Letter XXIX.. [88] Malthus Did Not Carry Out His Intention. Though There Are

Malthus did not carry out his intention. Though there are occasional references in his later books to Torrens' 'Production of Wealth,' there seems to be nothing like a reply to the strictures in this 'Essay.'

Here as elsewhere spelt in the old fashion 'expences.'

Probably one of the two he published on the Currency in 1812 and 1813 respectively.

MS. hopelessly torn.

The name appears as Baswi in Ricardo's letters to Say. Even in Ricardo's clear handwriting Basevi and Baswi would be hardly distinguishable.

Probably the statement given at the beginning of next letter.

This really happens in the cases made prominent by Mr. Carey, 'Social Science,' I. iv (1858), where historical circumstances have made cultivation begin with indifferent instead of fertile soils.

Because the remaining six would purchase what eight purchased before.

Napoleon landed near Frejus on 26th Feb., 1815.

Or rather in the Appendix to it, p. 292 (McCulloch's ed.).

See the Note at the end of this letter.

Ricardo was one of the original members of the Geological Society. See McCulloch's ed. of his Works, p. xvii.

Blake, probably William Blake, author of 'Observations on the principles which regulate the course of Exchange and on the present depreciated state of the Currency,' 1810.

Probably G. B. Greenough, F.R.S., F.S.L., and President of the Geological Society, who wrote on Geology, 1819.

They were only foreign in the sense of being articles, not only manufactured in this country but also imported from abroad, e.g. soap (under a heavy duty) from France, Italy, and Spain.

Probably William Smyth, Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, friend of Mackintosh and Horner.

Dr. Alexander Crombie, schoolmaster, theologian, and economist, had published in the Pamphleteer, vol. x, in 1813, a 'Letter to David Ricardo, containing an analysis of his pamphlet on the Depreciation of Bank Notes'. About a year after the date of this letter he wrote 'Letters on the Agricultural Interest'. When Torrens did not get his inspiration from Adam Smith he seems to have got it from Dr. Crombie, for whom he had profound respect. See Torrens' Essay on Money and Paper Currency, 1812, and Essay on External Corn Trade (Preface), 1815.

Hopelessly torn by the seal.

Probably they had had a private conversation on the subject. On the 28th June Whitbread made a lengthened speech in the House to this effect.

A loan of 36,000,000 was contracted in 1815. See Gilbart's 'History and Principles of Banking' (2nd ed. 1835), p. 54.

Pascoe Grenfell, member of the Bullion Committee, a strong supporter of Wilberforce in the matter of Emancipation. His motions in Parliament on the subject of the Bank of England are given in the appendix to Ricardo's 'Economical and Secure Currency' (Wks. p. 451), a pamphlet which by its author's admission (p. 395) owes much to him.

Cf. Ricardo's Pol. Econ. and Tax. ch. vi, Profits.

Probably 'An Address to the Nation on the relative importance of Agriculture and Manufactures, with remarks on the doctrines of Mr. Malthus,' 1815.

High Price of Corn, 1815.

Spelt throughout 'Othaeite.'

Probably Henry Warburton, mentioned e.g. in Personal Life of Geo. Grote, p. 75. In a MS. letter from Joseph Hume to Francis Place, 19th Oct., 1839 (in the Place Collection), he refers to Mr. Warburton as a friend of Place who had been too much neglected by the Whigs in office.

In Arthur Young's Farmer's Calendar, 1815, p. 501, £10 are said to be the average capital needed for stocking a farm in 1814, and £15 are counted high.

Probably the 'Proposals for an Economical and Secure Currency, with observations on the profits of the Bank of England as they regard the public and the proprietors of Bank Stock.' See Works (McCulloch's ed.), pp. 391 sq. One 'proposal' was that the Bank should be obliged to deliver uncoined bullion, at the Mint price (instead of coined money) in exchange for its notes.

Presumably Ricardo's first pamphlet, of 1810. Cf. Works (McCulloch's ed.) p. xxiii.

They amounted to 27,300,000 ('Econ. and Sec. Currency,' Wks., p. 450, but cf. p. 413).

Probably 'Econ. and Secure Currency.' See note to Letter XLII.

See Malthus and his Work, p. 422.

'Additions to the 4th and former editions of an Essay on the Principle of Population,' published in June 1817, both in the separate form and as part of the 5th edition of the Essay.

The Post Office London Directory of the time gives Ricardo's full City address as 4 Shorter's Court, Throgmorton Street.

The advice was taken.

Which gave him his first stimulus to economical study when he read it at Bath in 1799. See McCulloch's ed. of Wks., pp. xvii, xviii.

See note at end of this letter.

'Economical and Secure Currency.' See note to previous letter.

Cf. 'Econ. and Secure Currency,' Wks., pp. 433, 434.

Letter to the Earl of Liverpool on Agriculture, 1816.

The edition reprinted in Wks., ed. McCulloch, pp. 391 seq.

The question was whether the Income Tax, being a war tax, was to cease with the war. The Ministry were forced to yield.

Not Chas. Bosanquet who wrote on the Bullion Report, but Jacob Bosanquet, a Director of the East India Company.

Letter to Lord Grenville occasioned by his observations on E. India Co.'s education of Civil Servants, 1813.

See Malthus and his Work, p. 424.

Hon. Wm. F. Elphinstone, a Director of the East India Company.

Written without a capital, as the days of the week usually are in these letters.

From the description which follows, this must be the last section ('Mr. Malthus's opinions on Rent') in 'Political Economy and Taxation,' 1817.

From Letters LII, LIII, it is clear that the printer had to wait for the whole MS. much longer than was at first intended.

This sentence is quoted by Empson, Edin. Review, Jan., 1837, p. 498.

Essay on Population.

Part of this sentence is quoted by Empson in Edin. Review, Jan., 1837, p. 498.

See Malthus, Pol. Econ. (1820), p. 241: 'The real wages of labour consist of their value, estimated in the necessaries, conveniences, and luxuries of life.' The 2nd ed. (1836) adds, 'which the money wages of the labourer enable him to purchase' (p. 217). In 'Definitions' (1827) he says 'command' instead of 'purchase,' (p. 239).

'Statements respecting the East India College,' etc., 1817.

See the long and interesting Report of Select Committee of House of Commons on the Poor Laws. Ann. Reg. 1817, Chron. pp. 263-302. Cf. Ann. Reg. 1816, Chron. pp. 151 and 345.

'Statements respecting the East India College,' 1817.

Rent, p. 8. The second is the fact that the necessaries of life create their own demand by leading to an increase of population.

P. 40.

Ibid., p. 15.

The comments in this letter occur at greater length in the last chapter of Ricardo's 'Pol. Econ. and Tax.': 'Mr. Malthus's opinions on Rent' (1st ed., 1817), McC. ed., pp. 243 seq.

'Additions to the Fourth and Former Editions of an Essay on the Principle of Population,' etc., 1817.

Should be p. 17.

P. 21.

10,488,000 is the figure given by Malthus, l. c. p. 18.

Should be p. 21. Ricardo may have had a proof before him.

Charles Grant, M. P., later Lord Glenelg. He was a Director in the preceding year (1816).

Hon. Douglas J. W. Kinnaird.

Pol. Econ. and Tax. ch. xxxii.

One of whom was probably James Mill. See 'Autobiography of John S. Mill,' p. 27.

'Conversations on Political Economy' (anon. 1816), in which the interlocutors are 'Mrs. B.' and 'Caroline.'

In original, 'addition.'

On the External Corn Trade.

Joseph Hume, M. P. for Melcombe Regis, and later for Montrose. He had much knowledge of India, and was at that time (vainly) endeavouring to get a seat on the Board of Directors.

I.e. the note which now appears Ric. Wks., p. 253, ('Upon showing this passage to Mr. Malthus at the time when these papers were going to the press,' etc.). In that note Malthus is made to say he used the words real price twice by mistake in Ricardo's sense, cost of production, instead of his own, power of purchasing other commodities.

Professor of Hindu literature and of the History of Asia, at Haileybury College.

Professor of Mathematics.

M. de Foligny, according to the E. India Register for this year, (1817).

Probably the 'Petit Volume contenant quelques aperçus des Hommes et de la Société.' See Oeuvres Diverses, pp. 661 seq.

See the passages quoted by Malthus, Pol. Econ. (1820), pp. 382 seq. Cf. 'Additions' to Essay, pp. 243 n., 235.

Probably Dr. W. H. Wollaston or Woolaston, F.R.S., the chemist.

Pp. 81 seq. of McCulloch's edition of Works.

'British India.'

The physician who, along with Dr. Marcet, attended Sir Sam. Romilly on the day before his death (Nov. 1818).

Lord Lansdowne's house in Wiltshire.

Essay on Pop., 4th ed. See above, p. 128.

See next page.

Queen Sophia went there with Princess Elizabeth at the end of November. (Ann. Register, 1817, Chron., p. 123.)

Probably the 'Political Economy,' 1820.

J. R. McCulloch, in all probability.

'British India.'

Mill's estimate, however, has seldom been accepted by later authorities.

Written by oversight 1817. The postmark and all the internal evidence show that 1818 must be the year.

Less famous perhaps by his numerous writings and speeches on the currency than by his Letter to his leaseholders in the spring of 1811, calling on them to pay their rents in gold or else in such an amount in notes as would cover the depreciation since the date of their leases. The text of the letter is given by Cobbett, Paper against Gold, letter XXV.

'Political Economy and Taxation.'

Mackintosh entered on his duties as Professor of Law there 1818.

1818. See Ann. Register, 1818, Chron., p. 207.

British India, publ. 1818.

It was dissolved on 10th June.

The Bill for renewing Restriction for another year had passed the Commons, and was to be moved by Lord Liverpool on 26th May, 1818. Lord Grenville spoke against it at great length.

'Plan of Parliamentary Reform in the Form of a Catechism, with reasons for each article. With an Introduction, showing the necessity of Radical and the inadequacy of Moderate Reform' (1817).

A glimpse of his mental history is given in the remarkable letter to Sharp, written from Bombay, on 9th Dec. 1804. He had even then outlived his reaction against the ideas of the French Revolution. See Life, vol. i. 128-136.

A grandchild.

Ricardo's son-in-law. See above, p. 41. Ricardo eventually sat for Portarlington in Queen's County.

The poll was open for fifteen days, and on Saturday, July 4th, the result was declared: Romilly (Whig) 5339, Burdett (Whig) 5238, Maxwell (Tory) 4808, Orator Hunt 84.

We should expect 'detail.'

He had added (and then cancelled): 'but it appears to me that our difference is occasioned by what I think the improper sense in which you use the word Wealth.'

Franked by H. J. Shepherd (M.P. for Shaftesbury, Dorsetshire).

June, 1818. 'Mr. Ricardo,' says the reviewer, 'has done more for the improvement [of Political Economy] than any other writer with perhaps the single exception of Dr. Smith' (p. 60). He follows up this laudation with a full analysis of the doctrines of the book ('Political Economy and Taxation'), finding nothing with which he disagrees.

Here, as frequently elsewhere, written M'Cullock.

The estate of Lord Lansdowne, about three miles from Chippenham, Wilts. As Lord Henry Petty, this statesman had been Chancellor of the Exchequer in the short-lived government of 'All the Talents' in 1806. He held office in Grey's Reform Ministry 1831. He joined with Malthus and others in founding the Statistical Society 1834. He outlived his most famous contemporaries, and died in 1863 in his 83rd year.

Famous by association with the Oregon dispute. He recorded his impressions of England in a book called 'Narrative of a Residence at the Court of London from 1817 to 1825,' (publ. 1833), and 'Memoranda of a Residence at the Court of London, comprising Incidents Official and Personal, from 1819 to 1825,' (touching on Oregon and other questions) (1845).

Bentham was then over 70.

Franked by himself.

See Note 1 at end of this letter.

See Macvey Napier's Correspondence (Macmillan, 1879), p. 23, where Jas. Mill (writing on 10th Sept. 1819), says of Ricardo to Napier, 'it is unaffected diffidence that is the cause of his unwillingness, for he is as modest as he is able.' Cf. also Bain's Life of Jas. Mill, p. 187.

Probably, that deference for Ricardo's authority was delaying his new book on 'Political Economy.'

See note 2 at end of this letter.

'The principal domestic events of the year are intimately connected with the movements of a set of men who have received the name of Radical Reformers,' Annual Register, 1819, Hist. p. 103.

Name not clear in MS.

Franked by himself.

'Principles of Political Economy considered with a view to their practical application' (Murray), 1820.

The three foregoing sentences are quoted by Empson, Edin. Review, Jan. 1837, p. 478, though the letter is wrongly dated.

Probably the note on p. 485: 'Mr. Ricardo deserves the thanks of the country' for having suggested to it a comparatively easy means of returning to Cash Payments.

Ch. vii. sect. iii. pp. 351 seq.

Several words wanting. Page much torn. But cf. Letter LXXIII, p. 173.

Hitherto 'McCullock.' Ricardo at last falls into the Scotch way of spelling.

'An important Liberal organ,' of which in 1822 the editor was Walter Coulson a friend of Jas. Mill. (See Bain's Life of the latter, p. 183.) In 1811 the editor was Mr. Quin, and its views were at least not liberal enough for Cobbett. See Paper against Gold, p. 310.

Franked by himself.

Lettres à M. Malthus sur différents sujets d'économie politique, notamment sur les causes de la stagnation générale du commerce (Paris, 1820). In addition to these 5 open letters, a letter of Say to Malthus (Feb. 1827) together with the reply of Malthus is given in Oeuvres Diverses de J. B. Say, pp. 502-515.

Perhaps Oct. 1819 (see e.g. p. 471), 'on Mr. Owen's Plans for relieving the National Distress.'

Spelt here, as elsewhere, 'chuses.'

Of the 'Traité d'Économie Politique' (1819). See Oeuvres Diverses, p. xiii. Say had made considerable alterations.

See Ricardo, Pol. Econ. and Tax., ch. XX. 'Value and Riches,' Wks. pp. 165 seq., 3rd ed.

Edin. Review, Aug. 1820. McCulloch proposed to make the tithes a poundage on Rents, varying therefore with the net income and not with the gross produce.

Elements of Political Economy, 1821. See J. S. Mill, Autobiography, pp. 27, 28, for whose use (in the first place) it was prepared. For clear logical precision it stands alone among economical text-books.

See Wks. (ed. McCull.), Preface, p. XXXI.

Franked by himself 9th Oct., which is therefore the real date of the letter.

Written 'controul.'

The foregoing three sentences are quoted by Empson, Edin. Review, Jan. 1837, p. 499.

'Real value in exchange may be defined to be the power of an object to command in exchange the necessaries and conveniences of life, including labour,' Malthus, Pol. Econ. (1820), p. 62. 'Wages are to be estimated by their real value, namely, by the quantity of labour and capital employed in producing them,' Ricardo, Pol. Ec. 2nd ed. 1819, p. 44, Wks., p. 32.

See Pol. Econ. and Tax. ch. xxi. 'Effects of Accumulation on Profits and Interest.'

The arrangement is altered, and we have such significant changes as 'almost exclusively' instead of 'solely.'

Franked by himself.

See Wks. p. 176. 'Malthus and his Work,' p. 294.

See Ricardo, Wks. pp. 110-112.

A Sinking Fund.

This simile is used by Malthus in Quart. Rev. Jun. 1824, with 'old wine' in place of 'oak trees.'

Franked by himself. Date only on cover.

Perhaps the passage beginning at foot of p. 41 of Wks. and pp. 65-6 of 2nd ed. of Pol. Ec. and Tax. (where he is describing the effect of agricultural improvements), 'With the same population and no more, there can be no demand for any additional quantity of corn,' etc. etc., as far as the sentence, 'A considerable period would have elapsed attended with a positive diminution of rent.'

Franked by himself.

Ch. xxxi, in which he explains his change of mind with great frankness. Cf. Author's Advertisement to 3rd ed. of Pol. Econ. and Tax., Wks. p. 3. McCulloch's views were too early stereotyped. For his character and habits generally, see Bain, Life of Jas. Mill, p. 183, etc.

It is due to McCulloch to say that in his published notices of Ricardo he conceals his consternation.

Franked by himself.

Or Bromeberrow, one of Ricardo's estates, afterwards left to his son Osman.

Anon. London, 1821. The writer criticises Malthus closely though in a friendly spirit. He is less polite to Say.

Also anonymous.

Franked by himself.

Imported foreign goods. See below.

'An Essay on the Production of Wealth, with an Appendix, in which the principles of Political Economy are applied to the actual circumstances of this country,' London, 1821. The Preface is dated June 30, 1821.

Franked by himself. Date only on cover.

Sic, a slip of the pen for 'rise.'

July 1821, no. LXX. See Malthus and his Work, p. 368. Ricardo evidently suspected Malthus to be the author. See conclusion of next letter.

The writer added but struck out: 'and wages must be necessarily high, in which case she may employ nearly the same amount of capital.'

Franked by himself.

See 'Political Economy and Taxation,' chapter on Value.

Franked by himself.

The Political Economy Club was founded by Tooke in 1821, though there had been informal meetings of the members for some time before in Ricardo's house. See Bain's Life of Jas. Mill, p. 198, where the programme of the club is given. It included discussion and propaganda, replies to unsound newspapers, and the circulation of sound literature.

'Essay on the Production of Wealth,' 1821. See above, p. 195.

This had been its feature for some time. 'There is a canting Scotchman in London who publishes a paper called the "Champion," who is everlastingly harping upon the virtues of the "fireside," and who inculcates the duty of quiet submission.' Cobbett, Pol. Reg., Nov. 2, 1816, p. 460. Cobbett, like many others, took the received Political Economy for a doctrine of political quietism.

Necker's asylum in 1790 and the scene of his death in 1804, the refuge also of his daughter Madame de Stael, when driven from Paris by Napoleon. Madame de Stael died here in 1817, and her last book, 'Considérations sur les principaux événements de la Revolution Française,' was brought out in 1818 by her son the Baron de Stael and the Duc de Broglie jointly. Sismondi had long been a familiar friend of the house, and it was probably he who had introduced Ricardo. The 'Nouveaux Principes d'écon. polit.' (Sismondi's chief economical work) had appeared in 1819.

The publicist. See 'Malthus and his Work,' p. 416.

See Ricardo, Works, p. 171; De Tracy agreed with Say's definitions of 'value,' 'riches,' and 'utility.' He was at this time 68, and his chequered life (of war, politics, and authorship) did not end till 1836. His economics are properly a branch of his philosophy.

Louis had been, like his brother, in the Cotton manufacture, but left it for Sugar Refining. His 'Considérations sur l'industrie et la législation,' etc., published in 1822, is the book to which Ricardo refers.

Germain Garnier, author of 'L'Histoire de la Monnaie' and translator not only of 'The Wealth of Nations' but of 'Caleb Williams,' etc., had died 4th Oct., 1821.

The 'Political Economy.' The 2nd ed. did not appear till 1836, after its author's death.

April 1822, pp. 239 seq. on the State of the Currency. This is the article closely criticised by Tooke in 'High and Low Prices,' Part i. pp. 19 seq.

'A Letter to David Ricardo, Esq., M.P., on the true principle of estimating the extent of the late Depreciation in the Currency and on the effects of Mr. Peel's Bill for the Resumption of Cash Payments by the Bank,' by Thomas Paget, Esq., 1822 (July). It contains more rhetoric than logic.

One of his chief Parliamentary opponents, in the agricultural interest.

'Thoughts and Details on High and Low Prices' was published early in 1823. Tooke was for thirty years a Russia merchant.

'The Measure of Value Stated and Illustrated, with an Application of it to the Alterations in the Value of the English Currency since 1790,' London, 1823.

See note to this letter.

Here as elsewhere written 'chuse.'

Written here as elsewhere 'potatoe.'

Franked by himself. Date and address only on cover.

Gold, with many reservations. See Wks., pp. 29 to 33. But compare p. 231 below.

Published in 1824 by his family, and reprinted in Wks., ed. MacC., pp. 499 seq.

Franked by himself.

Franked by himself.

W. of N., I. vi. 23, 1.

Edin. Rev., Jan. 1837, p. 499.

Life, pp. 209-213.