual acute method. Hume was at all times 
 sufficiently disposed to be sceptical, but here he 
 is perfectly excusable. Being himself destitute 
 of any notion of the law which regulates 
 population, and having apparently no theory, 
 good, bad or indifferent, as to the question, it 
 
 s 
 
258 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 is amusing to see how completely even his 
 sagacious, cool, penetrating, and patiently in- 
 quiring mind is bewildered by the maze of 
 evidence which, when brought together, the ac- 
 counts of these writers may be properly styled. 
 Hume's inchnation is, as usual, to combat the 
 generally received opinion. Many of the ex- 
 aggerated statements as to numbers, of which 
 the loose method of estimating multitudes, 
 common to all times, but most common to 
 ancient times, has been sufficiently prolific, he 
 doubts, and successfully disproves. His grand 
 puzzle, however, seems to He in the Various 
 accounts of periods of depopulation which he 
 adduces from different writers. These occur at 
 the periods, and under the circumstances, when, 
 if the theory now attempted to be established be 
 founded in truth, they might be expected to 
 occur, and of course to be placed by historians. 
 The periods assigned, however, appear to Hume 
 precisely those when no such phenomena ought 
 to be expected ; and after quoting and dis- 
 believing various accounts of the decay of 
 nations, he, at last, fairly confesses his complete 
 bewilderment, and leaves this part of the ques- 
 tion where he found it. In opposing what he 
 deems exaggerated stories of population, and to 
 
OF POPULATION. 259 
 
 explain the causes of periods of depopulation, 
 which he is compelled to admit, he relies chiefly 
 on the greater cruelties practised in former ages, 
 the bloodiness of the battles, the massacre of 
 prisoners, the harshness to and occasional secret 
 massacres of slaves, and the devastations of con- 
 querors ; and the proneness of early annalists to 
 the exaggeration of all accounts hinging upon 
 considerations of number. Such are the general 
 features of this celebrated and elaborate essay : 
 let us now come to particulars. 
 
 In order to prove the prevalence of the opinion 
 that in former times the numbers of mankind 
 were greater than at subsequent periods, it is 
 only requisite to quote the names of the principal 
 authors whom Hume feels himself called upon to 
 combat, in various ways, on the score of their 
 statements as to the population of various nations 
 and places, at various periods of time. Amongst 
 the offenders in this way he enumerates Thucy- 
 dides, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Herodotus, Plato, 
 Theocritus, Polybius, Appian, Herodian, Athenseus, 
 Demetrius Phalereus, Justin, Dionysius Haliear- 
 nassseus, Pliny the Elder, Plutarch, and Tacitus. 
 Amongst the moderns he only mentions Vossius 
 and Montesquieu ; which last seems, from passages 
 both inhis "Persian Letters" and "Spiritof Laws," 
 
 s 2 
 
260 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 to have held stout opinions upon this subject. 
 In his treatment of the exaggerated statements. 
 of these writers as to numbers, Hume is often in- 
 genious, and sometimes in all human probability 
 right. With their testimonies as to the decay 
 and depopulation of different states at different 
 periods, he finds it more difficult to deal. In 
 fact, he is completely puzzled by them; and as 
 the writers who give them do not attempt to 
 explain them, they stand before the sceptical eye 
 of Hume as a set of unaccountable anomalies and 
 contradictions, incapable of explanation or of 
 reconciliation with any known facts. Let us 
 look at one or two of these passages. 
 
 " The laws, or as some writers call them, the 
 " seditions of the Gracchi, were occasioned by 
 " their observing the increase of slaves all over 
 " Italy, and the diminution of free citizens. 
 " Appian ascribes the increase to the propagation 
 " of the slaves ; Plutarch to the purchasing of 
 " barbarians, who were chained and imprisoned, 
 " Ba.pBa.pua. Sis^wrspia.. It is to be presumed 
 " that both causes concurred." — Essays, vol. i, 
 page 387. 
 
 Here is an instance of partial depopulation in 
 one class, with perhaps some increase in the other 
 class, with which Hume is sadly puzzled. He 
 
OF POPULATION. 261 
 
 does not attempt to explain it, and the explana- 
 tions which he quotes are no explanations at all. 
 The propagation of slaves to which Appian 
 (Hist. Rom., Kb. i) refers, of course went on ; but 
 what prevented the provincial free Roman citizens 
 from propagating at the same rate 1 Plutarch, in 
 his "Lives of the Gracchi," attributes it to the 
 purchase of more slaves. As their wealth in- 
 creased, this would probably be in accordance with 
 the fact; but to account for so marked a dispro- 
 portion, and for that disproportion being used as 
 an argument by Caius and Tiberius Gracchus for 
 their " Agrarian laws," for a new distribution of 
 lands amongst those who had served was their 
 object, we are compelled to admit a great and 
 real diminution in the numbers of the Roman 
 citizens, who held the provincial estates under 
 the Republic. The facts, as stated by Appian 
 and Plutarch, agree exactly with the statement 
 made by Tacitus of the complete decay of the old 
 Roman Patrician nobles in the time of Augustus ; 
 and upon the theory here insisted on, the whole 
 is natural and probable in the highest degree. 
 These men were the aristocracy of the provinces, 
 and their decay only accords with the history of 
 all aristocracies. Again — 
 
 "Polybius (lib. ii) says, that the Romans, 
 
262 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 "between the first and second Punic Wars, 
 "being threatened with an invasion from the 
 " Gauls, mustered all their own forces and those 
 "of their allies, and found them to amount to 
 " seven hundred thousand men able to bear 
 " arms ; a great number, surely, and which, 
 " when joined to the slaves, is probably not less, 
 " if not rather more, than that extent of coun- 
 " ^ry affords at present. The enumeration, too, 
 " seems to have been made with some exactness ; 
 " and Polybius gives us the detail of the parti- 
 " culars. But might not the number be magni- 
 " fled, in order to encourage the people ? Dio- 
 " dorus Siculus makes the same enumeration 
 "amount to near a million. These variations 
 " are suspicious. He plainly, too, supposes that 
 " Italy in his time was not so populous ; another 
 " suspicious circumstance. For who can believe 
 " that the inhabitants of that country diminished 
 " from the time of the first Punic War to that 
 "of the, Triumvirate V — Essays, vol. i, p. 413. 
 
 Of the foregoing passage, it may be with per- 
 fect fairness observed, that Mr. Hume's efforts 
 to throw suspicions on the statements of Polybius 
 and Diodorus are not very happy. Polybius, 
 who was especially a writer of military know- 
 ledge, goes more into the minutiae of the muster 
 
OF POPULATION. 263 
 
 than does Diodorus Siculus. After all, the 
 difference is only between "more than seven 
 hundred thousand" and a "million." As for 
 the charge of exaggeration, it may be brought 
 at any time against anything, or anybody. 
 Hume's especial bewilderment is apparent, how- 
 ever, in the concluding sentence. "Who can 
 believe," he asks with astonishment, " that the 
 population of that country diminished between 
 the first Punic War and the Triumvirate V 
 Now, if this theory of population which we 
 are considering, be true, this is very easy to be 
 believed. The Roman territory, at the time 
 referred to by Diodorus and Pqlybius, was still 
 narrow. The country that supplied these fight- 
 ing men consisted, as Hume admits, of what 
 now is the Pope's dominions, Tuscany, and a 
 portion of the kingdom of Naples. At the time 
 referred to the inhabitants were the whole 
 Roman people and their tributaries, and the 
 population must accordingly have been of that 
 miscellaneous sort which forms the average of 
 a young nation, which has neither acquired great 
 wealth nor great power. Of such a people the 
 poor would be the majority; and if in the Repub- 
 lic there was then little wealth, we may be sure 
 there was no luxury. Here are all the requisites 
 
264 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 for an increasing and somewhat dense popula- 
 tion. If with this we compare the period of the 
 Triumvirate, we shall find the very reverse state 
 of things. Borne was then mistress almost of 
 the known world. The wealth drawn into and 
 about the city was enormous ; and the whole 
 regions alluded to belonged, past a doubt, to 
 wealthy Roman citizens of all classes, from the 
 patrician to the provincial free citizen. Here 
 was a state of society precisely calculated to 
 limit a population ; want there could be none, 
 generally speaking; and the chances are, there 
 could hardly be a superfluous man in the whole 
 district, save the household slaves of the land- 
 lords. Thus, then, narrowly looking at the 
 statements of Polybius and Diodorus, and keep- 
 ing in view the law of population now sought 
 to be established, there seems every reason to 
 believe them to be faithfully correct ; and also 
 that the belief of Diodorus Siculus that these 
 districts were more populous then than in his 
 time, is perfectly just, and in strict accordance 
 with the probabilities deducible from known 
 facts. The next passage is still more curious, 
 from the bewilderment of all the writers as to 
 the real causes of the decay or increase of a 
 people. 
 
OF POPULATION. 265 
 
 " Were I (says Mr. Hume) to assign a period 
 "when I imagine this part of the world might 
 "possibly contain more inhabitants than at 
 " present, I should pitch upon the age of Trajan 
 " and the Antonines ; the great extent of the 
 "Roman empire being then civilised and culti- 
 " vated, settled almost in a profound peace, both 
 "foreign and domestic, and living under the' 
 " same regular police and government. But we 
 "are told (by Montesquieu, l'Esprit des Loix, 
 "54, xxiii, cap. 19) that all extensive govern- 
 "ments, especially absolute monarchies, are 
 "pernicious to population, and contain a secret 
 "vice and poison which destroy the effect of all 
 " these promising appearances ! To confirm this 
 "there is a passage cited from Plutarch (De 
 " Orac. defectus), which, being somewhat singu- 
 " lar, we shall here examine it. 
 
 " The author, endeavouring to account for the 
 " silence of many of the oracles, says that it may 
 "be ascribed to the present desolation of the 
 "world, proceeding from former wars and fac- 
 " tions ; which common calamity, he adds, has 
 " fallen heavier upon Greece than on any other 
 " country ; insomuch that the whole could 
 " scarcely at present furnish three thousand war- 
 " ribfs ; a number which, in the time of the 
 
266 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 " Median war, was supplied by the single city of 
 " Megara. The gods, therefore, who affect works 
 " of dignity and importance, have suppressed 
 " many of their oracles, and deign not to use so 
 " many interpreters of their will to so diminutive 
 " a people. 
 
 " I must confess that this passage contains so 
 " many difficulties that I know not what to 
 " make of it ! You may observe that Plutarch 
 " assigns for a cause of the decay of mankind, 
 " not the extensive dominion of the Romans, but 
 " the former wars and factions of the several 
 " State,s, all of which were quieted by the Roman 
 " arms. Plutarch's reasoning is, therefore, di- 
 " rectly contrary to the inference which is drawn 
 " (by Montesquieu) from the fact he advances." 
 
 Mr. Hume " does not know what to make of 
 this passage," and it must doubtless have ap- 
 peared sufficiently perplexing and contradictory, 
 To the author, it seems to be (upon his own 
 principles) susceptible of a full and complete 
 explanation. Montesquieu, it appears, had ar- 
 rived to full and sufficient knowledge of the fact 
 that extensive and settled governments, and 
 especially monarchies, which tend to encourage 
 luxury, and did not, in ancient times, fiscally 
 oppress the mass of the people, so as to drive 
 
or POPULATION. 267 
 
 them to a poor and famishing manner of sub- 
 sistence, are not favourable to population. This 
 fact the author of "The Spirit of Laws" had 
 satisfied himself was true ; and therefore he 
 quotes Plutarch for the fact, that the population 
 of Greece had diminished from the period of its 
 conquest by the Romans down to his own time, 
 notwithstanding Plutarch himself attributes the 
 diminution to an opposite reason. That Plutarch 
 should reason differently is not surprising, though 
 his reason is a very unreasonable one, even upon 
 his own notions. It is difficult to bring men 
 m general to be convinced that a nation cannot 
 be permanently lessened by devastations through 
 war; so rapidly are the gaps in the population 
 filled up under such circumstances. 
 
 In more modern times we have seen the 
 history of the attempts to extirpate the Irish, 
 and have it recorded how rapidly their numbers 
 were recruited after a few years of respite and 
 mercy. Plutarch, however, was not aware that 
 a people cannot be extinguished, unless by being, 
 as the Carthaginians were, brought into utter 
 slavery, and lost amid their conquerors; and 
 having also no conception of the truth which 
 President Montesquieu so confidently and pro- 
 perly enunciates, he had nothing for it but to 
 
268 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 attribute the diminution of the Greeks to their 
 former wars ; which were constant enough, and 
 cruel enough, and devastating enough ; slipping 
 over the difficulty that, during the long period 
 which elapsed between the Roman Conquest and 
 his own time, that is to say, between the taking 
 of Corinth by the Consul Mununius, and Plu- 
 tarch's time, a period of two hundred and fifty- 
 six years, during which there were no devasta- 
 tions, a cure, upon his own theory, must have 
 been surely wrought. This appears to the 
 author to be a natural solution of the feelings 
 and views under which both Montesquieu and 
 Plutarch wrote. That the fact was as Montes- 
 quieu states, the author does not doubt. Though 
 the Greeks, after the Roman Conquest, lost their 
 independence, they were not oppressed. The 
 ingenuity and industry of the people were 
 allowed, in peace, to reap their own reward — 
 comfort and affluence, and occasional luxury. 
 Taxation was moderate, and being for the most 
 part direct, trenched little upon the comforts 
 of the mass of the inhabitants, and from the 
 poverty and devastations caused by their own 
 unruly passions, they were thenceforward exempt. 
 Montesquieu is right, therefore, in attributing 
 the thinner population to the Roman, dominion ; 
 
OF POPULATION. 269 
 
 and of the fact itself we cannot doubt, since 
 Plutarch, who was himself a Greek, expressly 
 states it, though he gives the wrong reason for 
 it. Their former numbers may have been ex- 
 aggerated; but of the general fact of the decay 
 in their numbers, there seems to be no room for 
 doubt. 
 
 Strongly confirmatory of this general truth, is 
 the fact that, when Julius Csesar, during his first 
 consulship, passed an agrarian law similar to the 
 Flavian law, in order to satisfy at once the 
 veterans of Pompey's legions and ingratiate 
 himself with the Roman plebs, he settled a 
 colony of twenty thousand Roman citizens in 
 and about Capua. In making this colony of 
 citizens, he chose only such heads of families as 
 had three children or upwards ; his design being 
 thus to give a premium to the procreation of 
 Roman citizens by birth. To this step he was 
 prompted by the visible decrease of persons 
 inheriting the Roman citizens' franchise, which 
 was becoming a source of alarm ; a decrease in 
 their power or numbers being sure to be followed 
 by aggressions on the part of the provincial 
 Italians and others, who envied that distinction 
 and the advantages it conferred. This example 
 was followed by Caesar's successors in every 
 
270 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 future case of division of lands, whether forfei- 
 ture or conquest were the occasion; and this 
 fact tells strongly as to the impression which 
 the natural decay amongst the families of the 
 wealthier Komans made upon the minds of their 
 rulers. 
 
 The same phenomenon of a greatly decreased 
 population, which Plutarch remarks in Greece 
 and Diodorus in Italy, this latter writer also 
 describes as having taken place in Egypt. He 
 asserts (vide Diodorus, i, 31, xvii, 52) that at 
 the period when the Alexandrian populace rose 
 against- the dictator Julius Csesar, the population 
 of that country, including the citizens of the 
 great mart Alexandria, was not half of what it 
 had been two centuries before. Nor can this 
 diminution be possibly attributed either to war 
 or to poverty ', because, although Egypt was not 
 formally incorporated as a province of the empire 
 until after the fall of the Triumvir Antony and 
 his paramour Queen Cleopatra, it had been, from 
 the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, virtually 
 Roman, and had participated in all the benefits 
 of Roman protection, without being exposed to 
 Roman Proconsular rapacity. In fact, after 
 Sicily, Egypt was the great granary of Rome, 
 and was on that account cherished by .her riders, 
 
OF POPULATION. 271 
 
 with a constant solicitude; those rulers being 
 ever in great dread of the effects of a famine 
 amongst the citizens. Under the especial pro- 
 tection of Rome, Egyptian commerce, as well as 
 Egyptian agriculture, gre,w and flourished ; and 
 such was the enormous wealth of the Treasury 
 and Royal Palace of Alexandria, that, after 
 Egypt became, under Octavius Caesar Augustus, 
 a province of the empire ; and the world's master, 
 in order to buy popularity, rifled the treasures of 
 Queen Cleopatra, and coined the gold and silver, 
 so obtained, at Rome; money was actually de- 
 preciated fifty per cent,, and the rate of interest, 
 at times, reduced to nothing, or nearly so ! To 
 this fact there is abundant testimony* Dion 
 Cassius distinctly alludes to it (vide Dion, ii, 21). 
 Orosius (vi, 19) states the depreciation clearly : 
 "Roma in tantum opibus aucta est, ut, propter 
 abundantiam pecuniarum duplicia quam usque 
 ad id fuerant possessionum aliarumque rerum 
 venalium pretia statuerentur." "Rome so in- 
 creased in wealth, that the abundance of money 
 caused prices double of what had existed before 
 to be given, not only for real property but for 
 all articles of sale/' Suetonius (Octavius, 41) 
 gives a similar account, though less exactly, and 
 then adds: "Et postea, quoties ex damnatorum 
 
2*72 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 bonis pecunia superflueret, usum ejus gratuitum 
 iis qui cavere in duplum possent, ad certum 
 tenipus, indulsit." " After this, when, from con- 
 fiscations, money flowed into the treasury, he 
 indulged those who could give security to double 
 the amount with the use of this money, free of 
 interest for a certain term." These statements 
 give striking evidence of the wealth and pros- 
 perity of Egypt during the nominal reigns of 
 the latter Ptolemies ; and in company with this 
 prosperity, we find a decrease of the Egyptian 
 people, according to Diodorus, of fully one-half; 
 although every circumstance must have tended 
 to draw together a great mercantile as well as 
 agricultural population. 
 
 Thus, so far are the old historians from coun- 
 tenancing the idea of a constant increase in the 
 numbers of mankind, that they afford us direct 
 and unhesitating evidence to the contrary. The 
 causes of the occasional decrease which they 
 describe were unknown to them; but when we 
 see this decrease always attributed to peaceful 
 and prosperous periods, no reader of this essay 
 need doubt what these causes really were. 
 
 Such were the opinions of the ancients as to 
 the numbers of mankind at different periods. 
 They certainly seem by no means to lean towards 
 
OF POPULATION. 273 
 
 the recognition of any overwhelming tendency 
 to constant growth ; but expressly recognise 
 periods for decay and diminution, as well as 
 periods for enlargement and increase. Nor are 
 their statements to be set aside on account of 
 occasional exaggeration, to which all computa- 
 tions as to numbers of people are peculiarly 
 liable. If we come nearer modern times, we 
 shall find the same opinions prevailing to more 
 or less extent, as to certain periods, both of this 
 country and others; and probably not without 
 foundation in truth. 
 
 Of all European countries, this opinion has 
 been most prevalent with regard to Spain. If 
 we are to believe the Roman writers, this fine 
 and romantic country, when at last subdued by 
 the wonderful military genius of Rome and her 
 sons, was highly populous. Of what race the 
 people were, is not at all clear. They are called 
 by the Latin writers sometimes " Iberi," and 
 sometimes " Hispani ;" but the general opinion 
 is, they were principally of the tribe called 
 " Celts," who, leaving Asia at some remote 
 period, as the spreading south-eastern population 
 of that quarter of the globe began gradually to 
 drive the more scattered, less dense, and more 
 Nomadic tribes to the westward, spread them- 
 
274 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 selves over Spain, then inhabited by the Iberi, 
 Gaul, part of Germany, Belgium, and thence 
 over to Great Britain and Ireland. From this 
 singular race are supposed to be derived the 
 Druidical monuments which exist in these islands; 
 but the striking part of their character seems to 
 have been their restless, untameable nature. 
 Wherever they settled, they seem to have been 
 subdivided into small nations or clans, amongst 
 which continual feuds and wars seem to have 
 raged. This character seems to have attached to 
 the Spanish part of them, who are always cha- 
 racterized by the Roman writers as a wrathful, 
 quarrelsome, and ferocious race. " Impacatos 
 Iberos" is Virgil's epithet for them, and the 
 historians fully corroborate the poet, painting 
 them, one and all as a bellicose race of savages, 
 split into tribes, and making perpetual inroads 
 upon each other's territory, much after the 
 manner of the Highlanders of Scotland and the 
 kings of Ireland, a very few centuries ago. Hume, 
 in his essay, as usual, takes this state to be one 
 unfavourable to population ; but we have the 
 direct testimony of history (Cicero de Haruspice, 
 cap. ix), that at this time the Iberian popula- 
 tion was great. The Carthaginian inroads had 
 not tended to alter the habits of the people; and 
 
OF POPULATION. 275 
 
 it was not until after they were completely sub- 
 dued by the Romans, that their numbers began 
 to decline. Nor is this wonderful, if we admit the 
 truth of the theory here adduced. If, in modern 
 times, we see a year of moderate dearness or scar- 
 city produce an immediate start in population 
 (as has been shown in a preceding section), what 
 must be the case when frequent devastations were 
 producing artificial famines, and inducing per- 
 petually recurring hardships amongst all classes 
 of these people ? When Hispania, however, be- 
 came a Roman province, it gradually became a 
 rich country. That it was much cherished by 
 the Romans, is a matter of history. Spain, until 
 the discovery of Mexico and Peru, and the esta- 
 blishment of an intercourse with India, was almost 
 the sole source whence the precious metals 
 were obtained. Hence wealth flowed in, both 
 upon the Roman conquerors and the inhabi- 
 tants. Quiet and civilization went hand in hand 
 with wealth ; and after the spread of Christianity, 
 Spain, owing to the romantic beauty of the 
 country, became a favourite retreat for Chris- 
 tians who wished to escape in solitude from the 
 sneers of the world, or perhaps its persecution. 
 It was here that Ausonius addressed his de- 
 precatory epistles to St. Paulinus (Ausonius, 
 
 T 2 
 
276 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Epistolce, xxiv, xxv), who had retired to this 
 now quiet, civilized, moderately peopled, hut 
 still romantic country ; and the sites of other 
 hermitages are still pointed out in various parts 
 of Spain and Portugal. About the year a.d. 
 409, in the general disruption of the Western 
 Empire, this fine province was overrun by the 
 Alani, and other Gothic hordes, who, following 
 the early movement of the Celts, at last over- 
 whelmed and trod to pieces the Roman Empire. 
 To this succeeded the invasion and conquest of 
 the Moors, until they again were finally driven 
 out of Spain about A.D. 1312. 
 
 What might have been the population of 
 Spain at the era of the expulsion of the Moors 
 it is impossible to say, but it seems tolerably 
 certain that the Spanish people have been since 
 that time declining in numbers rather than other- 
 wise. From that time down to the present, 
 this singular and fine people have retained not 
 only their national habits, but their national 
 privileges. Though united nominally in one 
 monarchy, the Basque provinces have retained 
 their language, their rights, and real indepen- 
 dence. They have never paid taxes beyond the 
 established fueros. Even Charles the Fifth, in 
 the plenitude of his power was compelled to 
 
OP POPULATION. 277 
 
 respect them, and their example has so far 
 operated, that it has preserved the rest of Spain 
 at all times from great fiscal oppression, which 
 operates beyond all other- causes put together to 
 alter the condition of a country long subjected 
 to it. Hence wealth has been upon the whole 
 equably diffused through Spain, especially in the 
 Basque provinces, where nobility has no privi- 
 leges. Thus we see in Spain, as described by 
 Laborde and others, a fine and mountainous 
 country inhabited by a people for the most part 
 leading the pastoral life, and grazing herds of 
 cattle, sheep, goats, and swine, rather than em- 
 ployed in tillage, but caring little for commerce or 
 its products, save at the sea-ports and a few large 
 towns. In such a country, divided for the most 
 part amongst small proprietors, who hand down 
 their little estates from generation to generation, 
 the mode of Hving, though rough and simple, is 
 plentiful and fulL The vine sheds its blessings 
 in the shape of the most nutritious wines over 
 the whole region. The sugar of the rasin aids 
 the fatness of the olive in producing a generous 
 aliment for the cultivators of the soil and shep- 
 herds of the flocks and herds, which depasture 
 in rich and endless droves in the rich valleys of 
 this favoured land. Poultry is in abundance, 
 
278 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 and eggs, cheese, and butter add their nutriment 
 to that derived from the flesh of cattle, sheep, 
 and goats, with which the kingdom everywhere 
 abounds. Travellers who talk of the poverty of 
 Spain mistake roughness for want ; and wonder 
 at finding bad inns amongst a pastoral people who 
 care nothing for travellers. This equably diffused 
 plenty the Spanish Monarchs have never been 
 enabled materially to lessen by exactions ; and the 
 political power of Spain, whilst she had political 
 power, may be ascribed to £he vast wealth which 
 for a series of years the government derived from 
 Mexico and Peru, That the influx of this wealth 
 helped to cheok population still further, is 
 evident in the fact that Spain is now the least 
 populous country in Europe ; and since the loss 
 of the Indies, the most politically feeble, for with 
 that loss the revenue of the Monarch perished ; 
 and Spain, strong in herself, is powerless abroad. 
 Whilst Spain retains the olive and the vine, her 
 rich pastures and endless sheep-walks, her mag- 
 nificent woods, and arable plains, she can never 
 be populous, whilst peaceful and untaxed; nor to 
 reverse such a state of things will a mere ordinary 
 warfare be sufficient, unless the devastations of 
 the Celts, and the perpetual strategy of the Iberi, 
 arise again to astonish modern times. 
 
OF POPULATION. 279 
 
 If we turn our attention to our own country, 
 we shall find the same notions of its former 
 populousness existing, and similar reasons for 
 believing them to be not unfounded in fact. 
 It has been supposed by many, that, at the period 
 of the Norman Conquest, and during the times 
 anterior to that event, England had more inha- 
 bitants than she possessed some centuries after- 
 wards ; nor are reasons wanting to prove the 
 probability of this opinion. If we look into the 
 details of the greatf battles fought, or armies 
 raised, from the period of the Conquest to the 
 time of Henry the Seventh, so far from finding 
 any superiority in the numbers of the more 
 modern armies, we discover the contrary, though 
 the kingdom was, during the latter period, 
 unquestionably richer, and the means for paying 
 and maintaining armies easier to be had. If, 
 for instance, we are to credit history as to events 
 so comparatively recent as the Norman Invasion, 
 it seems undeniable that the armies commanded 
 by King Harold the Second at the battle of 
 Hastings, and the battle near York, which im- 
 mediately preceded it, must have been more 
 numerous than any army raised in England 
 from that time down to the conflict at Bosworth 
 Field, which gave the crown to Henry the 
 
280 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Seventh. In the battle at Stamford Bridge, 
 which immediately preceded that of Hastings, 
 Harold is said to have brought not less than 
 sixty thousand men to oppose Harfager, the 
 Norwegian Prince and Tosti, Earl of Northum- 
 berland, whose army, not much inferior to 
 Harold's, was partly composed of Englishmen. 
 In this bloody encounter, although victorious, 
 the English king's loss must have been severe ; 
 and yet eighteen days after this battle the fatal 
 conflict at Hastings is fought. In this great 
 conflict, it seems certain that the armies engaged 
 were superior in number to those who fought at 
 Stamford Bridge eighteen days before. William, 
 the Norman, had with him eight hundred and 
 ninety-six ships of all sorts ; which, at the rate 
 of eighty soldiers to each transport, gives an 
 armament of seventy thousand men. The English 
 army, it is certain, though inferior in discipline, 
 was superior in numbers, and if the impatient 
 Harold would have waited for a few days, it 
 would have been much more so. Though no 
 quarter was given by the Normans, the number 
 of English said to be slain is beyond all credi- 
 bility, they being stated at sixty-seven thousand 
 nine hundred and seventy-four men. It is quite 
 certain, however, from the immediate submia- 
 
OF POPULATION. 281 
 
 sion that followed, that the slaughter must have 
 been prodigious ; and it seems difficult to con- 
 ceive that, on the English side, less than one 
 hundred thousand men could have been engaged. 
 If to these we add the numbers that must have 
 been killed, wounded, and disabled, in many 
 ways, at Stamford Bridge, eighteen days before, 
 and again add to these the approaching troops, for 
 which the impatient Harold would not wait, 
 it makes the amount of Harold's disposable force 
 very large ; and when, in addition to this, it is 
 reflected that Tosti's troops were also English- 
 men, we must conclude that not less than 4 one 
 hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand 
 Englishmen must have been collected for these 
 two encounters ; an enormous force, and not 
 nearly equalled in any action fought for many 
 centuries afterwards in or by England. 
 
 If there be a period in which beyond all others 
 we should naturally look for a mighty prepara- 
 tion, that period is the date of Edward the 
 Third's French expedition. The nation was then 
 in a state of prosperity and wealth, which has 
 probably never really been exceeded at any future 
 time. As a proof of this, Rapin relates that a 
 private citizen of London, a winemerchant, at 
 the close of the war, entertained Edward, the 
 
282 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 King of Cyprus, and the two kings of France 
 and Scotland, with all their attendants and the 
 whole court, in a most sumptuous manner. To 
 form an idea of what such royal entertain- 
 ment must necessarily have been, we must turn 
 to Hollinshed, who, in his Chronicle, states 
 that, about this period, fifty-six different kinds 
 of foreign wine were drunk in England; and 
 when, in addition, it is recollected that the main 
 part of Edward's revenue arose from "Tunnage" 
 — a small duty on foreign wines — it is easy to 
 see how universal "high living" had then become 
 in England! The pay of Edward's army seems 
 to have been upon a scale according with this 
 state of things : he had introduced artillery, and 
 the pay of some of his gunners is put down at 
 the enormous sum of a shilling per day of the 
 valuable money of that time. The entire num- 
 ber of the army that sailed with Edward was, 
 however, only thirty-one thousand six hundred 
 and ninety-four men, exclusive of the nobility, 
 splendidly equipped, no doubt; but yet a small 
 armament when compared with those who fought 
 at Hastings and Stamford Bridge. 
 
 Later than this was the equally celebrated ex- 
 pedition of Henry the Fifth. As to the numbers 
 who attended him there seems to be less cer- 
 
OF POPULATION. 283 
 
 tainty. Rapin says fifty thousand men, but this 
 seems to include the sailors of the fleet, for 
 Monstrelet makes the fighting men amount to 
 only twenty-six thousand men. It seems clear, 
 however, that the number was not great, if we 
 are to believe the accounts as to the mere 
 handful that fought soon after at Agincourt. 
 The greatest battle after Hastings is however, 
 probably, Towton, in the next reign. In this 
 desperate conflict both sides were Englishmen ; 
 the fate of the kingdom depended upon its issue ; 
 the passions of both parties were roused to the 
 highest pitch ; and it is probable that, as there 
 was ample time, every nerve was strained to 
 bring the greatest possible number into the field. 
 Yet, giving all latitude to the accounts, it does 
 not seem that more than one hundred and eight 
 thousand men of all sorts met at Towton, when 
 both the North and South of England were 
 drained of all their men-at-arms for this grand 
 conflict. Here there is no symptom of increased 
 population, but the contrary. All the other 
 Yorkist and Lancastrian battles were fought with 
 very inferior numbers, and the slaughter seems 
 to have fallen most upon the nobility and 
 gentry, who were probably much more hearty 
 in the cause than were the commonalty, who 
 
284 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 would understand little, and care less, about the 
 dispute. It is to be remembered, too, that these 
 "wars were spread over a period of from twelve 
 to fifteen years. 
 
 Though the battle fought at Towton, in York- 
 shire, was, in point of number, the greatest that 
 was fought by the partisans of the Roses, yet 
 both this battle, and that near Hexham, as well 
 as at Hedgeley Moor, between Queen Margaret's 
 forces and those of the Yorkists under Neville, 
 Lord Montacute, and some others, of which 
 part of the forces were derived from the North, 
 show that, though there is no reason for sup- 
 posing the population to be more than equal, 
 or indeed quite equal, to what it was at the 
 period of the Norman Conquest, still that it 
 had not declined in the marked and visible 
 way in which it diminished after the reign of 
 Edward the Fourth, which ended in 1483. We 
 see here considerable forces raised in this part 
 of the country, as far down as 1470. That 
 the population had rapidly decreased after that 
 time, is proved, not only by the Statute Book, 
 but by such enumerations as took place after 
 that period, within one hundred and fifty years. 
 In 1615, it appears in Surtees' "History of Dur- 
 ham" (vol. i, Appendix I, p. cxxxvii), that a 
 
OF POPULATION. 285 
 
 muster of all males in the county of Dur- 
 ham, between the ages of sixteen and sixty, 
 capable of bearing arms, was made on St. Giles- 
 gate Moor, near the city of Durham, by com- 
 mand of the King, James I. The return is 
 imperfect, the numbers for each parish being 
 given for two of the four Wards only; that is 
 to say, for those of Easington and Chester. The 
 totals, however, are given for the Wards of 
 Darlington and Stockton; so that we have the 
 entire amount; and the whole bears sufficient 
 evidence upon it, that the muster and enumera- 
 tion were made with an approximation to accu- 
 racy. This return would, of course, exclude the 
 Clergy ; but it does not appear that there were 
 any other persons exempt. The document is as 
 follows : — 
 
286 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Appendix XXXIV.- (Randall's MSS.J 
 
 THE NUMBER OF MEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF SIXTEEN AND BIXTr, 
 
 THAT APPEARED AT THE GENERAL MUSTER, ON ST. GILESGATE 
 MOOR, A.D. 1615. 
 
 EASINGTON WARD. 
 
 St. Gyles' Parish 84 
 
 St. Nicholas 216 
 
 Hesleden 66 
 
 Easington - ... 140 
 
 Trimdon and Kelloe 147 
 
 Aulton 61 
 
 Pittington . . 83 
 
 Houghton 289 
 
 Bishops-Weremouth 196 
 
 Lumley (part of Cheater in Easington Ward) . 80 
 
 Castle Eden 13 
 
 Seham 36 
 
 N. Bailey 54 
 
 S. Bailey 10 
 
 1465 
 
 CHESTEB WARD. 
 
 East Bolden 36 
 
 Monk-Weremouth . . 87 
 
 Whitburne 63 
 
 Washington 40 
 
 Jarrow - . 294 
 
 Gateshead 365 
 
 Lamesley . . .... .... 184 
 
 Ebchester . . IS 
 
 Carried forward . . . 1084 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 287 
 
 Brought forward 
 
 Byton . 
 
 Whickham 
 Lanchester 
 Eshe . . 
 St. Margaret's 
 St. Oswald's 
 Chester and Tanfield 
 Chapelry (qu. Satley) 
 Hunstonworth . 
 Muggleswick . 
 Witton Gilbert 
 Kibblesworth . 
 
 1084 
 
 277 
 
 53 
 
 360 
 
 138 
 
 20 
 
 187 
 
 119 
 
 239 
 
 72 
 
 14 
 
 42 
 
 44 
 
 8 
 
 2657 
 
 (TOTAL.) 
 
 Darlington Ward . . 
 
 . . 2946 
 
 Stockton Ward . . 
 
 . 1223 
 
 Easington Ward . . 
 
 . . 1494 
 
 
 . . 2657 
 
 
 8320 persons 
 
 Without supposing this document to be accu- 
 rate (for of course there must have been numerous 
 absentees, for various obvious reasons), it cannot 
 still be doubted that it is an approximation to 
 the truth, a second muster, two years after, 
 being nearly the same. Thus then we see, that 
 
 * This disagrees with the particular return. 
 
288 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 in the space of about a century and a half, the 
 whole of the men capable of bearing arms which 
 the county of Durham could furnish, would 
 hardly make a fifth part of those who perished 
 on the side of the Lancastrians at the grand 
 conflict of Towton, where the forces of Lancaster 
 were drawn from the North. The slaughter of 
 King Henry the Sixth's army at Towton, Dr. 
 Lingard, an historian who is not disposed to 
 exaggerate in these points, admits could not be 
 much below thirty-eight thousand men, or nearly 
 five times the Durham muster of 1615. 
 
 A more decisive testimony of the diminution 
 of the population through the period that inter- 
 venes between the Norman Conquest and the 
 reign of Elizabeth is, perhaps, the comparison 
 of the ecclesiastical distribution of the country, 
 which has existed since the Reformation, with 
 that which had been made and existed for many 
 centuries before that event. It is well known, 
 that, let the distribution be made when it might, 
 the parishes of England, up to the time of the 
 Reformation, were much above thirteen thousand 
 in number. In round numbers they may be 
 stated at fourteen thousand. In each of these 
 was resident a Rector or Vicar, who was not 
 
OF POPULATION. 289 
 
 only maintained from the tithes, but was ex- 
 pected to show hospitality, and also to take care 
 that the poor of his parish, if any, were relieved 
 out of the tithes, of which they were held to 
 be entitled to a share; After paying the poor 
 and the Priest, the remainder went to build 
 or repair the Church, and in part to the Bishop. 
 That the tithes of all parishes were held to be 
 amply sufficient for these purposes, is evident 
 in the Act passed in the fifteenth year of Richard 
 the Second, to eompel the Monasteries who held 
 livings to provide better for their Vicars (for 
 thus canle Vicars into the Church), and also to 
 provide for the poor. The Statute enacts that 
 " a convenient sum of money be paid and distri- 
 buted yearly of the fruits and profits of the 
 same Churches, by those that shall have the 1 
 said Churches in proper use, and by their succes- 
 sors, to the poor parishioners of the said Churches; 
 in aid of their living and sustenance for ever; 
 and also that the Vicar be well and sufficiently 
 endowed." This Act, which is still law as far as 
 vicarial tithes are concerned, was, as to the poor, 
 of universal application to all parishes, and 
 proves, as much as document can, that the 
 thirteen thousand and odd parishes existing 
 up to the time of Henry the Eighth, were 
 
290 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 cultivated, inhabited parishes; maintaining a 
 Church, however small, and a priest, however 
 poor, with some residue for destitute persons. 
 
 "When, after the Reformation, the Church was 
 remodelled, was it found necessary, in conse- 
 quence of an exuberance of people, to divide 
 populous parishes into two benefices, as might 
 naturally be expected, if the people had exhibited 
 any increase 1 Quite the contrary ! After the 
 Reformation, the number of benefices of all sorts,, 
 by moulding two livings into one in many cases, 
 were reduced below the number of eleven thou- 
 sand, and are at this moment only ten thousand 
 seven hundred and forty-two, according to the 
 return of the Government Commissioners, pub- 
 lished "by command of Ms Majesty," in 1835. 
 It is impossible to reconcile to common sense 
 the new ecclesiastical distribution or division 
 at the Reformation unlesB upon the hypo- 
 thesis or supposition that the population had 
 visibly decreased since the old division had 
 obtained full credence. Had the extensive 
 parishes become more populous, the course in- 
 dicated was to divide further, and split the 
 inconveniently populous into two. But the con- 
 trary course was taken. The conclusion there- 
 fore is, that a decreased population was apparent ; 
 
OF POPULATION. 291 
 
 for this naturally leads to, and excuses a union 
 of parishes. 
 
 Upon a review of all these circumstances, it 
 is not easy to escape the conviction, that, from 
 the time of the Conquest up to Elizabeth's 
 reign inclusive, the population had not only 
 been stationary, but had at last declined visibly. 
 From the time of the Act of Parliament quoted 
 by Sir Frederick Morton Eden, up to the acces- 
 sion of James the First, in 1603, it seems 
 evident that the decay had been so visible as 
 to cause great alarm, though it had been less 
 palpable before that time: And, under the 
 theory here argued for, this was the natural 
 course of events. The country soon recovered 
 the effects of the Conquest ; the feudal insti- 
 tutions soon fell into desuetude • and after the 
 extinction of the immediate Norman line, there 
 can be no doubt of the rapid progress of the 
 nation in wealth, power, and freedom. The 
 walled towns and seaports, one after another, 
 obtained charters ; Ireland was added to the 
 British dominions; Wales was subdued; France 
 was all but added to the Crown of England ; 
 Parliaments were free ; the" old and mild com- 
 mon law of England was in full force ; trade 
 grew apace, and the nation, being free from a 
 
 tj2 
 
292 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 foreign invader, and almost from a civil broil up 
 to the reign of the Sixth Henry, had, beyond 
 doubt, arrived at a pitch of generally diffused 
 wealth, and even luxury, such as the world had 
 not till then seen, nor perhaps dreamed of. 
 Nor is it probable, on calm consideration of 
 the matter, that the general prosperity of the 
 people suffered materially by the wars of the 
 Roses; The parties unquestionably fought with 
 great fury; and much blood was shed ; but the 
 country was not devastated, as by a foreign 
 invader. Neither party wished to injure nor 
 exasperate the people, though they wished to 
 put down each other ; hence, until the armies 
 actually met, there was no hostility going on. 
 Thef did not burn towns; nor lay waste the 
 country : they only fought pitched battles in con- 
 venient positions. It is only by depressing for 
 a length of time the social condition of large 
 masses of people, that population is to be or 
 can be stimulated; but this can only be done 
 by a long series of hostile devastations, or by a 
 continuous and grinding fiscal tyranny, reducing 
 the mass of a people to live upon the lowest 
 amount of sustenance upon which human life 
 can be sustained. Hence, up to the period 
 when the Reformation deprived the few poor 
 
OF POPULATION. 293 
 
 in England of their share of the Church lands 
 and tithes, want was unheard of, and the name 
 of pauper unknown. That this happy state of 
 society was not attended with an increasing 
 population, but the contrary, the author trusts 
 he has now adduced abundant evidence to 
 prove. 
 
 That one of the causes of this happy and 
 prosperous state, resided in the position of the 
 Church at this period is, however, a truth that 
 ought neither to be overlooked nor concealed. 
 The Church was an easy landlord It was her 
 interest to attach the population to her ; and 
 hence her lands were always let upon long, 
 leases of lives, and at rates most moderate. 
 That this acted generally upon the rates of 
 rent cannot be doubted, although the immense 
 rates of profit which all trades then enjoyed 
 also had the share in keeping down the rentals 
 of landed estates within very moderate bounds, 
 compared with those of modern times. Thus 
 the rental of land being moderate, and the popu- 
 lation being moderate, and taxes and rates being 
 almost unknown, the pay of the labourer was 
 ample, at the same time that the profits of 
 traders were extraordinary. This is evident in 
 the fact that agricultural labourers, whose statute 
 
294 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 wages were from ninety to upwards of one hun- 
 dred pounds a year, in the money of this day, 
 made to the sea-ports and walled towns, where 
 higher rates were given ! We can only judge of 
 the profits of trade in these times by getting 
 some idea of the numbers that were of one trade, 
 and obtained a liyelihood from it. To do this, 
 there are np data remaining" of the age of Eliza- 
 beth, as far as the author knows; but, going 
 back even a century, the results are strikingly 
 indicative. By the returns of licenses, it appears 
 that in 1736, there were in I^ondon, of licensed 
 houses for the sale of liquors, fifteen thousand 
 eight hundred and thirty-nine. In 1835, only 
 five thousand, with nearly three times the popu- 
 lation. In 1785, the licensed soapTmakers were 
 nine hundred and seventy-one; in 1834 only 
 three hundred and two. The soap made in 
 1785 was only thirty-nine millions of pounds' 
 weight avoirdupois; in the year 1835 one hundred 
 and fifty-four millions of pounds' weight were 
 charged with, and the duty paid upon them. 
 From this some judgment may be formed what 
 the profits of trade must have been in the four- 
 teenth and fifteenth centuries. The better, how- 
 ever, to assist this judgment, the author appends 
 the following statement of the increase of the 
 
OF POPULATION. 
 
 295 
 
 quantity made followed by a constant decrease in 
 the numbers of makers, which, shows the rate 
 at which profits have lowered and narrowed ever 
 since 1785; and the reader may rest assured 
 that the ratio upwards is only the inverse of the 
 ratio downwards. 
 
 STATEMENT. 
 (From page 10 on Report XVII of Excise Commissioners.) 
 
 Date. 
 
 Hard Soap made. 
 
 Soft Soap made. 
 
 Number of 
 
 Manufacturers. 
 
 1785 
 
 35,012,4121bs. 
 
 8,358,228 
 
 971 
 
 1790 
 
 42,074,309 
 
 3,671,425 
 
 772 
 
 1795 
 
 48,262,786 
 
 3,496,559 
 
 677 
 
 1800 
 
 54,233,311 
 
 3,528,432 
 
 652 
 
 1805 
 
 65,723,869 
 
 4,575,130 
 
 553" 
 
 1810 
 
 72,636,296 
 
 6,146,529 
 
 510 
 
 1815 
 
 77,678,063 
 
 6,224,002 
 
 447 
 
 1820 
 
 82,379,891 
 
 7,099,297 
 
 398 
 
 1825 
 
 102,623,165 
 
 8,910,504 
 
 305 
 
 1830 
 
 117,324,321 
 
 10,209,519 
 
 309 
 
 1834 
 
 144,344,043 
 
 10,401,281 
 
 302 
 
 (The above was compiled from yearly returns.) 
 
 Another source of the ease and comfort of the 
 people must not be passed over unnoticed; and 
 this source was comprised in the common lands. 
 Up to the period of the Revolution of 1688, 
 every township had its common, and every great 
 town or borough its common, proportioned - to 
 the size and importance of the place. The use 
 of these lands, it is clear, would fall mainly to 
 
296 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 the share of the poorer inhabitants of the town- 
 ships and of the borough towns ; so that here 
 was another safeguard against destitution, of 
 immense importance, if contemplated in its mag- 
 nitude as a whole. It is impossible now to 
 come at any correct account of the extent of the 
 common lands as they existed two centuries ago; 
 but some writers have not hesitated to estimate 
 them as high in amount as six millions of acres. 
 This may be, and probably is, an over-estimate, 
 but that it is greatly over, the author does not 
 believe. If we take the parishes as they were 
 anterior to the Reformation, and allow three 
 townships to each country parish, this will give 
 a probable result of forty thousand townships, 
 after throwing off two thousand for the town 
 parishes. If each township had eighty acres of 
 common on the average, this would be three 
 millions and two hundred thousand acres, exclu- 
 sive of the, lands attached in the shape of com- 
 mon and moor to the great towns, the extents 
 of which were unquestionably very great. The 
 work of inclosing these commons, under Acts of 
 Parliament, called Inclosure Bills, began in the 
 reign of Queen Anne, when three were passed. 
 The numbers increased slowly at first. George 
 the First assented to sixteen; and George the 
 
OP POPULATION. 297 
 
 Second to two hundred and twenty-three. After 
 the accession of George the Third, however, in- 
 closure of commons went on apace; and in his 
 reign alone, three thousand eight hundred and 
 ninety-seven Inclosure Bills (or thereabouts) 
 were passed — (See Lords' Report, 1814, and 
 other documents) — so that the accounts up 
 to the accession of George the Fourth, stand 
 thus::— 
 
 Bills for Inclosure. 
 
 Queen Anne 3 
 
 George I 16 
 
 George II 223 
 
 Geoige III 3,897 
 
 4,139 
 
 Considering the numbers that must have 
 passed since, and considering the expenses of 
 local Acts, it seems probable that on the average 
 these bills must have alienated some hundreds 
 of acres for each bill; and this view is confirmed 
 by more recent accounts. It is now known that 
 the Inclosure Acts passed, up to a late date, on 
 the whole, amount to the enormous number of 
 four thousand two hundred and sixty-four; nor 
 can the amount of acres, inclosed be much under 
 eight millions, probably worth £6,000,000 per 
 
298 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 annum. The former great extent of the com- 
 mon lands, and the aid that the poorer classes 
 must have derived from them, become then 
 very apparent, and go to prove how impossible it 
 was, under all these concurrent circumstances, 
 that there should be anything like pauperism at 
 that time in England; yet it is only since these 
 circumstances have been altered that fears of 
 over-population have succeeded to the terrors of 
 a decay of that, the rapid increase of which is 
 now so greatly dreaded. 
 
 One more proof of the wealth of the times 
 referred to, the author may adduce. This was 
 the annual fairs, and the great importance 
 attached to them. Every borough had by its 
 charter one or two annual fairs, generally two ; 
 one for cattle — one for merchandise. At these 
 fairs it is known that the people universally not 
 only bought theirs annual stock of many articles 
 for ready money, but also qattle and swine to kill 
 and salt for winter provision ; a fact which alone 
 shows the ease in which they lived. These fairs 
 exist in part now ; but the persons frequenting 
 them are not the same, nor is the amount of 
 lucrative traffic probably to be compared to that 
 of former times, when all ranks bought, and 
 bought largely. Of such importance used these 
 
OF POPULATION. 299 
 
 fairs to be, that when the City of Bath had 
 Birton fair granted, the Burgesses of Bris- 
 tol, out of jealousy, established a fair on the 
 same day, and prohibited Bristol wares from 
 going to Birton fair by a bylaw. On the 
 Bathonians, however, petitioning the king (Ed- 
 ward III), the evil was redressed by the king 
 and eounciL (Warner's History of Bath, p. 174.) 
 Thus everything seems to concur to prove, at 
 the period referred to, luxury and over-plenty 
 wrought decay in numbers, and that it became at 
 onee necessary to pass statutes against luxury, 
 and statutes to repair houses that were falling 
 down for want of inhabitants. 
 
300 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS OF THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE FOR 
 THIS THEORY. 
 
 The author of these sheets presumes that he 
 may venture to lay down the following rule; 
 that is to say, that whenever any theory or 
 hypothesis as to natural dispensation or arrange- 
 ment is, or can be shown to be, at apparent 
 variance with the benevolence of the Deity, that 
 variance is strong internal evidence against its 
 truth, upon whatever grounds of proof of other 
 descriptions such hypothesis may rest ; whilst, 
 on the other hand, it may be with equal fairness 
 assumed, that when any hypothesis or scheme 
 of natural arrangement or dispensation is in ac- 
 cordance with and illustrative of that benevo- 
 lence which we attribute to the Diety as his 
 personal attribute, then such accordance is, 
 quantum valeat, internal evidence of its truth — 
 
OF POPULATION. 301 
 
 that is to say, evidence as far as it goes — though 
 requiring the corroboration of other and more 
 direct evidence to amount to proof. Thus, for 
 instance, when the existence of evil is supposed 
 as part of an hypothesis, without sufficient cause 
 in the shape of an ultimate beneficial result, or 
 without an evident necessity to preserve other 
 beneficial results already shown to be existing, 
 then this is indirectly to attribute the gratuitous 
 causation of evil to the Divine Being ; a position 
 at variance with the benevolence at first predi- 
 cated, which admits of the existence of evil only 
 because an imperfect state of being cannot admit 
 of a perfect state of happiness, but not of evil, 
 gratuitous^ and arising' neither from a necessity 
 in nature, nor as a means to a compensating bene- 
 ficial end; 
 
 Having ventured these brief observations, the 
 author will now proceed to show that the hypo- 
 thesis here advocated, is not liable to the objection 
 above stated, but is, on the contrary, entitled 
 to the benefit of such presumption in its favour, 
 as an accordance with the benevolence and 
 wisdom of the Divine Author of the Universe 
 is calculated to afford it, the natural arrange- 
 ment it lays down being, if true and existing in 
 fact, apparently and plainly tending and intended 
 
302 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 to promote the happiness of mankind, with the 
 causation of as little of accompanying evil as can 
 well be conceived. In order to do this clearly 
 and effectually, it is only necessary, first, to reca- 
 pitulate the leading points or positions of the 
 theory now attempted to be established; and 
 then, having done this, to show the results, moral 
 and physical, which flow from the admission of 
 its truth; In the first place, then, if this theory 
 of increase and decrease be true", it is true that 
 when any species, whether of the vegetable or 
 animal kingdom, is endangered, by a failure or 
 diminution of its natural sustenance, and reduced 
 to the deplethoric state, tneti, in such case, is an 
 immediate stimulus given to increase, which con- 
 tinues as long as the state continues. Secondly, 
 it is also true, that if, on the contrary, such 
 species shall receive immoderate natural aliment, 
 and be brought into the extreme plethoric state, 
 then in that case increase is immediately 
 checked, and decrease takes place, which con- 
 tinues as long as the state is continued. Thirdly, 
 it is also true, that if moderate, sufficient 
 aliment, or a moderated plethoric state, is 
 allotted to and brought upon any species, then 
 mere reproduction will be the result, without 
 increase or decrease of existing numbers. 
 
OF POPULATION. 303 
 
 Fourthly, that if equal portions of the same 
 species be put into these different states, in equal 
 degrees, it follows, as a true conclusion, that the 
 decrease of one portion will be compensated by 
 the increase of the other, and numbers remain as 
 they were. These four propositions, the author 
 trusts he has in the foregoing sections of this 
 work given evidence to establish ; and supposing 
 the theory which they embody to be true, let us 
 now inquire into the different results, natural 
 and moral, which flow from them. 
 
 The first consideration likely to attract the 
 attention of the reader is, as it seems to the 
 writer, that under this law of increase and 
 decrease, a provision is made for the protection 
 of any species that is endangered, which is effi- 
 cient only when it is wanted, and in the precise 
 ratio in which it is wanted. This, upon the face 
 of it, seems surely to be a more wise and provi- 
 dential arrangement, than would be a law under 
 which the tendency to increase is supposed to be 
 always equal. It is so, because such a law as 
 that presupposes an equal protection equally 
 requisite at all times ; which is absurd. If we 
 take the evidence of facts, and look round us, 
 we shall find that sUch is not the case. The 
 course of nature is one of constant change and 
 
304 THE TBTJE LAW 
 
 vicissitude ; and this being so, it follows that 
 whether we look at the vegetable or animal king- 
 dom, there must be times when existing species 
 are more endangered than they are at other 
 times. In times of dearth,flood, drought and pesti- 
 lence, speciesmust bemore endangered than during 
 genial and healthy periods: This seems unde- 
 niable ; and being so, it follows that any unvary- 
 ing law of increase would be inapplicable and 
 absurd ; because it might be barely sufficient for 
 the exigence at one time, and ridiciiously super- 
 fluous ai another! It is not easy to conceive, 
 that the Creator should so order as to let a 
 species be destroyed for want of a sufficient pro- 
 tective law af one season or time, and at another 
 force on a superfluity of existence, to be destroyed 
 againfrom want of sustenance, without the slightest 
 imaginable reason for so doing. In short, the 
 supposition of such a law is to suppose the appli- 
 cation of an invariable rule to ever^varying 
 circumstances; which is an absurd supposition, 
 and not in accordance either with the wisdom 
 or benevolence of the Deity ; whilst a law that 
 is efficient when wanted, and which is relaxed 
 when not wanted, seems to be in strict accord- 
 ance with a providential wisdom and benevolence, 
 and equally well calculated for the protection and 
 
OP POPULATION. 305 
 
 benefit of created beings, of whatsoever descrip- 
 tion they may be. In short, as it seems to the 
 author, a law such as he has described seems to 
 unite the two desirable attributes of being, not 
 only beautiful as an arrangement, but benignant 
 as an instrument. 
 
 If, looking at the opposite effect of the law of" 
 increase and decrease now enforced, we consider 
 the consequenees of an arrangement for diminu- 
 tion and check at certain times, as well as for 
 increase at others, we shall find them also to be 
 plainly beneficial* and calculated to attain a de- 
 sirable end. The author must admit, and he 
 readily does so, that he is not prepared to state, 
 with regard to the vegetable creation^ what the 
 effect of the highly plethoric state is upon the 
 health of a plant; By analogy, however, it may 
 be presumed to be probably injurious ; because, if 
 we look at the animal kingdom, as far as we have 
 tolerably precise and minute knowledge, we find 
 the highly plethoric state always injurious to the 
 health of the animal. In the human animal, 
 luxuriousness and over-feeding are generally ad- 
 mitted by physiologists and physicians to be the 
 root of most organic diseases. With regard to 
 domestic animals, the same truth is undeniable 
 and easily perceptible ; and if we seldom witness 
 
306 THE TRITE LAW 
 
 it in animals not domestic, it is because their 
 food is in general probably only apportioned to 
 the labour they must undergo to procure it, and 
 because our opportunities for observation are also 
 few. Reasoning, however, upon what we do 
 know, it is not difficult to perceive the wisdom 
 ' of a check to propagation under circumstances 
 of extreme luxuriotlsness, because by this pro- 
 vision the transmission of the organic disease is 
 avoided. Thus, under this arrangement^ let the 
 danger come from which side it may, it is 
 guarded against, and the species preserved from 
 the risks of destitution or want of sustenance on 
 one hand, and the perils of an unhealthy luxury 
 on the other. Assuming this explanation of the 
 providential benefit of the check here described 
 to be the true explanation, it seems an inference 
 highly probable, that to the vegetable tribes the 
 high stimulus of over-sustenance and the effects 
 of repletion are as injurious as to the animal. 
 This is probable as an inference, because in the 
 vegetable kingdom the check to propagation is 
 as invariably, and more rapidly, applied when 
 a state of repletion is induced in the plants as 
 it is to the living animal. Flowers, shrubs, and 
 trees, planted in soils much too rich for them, 
 almost immediately suffer, and cease to bear. 
 
OF POPULATION. 307 
 
 In the flowers the leaf becomes double, and the 
 organs of reproduction are obliterated or injured. 
 In trees the blossom is deficient and unfruitful. 
 To suppose so marked an effect as this without 
 a reason for it, is much the same as to suppose 
 an effect without a cause, or that physical causes 
 are not always accompanied by moral reasons — 
 an idea faulty and untenable in itself, and re- 
 pugnant to our conceptions of the infinite wisdom 
 and prescience of the Creator. 
 
 Such are the beneficial consequences, as to the 
 preservation of created beings of every species, of 
 the arrangement here insisted upon; but if the 
 author were to stop here, he would, as it seems 
 to him, leave untouched a most interesting and 
 extensive branch of this part of his subject, and 
 fall short of the moral purpose which ought to 
 form at least one of the motives to all sorts of 
 literary composition. We have ascertained thus 
 far how beneficially, as to the physical welfare of 
 created existences, this scheme seems to be cal- 
 culated to work ; but on its tendencies and effects 
 as to the well-being and government of nations, we 
 have not touched. It comes next in order, to in- 
 quire, if this theory be true in fact, how and in 
 what manner its natural consequences may be sup- 
 posed to act upon the social condition of man- 
 
 x2 
 
308 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 kind, and upon the welfare of man as collected 
 into communities of individuals, whose conduct, 
 separately, has a certain action upon the hap- 
 piness of the whole. Let us make this inquiry. 
 
 If it be true, as the author is well convinced it 
 is, that population is checked or increased ac- 
 cording to varying or opposite circumstances, 
 it follows, as a plain consequence, that a com- 
 munity may suffer in two different ways, or from 
 two opposite mistakes, as to their social condition. 
 If, for instance, a nation be so circumstanced 
 that its population has a general command, not 
 only over the necessaries, but also over the lux- 
 uries of life, it may still happen that, whether 
 this command be the fruits of mild and good 
 government, or of great industry, or of peculiar 
 position, or a combination of all or some of 
 these advantages, this apparently fortunate situ- 
 ation may in the end be unfortunate if these 
 advantages be abused. Evil may here arise out 
 of a very superfluity of good ; for if the bulk of 
 a people indulge in luxury to an excess, the con^ 
 sequence must be, not only an effeminacy of 
 mind and morals, and a decay of- the public 
 virtues which are necessary to the existence of 
 states, but, in addition to this, an actual physical 
 decay and diminution of numerical strength, 
 
OF POPULATION. 309 
 
 probably most rapid at the top of society, and 
 extending downward as far as the luxury reaches 
 in the ratio of its extent. Such States soon 
 become the prey of other States, whose situation 
 has not included the same tendencies towards 
 national debility, or become the victims of some 
 tyranny within themselves, which, in either case, 
 works a sharp and bitter cure to an insidious 
 disease. Such, beyond a doubt, is the teiie 
 history of the fall of many States. It was pro- 
 bably the too great luxury which grew up in 
 England under the dynasty of the Plantagenets, 
 which lulled the English people into their sub- 
 mission to the vices and tyrannies of the Tudors. 
 Thus, if we knew the particulars, in all probabi- 
 lity, fell the Assyrian Empire ; and by this process 
 most certainly came the ruin of that of Rome. 
 Let us glance rapidly over the circumstances, 
 and we shall soon be convinced of this. During 
 the earlier period of the Republic the same severe 
 simplicity of life pervaded all ranks ; and hence 
 all ranks contributed their share to the strength 
 and growth of the state. The consuls, generals, 
 judges, and priesthood, were generally of the 
 Patricians ; the soldiers, the cultivators, and 
 the skilled in the useful arts and handi- 
 crafts, were the free citizens of Rome and her 
 
310 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Republic. The gradual inroads of a more luxu- 
 rious state of society, however, slowly altered 
 this state of affairs, until, even in the time of 
 the Gracchi, the decay of free Roman citizens 
 in the provinces, and the increase of the lower 
 and slave population, induced the two brothers 
 to struggle for a revival of the ancient Agrarian 
 Laws, and a better allotment of the tributary 
 lands and territories. The degenerate republic 
 was at last subverted, but under the empire, 
 luxury still grew; and the end was, after many 
 centuries, that the empire, both of the West and 
 East, left to mercenaries for defence, crumbled 
 under the blows of the, Goths, Huns, and Otto- 
 mans, until there remained not even the shadow 
 of a name. The fall of the luxurious Eastern 
 Empire was characteristic. For years before tbe 
 final doom, the entire population almost, of what 
 was Galled the Eastern Empire, was gathered 
 into a space consisting of the City of Constan- 
 tinople, and a territory of about seven broad 
 miles round the walls! They had, when their 
 mercenary soldiers failed them, bought truce 
 after truce, of their Ottoman invaders, until 
 they had nothing left but the city and its trea- 
 sures, and themselves, to give. Mahomet the 
 Second stormed the city, and one day (the 29th 
 
OF POPULATION. 311 
 
 of May, 1453), sufficed to tread out the last 
 sparks of the Roman Empire and its once omni- 
 potent people. In this, and in other catastro- 
 phes of a similar kind, we see the origin of the 
 notion of Montesquieu, that absolute monarchies 
 contained in themselves some hidden and mys- 
 terious principle of decay, which was sure, in the 
 end, to bring them to destruction. The assertion 
 is correct, though he was ignorant of the steps 
 of the process. He had failed to perceive the 
 manner in which the exuberance of too great 
 an abundance saps a population. It begins, like 
 Tarquin in his garden, by thinning the tallest 
 poppies, and so proceeds downwards through the 
 whole diseased community. But the strength 
 of monarchical and aristocratic governments lies 
 in the upper and middle ranks. In these must 
 reside the spirit of rule, which is to keep the 
 empire together; and when these decay, the 
 empire itself decays with them ; for the military 
 and domestic serfs are nearly, at last, all that 
 is left; and deprived of their natural leaders 
 they soon become inefficient or dangerous. So 
 rapid was the decline in Rome, that though 
 Julius Caesar, to recruit the extinct nobility, 
 ennobled a vast number of families, it was found 
 requisite to repeat the operation by the Em- 
 
312 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 peror Claudius; and soon after that time, we 
 find Juvenal, in his Sixth Satire, hinting, and 
 more than hinting, that, were it not for the 
 amours of the Roman ladies with their slaves, 
 and the palming of- supposititious children upon 
 their husbands, many of the noblest families 
 would be without an heir ( 
 
 " Transeo suppositos, et gaudia votaque esepe 
 " Ad spurcos decepta Lacus, atque inde petitos 
 " Pontifices, Salios, Scaurorum nomina falso 
 " Corpore laturos." 
 
 Juvenal, VI Sat., 1. 603. 
 
 '.' Why should I name supposititious heirs,, 
 
 " Snatch'd from the midnight lake ? For such are theirs. 
 
 " Hence, your Pontifices, your Salii, come ; — 
 
 " Your Scauri, chiefs and thunderbolts of Borne !" 
 
 " Nobilis Euryalum Mirmillonem exprimat infans ! " 
 
 is anpther of his liness. It requires two pf English 
 to dp it justice. 
 
 ',' How sweetly mark'd the noble infant shews 
 1 '{ Euryalus the Sworder's mouth and nose !" 
 
 Enough, however, of this part of the subject. 
 
 If) in those portions of this theory which 
 exhibit the effect of luxury carried to excess 
 amongst a people, may be discovered a political 
 lesson, by no means to be despised, we may 
 
OP POPULATION. 313 
 
 derive one fully as important from those other 
 portions of it, which go to explain the effects 
 upon population of the opposite state of general 
 destitution. 
 
 From this operation of the Law of Population 
 may be deduced one grand and salutary axiom, 
 and that is, that a long-continued depression, 
 down to destitution, of a whole people, will in 
 the long run, be revenged on itself and those 
 who caused it, by the superfluous and unma- 
 nageable pauper population which it is sure to 
 generate. From the same facts, also, we may 
 draw another axiom, not less important ; and 
 this other axiom is, that no kind of misgovern: 
 ment is so dangerous and fatal as a fiscal tyranny, 
 whether such tyranny consists in the prostration 
 of the poor cultivators before the rapacity of the 
 Owners of the soil, or before the united exactions 
 of government and landlord. In either case the 
 fruit is, at last, an overwhelming and starving 
 population, for which society cannot find either 
 room, food, or employment, and who are, there- 
 fore, perpetually urged, by necessity and the 
 pangs of hunger and want, to overset the govern- 
 ment which has been the means of creating and 
 placing them in this dreadful situation. It is 
 very clear that this description of oppression is 
 
314 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 infinitely more fatal and prolific of evil than 
 were any of the ancient tyrannies, dreadful as 
 some of them were. This is because their 
 oppressions fell more upon individuals than upon 
 classes. If a subject grew too rich, they robbed 
 him; if he resisted, they murdered him; and 
 what they coveted, they took. But elaborate 
 misgovernment requires civilization as well as 
 elaborate good government ; and this point they 
 never reaohed. Their taxation was direct and 
 simple, not indirect and complex. Hence, how- 
 ever heavy, it fell mostly upon the richer classes, 
 and no extensive masses of men were or could 
 be driven by it into destitution. To do this, the 
 multiform pressure of indirect taxation is neces- 
 sary, which, by laying its imposts upon the 
 articles of daily consumption, causes a people to 
 pay imperceptibly some fiscal tribute upon every 
 morsel, drop, or rag, which they eat, drink, and 
 wear, as each article is consumed. 
 
 The system of serfdom and vassalage also, 
 with all its evils, interposed between the serf 
 and the vassal and his lord, by the very act 
 of making them an actual property; and the 
 Persian satrap, the Roman patrician, knight, or 
 landowner, as does the Russian nobleman, 
 reckoned his serfs amongst the number of his 
 
OP POPULATION. 315 
 
 cattle, and took care of their welfare on the 
 same principle on which he took care of his other 
 live stock. Hence, slaves are fully, fed, whilst 
 free labourers, as they are called, are often 
 starved; because the master has a property in 
 the first, which he has not in the last. If a 
 man kills his slave, he has another to buy, as 
 well as to find him victuals when he is bought. 
 When a free labourer pines and dies, the master 
 has only to offer the same wages, and the place 
 is filled up. Who would care to lose a horse, if 
 another walked into the stable free of cost, and 
 was ready to serve for the same pasturage (how 
 poor soever) as the last had. Thus, therefore, 
 the very fact of being a distinct property, ameli- 
 orated the condition of the serf, and kept down 
 their numbers ; and hence it is, that hateful as 
 feudal tyranny may be called, fiscal tyranny is 
 still worse ; both, ultimately, for those who op- 
 press and those who are oppressed, inasmuch 
 as the few oppressing thousands must be per- 
 petually in risk from the starving and increasing 
 millions. 
 
 Having gone into the foregoing considerations, 
 as being the most obvious, first, the author will 
 now turn to another view of some of the conclu- 
 sions deducible from this theory, which, placing 
 
316 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 as it does, the moral government of God in the 
 world in a new and original light, may be pre- 
 sumed neither to be uninteresting nor unimpor- 
 tant. If we examine the infinite varieties, shades, 
 and grades of the human character, we can hardly 
 avoid coming to this conclusion, that there cannot 
 (let theorists and visionaries dream as they will) 
 be possibly such a state as that of equality of 
 conditions throughout a country, or throughout 
 the world. As long as men are endued with 
 various degrees of talent, courage, industry, perr 
 severance, frugality, generosity, foresight, virtue, 
 and prudence, so long, as it seems to the author, 
 must their worldly conditions v^iry. The prudent 
 man will save more than the dissolute ; the 
 adventurous man grasp more than the timid ; 
 the persevering man will succeed after the timid 
 has failed; the virtuous man will retain what 
 the vicious man will squander ; the overreaching 
 knave will rob the simply honest ; the cunning 
 gamester will outwit the wild spendthrift ; the 
 sagacious schemer will outstrip the simple 
 plodder ; and the innate miser will save what 
 the generous and humane give away. Thus, 
 then, inequality of physical condition seems a 
 part, and no doubt a necessary part, of the 
 scheme of Divine Providence ; for it is impos- 
 
OF POPULATION. 317 
 
 sible to separate inequality of mental gifts from 
 inequality of physical results and consequent 
 conditions. Nor is this distribution difficult to 
 be accounted for under the benevolent scheme 
 of a Divine Providence ; when it is considered 
 that the stimulus of bettering our condition may 
 be one of the motives necessary to the complete 
 exertion of all our faculties, and be as requisite 
 to the action of society as is the spring to the 
 watch, or the oxygen of the blood to the motion 
 of the heart. Still after giving due weight to 
 all these considerations, it cannot be denied, 
 that, upon the ordinary view taken of this 
 arrangement, there yet remained a ground for 
 cavil and repining. Still it was asked, why 
 should so large a share of the goods of the earth 
 be given to one class, and denied to those below 
 them? It bore the appearance of an unfair 
 monopoly. Here was a limited class of mankind 
 handing down, as was commonly supposed, im- 
 mense possessions to their posterity, unless some 
 strange and equally to be deprecated violence 
 interfered to change the transit, and despoil the 
 heir of his wealth. From this objection it is 
 difficult to escape, if the ordinary notion as to 
 the progress of population be once admitted. 
 Under the theory now brought forward, how- 
 
318 THE TRUE UW 
 
 ever, this objection vanishes, and the most equable 
 distribution possible, under a system in which 
 inequality at all is necessary, is proved to pre- 
 vail. For if we look at society and its progress, 
 as here described, We find that all increase is 
 from beneath, and all decrease from aboVe. The 
 holders of wealth cannot maintain a posterity 
 long to which to transmit it. Even " old fami- 
 lies," as is beautifully said by Sir Thomas 
 Browne, " do not last three oaks !" Hence the 
 descendants of the pocrr, in an unbroken succes- 
 sion, are continually inheriting the possessions 
 of the rich ; and instead of being entailed upon 
 a class, they in a perpetual routine fall to the lot 
 of those to whom a country owes its increase 
 of people — the poor, and the descendants of the 
 poor. Thus, though there is individual inequality, 
 there is no other inequality. The offspring of 
 the poor inevitably, in process of time, become 
 possessed of the accumulations of the rich ; and 
 then, in their turn, yield them, for want of heirs, 
 to the children of those who have not yet become 
 rich — a distribution so beautifully equitable, in 
 the midst of apparent inequality, as to be calcu- 
 lated to excite the deepest admiration of all 
 reflective minds. Whether riches, as some sup- 
 pose, give happiness, or, as others suppose, the 
 
OF POPULATION. 319 
 
 reverse, it is clear the happiness or the misery is 
 not the heirloom of a single class, but falls, in 
 turn, to the lot of individuals of all classes ; an 
 equal distribution, and worthy of that Creator 
 who, out of seeming disorder, can produce order, 
 and is always found to do so, when man can 
 serutinise his ways. As some further corrobora- 
 tive proof of the truth of this view of the matter, 
 the author may observe, that the estates which 
 have most constantly descended in a long, un- 
 broken, and direct line, from father to son or 
 daughter, are supposed to be those small freehold 
 farms, the property of the class known in Eng- 
 land as the "yeomen," a class of men just 
 wealthy enough to be happy, but not to be luxu- 
 rious nor idle. In Cumberland and Westmore- 
 land they were once numerous ; and some exist 
 still, which have been for centuries in the hands 
 of one family. In Spain, especially in the Basque 
 Provinces, they are numerous at this hour. Each 
 possesses its substantial, but small, stone antique 
 mansion ; and to see their fertile valleys, studded 
 with these houses, in the midst of beautiful pas- 
 tures, tilled lands, vineyards, orchards, and groves 
 of olives, is a sight which, to the eye of reason, 
 outvies all the splendour of this world, and 
 
320 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 realises, after the Fall, the nearest conception we 
 can form of the Paradise before it. 
 
 The author now concludes. It has been his 
 aim throughout the foregoing sheets, not only to 
 demonstrate what is the nature of the laws 
 which regulate the increase and decrease of 
 population, but also to show that these laws 
 are beautiful in their arrangement ; that they 
 are calculated to promote the happiness of man- 
 kind in their action ; that any deviation from 
 the course which they indicate to society as 
 being proper to be pursued, is immediately or 
 ultimately, but most assuredly, punished in its 
 own after effects ; and that the whole theory of 
 population, as it exists in facts, is worthy of the 
 benevolent wisdom of God, and in perfect accord- 
 ance with His good providence as displayed in 
 the other parts of our mundane economy. The 
 accidental circumstances which led the writer of 
 these sheets into the course of reasoning which 
 he has attempted to follow out, he has detailed 
 in a concluding chapter, deeming that method 
 upon the whole, and for the reasons assigned, 
 preferable to interweaving any account of them 
 in the foregoing pages; His argument ends 
 here ; and he was unwilling to embarrass it with 
 
OF POPULATION. 321 
 
 anything extraneous, or of a merely collateral 
 and perhaps questionable character. Whether 
 he has succeeded or failed in his present attempt 
 his readers will judge. If he be considered to 
 have failed in his undertaking, he hopes to that 
 failure will not be added the accusation of any- 
 thing of arrogant assumption in his manner of 
 pursuing it. If, on the other hand, he may, 
 happily, be judged to have succeeded, as he 
 would fain flatter himself he has done, he 
 humbly trusts he may be classed amongst those 
 who are held to be not unworthy of the sym- 
 pathy of their fellows, and may be esteemed to 
 have passed through life not undeserving of the 
 respect of mankind. 
 
322 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 SOME ADDITIONAL COLLATERAL CONSIDERATIONS, 
 AND ADDENDA. 
 
 In writing this concluding chapter the author 
 would, in the first place, wish it to he distinctly- 
 understood that these paragraphs form no part, 
 of his argument, nor are they intended to form 
 any part of it. Many of the topics now touched 
 upon are altogether extraneous ; others have 
 merely a collateral bearing upon the subject in 
 question ; and many of them are in themselves, 
 as the author is well aware, extremely doubtful 
 and questionable. Notwithstanding this, it seemed 
 to the writer of these pages, upon the whole, 
 useful, and not improper to give some account 
 of the accidental circumstances which directed 
 his mind to that course of inquiry which it ulti- 
 mately followed. These circumstances are in 
 
OF POPULATION. 323 
 
 themselves not uninteresting, because they are 
 somewhat singular ; and though the considera- 
 tions which arise out of some of them may not 
 bear directly upon the question at issue, they 
 yet bear upon it indirectly and collaterally, and, 
 though in themselves doubtful, and only adduced 
 as such in these pages, they are yet curious, and 
 not unworthy, perhaps, of the attention of the 
 physiologist or general inquirer into nature, of 
 whatever name or description. It is proper to 
 add, however that in noting down, as he is now 
 about to do, the peculiar circumstances which 
 led him to the present inquiry, and the different 
 views and conclusions, arrived at with more or 
 less of doubt, which forced themselves upon his 
 mind during its course, the author by no means 
 wishes to assume to himself credit for any gene- 
 ral knowledge of physiology or natural history. 
 Quite the contrary. In truth, his knowledge of 
 this class of subjects of human inquiry is ex- 
 tremely limited, and altogether imperfect; and 
 he consequently deems no other of the ideas that 
 have occurred to him as worthy of preservation, 
 than as notions rather forcing themselves upon, 
 than sought by, a mind accidentally engaged in 
 a course of inquiry foreign to its usual pursuits. 
 The particular circumstances which led to the 
 
 y 2 
 
324 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 first conception, and ultimate completion, of the 
 foregoing attempt, were as follows : — 
 
 Some years ago, the author of these sheets 
 being (as has been already intimated) attached 
 in some measure to gardening pursuits ; being 
 also early compelled, by the nature of his trade, 
 to have some general knowledge of chemistry, 
 and its more ordinary results ; and having ample 
 opportunities to put his inclinations into prac- 
 tice, amused himself with a few experiments to 
 ascertain, if possible, the substance or substances 
 which constitute the basis or stimulating prin- 
 ciple of manures. It always was, and is still, his 
 opinion, that our knowledge of manures, and the 
 modes of their application in agriculture and 
 horticulture, is completely in its infancy. He 
 has long considered the knowledge of the moving 
 principle of cultivation ; that is to say, the accu- 
 rate knowledge of the precise substances in which 
 the vegetative stimulus actually resides, to be' 
 itself an uncultivated field ; and, this being the 
 case, it was not extraordinary that he should 
 break ground in a quarter, where, as so little had 
 been done, so much might be expected. From 
 a promising soil, where the surface has scarcely 
 been broken, the cultivators, however unskilful, 
 naturally expect good returns; and such, pro- 
 
OF POPULATION. 325 
 
 bably, was the reasoning, and such were the 
 motives that led to a series of experimentings, 
 which, if they have produced little else, have, at 
 all events, produced this book ! 
 
 In pursuance of his course of experiments the 
 author was, of course, led by the nature of his 
 pursuit, to apply various substances which he 
 either knew, or deemed likely, to contain in 
 themselves, in combination, the active principle 
 of manure, to various trees, plants, shrubs, and 
 flowers, and to note the results. During this 
 process, one result became, at last, strongly 
 indicated to his mind ; and this was, that, what- 
 ever might be the principle of manure, or the 
 substance that contained it, an overdose of it 
 invariably induced sterility in the plant, and, 
 if the dose were increased, disease and death. 
 When trees were overstimulated by manures 
 they made a superfluity of wood, blossomed 
 extremely scantily, and only towards the extre- 
 mities of the branches, in situations farthest from 
 the root ; and finally, the blossoms rarely set, 
 or produced ripe and perfect fruit. In cases of 
 flowering shrubs, the same defect of flowers 
 followed, and with annuals and other flowers, 
 the flower frequently became what is called 
 double, and ceased to seed. To recover trees 
 
326 THE TKUE LAW 
 
 treated in this way, it became necessary to put 
 an end to the overstimulus caused by the extra 
 dose of manure by a reversed process. The tree 
 was to be debilitated to a certain extent; and 
 ringing the bark, extreme lopping, and trenching 
 the roots, were the expedients. With plants and 
 flowers a similar process of check or depletion, 
 either by lopping, or, if greenhouse plants, by 
 exposure to cold, was successful. The checked 
 and debilitated plant flowered plenteously after 
 a state of depletion ; and the tree, after being 
 lopped and ringed, began to bear. That the 
 perfect indication of this law, in the increase or 
 decrease of the vegetable creation, should lead 
 the writer onward to an extended inquiry, was 
 not only not unnatural, but almost inevitable. 
 He was naturally induced to ask if the same 
 regulation extended through animated nature ? 
 And, pursuing the inquiry, he found that it did 
 so ; that it pervaded the animal creation ; and 
 finally, was applied by his Creator to man himself. 
 Still, in the midst of all the various phenomena, 
 either indicated by actual experiment, or nar- 
 rated by the various writers on physiology or 
 nosology, which the author was induced to 
 read, he found little or nothing to indicate 
 the modus operandi — that is to say, the manner 
 
OF POPULATION. 327 
 
 or mode by which sterility in one case, or 
 fecundity in the other, was brought about. That 
 sterility in the human female was the frequent 
 consequence of plethora, whether positive or 
 relative — for so medical writers divide it — and 
 that fecundity constantly followed the oppsite 
 state, he met with abundant evidence to show. 
 To physicians and anatomists, however, the 
 immediate and proximate causes of steriHty, or 
 its opposite, appear to be as great a mystery as 
 they are to the writer of the foregoing chapters. 
 Thus, the writer of the article " Impotence," in 
 the * Cyclopaedia of Medicine," says, " In the city 
 (Dublin), where misery, poverty, and starvation 
 exist, to a degree perhaps unparalleled on the 
 face of the globe, procreation proceeds with ex- 
 traordinary rapidity ; and it has fallen to the 
 writer's lot, through his connexion with the 
 Coombe Lying-in Hospital, to witness the birth 
 of numberless infants, whose unfortunate parents 
 had not for years partaken of a wholesome meal." 
 Here we have evidence of the fact of starvation 
 and fecundity going on hand in hand ; on this 
 point the writer is decisive ; but of the mode by 
 which Nature causes prolificness in the female to 
 be a consequence of a constant state of depletion, 
 he gives no hint. The same knowledge of the 
 
328 THE TRUE LA.W 
 
 fact, joined with the same ignorance of the 
 mode, is evinced by those writers who adduce 
 barrenness as one consequence of a state of 
 plethora in the human female. Thus Doctor 
 Combe, in his work "on Digestion and Dietetics," 
 gives the following instructive statement : — " A 
 young woman of a healthy constitution, brought 
 up in all the simplicity of country habits, passed 
 at once, on her marriage, to a less active mode of 
 life, and to a much more elegant table. In a short 
 time she began to complain of irritability, 
 lassitude, various spasmodic sensations, and 
 habitual constipation. Hypochondria was soon 
 added to the other symptoms. Her hope of be- 
 coming a mother being always deceived, an addi- 
 tional glass of wine, bark, and other tonics 
 were ordered : the evil increased. The patient 
 became melancholy, and believed that she was 
 always swallowing pins. In the course of the 
 year she became so emaciated and yellow that 
 her mother, who had not seen her for eleven 
 months, could scarcely recognise her. After an 
 eighteen months' course of purgatives, and two 
 courses of Marienbad water, she entirely re- 
 covered." Here is evidence of the fact, and of 
 the strongest sort ; for the plethoric state here 
 induced was " relative," and not " positive." 
 
OF POPULATION. 329 
 
 The appearance of a healthy obesity, which is 
 "positive plethora," was not induced. The 
 functions of life were, however, disordered to a 
 great extent — disordered and clogged ; the biliary, 
 digestive, and excretory vessels could not act ; 
 and, as it should seem, those more minute ducts, 
 on the free action of which conception by the 
 female seems to depend, were partakers of the 
 general constitutional derangement, arising from 
 this overloading of the system. And here the 
 author would respectfully ask those qualified by 
 education and knowledge to answer such a ques- 
 tion, What is there extraordinary in this 1 If a 
 state of plethora can, as it is held it can, prevent 
 the action of a gland or of a viscus, why should 
 it not be a sufficient cause for the inaction of 
 that finer and more minute apparatus upon the 
 unimpeded state of which must, probably, 
 depend the transit of the ovum from the 
 ovarium to the uterus ; or what of improbability 
 is there in the supposition, that, during a state of 
 unnatural' obesity and repletion, this must be the 
 case, and vice versa ? These are of course 
 questions for the anatomist and physiologist 
 alone ; and in suggesting them, the author would 
 only guard those who treat of this subject, from 
 confounding with a state of true plethora, that 
 
330 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 apparent pinguetude or bloatedness of fibre 
 which is a frequent accompaniment of debility, 
 especially in the strumous constitution, which 
 most writers hold to originate in debility — the 
 consequence of deficient nourishment, and an 
 unnatural state of depletion. 
 
 So much for the possible proximate causes of 
 sterility in the female ; but there is, perhaps, 
 another cause of want of offspring, which may 
 be referred to the male constitution as acted upon 
 by diet, and to which, if indeed it be a cause, 
 the author was led by some of the results of 
 those experiments to which he has already 
 alluded. After submitting growing vegetables 
 to the action of various substances, known or 
 supposed to be " manures," he at last arrived at 
 one general conclusion; and this was, that all 
 substances that contain portions, that is to say, 
 sensible or considerable portions of any of the 
 alkalies in combination with their other consti- 
 tuents, may be expected to act, and will, generally 
 speaking, act as manures. It is not intended to 
 be argued that their effect as manures is in the 
 exact ratio of the alkali present. The results 
 are, and evidently must be, modified in many 
 ways. One compound may be more easily de- 
 composed than another when in contact with the 
 
OF POPULATION. 331 
 
 roots of the plant. The components of the 
 original soil may accelerate or retard this decom- 
 position, as their nature may happen to be. The 
 presence of lime, chalk, gypsum, or of strata 
 containing marine shells, or other marine deposits, 
 is almost certain to produce some effect upon 
 chemical action. To produce a manure there 
 must be present one or more of the alkalies ; and 
 hence all ordinary substances in which soda, 
 potass, or ammonia, are known to be constituents, 
 chemically act as manures. Thus the dung of all 
 animals, the bodies of all animals, wood ashes, the 
 cinders and ashes of coal, bones, calcined sea- weed, 
 the waste ashes of the soap-boiler, the suds of soap, 
 common salt, saltpetre or nitrate of potass, nitrate 
 of soda, the decomposed bodies of fish, and the 
 horny parts of animals, as well as their skins, are all 
 found to act as manures, with more or less of suc- 
 cess according to the other accompanying circum- 
 stances. Thus far the experiments made by the 
 author invariably led, when other circumstances 
 occurred which took him one step further ; that 
 is to say, to the belief that the alkali when it 
 acts as a stimulant is caustic, or in part so. To 
 this conclusion he came from observing the fol- 
 lowing circumstances: — In order to ascertain, if 
 
332 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 possible, the true effects of soda as a manure, he 
 applied to the roots of several bulbous plants, by- 
 dissolving in the water in which they grew, 
 minute quantities of pure carbonate of soda. 
 In the first set of experiments so tried, the effect 
 upon the flower was extraordinary; it was not 
 only doubled, but, to use a strong phrase, tripled 
 and quadrupled, until in more than one instance 
 the structure of the flower, to an ordinary ob- 
 server, was totally altered. A second set of 
 experiments tried at another place, however, pro- 
 duced no such results. The carbonate of soda, 
 when in solution as before, hardly stimulated the 
 plant, even when the quantity was increased, and 
 it became evident that something remained to 
 be accounted for. The author at last satisfied 
 himself that the discrepancy arose from the 
 circumstance of the water first employed holding 
 lime in solution, whilst the water last employed 
 was destitute of it, and in every way much 
 purer and more free from extraneous substances. 
 Hence the carbonate of soda, in the first experi- 
 ment, gradually parted with its carbonic acid, 
 and became caustic; whilst in the last, nothing 
 being present which had a greater chemical affi- 
 nity for carbonic acid, no causticity took place. 
 
OF POPULATION. 333 
 
 Thus, then, the conclusion was arrived at, that 
 caustic and pure alkali is the basis, or rather 
 stimulating principle, of manure. It is the prin- 
 ciple which causes the seed to expand, the plant 
 to push, and the work of vegetable growth to 
 proceed. Whether the plant itself possesses the 
 property of slowly decomposing, and obtaining it 
 from the substances which hold it in combina- 
 tion, is a question to be solved. One thing 
 seems to be certain, that where it is present in 
 quantity, if it be not in excess, vegetation is 
 stimulated by it. Pursuing the inquiry upwards, 
 from the vegetable to the animal kingdom, the 
 next question is — May not that which stimulates 
 the seed into life, stimulate the egg into life ; and 
 may not one law, here, run throughout nature? 
 In answer to this inquiry, there are certainly 
 some facts that speak strongly in the affirmative ; 
 and these are, that alkali, that is to say soda-, is 
 found in the albumen of the eggs of birds, and 
 also in company with ammonia in the " liquor 
 seminalis" of animals, including man. Fourcroy, 
 in his analysis of the "liquor seminalis" of a 
 healthy man, detected both caustic soda, and 
 ammonia in quantity; and since his time the 
 presence of active alkali in this secretion, has 
 
334 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 been placed beyond all doubt or question. Even 
 pus (says Doctor Wright) formed in the sub- 
 stance of the testicle generally contains a free 
 alkali (soda), and when the epididymis is impli- 
 cated, dead spermatic animalcules are often de- 
 tectable in the matter. Thus, then, there is 
 ground for the supposition, at all events, that 
 the neutralization or absence of alkali, in the 
 male animal constitution, would be a direct 
 cause of sterility, and its decided presence, 
 e contrario, a cause of fruitfulness ; supposing, 
 in each case, the female to be prolific by consti- 
 tution. Thus then, we come, as it were insen- 
 sibly, to the consideration of the final step of this 
 question, which is, whether the states which have 
 been proved to be favourable or unfavourable to 
 fecundity amongst mankind, are favourable or un- 
 favourable to the development, in the constitution 
 of the male, of those substances which are probably 
 necessary to procreation % What is the tendency 
 of an animal, or plethoric diet, as to the consti- 
 tution \ What is the tendency of a vegetable, or 
 deplethoric diet, as to the constitution 1 In the 
 answers to these questions will reside the proof 
 of the probability or improbability of the fore- 
 going considerations. 
 
OF POPULATION. 335 
 
 Now, then, if we examine the writings of the 
 principal medical and dietetic authors, such as 
 Majendie and others, we shall find the prevalent 
 opinion to be, that a plethoric diet, that is to say, 
 a diet of animal food and wheaten bread, with 
 wine and sugar in combination, liquid or solid, 
 is accompanied by a development of acid in the 
 frame ; whilst, on the contrary, a poor, unwhole- 
 some, deficient, or indeed mostly vegetable nu- 
 triment, tends rather to an alkalescent state of 
 the body, from which acid is excluded. Of the 
 true plethoric habit, the presence of severe 
 and constantly recurring gout, is perhaps the 
 most unerring symptom ; and in this disease 
 the development of acid is so striking, as not 
 to be mistaken. The urine is overloaded with 
 it, both previously to, and during, the fit. It 
 forms deposits of chalkstones upon the joints, 
 in combination with lime, which it obtains from 
 the blood, or from the bone itself. In some 
 instances an eruption, composed of lime and 
 phosphoric acid, having the appearance of scaly 
 scorbutus, saves the patient from gout. This 
 was, for many years, the author's own case. In 
 severe fits, the vegetable blues are turned red, 
 when touched with the perspiration of the in- 
 
336 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 flamed part. In many cases, cessation of gout 
 is followed by gravel, of that sort constituted by 
 a union of excessive uric acid with such lime 
 and mucilage as the urine holds in solution. 
 On the contrary, sea scurvy, the most dreadful 
 disease caused by deficient and unwholesome 
 nutriment, is known, in its last stages, to 
 produce a highly alkalescent state ; so much 
 so, that "the urine turns blue vegetable infu- 
 sions to a green colour." It may be indeed 
 objected, that fruits and vegetables help to cure 
 this disease ; but this is clearly from their con- 
 taining more or less of acid, which at once neu- 
 tralises the alkali. Thus citric acid pure, if 
 administered, produces immediate relief. The 
 cure, however, is only to be performed by admi- 
 nistering, with acids, nutritious and quickly 
 digestive articles of diet. Hence sweet-wort is 
 sovereign in cases of scurvy, as are whey and 
 other diluents containing sugar, which of all 
 nutriment is most concentrated and easy of 
 digestion. Fresh animal food also is proper, for 
 it is only from the use of meat that has lost all 
 its nutritious qualities that the disease is engen- 
 dered, increased, probably, by the salt with which 
 the meat is cured. 
 
OF POPUIiATION. 337 
 
 TTius, then, a state of plethora, whether it is 
 considered as acting mechanically or chemically 
 upon the human frame, is probably indicative of 
 barrenness or paucity of offspring. The state of 
 depletion and debility, on the other hand, appears 
 both chemically and mechanically to be favourable, 
 in its effects both upon the male and female 
 organization, to fecundity, or excess of offspring. 
 That the considerations upon which this con- 
 clusion is founded, are of a general and vague 
 nature, the author readily admits. They do not 
 however, seem to be contradictory to any received 
 facts, either of anatomy or nosology, but are 
 upon the whole borne out by the writings of 
 those versed in both. The conclusions which the 
 author has deduced from them are in themselves 
 general and he trusts he has not laid upon them 
 more weight than the premises are calculated to 
 carry; at all events, it is by no means his wish 
 that his readers should do so. 
 
 If it should be the fortune of this book to lead 
 to a further investigation of the question, to 
 medical men and physiological inquirers this 
 part of the subject must of course be left. The 
 author can only regret that it is not already in 
 better hands, and subscribe to expression of 
 wonder volunteered by the editor of the "Morning 
 
 z 
 
338 THE TRUE LAW, ETC. 
 
 Chronicle," in the course of a review of the former 
 editions of this work, that no student of compa- 
 rative anatomy should deem it worth his while 
 to attempt to ascertain the actual mode by which, 
 in all animals, Nature occasionally causes tem- 
 porary sterility, or temporary fecundity, as each 
 seems to be required by existing circumstances. 
 Certain it is that the anatomist, who shall achieve 
 this discovery, will obtain by it a reputation 
 which most men may envy. 
 
 THE END. 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 On putting forth before the world another edition 
 of the foregoing work, it is natural that the au- 
 thor should wish to add a few remarks, in corro- 
 boration of the various conclusions to which he 
 has come, or rather been led, by the evidence, as 
 it unfolded itself to his view. On the general 
 principles upon which his theory of the increase 
 and decrease of population is built, he has* how- 
 ever, little or nothing more to advance. Whenever 
 we look steadfastly at animated or semi-animated 
 nature, we see (such is the care of the Creator 
 that no species shall be casually or accidentally 
 extinguished) that prolincness, whether animal 
 or vegetable, seems to vary in an inverted ratio 
 with the quantity and quality of the nutriment 
 afforded. Where both are deficient, fecundity is 
 stimulated ; where both are exuberant, fecundity 
 is checked. So strikingly is this the case in the 
 vegetable world, that the author may mention 
 the very curious, but, to horticulturists, well- 
 known fact, that grafts which have been taken 
 
 z 2 
 
11 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 from a dying tree strike with far more certainty 
 than those from a tree in full vigour ; and that 
 seeds, which have been kept many years, germi- 
 nate, in the majority of cases, far more surely 
 than those that are recent. 
 
 These, however, are matters of general prin- 
 ciple ; and of the universal truth of those upon 
 which he has reasoned so many proofs have been 
 adduced, that to bring more seems to be a work 
 of supererogation. It is principally the author's 
 wish to hazard, in the course of the present sheet, 
 a few remarks upon some passages which have 
 been put forth by more than one writer, since 
 this work was originally published, and which 
 bear upon, or tend to corroborate, some of the 
 facts and reasonings contained in its pages. 
 Amongst these the author would first wish to 
 draw attention to what is stated by Mr. Laing, 
 in his "Notes of a Traveller through France, 
 Prussia, Switzerland, Italy," &c, a work of bold 
 and manly thinking, and of close and keen 
 observation. In citing the following remarks, it 
 will be seen that the author does not adopt Mr. 
 Laing's solution of the cause of the results which 
 he so truly describes : that cause he asserts is to 
 be found in the diminished offspring, resulting 
 from the mode of living seen and portrayed by 
 
POSTSCRIPT. ill 
 
 Mr. Laing, and not in any "postponement" of 
 marriage from the age of " eighteen to twenty- 
 eight." The results, however, as proved by him, 
 are invaluable, and these are they : — 
 
 " This parish of Montreux proves the very reverse of the conclu- 
 sions of Sir Francis D'lvernois as to the use of this false moral restraint 
 on improvident marriage. It shows that economical restraint is suffi- 
 cient. Our parish is divided into three comunes or administrations In 
 that in which I am lodged, Veytaux, there is not a single pamper, al- 
 though there is an accumulated poor fund, and the village thinks itself 
 sufficiently important to have its post-office, its fire-engine, its watch- 
 man, and it has a landward population around. The reason is obvious, 
 without having recourse to any occult moral restraint, or any tradition 
 of the evils of over-population from the fate of the ancient Helvetians, 
 as Sir Francis absurdly supposes possible, whose emigration, from over- 
 population, Julius Ctesar repressed with the sword ! The parish is one 
 of the most prod/active and best cultivated vineyards in Europe; and is 
 divided, in very small portions, amongst a great body of small proprie- 
 tors. What is too high up the hiH fcr, vines, is in orchard, hay, and 
 pasture land. There is no manufacture and no chance work going on in 
 the parish.. These small proprietors, with, their sons and daughters, 
 work on their own land, know exactly what it produces, what it costs 
 them to: live, and whether the land can support two families or, not. 
 Their standard of living is high, as they are proprietors ; they are well 
 lodged, their houses well, furnished, and they live well, although they 
 are working men. This class of inhabitants would no more think of 
 marrying without means to live in a decent way than any gentleman's 
 sons or daughters in England ; and, indeed, less, because there is no 
 variety of means of Uving, as in England ; it must be altogether out 
 of the land. The class below them again, the mere labourers, or village 
 tradesmen, are under a similar economical restraint. The quantity of 
 work which each of the small proprietors must hire, is a known and 
 filled up demand, not very variable. There is no corn-farming, little 
 or no horsework, and the number of tradesmen and labourers who can 
 live by the work and custom of the other class, is as. fixed and known 
 as the means of living of the landowners themselves. There is no 
 chance living ; no room (or an additional house,, even, for. this; because 
 the land is too valuable, and too minutely divided, to be planted with 
 a labourer's house, if his labour be not necessary. All that is .wanted 
 is supplied ; and until a vacancy naturally opens, in which a labourer and 
 his wife could find work and houseroom, he cannot marry. The econo- 
 mical restraint is thus quite as strong amongst the labourers as amongst 
 the class of proprietors. Their standard of living is also necessarily 
 raised, by lining and working all day along with a higher class. They 
 are clad as well, males and females, as the peasant proprietors. The 
 costume of the Canton is used by all. This very parish might be cited 
 as an instance of the restraining powers of property ; and of the habits 
 tastes, and standard of living which attended a wide diffusion, of pro- 
 
IV POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 petty amongst a 'people, on, tlmr own oveb-mui/hplication. It is a 
 proof that a division of property, different in principle from the feudal, 
 18 the TRUE CHECK UPON OVER-POPULATION." 
 
 In this passage Mr. I^aing seems to place the 
 check upon population, which clearly exists some- 
 where, in what he calls an " economical restraint" 
 as to the time of marriage. And between the 
 "moral restraint" of Mr. Malthus and this 
 "economical restraint" he sees some distinc- 
 tion, which he does not very clearly explain. 
 With this nice point, however, the writer of 
 these sheets has nothing to do. He is perfectly 
 contented with the undeniable fact that popula- 
 tion is checked somehow in this rich and happy 
 parish, where all "live well," and where a 
 "pauper" cannot be found to touch the "ac- 
 cumulated poor's rate" in the hands of the 
 authorities ! In truth, the author disbelieves 
 entirely Mr. Laing's notion of the " economical 
 check" being any " check " at all ; and for this 
 negative belief these are his reasons. Mr. Laing's 
 check is clearly a supposed, and probably a real, 
 delay of marriage until the age of twenty-eight 
 or thirty, when a vacancy (as he remarks) " natu- 
 rally occurs." That twenty-eight is the age to 
 which he refers is evident in a subsequent pas- 
 sage, in which he says, " It is only in Ireland or 
 Sardinia that the peasant sees no prospect of 
 being better off at 28 or 30 than at 18 ; and, 
 
POSTSCRIPT. V 
 
 therefore, he very naturally and properly marries 
 at 18, so as to have a prospect of children grown 
 up before he is past the age to work for them." 
 The question, then, is, how it possibly can happen 
 that a marriage at 28 or 30 can act as a "check" 
 to over-population? In the author's opinion it 
 cannot act as any check. In Switzerland, as in 
 England, the age of child-bearing extends to 
 forty, or beyond it, in the female. Supposing, 
 then, these happy Swiss always to marry wives 
 of their own age (no likely supposition), there 
 is ample time for a family of half a dozen or 
 more children. Nay, if we look at the result of 
 Dr. Granville's table (chap, vi, p, 180), we have 
 every reason to believe that a delay of wedlock, 
 even for some years longer, could not have any 
 such effect on population as Mr. Laing imagines. 
 How, then, is this delay to "check?" If Mr. 
 Laings "economical restraint" had prevented 
 marriage, and stocked the parish of 1 Montreux, 
 not with children, but with old yrmids. and 
 bachelors, then here would have been a palpable 
 check, But no such thing! They all marry 
 when " a vacancy naturally occurs ; " that is to 
 say, at the prudent period of "twenty-eight to 
 thirty," an age which by no means forbids the 
 procreation of a family of a dozen, if the con- 
 
VI POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 stitution of the parties admits of such a result. 
 The truth is, it is the universal " good living," 
 which Mr. Laing describes, that is the cause of 
 this moderate population. It is the pastoral life 
 and its fruits ; the plenty of solid food ; of 
 milk, of cheese ; and of wine, from the vine- 
 yards, as well as grapes, that cause this result. 
 If early marriages were the cause of surplus 
 population, as Mr. Laing supposes, Sardinia, 
 where the people marry " at eighteen," ought to 
 show a different result. This, however, is not 
 the case. In Piedmont, the numbers are only 
 twelve hundred and a fraction to the square 
 French league ; in the Island of Sardinia, only 
 four hundred and fifty to the same square 
 league. In Sweden, the females, unmarried, 
 above fifteen years old, are fewer in proportion 
 than in Ireland. Yet in Sweden, where the 
 people are well fed, population is stationary ; 
 whilst in Ireland, where potatoes are the food, 
 it is rapidly progressive. 
 
 In a work, entitled the " Sanatory State of 
 the Labouring Classes," by Mr. Chadwick, evi- 
 dence of the prevalence of the same principle is 
 very apparent. " Where mortality is the greatest 
 (observes Mr. Chadwick) there is much the 
 greatest fecundity." He gives the instances as 
 
POSTSCRIPT. VU 
 
 follows : — " In Manchester, where the deaths are 
 one to twenty-eight, the births are one to twenty- 
 six. In Rutlandshire, where deaths are but one 
 to fifty-two, births are one to thirty-three only." 
 Now, on what principle can this be accounted 
 for, the author would ask, other than that laid 
 down in the foregoing pages'? Between deaths 
 and births there cannot be any direct connection. 
 The very idea is absurd in the extreme. Many 
 deaths can have no agency to cause many births ; 
 nor can many births have any active causality to 
 quicken and multiply deaths. We must, of ne- 
 cessity, therefore, seek for some active principle 
 which causes both ; and that principle is destitu- 
 tion. The state of depletion and debility which 
 brings on premature death also quickens and 
 stimulates fecundity ; and it is clearly impossible 
 to account for the undoubted facts recorded by 
 Mr. Chadwick upon any other hypothesis. The 
 author has been assured by a friend well ac- 
 quainted with France and French society, that 
 the same principle was frequently the topic of 
 conversation there, though the facts were con- 
 sidered inexplicable. It seems that before the 
 Revolution of 1789 large families were common 
 in the provinces. Since that period it has, how- 
 ever, been observed that they are no longer so ; 
 
Vlll POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 but that the exact contrary is the case. In short, 
 since that period French population seems to 
 have flagged, as compared with its former pro- 
 gress. Of the truth of the observation the author 
 has no doubt. It is to be accounted for by the 
 more minute division of land which the Revolution 
 brought about ; by the sweeping away of the most 
 of the taxes and imposts ; and by the greater con- 
 sequent command over the solid comforts of life 
 which the population from that time forward ob- 
 tained. Four centuries since it was the reproach 
 of the French nation, as given by Chief Justice 
 Fortescue, that the " men at arms took the 
 beeves, the sheep, and the pulleine (poultry), leav- 
 ing the poor peasants only the eggs and the in- 
 wards (entrails) \" The tables are now somewhat 
 turned. Many English labourers are eating oat- 
 meal and potatoes, washed down with water; 
 whilst the living of the French has been raised. 
 The consequence is an increasing and surplus 
 population in these islands ; whilst, in France, 
 the progress of population has flagged and fallen 
 off. So much for the effect of repletion upon 
 fecundity I 
 
 The author would now offer a few remarks upon 
 certain objections to Ms theory, brought forward 
 in a very interesting work by the late Dr. Charles 
 
POSTSCRIPT. IX 
 
 Loudon, of Paris, and published there under the 
 title of " Solution du Probleme de la Population 
 et de la Subsistance." These objections, how- 
 ever, it must be noted, are not put forth in refe- 
 rence to this book, which Dr. Loudon had not 
 seen when his own work was published. They 
 are caused altogether by the sketch or outline of 
 the theory, published in Blackwood's Magazine 
 for March, 1837; in which it is, of course, imper- 
 fectly laid down, and left, in a great measure, 
 not only undemonstrated, but unexplained. 
 
 Treating of the tendency a£&fish diet to stimu- 
 late population (which it certainly does, owing to 
 its poverty as an exclusive sustenance) Dr. Loudon 
 thus remarks : — 
 
 "Dans bien des depart ement 3 de la France, situes le long des 
 cotes maritimes oil le poissom abonde pins que dans les departements 
 de l'interieur, les habitans ne se mvltiplient pas phis vite que dans le 
 centre du royaume ; et, en admettant que cette reponse ne soit pas 
 assez convaincante, de ce que les habitans de l'interieur se nourissent 
 principalement de vegetcmx, neanmoins, si nous comparons la Prance et 
 l'Angleterre proprement dite dans leur situation actuelle, l'etat de la 
 population des deux pays milite aussi contre les opinions de M. Dou- 
 bleday. Relativement a la population, il se consomme en Angleterre 
 plus de viande qu'en France ; car sur les 34 millions dont se compose 
 la population Francaise, il y en a les deux tiers qui ne goutent jamais 
 de nowrritwe animate plus d'une fois par semaine ; beaucoup meme n'en 
 font jamais usage. Et pourtant l'Angleterre double sa population tons 
 les cmquante ami, tandis que la France ne double la sienne que tous les 
 cent trente a cent quarante ans." 
 
 With regard to the remark that the inhabitants 
 of the coasts do not multiply faster than those in 
 the interior, it is only necessary to reply that 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 there is no reason why they should, unless they 
 lived almost exclusively upon the fish which then- 
 coasts afford. But this is not the case. Fish 
 bring high prices in France, and those who catch 
 them live upon the money so obtained, as the 
 rest of the population live. For a diet of fish to 
 develope its effects on the human constitution, 
 the people must be driven upon it for subsistence, 
 as is the case in the western islands of Scotland, 
 where it forms a principal nutriment, and where 
 the population is only relieved by constant emi- 
 grations going on. With respect to the compa- 
 rative use of animal food in France and Eng- 
 land, Dr. Loudon deceives himself by words. It 
 is, no doubt, true, that what Dr. Loudon means 
 by " animal food," that is to say, joints of solid 
 beef, mutton, veal, or pork, is less frequently 
 seen in France than in England. The climate 
 of France, in fact, forbids this. Their beef is too 
 lean to be thus dressed ; and consequently, in- 
 stead of the leg of mutton or bit of roast beef, 
 so common upon the tables of the English middle 
 classes, the French deal in soups, bouillis, 
 haricots, ragouts, stews, and hashes, of which En- 
 glishmen in ordinary life know nothing. But 
 it is not upon a comparison of the diet of the 
 middle classes of France and England, who both 
 
POSTSCRIPT. X 
 
 live abundantly, though differing widely as to 
 modes of cookery, that this question is to be 
 determined. If we take the labouring classes, 
 we shall find no such equality of good diet. 
 In England, the working man may sometimes 
 dine on bacon, but he rarely tastes beef or 
 mutton; and, in default of being able to afford 
 bacon, what is his resource 1 Oatmeal or pota- 
 toes, with a beverage of weak coffee or tea, or, 
 perhaps, simply water ; for eggs, poultry, cheese, 
 milk, and beer, are, in too many cases, beyond 
 his reach. This is quite notorious ; and it is 
 not long since Lord Congleton, in open Parlia- 
 ment, stated beer to be " a luxury in which the 
 poor toiling labourer ought not to hope to in- 
 dulge ! " Now, what is the position of the French 
 general population ? Barons of beef and saddles 
 of mutton, quarters of lamb or loins of pork, are, 
 doubtless, things not familiar to their eyes. But 
 they have their proportion of learn, beef in all 
 parts of France ; they have mutton, ill fed, per- 
 haps, in English eyes, but wholesome. They 
 have pork, fresh and salt, in abundance. They 
 have ample supplies of cheap grain, including 
 wheat. They have all sorts of poultry, including 
 turkeys, geese, ducks, game, &c, with their eggs, 
 to a degree of plenty wondrous to an Englishman. 
 
xii POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 They have cheese, and milk, and butter, at mode, 
 rate prices. They have ordinary vegetables and 
 fruit in exuberance ; and, above all, they have 
 the grape and the olive, and their rich and gene- 
 rous oleaginous and vinous products. Here are 
 materials for general good living quite sufficient 
 to account for the moderate populousness of 
 France, which is most moderate in those provinces 
 which are richest in these products, and most 
 dense in those districts where they are scarcest. 
 If to their recourse to these things were added an 
 every-day proportion of that which Englishmen 
 mean by the term " solid food," the population, 
 instead of keeping its ground, would decrease 
 and decay, as it undeniably did in England, when 
 " beef, mutton, pork, and veal was the food of the 
 common sort," and when Acts upon Acts of 
 Parliament were passed to cure, if possible, the 
 decrease in inhabitants and in habitations that 
 was palpably going on, and which went on pro- 
 bably, through more than two centuries, though 
 most apparent about the time of Henry VII. 
 
 At page 311 of his Treatise Doctor Loudon 
 again observes : — 
 
 " La theorie de M. Doubleday eat auasi reiutee par oe que nous 
 voyons auxEtata TJnia'd'Am6rique et dans laRussie. Toua les Americains 
 aveo lesquela je me suis entretenu sont d'accord que dans les divisions 
 occidentales de l'Union, l'lllinoia, l'Ohio, et Wiaconain, par exemple, il 
 y a beauooup phis d'enftms nis que dana lea premieres et les plus ancien- 
 
POSTSCRIPT. Xlll 
 
 net colonies, tellea que New York, Massachussets, et Hampshire. Dans 
 les Etats occidentaux, le terme moyen des naissances, pour chaque 
 famille, s'eleve a six ou sept enfans ; et Ton a attribue et je crois pouvoir 
 le feire justement, ce grand developpement de population a ce que les 
 habitans ont une grand faciljte a trouver des vivres, non seulement 
 provenant dm rlgne vegetal, mais une abondance de substances cmimales, 
 
 1. dans leurs maisons, a cause du peu de cherte de la subsistance, c'est a 
 dire, oe qui est necessaire a la nourriture des animaux domestiques ; 
 
 2. par la grande quantite d'cmimoMX sawvages ; 3. tout homme posse- 
 dant un fusil peut abattre autant de gibier qu'il le desire ; et de plus, 
 les riches salaires des industriels les mettent tous en position de se 
 marier de tres bonne heure." 
 
 Here, then, it appears that in the newer and 
 half-settled Western States of North America, the 
 families are larger than in the older Eastern States 
 of New York, Massachussets, and New Hamp- 
 shire ; and the question to be asked is, What is 
 the cause 1 ? Dr. Loudon's informants, and he 
 himself, attribute it to the quantity and cheapness 
 of ordinary domestic animals ; to the quantity of 
 game, and to the general certainty with which 
 an active man, an " industriel," can pick up a 
 living in these districts, and their consequent early 
 marriages. Now this, at first, sounds plausibly; 
 but are we deliberately to believe that the life of 
 a new settler "far west," or Ohio or Illinois 
 " back-woodsman," is better than that of a citizen 
 of New York, New Hampshire, or Massachusets % 
 This would be a strange conclusion at which to 
 arrive. Are the toil, the exertion, the constant 
 exposure to weather, which the life of a new 
 settler entails, to pass for nothing? True, he 
 
XIV POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 marries early ; but the extreme difficulty of get- 
 ting "helps" in these circumstances, compels 
 his wife and children to a life of perpetual exer- 
 tion from the cradle to the grave ; and this will 
 neutralize the tendency to repletion which the 
 articles of diet, if obtained as in more civilized 
 society, would induce. True, the game is eaten, 
 and so are the poultry, and the maize, and the 
 occasional sheep or calf; but the game is to be 
 hunted by those who enjoy it ; the poultry are to 
 be housed; the corn is to be planted, fenced, 
 and reaped; and the carcass of the wedder or 
 steer to be cut up, salted and dried, as well 
 as boiled or roasted. Hence, the life of the 
 new settler is really one of toil, because his 
 all is the produce of the direct and constant 
 exertions of himself and his family ; and, in 
 the effects of this constant exertion and ex- 
 posure, is to be found the real cause of the 
 greater fecundity which these states are seen to 
 exhibit. With respect to Eussia, its general 
 statistics do not bear out Dr. Loudon's views. 
 In proportion to its area it is the most thinly 
 peopled country on the globe; and where the pro- 
 duce is cattle exclusively, the population is thin- 
 nest. With respect to Belgium and Holland, 
 Dr. Loudon quotes M. Quetelet, who says, "Dans 
 
POSTSCRIPT. XV 
 
 les Pays-bas, la nourriture animale est aussi plus 
 abondante qu en France, et cependant les nais- 
 sances sont dans la proportion de seize et dix- 
 sept dans la Belgique et la Hollande, a quinze les 
 departements Francais." This may possibly be 
 the ease ; but in seeking for causes, we must 
 never overlook the political position of a people, 
 which may totally neutralize their natural advan- 
 tages, as is now the unhappy case of Ireland. It 
 is probable that M. Quetelet refers to circum- 
 stances created within the last quarter of a 
 century ; and, during that period, Belgium has 
 grievously suffered from a forced conjunction 
 with Holland. Her natural advantages have, for 
 a long time, been dragged from her. Her corn 
 and her cattle have been absorbed by Holland, 
 ever dependant upon foreign supply ; whilst the 
 Dutch, eager to rid themselves of the weight of 
 their growing debts and excessive taxation, re^- 
 morselessly let loose their tax-gatherers upon the 
 unfortunate Belgians, who had come under their 
 sordid yoke. That the lower classes of Belgium 
 might, by this process, be driven to a degree of 
 poverty sufficient to stimulate fecundity to the 
 extent asserted by M. Quetelet, as compared with 
 the richer departments of France, is possible 
 enough. In England we see every advance in 
 
 AA 
 
XVI POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 the prices of the first articles of subsistence 
 followed, at once, by a decrease of marriages and 
 an increase of births. In Belgium, similar causes 
 would produce similar effects, modified, of course, 
 by the varied habits and usages of the people. 
 
 Dr. Loudon's last objection is with regard to 
 the cause of that tendency to extinction which 
 exists amongst the nobility and richer classes of 
 all countries, which he explains as follows : — 
 
 " Je ne veux pas quitter oe sujet sans donner une nouvelle explica- 
 tion de sa veritable cause, c'est-a-dire, comment il se fait que les 
 families des haules classes et des moyewnes viennent a s'eteindre, tandis 
 que ceUes des pcwvres font plus gue se maintenir ; surtout comme me 
 l'assure un de mes amis d'Edimbourg, homme tres estimable et rempli de 
 talens ; que lui-meme et beaucoup d'autres, a la lecture des idees de 
 M. Doubleday, furent convaincus de la faussete des opinions de M. 
 Malthus, et se rangerent du cote de M. Godwin, qui pretend que, sous 
 le rapport de la population, il le manquait plus dans les institutions 
 sociales qu'un changement qui mit a la portee de toutes les families 
 l'abondance des ohbses n^cessaires a la vie. * * * * 
 Et pourquoi cela t Ce n'est certainement pas a cause de l'usage de la 
 viande qu'il faut l'attribuer. La grande raison dominance consiste dans 
 les manages tardifs, et la nature desavoue ces retards." 
 
 The great cause of decay in nobility is here 
 asserted to be their late marriages. Now, it 
 seems to the author, that this idea of late 
 marriages amongst the higher and privileged 
 orders has been hastily adopted by Dr. Loudon, 
 and is not borne out by facts. It certainly is not 
 true of the ancient noble Romans, who married 
 early, and divorced their wives if barren. In 
 order to arrive at an approximation to the truth, 
 as regards the English nobility and gentry, he 
 
POSTSCRIPT. XVU 
 
 adopted the following method. Turning to 
 " Burke's Peerage and Baronetage/' he took, at 
 random, two hundred and fifty names, preferring 
 only, in general, the English names. These 
 names he divided into parcels of ten, eleven, or 
 twelve each ; and averaged from each parcel the 
 age of marriage. He then, out of these averages, 
 calculated a general average of the whole two 
 hundred and fifty- The results were, that 
 amongst the parcels, the highest average was 
 thirty-two ; the lowest, twenty-five. The average 
 for the whole gave twenty-eight years and four 
 months as the " marrying age." Of the two 
 hundred and fifty, one hundred and forty-five 
 were noblemen; the remainder baronets. 
 
 This must be a near approximation to the 
 truth ; and when we consider, besides, that these 
 classes, with very few exceptions, do marry some 
 time, and, in most instances, marry females 
 much younger than themselves, there seems to 
 be no ground left for attributing their decay to a 
 retarded matrimony. At least, the author can- 
 not admit any. He must continue to attribute, 
 as he has done, the undeniable diminution of 
 their families to fulness and ease of living ; and 
 the more so, because when a similar fulness and 
 ease were diffused over the community at large, 
 
 A A 2 
 
XV111 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 that community decayed just as palpably. When 
 we consider the origin of the townships and the 
 common lands, we at once see that, through all 
 the rural districts, and out of the borough towns 
 and cities, every man, master of a family, must, 
 up to a tolerably late period, have held his dwel- 
 ling and garden, with a right of pasturage, either 
 in freehold, or on some easy and almost nominal 
 tenure, which, joined to the high rates of wages, 
 must have made him a substantial man. Grose, 
 in his "military antiquities," confirms this, by 
 showing from the military codes, up to the six- 
 teenth century, that minor offences were all pun- 
 ished by fine, because "in these days common 
 soldiers all possessed property." That some of 
 them served as substitutes for richer men is true, 
 but this is only true of a smaller portion. The 
 military codes, however, of our Edwards and 
 Henries supposed every soldier, either in himself 
 or through his parents, to possess tangible pro- 
 perty; and hence all minor military offences were 
 punishable by fine and by fine alone ! Yet, in 
 these very days, did " depopulation " show itself 
 so manifestly as to alarm, and justly alarm, both 
 the nation and its legislature through a long 
 series of years. 
 
 The author must now conclude ; but before 
 
POSTSCRIPT. XIX 
 
 doing so, he must warn his readers against taking 
 individual cases as evidence either for or against 
 a theory on a great subject like this. It must be 
 remembered that constitutional debility of various 
 kinds, in all classes, is liable to interrupt the 
 general tendencies of modes of life ; and espe- 
 cially amongst the rich, the sedentary, and the 
 luxurious. Habitual indigestion, habitual torpor 
 of the intestinal canal or hepatic apparatus ; 
 constitutional irritability of nerve ; a defective 
 glandular system ■ and many other morbid pecu- 
 liarities, will neutralize the effects of diet in 
 particular cases, and produce the opposite. Ex- 
 cessive bodily exercise, or excessive anxiety, will 
 produce a similar counteraction. But this is the 
 exception, not the rule 5 and only proves that 
 the debilities arising from luxury sometimes 
 counteract even the very effects which ordinarily 
 spring from that very luxury ; a principle quite 
 in accordance with all that is here attempted to 
 be laid down. Whether the theory here pro- 
 pounded is destined to be generally received, it 
 is not for its author to anticipate. If it be true, 
 as he is confident it is true, that which is founded 
 in truth must ultimately prevail. Be it so. The 
 author, at least, may promise himself that, from 
 the moral consequences which flow from it, 
 
XX POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 society has nothing to dread. It is, at all events, 
 in strict accordance with their writings who put 
 the welfare of the many in the first rank and file 
 of duty and of policy, and who prophetically 
 denounce, in the fulness of time, " Woe unto 
 them who turn aside the needy from judgment, 
 and take away the right from the poor of my 
 people !" 
 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sept. 24, 1842. 
 
POSTSCRIPT TO THIRD EDITION. 
 
 It is the author s wish and intention merely to 
 hazard a few brief observations in reply to cer- 
 tain objections, direct and indirect, which have 
 been brought against the theory laid down in 
 the foregoing pages. And, first, he would answer 
 the objections embodied by M. Villerme, member 
 of the French Institute, in his Report on the 
 second edition of this work, laid before that 
 body, and printed in the year 1844. The 
 reader will please, first, to note that these objec- 
 tions are levelled altogether at some of the 
 minor proofs, adduced in the former editions, in 
 support of the then new theory of Population ; 
 leaving untouched the great body of undeniable 
 facts upon which the hypothesis is based. It 
 will be also noted that the French philosopher 
 appears, in some respects, to have mistaken the 
 bearing of some of the facts adduced, and 
 consequently reasons from erroneous premises. 
 
XX11 POSTSCRIPT TO 
 
 The objections of M. Villerme, taken seriatim, 
 appear to be as follows : — 
 
 I. M. Villerme objectsthat graminivorous ani- 
 mals are not on the. whole more prolific than 
 carnivorous animals. 
 
 II. That Count de Buffon has, in his works on 
 natural history, asserted and adduced some reasons 
 to prove that animals when well fed are more 
 prolific than when underfed. 
 
 III. That the breeding season with many 
 animals takes place when food is naturally most 
 abundant. 
 
 IV. That M. Benoiston de Chateauneuf has 
 adduced facts to show that certain tribes living 
 mostly on a diet of fish are not more prolific 
 than tribes living on a mixed diet of flesh, fish, 
 and vegetables. 
 
 V. That it is not true that more births happen 
 nine months after lent (as observed by a French 
 physician) than at other times ; and that, in 
 some Lutheran countries, such as Sweden, where 
 lent is unheeded and not observed as a fast, there 
 are yet more births in the winter than in the 
 summer months. 
 
 VI. That the annals and statistics of France 
 do not prove that famines were, in past times, 
 followed by an increase of births. 
 
THE THIRD EDITION. XX111 
 
 The author now addresses himself shortly to 
 reply to these objections in the order in which 
 they stand 
 
 First, with regard to objection as to carnivo- 
 rous and graminivorous animals, the author would 
 observe that M. Villerme has mistaken the ten- 
 dency of what has been advanced. The author 
 has asserted, and still asserts, that the human 
 male and female are much more prolific when 
 eonfined to a vegetable diet, especially a diet of 
 meagre vegetables, than when fed on a diet 
 wholly animal or else mixed ; but he has never 
 asserted, nor does he mean to assert, that gramini- 
 vorous animals, because they are graminivorous, 
 exhibit a fecundity greater than that of carni- 
 vorous animals. All that he asserts is, that the 
 graminivorous tribes, if fattened upon the food 
 natural to them, are sterile ; and only become 
 prolific when lean ; and that the same is true of 
 carnivorous animals ; and for the truth of this he 
 has appealed to the experience of all breeders of 
 animals. The cow, which is graminivorous solely, 
 becomes sterile when fat. The sow, which is 
 partly carnivorous, also becomes sterile when 
 fat ; and both require to be made lean to render 
 them prolific. The same is true of the mare, 
 the ass, the ewe, and the rabbit, as well as of 
 
xxiv POSTSCRIPT TO 
 
 the doe or hind. Buffon is known to be a 
 fanciful and an amusing, but certainly not an 
 accurate writer, and his conclusions are often at 
 variance with the actual facts. For instance, it 
 is true that the breeding season of the cow and 
 the hind come on when their food is plentiful ; 
 and this is true also of some of the tribes of 
 phocse. But then it is also true that this breed- 
 ing season is, with these species, accompanied 
 with conflicts which cause a cessation from 
 feeding, and thus prepare the animals for concep- 
 tion. Amongst herds of deer the males fight 
 furiously for many days for possession of the 
 females, which on their part run about in a 
 highly agitated state during these battles, neglect- 
 ing their food and becoming as lean as the males. 
 With wild cattle the same process is gone through; 
 the strongest bulls drive away the weaker, after 
 long and severe encounters ; and with most of 
 the tribes of phocse the same scenes occur. 
 The males fight furiously, inflicting dreadful 
 wounds and receiving them from their opponents, 
 and the whole shore is described by navigators, 
 who have witnessed this singular and extraor- 
 dinary spectacle, as resembling a field of battle ; 
 so violent is the contest and so intense the con- 
 fusion. The result is, that from the extreme 
 
THE THIRD EDITION. XXV 
 
 of fatness these tribes, like the hind and cow, 
 become lean for a brief period ; after which they 
 gradually recover their condition, and produce 
 their young. The fourth objection relates to a 
 work of M. Benoiston Chateauneuf, which the 
 author has never seen. If M. Chateauneuf, 
 however, merely asserts that Greenlanders, Es- 
 quimaux, and other northern tribes, who exist in 
 part by fishing, are not more prolific than others 
 whose mode of living is different, the author is 
 ready to admit that this may be true. At the 
 same time, he must remind his readers that there 
 is a distinction to be drawn betwixt a diet of 
 meagre vegetables and fish, and a diet upon 
 oleaginous fish, or marine animals, and vege- 
 tables. Where the olive and its oiL the grape 
 and its products, and the different preparations 
 of wheat and Indian corn are largely used, ple- 
 thora is induced as surely as by a diet of animal 
 food mixed with meagre vegetables ; and an 
 Esquimaux, a Greenlander, or a Finlander may 
 become as plethoric upon the flesh of the whale 
 and seal, or upon the sturgeon and the salmon 
 and herring, as an English alderman upon turtle 
 and venison. 
 
 With regard to the fact that, in Sweden and 
 other northern countries, there are more births 
 
XXVI POSTCRIPT TO 
 
 in winter than in summer, whilst in other but 
 Catholic countries, such as Italy and France, 
 this is not observed, it is not, in the author's 
 opinion, difficult to be accounted for. The truth 
 is that, in modern times, Lent is not rigorously 
 observed, even in such countries as Italy ; whilst 
 in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and all very cold 
 countries, the nature of the climate causes the 
 whole of the hard work to be done, almost without 
 any exception, during the summer months, whilst 
 winter, in these countries, as in Canada and New 
 England, is a period of comparative indolence and 
 festive enjoyment. This is the cause of summer 
 being more favourable to conception than winter; 
 throwing thus a majority of births into the 
 period between September and April, 
 
 The subject of famines may be viewed under 
 various aspects. Much must be known of the 
 social position of the country in which a famine 
 happens, before we can decide with any certainty 
 as to the probable effects of that season of dearth. 
 In a realm in which wealth is generally diffused, 
 a famine may occur without much increasing 
 population. Food may become for a season even 
 extravagantly dear, without producing this'con- 
 sequence; and, if, inaddition to this, the Church, 
 as was was before]! 789 the case in France, have 
 
THE THIRD EDITION. XXV11 
 
 great resources to which the needy and suffering 
 can apply for aid, then may the stimulus to 
 population be again in this way diminished. 
 Thus, although from the reign of Henry the 
 Third to that of Henry the Eighth, more than 
 one great scarcity occurred in England, there is 
 every reason to believe that, throughout the 
 whole of that period, the numbers of the English 
 population were imperceptibly decHning, until, 
 about the accession of the Tudor family, the 
 decay of people, and of the towns and villages 
 which they formerly occupied, became palpable 
 and alarming. In the reign of Elizabeth, the 
 change from pasturage to tillage commenced ; 
 and this change in the nature of their diet, aided 
 by the introduction of tea, coffee, and sugar in 
 quantity, gradually lessened this alarming ten- 
 dency to decay. A century later, the fiscal 
 oppressions of the Long Parliament and the 
 Cavaliers, began by the introduction of the excise 
 and other incident imposts, to cut down the 
 former resources of the people ; which process was 
 immensely accelerated by the introduction of the 
 funding system by the Whigs and William the 
 Third; after which population began again to 
 increase, and has done so ever since. In cases of 
 famine, much therefore depends upon the re- 
 
xxvm POSTSCRIPT TO 
 
 sourcesof the people, enabling them to mitigate the 
 pressure of the high prices ; and that the wealth 
 of the Catholic Church in former times enabled 
 them to do this to some extent, is not to be 
 doubted. In case of long-continued and exces- 
 sive dearth, however, the increase of births 
 during the year ensuing may be prevented by 
 the numbers of actual deaths caused by want 
 and disease. In such cases the increase of births 
 is not observable until the second or third year 
 after the scarcity ; and this is probably the case 
 in some of the instances cited in the Report of 
 M. Villerme, as in some of them an increase in 
 these years is exhibited. 
 
 Coming nearer to our own times, M. Vil- 
 lerme's statements seem to corroborate the view 
 here taken. In the Pay-bas (as appears by 
 Rapport, p. 14) 1816 was a year of considerable 
 scarcity. In that year the marriages were 40,800, 
 and the births of 1817, the results of the con- 
 ceptions of the year before, were 1 77,555. But 
 the year 1817 was, in the Pay-bas, one of abso- 
 lute and severe dearth. M. Villerme terms it 
 " Annie d'une veritable disette." In this year 
 of veritable famine, the marriages are diminished 
 to 36,881, whilst the births of the following year, 
 1818, which are the results of the conceptions of 
 
THE THIRD EDITION. XXIX 
 
 the " Annee d'une veritable disette," are aug- 
 mented to 183,706 — no bad proof of the truth 
 of the theory which M. Villerme hopes to com- 
 bat by means of this very report. Upon the 
 whole, the author cannot consider these objections 
 as entitled to any weight. M. Villerme sums 
 up his animadversions by saying, "Enfin, Tim- 
 pression qui reste de la lecture de l'ouvrage de 
 M. Doubleday c'est que, s'il a tire sa theorie de 
 l'observation de plusieurs faits, il a ignore ou 
 completement neglige plusieurs autres faits qui 
 contrariaient cette theorie. . II resulte encore de 
 ce long expose que, si la question des causes qui 
 exercent une influence sur notre fecondite est 
 Tune des problemes sociaux plus curieux, il est, 
 en meme temps, Tune des plus complexes." Upon 
 this the author can only say that, if the facts or 
 supposed facts, adduced by M. Villerme, com- 
 prise the whole of the " plusieurs faits " militat- 
 ing against him, he is willing to leave the 
 result, without another word, to the decision of 
 his readers, whether French or English, thanking 
 M. Villerme, at the same time, for the exceeding 
 courtesy with which he has advanced his ob- 
 jections. 
 
 The author will now venture a few brief 
 remarks on the positions of a very erudite 
 
XXX POSTSCRIPT TO 
 
 review of the "True Law of Population," and some 
 other works of the same class, published in the 
 "Westminster Review" for April, 1852, and since 
 reprinted in a separate form, under the name of 
 " Herbert Spencer." It is not easy to evolve 
 the exact doctrine of the reviewer from the 
 load of learned diction in which they are enun- 
 ciated. As far as the author can disentangle 
 them ; they seem to be these : — The reviewer does 
 not directly deny that some such principle as 
 that laid down in the "True Law of Population" 
 may exist ; but he argues that it is insufficient 
 to account for all the facts, thotigh it may ac- 
 count for some. He also objects to the theory 
 that it contains no "principle of compensation"— 
 a fault which he, perhaps rightly enough, deems 
 all but fatal to any theory of this kind, He 
 then goes on to prove a new principle of his own, 
 which seems to be founded on organic and (in 
 animals) nervous development. He quotes a 
 great many instances to show that, in the vege- 
 table world, the simpler structures are the most 
 prolific. In the animal creation, he affirms that 
 prolificness is in an inverse ratio with the 
 nervous development ; and that the larger- 
 brained animals are less prolific than those in 
 which the brain is less developed. This principle 
 
THE THIRD EDITION. XXXI 
 
 he applies to man ; and roundly asserts that in- 
 tellectual development is the only or great check to 
 human fecundity ; and that in proportion to this 
 development the species becomes sterile. The 
 development is to be gradually brought about 
 by the increasing difficulty of making a living 
 or finding ' room for the species ; and the com- 
 pensation resides in this : that, after the world is 
 peopled, the development will just have reached 
 the point of entire sterility when further increase 
 would be an evil. 
 
 Upon this somewhat (as it seems to him) fan- 
 tastical theory the author will say a very few 
 words. In the first place, the assertion that 
 fecundity, even in the vegetable world, is an 
 inverse ratio with development is really gratui- 
 tous. It may be perfectly true that the simpler 
 structures are more prolific than the more elabo- 
 rately organised structures ; but it by no means, 
 therefore, follows, as a consequence, that the sim- 
 plicity of structure is the cause of the fecundity. 
 It seems obvious enough that, all through creation, 
 from the simplest vegetable up to man, the 
 simpler forms came first, and are still wanted in 
 greater numbers than the more complex. We 
 want a million of blades of grass for one tree : 
 and myriads of fish or animalcules only make a 
 
 BB 
 
XXX11 POSTSCRIPT TO 
 
 mouthful for a whale. Greater prolificness has, 
 therefore, been superadded to the simpler forms 
 of life ; and gradually withdrawn from the more 
 complex : but neither the simplicity nor the 
 complexity appears to be causes, as far as the 
 rate of increase is concerned. In fact, as far 
 as we know, plants obey the principle laid down 
 in " The True Law of Population" as surely as 
 animals do. They become more and more sterile, 
 under an aliment too rich ; and more and more 
 rapidly increase under an aliment too poor : and 
 this is probably true of all vegetables, marine 
 vegetables as well as the rest ; but these last it 
 is difficult to render available to experiment. 
 
 Neither does it seem to be true that, amongst 
 the higher animals, the reviewer's rule holds 
 universally. The rhinoceros, for instance, has 
 the smallest brain, in proportion to his bulk, of 
 all the quadrupeds; yet he is not more prolific 
 than the elephant, or the horse, or the cow, or 
 the elk. Other instances might be adduced ; 
 but these will at once present themselves to 
 those who have inquired into the comparative 
 anatomy of the quadruped tribes. If we come 
 to man, the reviewer's rule seems totally to break 
 down, as far as past experience can prove any- 
 thing. For instance, Sir John M'Neill compares 
 
THE THIRD EDITION. XXXU 
 
 twenty-seven parishes in the West Highlands, 
 with the same number in the East Highlands. 
 These people are all of one race, living under the 
 same climate, laws, and customs ; of the same 
 religion, and similar in all things save one — pro- 
 sperity. The western parishes have, by various 
 circumstances, been reduced to indigence, from 
 which circumstances of various kinds have res- 
 cued the eastern parishes. Now, according to 
 the reviewer's rule, the western parishes having 
 more to contend with, ought to have been better 
 " developed," as to brain and nervous system, 
 than the eastern parishes, and, consequently, 
 ought to have declined in numbers. What is 
 the result 1 Precisely the contrary. The poor 
 western parishes have increased, during a cen- 
 tury, by more than a hundred per cent. ; whilst 
 the prosperous and comfortable eastern parishes 
 have diminished in population nearly one-third, 
 during the same period. If we look at Slade's 
 account of Malta and Turkey, we find similar 
 phenomena. The luxurious and indolent Turks, 
 to whom care is almost unknown ; who despise 
 literature and science, and pass a slothful exist- 
 ence by aid of the pipe, the harem, the coffee- 
 house, and the mosque, are declining in numbers ; 
 whilst the poor Maltese, who are daily struggling 
 
 BB2 
 
XXXXV POSTSCRIPT TO 
 
 for a bare existence, as rapidly increase. In 
 short, as it seems to the author, all experience is 
 against the reviewer. The British House of 
 Lords, but for constant new creations, would 
 soon dwindle to nothing ; and yet are we to 
 conclude that this branch of our legislature have 
 been, through many generations, harder put to it 
 to obtain a living, than the descendants of the 
 mutineers of the Bounty upon Pitcairn's Island, 
 or than the poor inhabitants of the huts of the 
 south of Ireland? The same is true of all aris- 
 tocracies. It was true of the Roman nobility : 
 it is true of the Venetian nobility. It was 
 true of the Spartans : it was true of the Mame- 
 lukes. Are we to conclude, then, that the brain 
 of all these men has been more developed by 
 struggle and difficulty than that of a Roman 
 slave, a Spartan or Athenian helot, an Egyptian 
 Copt, or a Venetian gondolier 1 But unless we 
 so conclude, what is to become of the theory of 
 this reviewer 1 
 
 Upon this theory, which is totally opposed to 
 facts, as far as such can be ascertained, the author 
 feels no inclination to dwell much longer. To 
 the charge of a want of compensating prin- 
 ciple in his own theory, he must, however, say a 
 few words. Strange to say, its ultimate result 
 
THE THIRD EDITION XXXV 
 
 is the same as that of the theory of the West- 
 minster Reviewer, being only brought about by 
 more simple and obvious means. As long as 
 the human species is by any means endangered, 
 whether through the operation of imperfect 
 systems of agriculture, or through the exactions 
 of tyrannical or mistaken governments, then does 
 this law of population step in to neutralize 
 these risks by quickening the rate of increase. 
 If, on the other hand, the danger results from 
 national luxury, it again steps in and checks the 
 transmission of disease by inducing sterility. 
 If, however, debility, glandular or nervous, as is 
 often the case, be the consequence of luxury, in 
 these cases the reproductive principle again acts, 
 as it were, in the last resort; and debilitated 
 parents produce a numerous but debilitated off- 
 spring, some few of whom, by care, continue the 
 race. Thus, therefore, as long as oppression of 
 any kind shall exist, and as long as mankind, 
 shall, through their own mistakes, be subjected 
 to national privations of any kind, famines or 
 pestilences, so long will the law of population, 
 quicken reproduction in order to repair the mis- 
 chief; whilst, on the other hand, it punishes 
 national indolence and luxury by a decay of 
 numbers, which, beginning at the top and affect- 
 
XXXVI POSTSCRIPT TO 
 
 ing all the luxurious classes, gradually under- 
 mines and destroys the commonwealth. If, how- 
 ever, we assume a time when government shall 
 attain perfection and nations cease to encroach 
 upon each other; and when the whole social 
 system shall be, as it ought to be, equally free 
 from oppression and inaction, and enlightened by 
 science in all departments; then, in that case, 
 will population become stationary, and the decay 
 of nations on one hand, and their morbid increase 
 on the other, appear no more. But this will be 
 effected by means of an enlightened national 
 morality, which shall preclude luxury on one 
 hand, and oppression and destitution on the 
 other ; which, on one side, shall prevent undue 
 accumulation, and on the other secure to men 
 the fruits of their labour, always sufficient; and 
 not by a development of the nervous system, 
 which neither experience nor logic can prove to 
 have anything to do in the matter. With regard 
 to the reviewer's remarks and speculations as to 
 what is life, however ingenious in themselves, 
 they seem totally irrelevant as applied to this 
 question. On this recondite matter the author 
 has opinions, perhaps based on considerations as 
 philosophic as those of his critic. How far sen- 
 sation extends, and in wlmt it is inherent, are 
 
THE THIRD EDITION. XXXVU 
 
 questions eminently curious and profound; but 
 quite apart from the law of population, and there- 
 fore no element of the present inquiry. Mate- 
 rialism and investigations into "nervous systems" 
 will not solve them; but being totally abstracted 
 from the phenomena which accompany the in- 
 crease or decrease of that which we call vegetable 
 and animal life, the introduction of such ques- 
 tions seems to the author to be either a mere im- 
 pertinence, or else a needless complication of con- 
 siderations naturally quite apart from each other. 
 There remains one other topic upon which, 
 however painful the task may be, he feels it due 
 to himself to say a few words. The reader will 
 perceive, by a reference to the preface to the 
 earlier editions of this treatise, that its author 
 was first led to doubt the truth of the theory as 
 to population, then unhappily prevalent (that of 
 Malthus), by the remark of a revered relative, 
 many years ago deceased, who deemed its conse- 
 quences so revolting and so injurious to the 
 character of an all-benevolent Deity, as to render 
 it on that ground alone utterly incredible, although 
 its falsehood might not be demonstrable by otter 
 methods of reasoning. Strange to say, this con- 
 clusion, certainly not derogatory either to the 
 reason or piety of him who arrived at it, has 
 
xxxviii POSTSCRIPT TO 
 
 been sneered at by a dignified divine of the 
 Church of England, who in the same breath 
 avows his belief (now happily singular) in 
 the disgusting and truly absurd assumptions of 
 Malthus.* A sneer of this nature the author 
 should not have deemed worthy of notice, had 
 it come from any less conspicuous personage than 
 the Eight Rev. Dr. Whately, Archbishop of Dub- 
 lin ; and had that Archbishop not been, amongst 
 other things, the author of a very elaborate, if 
 not very luqid, treatise on " logic/' As it is, the 
 author cannot but conceive it most singular to 
 see a mode of reasoning, to which, of all reasoners, 
 theologians are most addicted— the negation of a 
 proposition from its consequences — treated as if 
 it were a childish absurdity, and this by a Chris- 
 tian Archbishop and a logician par excellence. 
 It is well known to what consequences the theory 
 of Malthus directly leads, Charity, as incul- 
 cated by the Old and New Testament, it rejects, 
 as a mischievous and shallow absurdity. And 
 obedience to the Divine command to "increase 
 
 * There oan be little doubt (says a writer in the "Westminster 
 Review ") that the following remark (of Dr. Whately) refers to a pas- 
 sage in the preface to Doubleday's "True Law of Population." "In a 
 very recent publication, 1 have seen mention made of a person who 
 discovered the falsity of a certain doctrine (which, by the way, is 
 nevertheless a true one, that of Malthus) instinctively. This kind of 
 instinct, i.e. the habit of forming opinions at the suggestion rather of 
 feeling than reason, is very common." 
 
THE THIRD EDITION. TTfrsrrx 
 
 and multiply," it denounces as sure to be followed 
 by misery and vice, continually increasing in 
 intensity ; at the same time that it recommends 
 modes of life which, whilst human nature is what 
 it is, must either lead to vices horrible and unmen- 
 tionable, or to practices to which it is impossible 
 even distantly to allude without some involuntary 
 violation of that decorum cultivated by all 
 manly and well regulated minds. Further than 
 this, we have seen the belief in these monstrosi- 
 ties lead to consequences even more monstrous 
 than the theory to which they owe their 
 parentage ; and we have beheld the laws of 
 humanity and morality outraged and insulted 
 by the actual publication, in cold blood, of a trea- 
 tise recommending infant murder, and describing 
 the means by which every third child, of married 
 or unmarried parents, might be put to death by 
 a process termed by " Marcus," the writer of this 
 infamous book, one of "painless extinction." 
 These monstrosities my revered relative clearly 
 saw must flow from a theory itself so monstrous 
 as that of Malthus ; and he therefore pronounced 
 it incredible, and incompatible with the belief in 
 an omniscient, omnipotent, and all-merciful God. 
 The author would ask the Right Reverend 
 Doctor Whately, not in his character of Arch- 
 
xl POSTSCRIPT TO 
 
 bishop, but of logician, what is there " illogical" 
 in this conclusion, or how he is justified in styling 
 such a conclusion a mode of deciding questions 
 by "instinct V Is there no such method as the 
 " argumentvm ad absurdum," or perhaps, in this 
 case, more properly, "ad horrendvm?" And 
 what is the argument made use of by the author's 
 revered relation but a reductio ad ahmrdwm, 
 applied to Malthus and his system, from the 
 mixed absurdity and atrocity of its necessary 
 consequences 1 This Doctor Whately had better 
 explain before he again talks of deciding such 
 questions " by instinct," when they are 
 really decided by seeing involved consequences 
 incredible by well-constituted minds, and minds 
 unused to conceptions injurious to the character 
 of the Deity. The revered relative to whom 
 the author, in his original preface, ventured to 
 allude, was certainly the least likely of all men 
 to tolerate such notions. He was eminently 
 philosophic in his mode of viewing every ques- 
 tion, to which he applied an intellect naturally 
 acute and sedulously cultivated through life : but 
 he had been, during his earlier years, an intimate- 
 friend and disciple of a far greater man, and per- 
 haps more learned divine, than Dr. Whately — 
 the celebrated Dr. Priestly, whose theological 
 
THE THIRD EDITION. xli 
 
 opinions he embraced. These opinions led him 
 (whether rightly or wrongly this is no place to 
 decide) to view many of the dogmata, which 
 divines of the Anglican Church are bound to 
 inculcate, as utterly abhorrent to all rational and 
 proper conception of the character of the Divine 
 Being. Unaccustomed, therefore, as he was, to 
 contemplate the idea of vindictive and endless 
 punishments in the next world, he naturally 
 shrank from a theory which paints the All-Merci- 
 ful as dooming his superfluous children to vice and 
 misery perpetual, in this. This, in the author's 
 humble opinion, is the only way of accounting for 
 the proneness of his revered relative to deem that 
 incredible, from the atrocity of its consequences, 
 which the more custom-seared and orthodoxly 
 theological Archbishop of Dublin can coolly 
 contemplate as a providential arrangement. Be 
 that as it may, however, his argument was logical, 
 if not sufficient ; and the good mans' memory 
 might have been spared the sneer which a 
 mitred philosopher and strongly nerved "Father 
 in God" has thought fit to cast upon it. To 
 that sneer this volume is the answer. Let the 
 Archbishop read it before he sneers again, and 
 then repeat the sneer, if he dare. 
 
 To his readers the author must now finally leave 
 
xlii POSTSCRIPT TO , 
 
 this subject, together with the volume by means 
 of which he has hoped to throw light upon it. 
 Those readers who really feel and acknowledge 
 the vast social importance of the subject will 
 involuntarily pursue the investigation for them- 
 thmselves. Time is perpetually bringing for- 
 ward instances, various and unexpected, of the 
 truth of the law here attempted to be laid down 
 and illustrated In a treatise like the present 
 it would have been improper to have quoted 
 individual instances ; but the author could 
 easily have referred to numerous examples of 
 persons suddenly cast from a state of competence 
 into want, becoming parents of families, though 
 childless before want knocked at the door; or of 
 couples apparently denied the happiness of off- 
 spring, as by a last relenting of nature, becoming 
 with rapidity parents of many children ; or 
 of indigent females suddenly married into af- 
 fluence, being denied a fertility which in a meaner 
 state they might have exhibited. Of all these 
 phenomena, which are strictly in accordance- with 
 " the true law of population " (allowance 
 being made, in occasional instances, for pecu- 
 liarity of constitution), ordinary life is perpetually 
 affording examples, which the reader may note 
 for himself, but which cannot be chronicled in 
 
THE THIBD EDITION. xliii 
 
 any other manner. In bidding farewell to his 
 readers, the author takes his leave in full con- 
 fidence that the theory taught in this volume, 
 must ultimately prevail. It has now been before 
 the world for many years. During that period its 
 foundations have been tried by minds of ample 
 power to discover weakness, if weakness there 
 were, but hitherto without effect. It has, to 
 some extent, gradually changed public opinion 
 on this momentous subject ; and, as its author 
 hopes, will in the end fully accomplish that 
 change. In its advocacy its author may safely 
 say for himself, that he has been actuated by no 
 motive of which he needs to be ashamed. He 
 was led to the investigation by accident entirely; 
 and therefore can claim no great credit as the 
 discoverer of a principle. Of the vast impor- 
 tance of the principle, thus by chance disclosed, 
 he, however, was at once aware ; and he very 
 naturally determined, if possible, to establish it 
 by proofs too numerous to be evaded and too 
 strong to be resisted. This he hopes he has 
 done. By Bacon's method, the sure though 
 slow method of induction, he has arrived at his 
 conclusions ; and he trusts they are now " as a 
 house built upon a rock" which the storms can 
 not injure nor the floods carry away. That 
 
Xliv POSTSCRIPT TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 the philosophy here taught goes hand in hand 
 with charity and practical christian benevolence, 
 its author, at least, cannot conceive as derogating 
 from its probability. Through life he has found 
 that the heart is often to be believed before the 
 head ; that there are implanted in the human 
 bosom still-voiced monitors, dim perhaps and 
 obscure, but never to be despised ; and that the 
 profoundest philosopher ought long to hesitate 
 before he says "no," where nature whispers 
 "yes!" 
 
 FINIS. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Acid, induced by animal food 
 
 Act, fourth, Henry VII, cap. 19 ... 
 
 Adams, the mutineer, colony of ... 
 
 Addison on the decay of aristocracies 
 
 Agues, common formerly 
 
 Ale, universally brewed in England 
 
 Alexandria, wealth of ... 
 
 Alison on the decay of the Mamelukes 
 
 Alkali, a prolific stimulant 
 
 Alkali, produced by sea scurvy 
 
 Allerstein, Father, on Chinese population 
 
 Amelioration of Negro slavery 
 
 Amelot on the decay of the Venetian nobles 
 
 Animals, conflicts amongst 
 
 Animal food, universal in England 
 
 Animal food, effects of 
 
 Antiquity of the Chinese empire . . 
 
 Area of England 
 
 PAGE 
 
 335 
 191 
 
 n 
 
 40 
 
 130 
 
 , 251 
 
 271 
 
 42 
 
 333 
 
 336 
 
 103 
 
 67 
 
 39 
 
 13 
 
 207 
 
 334 
 
 231 
 
 134 
 
xlvi 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Aristotle on a fish diet ... 
 Astrakan and Kasan, population of 
 Athens, murder of slaves at 
 
 PAGE 
 
 25 
 
 98 
 86 
 
 B. 
 
 Barbour on American population 
 
 ... 155 
 
 Baronets, decrease of English 
 
 ... 35 
 
 Baronets, age of marriage averaged 
 
 . . . xvii 
 
 Basque population of Spain 
 
 ... 319 
 
 Bavaria, population of . . . 
 
 ... 135 
 
 Bean, the robber family of 
 
 ... 74 
 
 Benefices, number of 
 
 ... 228 
 
 Bengal, population of ..-. 
 
 ... 114 
 
 Berne, magnates of, their decay ... 
 
 ... 40 
 
 Berwick, numbers of the burgesses of 
 
 ... 57 
 
 Bligh, voyage of Captain 
 
 70 
 
 Bloatedness not true plethora 
 
 ... 330 
 
 Bohemia, state of 
 
 ... 136 
 
 Boston, numbers voting at 
 
 ... C2 
 
 Bounty, mutineers of the 
 
 ... 70 
 
 Brahminical religion, effects of the 
 
 ... 112 
 
 Bread neglected in England 
 
 ... 225 
 
 Browne, Sir Thomas, on decay of families . 
 
 ... 35 
 
 Bristol, numbers voting at 
 
 ... C2 
 
 Brittany, population of . . . 
 
 ... 141 
 
index. xlvii 
 
 c. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Calmucks, identical with Huns ... ... ... 229 
 
 Carlisle, numbers voting at ... ... ... 61 
 
 Carolinas, coloured population of the ... ... 158 
 
 Castiglione on fecundity ... ... ... 28 
 
 Castlegarth of Newcastle, privileged ... ... 44 
 
 Catholics, Irish, position of the ... ... ... 33 
 
 Chadwick's tables ... ... ... ... 182 
 
 Charles the Fat childless ... ... ... 28 
 
 Chastellux on the French noblesse ... ... 39 
 
 Check, meaning of the word ... ... ... 21 
 
 Cheyne, Doctor, on dietetics ... ... ... 29 
 
 China, real population of ... > ... .. 103 
 
 Chinese census, ancient ... ... ... 109 
 
 Christian the mutineer ... ... ... 70 
 
 Chronicon Preciosum, Fleetwood's ... ... 203 
 
 Church, easy leases of the ... ... ... 293 
 
 Cicero on ancient Hispania ... ... ... 273 
 
 Claudius renews the senate ... ... ... 41 
 
 Clayton, John, on the decrease of burgesses ... 51 
 
 Cleopatra's treasury, riches of ... ... ... 271 
 
 Closet for ladies ... ... ... ... 225 
 
 Colchester, numbers voting at ... ... ... 62 
 
 Commitments up to 1848 ... ... ... 128 
 
 Conflicts of animals, uses of the ... ... ... 13 
 
 Combe, Doctor, on diet ... ... . . ... 328 
 
xiviii 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Congleton, Lord, on beer 
 Corinth taken by Mummius 
 Corporation of London, how composed 
 Cromwell's Irish colonies 
 
 PAGE 
 
 « . 
 
 XI 
 
 268 
 65 
 33 
 
 D. 
 
 Dalrymple, Sir John on potato diet 
 Dean Swift on Irish increase 
 Dearth, consequences of 
 Decay of towns, statute on the 
 Decrease, true law of ... 
 Decrease of American slaves 
 Decreased use of animal food 
 Delay of marriage, effect of 
 Department du Nord, poverty of 
 Deplethoric state, effect of the 
 Depreciation of Highland cattle ... 
 Destitution affects births and deaths 
 Diet of the American Negro slaves 
 Diodorus on Roman population . . . 
 Dion Cassius on the wealth of Egypt 
 Donald Bean the Catheran 
 Drainage, neglect of 
 Durham Enumeration ... 
 Durham, numbers voting at 
 
 
 .. 29 
 
 29,110 
 
 ... 173 
 
 
 .. 194 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 67 
 
 
 .. 242 
 
 
 .. 180 
 
 
 .. 144 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 80 
 
 
 .. 182 
 
 
 68 
 
 
 .. 262 
 
 
 .. 271 
 
 
 74 
 
 
 .. 130 
 
 
 .. 284 
 
 
 .. 58 
 
INDEX. xlix 
 E. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ecclesiastical states ... ... ... ... 149 
 
 Eden, Sir Henry, on depopulation ... ... 191 
 
 Edward the Third, statutes of on dress ... ... 210 
 
 Eggs imported from France ... ... ... 140 
 
 Egret prized as game ... ... ... ... 130 
 
 Egypt, decrease of people in ... ... ... 276 
 
 Elizabeth, Ireland in the reign of ... ... 119 
 
 Emigrants, numbers of ... ... ... 160 
 
 Emigration, general effects of ... ... ... 159 
 
 Emigrations from Ireland ... ... ... 118 
 
 England, social state of ... ... ... 122 
 
 English population in 1831 ... ... ... 123 
 
 Eton on Turkish population ... ... ... 78 
 
 Examiner on Irish population ... ... ... 32 
 
 Exeter, numbers voting at ... ... ... 62 
 
 Exodus of the Israelites ... ... . ., 85 
 
 Exports of Irish provisions ... ... ... 118 
 
 F. 
 
 Fairs, annual, how frequented ... ... ... 298 
 
 Fasting in Lent, effects of ... ... ... 170 
 
 Fig-trees, how made to bear ... ... ... 11 
 
 Fihlayson's marriage tables ... ... ... 180 
 
 Fish diet, effects of ... ... ... ... 25 
 
 Flavian law at Rome ... ... ... ... 270 
 
 C C 2 
 
1 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fleetwood's Ohronicon Preciosum • • • • • • 203 
 
 Fortescue, Chief Justice, evidence of ... •■• 198 
 
 Fourcroy on the seminal fluid ... ■ • ■ ■ • • 333 
 
 France, statistics of .. ... ••• ... 137 
 
 Franckelayne, Fortescue's account of the ... ... 200 
 
 Freemen of Newcastle, decay of . . . ... ... 45 
 
 Free Negroes, decrease of ... ... ... 67 
 
 French population, Villerme on ... ... ... 145 
 
 French table ... ... ... .. 4 ... 16 
 
 Fruits neglected in England ... ... ... 225 
 
 Fruit-trees, variable fertility of ... ... ... 10 
 
 G. 
 
 Game, ancient variety of ... ... ... 130 
 
 Game, the prices of anciently ... ... ... 223 
 
 Genevese population stationary ... ... ... 31 • 
 
 Gibbon on the Goths and Huns ... ... ... 228 
 
 Godwin, "William, on American population ... ... 155 
 
 Gold and silver commonly used ... ... 200, 216 
 
 Golown in on Japanese diet ... ... ... 109 
 
 Goths' westward movement ... ... ... 227 
 
 Gourd, treatment of the ... ... ... 11 
 
 Granville, Doctor, on delay of marriage ... ... 180 
 
 Gravel alternates with gout ... ... ... 335 
 
 Greece, ancient depopulation of ... ... ... 269 
 
INDEX. ili 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Greenlanders, diet of the ... ... ."!. xxv 
 
 Grose and Astle's antiquarian repertory ... ... 222 
 
 Grose on military codes ... ... ... xviii 
 
 H. 
 
 Hamel, Doctor, on increase of population ... ... 70 
 
 Hanover, unmarried females in ... ... ... 185 
 
 Hassel's statistics of Russia ... ... ... 95 
 
 Hastings, numbers at the battle of ... ... 278 
 
 Helots, agricultural serfs ... ... ... 86 
 
 Heron highly prized as game ... ... ... 130 
 
 Heylin on the Belgian noblesse ... ... ... 39 
 
 Highlands, West, Sir John M'Neill on the ... ... 78 
 
 Hingham on births in Massachussets ... ... 155 
 
 Historical difficulties solved ... ... ... 188 
 
 Holland, unmarried women in ... ... ... 185 
 
 Holland, vegetables brought from ... ... 221 
 
 Hollinshed's account of wines ... ... 280 
 
 Honey, ancient prices of ... ... ... 224 
 
 Horticulture, phenomena in ... ... ... 9 
 
 Hospital, births in the Coombe ... ... ... 327 
 
 Hume on ancient populations ... ... ... 257 
 
 Huns, westward march of the ... ... ... 227 
 
 I. 
 
 Iberians, ancient character of the ... ... 272 
 
lii INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Icthyophagi, ancient ideas of the ... ... ... 25 
 
 Inclosure acta, table of ... • • ■ ■ ■ ■ 297 
 
 Increase, true law of ... ... • • ■ ... 5 
 
 India, British, statistics of ... ... ... 112 
 
 India, populousness of . . . ... ... ... 30 
 
 Institute, French, report of ... ... ... xxii 
 
 Internal evidence of the theory ... ... ... 300 
 
 Inverse ratio, Slade on the ... ... ... 76 
 
 Ireland, Sismondi on ... ... ... ... 32 
 
 Ireland, unmarried females in . . ... ... 1 85 
 
 Island, Pitcairn's, colonists ... ... ... 72 
 
 Israelites, increase of the ... ... ... 85 
 
 Italy, populations of ... ... ... ... 147 
 
 J. 
 
 Japanese population and diet ... ... ... 109 
 
 Jeddo, population of ... ... ... ... 110 
 
 Jews in the United States ... ... ... 159 
 
 Jornandes on the Goths ... ... ... 228 
 
 Julius Cassar's colony at Capua ... ... ... 269 
 
 Juvenal on Roman depravity ... ... ... 312 
 
 K. 
 
 Kalendar of criminal commitments ... ... 126 
 
 Kasan and Astrakan, population of ... ... 97 
 
 Katharine of Arragon imports salads ... ... 221 
 
index. liii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Keebo, the numbers of his cavalry ... ... no 
 
 Kelp, decline in the manufacture of ... ... 80 
 
 Koumna, the slaughterhouse of ... ... ... 100 
 
 L. 
 
 Latitude's view of Spain ... ... ... 275 
 
 Laconians support Sparta ... ... ... 87 
 
 Laing on national distress ... ... ... 144 
 
 Laing on Swiss population ... ... ... iii 
 
 Languedoc, population of ... ... ... 142 
 
 Law of increase and decrease ... ... ... 5 " 
 
 Lekinfield castle, dietary at ... ... ... 222 
 
 Lent, effects of on fecundity ... ... ... 1 70 
 
 Leprosy in England, causes of ... ... ... 131 
 
 Leuotra, effects of the battle of ... ... ... 87 
 
 Lex Cassia and Lex Saenia ... ... ... 41 
 
 Lingard on the carnage at Towton ... ... 286 
 
 Liquor seminalis, composition of the ... ... 332 
 
 Liverpool, numbers voting at ... ... ... 62 
 
 Lombard- Venetian territory ... ... ... 148 
 
 London corporation, h&w composed ... ... 65 
 
 London livery, numbers of the ... ... ... 64 
 
 Loudon, Dr., on fish diet ... ... ... ix 
 
 Luxury, destructive effects of ... ... ... 309 
 
liv INDEX. 
 
 M. 
 
 PAGS 
 
 Macartney, Lord, on Chinese population ... ... 103 
 
 M'Neill, Sir John, on the West Highlands . ... 78 
 
 Madras, population of ... ... ... ... 115 
 
 Mahomet II takes Constantinople ... ... 310 
 
 Maidstone, numbers voting at ... ... ... 62 
 
 Majendie on dietetics ... ... ... ... 334 
 
 Malt, consumption of, in England ... ... 133 
 
 Malta, increase of people in ... ... ... 76 
 
 Malte Brun, M., on China ... ... ... 106 
 
 Malte Brun, M., on Russia ... ... ... 95 
 
 Malthus on the magnates of Geneva ... ... 39 
 
 Malthus, shocking consequences of the theory of xxxix 
 
 Mamelukes, decay of the ... ... ... 42 
 
 Manure, nature and effects of ... ... ... 325 
 
 " Marcus" on child-murder ... ... xxxix 
 
 Marriages and births .. ... ... 177 
 
 Marriage the law of nature ... ... ... 9 
 
 Martineau, Miss, on slavery ... ... ... 67 
 
 Medicine, barbarous state of ... ... 130 
 
 Mexican Spaniards, decay of ... ... ... 161 
 
 Modena, population of ... ... ... 151 
 
 Montesquieu on monarchies ... ... ... 265 
 
 Montgomery Martin on China ... ... ... 108 
 
 Morning Chronicle, opinion of the ... ... 337 
 
 Mysoru, population of ... ... ... .115 
 
INDEX. lv 
 
 N. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Negro character, recklessness of the ... ... 68 
 
 Newcastle, free burgesses of ... ... ... 44 
 
 Newcastle election polls ... ... ... 47 
 
 New Hampshire, births in ... ... ... 154 
 
 Niebuhr on the decay of Sparta ... ... ... 87 
 
 Nizam's dominions, population of .. . ... ... 115 
 
 Nobility, Roman, renewed by Claudius ... ... 312 
 
 Norman Conquest, population at the ... ... 278 
 
 Northumberland, Algernon, Earl of ... ... 222 
 
 Norway, unmarried females in ... ... ... 185 
 
 Norwich, numbers voting in ... ... ... 62 
 
 Nottingham, numbers voting in ... ... ... 62 
 
 Old song on the use of silver plate ... ... 216 
 
 Olive oil, its effects as food ... ... ... 92 
 
 Omelette, a usual French dish ... ... ... 138 
 
 Orloff, Count, his revenue from cattle ... ... 100 
 
 Orosius on the depreciation of Roman -money . . . 271 
 
 Ostro-Goths, movement of the ... ... ... 227 
 
 Otaheite, expedition to ... ... .-.-. ... 70 
 
 Ottomans, conquests of the ... ... ... 227 
 
 Oude, population of ... ... ... ... 115 
 
 D D 
 
$V1 INDEX. 
 
 P. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " Painless extinction" of Marcus ... ■•■ xxxix 
 
 Parma, population of . . . ... ... . . . 1 50 
 
 Patrimony, Londoners free by ... ... ... 65 
 
 Pays-bas, births in the ... ... ... xxviii 
 
 Peel's Cash Payments Bill, effects of ... ... 126 
 
 Peerage, decay of the British ... ... ... 36 
 
 Percy, Algernon, Earl, his dietary .. . ... ... 222 
 
 Peruvian mines, effects of the ... ... ... 207 
 
 Petty, Sir William, on Irish population ... ... 119 
 
 Pharaoh compelled to free Israel ... ... ... 86 
 
 Philadelphia, births in ... ... ... ... 155 
 
 Phosphate of lime in gout ... ... ... 335 
 
 Piedmont, population of ... ... ... 150 
 
 Pitcairn's Island, colony of ... ... ... 71 
 
 Plenty, its effects on fecundity ... ... ... 172 
 
 Plethoric state checks fecundity ... ... ... 6 
 
 Pliny the elder on pinguetude ... ... ... 28 
 
 Plutarch on Roman decay ... ... ... 261 
 
 Poland, numbers to the square mile ... ... 96 
 
 Poland, population of ... ... ... ... 30 
 
 Polls of Newcastle elections ... ... ... 49 
 
 Polybius on Roman population ... ... . . 262 
 
 Poor-rates, increase of the ... ... ... 125 
 
 Portree, population of the parish of ... ... 79 
 
INDEX. 
 
 lvii 
 
 Portugal, population of . . . 
 Potato, increased use of the 
 Poultry, fertility of 
 Prices of meat and game, a.d. 1500 
 Priestley, Dr., beneficent teaching of 
 Protestants of Ireland ... 
 Prussia, population of . . . 
 
 PAGB 
 
 152 
 
 251 
 16 
 
 224 
 xli 
 32 
 
 137 
 
 Quakers, decay of the ... 
 Quarterly Review, passage from . . 
 Queen Elizabeth's reign, want in . . 
 Quetelet, M., on Belgic population 
 
 65 
 
 81 
 
 1.90 
 
 :xjv 
 
 R. 
 
 Rainy's account of Rona and Rasay 
 Rapin on Edward the Third 
 Rates, poor, up to 1831 
 Rayahs of Turkey, their comforts 
 Recent population of Ireland 
 Reformation, benefices at the 
 Revenue of England 
 Rhinoceros, not prolific 
 • Rice, varieties of, in India 
 Richard II, statute 15th of 
 Riches, how really distributed 
 
 78 
 . 280 
 . 125 
 77 
 121 
 287 
 239 
 xxxii"' 
 112 
 289 
 318 
 
 D D 2 
 
lviii 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Richmond, statistics of the town of 
 Rochester, numbers voting at 
 Roumelia thinly peopled 
 Russia, statistics of 
 
 PAGE 
 
 60 
 62 
 90 
 96 
 
 Sadler, Michael Thomas, his tables 
 
 St. Petersburgh, cheapness of meat at 
 
 Sardinia, social state of . . . 
 
 Scandinavia, ancient, extent of 
 
 Scorbutic diseases prevalent formerly 
 
 Scottish population 
 
 Seeding of plants and shrubs 
 
 Selden's translation of Fortescue . . . 
 
 Shillibeer's account of Pitcarn's Island 
 
 Sismondi on population 
 
 Slade's account of Turkey and Malta 
 
 Slaves in the United States slowly increase 
 
 Slaves at Athens secretly murdered 
 
 Soapmakers, decline in number of 
 
 Southern Russia, state of 
 
 Spain, social state and population of 
 
 Spartacus nearly ruins Rome 
 
 Spartan decay, Niebuhr on 
 
 Spencer's, Herbert, theory 
 
 Staff-strikers, definition of 
 
 ... 172 
 
 ... 94 
 
 ... 150 
 
 .. 228 
 
 ... 131 
 124, 135 
 
 ... 12 
 
 ... 201 
 
 ... 72 
 
 ... 30 
 
 ... 77 
 
 295 
 99 
 
 151 
 86 
 87 
 
 XXX 
 
 206 
 
INDEX. 
 
 lix 
 
 Stamford-bridge, uumbers slain at 
 Statute of Henry VII on depopulation 
 Suetonius on the riches of Egypt 
 Surfeit formerly a common disease 
 Sweden, numbers of single women in 
 Swift, Dean, on Irish fecundity . . . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 278 
 192 
 272 
 131 
 185 
 29 
 
 Table of twenty-seven rich and poor parishes 
 
 Tacitus on the decay of Roman nobility 
 
 Tallow produced in England 
 
 Taverns, numbers of, anciently 
 
 Taxation, extent of British 
 
 Thesaurus on Charles the Fat 
 
 Thornton on over-population. 
 
 Thornton on wages and dress 
 
 Thunberg on Japan 
 
 Tiree, average of families in 
 
 Tosti, conflict of Harold and 
 
 Towton, numbers slain at 
 
 Trees, fruit, fertility of ... 
 
 Tributary populations of India 
 
 Tribute-payers, census of, Chinese 
 
 Trubetskoi, Prince, anecdote of 
 
 True Spartans, rapid decay of the 
 
 83 
 
 41 
 248 
 294 
 239 
 
 28 
 143 
 212 
 108 
 
 79 
 279 
 281 
 
 10 
 115 
 104 
 
 29 
 
 87 
 
lx INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Turkey, Slade's picture of ... ... ... 77 
 
 Turks, decay of the ... ... ... ... 42 
 
 Tuscany, social state of ... i.i>, ... 149 
 
 U. 
 
 Ulva, average family of the isle of ... ... 78 
 
 United States, population of ... ... ... 154 
 
 United States, value of life in ... ... ... 132 
 
 Urate of lime in gout ... ... ... ... 335 
 
 Urquhart, David, on Turkey ... ...' ... 78 
 
 V. 
 
 Valens' truce with the Goths ... ... ... 230 
 
 Value of life in England, &c. ... ... 129,131 
 
 Vandals' movement westward ... ... ... 227 
 
 Varencies on the revenue of Japan ... ... 110 
 
 Veal a common diet formerly ... ... ... 208 
 
 Vegetable food neglected in England ... 130,224 
 
 Vegetables imported from Holland ... ... 209 
 
 Vegetable world, phenomena of the ... ... 10 
 
 Verulam, Bacon, Lord, Life of Henry VII ... 192 
 
 Villerme, M., his letter ... ... ... ... 144 
 
 Vine countries moderately peopled ... ... 92 
 
 Virginia, coloured population of . . . ... ... 1 58 
 
INDEX. 
 
 bd 
 
 w. 
 
 Wages, statutes to limit 
 
 Wages paid at Wresill castle 
 
 Walled towns, evils of . . . 
 
 Waste lands in Ireland, extent of 
 
 Wearing apparel, statutes on 
 
 Western Highlands, M'Neill on the 
 
 Western Russia, population of 
 
 Westminster Review ... 
 
 Wharton, Philip Lord, his household book 
 
 Whately, Dr., the Right Reverend 
 
 Widgeon prized as food 
 
 William the Norman's force 
 
 Wine countries thinly peopled 
 
 Wine formerly used in England ... 
 
 Wine now drunk in England 
 
 Woods, back, population of the . . . 
 
 Wresill castle, bills of fare at 
 
 Wright, Dr., on the seminal fluid 
 
 PAGE 
 
 .. 214 
 
 .. 224 
 
 .. 129 
 
 .. 121 
 
 .. 209 
 
 .. 78 
 
 .. 97 
 
 .. XXX 
 
 .. 219 
 xxxviii 
 ... 130 
 ... 279 
 ... 92 
 ... 200 
 ... 133 
 xiii 
 ... 224 
 ... 334 
 
 Yams, exuberance of at Pitcairn's Island 
 Yeomen, English and Spanish 
 York and Lancaster, war of 
 York, numbers voting at 
 
 72 
 319 
 200 
 
 62 
 
Xll INDEX. 
 
 z. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Zealand, New, cannibalism of ... ... ... 253 
 
 Zeal for penance, its effects ... ... ... 200 
 
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 WORKS OF MR. RUSKIN 
 
 Now in course of Publication, in Parts of Folio Imperial size, each con- 
 taining Five Plates, and a short Explanatory Text, price 11. Is. each. 
 
 EXAMPLES of the ARCHITECTURE of VENICE, 
 
 selected and drawn to measurement from the edifices. 
 
 Parts One to Three are Published. 
 
 Fifty India Proofs only are taken on Atlas Folio, price 21. 2s. each Part. 
 
 in. 
 
 THE SEVEN LAMPS OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 WITH FOURTEEN ETCHINGS BY THE AUTHOR. 
 Imperial 8vo., 11. Is. cloth. 
 
 "By the 'Seven Lamps of Architecture,' we understand Mr. Ruskin to mean the 
 seven fundamental and cardinal laws, the observance of and obedience to which are 
 indispensible to the architect, who would deserve the name. The politician, the 
 moralist, the divine, will find in it ample store of instructive matter, as well as the 
 artist." — Examiner. 
 
 "From the series of works upon which Mr. Ruskin is engaged, we can scarcely 
 hope too much for art. The brilliant manner by which the present and other works 
 of Mr. Ruskin are adorned has placed them at once amongst the hooks that must 
 be read. The views broached in this volume constitute the most significant piece 
 of criticism which has appeared in the English language for very many years." — 
 North British Review. 
 
 "Mr. Ruskin's mind is of that vigorous and searching nature which can be 
 satisfied with nothing less than the elucidation of pure principles in art. He 
 observes and investigates for himself, and expresses himself in a strain of eloquence 
 which rivets the mind by its fulness of meaning, and fascinates the fancy by its 
 singular appropriateness of ianguage and richness of imagery." — Britannia. 
 
 " This eloquent and deeply-instructive volume is a book for amateurs to read; 
 for it will make the thoughtless thoughtful, and open new fields of contemplation 
 and sources of interest, and suggest and strengthen important principles to alL" — 
 Ecelesiologist. 
 
 " Mr. Ruskin's book bears so unmistakeably the marks of keen and accurate 
 observation, of a true and subtle judgment and refined sense of beauty, joined with 
 so much earnestness, so noble a sense of the purposes and business of art, and such 
 a command of rich and glowing language, that it cannot but tell powerfully in 
 producing a more religious view of the uses of architecture, and a deeper insight 
 into its artistic principles." — Guardian. 
 
 "We hail Mr. Ruskin's book: we thank him for his industry; we admire his 
 earnest eloquence; and on almost all great matters we defer to his judgment. He 
 has, indeed, done high honor to the architect's calling." — Mr. Wightwick, in 
 The Architect. 
 
 "A lively, poetical, and thoughtful book; rich in refined criticism and glowing 
 eloquence. Mr. Ruskin's poetry is always to the purpose of his doctrines, and 
 always the vehicle of acute thought and profound feeling." — Frazer's Magazine. 
 
Books Published by 
 
 WORKS OF MR. RUSKIN. 
 
 IV. 
 
 MODERN PAINTERS. 
 
 Imp. 8vo. Vol. I. Fifth Edition, 18s. cloth. 
 
 Vol. II. Third Edition, 10s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 "Mr. Ruskin's work will send the painter more than ever to the study of nature; 
 will train men who have always been delighted spectators of nature, to be also 
 attentive observers. Our critics will learn to admire, and mere admirers will learn 
 how to criticise: thus a public will be educated." — Blackwood's Magazine. 
 
 "A generous and impassioned review of the works of living painters. A hearty 
 and earnest work, full of deep thought, and developing great and striking truths in 
 art." — British Quarterly Review. 
 
 "A very extraordinary and delightful book, full of truth and goodness, of power 
 and beauty." — North British Review. 
 
 " One of the most remarkable works on art which has appeared in our time." — 
 Edinburgh Review. 
 
 * s * The Third Volume is in preparation. 
 v. 
 
 PRE-RAPHAELITISM. 
 
 8vo., 2s. sewed. 
 
 "We wish that this pamphlet might be largely read by our art-patrons, and 
 studied by our art-critics. There is much to be collected from it which is very 
 important to remember." — Guardian. 
 
 VI. 
 
 . THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER; 
 
 OB, THE BLACK BROTHERS. 
 
 With 22 Illustrations by RICHARD DOYLE. 
 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 " This little fairy tale is by a master hand. The story has a charming moral, and 
 the writing is so excellent, that it would be hard to say which it will give most 
 pleasure to, the very wise man or the very simple child."— Examiner. 
 
 VII. 
 
 NOTES on the CONSTRUCTION of SHEEP-FOLDS. 
 
 8vo., Is. 
 "A pamphlet on the doctrine and dicipline of the Church of Christ."— Britannia. 
 
Smith, Elder, § Co. 
 
 RECENT TRAVELS. 
 
 i. 
 
 A HISTORY of the INSURRECTION in CHINA. 
 
 By Dr. YVAN, and M. CALLERY. 
 
 Third Edition, with a Supplementary Account of the most Recent Events. 
 
 Edited by JOHN OXENFOED. 
 
 Post 8vo., price is. 6d. cloth, with facsimile of Chinese Map and 
 Portrait of the Insurgent Chief. 
 
 " A curious book, published at an opportune moment, giving a lucid account of 
 the origin and progress of the civil war now raging in China, bringing it down to 
 the present day." — Blackwood's Magazine. 
 
 " The narrative is animated by traits of Chinese manners, opinions, and ideas, 
 and by lively reminiscenses of the country and people.' — Spectator. 
 
 " A timely and interesting publication, full of most curious and valuable matter." 
 — Examiner. 
 
 " The book can scarcely fail to find a curious and interested public." — Athenceum. 
 
 " The volume is instructive and attractive in a very high degree." — Illustrated 
 News. 
 
 "The revolution in China is, in all respects, the greatest revolution the world has 
 yet seen." — Times. 
 
 n. 
 
 MEMORANDUMS MADE IN IRELAND IN THE 
 
 AUTUMN OF 1852. 
 
 By JOHN FOBBES, M.D., Author of " The Physician's Holiday." 
 
 In Two Vols., Post 8vo., with Illustrations. Price 21s. cloth. 
 
 "The book is excellent, and, like all the writings of its author, points to a good 
 purpose. Its tendency is to dispel prejudices against Ireland and the Irish. It 
 contains sensible comments upon most topics in Irish affairs. It is honest, thought- 
 ful, liberal, and kindly. By readers of all grades Dr. Forbes's volumes will be read 
 with pleasure for the knowledge they give, and the cheerful way in which they give 
 it." — Examiner. 
 
 " A complete handbook of the sister island. If there be any, who, knowing 
 nothing of its social and political condition, meditate a tour in Ireland, the pleasure 
 and profit to be derived from the journey will be much enhanced by a careful study 
 of Dr. Forbes's very sensible observations." — New Quarterly fieview. 
 
 " Dr. Forbes is evidently possessed of a candid mind, and though he has dealt 
 with polemical matter, he does not write in a sectarian spirit." — Athenceum. 
 
 " A very complete description of the present condition of Ireland, written with 
 the kindliest and fairest of pens." — Economist. 
 
 III. 
 
 AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND, 
 
 AND THE COUNTBY ADJACENT. 
 Post. 8«o.. with View and Colored Map. Price 6s., cloth. 
 
Works Published by 
 
 RECENT TRAVELS. 
 
 ni. 
 
 TWO THOUSAND MILES' RIDE THROUGH 
 THE ARGENTINE PROVINCES : 
 
 WITH AN ACCOUNT OF 
 
 BUENOS AYBES, the RIO DE LA PLATA, MONTE VIDEO, &c. 
 
 By WILLIAM MacCANN, Esq. 
 
 Two Vols., Post 8vo., with Illustrations. Price 24s. cloth. 
 
 " Mr. Mac Cann's volumes present an admirable account of life in the Argentine 
 Provinces. The incidents of his adventures are replete with interest, practical value, 
 and amusement." — Literary Gazette. 
 
 "This is neither a history, a commercial and political treatise, nor a book of 
 travels, but a mixture of all three; containing good and- instructive matter, much 
 local knowledge of Buenos Ayres, and information concerning the Banda Oriental 
 and Paraguay." — Athencmm. 
 
 " The unlaboured yet animated narrative of an observant and sensible man, 
 containing much valuable information to commercial men." — British Quarterly 
 Review. 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE SECOND BURMESE WAR. 
 
 A NARRATIVE OF THE OPERATIONS AT RANGOON. 
 By Lieut. WILLIAM F. B. LAURIE, Madras Artillery. 
 
 Post 8vo., with Maps, Plans, and Views. Price 10s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " The events of the current campaign are here condensed into a well-replenished 
 volume, written on the very theatre of war, and illustrated by skilfully-drawn plans 
 of each important scene of action. A concise account of the Burmese Empire is 
 furnished by the author, who combines with his talent for research a lively style of 
 narrative." — Globe. 
 
 "The work before us is a military narrative, told in the cheerful tone of an officer 
 who is proudof his profession, and anxious to do justice to his comrades: there is 
 nothing about himself. It is illustrated by plans, views, and sections, and is cal- 
 culated to remove many erroneous impressions as to the character of the Second 
 Burmese War." — Literary Gazette. 
 
 " This volume exhibits war in its details, as seen by the subaltern, and in its 
 larger aspects as picked up from the gossip and criticism of the camp. Mr. Laurie 
 varies actual warfare by the antiquities of the country, and a description of the 
 temples and tenets of Gaudama — a variety of Buddhism." — Spectator. 
 
 V. 
 
 TRAITS OF AMERICAN-INDIAN LIFE. 
 By a FUR-TRADER. 
 
 Post 8vo. Price 7s. cloth. 
 
 "The Eur-traders* little book, containing sketches of real life among the people 
 of the Oregon Territory, is very welcome from his intimate knowledge of the Indian 
 tribes. — Mjxananer. 
 
 " A genuine volume. The writer is an actor in the scenes he describes, and the 
 hazards which our adventurous fur-traders undergo, and the savage life of the wil- 
 derness, are graphically delineated in these sketches."— Morning Advertiser 
 
 -mellyD^eT ****** ^^ ° f ^ ^ ^ W ° r% ° f the test reception." 
 
Smith, Elder, fy Co. 
 
 WORKS OF MR. THACKERAY. 
 
 LECTUEES ON THE ENGLISH HUMOURISTS 
 OF THE 18th CENTURY. 
 
 By W. M. THACKERAY, Esq., Author of "Vanity Fair," 
 "Esmond," &c. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, REVISED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 In One Volume, crown 8vo. Price 10s. 6d. cloth, 
 
 " To those who attended the lectures, the book will be a pleasant reminiscence, to 
 others an exciting novelty. The style — clear, idiomatic, forcible, familiar, but 
 never slovenly; the searching strokes of sarcasm or irony; the occasional flashes of 
 generous scorn; the touches of pathos, pity, and tenderness; the morality tempered, 
 but never weakened, by experience and sympathy; the felicitous phrases, the striking 
 anecdotes, the passages of wise, practical reflection; all these lose much less than 
 we could have expected from the absence of the voice, manner, and look of the 
 lecturer." — Spectator. 
 
 "All who did not hear these lectures will wish to know what kind of talk they 
 were, and how these English humourists and men of genius in past times were 
 described or criticised by a humourist and man of genius in our own. * * * 
 What fine things the lectures contain! What eloquent and subtle sayings, 
 what wise and earnest writing! How delightful are their turns of humour; with 
 what a touching effect, in the graver passages, the genuine feeling of the man comes 
 out; and how vividly the thoughts axe painted, as it were, in graphic and charac- 
 teristic words." — Examiner. 
 
 " This is to us by far the most acceptable of Mr. Thackeray's writings. His 
 graphic style, his philosophical spirit, his analytical powers, his large-heartedness, 
 his shrewdness, and his gentleness, have all room to exhibit themselves. The lives 
 of these famous writers are told in a few paragraphs, and illustrated by a selection 
 of striking anecdotes." — Economist. 
 
 " These lectures are rich in all the qualities of the author's genius, and adapted 
 to awaken and nourish a literary taste thoroughly English." — British Quarterly 
 Review. 
 
 "Eull of sound, healthy, manly, vigorous writing; sagacious in observation, 
 independent and thoughtful ; earnest in sentiment, in style pointed, clear, and 
 straight-forward." — Westminster Review. 
 
 " A valuable addition to our permanent literature : eloquent when the author is 
 serious; brilliant when he is gay; they are charming reading." — Daily News. 
 
 " One of the most amusing books that we have read for a long time, and one that 
 we think will occupy a lasting place in English literature." — Standard. 
 
 A PORTRAIT OF W. M. THACKERAY, Esq. 
 
 Engraved by FBANCIS HOLL, from a Drawing by SAMUEL LATTEENCE, 
 Engraver's Proofs on India Paper, £2 2s. Prints, £1 Is. 
 
Works Published by 
 
 WORKS OF MR. THACKERAY. 
 
 ESMOND. 
 By W. H. THACKERAY, Author of " Pendennis," "Vanity Fair." 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 In Three Volumes, Crown 8vo. Price 11. lis. 6d. 
 
 "A second edition of "Esmond" within a few weeks of the issue of the first, 
 speaks significantly for Mr. Thackeray's growing popularity. * * * * 
 Mr. Thackeray has selected for his hero a very nohle type of the cavalier softening 
 into the man of the eighteenth century, and for his heroine one of the sweetest 
 women that ever breathed from canvass or from book, since Eaffaelle painted and 
 Shakspeare wrote. ' Esmond ' will, we think, rank higher as a work of art than 
 'Vanity Pair' or 'Pendennis,' because the characters are of a higher type, and 
 drawn with greater finish, and the book is more of a complete whole. The style is 
 manly, clear, terse, and vigorous, reflecting every mood — pathetic, grave, or sarcastic 
 — of the writer." — Spectator. 
 
 " Once more we feel that we have before us a masculine and thorough English 
 writer, uniting the power of subtle analysis with a strong volition and a moving 
 eloquence — an eloquence which has gained in richness and harmony. His pathos 
 is now sweeter, — less jarred against by angry sarcasm, but perhaps scarcely so 
 powerful. ' Esmond ' must be read, not for its characters, but for its romantic though 
 improbable plot, its spirited grouping, and many thrilling utterances of the anguish 
 of the human heart. Having reached the middle of the first volume, ' forward ' 
 will be the wish of every reader of this highly-wrought work." — Athenceum. 
 
 " The interest of ' Esmond ' is, in the main, purely human interest. The story is 
 more than anything a family story. The effect is as if you had suddenly come 
 into that old time as into a chamber; and the light you see things by is that of the 
 warm domestic fire blazing there. By that light you see the faces of the painted 
 old ladies, and the jolly men of letters, and the great lords, and the brave soldiers. 
 The book is as interesting as any previous book of the author's, and more absolutely 
 real than any historical novel since Scott's early ones." — Daily News. 
 
 " We have at once to express in the warmest terms of praise our appreciation of 
 the skill and taste with which 'Esmond' is written. The story of the novel is in- 
 genious and very elegantly constructed, and earned onward so as to gratify constant 
 curiosity until the end. In short, the book thoroughly occupies our minds with a 
 sense of strength on the part of the writer, of which the manifestation is always 
 made gracefully." — Examiner. 
 
 "In quiet richness, 'Esmond' mainly resembles the old writers; as it does also in 
 weight of thought, sincerity of purpose, and poetry of the heart and brain. It is 
 wise and sweet in its recesses of thought and feeling; and is more hopeful, consola- 
 tory, and kindly than ' Vanity Fair.' Thinking and educated readers will discern 
 in it an immense advance in literary power over Mr. Thackeray's previous writings." 
 — Frazer's Magazine. 
 
 m. 
 
 THE KICELEBURYS ON THE RHINE. 
 
 A new Picture-Book, drawn and written by Mr. M. A. TITMARSH. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 "With a Preface entitled " An Essay on Thunder and Small Beer." 
 
 bs. plain, 6s. coloured. 
 
Smith, Elder, fy Co. 
 
 WORKS OF CURRER BELL. 
 
 i. 
 VILLETTE. 
 
 By CURRER BELL, Author of "Jane Eyre," "Shirley," &e. 
 
 In Three Volumes, Post 8vo. Price 11. lis. 6d. 
 
 " This book would have made Currer Bell famous had she not been already. It 
 retrieves all the ground she lost in ' Shirley,' and it will engage a wider circle of 
 readers than ' Jane Eyre,' for it has all the best qualities of that remarkable book. 
 There is throughout a charm of freshness which is infinitely delightful: freshness in 
 observation, freshness in feeling, freshness in expression. Brain and heart are both 
 held in suspense by the fascinating power of the writer." — Literary Gazette. 
 
 "This novel amply sustains the fame of the author of 'Jane Eyre' and 'Shirley' 
 as an original and powerful writer. 'Villette' is a most admirably written novel, 
 everywhere original, everywhere shrewd, and at heart everywhere kindly." — Ex- 
 aminer. 
 
 " The tale is one of the affections, and remarkable as a picture of manners. A 
 burning heart glows throughout it, and one brilliantly-distinct character keeps it 
 alive." — Athenaeum. 
 
 " ' Villette ' has that clearness and power which are the result of mastery over the 
 thoughts and feelings to be expressed, over the persons and scenes to be de- 
 scribed." — Spectator. 
 
 "The whole three volumes are crowded with beauties; with good things, for 
 which we look to the clear sight, deep feeling, and singular though not extensive 
 experience of life, which we associate with the name of Currer Bell." — Daily News. 
 
 " The author of ' Jane Eyre' and ' Shirley ' has again produced a fiction of extra- 
 ordinary literary power, and of singular fascination ; it is one of the most absorbing 
 of books, one of the most interesting of stories." — Globe. 
 
 "'Villette' is not only a very able but a very pleasant book." — Morning 
 Chronicle. 
 
 SHIRLEY: A Tale. 
 
 By CURRER BELL. 
 
 A new edition. Crown 8vo., 6s. cloth. 
 
 " The peculiar power which was so greatly admired in ' Jane Eyre ' is not absent 
 from this hook. It possesses deep interest and anirresistible grasp of reality. 
 There is a vividness and distinctness of conception in it quite marvellous. The 
 power of graphic delineation and expression is intense. There are scenes which, 
 for strength and delicacy of emotion, are not transcended in the range of English 
 fiction." — Examiner. 
 
 "'Shirley' is an admirable book; genuine English in the independence and 
 uprightness of the tone of thought, in the purity of heart and feeling which pervade 
 it, in the masculine vigour of its conception of character, and in style and diction: 
 it is a tale of passion and character, and » veritable triumph of pyschology." — 
 Morning Chronicle. 
 
 " ' Shirley' is very clever. The faculty of graphic description, strong imagination, 
 fervid and masculine diction, analytic skill, all are visible. Gems of rare thought 
 and glorious passion shine here and there throughout the volume." — Times. 
 
10 Works Published by 
 
 WORKS OF CURRER BELL 
 
 in. 
 
 JANE EYRE: An Autobiography. 
 By CURRER BELL. 
 
 Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo., 6s. cloth. 
 
 "'Jane Eyre' is a remarkable production. Freshness and originality, truth 
 and passion, singular felicity in the description of natural scenery, and in the 
 analyzation of human thought, enable this tale to stand boldly out from the mass, 
 and to assume its own place in the bright field of romantic literature. We could 
 not but be struck with the raciness and ability of the work, by the independent 
 sway of a thoroughly original and unworn pen, by the masculine current of noble 
 thoughts, and the unflinching dissection of the dark yet truthful character." — Times. 
 
 IV. 
 
 WUTHERING HEIGHTS and AGNES GREY. 
 By ELLIS and ACTON BELL. 
 
 WITH A SELECTION OE THEIR LITERARY REMAINS, AND A 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF BOTH AUTHORS. 
 
 By CURRER BELL. 
 
 Crown 8vo., 6s. cloth. 
 
 "'Wuthering Heights' bears the stamp of a profoundly-individual, strong, and 
 passionate mind. The memoir is one of the most touching chapters in literary 
 biography." — Nonconformist. 
 
 V. 
 
 POEMS. 
 By CURRER, ELLIS, and ACTON BELL. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo., As. cloth. 
 
 " Remarkable as being the first efforts of undoubted genius to find some con- 
 genial form of expression. They are not common verses, but show many of the 
 vigorous qualities in the prose works of the same writers: the love of nature which 
 characterises Currer Bell's prose works pervades the whole of the present volume." 
 — Christian Remembrancer. 
 
 NEW WORK BY THE AUTHOR OF "OLIVE," &o. 
 
 AVILLION, and OTHER TALES. 
 
 Three Vols., Post 8vo. Price £1 lis. 6d., Cloth. ■ 
 
 " ' Avillion' is a beautiful and fanciful story; and the rest make agreeable read- 
 ing. There is not one of them unquickened by true feeling, exquisite taste, and 
 a pure and vivid imagination." — Examiner. 
 
 "These volumes form altogether as pleasant and fanciful a miscellanv as has 
 often been given to the public in these latter days."— Athenmum. 
 
 " In a nice knowledge of the refinements of the female heart and in a haonv 
 power of depicting emotion, the authoress is excelled by very few story-tellers of 
 
Smith, Elder, § Co. 11 
 
 WORKS OF MR. GWYNNE. 
 
 The Life and Death of SILAS BARNSTARKE. 
 
 By TALBOT GWYNNE, Author of " The School for Fathers." 
 One Volume, Crown 8vo. Price 10s. 6d. 
 
 " In many ways this book is remarkable. Silas and his relations stand forth so 
 distinctly and forcibly, and with so much simplicity, that we are far more inclined to 
 feel of them as if they really lived, than of the writers of pretended diaries and auto- 
 biographies. The manners and ways of speech of the time are portrayed admirably." 
 — Guardian. 
 
 " Mr. Gwynne has adopted the nervous and succinct style of our forefathers, while 
 narrating the career of a lover of money. The reader will find little to impede his 
 interest in following the career of this bad man to its bad end." — Athejiceum. 
 
 " The gradual growth of the sin of covetousness, its temporary disturbance by the 
 admixture of a softer passion, and the pangs of remorse, are portrayed with high 
 dramatic effect, resembling in some scenes the gigantic majesty of ancient Tragedy." 
 — John Bull. 
 
 " A story possessing an interest so tenacious that no one who commences it will 
 easily leave the perusal unfinished." — Standard. 
 
 " A book of high aim, and unquestionable power." — Examiner. 
 
 n. 
 THE SCHOOL FOR DREAMERS. 
 
 By T. GWYNNE, Esq., Author of "The School for Fathers." 
 One Volume, Crown 8vo. Price 10s. 6d. 
 
 "The master-limner of the follies of mankind, the author of ' The School for 
 Fathers,' has produced another tale to the full as attractive as the former, and 
 abounding with traits of exquisite humour and sallies of sparkling wit. — John Bull. 
 
 "'The School for Dreamers' may be credited with life, humour, and vigour. 
 There is a spirit of enjoyment in Mr. Gwynne's descriptions which indicates a 
 genial temperament, as well as a shrewd eye." — Athenozwm. 
 
 "A powerfully and skilfully written-book, intended to show the mischief and 
 danger of following imagination instead of judgment in the practical business of 
 life." — Literary Gazette, 
 
 "An admirable and caustic satire on 'equality and fraternity' theories." — 
 Britannia. 
 
 m. 
 
 THE SCHOOL FOR FATHERS. 
 
 AN OLD ENGLISH STORY. 
 
 By T. GWYNNE. 
 
 Crown 8vo. Price 10s. 6d. 
 
 "The pleasantest tale we have read for many a day. It is a story of the Tatler 
 and Spectator days, and is very fitly associated with that time of good English 
 literature, by its manly feeling, direct, unaffected manner of writing, and nicely- 
 managed, well-turned narrative. The descriptions are excellent; some of the 
 country painting is as fresh as a landscape by Constable, or an idyl by Alfred 
 Tennyson." — Examiner. 
 
 "'The School for Fathers' is at once highly amusing and deeply interesting-^ 
 full of that genuine humour which is half pathos — and written with a freshness of 
 feeling and raciness of style which entitle it to be called a tale in the Vicar of Wake- 
 field school." — Britannia. 
 
 "Few are the tales so interesting to read, and so admirable in purpose and style, 
 as ' The School for Fathers.' "—Globe. 
 
12 Works published by 
 
 Miss Kavanagh's Female Biographies. 
 
 i. 
 
 WOMEN OF CHRISTIANITY, EXEMPLARY 
 
 FOR PIETY AND CHARITY. 
 
 By JULIA KAVANAGH. 
 
 Post 8vo., with Portrait. Price 12s. in embossed cloth, gilt edges. 
 
 "The authoress has supplied a great desideratum, both in female biography and 
 morals. Her examples of female excellence are taken from the earliest ages of the 
 church, and come down to recent times : she has a niche in her temple for every one 
 who deserves a position there. The style is clear, the matter solid, and the con- 
 clusions just." — Globe. 
 
 "A more noble and dignified tribute to the virtues of her sex we can scarcely 
 imagine than this work, which Miss Kavanagh has reared, like a monumental tablet, 
 to the memory of the ' Women of Christianity.' To this grateful task the gifted 
 authoress has brought talents of no ordinary range, and, more than all, a spirit of 
 eminent piety, and admiration for the good and beautiful, and a heart entirely 
 absorbed in the work she has so ably accomplished." — Church of England Quarterly 
 Review. 
 
 " The women pourtrayed have been selected from every period of the Christian era; 
 the same range of female biography is taken by no other volume; and an equal 
 skill in the delineation of characters is rarely to be found. The author has accom- 
 plished her task with intelligence and feeling, and with general fairness and truth: 
 she displays subtle penetration and broad sympathy, joining therewith purity and 
 pious sentiment, intellectual refinement and large-heartedness, and writes with 
 unusual elegance and felicity." — Nonconformist. 
 
 "Miss Kavanagh has wisely chosen that noble succession of saintly women who 
 in all ages of Christianity are united by their devotion to the sick, the wretched, 
 and the destitute." — Guardian. 
 
 II. 
 
 WOMAN IN FRANCE DURING THE 18th 
 CENTURY. , 
 By JULIA KAVANAGH. 
 
 2 Vols., post 8vo., with eight Portraits. 12s. in embossed cloth. 
 
 " Miss Kavanagh has undertaken a delicate task, and she has performed it on the 
 whole with discretion and judgment. Her volumes may lie on any drawing-room 
 table without scandal, and may be read by all but her youngest countrywomen 
 without risk." — Quarterly Review. 
 
 "Elegantly illustrated with a series of line engravings, this work has claims upon 
 the boudoir-table, in right of its guise and garniture. But its letterpress is superior 
 to the general staple of books of this class. Miss Kavanagh proves herself adroit 
 in sketching, and solid in judging character. Which among us will be ever tired of 
 reading about the women of France? especially when they are marshalled so 
 agreeably and discreetly as in the pages before us." — Athenosum. 
 
 " There is a great deal of cleverness and good taste in this book. The subject is 
 handled with much delicacy and tact, and takes a wide range of examples. Miss 
 Kavanagh's volumes are to be commended as a compact view of a period of always 
 reviving interest (now more than usually attractive)) pleasingly executed. The book 
 
 shows often an original tone of remark, and always a graceful and becoming one." 
 
 Examiner. 
 
Smith, Elder, and Co. 13 
 
 WORKS OF MR. LEIGH HUNT. 
 
 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEIGH HUNT; 
 
 WITH REMINISCENCES OF FRIENDS AND CONTEMPORARIES. 
 
 Three Volumes, post 8vo., with Portraits. 15s. cloth. 
 
 "These volumes contain a personal recollection of the literature and politics, as 
 well as some of the most remarkable literary men and politicians of the last fifty 
 years. The reminiscences are varied by sketches of manners during the same 
 period, and by critical remarks on various topics. They are also extended by 
 boyish recollection, family tradition, and contemporary reading; so that we have a 
 sort of social picture of almost a century, with its fluctuations of public fortune, and 
 its changes of fashions, manners, and opinions." — Spectator. 
 
 n. 
 
 THE TOWN: 
 
 ITS MEMORABLE CHARACTERS AND EVENTS. 
 
 Two Volumes, post 8vo., with Forty-Five Illustrations. 11. is. cloth. 
 
 " We will allow no higher enjoyment for a rational Englishman than to stroll 
 leisurely through this marvellous town arm-in-arm with Mr. Leigh Hunt. He 
 gives us the outpourings of a mind enriched with the most agreeable knowledge." — 
 Times. 
 
 m. 
 
 MEN, WOMEN, AND BOOKS. 
 
 Two Volumes, post 8vo., with Portrait. 10s. cloth. 
 
 " A. book for a parlour-window, for a summer's eve, for a warm fireside, for a 
 half-hour's leisure, for a whole day's luxury; in any and every possible shape a 
 charming companion. — Westminster Review. 
 
 IV. 
 
 IMAGINATION AND FANCY. 5s. cloth. 
 
 " The very essence of the sunniest qualities of the English poets." — Atlas. 
 
 V. 
 
 WIT AND HUMOUR. 5s. doth. 
 
 "A book at once exhilarating and suggestive." — Athenoium. 
 
 VI. 
 
 A JAR oe HONEY erom MOUNT HYBLA. 5s. cloth. 
 
 "A book acceptable at all seasons." — Athenaeum. 
 
 VH. 
 
 TABLE TALK. 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 "Precisely the book we would take as a companion on the green lane walk."— 
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