upon it. We find, notwithstanding, the subject is thus treated in the work which puts forth the notions I am controverting. "A youth of eighteen would be "as completely justified in indulging the sexual pas"sion with every object capable of exciting it, as in following indiscriminately every impulse of his be"nevolence'." An aphorism perfectly in its place, as found in the present theory of population; but concerning which, whether in reference to the age alluded to, when the exercise of charity (in which virtue, Bacon says, there can be no excess) is so lovely, and open debauchery so disgustingly infamous; or whether, as it respects the consequences of these opposite courses at any period of life, or of such a doctrine generally propounded,-as no language I have at command can sufficiently express my execration, I shall, therefore, not employ any.

1 Malthus, Essay on Population, p. 559.

366

CHAPTER XXI.

OF THE PREVENTIVE CHECK: ITS IMPOLICY.

(1) BUT another view of the effect of the preventive check, in its mildest form, namely, that of a general postponement of the marriages of the lower classes, remains to be taken; one which, as far as I have perceived, has been wholly overlooked, both by its advocates and opponents, but which is, nevertheless, of so important a character, as to demand a separate consideration; and it is hoped, that a short one will suffice to place this boasted check in a light, in which its pernicious tendency will be instantly discovered, and seen to be beyond redemption.

(2) The Being who fixed the boundaries of human life, distributed its span into distinct periods; assigning to each its proper enjoyments and different duties, not merely in respect to the individual, but also in reference to those with whom such individual would be, in the course of Providence, necessarily connected: and the whole scheme of Nature is founded upon these close and essential relations. Nor is it given to the political economist, whatever be the apology, to vary or postpone at his pleasure, and with impunity, these terms; just so far as he should accomplish this purpose, he would inflict an irreparable mischief, not merely upon individual happiness, but on the welfare of society at large.

(3) Nature having made her computations, which, we may rest assured, are those most conducive to the well-being of her offspring, will not, happily for

them, alter or suspend her own laws. To attempt to do so for her, involves cruelty and injury. If the period which she peremptorily assigns for the development and gratification of the affections and passions be disregarded, and marriage be postponed, as it respects the female sex, for instance, to the age of twenty-eight or thirty, see the injury inflicted! To say no more concerning the vice and suffering which the proposition implies, not to mention the heartless nature of the proposal, which involves the sacrifice of the enjoyment of so large a part of life, and of that which is incomparably the most happy portion of it, as far as personal gratifications are concerned; let us remember the further consequences with which this delay thus dictated must be accompanied. The poor female who has to defer her marriage till that late period, will have lost her bloom, which fades the earlier from the constant labour to which she is exposed; she will, in many instances, have worn out those youthful fascinations, with which Nature adorned her, for the purpose of rendering her desirable to the other sex, and which, had they been surrendered to a husband before they had faded, would have blossomed in his memory to the end of life; she will very often have outlived the affection she had inspired, and have become an object of indifference, where she had once been that of the fondest regard; or, perhaps, have survived her lover, and all her hopes may have been thus blighted for ever. These cases would be neither fictitious nor few, were the virtue in question universally enjoined on the lower classes; they would have survived "the grace," whatever might be said of " the dignity" of the species. Will any one then, but a political economist, ridicule, or underrate the injury to the hopes and happiness of the vast but humble class in question, which

such a scheme would perpetrate? But I shall proceed to mention another of its consequences, which it will be difficult even for him to treat lightly.

(4) The preventive check, in materially postponing marriage, would not only counteract the plain design of Nature, in regard to the period at which that connection should take place, that is, when the passions are the least resistible, and when those affections are the warmest on which alone the happiness of future life can be founded; but it carries its injuries into every subsequent stage, and into all the relations of existence. As the term of human life does not enlarge agreeably to this unnatural interference, so it is quite obvious, that its inevitable consequence would be a disturbance in the natural order and succession of the generations, and of their relative ages, often fatal to the happiness and prosperity of the class affected by it, namely, the poor, for it must be still recollected, that the proposition has reference to the lower ranks of society only; and it is those whom it would principally injure, were it universally adopted. The parents in their declining days, instead of receiving the solace and assistance of their children, already advanced to the prime of existence, and, therefore, fully capable of yielding it, would often have to render it to their still infant or immature offspring on the contrary, the latter would, in an appalling number of cases, be exposed to the irreparable consequences of losing parental affection and solicitude, when the attentions they prompt are the most essential to their future welfare, if not to their very existence. If the female has to put off her marriage till the age of " twenty-eight or thirty"," as proposed, unless we must again disturb the order of Nature, the corresponding age of the males, though 1 Malthus, Essay on Population, p. 498.

not so relatively advanced as Plato and Aristotle mention, could not be less than thirty-three or thirtyfive. This regulation doubtless appears, to the antipopulationists, " a consummation devoutly to be wished;" but, alas for their discernment! if carried into effect, the higher ranks would soon have to encounter the drudgeries of life themselves.

(5) What does the proposition, then, involve? Suppose the female marrying between twenty-eight or thirty, to have a child born at the latter age, then, as the mothers, among the poor, do not bear their children so rapidly as those in the higher ranks of society, for reasons sufficiently obvious; though, as will be fully shewn, they have larger families, the number of which, it will also be distinctly proved, this postponement would not at all diminish, we may assume her to continue to breed till forty, and the father to be forty-five when his last child is born. These, it will be perceived, are no exaggerated calculations, but are far within the bounds of truth, in a vast number of cases, were these evil proposals to take effect. Let, then, the advocate for them apply to an actuary, or refer to Susmilch, Price, or any other political arithmetician, and he will soon perceive the high probability that the poor couple would leave a part of their family orphans at a period of life, when, above all others, their loss would be the most deplored, and the deepest felt. Would there be less, on the average, than a fatherless or motherless child to every labouring family in the empire? Certainly not! But it is unnecessary to appeal to calculations. "Late marriages make early orphans," is a truth which it did not require a Dr. Franklin to enunciate.

(6) But this is not all. A poor orphan, under the

VOL. I.

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