however，isnotlessdecided；andleadshimtospeakasthoughtheelasticityofpopulationwerenotmerelyanessentialfactorinthesocialproblem，butthesoleprinciplefromwhichallsolutionsmustbededuced。Heisthusled，asIhavetriedtoshow，toanarrowinterpretationofhis’moralcheck。’Heisapttotake’vice’simplyasaproductofexcessivepressure，and，inhisgeneralphrasesatleast，tooverlookitsreciprocaltendencytocausepressure。The’moralcheck’isonlypreventiveornegative，notapositivecauseofsuperiorvigour。Asimilardefectappearsinhistheoryofthevismedicatrix。Hewas，Ihold，perfectlyrightinemphasisingtheimportanceofindividualresponsibility。Noreformcanbepermanentwhichdoesnotraisethemoralityoftheindividual。Hisinsistenceuponthistruthwasofthehighestimportance，anditistobewishedthatitsimportancemightbemorefullyrecognisedto-day。Theone-sidednessappearsinhisproposaltoabolishthepoor-lawsimply。Thatbecamethemostconspicuousandwidelyaccepteddoctrine。Allmenof’sense，’saidSydneySmith——
certainlyaqualifiedrepresentativeoftheclass——in1820，agree，first，thatthepoor-lawmustbeabolished；andsecondly，thatitmustbeabolishedverygradually。78Thatisreallytoassumethatbyrefusingtohelppeopleatall，youwillforcethemtohelpthemselves。Thereisanotheralternative，namely，thattheymay，asMalthushimselfoftenrecognises，becomedemoralisedbyexcessivepoverty。Todosimplynothingmayleadtodegenerationinsteadofincreasedenergy。Thepossibilityofanimprovedlaw，whichmightactasamoraldisciplineinsteadofasimplycorruptingagency，issimplyleftoutofaccount；andthetendencytostimulaterecklesspopulationisregardednotonlyasoneprobableconsequence，butastheveryessenceofallpoor-laws。UponMalthus’sassumptions，thestatementthatsoundpoliticalandsocialtheoriesmustbebaseduponsystematicinquiryintofacts，meantthattheindividualwastheultimateunalterableunit，whoseinterestinhisownwelfaregavetheonefulcrumforallpossiblechanges。Theideal’stateofnature’wasafiction。Thetruebasisofourinquiriesistheactualmanknowntousbyobservation。Themainfaultofthisbeingwastheexcessoftheinstinctofmultiplication，andthewaytoimprovehimwastoshowhowitmightconflictwiththeinstinctofself-preservation。InthisshapethedoctrineexpressedthemostcharacteristictendencyoftheUtilitarians，anddividedthemfromtheSocialistsorbelieversinabstractrightsofman。
VI。RENT
Here，then，weareatacentralpointoftheUtilitariancreed。Theexpansiveforceofpopulationis，inasense，thegreatmotivepowerwhichmouldsthewholesocialstructure；
or，rather，itforcestogethertheindependentunits，andweldsthemintoanaggregate。Theinfluenceofthisdoctrineuponothereconomicalspeculationsisofthehighestimportance。Onecriticalstageintheprocessismarkedbytheenunciationofthetheoryofrent，whichwastobecomeanotheressentialarticleofthetruefaith。Theintroductionofthisdoctrineischaracteristic，andmarksthepointatwhichRicardosupersededMalthusaschiefexpositorofthedoctrine。