Page:Malthus 1807 A letter to Samuel Whitbread.djvu/48

40 inquiries into property which are considered as being so objectionable in the Income Tax, I should suppose it is not likely to be consented to; but in other respects it is less objectionable than any I have yet seen, and is certainly well worthy of your attention. I have not yet had time to read through the whole work, but from the cursory view of it I have taken, it seems to shew not only great practical knowledge, but no ordinary acquaintance with general principles. At the same time it must be observed that the opinions of the author lead directly to that species of danger to which I have endeavoured to draw your attention in this Letter; and if they were to be adopted, unaccompanied by the proposed check, I should expect from them the very worst consequences to the happiness of the lower classes of society. Although the author in general seems clearly to understand the principle of population, yet he is not sufficiently impressed with this truth; that, even putting the consideration of dependence out of the question, it is a physical impossibility to place those who are relieved by parishes permanently in a desireable state; that is, in such a state as for a young man to feel no objection to enter into it the moment that he has an inclination to marry.

D.

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