THE  FORERUNNERS—FICHTE  AND  MARLO.  13
encourage  immorality,  without  arresting  the  increase  of  the
inhabitants.  The  only  way  to  attain  this  object  is  to  aim  at
making  education  and  property  the  inheritance  of  all.  The
man  who  enjoys  a  little  comfort,  and  has  received  some  education, ­
  at  once  becomes  provident  He  does  not  wish,  by  a
premature  marriage,  to  devote  both  himself  and  his  family  to
certain  misery.  It  is  in  France  that  population  increases  most
slowly—so  slowly,  in  fact,  that  some  are  alarmed  at  it  ;  and  it  is
in  France  that  land  is  divided  among  so  large  a  number  of
persons,  that  those  who  do  not  possess  any  form  the  minority.
Enlightened  families  in  easy  circumstances  have  so  few  children
that  they  are  in  danger  of  extinction.  In  Ireland,  on  the  contrary, ­
  the  peasants  plunged  in  misery  and  ignorance  swarm  with
children.  The  more  a  man  leads  an  intellectual  life,  the  less
powerful  does  the  animal  nature  become  in  him.  The  majority
of  great  men  have  left  no  posterity.  The  progress  of  enlightenment ­
  and  comfort  is  therefore  the  best  antidote  against  a  too
great  increase  of  population,  and,  by  a  kind  of  social  harmony,
the  advance  of  civilization  dispels  the  principal  danger  that
threatens  its  future.