| <Taits Edinburgh Magazine>
| <Over Population and its Remedy>
| <pb n="387">
| We find Mr. Thornton's inquiry very inferior, in all 
| respects, to what it is, or were it merely a dull, 
| well-meaning book, instead of being a body of most 
| instructive and clearly stated facts and cogent arguments, 
| we should yet consider it entitled to the most respectful 
| attention, from the philanthropic motives which have let 
| the writer to the choice of his subject.  Well may Mr. 
| Thornton say, <q> </q>.  He makes no pretensions to 
| being the herald of any new discovery in political science, 
| ~~ but, strongly impressed with the importance of the 
| cause he pleads, <q> </q>.  Mr. Thornton is, in short, an 
| earnest and zealous man, wholly absorbed in one subject; 
| and that as he says, the most momentous that can engage 
| the heart or the head of any man who takes an interest in 
| the welfare of his fellow-creatures.  The author of "The 
| Inquiry" appears to have lain by on the watch, for years, 
| eagerly collecting facts bearing on his subject, from every 
| variety of source; from statistical reports, blue books, the 
| reports of parliamentary commissions, and statements in 
| pamphlets, speeches, magazines, books of travels; and, 
| indeed, wherever <reg orig="any thing"> anything </reg> 
| could be found to elucidate 
| his positions, so that the nature and multiplicity of the 
| facts so diligently collected would be sufficient to give 
| interest to the treatise, independently of the vital 
| importance of its objects.  It is not the number of 
| individuals living in any country which Mr. Thornton 
| considers the true test of over-population; but the 
| difficulty, or impossibility, of the labouring part of those 
| individuals, those whose industry must support so many 
| besides themselves, obtaining <q> </q>.  Neither is 
| destitution considered the true test of over-population; as 
| this may proceed from indolence, or from bodily or 
| mental infirmity.  Mr. Thornton's definition of 
| over-population is, <q> </q>.
| This condition is an evil greater than war or pestilence, as 
| its pressure is continually felt, and as moral debasement, 
| and consequent social degradation, is in general the sure 
| attendant of physical suffering.  Having stated at large 
| these inevitable consequences of poverty it is said,
| <q> </q>
| Now, this condition, though certainly not that of the 
| majority of the labourers of the United Kingdom, is that 
| of too many of the number, including much of Ireland, 
| and nearly all the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.  Yet 
| extreme destitution is not confined to these regions.  
| Among the population of great towns, and in such 
| agricultural localities as Dorsetshire, and other southern 
| counties, it is felt in the extreme.  As Mr. Thornton's facts 
| are only obtained at second-hand, implicit reliance cannot 
| be placed on every separate statement, yet all are, we 
| believe, substantially correct; though we fear that some 
| part of the highly prosperous condition of the labourers of 
| the Lowlands of Scotland, and of the English northern 
| border, is rather comparatively than absolutely true.
| Pauperism on the Continent, and the conditions of the 
| labourers in different continental states, are investigated 
| at length, and there is an ample description of the 
| condition of the English peasantry as far back as written 
| annals reach.  Indeed, taken as a whole, we have in the 
| volume, a view of the labouring classes of the most of 
| Europe.  ~~ Mr. Thornton is avowed Malthusian, so far 
| as relates to premature and improvident marriages; and he 
| even attacks Mr. McCulloch, and Mr. Laing for shirking 
| the question.  On this head it is said,
| <q> </q>
| In a more advanced stage of the treatise he resumes this 
| subject, remarking,
| <q>
| <pb n="389">
| </q>
| Mr. Thornton is a hard-headed if not a hard-hearted 
| reformer of social ills, for he goes the length of upholding 
| the new Poor Law, even in what are considered its 
| harshest provisions. <q> </q>, he inquires, <q> </q>.
| <q> </q>
| There is no doubt a show of reason in this.
| Although it is needful, in the first place, to expose in the 
| broadest light the ills and extent of poverty and 
| destitution in society, the preventives and remedies are of 
| much nearer concernment.  Those upon which Mr. 
| Thornton mainly relies, are free-trade, agricultural 
| improvements, small farms, and cottage allotments; while 
| little is expected from emigration.  Subsidiary to the 
| above, though flowing from them, are better modes of 
| education and moral training; more comfortable and 
| healthy dwellings, and the higher moral tone consequent 
| upon better wages, greater leisure, and an altogether 
| improved social condition.
| Most of the topics discussed, are treated in relation to the 
| respective conditions of the urbane and the rural 
| labourers, whether of England, Ireland, or Scotland, as 
| the same kind of remedies do not apply to all of these 
| cases alike.  For example, the reduction of the hours of 
| labour, which is needed in the English factories, would 
| require to be reversed in Ireland, where the hours of 
| labour, from various causes, besides the want of 
| employment, are too few.  But Ireland is altogether an 
| anomalous case, to which ordinary remedies do not apply; 
| and it is so considered.  The main suggestions for Ireland, 
| are a better tenure of possessing land; leases, in short, 
| even for the smallest holdings, and numerous small farms, 
| enjoyed by a tenure which may give the occupiers a 
| permanent as well as immediate interest in their minute 
| and perfect cultivation.  The idea, not indeed a new one, 
| is also thrown out, which we leave Mr. Thornton to 
| develop in his own words.
| <q>
| <pb n="390">
|  </q>
| We hope so; as of its necessity and utility there can be no 
| question.  The same arguments apply to many parts of the 
| Highlands of Scotland, where the very same state of 
| things exists.  Mr. Thornton calculates, that in Ireland 
| alone, 200,000 pauper families may thus at once be 
| established upon waste lands, and speedily converted into 
| a body of industrious and orderly yeomen.
| Mr. Thornton corroborates his argument for small farms, 
| <hi rend="italics"> crofts, </hi> and minute cultivation, 
| by contrasting the condition of the adjoining counties of 
| Sutherland and Caithness; the former, the most 
| magnificent field of experimenting on large farms, and 
| extensive sheep-walks; and the latter, still in the condition 
| in which it has been for centuries, and the subject of no 
| violent or wholesale attempts at what is imagined 
| improvement.  More than enough has of late been heard 
| of the condition of the peasantry and small occupiers in 
| the <hi rend="italics"> improved </hi> county; so we 
| may at once pass to that on which little capital, save the 
| labour of the peasant-farmers, has been expended, and no 
| force has been used to make all things new.
| <q> </q>
| The substance of this is gleaned from the report of 
| <hi rend="italics"> The Times' </hi> Commissioner.  We 
| would draw attention to another and very important fact.  
| No northern county, and hardly indeed any Scottish 
| county, of its population, annually exports so many 
| young men and women, intelligent, active, frugal, and 
| keenly industrious, who come up to Edinburgh, and other 
| southern towns, as mechanics, small shopkeepers, and 
| domestic servants, as does Caithness, from the nurseries 
| of these small farms.  We would unhesitatingly challenge 
| comparison between them, and the natives of any of the 
| other Highland counties, and the issue would bear out Mr. 
| Thornton's argument for small farms.  This admitted 
| superiority we have heard attributed to difference of race, 
| the population of the Scottish peninsula being alleged to 
| be more Scandinavian than Celtic.  But this is a fanciful 
| distinction.  The population of Caithness has long been, at 
| all events, inextricably mixed; and we must look rather to 
| their present and past social condition, than to their race, 
| as the cause of their moral and physical superiority.
| But we must abruptly stop; having gone farther than is 
| permissible with a work of this serious character.  Serious 
| indeed ~~ coming home to all men's bosoms who have 
| hearts to which appeal can be made ~~ yet 
| <reg orig="any thing"> anything </reg> 
| rather than dull; the mere accumulation of the diversified 
| facts so clearly stated, giving vital interest to every page.  
| Mr. Thornton, we have said, sets up no pretensions to 
| original discovery in political science, nor indeed to 
| discovery of any sort; but he is well entitled to every 
| praise that can be awarded to a man of fair abilities, 
| earnestly devoted to the promotion of the good of his 
| species.
|