LECTURES ON POLITICAL ECONOMY. INTRODUCTION. OF THE OBJECTS AND PROVINCE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.* [CHAPTER I.] [OF THE TITLE AND COMPREHENSION OF THE SCIENCE, It was before intimated,† that when the phrase Political Economy occurs in the course of this Dissertation, it is to be understood in the most extensive sense of these words. By most of our English writers, as well as by those in the other countries of Europe, this phrase has been hitherto restricted to inquiries concerning Wealth and Population; or to what have sometimes been called the resources of a State. It is in this limited sense it is used by the disciples of Quesnai in France, and also by Sir James Steuart, Mr. Smith, and a long * [This seems to correspond with the "Introduction to a Course of Elementary Lectures on Political Economy," as enumerated in the table of contents given by Miss Stewart; (see Editor's Advertisement.) It escaped the fate of the other writings in that list, in consequence of an extra copy having been taken. For, its first certainly, and apparently also its second chapter, were latterly intended by Mr. Stewart to be incorporated in the Third Part of his Dissertation; and various changes were accordingly (about 1819 and down to 1823) made to fit them for this transference; which, however, was never completed. It is perhaps needless to observe, that these alterations are merely superficial, and that the chapters, in all essential respects, correspond with their original accommodation.] [See above, Vol. I., (Dissertation,) p. 22; though probably reference is made to a more proximate passage in the intended previous Lecture or Chapter, entitled, Allegiance to Government, now lost.] list of respectable authors in this Island, both before and after the publication of Quesnai's works. Without, however, presuming to censure in the slightest degree the propriety of their language, I think that the same title may be extended with much advantage to all those speculations which have for their object the happiness and improvement of Political Society, or, in other words, which have for their object the great and ultimate ends from which Political regulations derive all their value; and to which Wealth and Population themselves are to be regarded as only subordinate and instrumental. Such are the speculations which aim at ascertaining those fundamental Principles of Policy, which Lord Bacon has so significantly and so happily described, as "Leges Legum, ex quibus informatio peti possit, quid in singulis Legibus bene aut perperam positum aut constitutum sit." In this employment of the phrase Political Economy, I may perhaps be accused of a deviation from established practice; but the language does not afford me another expression less exceptionable, for denoting this particular department of Political Science; and the use which Dr. Johnson and other classical authorities have made of the word Economy, to denote "disposition and regulation in general," justifies me at least in some measure, for extending its ordinary acceptation when applied to the internal policy of nations. If we could suppose that this departure from the common language of Political writers were to be sanctioned by general use, its advantages, if I do not deceive myself, would be found of material importance. I shall only mention at present the effect it would necessarily have in keeping constantly before the mind of the speculative Politician, the Standard by which the wisdom and expediency of every institution is to be estimated; and in checking those partial views of human affairs which have led so many eminent writers in their zeal for the advancement of National Riches, to overlook the more essential objects of the Political Union. That the idea which I thus propose to annex to this study * [De Aug. Scient. Lib. VIII. cap. iii. Exemplum Tractatus de Justitia Universali, Aph. 6.] is sufficiently precise, must appear evident to all who are conversant with Political inquiries. In the meantime, (as I find it impossible to convey this idea to others by any general definition or description,) a few examples may serve to illustrate the questions which I propose to comprehend under the title of Political Economy, and those subordinate discussions, which, although essentially different in their nature and aim, are apt, from their apparent relation to the same objects, to be confounded together under the same title. To begin, then, with that science, which, in the judgment of the most enlightened politicians, is the most essential of all to human happiness,-I mean the Science of Agriculture; how various and important are the subjects which belong exclusively to its province! The general principles of vegetation; the chemical analysis of soils; the theory of manures; the principles which regulate the rotation of crops, and which modify the rotation, according to the diversities of soil and climate; the implements of agriculture, both mechanical and animal ;— and a thousand other topics of a similar description. To none of these articles does the Political Economist profess to direct his attention; but he speculates on a subject, without a knowledge of which, on the part of the Legislator, that of the other, how generally soever it may be diffused, is of no value. He speculates on the motives which stimulate human industry; and according as he finds these favoured or not in the classes of the people on whose exertions agriculture depends, he predicts the agricultural progress or decline of a nation. He considers with this view the state of landed property, and the laws which regulate its alienation or transmission; the state of the actual occupiers of the ground; the security they possess for reaping, unmolested, the reward of their labours; and the encouragement they enjoy in comparison of that held out in the other walks of lucrative enterprise. Nor does he confine his views to the plenty or scarcity of the immediately succeeding seasons, but endeavours to investigate the means of securing permanent abundance and prosperity to his fellow-citizens. In this respect, too, the principles on which he proceeds differ essentially not only from those of the practical agriculturist, but from those which regulate the views of all the other orders of men who think merely of their individual interests. The exertions of the farmer, it may be reasonably presumed, will be proportioned to the recompense he expects; spirited and vigorous after a few years of high prices, and languid when overstocked markets have for a length of time disappointed his just expectations. The manufacturer, on the other hand, and the various orders of annuitants and stipendiary labourers, exult when the farmer repines, and repine when the farmer exults. In the midst of this conflict of contending interests and prejudices, it is the business of the Political Economist to watch over the concerns of all, and to point out to the Legislator the danger of listening exclusively to claims founded in local or in partial advantages, to remind him that the pressure of a temporary scarcity brings along with it in time its own remedy, while an undue depression of prices may sacrifice to a passing abundance years of future prosperity;-above all, to recommend to him such a policy, as by securing in ordinary years a regular surplus, may restrain the fluctuation of prices within as narrow limits as possible; the only effectual method of consulting at once the real and permanent interests of proprietors, cultivators, and consumers. What has now been said with respect to agriculture, may be extended to the various other employments of human industry, all of which furnish, in a greater or less degree, interesting subjects of scientific examination. This is exemplified very remarkably in Manufactures, in which the chemists and mechanists of the present age have found so ample a field of observation and of study; and to the improvement of which they have so largely contributed by their discoveries and inventions. To the Philosopher also, manufactures present a most interesting spectacle, and that whether he takes the trouble or not to enter into the detail of their various proWhat are the circumstances which attract manufacturers to one part of a country in preference to another? in what respects is it in the power of the Legislator to encourage cesses. |