And how many Irelands have there been in the world where men would have been contented and happy if they had only been fewer; how many more Irelands would there have been if the intrusive numbers had not been kept down by infanticide and vice and misery.
Bagehot speculates on how population pressures could have altered the happiness of societies.
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He gave an excellent moral example to his contemporaries, but he is an instance of those whose good dies with them, while their evil lives after them.
Thirdly, we see why so few nations have made rapid advance, and how many have become stationary.
They have given what I may call a CONFIDENCE IN THE UNIVERSE.
No doubt this momentary gain is bought at a ruinous after-cost.
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