In the seventeen counties of England in which there
are from 100 to 177 people on the square mile..........387
In the seventeen counties in which there
are from 177 to 282 people on the square mile..........389
The difference is small, but not smaller than differences which Mr
Sadler has brought forward as proofs of his theory. We say that
these English tables no more prove that fecundity increases with the
population than that it diminishes with the population. The thirty-four
counties which we have taken make up, at least four-fifths of the
kingdom: and we see that, through those thirty-four counties, the
phenomena are directly opposed to Mr Sadler's principle. That in the
capital, and in great manufacturing towns, marriages are less prolific
than in the open country, we admit, and Mr Malthus admits. But that any
condensation of the population, short of that which injures all physical
energies, will diminish the prolific powers of man, is, from these very
tables of Mr Sadler, completely disproved.
It is scarcely worth while to proceed with instances, after proofs so
overwhelming as those which we have given. Yet we will show that Mr
Sadler has formed his averages on the census of Prussia by an artifice
exactly similar to that which we have already exposed.
Demonstrating the Law of Population from the Censuses of Prussia at two
several Periods.
(Here follows a table showing for inhabitants on a square league the
average number of births to each marriage from two different censuses.)
1756 1784
832 to 928...4.34 and 4.72
1175 to 1909...4.14 and 4.45 (including East Prussia at 1175)
2083 to 2700...3.84 and 4.24
3142 to 3461...3.65 and 4.08
Of the census of 1756 we will say nothing, as Mr Sadler, finding himself
hard pressed by the argument which we drew from it, now declares it to
be grossly defective. We confine ourselves to the census of 1784: and we
will draw our lines at points somewhat different from those at which Mr
Sadler has drawn his. Let the first compartment remain as it stands.
Let East Prussia, which contains a much larger population than his last
compartment, stand alone in the second division. Let the third
consist of the New Mark, the Mark of Brandenburg, East Friesland and
Guelderland, and the fourth of the remaining provinces. Our readers
will find that, on this arrangement, the division which, on Mr Sadler's
principle, ought to be second in fecundity stands higher than that which
ought to be first; and that the division which ought to be fourth stands
higher than that which ought to be third. We will give the result in one
view.