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Cover of The Works of Thomas Robert Malthus

Edited by E. A. Wrigley; David Souden

Published: 2010
DOI: 10.4324/9781851960019
Set ISBN: 9781851960019

Set Contents

An Essay on the Principle of Population (1826) Part II

A comparison of the volume of writing, or the number and breadth of authorities cited, between the first edition of Malthus’s Essay and the second, shows just how much he achieved in the five years between 1798 and 1803. Essentially, Malthus wrote a new work. In 1798 he had argued against speculations on the ‘future improvement of society’; in 1803 the Essay was a view of population’s ‘past and present effects on human happiness, with an inquiry into our prospects respecting the future removal or mitigation of the evils which it occasions’.

Volume Contents

Front Matter
An essay on the principle of population, 1826, continued: With variant readings from the second edition, 1803 By Thomas Robert Malthus
- Prelims
- Of the different systems or expedients which have been proposed or have prevailed in society, as they affect the evils arising from the principle of population
  - I
    
    Of systems of equality. Wallace. Condorcet
  - II
    
    Of systems of equality. Godwin
  - III
    
    Of systems of equality (continued)
  - IV
    
    Of emigration
  - V
    
    Of poor laws
  - VI
    
    Of poor laws, continued
  - VII
    
    Of poor laws, continued
  - VIII
    
    Of the agricultural system
  - IX
    
    Of the commercial system
  - X
    
    Of systems of agriculture and commerce combined
  - XI
    
    Of corn laws. Bounties upon exportation
  - XII
    
    Of corn laws. Restrictions upon importation
  - XIII
    
    Of increasing wealth, as it affects the condition of the poor
  - XIV
    
    General observations
- Of our future prospects respecting the removal or mitigation of the evils arising from the principle of population
  - I
    
    Of moral restraint, and our obligation to practise this virtue
  - II
    
    Of the effects which would result to society from the prevalence of moral restraint
  - III
    
    Of the only effectual mode of improving the condition of the poor
  - IV
    
    Objections to this mode considered
  - V
    
    Of the consequences of pursuing the opposite mode
  - VI
    
    Effects of the knowledge of the principal cause of poverty on civil liberty
  - VII
    
    Continuation of the same subject.
  - VIII
    
    Plan of the gradual abolition of the poor laws proposed
  - IX
    
    Of the modes of correcting the prevailing opinions on population
  - X
    
    Of the direction of our charity
  - XI
    
    Different plans of improving the condition of the poor considered
  - XII
    
    Continuation of the same subject
  - XIII
    
    Of the necessity of general principles on this subject
  - XIV
    
    Of our rational expectations respecting the future improvement of society
- Appendix
- Index
Extensive Variations Between Second and Sixth Editions: Full chapters replaced between 2nd and 6th editions: see Concordance of chapter titles
- Book II, Chapter IV: On the fruitfulness of marriages
- Book III, Chapter III: Observations on the reply of Mr Godwin
- Book III, Chapter VIII: Of the definitions of wealth. Agricultural and commercial systems
- Book III, Chapter IX: Different effects of the agricultural and commercial systems
- Book III, Chapter X: Of bounties on the exportation of com
- Shorter Variant Passages
Back Matter