Nouveaux Principes f t. I, p

3. Reply io Mr, Bosanquet's observations f etc., p. 319 : For any man to compare theaccount of the Hamburgh exchange, and of the Parisian, and not to see that the accounts v^rere incorrect, tbat the facts could not be as so stated, is very like a man who is ail for fact and nothing for theory. Snch men can hardly ever sift their facts. They are credulous, and necessarily so, because they hâve no standard of référence. Those two sets of supposed facts, those in the Hamburgh exchange on the one hand, and those in the Parisian on the other, are absolutely inconsistent, and disproveone another. That facts such as thèse should be brought forward to invalidate a theory, the reasonableness of which is allowed, is a melancholy proof of the power of préjudice over very enli)2:htened minds. — Cf. pp. 305, 306. 309, 356. Sur la base de la théorie économique, v. High Price of BulUon^ Appendice, p. 292: It is self-interest which régulâtes ail the spéculations of trade, and where that can be clearly and satiaCactorily ascertained, we should not know where to stop, if we admitted any other rule of action.

4. Reptg, etc., p. 319 : A trade the sli^test fluctuations of which are watched by a class of men proverbial for their shrewdness, and in which compétition is carried to the gréa test extent.

5. Reply ^ etc., pp. 335-336 : Mr. Bosanquet spealcs as if the nation collectively, as one body, imported corn and exported gold, and that it was compelled by hunger so to do, not reflecting that the importation of corn, even under the case snpposed, is the actof individuals, and govemed by the same motives as ail other branches of trade. What is the degree of compuisum which is employed to make us receive corn from our enemy? I suppose no other than the want of that commodity which makes it an advantageous article of import ; but if it be a voluntary, as it most cerlainly is, and not a compulsory bargain between the two nations. . . It is interest, and interest alone, which détermines the exportation of gold, in the same manner as it régulâtes the exportation of ail other commodities... Cf. Eigh Price of BuUion, p. 265 : ... It is our choice, and not our neces-

392 NOTES. (Pp. 7-10)

sity tbat sends it (gold) abroad... ; p. 268 : If we consent to give coin in exchange for goods, it must be from choice, not from nécessité'. . . — Cf. PrincipleSj pp. 17&-177 : When marchants engage their capitals in foreign trade,orin thecarrjing trade, it is always fromchoice, and neverfrom nece»sity ; it is because in thattrade their profits wiil be somewhatgreater tbao in the home trade... Adam Smith however speaks of the carrying trade as onp not of choice, but of necessity ; as if the capital engaged in it wou*d be inert if not so employed, as if the capital in the home trade could overflow if not confined to a limiled amount. — Y. au contraire., p. \ih : No man could consume twice tbe quantity of corn which is usually necessary for his support, but evcry man purcbasing and selling only the same quantity of goods, may be obliged to employ twice, thrice, or any number of times the same quantity of money. ~ Et p. 115 : ...While money is the gênerai médium of exchange, the demand for it is never a matter of choice, but always of necessity : you must take it in exchange for yoar goods, and, therefore, there are no limits to the quantity which may be forced on you by foreign trade, if it fall in value ; and no réduction U> which you must not submit, if it rise.

6. Uigh Price of BaUton, p. 265 : The exportation of the specie may at ail times be safely left to the discrétion of individuals, it will not be exported more than any other commodity, unl(>ss its exportation should be advantageous to tbe country. If it be advantageous to export it, no laws can effectually prevent its exportation. Happily, in this case, as well as in most others in commerce, where there is free compétition, the interesls of the individual and that of tbe community are never at varianœ.

7. Ricardo à Malthus, 10 octobre 18i0 : Political Economy you think is an enquiry into the nature and causes of wealth ; I think it should rather be called an enquiry into the laws which détermine the division of the produce of industry amongst the classes who concur in ils formation. >'o law can be laid down respecling quantity, but a tolerabiy correct one can be laid down respecting proportions. Every day I am more satisfied that the former enquiry is vain and delusive, and the latter only the true object of the science.

8. Pour le premier énoncé de la théorie de la valeur qui se rencontre cliez Ricardo, v. High Price of BuUion, p. 263 : Gold and Silver, like other coiiimoditics, liave an intrinsic value, which is not arbitrary, but is dépendent on their scarcity, the quantity of labour bestowed in procuring them, and the value of the capital employed in the mines which produced them.

9. Ricardo à Malthus, 4 septembre 1817. Ricardo ajoute : And afler ail we do not know if thèse would fall to bis share. Uis labour might only increase the enjoyments of bis employer.

10. Protection to Agriculture, p. 467 : If we lived in one of Mr. Owen^s

(Pp. 10-14) NOTES. 393

.\ parallelograms, and enjoyed ail oar productions in common, then no one oonld suffer in conséquence of abundance ; but as long as society is constiluted as it now is, abundance wiil often be injurions to producersi and scarcity bénéficiai to them.

11. Ricardo à Malthus, 10 cet. 1820: ... He certainly bas not a correct notion of wbat is meant by value when he contends that a commodity is Taluable in proportion to its utility. This would be true if buyers only regulated the value of oommodities; then indeed we might expect that ail men would be wiiling to givo a prioe for things in proportion to the estimation in which they held them; but the fact appears to me to be that the buyers bave the least in the world to do in regulating prioe; it is ail done by the compétition of the sellera, and, however the buyers might be really willing to give more for iron than for gold, they could not, because the supply v?ould be regulated by the cost of production, and therefore gold virould inovitably be in the proportion which it now is toiron, although it probably is by ail mankind considered as the less useful. — V. encore lettre à Malthus, du 2i nov.; à MacCulloch, du 23 nov. 1820 ; à Say, du 8 mai 1821 et du 5 mars 1822. — V. J.-B. Say, Traité d'économie politique, liv. I, chaD. i, et liv. IF, chap. i; et Principles, chap. xx, pp. 169-170. — J.-B. Say se déclare disciple de Benlham, Essai sur le Principe de l'Utilité, ap. Mélanges, pp. 406 sqq.

12. Say, Traité, liv. I, chap. i ; Ricardo, Principles, p. 260 : One set of necessaries and convenienoes admits of no comparison with another set; value in use cannot be measured by any known standard; it is difiérently estimated by différent persons.