The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-11-17

enquire whether there are not combinations of
a contrary nature, which outweigh the prof
poets oi theft epioyments; whether there are
not contents and hlppinefs of another fpecies; |
exemptions from cares and troubles, incident |
10 the marriage life, which greatly ovcrbalance ,
" coniugal bliis."
Morality is 4 calculation OF consequences, |
and virtue is the product of their calculations. |
The PATTON between the iexes, therefore, as |
we'll "a every other affair OF human life, is vir
tuous or vicious, according as their calculate |
ons are made with correctness or ipaccuracy.
Love may be pure, without being vrtuous, a.
greeably to this definition that is, the hearts
OF the individual agents may be unfainted, and
yet their connection, if they will carry matters
! thus TAR, productive OF unqualified miiery to
themieives and offspring. The love which
produces thefe effects, however unconpe6tcd
| with depravity of heart, cannot properly be
called virtuous love. Virtue fees in pcrfpeSfvc,
| remote consequences, and balances them againit
| PreieHt pleaiures. The weight and foiidity or
cold deliberation, make prsen. peafnres, tintel-
led with all the gaudy decorations OF creative
| imagination, frequently kick the beam. If then
! two congeniai fouls are united by the tenderet
ties, their love @pure as coniecrated fnow that
| lies on Dian's lap" but pinched by the -ri-
ping hand Of poverty, deaitute OF the proba-
| bile means of supporting family is it virtuoMs
or ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS rrfent pleaiure which is
| inevitablyto produce future pain 1t appears to
me, that, under theie circumstances the pair
| who marry, are eiIiinently vicious; while the
pair whoreman eilluminedb by the mellow 'uf-
| tire of truly virtuous love, and the mild light Of
| reafon and experience, as eminently virtuous.
The man or the woman who rnarries, without
| the means offupporting and educating family
become reiponlible to fociety, aud thcnfelves
are juitly puniihed, for 70 much of perfidy, ra-
pine and fraud, as fuch family, goaded by de-
! titution, may commit. 1t is in circumstances
like thefe, when a man has fecn his children
| driven to crime, by the ignorance and want
which he has entaed upon them, fome the
| guilty victims of feduetion, profitution and
difeafe, Others, pnng in jails, or ro:ting on
| gibbets, that in the widnefs of defperation, on
| the borders of fuicide he excaiins, Z" Oh ! who
| qUouiG be % The marriage fate then
has Its miftries-its peculiar, excrucatng tor
ments, from which celcbracy is totally exempt.
1t becomes us therefore to combat this preiu-
| dice; to ponder well, before we coniign one
iituation to ridicule and difgrace, and another
| to appreciation and appIaufe.
| But the politician will tell you that however
hard this may bear upon individuals, whatever
rniiery it may introduce into private families,
| whatever of vice and crime it may cau(e to foci-
| city, yet the ftreugth OF nation coniits in its
| numbers, population ought TO be encouraged,
and marriage confidered rs patriotic and honor
able.
1t will in the firit place be neceiary to examine
the natural effects of the principle of POPULATE
on, when neither encouraged, nor discouraged,
I but left entirely to its own workings and o.
| perations. 1t has been demonstrated by late
writer, Nautilus, whom have already had oc-
ca6on and amdelighted toquote, that population
| ncreafesin geometrical ratio, while the means
of fubfftence, under anypoflible fate fimprov-
ed agriculture, can only increafe in an arith-
L III 49,
bles itfelf every time, and the means of fnb-
iiitence are only increafed, Jingle unit at each
| ftep: thus population properties in this IA
tito, ., 4, 8, l6, Sc. the means of fubfifencc
increaie in this proportion, only 2, 8, 4, S, &c.
| At the commencement, the population and the
means of fnbfftence are equal they both fand
at 2; the fecond ferries there is deficit of fub-
6fence to population of at the third, of 4
| at the fourth, of IL, and 70 on, IN ixjfgifuvI.
| This is very obvious facf, and has been known
| for centuries. And 70 had one till more Gmple
| and obvious, been much longer known before
any important differences had been drawn from
it. Every rude peafant had known from the
commencement of time, that IN apple, when
unfupported by the talk of its parent trunk,
will fall TO the earth but neither the Peafant
nor the philosopher ever thoughtof deduciug the
principle of gravitation, viii CHI rules the ply
lical universe from the falling of an apple, until
the lucky idea truck Sir Ifaac Newton. SO,
from the hmple and obvious principle of popu-
lation, Nautilus has drawn correct differences,
OF as great importance to the moral and political
world, as the discoveries of Sir Ifaac Newton
| TO the natural. From the principle of popu-
| lation arifc ninety nine out of hundred parts
| of the vice and mifery of mankind. 1t is eter-
| nallyin operation, and forever producing more
individuals than the fecundity of the earth
can fupport. Two modes have been fuggefed
ofremedying this evil Cultivating the wait c
| lands to be found in every country and emf
grating TO thinly peopled, favage and uninhabi-
ted countries. But if the principle of popua-
ton be correct, this is only putting off the evil
to difant day. For if there is any truth in
arithmetic Or geometry, in the relations of num-
Der or quantity, then does population overtake
by rapid 1rdes, and furpan the means of fup-
liRence. But fophifts aud vfonary philofo-
piers, have found another pof in their retreat
which they have endeavored to maintain with
the rnifliles of defamation and eloquence the
perfcctibility of man, community of goods, and
new regulations as TO the intercourse of the fex-
es, and tie maintenance and education of the
offspring. In the firt place, the onus PRO-
bAnA ieems to lie upon the advocates of this
fyitem they iho1d prove, or render it proba-
Die and plaulible that fuch fate of focety is
practicable; it does not appear to be ipcum-
bent on their adyerfaries TO prove that fuch
fate of focisty is not practicable. But Nautilus,
fuch is the fuperabundance & iuxurianceo of pro-
liabilities upon this fIlbiet9, has conceded for