tivated, all the produce consumed, and a further addition to population impossible. To this period Mr. M. looks with so much confidence, that he represents his arguments formed on it, as impregnable. It is to this point,---this bulwark of Mr. M's. theory,---that I shall principally direct my attention. But before disclosing my sentiments, it may. be proper briefly to notice the leading subjects treated of by him.

OF DRUNKENNESS.

i

THAT vice of any description, is a check to population, cannot be denied; but its extent, taken in the aggregate, is less than is generally apprehended: of this, Mr. M. appears conscious; for, though he places vice foremost among the scourges of mankind, he makes but little use of it when he speaks practically of the evils by which the world is desolated.

Of all vices, drunkenness and debauchery are most common, and most destructive. They are the vices of social dispositions; the concealed rocks on which a bad education precipitates a generous temper. But the disposition which leads to vice, prompts to marriage. The drunkard marries from a love of society; the debauchee, because he is disgusted at himself and his associates: it seldom happens that a drunkard is a bachelor, or a debauchee unmar

age

ried, at the of forty. Drunkenness, though much too often practised by young men, is seldom carried to that excess which breaks up the constitution, until the approach of old age has already undermined it. Excess in wine soon deranges the female economy, and occasions sterility; but, happily, the instances are rare. On the other hand, a young man, fond of his bottle, is commonly the father of many children. Drunkenness has not so speedy, nor so extensive an influence in the latter case as in the former. The Americans were, at once, celebrated for drunkenness and for fruitfulness.

If the body suffers from habitual excess, and the increase of population be slightly checked, by this means the mind suffers much more, and the edge of happiness is sooner blunted. It is a wrong idea we form, when we imagine, if the body be strong enough to resist the effects of intoxication, all its effects are resisted. It is not so. Drunkenness is the vice of social dispositions, but it destroys the social affections: an habitual drunkard cannot love; the warm and generous affection of a husband for his wife, the tender fondness of a father for his child, cease to be felt; this deplorable vice has dis solved the tie, by destroying the sense of it,

A drunkard loses all relish for life with his character in it; his dignity, his happiness, and his public spirit, are driven away by its influence. If he speak of generosity, in his cups, in his sober moments, he doubts whether the principle exists in nature.

A drunkard is seldom the promoter of benevolent actions. Thus the liberal youth becomes a churl: he can now no more rejoice with his friend; he cannot weep with him; his habits have robbed him of the atom of deity that was in him; the mind is dead, while yet the body lives and crawls about on the surface of the earth, without feeling an interest in it: it is a noble mansion, once the abode of hospitality and kindness, now untenanted.

Drunkenness is not a local vice, but is practised in every nation on the globe: the Turks, and all Mahometans, excite it by the use of opium; in China and the East-Indies, distilleries of arrac supply, in part, the place of this drug; in countries blessed with a more moderate climate, the vine is cultivated, and yields a pleasing and more safe delirium; in states rude and uncivilized, tobacco, and a variety of roots and herbs, unpleasant in themselves, but possessing an intoxicating property, are eagerly sought

after but by the inhabitants of the north of Europe, all nature is ransacked, that the means of drunkenness may be diversified. The east and the west give up their drugs, opium and tobacco are used and abused in a variety of ways. Distilleries, vineyards, brewhouses, are all impressed into this service: but, notwithstanding, the civilized parts of the north of Europe abound in children.

up

When drunkenness, may be said to commence, or what constitutes that excess in diet which in any measure abridges the period of human life, or in any way lessens the principle of increase, it is difficult to ascertain. Under certain circumstances, the plainest and most common food has the effect of ardent spirits, and if frequently repeated, would as soon break the constitution. A bason of broth is too strong for a person who has been starved; it occasions giddiness, and every symptom of intox ication: Dr. Beddoes relates, the circumstance of a collier, who had been confined three days in a coal-pit, on whom a mess of broth had this effect. Many similar facts are related by other authors: the most striking of which is, the case of Capt. Bligh, who was sent to Otaheite to obtain some plants of the bread-fruit tree,

F