Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/129

Rh ſtate, we ſhould be 54½ years attaining it, could we at once double our numbers; and 81¾ years, if we rely on natural propagation, as may be ſeen by the following table. In the firſt column are ſtated periods of 270 years; in the ſecond are our numbers, at each period, as they will be if we proceed on our actual ſtock; and in the third are what they would be, at the ſame periods, were we to ſet out from the double of our preſent ſtock. I have taken the term of four millions and a half of inhabitants for examples ſake only. Yet I am perſuaded it is a greater number than the country ſpoken of, conſidering how much inarable land it contains, can cloath and feed, without a material change in the quality of their diet. But are their no inconveniences to be thrown into the ſcale againſt the advantage expected from a multiplication of numbers by the importation of foreigners? It is for the happineſs of thoſe united in ſociety to harmonize as much as poſſible in matters which they muſt of neceſſity tranſact together. Civil government being the ſole object of forming ſocieties, its adminiſtration muſt be conducted by common conſent. Every ſpecies of government has its ſpecific principles. Ours perhaps are more peculiar than