ries on this head, and disclaiming all knowledge of any vessel having ever been at Loo Choo before, put it out of my power at first to inform myself on the point, and had not his own curiosity overcame his prudence, it would perhaps have long remained a secret.

The manner in which the discovery was made is curious: after the sackee had gone round a few times, An-yahı inquired if "ship got womans?" and being answered in the negative, he replied, somewhat surprised, "other ships got womans, handsome womans!" alluding to Mrs. Loy, with whom the Loo Chooans were so much captivated, that, it is thought, she had an offer from a person of high authority in the island. I then taxed him with having a knowledge of other ships, and when he found he had betrayed himself, he laughed heartily, and acknowledged that he recollected the visit of the Alceste and Lyra, which he correctly said was one hundred and forty-four moons ago.

'I was a little vexed to find that neither An-yah nor Isaacha-Sandoo, who was also of our party, and is mentioned by Captain Hall, made the slightest inquiry after any of the officers of the Alceste or Lyra, by whom they had been treated in the most friendly manner, and for whom it might have been inferred, from the tears that were shed by the Loo Chooans on the departure of those ships, that the greatest regard had been entertained. The only time they alluded to them was when Mrs. Loy recurred to their imagination.-p. 456.

If Mrs. Loy ever tries her hand in the Annuals, she owes these constant admirers a tender stanza or two; but to proceedCaptain Beechey enjoyed one material advantage over his predecessors, in having better means of interpretation, and accordingly he has brought us considerably more information respecting the state of Loo Choo. Dr. Morrison, of the British Factory, at Canton, had written a number of sentences in the Chinese character, at Beechey's request, and as these related to many interesting points of inquiry, he was enabled to ask questions without the chance of misinterpretation. Dr. Morrison was well aware that the Chinese character would be quite intelligible to the literati, although the spoken languages are very different.

The Loo Choo words for the same things are very different from those of the Chinese, the one being often a monosyllable, and the other a polysyllable; as in the instance of charcoal, the Chinese word for it being tan, and the Loo Chooan chá-chee-jing, and yet the people use precisely the same character as the Chinese to express this word; and so far from its being necessary to be familiar with the language to understand the characters, many did not know the Chinese words for them. Their language throughout is very different from that of the Chinese, and much more nearly allied to the Japanese.'-p. 482.

We have left ourselves no room for the concluding parts of the voyage, which, however, are not less interesting than the rest. Captain Beechey returned to his old rendezvous off Chamisso Island on the 5th of August, 1827, within five days of the time

appointed.

appointed. The season was not nearly so open as that of the preceding year, so that no farther advance was made along the coast. The barge unfortunately was wrecked, and several men drowned, which stopped the proceedings along shore. The Blossom, upon this occasion, was obliged to retreat from the Polar Sea so early as the 6th of October, without having heard a word of either Franklin or Parry.

There is perhaps no person alive who is more competent than Captain Beechey to give an opinion upon the practicability of completing the object for which so many expeditions have been fitted out. He has entered the Polar Sea from the eastward with Parry, and penetrated as far as man has yet gone; while, in his own ship, he has sailed into the same passage from the westward, considerably farther than Captain Cook; besides which, he has made a voyage with Franklin towards the North Pole, and is therefore not only familiarly acquainted with all that is known upon the subject, but has in his own person grappled with and overcome most of the difficulties; moreover he has upon this voyage shown resources of the highest order under circumstances of considerable variety. His opinion, therefore, on the important question in what direction future efforts should be made, must command great respect in every quarter.

The extent of land now left unexplored between Point Turnagain and Icy Cape, is comparatively so insignificant, that, as regards the question of the north-west passage, it may be considered to be known; and in this point of view both expeditions, though they did not meet, may be said to have been fully successful. From the nature and similarity of the coast at Return Reef and Point Barrow, it is very probable that the land from Franklin Extreme trends gradually to the eastward to Return Reef, leaving Point Barrow in latitude 71° 23′ 30′′ N., the northern limit of the continent of America.

The determination of this great geographical question is undoubtedly important; but though it sets a boundary to the new continent, and so far diminishes the difficulties attending an attempt to effect a passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic, yet it leaves the practicability of the north-west passage nearly as doubtful as ever; and it is evident that it cannot be otherwise, until the obstructions set forth in Captain Parry's voyage are removed, as it would avail little to be able to reach Hecla and Fury Strait, provided that channel were always impassable.

I can see no insurmountable obstacle to the exploit. In this attempt, however, it is evident that a vessel must be prepared to encounter very heavy pressure from the ice, and must expect, on the ice closing the coast to the westward of Point Barrow, which it unquestionably would with every strong westerly wind, to be driven on shore in the manner in which our boat was in 1826.

'As regards the question, whether it be advisable to attempt the passage from the Atlantic or the Pacific, the advantage of being able

to

to pursue the main land with certainty from Icy Cape is unquestionably great; and the recollection that in that route every foot gained to the eastward is an advance toward the point whence supplies and succour may be obtained, is a cheering prospect to those who are engaged in such an expedition. But while I so far advocate an attempt from this quarter, it must not be overlooked that the length of the voyage round Cape Horn, and the vicissitudes of climate to be endured, present material objections to prosecuting the enterprise by that course. ..... Upon the whole, I am disposed to favour the western route, and am of opinion that could steam-vessels properly fitted, and adapted to the service, arrive in good condition in Kotzebue Sound, by the beginning of one summer, they would with care and patience succeed in reaching the western shore of Melville Peninsula in the next.'p. 564.

It is proper to observe, before we bid Captain Beechey farewell, that he bestows high and generous praise on all his officers without exception. The narrative and appendix contain ample evidence that they formed a most able and accomplished society; and we trust many of them will yet act together again in services of as great importance as that which has now been so well performed, and so elegantly recorded. We may say so elegantly illustrated too-for the engravings in this book are admirable things.

1831.

ART. III.-1. Two Lectures on Population, delivered before the University of Oxford. By Nassau William Senior, Professor of Political Economy. To which is added a Correspondence between the Author and the Rev. T. R. Malthus. 2. The Law of Population. A Treatise in Six Books, in disproof of the Superfecundity of Human Beings, and developing the Real Principle of their Increase. By Michael Thomas Sadler, M.P. Vols. I. and II. 1830.

3. Mr. Sadler's Reply to an Article in the Edinburgh Review, &c.

1831.

4. Letters on Systematic Colonization and the Bill now before Parliament, &c. By Charles Tennant, Esq., M.P. London,

IF

1831.

F there ever was a subject exceeding all others in general importance, and in which a right or a wrong conclusion may most materially influence the destinies of mankind-if there ever was a question demanding for its discussion, beyond all others, the most calm and candid deliberation, the completest freedom from all party or personal feelings, and an earnest and philosophical desire to search after Truth, and truth exclusively-this is that subjectthis is that question. Has it been hitherto approached in such

VOL. XLV. NO. LXXXIX.

H

spirit

spirit and temper? We fear we must answer in the negative, And in so doing we shall, perhaps, afford a clue to the enigma, that the opinions broached upon this great, and, in our view of it, simple question, have run into the most opposite and violent extremes; equally repugnant to common sense and experience, equally mischievous in their effects, whenever successfully propagated, and equally distant from the plain, intelligible, and useful truth, to which a more dispassionate and impartial inquiry must have led by a straight and easy route.

The question at issue may be simply stated thus :-Is there any natural tendency in the numbers of mankind to increase faster than their power of providing themselves with food? And if so, is this tendency an evil or a good? and can it be so regulated or modified, as to avert the evil, or augment the good it is calculated to produce?

How grossly this plain question has been mystified by the use, and as frequent abuse, of high-sounding scientific terms, such as superfecundity, law of population, geometrical and arithmetical ratios, inverse variation, and a hundred others-terms which obscure the argument they are intended to illustrate, unless previously defined, and which, if previously defined, would assuredly never have been employed as we find them-we need not attempt to prove to such of our readers as have paid any attention to the controversy which the doctrines on population have excited since the beginning of the present century; if, indeed, that can be called a controversy in which one party alone has been heard throughout in the tone of triumphant dogmatism, and but a few faint and feeble voices were raised in unsuccessful opposition.

The history of that controversy is shortly as follows. It is an ancient and popular, as it is likewise an obvious notion,-one of those old-fashioned opinions which, of course, one should be ashamed of wearing in the present day,-that the strength of a state lies in its numbers-that the numerical increase of a nation is an increase of its means for acquiring wealth, and for defending it when obtained, and, consequently, an increase of its aggregate strength and happiness. Hence, the respect and honours which, throughout ancient history, sacred as well as profane, seems to have been uniformly paid to the progenitors of a numerous offspring. Hence, in some instances, direct premiums have been held out for the encouragement of matrimony and the increase of families.

The scourges of war and pestilence have more or less depopulated states at various periods in the gloomy annals of mankind; but, in addition to the pangs they occasioned to their immediate victims, the rending of the ties of affection or relationship, and the

destruction

destruction of property, the actual loss of lives had been invariably lamented as a grievous injury to the suffering nations, up to the close of the last century. Then, for the first time, we believe, the opinion was propagated, that these calamitous events have their favourable side--that the evils of battle and of plague are partly compensated by the diminution of numbers they occasion that population is always and everywhere pressing up to the limits of possible subsistence, and struggling against the inadequacy of the food that can be provided for its support-that the mass of mankind are, in consequence, necessarily in a state of extreme want, and that every check to their increase or direct diminution of their absolute numbers, is, pro tanto, a reprieve to the survivors, who, in the general scramble for the necessaries of life, divide more amongst themselves; until the continued increase, accelerated as it is by the formation of a temporary vacuum, once more brings their numbers closely up to the barrier against which they are fated to be eternally pressing, and restores the misery and extreme want which, under this theory, is, in the long run, the natural and necessary condition of human existence.

This is a gloomy and heart-withering picture; but it is a true representation of the doctrine promulgated, and with the utmost success, towards the close of the last century. When we call it the Malthusian theory, we do so only in compliance with popular authority, which has stamped it with that appellation. We are well aware that Mr. Malthus has no claim to the credit or the blame, whichever posterity may think right to award (and of both he has had his full share already) to the originator of this doctrine. There can be no doubt that he adopted, not merely its substance, but most of its details, and even the terms in which they are enounced, from the works of Townsend, Wallace, and other preceding writers. Though not original, these opinions were, however, brought forward by him in so striking and authoritative a manner, with the advantages of a polished style and eloquent language, a tone of philosophical inquiry, and the justificatory evidence of statistical details, as to attract far more attention than they had previously obtained, and irrevocably couple the name of Malthus with the theory they comprehend.

In describing that theory, we have had in view its character, as it appeared in the first edition of Mr. Malthus's Essay on Population, in 1798. We well know that in subsequent editions it has been greatly modified; some of its most objectionable portions removed, others softened off or explained away, and new portions introduced, till, like the silk stockings of the Vicar of Wakefield that had been so often mended with worsted, it is now become extremely difficult to say what the Malthusian theory is,