This natural inequality of the two powers of population and of

production in the earth, and that great law of our nature which mustconstantly keep their effects equal, form the great difficulty that tome appears insurmountable in the way to the perfectibility of society.

All other arguments are of slight and subordinate consideration in

comparison of this. I see no way by which man can escape from the weight

of this law which pervades all animated nature. No fancied equality, no

agrarian regulations in their utmost extent, could remove the pressure

of it even for a single century. And it appears, therefore, to bedecisive against the possible existence of a society, all the members ofwhich should live in ease, happiness, and comparative leisure; and feel

no anxiety about providing the means of subsistence for themselves and

their families.