editions in this country, and has been translated into almost every language of the civilized world. We are well aware, indeed, of the different judgments which have been formed of this Essay, and of the calumnies with which the author has been assailed. We know that coldness, harshness, and even cruelty, have been frequently imputed to the most humane and considerate of men, and that a design of degrading the poor has been charged upon a work whose sole motive and tendency was to increase their comforts, and to raise their moral and intellectual condition;—it is a consolation, however, to remember that the most reflecting and cultivated minds in this, as well as in every other country, have almost unanimously adopted and approved both the principle and the reasoning of his work, whilst its most violent opponents and vilifiers have been, with one or two exceptions, either persons who have not read it at all, or who have grossly misunderstood or misrepresented it. Its greatest triumph, indeed, has been reserved for our own times, in which it has been solemnly adopted as a principle of legislation; nor can we hesitate to believe, that at no distant period, when the cloud of prejudice and passion in which the subject is involved shall have been dispersed, the humanity of the Essay will be as apparent to all mankind as its usefulness and truth.
It has been sometimes said and repeated publicly, since the author's death, that the view Mr. Malthus himself took of the principle of population, was a gloomy one. The remark is true, though somewhat uncharitable, for the fault was in the position of the author, not in his mind. It would be easy, no doubt, to separate certain propositions from his work, and construing them strictly to make out a case of cheerlessness and gloom against the author. But this is not dealing fairly with him; it is a maxim in philoso-
