therefore all true and honest reasoning, out of doors. When a gentleman says he is of such an opinion, one takes it for a delicate way of expressing that such is his interest."

Now it is much to be feared that this is but too faithful a picture of the minds of the largest portion of practical debaters on questions of politics; and the reason appears very obvious. Political questions have from the beginning of civilized society been argued exclusively upon the principle of self-interest, somewhat enlarged perhaps from its bearing upon the mere individual, but still very much disjoined from moral considerations, and from those sanctions which refer the tendency of our thoughts and actions to their effects on the whole scheme of our social and individual existence. In education especially the science of politics is carefully insulated and kept apart from that of morals. We are taught to weigh all its propositions in the mere scale of worldly interest, and a powerful association is thus formed in our minds, which it is to be feared so far from realizing the beautiful hypothesis of the poet concerning the expansive power of self-love, is but too apt to reverse it. Self-love, instead of rising from individual to the whole, is too apt to sink from the whole to the individual.

Political economy is in an especial manner liable to this observation; for as it consists of a set of general principles, in conformity to which it is presumed to be the temporal interest of all parties to conduct themselves; it applies itself of course principally to the selfish feelings of mankind. But as no two philosophers ever agreed as to what really constitutes the temporal interest of men in the ge

neral and enlarged sense contemplated by political economists; and as every general principle of a merely political nature is contingent in its application, and is obviously inapplicable where any of the parties to a transaction refuse to be regulated by the general rule; the science of political economy, as now conducted, is of very confined use in practice. The prospect of immediate and personal advantage must ever be too powerful to be counteracted by prospective views, resting upon data so uncertain and precarious; and men do not fail to perceive that they may justifiably decline a present sacrifice, when the utmost penalty held out, is a contingency which one half of the reasoners upon the subject assert to be rather likely to produce good than evil. It is not, therefore, surprising that the practical result of all argumentation upon political economy comes to this; that men investigate the conflicting opinions, till they meet with one consonant with their immediate feelings of interest; and in that they abide till circumstances appear to offer individual advantage from a change of sentiment.

Now if there be any truth in these observations, and if I have also been successful in the preceding chapters of this treatise in proving that moral principle affords a certain standard of reference for the political questions now under discussion, and that nothing determined in conformity with it was ever found otherwise than advantageous to the commonwealth; I think it follows as a natural conclusion that the more complete is the sway which religion and morals are permitted to have in determining those questions, the more advantageous will the determination be in itself, and the more probable will

it be that the parties concerned will adhere to it in opposition to present temptation.

But let us come a little closer to the point, which is to show that the particular tendency of population to keep within the powers of the soil will have its complete operation, so as to prevent any mischievous pressure even against the actual supply of food, in proportion as religion, morality, rational liberty, and security of property approach to the attainment of a perfect influence.

And first of religion. It will scarcely be denied that if every man conscientiously consulted its dictates as to the connexions which he formed, as to the diligence and sobriety with which he conducted himself individually, and as to the mode in which he regulated his social or charitable relations towards his fellow creatures; there would, by the principles established in the first book of this treatise, be actually no distress arising from the want of a plentiful supply of the people's wants. For on the one hand, no greater proportion of the people would elect to marry than the interests of the state required, nor any more children be brought into the world than the demand for industrious labourers would be able to employ as they grew up. And on the other hand as every man would be sober and industrious, he would contribute his full share towards the production of the comforts and necessaries of life, or towards the fulfilment of other useful duties. But it would of course be absurd to expect so general a conformity with the commands of religion, and I have only exhibited the picture with a view to show the consequences that would ensue from the reality, if it existed, in order to make it more apparent that the

nearer we approach towards it the less difficulty will be experienced from any mischievous tendency in the population to press against the existing supply of food. For if complete conformity would insure complete success, and every step in advance be (as in the case before us it evidently is,) of itself a positive good and a solid acquisition, it follows as an undeniable conclusion that the degree of success will be in proportion to the degree of conformity.

Let us suppose, for example, a village or a family in which the doctrines and discipline of real christianity were cultivated and observed, and where its genuine effects of decency, sobriety, honesty, industry, and charity, with the repression of the opposite vices, were generally apparent; doubtless this family or village would be much more happy and prosperous, and especially with respect to its comfortable subsistence, than those which were regulated upon opposite principles. It follows then as a matter of course (if the principle of population be in fact adjusted as I have contended in the first book of this treatise,) that the more families and villages can be brought under the same regimen the greater will be the general happiness, comfort, and prosperity of the community at large. I have been induced to repeat this observation, because according to the principle of population as laid down by my opponents, the conclusion is in some respects different; and the consequences, although admitted with respect to a private family or a village, are denied to hold good with respect to the whole community.

If the reader, however, be disposed to agree in the view I have taken, he must not shrink from the necessary consequences, but apply the argument to

his own conduct; and, (in so far as he possesses legitimate influence,) to the principles upon which the government of the state is conducted. The immediate effect of religion upon the individual mind of a statesman belongs to a department of inquiry less elementary than that pursued in this treatise. But if he believe that the machinery of society works freely for the benefit of the people in proportion to the prevalence of religion; and if he also acknowledge the duty, asserted by Dr. Paley, of endeavouring to produce the greatest portion of public happiness and prosperity in a given space of country; then he must of course, as a mere politician, be occupied in a continual struggle to increase the influence of sound, pure, and orthodox principles of Christainity. He will not be satisfied with that moderate portion of morality which may be thought barely sufficient to prevent the actual degradation of society, but he will aspire after that further and higher portion which shall urge it on to a continual state of advancement. He will never suppose that his task in this respect is concluded; for it would be to forget the principles of the system he has adopted, were he to rest upon any other supposition than that human affairs have a natural tendency towards the principle of evil, which requires incessant counteraction. It would be his policy then to countenance every institution, public or private, fulfilling the great objects of circulating the Holy Scriptures, of spreading the knowledge of their contents, and of extending the influence of their precepts among the people. Nor would he be prevailed upon to withdraw that countenance, although trifling inconveniences, from which no human institutions are exempt, may be thought to qualify