The Sun.
London, England, 1840-08-29 00:00:00

11VEN1NG EDITION.

-._

LITERATURE.

ALISON ON POPULATION.
Mr. Alison, as we have already shown, has
written his whole book wavering between two
!I more opinion, and has been constant to neither.
Every page almost supplies contradictions between
what he has been taught or the theories he has
i!orined, and what he has observed. Here is a spe-
cimen of the result of observation either by him-
self or ot'acrs :
"In tl•iis, as in every other instance, the laws of
nature are enforced in human affairs by the de-
velopir.ent.
of
active propensities, springing from eir-
tunis'cances which call for their operation. Essential as
j!lutnso in the habits of mankind is to their welfare
Ituen the situations in which they are placed has under-
Pee an alteration, it is brought about without the ac-
" by whom it is accomplished being conscious of its
oeration. They are never called upon to do violence to
their inclinations, or to sacrifice their happiness for the
14)elfaPr of the community to which they belong. It is in
...onsw I'E. •
lngtheir own wishes, and in striving rfter their
lop
O
• enjoyments, that they are led to do tlit which the
otterests of society require.
duall3y the wisdom of Nature the welfare of the indivi-
ual is made the basis on which the prosperity of the
viliale fabric of human prosperity is rested. Their exer-
tions for their own advancement are the means by which
"ut only provision is made for a further multiplication
the species, but the desires awakened which regulate
!" increase. The same Invisible Hand which has
4tthe the wing of the bird to the air, and the fin of the j
th 'l' the water, has watched with equal solicitude over j
b: still more important concerns of the social world, andl
situation
aPted the human mind not to one but to every
„.11,_`;°11 in which it can be placed, and every exigency'
the it can be reduced, from the physical situation
Gf toe ,pecies.,,
• 14 the passage, Mr. Alison is a perfect believer
ult. the wisdom of Nature. No despiser of revela-
.,4llts-no impugner of statesmanship—no advo-
44tte for the all-sufficiency of the natural desires
htl,4 passions of man as the proper guides on
is conduct—no denier of the utility of legislation
'...1° defender of the utmost license for the
passions ever penned a passage more opposed
ti
° all human laws and our revealed religion,
~ABtead of the world being a state of probation,
z,-7re man is a stranger and a prisoner, it is de-
ja-dribed as a beautiful and fitting home, admirably
i-h'aPted to him, and he to it. 'lThe sinner fallen,
Ito a world for which he was not created, is rere-
he.n.,trd to be as well suited to his Paradi.,se as the
"
apll to the air or the fish to the water, But that is
e,
very reverse of the general doeArine of Mr. Ali-
ies book, and he evidenth; writes fine sentences
e the one we have que,red, without the most re-
:te conjecture of their bearings or meaning. In-
;let° of men consulting their desires, and striving
th et their own enjoyments, promoting that which
e interest of society requires, we are told in other
places that " the human species has to contend
with .13hysical difficulties •"that " it is inclined
to
tiviolence arid crimes ;" that " the most ac-
ve causes of human woe in any age are to be
4,ind in human wickedness," " that population has
" Unhealthy action," and that " the ambition of
kratifYing desires" is the ruin of states ; and so on
roughout the book. At every page almost we
fl
d the principles of the all-sufficiency of nature of
_oe Propriety of consulting man's wishes, and of the
;rnplete and perfect adaptation of man to the
Worldsome continually, and in times in plain terms,
Iltrad:Leted and denied.
ti, Mr. Alison has a whale chapter about the acivan-
"ges of a national church, and borrowed statements
are
he believes the greater part,--" that there
lte seven hundred and sixty thousand unconverted
'Pagans in the city of London," that is, immediately
2und St. Paul's, while the Bishop of London has
iore wealth than he knows what to do with, and
the
sinecure prebends have of late been docked by
"e Legislature as superfluous. Sometimes we read
of the " dreadful influence of civilization upon the
eilara;:ter of the bulk of the lower orders, (p. 105,
1131. and sometimes it is proved through several
Pages (chapter on the changes in the progress of
society, which limit the principle of increase), "that
the civilization of Brabant, Holland, Switzerland,
and England, has no such effect, and that the de-
gradation of the population of our country, which is
the example Mr. Alison has in view when he speaks
of " dreadful influence of civilization," is caused,
" either by the fluctuations of trade or the influx of the
Irish ?" We do not quarrel with Mr. Alison for
embracing either of these contradictory opinions—
he may believe that civilization has most dreadful
sheets, though it would not then be deserving of
altet,,ll.arn e ; or be may believe that it is wholly he-
lve which it must be, to be called civilization—
critnin Y complain of his wanting the power to dis-
arid siate, as to which is the more correct opinion,
di feaully adhering to that which he prefers.
hioh every age," we are told at page 283,
to beeer_orders have a tendency to become luxurious,
ore 'me selfish, to become, corrupt, because they
the r,selievedfrom the necessity of daily exertion ;
ca Y "aye a tendency to become pusillanimous, be-
Use
they have so much to lose from the consc-
ifre-ces of valour. These are the , well known
12e9ets of the acquisition of opulence. At page
.„mr, however, and many other places, an opulent
—cranY, relieved from supplying their own
baton
is described as the source of enterprise, am-
i?n, and of the incessant desire of rising in the
World, Which becomes the governing and healthy
fortnei,sie
Of man. We have both tirades against
41. H.Y> and judicious statements that the spread of
totifieial wants is the great counteracting principle
evil amongst the people. It is one part of Mr.
ison's
ttitution object to prove that the aristocratic con-
of England, while it does not prohibit
trort e from o
' rising in the world, is far superior to any
hrestraining • her in the principle of population, and
°t('s` therefore, he implies, in the order of nature.
I. 1, page 31, and many others.) At the same
jvne, he informs us " that in Greece and Rome the
thigher ranks corrupted the lower, and, long before
ignorant masses were contaminated, cor-
fluiPti°ll, sensuality, and every species of pro-
of'gaeY had utterly poisoned all the sources
Public welfare in the dignified portion of
°eletY• The same fact is exemplified in
every
rs page of human history." In one place we
nd the high table land of American republicanism
odr,F,Jihed as equally pernicious with the " flat level
Oriental despotism," " in repressing the desire of
mankind to improve their condition." " Political
rwer being equally vested from the outset of life
all classes, it is considered as no distinction any
mote than the air which they breathe or the water
wl,nich they drink." So says Mr. Alison, in page
3) of the Americans, which is as false as any
"
thing can well be. Arid so Mr. Alison himself
*ll:Plies in page 144, when he attributes the energies
°' republican Greece, of warrior Rome, and the
success of republican France to " permitting the
talents of the great body of the people to bear upon
the fortunes of State." That he says, in page
ILj l, is " what constitutes the strength of the free
States, while in page 133 he denies its efficacy in
American
republicanism. But Mr. Alison ;ivies
1.4 the following passage, which we will quote for
its Own sake, amore distinct proof that he makes
assertions at random, without ever reflecting on their
tneaning or their value, when he ascribes to " mere
Ntitical institutions," or supposes a political insti-
tution can suppress the desire of mankind to im-
Prove their condition ;
" There is something solemn and almost awful. in
the incessant advance of the great stream of civilisa-
ttin, Which in America is continually rolling down from
. summit of the Alleghany mountains, and over-
spreading the boundless forests of the Far West. No-
thing similar ever was witnessed in the world before.
'Vast as were the savage multitudes which ambition, or
ifugt of plunder in Getigistan or Timour brought down
Tartary to overwhelm the opulent regions of the
earth, they are as nothing compared to the ceaseless flow
°f human beings which is now in its turn sent forth from
tine abodes of civilised man into the desert parts of the
world. Not less than three hundred thousand persons,
all in the prime of life, now yearly crop the Alleghany
Inountains, and settle on the banks of the Ohio or its
tributary streams. They do not merely pass through,
like a devastating fire, or a raging torrent, they' settle
where they take up their abode, never to return. Their
war is with the forest and the marsh—not against the
cprrupted cities of long-established man. Spreading
thilbselves out over an extent of nearly twelve hundred
miles in length, these advanced posts of civilisation
t,°4lrnence the incessant war with the plough and the
hatchet, and at the sound of their strokes, resounding
through the solitude of the forest, the wild animals and
the Indians retire to more undisturbed retreats.
Along a tract of nearly twelve hundred miles
in length, the average advance of civilisation is about
,eventeen miler a year. The ground is imperfectly
cleared indeed .y these pioneers of humanity, but still
the forest has disappeared under their strokes ; the
greeo field, th wooden cottage, the signs of infant im-
provement have appeared, and behind them another
wavr, of more lyz.p.i.thy and refined settlers appear, who
olmplete the work of agricultural advancement. The
wild animals el the forest retire before this incessant
advance of civilization ; by a mysterious instinct, or the