The Shadow of Great Britain

625: Chapter 310 Academic Circle is also a Circle_2 625: Chapter 310 Academic Circle is also a Circle_2 Even the yelling of Coleridge was not the most grating, as another representative of the Lakeside Poets, Robert Southey, bluntly said, “Malthus is the favorite target of British critics, just as other waste outlets favor him.”

These poets, who cherished moral standards and pastoral life, even coined the term ‘Malthusianism’ specifically to shame those who revered material life and were utterly deprived of a spiritual world.

Although being nicknamed by Southey was nothing unusual, after all, master namer Mr.

Southey had also called Byron the ‘chief of the Satanic school of poets’ in “The Vision of Judgment” and lumped Shelley and others into the category of the ‘Satanic school.’

But Byron and others at least had the support of a group of passionate youths, whereas Malthus was left with nothing but national curses throughout Britain.

However, it’s not so hard to understand why he was so criticized, because the principles of “Population” are difficult for the haughty human race to accept in any era.

In Malthus’s view, humans and animals are no different; they both continually fall into the trap of slaughtering each other until both sides have no energy left to continue.

Unemployment and poverty are the inevitable results of natural population laws, and humans cannot escape this fate; all measures to aid the poor and promote social equality are futile.

The best way to solve this problem, then, is to guide human moral concepts towards indifference and even cruelty, destroy the existing moral systems, control population growth, and even tacitly approve infanticide, birth control, famine, and war as means to suppress human reproduction.

In the end, Malthus also believed that private property was also an inevitable result caused by natural population laws; it coexists with humans, is indestructible, and is also the best method and system to maintain the balance between population growth and the improvement of the quality of life.

To support his views, Malthus used examples of famines, epidemics in the Far East, and the massacres in the colonization of America.

When Malthus presented these views, the Lakeside School, which advocated using ancient moral standards to promote social fairness, naturally could not let him off, and resistors like Byron and Shelley naturally criticized this bloody doctrine.

Almost everyone believed that he was supporting the government’s disregard for the poor, undermining the progress of public welfare construction.

However, contrary to the overwhelming criticism from public opinion, the British Government and the East India Company almost simultaneously discovered the value of Malthus.

William Pitt, the greatest Prime Minister of the 18th century, abandoned the classical economic view that ‘having more children makes a country richer’ because of Malthus, and actively abandoned the new “Poor Laws” he had been promoting which increased relief measures.

And the East India Company opened a brand new discipline—Political Economy at Haileybury College for Malthus, making him the world’s first professor of political economy.

If it’s just on an academic level, even if Malthus’s theory had many flaws, he was still a master.

But if it’s from a social perspective…

Even among Arthur’s acquaintances, his friends—Dickens, Disraeli, Great Dumas, and even Mr.

Eld Carter—had all published critical remarks about Malthus, viewing him as one of the key players causing the suffering of the poor.

Yet curiously, if looked at from the perspective of the University of London, it was another story.

Many people from the university, whether it was the leader Jeremy Bentham, Lord Brougham, or Charlie Austin who was about to become the Chief Prosecutor of London, or Edwin Chadwick, the private secretary to the High Chancellor, had accepted Malthus’s views to some extent.

These utilitarians believed that in the face of grim realities, human compassion was completely useless; if Malthus’s views were eventually proven correct, they would not mind continuing to cut into the “Poor Laws.”

Arthur was just thinking about this when suddenly there was a knock at the door.

John Stuart Mill, who had been busy with various documents at the Liverpool Customs for several days, entered the room with dark circles under his eyes.

“Arthur, is there something urgent you need from me?

The Customs sent a large batch of new documents yesterday afternoon; if we delay any longer, it might take us four or five days to finish them.”

Arthur replied with a smile, “John, don’t rush with the customs issues.

If need be, let the Customs office send someone to help us sort them out.

You and the apprentices at the accounting firm have been busy for so long; you deserve a rest.”

Mill, while pouring tea, said, “Arthur, you must have been hit on the head by that pebble, otherwise how could you say such nonsense?

Letting the Customs inspect themselves, what could they possibly find?”

Arthur answered, “It doesn’t matter if they don’t find anything; if worse comes to worst, I’ll just resign from London and let them send someone else to work in Liverpool.

Besides, I’ve got a cut at the corner of my eye; if they don’t ‘show some consideration’ for the injured, that would be really rude.”

Mill took a sip of tea and sighed, “Although it’s unfortunate that you got injured, if it weren’t for that cut at the corner of your eye, probably the Customs office in Liverpool wouldn’t have sent all the remaining documents over to me.

Just in the past two days, we’ve counted an extra £3,600.”