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prejudice against political economy and its followers, which exists among the working classes, and among many other persons who are interested in the cause of human progress. There is a prevalent belief that the economists are a heartless and unfeeling set of men, who care only for the increase of national wealth, and think little of the toils and sufferings of the poor. Alas! that any such belief should prove the means of separating the working classes from their truest friends, and from the science in which alone their salvation is to be found. No

opinion could possibly be more erroneous. Even if it were true; if the economists had done nothing more for the working classes than point out the cause of poverty, they would still have rendered them a greater service than any other men ever have done, or can do; for the first necessary step to the removal of an evil is to know its cause. What the working classes most of all need at present is to see clearly the cause of low wages. A knowledge of this is of far more importance to them than any amount of commiseration for their sufferings. It is not charity and sympathy, but science and justice, that they most urgently require. But, besides pointing out the cause of poverty, the economists, as a class (though doubtless there have been exceptions), have been remarkable for their democratic tendencies, and their devotion to the interests of the working classes. They have been unceasing in their efforts to raise wages, and procure a better distribution of wealth. If we regard the list of economical writersAdam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Senior, Chalmers, James Mill, John S. Mill, Ellis, Place, H. Fawcett, Greg, Miss Martineau and others-I do not think that in any science we could find a greater number of writers distinguished for their liberality of opinions, their benevolence, and devotion to the cause of humanity. With regard to their political views, several of the English, and still more of the French, economists, have, I believe, been in favor of the removal of monarchy and aristocracy, and the substitution, in their place, of a Republican form of government;-which appears to me also to be the most conducive to human dignity, independence, justice, and happiness, and therefore much the best, in any country where there is a due respect for the laws, and a sufficient degree of political intelligence and unselfishness. Some economical writers have themselves belonged to the working classes, as, for example, Mr. Frantis Place in the earlier part of his life. Mr. Place repeatedly urged on their attention the study of political economy, as the only science which could save them from their evils. "Political economy" he says, "is the science of the working classes; nothing but a knowledge of its leading principles, aided by their own prudence, can ever rescue them from the degradation into which-they have not fallen-but from which they have never been able to emerge. Political economists are necessarily friends of the working people; the very end and object of the science is to elevate them, to procure for them the greatest possible share of the produce of their labor."

I believe that much of the prejudice against political economy, has arisen from its being supposed that the thoughtless and unfeeling

boasts of the "prosperity of England,” and vast " progress of the nation," so frequently put forth by statistical and commercial writers, and by the Times and Economist newspapers (both of which are essentially aristocratic, and anti-Malthusian), afford a fair representation of the views of the economists; but nothing could be further from the truth. None know so well the really miserable state of this country, as those who have carefully studied the action of the population principle. None are so little apt to be dazzled by a surface glitter, or to be carried away by what Mr. Mill terms "the unmeaning bustle of so-called civilized existence," as those who are well acquainted with the causes of the present evils, and who are therefore in a position to form a comparison between society as it is, and society as it might be. It may be observed moreover, that the earlier economists, although liberal in their own generation, were in some respects behind the most enlightened views of the present age. The great doctrines of social equality and the abolition of artificial distinctions of rank, were in their time but little known, and men had scarcely even begun to conceive the possibility of organic social changes. Better views on these points have been spread abroad chiefly by the Revolutions in France, and in other parts of the continent, and by the noble exertions of democratic and socialist writers. The earlier economists had so much to do in investigating the laws of their science, and have performed this task so admirably, that they may well be excused, if, in their general ideal of society, they fell short of the views of a later age. But whatever may be their deficiencies in this respect-and they are mostly deficiencies of omission not of commission-they have been amply atoned for by the work of Mr. John Stuart Mill, the most eminent living authority on the subject. The objects kept steadily in view throughout his whole work are first, that poverty should be removed, and wealth more equally distributed; and secondly, that (after making any necessary provision for the infirm, &c.) the income of each member of society should be as nearly as possible in proportion to his exertions. No writer could be more opposed to the present iniquitous distribution of wealth. Although differing widely (as all who recognize the population principle must do) from the general views of socialist and democratic writers on the cause and cure of poverty, Mr. Mill regards many of their moral conceptions as far in advance of existing social arrangements. "It," he says, in drawing a comparison between private property and a community of goods, “if the choice were to be made between communism with all its chances, and the present state of society with all its sufferings and injustices; if the institution of private property necessarily carried with it as a consequence that the produce of labor should be apportioned as we now see it, almost in an inverse proportion to the labor-the largest portions to those who have never worked at all, the next largest to those whose work is almost nominal, and sc in a descending scale, the remuneration dwindling as the work grows harder and more disagreeable, until the most fatiguing and exhausting bodily labor cannot count with certainty on being able to earn even the necessaries f

life: if this or communism were the alternative, all the difficulties, great or small, of communism, would be but as dust in the balance." In order to effect a better distribution of wealth, Mr. Mill recommends as the first and most indispensable means, (without which all others are futile), that the duty of limited procreation should be impartially applied to all classes alike; secondly, that the present system of hired labor should be gradually superseded by that of independent and associated industry; thirdly, that the laws of entail and primogeniture should be abolished, and the expenses attendant on the transfer of land removed; fourthly, that a tax should be laid on the spontaneous increase of rent; fifthly, that the right of inheritance should be limited, and that no one should be allowed to acquire by inheritance more than a certain sum, which should be fixed at a moderate competence; sixthly, that all the common lands, hereafter brought into cultivation, should be devoted to the purpose of raising up a class of peasant proprietors; seventhly, that there should be an extensive measure of colonization and of national education, so as to raise as rapidly as possible the condition of the poor, &c.

In his chapter on the Probable Future of the Laboring Classes, Mr. Mill makes the following remarks, in reference to those members of society who do nothing themselves, and regard as their inferiors all who are engaged in any useful occupation:-"When I speak either in this place or elsewhere of 'the laboring classes,' or of laborers as a 'class,' I use these phrases in compliance with custom, and as descriptive of an existing, but by no means a necessary or permanent, state of social relations. I do not recognise as either just or salutary, a state of society, in which there is any 'class' which is not laboring: any human beings, exen.pt from bearing their share of the necessary labors of human life, except those unable to labor, or who have fairly earned rest by previous toil. So long however as the great social evil exists of a non-laboring class, laborers also constitute a class, and may be spoken of, though only provisionally, in that character."

Fortunate would it be for the working classes, if they and all who really desire their elevation, would study the views of this great and benevolent thinker, and follow him as their true leader and guide. Sooner or later, I am convinced that they will do so. Notwithstanding the prejudices which now separate many of the working classes from political economy, I am persuaded that the time is not far distant when they will learn to know this science for what it really is; to know it as their best and truest friend-the friend which has never forsaken and never wittingly deceived them; and when they will regard with gratitude and admiration the noble-minded men-Adam Smith, Malthus, Picardo, Mill and others-who have labored so long, so patiently, and with so sorry a requital in their service. Nothing could at present more powerfully advance the best interests of mankind, than a cordial and steadfast union between Political Economy and the People.

RECAPITULATION OF THE PRECEDING

LAWS

In order to promote the clear apprehension of the laws of physiology, political economy, and social science, already considered, they may here be briefly recapitulated.

The Law of Exercise. The health of the reproductive organs and emotions depends on their having a sufficient amount of normal exercise; and the want of this tends powerfully to produce misery and disease in both man and woman.

The Law of Fecundity Each woman tends to produce from ten to fifteen children or thereabouts.

The Law of Agricultural Industry, or Diminishing Productiveness. The proportional returns to agriculture tend to diminish; in other words, the produce of the soil tends to increase in a less proportion than the labor bestowed on it.

From these three laws arises

The Law of Population, or Malthusian Law. The natural increase of population has always been, and will always continue to be, most powerfully checked in all old countries, and in new colonies also as soon as their cultivation has reached a certain extent, by Celibacy, (that is, Sexual Abstinence), Prostitution, Stérility, Preventive Intercourse, or Premature Death; whose collective amount varies inversely in proportion to the rapidity with which the population of the country is increasing, and to the number of emigrants minus that of immigrants, while the amount of each individually varies inversely in proportion to the others.

These four laws may be called the Main Elements of Social Science. They are the laws which chiefly determine the distribution of the necessaries of life-which may, for practical purposes, be said to consist of three chief elements, Food, Love, and Leisure. The causes by which they may be counteracted are, in the case of the law of fecundity, the five population-checks; in that of the law of exercise, an unhealthy life in other respects, (for this will naturally tend to counteract the benefits of moderate sexual intercourse, while, on the other hand, a healthy life in other respects will tend to counteract the evil effects of prolonged sexual abstinence); and in that of the law of diminishing productiveness, agricultural or other improvements

which however are never sufficient to enable old societies to escape from an immense amount of one or more of the population-checks.

As inferences from these laws arise the two following Duties; whose truth and paramount importance, together with the only method by which they can both be fulfilled, it has been the main practical object of this work to show.

The Duty of Limited Procreation. In an old country, it is the dnty of every individual, whatever be his or her station in life, to bring into the world only a very small number of children.

The Duty of Sexual Intercourse. It is the duty of every individual to exercise his or her sexual functions, during the period of sexual life; abstinence and excess being alike avoided.

The former of these duties is of a social, the latter of a selfregarding, character, (although each of them, doubtless, partakes of both characters). The first may be called the primary social duty, for it lies at the root of all the other virtues, and is most of all essential to the happiness of society. The removal of poverty and the mass of its attendant and consecutive evils, depends, in a country like England, on the conscientious practice of this duty and on nothing else whatsoever. Its impartial application to all members of society, whether rich or poor, is the real keystone of social justice. The second duty 18, in my opinion, at present the most important of all duties of the self-regarding class; that is to say, it is the one which is most neglected, and whose neglect is attended with the greatest amount of misery; and which therefore most of all requires to be resolutely and perseveringly asserted. No one who deeply and earnestly reflects on this subject, should allow himself or herself to be prevented from fulfilling this great duty, and from obtaining a just share of the sexual privileges, by the imperfections of the existing moral code. Social regulations which (unless from the direst and most undeniable expediency) deprive human beings of the necessaries of life, ought not to be obeyed; for the allegiance which we owe to the laws of nature and the primary wants of our being, is far more sacred than that which is due to human institutions. On the proper observance of this duty depends the removal of the manifold diseases arising from sexual abstinence, self-abuse, and prostitution.

The duties of limited procreation and of sexual intercourse, like all the real duties, are founded on the laws of nature, or, what is equivalent, on the principle of utility; the former being an inference from the laws of fecundity and agricultural industry, the latter from the law of exercise. If it be granted that over-procreation is the cause of poverty; and if it be further granted that all members of society are bound to co-operate in the removal of this evil; the former duty must be adritted. Again, if it be granted that the law of exercise is one of the laws of health; and if it be further granted that every individual, male or female, is bound to observe these laws; the second duty is also undeniable. In order to fulfil hoth of these duties, the only method left by the law of population to the inhabitants of an old country, is Preventive Sexual Intercourse.