would be his first inquiry,-why, as his labour was the source of all wealth, he was to enjoy only onesixth of its produce. He would next inquire,-why one or two thousand of his own class could not unite under your system, and consume or exchange all the produce of their own labour, over and above what might be necessary to pay the rent of their land, and the interest of the money advanced, but which could be repaid in a very few years, and the land ultimately purchased. They would say, We will no longer, like sheep and cattle, be subject to the fluctuating demands of a market and as all capital is but accumulated stock, every year will add to our riches, so long as a desire for producing surplus wealth may prevail; and if our numbers increase, we can with ease create a sufficient surplus capital for the purposes of colonization."

• After an examination of the various systems of equality of Condorcet, Wallace, Godwin, and Owen, through sixty-six pages Mr. Malthus triumphantly remarks, "The impossibility of checking the rate of increase in a state of equality, without resorting to regulations that are unnatural, immoral or cruel, forms an argument at once conclusive against every such system." He then commences the following chapter in these words: "Although the resource of emigration seems to be excluded from such perfect societies as the advocates of equality generally contemplate..." And does it" seem to be excluded,"

Douglas." Excellently repeated, my friend. You are already well qualified to advance the good The Political Ecocause on your return to Persia. nomists appear to have overlooked the vast accession to our productive powers, during the previous

Har

to any one but to Mr. Malthus? who, seeing it was a natural resource that would at once refute his sophistry, carefully avoided throughout his criticism any allusion to emigration. If Plato in his Republic, which he confined to a limited circumference, suggested means for restricting population that were unnatural and cruel," why must other systems of equality necessarily adopt the same means? But we will venture to say, and we are borne out by facts, that systems of equality are the only constitutions of society in which we can be certain that "the moral restraint," if necessary, can be generally adopted. At this time there is a society called the Shakers, in America, who do not marry, but live together as members of one family. And the same principles prevail in the society of the Harmonists: mony is truly the abode of peace and industry. The society, however, possesses one principle of so unsocial and dispiriting a character as to throw a shade over the whole scene in a moral sense, and to fill the mind with commiseration for men who can so construe any of the precepts of Christianity into a virtual prohibition of the sacred ties of the married state." After these proofs that the passions can be altogether subdued by education, and early imbibed opinions however absurd, can there remain any doubt of the possibility of their appropriate regulation in societies composed of men of superior intellectual attainments? Happy, indeed, would it have been for mankind, if all the theories which Mr. Malthus has " formed in a closet" had remained there.

half century

hence they adhered to certain maxims laid down by an able writer, Adam Smith, whose work appeared at a time when mechanism had made comparatively but little progress in aid or in substitution of human labour. The great work of this author, An Enquiry into the Nature and the Causes of the Wealth of Nations,' was limited to inquiries regarding the creation of wealth, without embracing the more comprehensive views of its distribution, and moral effects.

But at the commencement of the present century, inquiries into that branch of the subject were unnecessary, as sufficient knowledge had for a time been acquired, and wealth in superfluity abounded. The question which the Political Economists at this period should have solved, was, 'In what manner the abundant wealth which was created with so much facility, could be most beneficially distributed.' I am not at all surprised to find the Political Economists complaining of the little regard that was paid to them, after the few who had investigated their theories were so dissatisfied with the result. The student in other sciences was finally rewarded for his laborious attention, by an accession of wisdom and of new sources of pleasure; but the Political Economists led through a tedious labyrinth their ill-fated votary, who, when he thought

that he had reached the promised land, beheld before him a trackless and barren waste

"Here, where no springs in murmurs break away,
Or moss-crown'd fountains mitigate the day,
In vain ye hope the dear delights to know,

Which plains more blest, or verdant vales bestow.'"

CHAPTER IX.

"Genius has seen thee in her passionate dreams;
And dim forebodings of thy loveliness,

Haunting the human breast, have there entwined
Those rooted hopes of some sweet place of bliss
Where friends and lovers meet to part no more."

Shelley.

ON the following morning the heavy clouds had passed away, and the atmosphere was serene and clear. The fields and hanging-woods shone with a more vivid green, and the dazzling radiance of the rising sun called forth all the beauties of the surrounding scenery; while the birds singing in full chorus seemed to hail the return of the glorious sun-beams. Such were the attractions that invited Saadi to quit his rooms at an earlier hour than usual. The observations of Douglas and Margaret on the preceding morning, had convinced him that the principles of the communities were not inimical to true religiona, and his mind had regained

a "Is it possible, in the nature of things, that men can possess the ability to perform any other real service for that great