lison may well claim for his opinions
the greatest deference and respect: and the logical precision, and
clear and candid statement, which this essay exhibits, will secure
even from his opponents a ready and cordial approbation. Again we say,
that we do not wish to adopt his arguments as our own, but we
willingly contribute to embody them in a more permanent form, and to
offer them to the attention of our readers, that they may prevail, if
they cannot be answered, or may receive an answer, if an answer can be
given.

The general nature of Dr Alison's views will be understood by quoting
his table of contents, which contains a synopsis of his argument:

"All questions regarding Poverty and Destitution are inseparably
connected with the Theory of Population, i. e., the observation of
the conditions by which Population is regulated;--the best system
of Management of the Poor being that under which there is least
redundancy of population.

"The unequivocal tests of a population being redundant, are
Pestilence and Famine; these taking effect on such a population
much more than on any other; and the experience of both, within
the last few years in this country, proves unequivocally, that it
is in those portions of it where there is no effective legal
provision for the poor--not in those where there is such
provision--that the population is redundant.

"The peculiar Fever of 1843, as well as ordinary Typhus, now
prevail much more extensively among the destitute Irish, hitherto
unprotected by law, than among any others--and the effect of all
other predisposing causes, in favouring their diffusion, is
trifling in comparison with Destitution, and its inseparable
concomitant, crowding in ill-ventilated rooms.

"The Famine of 1846-7, consequent on the failure of the Potato
Crop, (_i. e._ of the cheapest and poorest food on which life can
be supported,) clearly reveals the parts of the country where the
population is redundant; and this is throughout Ireland, until
very lately absolutely without provision, and in 106 districts of
Scotland, where, without exception, there has been no assessment
and a nearly illusory legal provision for the poor.

"These facts not only prove incontestably that an effective Poor
Law does not foster redundant population, but justify the belief,
that the absence of a legal provision again