number of already organized forms, vegetable and animal, thinly scattered over the earth's surface, or as referring, far more properly, to the great stock of raw material, capable of being made to assume those forms, deposited in the great treasury of nature, and waiting only man's call to do him service? Have not the coal and ore now lying in the earth, and the corn and wool whose elements so much abound, been as much "prepared" for his uses, as the grass that grows upon the prairie? Has not the electricity, every where existing, been as much "prepared" for him, as that trivial quantity which manifests itself in the lightning's flash? Have not all the vast powers of earth and atmosphere, whensoever and wheresoever found, been "prepared" for his service, and has he not, himself, been endowed with all the faculties required for enabling him to compel them to minister to his wants, and aid in gratifying his desires? That such is the case is beyond all question. If, then, he perishes in the midst of this vast treasury, does the fault lie with his Creator, or with himself?

That men do so perish, and that, too, not unfrequently, we know. Why do they this? Because, as we are here told, of the insufficiency of the stock of nourishment "prepared" for their use. What evidence, however, have we of this? Have they ever found the treasury to have been exhausted? Have they ever had their drafts protested, when they had kept their accounts good, with the great Cashier? Have they not, on the contrary, found a large increase in the balance to their credit, whenever they have complied with the conditions upon which, alone, the earth makes loans that condition being, the punctual return of the raw material, after having used it? That this last has been the case is proved by the history of every advancing nation of the world—the supplies of food having increased more rapidly than the numbers of those among whom they were to be divided, in every country in which men have been enabled so to combine their efforts, as to bring into activity the various powers with which they have been endowed. Thus far, then, man has had no opportunity for testing the sufficiency of the stock of food, clothing, and fuel, "prepared" for him.

We are told, however, that this is an universal law. the tendency to increase beyond the subsistence that has been prepared,

being equally great throughout every portion of the animal world. On the other hand, we learn, that a single farm is capable of feeding more cattle than could find support in a whole country of forests. This being so, it is clearly obvious, that more "nourishment" is, in the one case, required to be drawn from a single acre, than in the other is furnished by a hundred acres. Equally obvious is it, that it had already been there "prepared" by an Almighty hand man having no power to draw from the earth any thing that has not first been placed within it. That nourishment had certainly been so placed, but, before it could commence to do the work for which it was intended, it was required that man should qualify himself to assume command guiding and directing the various natural forces, with a view to increase the rapidity of their circulation, and thereby enable simple inorganic matter to assume the complex and highly developed forms of animal life. Millions of buffaloes, as we know, could find support on prairies that now feed tens of thousands only, had man the knowledge required for enabling him to profit of the powers of the soil over which he roams. That he may any where obtain it, he must learn to combine with his fellow-men, and divide employments with them that being the condition upon which, alone, power can be obtained. Failing in this, the people of the prairies, as we may well suppose, unite with Ricardo-Malthusian writers in denouncing the "niggardliness of nature"-when the real cause of difficulty is to be found in their own deficiencies.

Again, it is a well-known fact, that rapid as has been the growth of American population, that of the supply of oysters has been far more so the consumption, per head, being greater, with thirty millions to feed, than when there was but a single million. Why is this? There has been no increase in the quantity of food prepared" for such animals- the constituents of the water in which they grow, being the same with those of the waters of the days of William Penn. Why, then, has there been so great a tendency towards this particular change in the form of matter towards having inorganic matter take that certain organic form? Because, large as had been the store of force "prepared," it was compelled to remain latent and undeveloped, until man could qualify himself for its proper guidance and direction.

*See ante, vol. ii., p. 21.

Further, it has been satisfactorily demonstrated, that by aid of pisciculture, the supply of fish may be almost indefinitely increased the quantity of subsistence "prepared" for them by nature, being infinitely in excess of the demand yet made upon it. Why has it not been made? Because of the absence of that power of direction which has been confided to man alonea power which grows with the growth of numbers and of wealth, and consequent increase in the power of association and combination among men. So far, then, from finding in the facts presented to us, any foundation for the assertion of Mr. Malthus, even in regard to the lower animals, we meet, every where, with evidence that the quantity of food prepared" for them, and for man himself, is practically unlimited, and that it rests with him, alone, to determine to what extent the elements shall take the form desired-the supply of sustenance tending to increase in the ratio of the demand. On the other hand, we are every where presented with the important facts, that just in proportion as he qualifies himself for drawing on the great bank, the absolutely necessary drafts of the individual man tend to diminish; that the growth of power in himself is attended by corresponding decrease in the quantity of food required for repairing the daily waste; that vegetable food, of which the earth yields by tons, tends to take the place of animal food, of which it yields by pounds- he himself assuming, more and more, the responsible position for which he was intended—and nature cooperating in the work, by directing to the development of his brain, those elements which, otherwise, would have been appropriated to the work of generation.

Study the laws of nature where we may, we find them vindicating the ways of God to man-each and every step on the road towards knowledge, bringing us to a more complete perception of the perfect adaptation of the machinery to the production of the great effect desired-that of fitting the human animal for worthily occupying the place for which it from the first was destined.

§ 2. "A thousand millions of men," as we are assured by Mr. Malthus, are just as easily doubled every twenty-five years, by the principle of population, as a thousand." Why, then, have they not increased? At the commencement of our era, there were probably that number of persons on the earth, and it is doubtful

if there are more at the present moment. Had they doubled in each succeeding quarter of a century, they would now count by billions of millions. Why have they not? Because in all that time, as we are told, population has been pressing upon subsistence-the tendency of matter to assume the form of highest development, having been so much greater than that manifested in regard to those lower forms in which it becomes "prepared" for man's use, as to cause the existence of wide-spread "vice and misery" thus producing a necessity for the positive checks of "diseases and epidemics, wars, plague, and famine."* Which, however, in these cases, is the cause, and which the consequence? Are misery and vice the cause of deficiency in the supply of food, or is this latter a necessary consequence of failure in man to exercise the faculties with which he has been endowed? This is a highly important question-deficiency in man himself being within the reach of man's correction, whereas, deficiency in the powers of the great machine given for his use, is entirely beyond the reach of remedy.

Seeking a reply to it, we are met by the facts, that the supply of food, in the last few centuries, has increased in its ratio to the population, in England, France, Belgium, Germany, and all other countries, in which—population and wealth having been permitted to increase man has acquired greater power to draw upon nature's treasury; while diminishing in Turkey, Mexico, and other countries, in which - population and wealth having declined— his power to command the services of nature has steadily diminished. Look around us now, where we may, we find that where the power of association is a growing one, it is accompanied by an increase in the supply of food, clothing, houses, and all other commodities and things required for man's support and comfort. Wherever, on the contrary, it is a diminishing one, the supply of all these things as steadily decreases-the value of man declining, and he himself becoming more and more the slave of nature and of his fellow-man. Such being the case, the cause of present difficulty would seem to be in man himself, and not in any defect in the scheme of creation, in which he has been assigned so great a part.

* Principles of Population, Book 1, ch. ii.

VOL. III.-23

THE ULTIMATE CAUSE - of

§ 3. Admitting, however, for the moment, that the facts have been as described by Mr. Malthus-that population has, throughout all those countries, been pressing upon subsistence- we shall still have made but little progress towards scientific truth-science always desiring to know, Why it is, that such things are.* For thousands of years, it had been remarked that apples fell to the ground, but it was left to Newton to answer the question-Why is it that apples fall? Science then asked, as it now asksWhy is it, that food cannot keep pace with population? What is the "one great cause" difficulty? Is it to be found in man's inability to make demands upon the earth, or in the incapacity of the earth to meet the drafts he makes? Is it true- can it be true—that, with the growth of population and of wealth, there comes a time when "every increase of produce is obtained by a more than proportionate increase in the application of labor to the land". man thus becoming nature's slave, as he grows himself in power? † If he does so, why is it? Is it possible that man may, by any effort he can make, place himself in the position for which he was intended, that of nature's master? Is there any room for hope, or must he live on, knowing that in virtue of a great and overruling law, the time must come when they who own the land will hold as slaves all those who need to work it? To all these latter questions, the answer is to be determined by that given to the first and greatest of them: What is the ONE great cause of the "vice and misery" now so obviously existing throughout the world?

* "Principles are truths prior to all facts, or makings, and are themselves unmade. They stand in immutable and eternal necessity; and while they condition all power, can themselves be conditioned by no power. Even Omnipotence can be wise and righteous, only as determined by immutable principles. The insight of the reason may often detect, in the fact, the principle which determined the nature of the fact, and in the light of such principle we can say why the fact is, and not merely that it is.

"The perception of the sense gives facts; the insight of the reason gives principles. The use of facts may lead the mind up from particular to general judgments, whereby we may classify all the attainments of sense, and secure an intelligible order of experience; the use of principles may guide the mind to interpret and explain facts, and raise its knowledge from that of a logical experience to philosophical science. Not facts alone, no matter how logically classified, but facts expounded by principles, constitute philosophy."-HICKOK: Rational Cosmology, p. 13.

† See ante, vol. i., p. 465, note.