obbett to
Radicalism. Very different views were suggested to Malthus. The
revolutionary doctrine was represented in England by the writings of
Godwin, whose _Political Justice_ appeared in 1793 and _Enquirer_ in
1797. These books naturally afforded topics for discussion between
Malthus and his father. The usual relations between senior and junior
were inverted; the elder Malthus, as became a follower of Rousseau,
was an enthusiast; and the younger took the part of suggesting doubts
and difficulties. He resolved to put down his arguments upon paper, in
order to clear his mind; and the result was the _Essay upon
Population_, of which the first edition appeared anonymously in 1798.

The argument upon which Malthus relied was already prepared for him.
The dreams of the revolutionary enthusiasts supposed either a neglect
of the actual conditions of human life or a belief that those
conditions could be radically altered by the proposed political
changes. The cooler reasoner was entitled to remind them that they
were living upon solid earth, not in dreamland. The difficulty of
realising Utopia may be presented in various ways. Malthus took a
point which had been noticed by Godwin. In the conclusion of his
_Political Justice_,[204] while taking a final glance at the coming
millennium, Godwin refers to a difficulty suggested by Robert Wallace.
Wallace had[205] said that all the evils under which mankind suffers
might be removed by a community of property, were it not that such a
state of things would lead to an 'excessive population.' Godwin makes
light of the difficulty. He thinks that there is some 'principle in
human society by means of which everything tends to find its own level
and proceed in the most auspicious way, when least interfered with by
the mode of regulation.' Anyhow, there is plenty of room on the earth,
at present. Population may increase for 'myriads of centuries.' Mind,
as Franklin has said, may become 'omnipotent over matter';[206] life
may be indefinitely prolonged; our remote descendants who have filled
the earth 'will probably cease to propagate';[207] they will not have
the trouble of making a fresh start at every generation; and in those
days there will be 'no war, no crimes, no administration of justice';
and moreover, 'no disease, anguish, melancholy, or resentment.'
Briefly, we shall be like the angels, only without the needless
addition of a supreme ruler. Similar ideas were expressed in
Condorcet