a satisfactory solution. What these considerations are no cue is given to discover; but instead of this the "solution" itself is given! And when Mr Malthus's readers should have expected to hear a dissertation upon the difficulties attending the question, and upon the impossibility, or improbability, at the least, of a satisfactory solution of it being ever achieved, he is confounded and astonished by the introduction, all at once, of the solution itself; cooked indeed, and garnished with the usual modicum of oils and aromatics wherewith Mr Malthus is accustomed to drown and deaden the taste of such indigestible and unsavoury viands. “The question,” he says, "involves so many considerations:"-" Among the circumstances:"-" It would be very desirable to ascertain :"-" We shall generally be able to trace:"—and such other dubious and hesitating expressions as may be calculated to throw distrust and uncertainty upon what is otherwise clear.-And "with regard to education, it might certainly be made general under a bad form of government, and might be very deficient under one in other respects good; but it must be allowed that the chances, both with regard to its quality and its prevalence, are greatly in favour of the latter." How eminently candid is this last admission! And with what admirable precision of logical deduction is the conclusion made out!

Mr Malthus may quibble, if he pleases, about the word "satisfactory," which he has inserted perhaps to serve as another loop-hole; he may aver that the solution which he has given is by no means satisfactory to himself, whatever it may be to other people. And here we may readily believe him. He keeps the word of promise to the ear at least. He cannot well be satisfied with that which reduces to nought all that he has ever written, and wholly takes out the sting of his "principle of population." And this it is which gives us the proper cue to discover the cause of the inconsistences and contradictions which pervade Mr Mal

thus's writings. He reasons himself out of his main doctrine, and he must get back to it again the best way he can.

If the specimen that has been here exhibited of these contradictions could be considered in the light of a simple inadvertence, glaring as it is, it would have deserved or required no remarks; but this is far from being the case. It is not here only, or in a few instances, that Mr Malthus maintains these contradictory doctrines, and exemplifies the model of reasoning which has been here examined. On the contrary, the same desultory and contradictory mode of treating his subject is copied in a thousand instances, and indeed pervades and disfigures the whole of his Essay on Population, as well as his "Principles of Political Economy," wherever he touches upon this question.

But if we are not afraid of the truth, or of removing the imputation of "evil" from "the principle of population," and of allowing that imputation to rest where it ought, and where, in spite of himself, Mr Malthus's own reasonings demonstrate that it should rest, the solution which he has given will appear satisfactory enough; and that which he regarded as so difficult of accomplishment as to be "hardly to be expected," will have been accomplished by himself, even while he was unconscious of and dissentient from his

own success.

After what has now passed under review, then, I think I have still new and additional reason to conclude, as I before have done* on the same subject, that "there are in fact but two ways of improving mankind, and of bettering their condition, and these are by means of education and good government; and all attempts to succeed by any other methods will always be found abortive and unavailing. But as a liberal system of education can never be thoroughly

* See book i. chap. 10, at the end.

and securely established where good government is not found, and as the former naturally follows where the latter has place, these two causes are in effect reduced to one; and good government may be pronounced to be the one indispensable and only efficient cause of improvement in the condition of mankind in general, and particularly in that of the labouring classes of people."

CHAPTER IX.

OF POOR-LAWS.

SECTION I.

INTRODUCTION TO THE CHAPTER.

WHEN it happens to an able-bodied labourer, and to one who has nothing but his labour to look to for his support, that he is unable to procure employment, and that, having exhausted any little store or savings which he might previously have had accumulated, he has nothing remaining wherewithal to satisfy even the immediate cravings of his hunger, it must be confessed, that he is then placed in a worse condition than that of the savage in the state of nature, since the latter is always free at least to employ his labour and exertions to procure food, whereas the former is, under the circumstances supposed, debarred from this privilege, and is in effect (where there is no legal or certain provision made for his case) commanded to starve in the midst of plenty, without moving a finger to save himself from perishing. Now, it is in the highest degree important

and vital to the question we are about to discuss, to remember, that the case just stated is the only one in which an individual can be placed within the pale of civilized society, in which he will find himself more unfortunately situated, and in a worse condition, than even the savage in his wilderness.

It has been one of the chief objects of the present work to demonstrate, and I trust it has been demonstrated, that the institutions which are necessary to the existence of civilized society, and particularly the institutions of property, and of the system of the division of labour, are naturally advantageous to the labourers, as well as to the two other classes of land-proprietors and capitalists, inasmuch as they are the means of enabling every person, including even the lowest labourers, (so long as they have employment,) to acquire a greater share of wealth,-of necessaries, conveniences, and luxuries,-than they could do otherwise; that is, in other words, than they could acquire in the state of nature. It seems equally therefore the duty and the interest of every community to guard against the incidence of the case just described, by providing, if possible, for all who may be in want, and thus to make it the interest of every individual without exception, and at all times, to support those institutions and laws which are necessary to its existence and well-being.

That this ought to be done, if it were possible, without introducing a greater evil than that which it would be thereby attempted to obviate is allowed; but this, it is contended, is impossible.

That it is not so however, and that to maintain the indigent and necessitous of every description is not that impossible or very difficult thing which it has been represented to be, I shall now proceed and endeavour to demonstrate.

SECTION II.

THE POOR-LAWS OF ENGLAND ILL CONTRIVED AND IMPERFECT, CONSIDERED AS A SYSTEM CALCULATED FOR ALL TIMES AND CIRCUMSTANCES-STILL WORSE ADMINISTERED.-POSSIBILITY OF A LEGAL AND COMPULSORY PROVISION FOR THE POOR, WITHOUT THEREBY INCREASING THEIR NUMBERS.

WHETHER the poor-laws of England were well or ill contrived at first, or whether they were well or ill suited to the purpose they were then intended to serve, I shall not now pretend to determine; but, if we consider them as a system calculated for all times and circumstances, it must be admitted at once that they are exceedingly deficient; and in regard to the manner in which they are now administered, and to the many collateral evils which grow out of them, it will be universally acknowledged that they are still more censurable.

As they are at present administered indeed, and considered in regard to present circumstances, these laws are nearly as ill calculated to serve the purpose required, or that which should be aimed at by every poor-law, namely, the relief of those who are in want, without occasioning thereby an increase of their numbers, as can well be conceived. But it does not thence follow that a better system could not be fallen upon, or that (as has been contended) no legal or compulsory provision can be made, or any regular systematic relief be given to the poor, without increasing the evil it is intended to cure. The aged and infirm, at least, might evidently be provided for, without any very great or obvious danger of extending the evil, or of increasing their numbers, by over-propagation, which is the bugbear set up to scare us from every regular mode of charity.