The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-27 00:00:00

1

THE HielltAk)S Oii.SNirrITtERLAND.I

.The inconvenience from an excessive popula-
tion was early felt in the Canton of Berne. !
" The old regulations of Berne," says M. Kea-
thofer, ‘‘ as well as the last of 1807, rest on the same
principles as the English, except that the last regn-
lation is more severe and more positive in all that
concerns the poor called to participate in the benefit
of the tax." He observes, that matters are noiv
much woi,se than they were at the regulation Of
1690, which declares that individuals marrying with-
In being assured of the mcans of existence, shall lie
deprived of their rights to and from the parish ; and
he asks" are the old provisions with regard to the
Foor, sufficient, when the common land are almost all
distributed, the number ofgoats is excessive, the
cultivation of. potatoes admits of no extension, and
our commerce with the neighbouring. States is pa-
ralysed, and the • introduction of vaccination is so
favourable to the rapid increase of population ?
• I believe, every thing considered, we ought
to exclude provisionally from the right of marriage
extreme
you th--th ose whose intellectual and physi-
cal faculties have not attained their full development,
and who cannot secure either maintenance or educa-
tion to their offspring. And, besides, if the fortu-
nate individua', or he who owes his ease of circuni-
stances to his'industry,. to his labour, is to be sub-
jected to au annual tax for the benefit of indigen4
—has he not a right equally incontestible to demand
that the sacrifices he is called on to make should not
be expended so as to propagate a people of beggars ?"
We have said that this description of the
Highlands of Switzerland applies Oarly ro all
the mountainous regions of Europe. HaCcip4,
the naturalist, one ()ithe Emperor Joseph's Prd-
fessors, who travelled through most of the
alpine regions of Europe, in his Account of his
'Travels through the Dacian and Sarmatian. Cal-
i
pathians, was so much affected with the spec-
tacle- of suffering which every where presented
itself, the result of excessive population, that he
declared that Turkey was a paradise in coM-
parison.
" In large mountainous ranges (he says) the
liabitants are compelled to emigrate, to obtain dn
existence in othercountries. Well is it when SU
emigrations are conducted peaceably, and .the emt
ip-antb can 'and room for themselves ; but should

We yesterday observed, that all the mom
tainous regions :in Europe, with the exceptioi,
perhaps, of Norway, were over-peopled, and thiit
the inhabitants were, in. consequence, in a statr
of great misery: In most •of the- countries in
question, the evil of excessive population seen*
to have been felt -at a very early period, and t
have been met by certain restraints on the free.
don of the lower orders. ' i
A volume was lately published by Mr. Hotlg!••
kin, under the title of " Popular Political Ecot
nomy," to many of the principles laid-down in
which we are distinctly opposed, however much
we may feel disposed to praise the ingenuity and
spirit of the writer. Mr. Hodgkin seems to
think, when The has disposed of the apparent ex-
ception in the case of Ireland, and has shown
that " it is abundantly evident that the causes cf
the ignorance and poverty of the Irish may all be
expressed in the one comprehensive word mist
government," he may lay it down " that the
More labourers were multiplied, the more force
would the spring rise with which overflows the
land with fertility." , ! •
"As the numbk of labourers," he observed,
" increases, the productive power of society aug
ments in the compound ratio of that increase, mul-
tiplied by the effects of the division of labour and
the increase of knowledge. The labouring classep
will, I am afraid, be slow to believe, when their po-
verty is in general attributed to their multiplying
too fast-riand perhaps justly attributed when that
maltiplication is only compared with the want of
the capitalist for their services—that this vast .iii-
crease in the productive power is the result of theft
augenenting in number. Why they reap no benefit
fit/mit—why, when nature seems to have provided
for the perpetual prosperity of society, there should
be among one class, indescribable and never-ceasing
distress, and among another perpetual apprehension
for theiropidence—how it happens that all the prq-
duce of increasing skill and knowledge falls into the
pOwer of the rapacious capitalists, and the profli-
gate dependants on and profligate supporters of pr -
f I
igate Governments, swelling their wealth to. a
,
enormous amount, increasing the number of idlers
in society, and checking its progress by checkin
division of labour, and the progress of knowledge
—must be explained, if at all, in a 'subs-
quent part of this work. I only advert to thch
now, to shew the reader that the actual poverty of
the labourer is no argument against the principle I
have endeavoured.to establish. ' When so
much has of late been written against the principle
of population, it is consoling to find any circum-
- stances connected with it, like the division of labour
mid increase of knowledge, which appear to relie4
the wise provisions of nature from the odium cast
on them by the.short-sighted and corrupt theories of
interested men; giving us reason to suppose that
there is in these circumstances, at least, an adequate
' compensation for that increasing difficulty of pro-
curing the means of subsistence, which is said by
most political economists to be the necessary conse-
quence of an increase in the numbers of mankind.'!
Now, we wouri ask Mr. Hodgkin to turn to
Switzerland, where he will see, under the paternal
government of the Protestant Canton of Beast,
a people not oppressed by lords or landlords--
not paying heavy taxes, yet suffering the extreile
of poverty, and filling the Government with aii-
.
prehension.
" If the great mass of a population (says M. Kat
thofer) follow a kind of industry which admits rio
improvement, which occupies them every day; but
so as not to take up their whole time, and whitili
does' not permit them to join some other acces-
sary labour to an industry which merely sup-
ports them, without procuring them comfort or re•
sources—and if that portion of the people, who only
vegetate as it were, increase in proportion as the
class of easy proprietors diminishes; this state hf
things can only have a mischievous influence on the
morality of the peciple, and bring about a crisis in
their economical system which it is always prudent
to anticipate. We were warranted in stating, fr
indisputable facts, that this state of timings rea y
exists in the great Bailiwick of Interlachen and Ob .
ha4li, and more or less in the other valley Of the 4-
per region of Berne. The ei,arnples which we sh4ll
present may serve to give, weight to this assertion,
in giving an idea of the cultivation of the common-
lands which have been distributed, and in making
known the degree of prosperity of our Highlandetts.
" The Commune of Aarmuhle (in the Great Bai-
liwick of Interlachen), of which the lands are fer-
tile, and which, with respect to opulence, is abote
the average of the Communes of the Oberland, has
120 hearths. In this number are comprehendeds--
" 31, composed of poor without cattle, living only
on the cultivation of the common lands.
* " 17, possessors of parcels of ground not equal to
an arpent, and which keep but one or two goats.
" 28, possessing an arpent of meadow, and feed-
ing one cow.
" 16, who have two. .
a 14,- with three cows.
" 2, with four cows.
" 1, alone with nine cows.
" All the lands 'devoted to the eulture of grain
make part of the common, and are composed only of
parcels of from a tenth to a fourth of an arpent. At
Brientz, the position of the inhabitants is hardly
better; it is still worse in the valley of Lutscher
and Lauterbrunnen; and it may be said, that there
are scarcely, in all the Highlands of Berne, a dozen
of peasants who possess twenty arpents in cul-
tivation."

that not be the ease, alas for 04 neighbours to
whom despair brings these inundations -of- people !
What joy is there not in the German Em-
pire, in the --Alp,' and in other overpeopled
countries, when " men emigrate ! Are we not
on all sides oppressed by the numbers of our spe-
cies ? The countryman, who in former times could
allow part of his possession to lie fallow, is now, in
consequence of the splitting of possessions, so situ-
ated that he must exert his utmost strength to obtain
from his small share a miserable subsistence. In
,Carinthia,. for instance, two crops are taken in one
year from the same ground, and it is in consequence
so exhausted 'that even in the best seasons they d 6
not obtain a return of three seeds, and famines are
constant. The forests and meadows have been con-
verted into arable land to supply the necessities of
the people, and every where there is a want of wood
and cattle. Every where we are overstocked with
people, and the poverty becomes • every day more
alarming, sinee, in several countries; the old regu-
lations have. been departed from, and men have
been allowed 'to marry, without any assurance of a
subsistence."

This writer, who wrote long before the ap-
pearance of Mr. Malthus's work, goes. even so
far as to look with complacency on epidemics as
restoratives of the equilibrium, and to observe,
" that it seems to be a general principle in nature,
that a destruction must take place in all classes
of animals, for the sake of the preservtion of
the whole."

In mountainous regions, the principle of po-
pulation, when not checked by positive restraints,
necessarily acts with all its force ; far the defec-
tive communication prevents the growth of towns,
and the chief employment of the people must
alwasys be agriculture and pasturage.' Dissipation
and vice impair the stamina of the inhabitants of
towns, increase their mortality, and constant sup-
plies of a more vigorous race from the country
become necessary. But i►► mountainous coun-
tries the people lead a simple life ; and if not
restrained, marry at an early age. Mr. Kastho-
fer tells us that the population of the Canton of
Berne has increased no less than 15 per cent. be-
tween 1810 and 1819.

In an ingenious pamphlet just published by
Hr. Fletcher, under the title of " Reflections on
the Causes which influence the Price of Corn,"
it is observed, that " in the prevalent thepry,of
population it is insisted that in a society, if free-
dom from vice and misery were to prevail, a vo-
luntary restraint would alone prevent the excess
of numbers over the means of subsistence. But
as civilization rises, the surplus pioduce in-
creases, and with it the commercial, manufactur-
ing, and all unproductive pursuits extend. The
objects of life, as improvement takes place,- re-
quire longer training ; residence in a larger por-
tion of mankind is less necessarily fixed 4; avoca-
tions are of a more absorbing and intense nature ;
the moral restraint becomes involuntary ; and the
ratio of increase, rapid in the early stages of
society, must gradually diminish as it ad-
vances." The answer to this is, that there are ex-
tensive regions in which civilization cannot rise.
The Highlands of Scotland and Switzerland, and
other alpine' regions of Europe, must always be
strangers to civilization and the arts which it calls
into being. Mr. Kasthofer observes that " for
two centuries the Highlands of Berne cannot
boast of a single name worthy of figuring with
eclat in the annals of a grateful country." The
same observation may be applied to' the High-
lands of Scotland and all other Highlands. A
single village of 1,500 inhabitants in the lowlands
of Scotland has produced mere men of talents
than all the Highlands, coinprehending five-
eighths of the country and one-fifth of the popula-
tion. Mountaineers must always be -strangers to
civilization and the talents which it calls forth.

Norway forms a singular exception to di;
other mountainous regions of Europe. In ex-
tent, it is about equal to that of the Three-
Kingdoms, or four times that of Scotland. The
population is about 900,000, about twice that
of the Highlands of Scotland. According to
enumeration on the Ist- February,, 1801, it was
910,074. In 1815, according; to enumeration,
the number was 886,000. The population
living in its eighteen towns, amounted only to
74,605. We have seen that the Highlands of
Switzerland are increasing rapidly in their popu-
lation. We possess a very minute topographical
and statistical account for Norway, published.
at Christiania in 1821, and from this we shall
select, as a point for comparison, the baili-
wick of Guldbrandsdal, a district corresponding
to the Oberland of Berne. It comprehends the
great mountain range of,Dovrefieldt, some points
of which rise to the height of eight thousand
feet ; and the mountain pass in which Colonel
Sinclair, with nine hundred Scotch proceeding
through Norway to the relief of Gustavus Adol-
phus, were slaughtered by the Norwegian pea-
santry. In 1801 the population was 21,673 ;
and in 1815 it was 21,690. How, it will be
asked, does the population remain stationary in
the one country, and increase rapidly in the
other ? Norway, in old timer, was divided into
a number of large farms, called gaards : Guld-
brandsdal, a large tract of 104 Norse square
miles, is divided into 1,072 gaards : the oc-
cupiers amount to 1,400. bOf these 1,263
are proprietors, and 173 tenants. The num-
ber of occupiers of cottages with pieces of
ground attached to them, and possessing one or
more cows and a few sheep, is 2,033. Till one of
these cottages becomes vacant for the reception
of a labourer, he is not allowed to marry, but
remain „single in the house of one of the large
owners. In the course of a number of ages, the
number of occupiers has only increased beyond
the number of gaards, in the ratio of 1,400, to
1,072, though the V ckildren of all succeed
equally. It is not among those possessed of
property that an increase of population is to be
dreaded. The lower orders in Norway, however,
would increase as rapidly as elsewhere, but for
the positive prohibition of marriage, except
under the circumstances above alluded to.

To give at) idea of the difference in point of
comfort between the occupiers of the lands of
Norway and those Of the Highlands of Switzer-
land, we shall copy the account given of the
Guards in the parish of Froen. Forr, three
Guards, No. 2,3, and 4, with four occupiers,
and 13 house men. Each of these Gaards uses
nearly 20 tons of seed corn, and keeps 10 horses
and 50 cows.—Hundorp, two Gaards, No. 6
and 7. Each .of them uses 12 tons of corn, and
keeps five horses and 30 cows. They have be-
tween them two house men.—Haave, No. 8 ;
sows 12 tons corn, and feeds 5 horses, 30 cows,
anti the same number of sheep,—Berge, • No. 9,
with two occupiers. The seed and animals the
same as the foregoing.

Those who have travelled through Norway,
have always been struck with the fine appearance
of the peasantry. From Dr. Clarke, Mr. Mal-
thus, M, Von Buch, down to M. de Capo
Brook, there is but one voice on this subject.
Now, in the Highlands of Scotland, where the
gentry are tall and robust, the lower orders are
short in stature, evidently from insufficiency 6f
food.

There is no question that restrints en mar.

riage tend to increase the number of illegitimate
children. But the number of children legitimate
and illegitimate, taken together, is kept down by
the restraints. M. Kasthofer alludes to this
subject. "It is objected' (he says), that in pre-
venting these sorts of marriages, we should in-
crease the number cf illegitimate children, with-
out diminishing the births. But this objection
is of easy refutation, if we take -into: considera-
tion the nature, the state of the fair sex, and the
constraint and modesty which is, more or less,
impressed on them by their local position. It is
certain that, in the capital, where marriage usually
takes place later than in the country, the number of
bastards is always much less in proportion than
that of the fruits of the premature marriages
of -the inhabitants of our valleys." It appears,
from the Topographical and Statistical Account
of Norway, that the number of illegitimate chil-
dren is very considerable. In several of the pa-
rishes of Guldbrandsdal, according to the List of
Births for the five years preceding 1815, %every
sixth child was illegitimate. In most cases, no
doubt, when. circumstances proved favourable,
the. parents would marry ; but the difficulty of
maintaining children, in their single and separate
state, would prevent the parents from begetting
as many children as if they were living together,
in the same house, as man and wife.—And of
this we have a proof in the circumstance- of the
population remaining stationary in a climate re-
markably healthy and favourable to longevity.
It would appear, then, that the people of
mountainous. regions being precluded from high
civilization, can only escape the misery of exces-
sive poverty by the imposition of severe restraints
on marriage, to which, from theirlaimple man—
ners, they are very'grosgly inclined. In coim:
tries, again, like England, where there seems no
limit to civilization and the division of labour,
" avocations (as Mr. Fletcher observes) are-of a
more absorbing and intense nature, and the moral.
restraint becomes involuntary." Besides, the
congregatingmen together in large masses, creates
a great mortality, and a consequent opening for
a constant stream of emigration from the sur-
roundingdistricts. The births and deaths of Lon-
don, for instance, give us satisfactory data for com-
parison with a district in which the inhabitants are
stationary. The number of deaths would he
much greater than the births, but for the constant
influx from all parts of the country of young
people in the flower of 'life, possessed of much
more robust constitutions than the natives. But
the prevalence of moral. restraints, the effects of
luxury and indulgence, the increased mortality
from congregating masses together, and from the
enfeebling effects on the species produced by the
pursuits of towns, do not in the least militate
against the principle of population, or prove that
severe restraints are not necessary where the
indirect checks resulting from civilization cannot
exist.

What we have said does not apply to Ireland
which ought to be a civilized country, and which
is only retained in a barbarous state by a system
of misgovernment which is a disgrace to the
British name—Morning Chronicle.