| OCR Text |
Show 15 REMARKS ON THE THOUGHTS And here I cannot help remarking, by the ther they have not one-fourth of the income, bye, how well founded your diflinétion is be- increafe in number. tween the inereafe of mankind in old and newfettled countries in general, and more particu- " propofitions, almofi every one founded in authority, that is, " derive their weight from the credit given to one or more perfons, and not from denmnllration. " And this, in the molt important as well as the other affairs of life, is the cafe even of the wifelt and philofophical part of the human fpecies; and that it fliould be ft) is the lefs llrange, when we confider that it is, perhaps, impoflible to prove. that king, or life itfelf, has any other value than what is fet on it by autho- rit . " )i‘l confirmation of this may be derived from the obfervation, that in every country in the univerfe, happinefs is fought upon a different plan ; and, even in the fame country, we fee it placed by different ages, profeflions, and ranks of men, in the attainment of enjoyments utterly unlike. " Thefe propofitions, as well as others, framed upon them, become habitual by degrees, and, as they govern the determina1,, 9mm," larly, in the cafe of families of condition. In America, where their Expences are more confined to neceffaries, and thofe neceffaries are cheap, it is common to fee above one hundred perfons defcended from one living old man. In England it frequently happens, where a man has feven, eight, or more children, there has not been adefcendant in the next generation; occafioned by the difliculties the number of children has brought on the family, in a luxurious dear country, and which have prevented their mar- tion of the will, I call them mam] bah". " There are another fet of habits that have the direc'tion of the members of the body, thatI call therefore met/24mm] bad/"tr. Thefe compofe what we commonly call 7722 Arty, which are more or lefs liberal or mechanical, as they more or lefs partake rying-That this is more owing to luxury than more want, appears from what I have faid of Scotland, and more plainly from parts of Eng/am! of ailiflanee from \he operations of the mind. remote from London; in mof't of which the ne- " The tumulur of the moral habits of each individual, is the manners ofthat individual; the cur/talk: ofthe manners of individuals makes up the manners ofa nation. ceffaries of life are nearly as dear, in fome dearer than in London ; yet the people of all ranks marry and breed up children. Again; among the lower ranks of life, none " The happinefs of individuals is evidently the ultimate end of political fociety; and political welfare, or the flrength, fplendour, and opulence of the llate, have been always admitted, both by political writers, and the valuable part of mankindin general, produce f0 few children as fermzm‘r. to conduce to this end, and are therefore defirable. fome meafure, to be attributed to their fituation, " The caufes that advance or obllrufl any one of thefe three objects, are external or internal. The latter may be divided into pliyfical, civil, and pcrfonal, under which lait head I compre- hend the moral and mechanical habits of mankind. The phy~ iicul caufes are principally climate, foil, and number of fubjefls; the civil are government and laws; and political welfare is al- ways in a ratio compofed of the force of thefe particular caufes; a multitude of external caufes, and all thefe internal ones, not only controul and qualify, but are conllantly ac‘ting on, and thereby infenflbly, as well as fenfibly, altering one another, both for the better and the worfe, and this not excepting the climate itfelt." And This is, in which hinders marriage, but is alfo to be attribu- ted to their luxury, and corruption of manners, which are greater than among any other fet of people in England, and is the confequence of a nearer View of the lives and perfons of a fuperior rank, than any inferior rank, ro er education, on ht to have. P P g without a The ___._.......... .flcm... [G.P.] ON THE PEOPLING or COUNTRIES. 14 |
