DEPOPULATION THEORY. 44l his chapter on Population that '^ it was long a prevalent opinion Spain and that the emigration to the New World had depopulated Spain, and °^ it was also suspected that it had diminished the population of England. There is not, however," he added, "the least ground for any such opinion or conjectura" But the opinions of these and other philosophers did not re- move the popular prejudice on the subject. That it had active vitality even in the present century, may he seen from a book EmigraUon published in London in 1830, under the title of The Friend of Australia, in which the author, a retired East India Company's officer, advocated a systematic exploration of this country. Allud- ing to the prevalent objections to sending out emigrants to the colonies, he said : — It ifl also a most egregious mistake for anyone to say that we should be parting with and sending out of the country the mainsprine of our strength — our youth — who are to defend us in case of war. I wish to know what difference the thousands who have already left Great Britain have made in the great bulk of the population ? None. Where are they missed ? Perhaps the most forcible illustration of the current doctrine on this subject during the last century will be found in Callander's De Brosses collection of voyages,* published in 1766 under the title, Terra ^dw! Australis Cognita. This work was nothing more than a free trans- lation, without acknowledgment, of the Histoire dea NavigcUiona aux Terera AuatraUa, by the President, Charles de Brosses. In an introductory chapter " of the utility of further discoveries," Cal- lander, adapting the Frenchman's argument, says : — Nobody now pretends to call in question that a State must augment her power and wealth by extending the several branches of her commerce by the means of colonies, provided this can be performed without depopulating too much the mother country. The task may be difficult to determine what part of the people of Britain can be spared for new establishments in distant regions. It is, I believe, generally admitted that this isl^ind is able to nourish a larger number of people than we actually have. Now the I'eal riches of a State consist in the number of her subjects. After enumerating the commercial advantages to be derived Advantasres from " sending out well-regulated colonies," Callander* proceeds to *^ ^° **" point out another advantage of a different kind : — These are the useful articles that flow from exporting our people to colonies abroad ; but there are others that may be found in some sense necessary ; such as that of sending annually abroad certain people who only hurt
- Callander's work was published two years before Cook sailed in the En-
deavour on his expedition to the South Sea, and was probably not without some influence in determininff the Government of the day to prosecute the " further discoveries " which it advocated. The publication of the work at that time shows that public attention was directed to the subject. Digitized by Google
