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| Observations
Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. |
1. Tables of the Proportion of Marriages to Births, of Deaths
to Births, of Marriages to the Numbers of Inhabitants, etc. form'd on
Observations made upon the Bills of Mortality, Christnings, etc. of
populous Cities, will not suit Countries; nor will Tables form'd on
Observations made on full settled old Countries, as Europe, suit new
Countries, as America.
2. For People increase in Proportion to the Number of Marriages, and
that is greater in Proportion to the Ease and Convenience of supporting
a Family. When Families can be easily supported, more Persons marry, and
earlier in Life. 3. In Cities, where all Trades, Occupations and Offices
are many delay marrying, till they can see how to bear the Charges of a
Family; which Charges are greater in Cities, as Luxury Is more common:
many five single during Life, and continue Servants to Families,
Journeymen to Trades, hence Cities do not by natural Generation supply
themselves with Inhabitants; the Deaths are more than the Births.
3. In Cities, where all Trades, Occupations and Offices are many,
delaying marrying, till they can see how to bear the Charges of a
Family; which Charges are greater in Cities, all Luxury Is more common:
many five single during Life, and continue Servants to Families,
Journeymen to Trades, hence Cities do not by natural Generation supply
themselves with Inhabitants; the Deaths are more than the Births.
4. In Countries full settled, the Case must be nearly the same; all
Lands being occupied and improved to the Heighth; those who cannot get
Land, must Labour for others that have it; when Labourers are plenty,
their Wages Will be low; by low Wages a Family is supported with
Difficulty; this Difficulty deters many from Marriage, who therefore
long continue Servants and single. - Only as the Cities take Supplies of
People from the Country, and thereby make a little more Room in the
Country; Marriage is a little more incourag'd there, and the Births
exceed the Deaths.
5. Europe is generally full settled with Husbandmen, Manufacturers,
etc. and therefore cannot now much increase in People: America is
cheifly occupied by Indians, who subsist mostly by Hunting. But as the
Hunter, of all Men, requires the greatest Quantity of Land from whence
to draw his Subsistence, (the Husbandman subsisting on much less, the
Gardner on still less, and the Manufacturer requiring least of all), The
Europeans found America as fully settled as it well could be by Hunters;
yet these having large Tracks, were easily prevail'd on to part with
Portions of Territory to the new Comers, who did not much interfere with
the Natives in Hunting, and furnish'd them with many Things they wanted.
6. Land being thus plenty in America, and so cheap as that a labouring
Man, that understands Husbandry, can in a short Time save Money enough
to purchase a Piece of new Land sufficient for a Plantation, whereon he
may subsist a Family; such are not afraid to marry; for if they even
look far enough forward to consider how their Children when grown up are
to be provided for, they see that more Land is to be had at Rates
equally easy, all Circumstances considered.
7. Hence Marriages in America are more general, and more generally
early, than in Europe. And if it is reckoned there, that there is but
one Marriage per Annum among 100 Persons, perhaps we may here reckon
two; and if in Europe they have but 4 Births to a Marriage (many of
their Marriages being late) we may here reckon 8, of which if one half
grow up, and our Marriages are made, reckoning one with another 20 Years
of Age, our People must at least be doubled every 20 Years.
8. But notwithstanding this Increase, so vast is the Territory of
North-America, that it will require many Ages to settle fully; and till
it is fully settled, Labour will never be cheap here, where no Man
continues long a Labourer for others, but gets a Plantation of his own,
no Man continues long a Journeyman to a Trade, but goes among those new
Settlers, and sets up for himself, etc. Hence Labour is no cheaper now,
in Pennsylvania, than it was 30 Years ago, tho' so many Thousand
labouring People have been imported.
9. The Danger therefore of these Colonies interfering with their Mother
Country in Trades that depend on Labour, Manufactures, etc. is too
remote to require the Attention of Great-Britain.
10. But in Proportion to the Increase of the Colonies, a vast Demand is
growing for British Manufactures, a glorious Market wholly in the Power
of Britain, in which Foreigners cannot interfere, which will increase in
a short Time even beyond her Power of supplying, tho' her whole Trade
should be to her Colonies: Therefore Britain should not too much
restrain Manufactures in her Colonies. A wise and good Mother will not
do it. To distress, is to weaken, and weakening the Children, weakens
the whole Family.
11. Besides if the Manufactures of Britain (by Reason of the American
Demands) should rise too high in Price, Foreigners who can sell cheaper
will drive her Merchants out of Foreign Markets; Foreign Manufactures
will thereby be encouraged and increased, and consequently foreign
Nations, perhaps her Rivals in Power, grow more populous and more
powerful; while her own Colonies, kept too low, are unable to assist
her, or add to her Strength.
12. 'Tis an ill-grounded Opinion that by the Labour of Slaves, America
may possibly vie in Cheapness of Manufactures with Britain. The Labour
of Slaves can never be so cheap here as the Labour of working Men is in
Britain. Any one may compute it. Interest of Money is in the Colonies
from 6 'to 10 per Cent. Slaves one with another cost 30 £. Sterling
per Head. Reckon then the Interest of the first Purchase of a Slave, the
Insurance or Risque on his Life, his Cloathing and Diet, Expences in his
Sickness and Loss of Time, Loss by his Neglect of Business (Neglect is
natural to the Man who is not to be benefited by his own Care or
Diligence), Expence of a Driver to keep him at Work, and his Pilfering
from Time to Time, almost every Slave being by Nature a Thief, and
compare the whole Amount with the Wages of a Manufacturer of Iron or
Wool in England, you will see that Labour is much cheaper there than it
ever can be by Negroes here. Why then will Americans purchase Slaves?
Because Slaves may be kept as long as a Man pleases, or has Occasion for
their Labour; while hired Men are continually leaving their Master
(often in the midst of his Business,) and setting up for themselves. §.
8.
13. As the Increase of People depends on the Encourage. ment of
Marriages, the following Things must diminish a Nation, viz. 1. The
being conquered; for the Conquerors xill engross as many Offices, and
exact as much Tribute or Profit on the Labour of the conquered, as will
maintain them in their new Establishment, and this diminishing the
Subsistence of the Natives discourages their Marriages, & so
gradually diminishes them, while the Foreigners increase. 2. Loss of
Territory. Thus the Britons being driven into Wales, and crowded
together in a barren Country insufficient to support such great Numbers,
diminished 'till the People bore a Proportion to the Produce, while the
Saxons increas'd on their abandoned Lands; 'till the Island became full
of English. And were the English now driven into Wales by some foreign
Nation, there would in a few Years be no more Englishmen in Britain,
than there are now People in WaIes. 3. Loss of Trade. Manufactures
exported, draw Subsistence from Foreign Countries for Numbers; who are
thereby enabled to marry and raise Families. If the Nation be deprived
of any Branch of Trade, and no new Employment is found for the People
occupy'd in that Branch, it will also be soon deprived of so many
People. 4. Loss of Food. Suppose a Nation has a Fishery, Which not only
employs great Numbers, but makes the Food and Subsistence of the People
cheaper: If another Nation becomes Master of the Seas, and prevents the
Fishery, the People will diminish in Proportion as the Loss of Employ,
and Dearness of Provision, makes it more difficult to subsist a Family.
5. Bad Government and insecure Property. People not only leave such a
Country, and settling Abroad incorporate with other Nations, lose their
native Language, and become Foreigners; but the Industry of those that
remain being discourag'd, the Quantity of Subsistence in the Country is
lessen'd, and the Support of a Family becomes more difficult. So heavy
Taxes tend to diminish a People. 6. The Introduction Of Slaves. The
Negroes brought into the English Sugar Islands, have greatly diminish'd
the Whites there; the Poor are by this Means depriv'd of Employment,
while a few Families acquire vast Estates; which they spend on Foreign
Luxuries, and educating their Children in the Habit of those Luxuries;
tile same Income is needed for the Support of one that might have
maintain'd 100. The Whites who have Slaves, not labouring, are
enfeebled, and therefore not so generally prolific; the Slaves being
work'd too hard, and ill fed, their Constitutions are broken, and the
Deaths among them are more than the Births; so that a continual Supply
is needed from Africa. The Northern Colonies having few Slaves increase
in Whites. Slaves also pejorate the Families that use them; the white
Children become proud, disgusted with Labour, and being educated in
Idleness, are rendered unfit to get a Living by Industry.
14. Hence the Prince that acquires new Territory, if he finds it
vacant, or removes the Natives to give his own People Room; the
Legislator that makes effectual Laws for promoting of Trade, increasing
Employment, improving Land by more or better Tillage; providing more
Food by Fisheries; securing Property, etc. and the Man that invents new
Trades, Arts or Manufactures, or new Improvements in Husbandry, may be
properly called Fathers of their Nation, as they are the Cause of the
Generation of Multitudes, by the Encouragement they afford to Marriage.
15. As to Privileges granted to the married, (such as the Jus trium
Liberorum among the Romans), they hasten the filling of a Country
that has been thinned by War or Pestilence, or that has otherwise vacant
Territory; but cannot increase a People beyond the Means provided for
their Subsistence.
16. Foreign Luxuries & needless Manufactures imported and used in a
Nation, do, by the same Reasoning, increase the People of the Nation
that furnishes them, and diminish the People of the Nation that uses
them. Laws therefore that prevent such Importations, and on the contrary
promote the Exportation of Manufactures to be consumed in Foreign
Countries, may be called (with Respect to the People that make them)
generative Laws, as by increasing Subsistence they encourage Marriage.
Such Laws likewise strengthen a Country, doubly, by increasing its own
People and diminishing its Neighbours.
17. Some European Nations prudently refuse to consume the Manufactures
of East-India: They should likewise forbid them to their Colonies; for
the Gain to the Merchant, is not to be compar'd with the Loss by this
Means of People to the Nation.
18. Home Luxury in the Great, increases the Nation's Manufacturers
employ'd by it, who are many, and only tends to diminish the Families
that indulge in it, who are few. The greater the common fashionable
Expence of any Rank of People, the more cautious they are of Marriage.
Therefore Luxury should never be suffer'd to become common.
19. The great Increase of Offspring in particular Families, is not
always owing to greater Fecundity of Nature, but sometimes to Examples
of Industry in the Heads, and industrious Education; by which the
Children are enabled to provide better for themselves, and their
marrying early, is encouraged from the Prospect of good Subsistence.
20. If there be a Sect therefore, in our Nation, that regard Frugality
and Industry as religious Duties, and educate their Children therein,
more than others commonly do; such Sect must consequently increase more
by natural Generation., than any other Sect in Britain.--
21. The Importation of Foreigners into a Country that has as many
Inhabitants as the present Employments and Provisions for Subsistence
will bear; will be in the End no Increase of People; unless the New
Comers have more Industry mid Frugality than the Natives, and then they
will provide more Subsistence, and increase in the Country; but they
will gradually eat the Natives out.-Nor is it necessary to bring it,
Foreigners to fill up any occasional Vacancy in a Country; for such
Vacancy (if the Laws are good, § 14, 16) will soon be filled by
natural Generation. Who can now find the Vacancy made in Sweden, France
or other Warlike Nations, by the plague of Heroism 40 Years ago; in
France, by the Expulsion of the Protestants; in England, by the
Settlement of her Colonies; or in Guinea, by 100 Years Exportation of
Slaves, that has blacken'd half America? -- The thinness of Inhabitants
in Spain, is owing to National Pride and Idleness, and other Causes,
rather than to the Expulsion of the Moors, or to the making of new
Settlements.
22. There is in short, no Bound to the prolific Nature of Plants or
Animals, but what is made by their crowding and interfering with each
others Means of Subsistence. Was the Face of the Earth vacant of other
Plants, it might be gradually sowed and overspread with one Kind only;
as, for Instance, with Fennel; and were it empty of other Inhabitants,
it might in a few Ages be replenish'd from one Nation only; as, for
Instance, with Englishmen. Thus there are suppos'd to be now upwards of
One Million English Souls in North-America, (tho' 'tis thought scarce
80,000 have been brought over Sea) and yet perhaps there is not one the
fewer in Britain, but rather many more, on Account of the Employment the
Colonies afford to Manufacturers at Home. This Million doubling, suppose
but once in 25 Years, will in another Century be more than the People of
England, and the greatest Number of Englishmen will be on this Side the
Water. What an Accession of Power to the British Empire by Sea as well
as Land! What Increase of Trade and Navigation! What Numbers of Ships
and Seamen! We have been here but little more than 100 Years, and yet
the Force of our Privateers in the late War, United, was greater, both
in Men and Guns, than that of the whole British Navy in Queen
Elizabeth's Time. - How important an Affair then to Britain, is the
present Treaty for settling the Bounds between her Colonies and the
French, and how careful should she be to secure Room enough, since on
the Room depends so much the Increase of her People?
23. In fine, A Nation well regulated is like a Polypus; take away a
Limb, its Place is soon supply'd; cut it in two, and each deficient Part
shall speedily grow out of the Part remaining. Thus if you have Room and
Subsistence enough, as you may by dividing, make ten Polypes out of one,
you may of one make ten Nations, equally populous and powerful; rather,
increase a Nation ten fold in Numbers and Strength.
And since Detachments of English from Britain sent to America, will
have their Places at Home so soon supply'd and increase so largely here;
why should the Palatine Boors be suffered to swarm into our Settlements,
and by herding together establish their Language and Manners to the
Exclusion f ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English,
become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to
Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our
Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion.
24. Which leads me to add one Remark: That the Number of purely white
People in the World is proportionably very small. All Africa is black or
tawny. Asia chiefly tawny. America (exclusive of the new Comers) wholly
so. And in Europe, the Spaniards, Italians, French, Russians and Swedes,
are generally of what we call a swarthy Complexion; as are the Germans
also, the Saxons only excepted, who with the English, make the principal
Body of White People on the Face of the Earth. I could wish their
Numbers were increased. And while we are, as I may call it, Scouring our
Planet, by clearing America of Woods, and so making this Side of our
Globe reflect a brighter Light to the Eyes of Inhabitants in Mars or
Venus, why should we in the Sight of Superior Beings, darken its People?
why increase the Sons of Africa, by Planting them in America, where we
have so fair an Opportunity, by excluding all Blacks and Tawneys, of
increasing the lovely White and Red? But perhaps I am partial to the
Compexion of my Country, for such Kind of Partiality is natural to
Mankind.
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