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of redress are in their own hands, and in the hands of no other persons whatever."*

Now, has not Mr Malthus been obliged to confess, almost in spite of himself, and to the utter destruction of his theory of human misery, that "the conduct and prudence of individuals," in regard to the abstaining from marriage, depends wholly on the nature of the laws and government under which they live ?-Has not he borne most ample testimony to this great truth, and stated sometimes, in the very strongest language, the facts which incontestably and undeniably prove it ?-as, for example, when he says, "ignorance and despotism effectually destroy the checks arising from reason and foresight;" and that security or good government is the first grand requisite to the growth of prudential habits ?"

How then, I ask, is the means of redress in their own hands, except they be placed under good government ?— and when they are so placed, can Mr Malthus, or any one who has listened to his statements, venture to deny but that infallibly "the redress shall follow ?"

From all that has been stated, then, I think we may fairly conclude, that the character, condition, and habits of the people are influenced and determined by their political circumstances, and are in fact the result of the laws and institutions under which they live. On the one hand, if these laws be wisely contrived, and founded on the principles of justice and benevolence, habits of order, frugality, and industry will prevail, and the condition of the people will be comfortable and happy, and will go on steadily and indefinitely to improve. If, on the other hand, the laws be of an opposite description, the condition of the people will be poor and miserable; "the standard of wretchedness at which

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they will consent to marry and propagate their species" will be degraded very low; and if by any accident or great good fortune an improvement or elevation of the "standard" takes place (for such an event will sometimes happen under very bad government,) it will speedily fall back again to the same low point.

Good government, then, it evidently appears, is an absolutely indispensable requisite to any great increase or accumulation of wealth, as well as to any considerable or lasting improvement in the condition of mankind. It is equally certain, or rather indeed it is almost the same proposition, that without good government a people can never be enabled to attain any very great degree of prosperity, or to acquire that degree of improvement which should ensure their future progress in the same career, until they arrive at the most highly-advanced stage in which a country approaches to the limits of its resources. Those limits it may perhaps be impossible for a people or country ever fully to reach, but under good government they must always be advancing and making approaches nearer and nearer towards those limits, although at last of course by very slow degrees; but after having made a certain progress, and arrived at a certain stage of improvement, it is but barely possible that they should ever again essentially retrograde.

At first indeed improvement might proceed very slowly, and in the end it necessarily must do so, but from very different causes or obstacles at those different periods: at last the obstacle is the limited extent of earth; in the beginning it is the ignorance and ineptitude or torpor of the human mind. This last-mentioned obstacle, however, can never permanently resist the influence of good government, and the first-mentioned can have no power to stop improvement altogether, or to prevent the continual and indefinite increase of wealth, wages, and population. As soon, however, as the second-mentioned obstacle is removed, in countries

which are yet at a great distance from the limits of their resources, their progress must be comparatively rapid, until they arrive at a very advanced stage of improvement. The quickness or slowness of their advance may indeed be very various in different parts of this their middle progress from a variety of accidents, but it cannot fail to be incomparably quicker during this period than it is possible for it to be either at the beginning or end.

The progress of a country under good government might be somewhat like the following:-Suppose a country or people ever so miserably poor and degraded, and unenlightened and ignorant, placed at once, by whatever miracle, under good government, immediately all open and flagrant disorders or violence (which we may suppose to have been previously frequent and considerable) would be repressed, and justice would be administered with an even hand; some portion of new industry would quickly show itself amongst them, and they would slowly begin to better their condition, and to emerge from the state of thraldom and apathy in which they had previously lain; wealth as well as population would gradually increase; inventions and improvements in all the arts of life would be introduced and multiplied; and at length the sluggish mind would be fully awakened by the general diffusion of knowledge and education. Then would commence their full career; and although particular accidents might occur to retard or accelerate the march of improvement, and cause it to advance at a quicker or slower pace at one period and another, still it could not fail to be rapidly progressive upon the whole, until the country should have become highly cultivated in every part, the wealth very great, and the population dense or numerous, in proportion to the extent of territory.

Arrived at this stage population must necessarily augment at a slower rate, although wealth might continue to increase and accumulate very greatly and rapidly for some time

longer; but ultimately both the one and the other would inevitably be brought to advance with contracted steps; and although it may be theoretically true that they could never be brought to a stop altogether, yet it is certain that in the end their progress must come to be so exceedingly small as to be reduced to an imperceptible and evanescent quantity.

But throughout the whole of this progress,—as well when wealth and population had attained their highest and almost stationary state, as during the period of their most rapid increase, the condition of the lower classes, as well as that of every other class of labourers, would be constantly and uniformly progressive, and would continue to go on improving indefinitely, though of course, as has been already observed, by very slow steps at the end, and those constantly growing slower and slower.

This constant progress in improvement, after the attainment of a certain stage, follows necessarily from the principles of human nature, and would arise from "the uniform, constant, and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his condition," which, as Dr Smith observes,* "is frequently powerful enough to maintain the natural progress of things toward improvement, in spite both of the extravagance of government and the greatest errors of administration." How much more confidently, then, might this effect be looked for under a system from which such great errors would be necessarily excluded?

It is, therefore, maintained, that wherever good government is once established and advanced to a certain point of improvement, education will be speedily introduced and widely extended, and the principle of improvement, the desire of bettering their condition, will be extended in like

• Wealth of Nations, book ii. chap. 3.

proportion, and become effectual for its purpose, down to the very lowest ranks of the people, and that the necessary consequence must be, that the natural wages of labour,* "the custom of the country," and "habits and modes of life," will begin and continue universally and indefinitely to improve and increase throughout the whole extent of the labouring population.†

It will be found quite in vain to merely urge against this induction what has been in times past, and with the lofty air of superior wisdom and intelligence, to haughtily point the finger to the volume of history, and refuse to enter into farther argument. Before the invention of printing this might have passed, and the sketch just delineated could perhaps never have been realized; but that inestimable invention has totally changed the position and prospects of mankind. Before that invention knowledge and education could never be expected to reach, or at least to be widely diffused, among the inferior ranks of people; and although much might have been done for them by the establishment of good government, even independent of education, who, it may be asked, could or would establish good government, or maintain it, even if it were established, without the assistance of the people themselves and of the press?-The degraded condition of the great body of the people, therefore, was then utterly hopeless and irremediable; but now the face of affairs is totally changed, and all reasoning from experience antecedent to that event, or without taking it into the account, is valueless, nugatory, and inconclusive. The general diffusion of knowledge and education is at all times, and especially in the present condition and circum

The student should be already acquainted with what is meant by the natural wages of labour as explained by Dr Smith. The general reader will see it explained in book iii. chap. 4. of this work.

+ See this subject farther treated in book ii. chap. 5 and 8.

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