For the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore, I command thee, saying, thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land; &c. &c.?"

CHAPTER III.

"OF SYSTEMS OF EQUALITY, &c., Continued.”

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We are told, that "it is necessary there should be, some where on record, an answer to systems of equality, founded on the principle of population; and that such an swer is as appropriately placed, and likely to have as much effect, among the illustrations and applications of the principle of population, as in any other situation to which it could be assigned." Probably, it may be so; but the title-page of the Essay states, that it is "An inquiry into the principle of population, (or, in other words, power of procreation,) and how we may hope to mitigate the evils which it occasions." Now, although Mr. M. takes for granted, and so boldly asserts the existence of those evils, at his first setting out, yet, some how or other, he has most unaccountably omitted to specify any one of those evils, or to shew, that the power of procreation does produce any whatever, as we have already had repeated oc

casion to notice. Though this is strictly the case, yet, he most bravely calls on us to take his assertions on trust this we are not quite disposed to do; but rather mean to maintain, that, till he specifies, and proves, what are the evils resulting from the power of procreation, any argument founded thereon is, therefore, inadmissible, because its foundation is imaginary, and, consequently, both the answer and the record are, for the present, void of authority, and the illustrations and applications premature and inadmissible.

We do not put implicit confidence in Mr. Malthus's prophecy, that "the appearances in all human societies, particularly in all those which are the farthest advanced in civilization and improvement, will ever be such as to inspire superficial observers with a belief, that a prodigious change, for the better, might be effected by the introduction of a system of equality." What ideas the professor means to convey by the terms, "civilization and improvement," as used in the above paragraph, will, perhaps, appear to our readers, as to ourselves, difficult to be comprehended.

The true state of the matter is, that "the subject has (not yet) undergone a thorough discussion," nor has any "great experiment in improvement" been fairly tried; consequently, "the opinions of the advocates of equality

(of rights) are not yet (nor ever will be) ranked among those errors, which have passed away, to be heard of no more."

Mr. M. says, that that "he has been induced to add a little to what he had already said on systems of equality, instead of leaving out the whole discussion, by a tendency to a revival of this kind at the present moment." This tendency to a revival, O reader, is contained in a work published under the auspices of Mr. Owen, of New Lanark, entitled A New View of Society; a gentleman for whom (Mr. M.) has

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a very great respect." Mr. Owen's plans and opinions tend to vindicate the ways of God to men, instead of heaping additional aspersions thereon; nevertheless, his opinions are attacked on all hands, because, forsooth, they “are intended to prepare the public mind for the introduction of a system involving a (voluntary) community of labour and goods."

Mr. Owen is, we believe, a man of real benevolence, who has done much good. He is further entitled to great attention, on all subjects relating to education, from the experience and knowledge which he must have gained, in an intercourse of many years with 2000 manufacturers, and from the success which has resulted from his modes of management. theory, professed to be founded on such experience, is, no doubt, worthy of much more consideration than one formed in a closet."

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Of" the two decisive arguments," with which Mr. M. is furnished, against (all) such systems, one is "the unsuitableness of a state of equality, both according to experience and theory, to the production of those stimulants to exertion, which can alone overcome the natural indolence of man, and prompt him to the proper cultivation of the earth, and the fabrication of those conveniences and comforts which are necessary to his happiness."

This first argument is, however, quite powerless, in the attack on Mr. Owen's system, because he assigns experience, as being the foundation on which his theory is built; and, therefore, until Mr. Malthus can shew that Mr. Owen is deceived or mistaken in the experience and theory so assigned, the decisive argument will remain quite indecisive. Indeed, Mr. M. admits as much, although he expresses it in the manner most likely to induce or continue the belief in the correctness and applicability of his favourite argument. Thus, "it may be true, that neither experience nor theory on this subject is quite so decisive as to preclude all plausible arguments on the other side, which arguments (when founded on experience) do not admit of so definite and decisive an answer, as to make the proposal for an experiment, in modern times, utterly absurd and unreasonable." Therefore, the next argument which is to silence all objectors, speculators, and so forth, is