Page:An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798).djvu/277

Rh, therefore, in the chapter which has any tendency to remove the objection, is the conjecture concerning the extinction of the passion between the sexes; but as this is a mere conjecture, unsupported by the smallest shadow of proof, the force of the objection may be fairly said to remain unimpaired; and it is undoubtedly of sufficient weight of itself completely to overturn Mr. Godwin's whole system of equality. I will, however, make one or two observations on a few of the prominent parts of Mr. Godwin's reasonings, which will contribute to place in a still clearer point of view, the little hope that we can reasonably entertain of those vast improvements in the nature of man and of society, which he holds up to our admiring gaze in his political justice. Rh