21.Smith says,in a letter to Pulteney (1772)--"I have the same opinion of Sir James Steuart's book that you have.Withoutonce mentioning it,I flatter myself that any false principle in it will meet with a clear and distinct confutation in mine."22."When I recollect what the President Montesquieu has written,I am at a loss to tell why I should treat of human affairs;but I too am instigated by my reflections and my sentiments;and I may utter them more to the comprehension of ordinarycapacities,because I am more on the level of ordinary men...the reader should be referred to what has been alreadydelivered on the subject by this profound politician and amiable moralist"(Part I,sect.10).Hume speaks of Montesquieu asan "illustrious writer,"who "has established...a system of political knowledge,which abounds in ingenious and brilliantthoughts and is not wanting in solidity"(Principles of Morals ,sect.3and note).
23.The following paragraph appeared in Moniteur Universel of March 11,1790:--"On prétend que le célébre M.Smith,connu si avantageusement par son traitédes causes de la richesse des nations,prépare et va mettre l'impression un examencritique de 'Esprit des Lois;c'est le résultat de pleusiers années de méditaion,et l'on sait assez ce qu'on a droit d'attendred'une tête comme celle de M.Smith.Ce livre fera époque dans l'histoire de la politique et de la philosophie,tel est du moinsle jugement qu'en portent des gens instruits qui en connaissent des fragments dont ils ne parient qu'avec un enthousiasme duplus heureux augure."
24.Smith takes no account in this place of the evils which may arise from a highly developed division of labour.But see Bk.
v,chap.i.
25.This sentence,which on close examination will be found to have no definite intelligible sense,affords a good example ofthe way in which metaphysical modes of thought obscure economic ideas.What is a "quantity of labour,"the kind of labourbeing undetermined?And what is meant by the phrase "of equal value"?
26.Smith's expressions on this point are lax,as will be seen when we come to examine the (so-called)Ricardian theory ofRent.
27.See p.110,on Bentham.
28.It must,however,always be borne in mind that the adoption by a state of this sort of protection is liable to threepractical dangers:--(1)of encouragement being procured through political influences for industries which could never havean independent healthy life in the country --(2)of such encouragement being continued beyond the term during which itmight be usefully given;(3)of a retaliatory spirit of exclusion being provoked in other communities.
29.Professor Bastable calls the author's attention to the interesting fact that the proposal of an export duty on wool and thejustification of a temporary monopoly to joint-stock companies both appear for the first time in the third edition (1784).
30.In the Introductory Essay to his edition of the Wealth of Nations .
31."The public will probably soon be furnished with a theory of national economy,equal to what has ever appeared on anysubject of science whatever."(Part III,sect.4).
32.Five editions of the Wealth of Nations appeared during the life of the author:--the first in 1776,The second in 1779,thethird in 1784,the fourth in 1786,and the fifth in 1789.After the third edition Smith made no change in the text.Theprincipal editions containing matter added by other economists are those by William Playfair,with notes,1805;by DavidBuchanan,with notes,1814;by J.R.M'Culloch,with life of the author,introductory discourse,notes,and supplementaldssertations,1828(also,with numerous additions,1839;since reprinted several times with further additions);by the authorof England and America (Edward Gibbon Wakefield),with a commentary which,however,is not continued beyond thesecond book,1835-9;by James E.Thorold Rogers,Professor of Political Economy at Oxford,with biographical preface anda useful verification of Smith's quotation and references,1869(2d ed.,1880)--and by J.S.Nicholson,professor atEdinburgh,with an Introductory Essay,and notes referring to sources of further information on the various topics handledin the text,1884.There is a careful Abridgment by W P.Emerton (2d ed.,1881),founded on the early Analysis JeremiahJoyce (3d ed.,1821).
33.Parl.Hist .,vol.xxxiii,p.778.
34.It must be remembered,however,that the same doctrine had been supported with no less ability as early as 1769byTurgot in his Mémoire sur les prêts d'argent .
35.Lettres d'A.Comte àJ.S.Mill ,p.4.
36.In his discourse at the Sorbonne (1760),Sur les progrès successifs de l'esprit humain .
37.Their dates are 1806,1807,1816,1817,1826.
38.On this subject see the speculations of Herbert Spencer in his Principle of Biology ,Part VI,chaps.xii,xiii.
39.Malthus himself said:--"It is probable that,having found the bow bent too much one way,I was induced to bend it toomuch the other in order to make it straight."40.The Essay on Population and the Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent (1815),to be hereafter mentioned,areby far the most important contributions of Malthus to the science.He was also author of Principles of Political Economy (1820).Definitions in Political Economy (1827),and other minor pieces.On these less important writings of Malthus,andon his personal history,see Malthus and his Work (1885),by James Bonar,who has also edited (1888)the Letters ofRicardo to Malthus .
41."Political economy,you think,is in inquiry into the nature and causes of wealth;I think it should rather be called aninquiry into the laws that determine the division of the produce of industry amongst the classes who concur in its formation."--Letters of Ricardo to Malthus ,ed.by J.Bonar (1889).
