PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

Of Populatim, Provision,
all others, is procured ill (he greatest abtlnJance, u;:ith
the most ease, and stands ill need of the I(~ast preparation.
The nativps of Indo~tan being confined, by
the laws of their religion, to t1~(' use of vegetab!:: food)
and requiring little exc~pt ri(:~, \vhich the COuIltry
prod:Jces in pl~ntift!l crops; and fijod, in \Varnl climates,
composing the only ,,'ant of life; the~e coun·
tries are popul(Jus, under aI I t ~e inj urie~ of a d espo; ic,
and the agitations uf an un~ettlt·d government. If
any !-evfJ1ution, or what would be called perhal-'~ refinement
()f manners, should generate in these people
a taste for the fle~h of animals, ~imilar to \vhat pre­
\yails amongst the Arabian hc.rde~; ~hould int:·c~ducc
flocks and herds intrJ gr{)lJnds \vhich arc D0.\V co\rered
with corn; sh{)uld tea.el1 them to account a cera
tain porti~)n 0f tlli~' species of food atl10ng~t the n~ces-
8aries of liff"; the p()pulation, fronl tllis single change,
\vould suff'~r "in a fr-:\v years a great dimirlution: and
J : ,.,.
this ditninutioll \VlJu~d foll()w, in spite of every effort
of th~ law~, ,-)r 2·Jell of any irnprO'..relnerlt th~it nlight
take p1ace in th::~~r civil c()nditi()n. In Irt.1lalld, the
simplicit)? of :1 ving alone Inaintains a con~iderable de.e
gree of population, under great defects of poHce, ip.~
dustry, and comtnerce.
Under thi~'~ head, and from a vie\v of these consid,
,
/" rations may be understood the true evil and proper
~l 'l~f danger of Ju:mry. Luxury. as it supplies employment
- .( and promotes indu~try assists population. But then,
there is arlother consequence attending ii:, which coun ..
teracts, and often overbalances these advantagesiJ
When, by introducing more superfluities into general
reception, 1 uxury llas rendered the llsllal accom-
1110dations of life more expensive, artificial, and elabG
orate, the difficulty of maintaining a family, conformably
with the established mode ()f liviIlg, becomes
greater, and what each man has to spare from his
personal consumption proportionably less: th~ etTect
of which is, that marriages g-row less frequent, ap-reeably
to the maxinl at10ve lai(i drlwn, and \\rl1ich n~us[
.,
be remembered as the fCUI1clatioIl of ,111 (lur reasorl·
ing upon the subject, that men will not marry to Jmk