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stepping-stone from which a higher advancement may be aimed at, all that can be required in such a work will be fulfilled, and no apology should be demanded for presenting it to the public. To the inquirer beginning a subject, it is especially important that the work which he takes up should be as much as possible free from admixture of error. Unable at first to distinguish between truth and its converse, he adopts the bad equally with the good, and thus afterwards is exposed to a more difficult task,—that of unlearning the errors he had previously imbibed. If the present treatise shall be found to answer the double but temporary purpose now spoken of, my object will be accomplished.

In presenting a view of the whole subject of national economy, it was not on every branch of it that corrections of received opinions were required, or that I had new ideas to offer; and it was necessary, in the fulfilment of the design, to fill up the spaces, if they may be so called, not with original thought, but with a restatement of principles which have been often given before. This has been done by collecting from the various works which we have already on this subject the most valuable and interesting facts and reasoning which they contain, and in some instances in the very language of their writers. I would not willingly withhold due acknowledgments from any person to whom they ought to be made. But often, from having neglected at the time to note the sources whence assistance has been drawn, I have been unable to do justice to them. Amongst those works from which, besides the Wealth of Nations, large contributions have been made without reference may be enumerated, those of M. Say, Mr. Ricardo, the Earl of Lauderdale, Colonel Torrens, Dr. Hamilton, Mr. M'Culloch, and Mr. Sadler.

With regard to the manner, in other respects, in which the work is executed, I have need to ask indulgence. The difficulty of such an undertaking may be conceived from the distinguished talents that have been before applied to it, and which yet have left room for corrections and for further labours. Hence a partial failure in such an undertaking may not be discreditable. The objects were simply the discovery and exhibition of truth; not to gratify by a display of elegance of style and of arrangement; and for the reason that in this object I must have failed. If then the reader hope for the gratification arising from such display, he is forewarned that he will be disappointed. There are many imperfections of which I am deeply sensible, and doubtless there must be many more of which I am not aware; and, accordingly, I crave from the reader that indulgence to which a sincere inquirer after truth is entitled, and which

such a one never fails to receive at the hands of those who can appreciate her excellence, and admire her, though presented in a homely garb.

With regard to the subject itself, no apology can be wanted. Scarcely any inquiry is more curious and instructive than that which traces the laws according to which the movement of human industry proceeds, and develops the causes of the opulence or poverty of nations; causes which in one country and age, occasion the great body of the people to live in affluence, in spite, perhaps, of natural obstacles and disadvantages of apparently insurmountable magnitude; and in another country or age, to suffer from poverty and destitution, notwithstanding the possession of great natural facilities for the acquisition of all the requisites to the enjoyment of life. An investigation which has for its object to discover the sources of wealth or poverty, possesses the strongest claims on our attention, since it must be essentially practical, and applicable as well to the common concerns of life as to the regulation of state affairs. "However far," as it has been truly said, we may be from ascertaining the whole of these sources, the magnitude of the interests involved, and the importance of the results, must give value to every step of the inquiry, and to every single principle which may be clearly established; while the nature of the object is sufficient, if zealously pursued, to give interest to the discussion." When we look at the many false views which have been entertained on the subject, and the mischiefs which their application to practice has wrought in society, we may be able to conceive the inestimable benefits which would have resulted from just views, clearly conceived and steadily acted upon.

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POLITICAL economy is the subject to which the attention of the reader is invited in the following pages. It is however presented under a somewhat different aspect to that in which it has been hitherto viewed, and cannot, in strictness, be exhibited by and comprised within the definitions usually given of that science. For this reason it has not been so entitled.

It is proper that, previous to entering on the subject, the reader should be presented with an outline of its character, the objects it has in view, and the limits by which it is circumscribed. Most writers on political economy have given a definition of their science. In laying down the principles of their subject, however, it has generally happened that successive writers on it have departed more or less from those who have preceded them. This departure shows either that the proper nature and objects of the science have been ill understood, or that their definitions have not commonly been given in such

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precise and complete terms as to be generally satisfactory. Following precedent, therefore, a variation from previous definitions cannot be objected to on the present occasion.

In order to explain the reasons for a departure from previous authorities, for viewing the subject under another aspect, and for giving a different statement of it from that which is generally given, it may be useful to bring under notice some of the definitions of political economy which have been already laid down by the principal writers upon it, as describing the nature, objects, and limits, of their inquiries.

Dr. Adam Smith says, "Political economy proposes two distinct objects: first, to provide a plentiful revenue or subsistence for the people, or more properly, to enable them to provide a plentiful revenue or subsistence for themselves; and, secondly, to supply the state or commonwealth with a revenue sufficient for the public services. It proposes to enrich both the people and the commonwealth." He entitles his great work, “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations."

The Earl of Lauderdale describes his work, "An Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth," &c. M. Say describes his, "A Treatise on Political Economy; or the Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Wealth." Colonel Torrens entitles his, "An Essay on the Production of Wealth."

Let it be observed that, in these several instances, the term wealth is used to exhibit the subject with which political economy is conversant. Most other writers take the same view of the subject. It would however be fatiguing to enumerate their names, and it may be sufficient to observe that their investigations have uniformly been considered to be limited to objects of wealth; or to the laws according to which such objects are produced, augmented, distributed, and consumed.

In order to understand the propriety of this description of the subject of discussion by political economy, it is necessary to know what is to be understood by the term wealth

Wealth, then, considered as the object of economical science, is defined by one of its best writers to consist of "Those material articles which are useful or desirable to man, and which it requires some portion of voluntary exertion to procure or to

preserve. Thus, two things are essential to wealth; the possession of utility, and the requiring some portion of voluntary exertion or labour. That which has no utility, which serves neither to supply our wants nor to gratify our desires, is as the dust beneath our feet, or as the sand upon the shore, and obviously forms no portion of our wealth: while, on the other hand, things which possess the highest utility, and which are even necessary to our existence, come not under the denomination of wealth, unless, to the possession of utility be superadded the circumstance of having been procured by some voluntary exertion. Though the air which we breathe, and the sunbeams by which we are warmed, are in the highest degree useful and necessary, it would be a departure from the precision of language, to denominate them articles of wealth. But the bread which appeases the cravings of hunger, and the clothing which protects us from the rigour of the season, though not more indispensably requisite than the former, are with propriety classed under the term, wealth; because to the possession of utility, they add the circumstance of having been procured by labour." *

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According to Mr. M'Culloch, political economy is "The science of the laws which regulate the production, distribution, and consumption of those articles or products, which have exchangeable value, and are either necessary, useful, or agreeable to man." In another place he says, "Political economy has been frequently defined to be, the science which treats of the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth:' and if by wealth be meant those articles or products which possess exchangeable value, and are either necessary, useful, or agreeable, the definition is quite unexceptionable; but if we understand the term wealth in a more enlarged or contracted sense, it will be faulty."

Again, it is said by Mr. Malthus, that "susceptibility of accumulation is essential to our usual conceptions of wealth;" and that, "capability of definite valuation is necessary to enable us to estimate the amount of wealth obtained by any kind of labour."

* Colonel Torrens on Production.

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