had little more than a million of inhabitants, there came enough to double that number: when, in 1790, we had 3,921,326, there came enough to match that number. In 1800 our numbers were up to 5,319,762; and now we are possessed of the census of 1820, from which it appears that the number of 1800 will be doubled in less than twenty-five years. So that it is plain, if population does not increase in a geometrical ratio, emigration does. And all this while, Great Britain, which furnishes nine tenths of all our emigrants, is increasing her numbers at home. No matter what is the situation of Europe, whether at peace or war, enjoying abundance or suffering scarcity; the amount of emigration goes on increasing constantly and uniformly, in exact proportion as the land in America becomes more settled, and the temptations to emigration are diminished. The inquiry will naturally suggest itself to Mr Godwin's readers in this country-where are all these foreigners? Since 1790, near six millions of them must have arrived, and of course a majority of the adult population are of foreign birth. Considering that in this country, a majority is omnipotent, it is a little singular that we do not see and hear a little more of this class of men; that we do not sometimes witness their efforts to control the elections or to influence the government. Why should they not alter that clause of the constitution which excludes them from the highest office of the nation; and why, although not constitutionally disqualified, are they (with here and there a solitary exception) in fact excluded from all other offices? Mr. Godwin's ideas of the character of our population correspond with his notion of its origin. We will give the account in his own words.

There is an extreme fallacy in Mr Malthus' language, when he talks, in his letter to me of October 1818, speaking of the population of the United States, of "foreign inmigration." In the United States there is no idea, correspondent to the term, “ a foreigner." This republic is properly colluvies omnium gentium. No native of any part of Europe will fail in one respect to find himself at home, the moment he has set his foot on the shores of North America; particularly the inhabitants of the British isles, who, according to Mr. Niles' collections, land there at the rate of two or three thousand per week. The term " foreign" in this case, conveys to the mind a fallacious idea; since we are accustomed to see what Mr. Malthus calls "foreign immigrants" constituting a very trivial portion of the population of an old country. American congress in reality has done wisely in refusing to sepa

rate their new citizens by districts and boundaries, in cases where particular countries have sent out to them a great number of settlers, and choosing rather to blend them in one common mass; since if they were allowed by such separation fully to keep alive their original prejudices, we might expect to see them one day overpowering the Creoles, or proper descendants of the old settlers, just as in some countries we read of slaves that have become so numerous as to be able to put down and subjugate their masters.' pp. 416, 417.

This account, we have no doubt, would have been realized, were we but half as much inundated with foreigners (and we do assure Mr Godwin we have an idea correspondent to this term) as is supposed. But in that case no policy of the government could have preserved our institutions, or prevented the poor Creoles' (we love to repeat such a happy epithet,) from being overpowered. A nation of near ten millions of people, more than one half of whose adult population were born on foreign soil, educated under different forms of government, brought together in a remote part of the world by accident; yet that nation preserving a constitution of government like our own, without disturbance or interference, or even assistance from its imported majority, would present a phenomenon, which to us seems more difficult of solution, than the increase of our population does to Mr Godwin.

But what would set this matter at rest in the minds of those acquainted with this country, (if in the minds of such it were possible in the first place to raise a doubt,) is the fact, that the part of the United States which has always been considered to have presented the greatest natural rate of increase, is New England; and it is this very part, which has been blessed with the smallest number of emigrants. Our 'weather bleached and battered rocks,' seldom attract the visionary adventurer from abroad; and should they do so, it would require but a small part of one of our winters, to freeze up the tide of enthusiasm which bore him from his home. And besides, thin as our soil is represented to be, it is known that most of it is occupied, and by men who will not give it away without a consideration. Nearly the whole of the population of New England are descendants of the puritans; yet, until her territory was in a great measure occupied, the increase of population here was unequalled by any of those states, whose greater natural advantages would be likely to draw towards them a larger New Series, No. 13.

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number of emigrants. And in later years, we see, that whilst she has been peopling the states northwest of the Ohio, her own population has been constantly increasing. This fact is particularly worthy of observation in our last census. Since the census immediately preceding the last, we have had commercial restrictions and war, which pressed with peculiar force on the northern states, whose prosperity is at all times, in a considerable degree, dependent on the free use of the ocean. During the years 1813 and 1814, we may recollect that the tide of emigration seemed rushing so strongly to the west, that serious apprehensions were felt, that our population was on the decline. And yet we now find that in every one of these states there has been an increase; and in one of them, so great an increase as 30 per cent. It is in vain then to talk of the increase of our numbers being dependent on the transportation of men from the other side of the Atlantic. For every foreigner who has come into New England, within the last ten years, with a view of remaining here, it may be safely affirmed that thirty native citizens have left it for the banks of the Ohio or the Illinois.

Mr Godwin wrote his book, without knowing the result of our recent census. Before that time, there had been three sucsessive enumerations taken, at intervals of ten years each. They had each exhibited a rate of increase, which would double the population in a period of little more than twenty-two years. Mr Malthus, that he might be on the safe side, had stated the period to be 25 years; and in so doing, he thought, (and so it seems to us,) that he had made ample allowance for the addition to our numbers from emigration. By the census of 1820, it appears that the total population of the United States is 9,625,734. And this we should think sufficient to furnish a final answer to Mr Godwin's loose theories and conjectures. It seems that since 1810, there has been an increase of 2,385,972; and at this rate the population of 1810 will be doubled in less than twenty-five years. The results furnished by our several censuses, are as follows:

Total.

Increase

1790-3,921,326

1800-5,319,762

NORTH AMRICAN REVIEW.

No. XXXVII.

NEW SERIES, No. XII.

OCTOBER 1822.

ART. XIII.—An Inquiry concerning the power of Increase in the Numbers of Mankind; being an answer to Mr Malthus's Essay on that subject. By William Godwin. London, 1820.

on

Ir is now about twenty-four years since Mr Malthus first undertook to discuss the subject of population. He was led to an examination of the subject, with a view of refuting some of the leading dogmas of a class of writers who at that time attracted much of the public attention, and by whom all the miseries and sufferings of the lower classes were attributed to the institutions of society, and particularly to the laws of property. Among these writers was Mr Godwin, whose treatise Political Justice, we all have read or heard of. Mr Malthus' work, though at first written with this temporary purpose, attracted so much notice, that the author was induced to continue his attention to the subject; and now in its fifth edition, it has grown to the size of three octavo volumes, and is probably destined to be forever after considered the standard work on the difficult subject which it treats. Mr Godwin, it would seem, has not relished this success of his antagonistfor after the lapse of so long a time, he has come forward with a volume of more than six hundred pages, in the way of rejoinder. And a most lame and impotent rejoinder it is; alike New Series, No. 12.

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try the adults whom we send forth to other states. But within a few years the territory northwest of the Ohio has been settled; and settled principally by New England men. We accordingly find there, the customs and habits of New England, with the advantages of a fine climate and soil. And we have every reason to believe that in those states, independent of emigration, the rate of increase is as rapid, if not more rapid, than it ever was in New England. Consequently, although it be true that in some parts of the country the operation of the checks to population has been increased; yet if at the same time the proportion of the country in which they operate scarcely at all, has likewise been augmented, we need not anticipate any diminution in the average rate of increase for the whole country.

With regard to our late war-it caused, no doubt, a considerable consumption of life. For although our most important engagements appear like skirmishes, in comparison with the wholesale slaughters of Smolensko and Waterloo; yet when we recollect that our whole Atlantic border was exposed to continual incursions from the naval force of the enemy; whilst on the other side, we had to contend with numerous tribes of Indians; when it is considered too, how many of our citizens were engaged in privateers; and of these, how many were afterwards confined in crowded prisons, we shall perceive that it must have been a destructive war, although from the nature of such desultory warfare, it is impossible to estimate, with any degree of accuracy, the numbers which died in it. We know that a nation like ours, with ten millions of inhabitants, can afford many a bloody battle, without a very perceptible diminution of its numbers; but when we see the arrival of a few thousand foreigners brought forward and considered with so much pomp and gravity, we think it right to bring into the account the loss, by three years' fighting. But as we wish to be liberal to Mr Godwin, we will allow him to offset this loss, by the extraordinary emigrations which took place between the close of the war and the taking of the census; and in so doing, we assure him, that we allow him an excellent bargain. Having done this, we shall rest satisfied until Mr G. writes another book much better than this, that the increase of the last ten years has been 'from procreation alone.'

We think it has already been shown, that the number of